Sigh thanks... I out of all people need this advice pretty badly. Now the next question is whether with all the competition distractions I'll be able to use it.
I thought so from our previous discussions It was also my worst dance in my (long gone) competitive days. It seems it changed when I started dancing salsa - my current latin coach claims it's my (and my GF's) best dance now ... with jive probably the worst now - too much WCS influence I suppose ...
I have the same problem. I keep my feelings internal. It just doesn't show up on my face. If it does, it's either happy or sad or indifferent. I've asked my coach how I can learn to create expressions. My pro said that if I cannot feel it coming from inside, then I could watch movies and try to find actors doing the expressions that I want and try to mimic them.
I really empathize with those of you who have this issue...in general, I am a very expressive person for whom all of that comes naturally...the only time when I have an issue is if I am experiencing something that runs counter to what a dance conveys or if I am dancing with someone with whom I have some sort of block in some aspect
ditto it pisses my wife off . As she tends to be mroe internal, but judges and coaches have told her she needs to work on the acting in dancing
I too am a non-expressive type. However, I chose to dance because it is a way to express myself, so it challenges me to stretch my horizons as to what I am comfortable doing. It gives me an opportunity to develop other aspects of myself.
Mmmmm.......I should try imagining I'm dancing with a big, juicy, rare steak........ On second thoughts, maybe not. It's probably better if I start biting my partner - might be misinterpreted.
Hmmm... I do like the chocolate cake idea When I started competing in rumba it was as a part of a female-female partnership and we both found it incredibly awkward. Passionately in love just was not going to happen so we found an alternative: stalker-y. Strange, yes, but it got at the right intensity for us (we weren't aiming for the smiley in love rumba). Suddenly staring deeply into each other's eyes became a much easier task. In fact, our coach regularly complimented us on it and was amused and a bit dismayed when he learned what got us to the "right" face.
I think last time I tried that face my pro said I looked "vicious".....LOL! Not exactly what you'd want in rumba.
In real life, I'm not the most expressive person. I am very much in charge of all expressions, and I'm always "appropriate". However, when Latin music comes on...I can become very expressive, lively, happy, moody...depending on what the music is saying. I guess I have the best of both worlds. That's why I hate it when they use some of these pop songs for dances like cha cha or paso or tango. It makes it HARD for me to express. To OP, I think it may need some conscious effort, i.e. work on being expressive. Not just in dancing, but outside it too.
I think the best way to do it is just feel the music, and let the emotions flow naturally. But like you say, you are not so good in showing your emotions in real life, I think that can be a problem. When dancing you need to feel the music and let go of your emotions.
