John At Theory My Culture dissects how Danny fits into the world of Nigel & Co.:
On another hand, the judges’ critique of Danny says a lot about why ballroom dancers have stayed around so long. The ballroom folks get a real pass on the “dance for your life” segment; we’re pretty convinced, thanks judges!, that they struggle to do solo work, given the central role of “partnering” in ballroom styles. Ballroom is about technique and choreography, sure, but after that is mastered, it is as much about exuberant personality as anything else. (Let’s leave the strange fashion aside for now.) And so the critique of Danny tells us a lot about why ballroom people stick around. If the judges want personality, then ballroom is all about just that personality. The energy, the charisma, etc. Danny’s form has a different relation to expression. It is first about technique - which the write-up in the New York Times obsesses over - and only after about the personal. Even then, the personal sits on the fringes of performance (and therein lies the difference from ballroom).
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