National Dance Clubs (NDC) in Rapid City ended their summer festival with the Rushmore Ballroom Classic—a day-and-a-half of dance competitions, classes, and connection.
At many studios around the country—including NDC—students pay big money to learn technique, styling, and musicality, among other things…from Waltz to Tango to Swing. But this year, they shimmied away with much more.
Tony Nunez is a world champion and medalist in several Latin and ballroom dance styles. The owner of NDC, Jamey McCaskill, brought him into coach students and judge the competition.
McCaskill said an event like this takes all of his staff weeks of work and coordination, but it’s an opportunity for his students and teachers to don their sequins and dance shoes and perform at their best.
“Not only do our students get critiques from [Tony] and the other judges that we have that are local to our studio here," said McCaskill. "It's also great for us as teachers because we get to see that outside view of what they say and what they think might also be beneficial to you and sometimes it aligns perfectly with what we've been doing and sometimes it's something that we might not have seen because we're so focused on what we've been working on.”
But when Nunez judges and coaches, he looks for more than the perfect dance technique.
"I look for people who genuinely are enjoying themselves, their partner, the music because that's when the movement gets unlocked the most and they're able to dance as their most authentic selves and their full range of motion—whatever that may be," Nunez said. "If they don't enjoy it, all the technique in the world is just not gonna help them, so sometimes people less technical will get a higher mark based on how much they're really enjoying and being present in the moment because more things show up and come through versus people who are maybe more technically minded or efficient.”
But it took Nunez a while to come to this method in his dance career. As a younger dancer, Nunez said he was always trying to play the characters and storylines the 'conservative, antiquated, hundred-year-old ballroom industry' perpetuates.
“For me, I always kind of just I feel like I was fighting so hard all the time to be seen in a way that just was never me," said Nunez. "So, when I started to kind of understand what the industry was, I realized I had a choice. I was like I can definitely make this happen in my own way. But my way has to include a broader perspective for so many others to follow after me. And I incorporated that into my artistry and my profession, and my work and it really led me to a lot of things.”
Those things—championship titles as his true, authentic self. And that’s what he tries to instill and reinforce in his own growth and in those he coaches.
“We were given these circumstances from birth. We were given our culture from birth. We were given our environment from birth good or bad right or wrong. It's there," said Nunez. "We have to delve into and cultivate and utilize every ounce of it that we can in order for us to be as effective as we can in any endeavor. And so my thing is, no matter where you come from, you take all of the beautiful parts of where you come from, and you keep reinforcing it in your art and in your work.”
For some of the competitors, like Alexander Stoertz, its much simpler….
“Well, my fiancé and I are getting married on September 28th and we want our first dance to be knocked out of the park and extremely memorable," said Stoertz. "So, we ended up going to dance and we already have half of it choreographed and we ended up realizing over time that this is one of our favorite things to do together. So, we'll probably be dancing from then on."
Others summed it up in one word. “Fun, joy, passion, confidence, strength, memory, grace, poise, Ryan Reynolds, to win.”