UCSD Dancesport Competition: 3rd in lindy hop!
This past Saturday a small expedition of us headed down to UCSD for their annual competition. Wendy and I signed up for quite a few dances, not really expecting to place in any of them. This was particularly the case with the nightclub dances; unlike the Caltech competition, which had separate levels for beginner and intermediate dances (we placed 2nd in beginner lindy hop), the UCSD competition only had a single level for all dancers.
Earlier in the day we competed in bronze-level east coast swing, international cha-cha, American rumba, and jive. Cha-cha and rumba were actually last-minute additions that we made the morning of the competition. Alas, we ended up not being called back for any of those. My excuse for swing is that I still haven't gotten used to the idea of dancing to a syllabus -- I kept on wanting to do a particular move which would fit the music well, and then having to cancel it immediately beforehand when I recalled that I wasn't allowed to do that particular move.
During the nightclub dance session, here's a summary of how the initial rounds for the dances went:
* merengue: I actually have no idea how to dance merengue, but it sort of looks like ceroc with wiggling hips and shoulders. I ended up competing in this for the heck of it and dancing "cerengue," and I have a suspicion it didn't look too good.
* hustle: I only learned this dance first term, so I'm still pretty rough at it. The song was faster than I expected, but overall the dancing felt reasonably good, although not flashy in any way.
* west coast swing: Another dance that I don't actually know, I usually end up dancing slow lindy hop. This one also felt reasonably good, although I didn't manage to hit any musical breaks like I did at the Caltech competition.
* lindy hop: Wendy was actually in the middle of a shoe-change when they called for lindy hop, and she ended up hurriedly putting her shoes on and we dashed onto the floor just in time. They gave us a pretty fast song, but since we've been specifically practicing for fast music, it was manageable. I can't do aerials yet, so nothing too flashy, but overall everything felt pretty good.
We managed to actually get called back for the final round of lindy hop, which I was quite happy about. It was kind of funny, because I couldn't really understand the announcer when he was calling out the numbers for the final round. My number was 142, but I could've sworn I heard him say "143". I started asking Wendy about it, but then she charged onto the floor, leaving me perplexed and confused. Eventually somebody behind me gave me a kind push on my back, sending me onto the floor, which I was quite thankful for in retrospect.
I rejoined Wendy on the floor, still uncertain about whether or not I was actually in the final round. They started playing "Mambo Swing" by Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, which as you might guess from the title, isn't exactly an ideal lindy hop song. After several confused seconds of trying to dance to it, they eventually stopped the music and had us wait until they found a different song.
They eventually started playing "Sing, sing, sing," which I think elicited a momentary look of panic on my face. It's actually one of my favorite songs, but it's absurdly fast and rather difficult to dance to, especially if you don't dance to a pre-made routine. I ended up losing my timing repeatedly, and even though I had a lot of fun, I was pretty sure that had been completely botched. After the dance I actually told Wendy, "I think I totally messed that up, but we had fun with it, and that's what counts."
When it came time for awards though, we somehow managed to get 3rd place. I'm going to have to look through the recordings of the event to understand how that happened. Maybe everybody else was also having problems staying on time? In any case, w00t!
Near the end of the day we had team matches, where everybody ended up dressing up like a pirate. Here we are:
I actually think I ended up looking more like a hippie than a pirate, but oh well. Alas, we ended up getting 7th (out of 8th) place for the team matches. Wendy and I danced blind-fold rumba (rumba with the guy blindfolded) and shrinking island jive (where caution tape encircled each couple to create an island which was gradually reduced in size). Robert and Jessie danced swordfight tango (tango with plastic swords used however you see fit) and peg-leg cha-cha (cha-cha with absurdly stiff legs).
The UCSD dance team also did this really neat event, called "Dancing with the Staff." For the event, they had previously taken UCSD professors and deans and taught them waltz and cha-cha. They then had them compete against each other, and the audience voted for the winners.
All in all, a fun day.
Photo gallery: http://flickr.com/photos/neilh/sets/72157594572084125/
Earlier in the day we competed in bronze-level east coast swing, international cha-cha, American rumba, and jive. Cha-cha and rumba were actually last-minute additions that we made the morning of the competition. Alas, we ended up not being called back for any of those. My excuse for swing is that I still haven't gotten used to the idea of dancing to a syllabus -- I kept on wanting to do a particular move which would fit the music well, and then having to cancel it immediately beforehand when I recalled that I wasn't allowed to do that particular move.
During the nightclub dance session, here's a summary of how the initial rounds for the dances went:
* merengue: I actually have no idea how to dance merengue, but it sort of looks like ceroc with wiggling hips and shoulders. I ended up competing in this for the heck of it and dancing "cerengue," and I have a suspicion it didn't look too good.
* hustle: I only learned this dance first term, so I'm still pretty rough at it. The song was faster than I expected, but overall the dancing felt reasonably good, although not flashy in any way.
* west coast swing: Another dance that I don't actually know, I usually end up dancing slow lindy hop. This one also felt reasonably good, although I didn't manage to hit any musical breaks like I did at the Caltech competition.
* lindy hop: Wendy was actually in the middle of a shoe-change when they called for lindy hop, and she ended up hurriedly putting her shoes on and we dashed onto the floor just in time. They gave us a pretty fast song, but since we've been specifically practicing for fast music, it was manageable. I can't do aerials yet, so nothing too flashy, but overall everything felt pretty good.
We managed to actually get called back for the final round of lindy hop, which I was quite happy about. It was kind of funny, because I couldn't really understand the announcer when he was calling out the numbers for the final round. My number was 142, but I could've sworn I heard him say "143". I started asking Wendy about it, but then she charged onto the floor, leaving me perplexed and confused. Eventually somebody behind me gave me a kind push on my back, sending me onto the floor, which I was quite thankful for in retrospect.
I rejoined Wendy on the floor, still uncertain about whether or not I was actually in the final round. They started playing "Mambo Swing" by Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, which as you might guess from the title, isn't exactly an ideal lindy hop song. After several confused seconds of trying to dance to it, they eventually stopped the music and had us wait until they found a different song.
They eventually started playing "Sing, sing, sing," which I think elicited a momentary look of panic on my face. It's actually one of my favorite songs, but it's absurdly fast and rather difficult to dance to, especially if you don't dance to a pre-made routine. I ended up losing my timing repeatedly, and even though I had a lot of fun, I was pretty sure that had been completely botched. After the dance I actually told Wendy, "I think I totally messed that up, but we had fun with it, and that's what counts."
When it came time for awards though, we somehow managed to get 3rd place. I'm going to have to look through the recordings of the event to understand how that happened. Maybe everybody else was also having problems staying on time? In any case, w00t!
Near the end of the day we had team matches, where everybody ended up dressing up like a pirate. Here we are:
I actually think I ended up looking more like a hippie than a pirate, but oh well. Alas, we ended up getting 7th (out of 8th) place for the team matches. Wendy and I danced blind-fold rumba (rumba with the guy blindfolded) and shrinking island jive (where caution tape encircled each couple to create an island which was gradually reduced in size). Robert and Jessie danced swordfight tango (tango with plastic swords used however you see fit) and peg-leg cha-cha (cha-cha with absurdly stiff legs).
The UCSD dance team also did this really neat event, called "Dancing with the Staff." For the event, they had previously taken UCSD professors and deans and taught them waltz and cha-cha. They then had them compete against each other, and the audience voted for the winners.
All in all, a fun day.
Photo gallery: http://flickr.com/photos/neilh/sets/72157594572084125/