The basics:
Dance: Holding Out For a Hero
Choreographer: Gordon Elliott
Music: “Holding Out For a Hero” by Bonnie Tyler
Description: 64 count, 4 wall improver dance with 1 restart and 3 tags
Dance: Holding Out For a Harder Hero
Choreographer: Gordon Elliott
Music: “Holding Out For a Hero” by Bonnie Tyler
Description: 64 count, 4 wall intermediate dance with 1 restart and 3 tags
The review:
I have to admit that my first love is not country music – it’s retro. And Bonnie Tyler is one of my favourite rock ballad singers. In fact, I think I may have even briefly considered using this song for a dance but a few things turned me off it – first, the tags and restart, an second, the fact that the version of the song I have goes for nearly 6 minutes. Gordon has solved the second problem by finding (or making) a shorter version, and simply ignored the first.
Here, I’m going to tackle both dances Gordon has written, and hopefully I won’t need a hero to save me by the end.
Both dances start quite quickly into the music, which given the long introduction means that a full wall finishes before the lyrics start. Given the choice between a fast start and waiting 64 counts, I definitely agree with Gordon here. Once the dance starts, though, things get quite different.
If there’s one thing that “Holding Out For a Hero” has over its harder counterpart, it’s that the song is so fast that it’s almost a relief to not have any half-count steps, and in particular anyone wanting to add a little style to the dance will have better luck with “Hero” than “Harder” (so to speak). I quite like the steps of the easier dance, and there are some really good choices that fit with the powerful music – like the kicks at the end of the friezes in counts 1-16, and the back-touch steps in counts 17-24. I am a little less sure about the twists in counts 49-56, which are perhaps a little bit “shuffly” and not quite dramatic enough. Also, there are a few too many step-touch patterns in the dance, which may make it a bit repetitive.
As for the harder dance, the speed is one of the major contributors to its difficulty, of course. Most of the steps aren’t too hard on their own, but at full tempo things like the turn between two shuffles in counts 5 and 6, and the back-and-forth full turns in counts 21-28 become an exercise in balance. Those full turns, though, are again a great match to the dramatic music, particularly where they meet with the lyrics in the chorus “he’s gotta be strong, and he’s gotta be fast”. There are still a couple of odd choices – I would love to know, for example, why the step-lock-shuffle in counts 33-36 is followed by a step-lock-step in counts 37-40, rather than having the same step twice – but the last 4 counts of the dance just about make up for this, once again bringing the power to the dance that the music demands, especially on the tag walls where the side-hold-behind side cross gets doubled.
Gordon has delivered a solid split floor with these two dances, although I suspect that “Harder Hero” will be the more popular choice in most places.
