Not sure if you have experienced martial arts. It's constant learning. Sparring is a small part of the process. See kata in karate, hundreds of moves and transitions in BJJ, etc
100% agree. Not to mention that the goal of a dance partner isn't usually to surprise you, whereas in most forms of sparring, you are constantly trying to anticipate your opponent and adapt to them.
Anticipating and adapting is how lead-follow dances work, especially when your partner is not your usual partner. The follower anticipates and adapts to the leader, the leader anticipates and adapts to the follower's skill and knowledge level. A good lead will make the follower look good and feel good. A leader is also responsible for collision avoidance with other couples, and enables the follower to have confidence in moving backwards.
Think of it this way. It requires enough of your brain that you cannot carry on a conversation at the same time. If you're out jogging, you can have a conversation.
I generally agree with you, but GP and above were talking about martial arts, not jogging. I expect there's likely not much conversation going on between sparring partners, either.
I'm confused. All of the posts you replied to in this chain mentioned martial arts -- maybe you didn't understand that sparring is part of the practice of martial arts?
