Dance around the world

If marketers can have their 4Ps http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marketing#Four_Ps_.28marketing_mix.29 dancers can have four more interesting ones.  

The incredible performance of dancers in Burn the Floor www.burnthefloor.com in Auckland recently bears little relationship to my own participation in our mutual passion.  Sure the dances have the same names: waltz, foxtrot, salsa, samba but what a difference there is between what they do on stage and what we observe and enjoy in our local dance venues.  One uniting commonality for performers and social dancers is the need to practice. 

And where do competitive dancers fit into this continuum?  Kenneth Howard from Georgia, USA comments on dance philosophy and the exhibition, competition and social approaches that he identifies http://www.dfwdance.com/Finding%20a%20Good%20Dance%20School.htm  Stick with him.  The first few paragraphs I found a bit heavy and bordering on pretentious, but it made more sense to me by the end.  Does that reveal more about him or me?  The net result for me was feeling pretty good about the challenges of social dancing, but maybe there's a bit of rationalisaion going on here. 

Progressing to intermediate level salsa and stepping up from social ballroom classes to enrol in bronze level was nothing to do with competition.  It was merely to get a little more competent at a social level.  But why have I now decided to step up to silver level?