I don't think that the good dancers=not-so-good-fighters is considered to be a rule of thumb, but I have heard this mentioned a few times (by Thai people, not westerners) that those with really good dances are often mediocre fighters. I personally cannot comment whether or not this is true.

One thing I do know is that both of my Thai coaches encourage keeping the Ram Muay short and to the point. As stated earlier, their belief is that you enter the ring to fight, not dance. They both teach abbreviated versions of the Ram Muay.

My personal feeling is that I think that all fighters should try to learn the Ram Muay, and learn it well! I did not learn the Ram Muays that I know simply to go through the motions! I make an honest attempt to get the subtleties of the dance down-pat. Sure, on most occassions, those in attendance wouldn't know the difference, but *I* do! And in the event that there are Thai people in the audience, or even serving as officials, I want them to take pride in the fact that this westerner doesn't train in Muay Thai for the fighting alone.

I have two Ram Muay stories to share....

#1- In 1994, I participated in a USA vs. Canada Muay Thai event in Niagara Falls, NY. I was fighting a guy out of Siam No. 1 in Toronto under Master Suchart. This is the only time I have fought an opponent who also performed a Ram Muay prior to our match (except in exhibition bouts). The fight officials that evening were all Thai. After my opponent and I performed our dances, one of the Thai officials, based upon seeing our Ram Muays, predicted that I would knock my opponent out. Sure enough, the fight lasted a mere 43 seconds.

#2- Last year, I participated in a charity event at the Royal Thai Embassy in Washington, D.C. Our gym performed some exhibition matches. My training partner and I went through the entire pre-fight warmups, massage with oil, blessings by our coach... then we did our Ram Muays.... The whole experience is hard to put into words. The crowd (about 200+ people) was about 70% Thai, we had a live Emcee doing color commentary in Thai, the traditional Thai music was playing..... We both discussed it after our exhibition match and it was like something came over us! We were both completely in a zone! Our coach had prepared us to fight each other in such a way where we weren't really hitting each other for real, but slapping at one another to make loud noises to impress the crowd. But after we completed our Ram Muays, we were both "in that zone", and we just started duking it out for real! We banged the fuck out of each others shins, totally beating on one another. The crowd LOVED IT! Afterwards, neither one of us was hurt besides a few minor bruises. It was like we had "worked our magic" with our Ram Muays and received the protective spells or something....

I know, I know.... you don't need to say it: Put the crack pipe down! LOL