1st national J&J: Lessons learned
So I had the excellent opportunity last weekend to learn a lot of things at DSCM by competing in the J&J.
I found two videos that showed me a lot.
I'm in the suit & tie with white shoes.
Yeah, that would be Tonya cheering like crazy.
While in the technique department I'm generally alright (still gotta work on center, using lines, and not hunching over during swingouts), but my dancing is DAMN BORING to watch.
While social dancing has a lot of subtlety, in competition, you're not just dancing for your partner, but for everyone watching. I'm trained to feel comfortable, not to be good looking.
Someone explained to me that while he was judging, he was just wandering around from one person to another, and occasionally someone would do something that would elicit cheering from the audience, but by the time he would look over, it would already be done. Sort of like trying to watch for shooting stars. So not only do you have to attract the audience's attention, but you have to hold it to really score points with the judges.
I also learned a lot of other interesting strategies like wearing shiny colors (hm… is that why westies wear glitter?) or red.
Sometimes you don't have to do things flashy to attract attention. Minn and Corrina use a lot of stop breaks or half-times to pull the crowd in, then resume busting out.
So just a little food for thought.
So I think the next step is to really expand my dance vocabulary and learn how to be more dynamic in my dance. I know exactly who to approach for this kind of stuff: Ben and Sheri.
California, here I come!
I found two videos that showed me a lot.
I'm in the suit & tie with white shoes.
Yeah, that would be Tonya cheering like crazy.
While in the technique department I'm generally alright (still gotta work on center, using lines, and not hunching over during swingouts), but my dancing is DAMN BORING to watch.
While social dancing has a lot of subtlety, in competition, you're not just dancing for your partner, but for everyone watching. I'm trained to feel comfortable, not to be good looking.
Someone explained to me that while he was judging, he was just wandering around from one person to another, and occasionally someone would do something that would elicit cheering from the audience, but by the time he would look over, it would already be done. Sort of like trying to watch for shooting stars. So not only do you have to attract the audience's attention, but you have to hold it to really score points with the judges.
I also learned a lot of other interesting strategies like wearing shiny colors (hm… is that why westies wear glitter?) or red.
Sometimes you don't have to do things flashy to attract attention. Minn and Corrina use a lot of stop breaks or half-times to pull the crowd in, then resume busting out.
So just a little food for thought.
So I think the next step is to really expand my dance vocabulary and learn how to be more dynamic in my dance. I know exactly who to approach for this kind of stuff: Ben and Sheri.
California, here I come!