Changing Lives through Dancing by David Woodbury
Arthur Murray Santa Monica
On April 9th, I was chatting with Joel Rieck and our wonderful instructor, Aaron Thomas, and Aaron inspired me about a dancing project. I responded to him “Go in Like a Champion. Come Out as a Winner”. Joel said, “That is a perfect saying for ballroom dancing!
As I went home, I stopped my car, and typed this into my Google Keep To Do List. Then I thought about it over and over.
I have personally not always been the best dancer on the dance floor. I’ve always watched other dancers and viewed their incredible abilities. What made me win and do well? How did I ever beat “the best” dancers that I was competing with on the dance floor?
In Pro/Am, my partners and I would find the best 3 dancers that we were competiting against, and we would watch them dance. They all looked fabulous, but suddenly I would say, look how they miss that hand connection, miss that spotting action. Watch how they drop their energy 30 seconds into their dance. See them drop their smiles and not give 100% as they danced.
We would just analyze all of their dancing. Then we would say to each other, “Want to beat them?” We would go on the floor, arm to the teeth with newly learned dance strategy and we would dance our hearts out. We would never miss an eye connection. We never let our energy or smiles fade. We knocked ourselves our with our footwork, timing, character of the dance, our partnership and connection. Then, we would wait in the final 6 line up and wait as the 6th, 5th, 4th, 3rd couples received their awards. Then, they would announce the 2nd place couple, the truly most talented couple on the floor, but we were the last couple standing and we would take 1st place! We made our talent on the dance floor. We danced out as champions, and ended up as winners.
I was very lucky over many years to have danced with unbelievably talented amateur dancers. I danced with partners that I treated as more than equals, but I treated them as my superiors on the dance floor with love and trust and respect.
To say the least, I won many, many dance events with students who might have been a bit Rubenesque, or too short, too young, too old, or they had bad knees or arthritis. None of that ever mattered to me, I treated them all as champions, and they were rewarded by becoming winners. In the end, no one ever saw their “flaws”. They only saw them as champions taking the wins on the floor. I was fiercely loyal, and I danced out my soul for them all.
I remember once dancing with a new student in Phoenix, Arizona. She was very, very fat. As I began to dance with her, I realized that she had the heart and talent of a true champion. She could have been a professional. I loved her to pieces. Every time I danced with her, I felt that I was feeling the soul of a winning champion. To tell the truth, she was better than I was in many ways in the talent department.
We competed in a lot of small comps before we hit the big competitions. She always won 1st place, fat and all. I never saw her body; I just fell in love with her determination to be the best.
As time went on, she lost over 100 lbs. She would always hug me and cry and thank me for never seeing her weight, but for loving her as her instructor for who she really was. I cried with her and told her how great a dancer I knew her to be. She said I always saw her.
One day, in a lineup of many students ready to take the floor for a competition, two students with their teachers chatted with us. They all chided me and said “David, you have all the luck. You always have the best and most winning students” (speaking of my student, now thin). My student began to cry. She had never been complimented like that before and she was being recognize for the great person and the fabulous dancer that she was. I had always loved her, and I only saw the great dancer inside of her.
Those compliments stayed with her forever. By the way, we kicked everyone’s butts that round, and beat the lovely people who complimented her.
And what happened to this student, my gift from heaven? Another fantastic male Arthur Murray student, who was also a champion, met her at a big dance competition. Well, they fell in love on the dance floor and the rest was history.
Even writing this decades later, I feel the love and respect we had for each other. We truly always took the floor as champions in our hearts, and we left the floor as winners.
Thanks for reading my blog.
David Woodbury
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