Things You CANNOT Control at a Ballroom Dance Competition
- How hot the ballroom is
- How cold the ballroom is
- How slick the floor is
- How sticky the floor is
- How crowded the floor is
- How empty the floor is
- How big the floor is
- How small the floor is
- When you dance very early
- When you dance very late
- When you dance all your heats in.a.row
- When you dance all your heats spread out throughout the day
- When they are running ahead of schedule
- When they are running behind schedule
- How long each heat is danced
- What tempo the music is
- How strong the beat is
- What song is played
- How many people are watching
- How few people are watching
- Where other couples dance
- When other couples dance
- How other couples dance
- How other couples place
- How you place
- How much time you have in between heats if you dance more than one style
- What your partner is doing
Things You Can Control at a Ballroom Dance Competition
- Your dancing
- Your look
Well. That second list is short.
Here's the hard fact about comps: the only thing you have control over is yourself.
BUT many of the uncontrollable aspects of competition can be managed with proper preparation of "just" your dancing and your look.
You can practice as many RIDICULOUS situations as possible as many times as possible BECAUSE THEY ALL HAPPEN.
- You'll end up dancing Open American Viennese Waltz on a 12' square platform four feet off the ground for 500 executives.
- You'll get tripped on purpose by a drunk pro during a pro-am competition with your student.
- You'll have to duck, bob, weave, and separate from your partner completely.
- You'll have a wardrobe malfunction.
- You'll dance at 1am after starting at 6am.
- You'll get kicked, stepped on, and elbowed.
- You'll pause in one place for more than a measure.
- You'll fall down.
- You'll forget your routine entirely.
- You'll dance to "Inchworm" in a final.
Shit happens in the ballroom. The challenge is to learn how to deal with it. And once you learn how to deal with it, many of "problems" you have at competitions will be part of the daily routine, instead of destroying your good time on the floor.
Challenge Your Dancing
- Practice on floors that are too tiny (try our house! or section off a big ballroom with chairs!)
- Practice with music that is too slow, too fast, and too long
- Practice at peak hours in the studio, or create practice rounds with your buds (especially if they dance different levels than you!)
- Practice at 6am and midnight
- Hit every studio showcase, local comp, and performance opportunity available
- Practice with your least favorite songs and genres
- Practice by yourself! (Or sometimes with your partner next to you, but not in connection)
- Practice with your buddies purposely getting in your way
- Practice charging your phone before you go to sleep and setting 7 alarms so you know you won't miss your heats.
- Practice having fun (make up a story line: I totally destroy the Death Star in my Waltz; find your buddies on the sideline and schmooze them, pretend you are your dance hero and channel their performance style)
Challenge Your Look
- Practice your hair and makeup millions of times so you know it's going to come out right. Or NOT come out, right?
- Practice in your real dress and hair and makeup to make sure your foot doesn't catch in your horsehair or your fringe doesn't bash your partner in the face on that one trick and that you really look the way you want to look.
- Practice in your fancy pants to make sure the length is correct: you only want to see a glimpse of your pizza socks, not to see your ankle the entire dance.
- Practice your roll-out so you know how many turns you can confidently do, how to not get caught in your floats, and which way you both are going to face.
- Video your "tech" practice and see if your look is cohesive.
- Send your video (or even pictures) to some trusted coaches and see if they agree.
The Perfect Round
Working on all of these ideas will culminate in the Perfect Round, right?
THERE IS NO PERFECT ROUND.
I've heard dancers talking about this concept in an ambiguous way. They danced visibly well, but "it didn't feel right" or "we ran into these couples" or "I forgot to do that thing I've been working on" or "I fell down" or WHAT HAVE YOU.
A vacuum the ballroom competition is not, as Yoda would say.
While dancing your routines to "perfection" EVER is a nice idea, it's never going to happen. Dancing your shit to the best of your ability while keeping in mind all the interesting things that can happen while you're at a competition (see the first list) and your excellent, OBVIOUSLY ALREADY PLANNED goals will keep your attitude in the right place: looking up and moving line of dance.
Six years ago (yes, this blog is older than most of my children): Don't Dance What You See: Episode IV
