I was into the Seattle salsa scene and definitely saw a lot of engineers get "really good" at salsa. However, you can almost always tell who's a developer and who isn't, based on how they dance. They dance like they're just trying to solve another problem, just a set of steps to follow, feedback, etc.
They often forget that they are dancing to music with a woman (forgive the stereotype). They forget to smile, to enjoy, to make eye contact with her, or to care about the music they are dancing to. They just keep running through vuelta after vuelta...it's cool to see how they master it, but it still doesn't look like dancing.
Then again, who am I to judge dancing? I learned the basics in Bogota, Colombia and that's how they dance there (music and connection valued above moves) Maybe the engineered dancing truly is dancing, but it sure looks lifeless to me.
I know some of these people. And they aren't just engineers. The worst is when they try leading the woman through a complicated pattern that requires strong leads - and risk hurting them and the people around them.
I do think it is unfair to broadly stereotype - some of the best dancers I know have full time engineering jobs (one even competed in the World Championship of Salsa), and even if they are "routine machines" - they are trying - getting out of their comfort zone - most macho men are too macho to even put their masculinity on the line by trying to learn how to partner dance.
Remember, the best part of the dance floor is no one cares who you are, what you do - only that you can hear the music and lead a dance to it - to connect through the music and to each other. I don't always achieve that but that is my goal.
And so again it boils down to difference in concept definition: Is a 'best' dancer one who is into the music and connection or the one who's mastered the moves? Treat question as rhetorical.
"When you take dancing lessons, you learn steps and you learn steps and you learn steps. It can go on for a long time. And then one day, you just learn to dance, and it is so different."
Then again, who am I to judge dancing? I learned the basics in Bogota, Colombia and that's how they dance there (music and connection valued above moves) Maybe the engineered dancing truly is dancing, but it sure looks lifeless to me.