When I told the professional dancer who is my ballroom dance partner that if he were a horse, I couldn’t afford him, he wasn’t quite sure whether the statement was an insult or a compliment. Then I explained about “packers”–that good amateurs’ dressage packers can sell for hundreds of thousands of dollars. The more I compete in the ballroom, the more I realize that packers share some major personality traits no matter what the sport–or the species.

Competitive ballroom dancing, like dressage and hunters, is judged on how closely the couple conforms to the ideal of each movement; whether that movement is clean, accurate, technically as well as artistically correct; whether the lady is obedient to her partner’s signals and the movements are completed without obvious effort on the part of either dancer, as though the couple is dancing together intuitively.

This is easy to say, hard to do. The lady must not anticipate a movement, must execute her partner’s leads promptly, willingly, and without a show of tension, and the gentleman must appear to be effortlessly gliding along with the lady in his arms. As in horse sports, this apparent effortlessness costs blood, sweat, toil and tears.

From the judge’s point of view, there isn’t a lot of difference between a hunter round, a dressage test, and a heat on the ballroom floor. Each is judged on artistic merit, technical quality, and (although it’s not mentioned in the rule books) eye appeal. Each dance style (whether your partner is horse or human) attracts dilettantes, professionals of all stripes, and amateurs who want to better themselves. For most dilettantes, competitions are where you trot out the family diamonds, catch up with friends you haven’t seen since the last show, hang around the bar getting potted, watch a couple of classes, and then go back to the bar, bemoaning the inconvenience of having to “suit up” and get out on the floor or into the ring.

Professional dancers, whether horse or ballroom, also come in several varieties. There are the professional competitors, the ones who are out for fame, glory and the purse or trophy. Like any top-level competitor in any other sport, everything else, including home, health, hearth, students, friends and family, takes second place to the preparation for competition (and picking up the pieces–mental and physical–afterward). These people (or horses) teach, if they teach at all, to support their competition addiction.

There are also the professionals who are teachers at heart. These are the people (horse or human) who love the sport, love to teach, and who delight in sharing their love of the sport with those of us who have not yet been hooked. They attend competitions because their students want to go. They don’t have the killer competitive instinct, but they do their best for their students. They compete in order to be able to continue teaching.

Then there are the professional pro/am competitors. These are the folks whose career and whose passion is presenting their amateur partners, their students, on the dance floor or in the arena in the best light possible. These professionals take great pride in their students’ progress and will bend over backwards to promote a student who is willing to put the effort into the sport.

In the world of horse shows, the horses who are pro/am professionals are packers. I showed horses for most of my life and have only recently begun dancing competitively, so obviously I would think about vetting out a prospective competition partner for the ballroom in terms that would be more appropriate to the dressage arena.

The Perfect Match
The first step in finding a dance partner, as in shopping for a new horse, is to determine just exactly what you’re looking for. If you are an experienced professional, it is quite reasonable to shop for a youngster with talent but no experience and bring him along. A green lady dancer, however, should have a packer, a professional who can take care of her and show her off to best advantage in competition.

“Mixed greens” rarely work out well either in the show ring or on the dance floor. So, when all is said and done, here is a simple guide to shopping for a ballroom packer (also known as a professional partner).

You will want to consider temperaments, both yours and his. Are you the kind of person who bursts into tears at the first hint of criticism, or do you have a hide like a rhinoceros? Do you suffer from competition “nerves” or are you stimulated by the pressure of competition? Are you satisfied with an “OK” performance or are you willing to drill over and over until it is right? How do you respond to frustration? Each person is different, and each professional has a different teaching style.

Mixing attitudes is also an invitation to disaster. A professional whose life’s ambition is to win the World Championship is unlikely to have either the time or the inclination (or, for that matter, the patience) to bring a beginner up through the ranks.

There are horses like this, most of whom are truly a professional’s ride. They are high-strung and spectacularly talented, but touchy in the extreme and focused on the job at hand. They need tact, delicate handling and a partner with a great deal of experience to enable them to exploit that talent to the fullest. They are the ones seen earning medals at the Olympics, and they would quite probably make kibble of the average amateur.

A professional dance competitor has the same focused, driven attitude and tends not to be forgiving of the mistakes and foibles of the ordinary amateur. It is a rare professional competitor, horse or human, who will tolerate a partner who is not playing for blood.

If a laid-back attitude is your approach to competition and you are looking for an excuse to party, you may want to consider an instructor/partner of this stripe. If you want to compete to try and win, read on.

Up To The Job
A true pro/am professional expects his students to put as much effort into competition and training as he does. While he understands that this is a hobby for the amateur, he still expects the amateur to take competition seriously. This means being on time for lessons, working hard in those lessons and in practice, showing up at the competition with the appropriate equipment ready to dance at the appointed time, and behaving suitably at competitions (getting plastered is acceptable after your heats are over, not before).

The wise amateur understands the pressures on the pro/am professional. This is, after all, his livelihood and his reputation. He is not going to be enthusiastic about a student who goes to competitions to socialize and party and who may arrive late for a heat or miss it altogether due to some social distraction.

Your professional partner may show a different personality in competition than he does at home. Unfortunately, this will probably only become apparent in the middle of the crisis.

My first fancy horse was relaxed, attentive and happy at home, but had the attention span of a grasshopper in the show ring. On the other hand, my pony packer was a fool at home and in the warm-up but could be counted on to be completely professional when the chips were down. Even in a hail storm (try that in an arena with a corrugated tin roof), he knew that the show ring was his job and responded accordingly.

Everyone, no matter how experienced or talented, does something stupid from time to time. A truly polished professional will shrug off these mishaps and soldier on. The judge will sometimes miss a mistake and score you only on what he or she has seen. Your amateur’s packer should be showman enough to cover for you when you make a mistake in competition, to support you if you lose your balance, and to recover quickly from his own mistakes.

A good ballroom packer should move like a top-notch dressage horse, extend gracefully and collect smoothly. He should remember that you may not yet be able to take as long a step as he can, or follow as complicated a pattern. He should carry himself and should not allow you to hang on him. He should maintain light contact, lead clearly, and be able to tolerate the frequent mistakes that an amateur is most assuredly going to make. Like any good packer, he should adapt himself to your ability level. He should understand that an amateur lady is an amateur lady because she is an amateur and therefore not perfect. A good packer will understand that there is a time and a place for corrections, even heavy-handed corrections, but that time and place is not in the warm-up at a major show.

And, of course, there is the window dressing. Your packer should ideally look good in his tack (evening dress). Good tailoring can cover a multitude of sins.