Thanks, Michael, you nailed down what I meant perfectly. I was going to
respond that "smooth" probably wasn't the right term to have used, since it
has multiple facets.
I think of traditional and traditional-feeling dances as "smooth" not
because the choreography is technically more flowing but because they
somehow feel more lived in, as if any rough spots came naturally. They
don't feel carefully engineered and crafted to be exemplars of "flow" so
much as discovered, worn into shape through luck and happy use. Sort of a
Velveteen Rabbit effect, if that makes any sense.
Neal Schlein
Youth Services Librarian, Mahomet Public Library