By Frederick Chang, Waimanalo:
There's an accepted desire of all dancers to look nice while dancing. In Night Clubs with a few drinks, some can go to the extreme to call attention to themselves. This is hidden and unsaid in some cultures. But this definitely exists, though not extravagantly. on our dance floors of social and night club dancing. In Ballroom Dancing there are many well defined avenues to exercise this along with the Competition syndrome, that are just fine. and we see this regularly in our dance functions.
"Equal opportunity does not guarantee equal results,
fortunately, all of us are unique."
Aerial Lifts are accepted as part of dancing in Ballet and Lindy (Rock'n'Roll, Ceroc), but Lifts are specifically excluded from Standard Modern Ballroom & Latin American dancing and are rarely seen on our exhibition dance floors. Lifts have been a feature of exhibition dancing for hundreds of years. there's a famous painting of
Queen Elizabeth I doing a leaping turn of the 'Volta', assisted by the Earl of Leicester. in an oil painting by unknown artist.
However a style of Ballroom and Latin dancing which allows lifts appears in some competitions called variously Exhibition, Showdance, Adagio, Cabaret, or Theater Arts dancing. Aerials or Lifts are steps in which the man (normally) lifts the lady up in the air. It is not an everyday thing for us ordinary mortals.
"Dancing With Tears In My Eyes" by Roy Conniff

Beginners usually start with drops such as the Dead Man's Drop and Possum Drop, and; hip lifts on the left and right hips, turning to the left or the right, and also the grand swing and underarm lifts.
Exhibition Ballroom Dancing started probably, in 1907, with the introduction of the famous "Apache Dance" at the "Cafe de Paris" cabaret in Paris. This was danced to a slow Waltz, and depicted as the jealous relationship between a young thug and his girlfriend.
Soon, even
Irene and Vernon Castle were using lifts in their demonstrations. And in Hawaii we can see the evolution lately. The dancing, in between the lifts is often a mix of dances in the same rhythm (a Medley) or with different rhythms (a Segue). But we should all understand, that is strictly show business and not meant to be danced on our club dance floors by our ordinary club dancers.
Frederick
"Dance Clubs must provide good service for their members
or resign themselves to being also rans."