Nationals - Day 2 - Latin!

(April 5th) After the harbor, it was time for the second day of the 2009 USADance National Ballroom Competition. This day was filled with the Latin dances. That meant totally different costumes. Here everyone was trying to draw the eye - with color, with design, with tan, with sparkles, with makeup, and of course with their dancing.

Here the action was fast and sharp. Dancers go in and out of lines as they move with the music. For the Latin dancers, they dancers are dancing to Samba, Cha-cha, Rumba, Paso Doble, and Jive music. As a photographer it's exciting when you get a chance to capture such dynamic moves.

Mixed in throughout the competition are various age groups of dancers. It is amazing how some of the young ones already have such attitude, style, and musicality. This is one of my favorites from the younger couples.

This event turned out to be quite a bit more challenging to photograph than I expected. Using some of the same autofocus methods as with wildlife or even the Standard dancing didn't seem to work very well. There's just too much turning, giving trouble for the autofocus. As usual, more room for improvement. Still it was great to catch some of these lines - you only have a fraction of a second to take the shot before the dancing continues.