So, you've been taking group classes for a year; you've had three or four private lessons; you've studied the syllabus; you've found a partner; you've joined USA Dance; you've read the rule book; you know what you're going to wear. You're ready to compete, right?
Almost.
You'll need to find a good event for your first outing. The least expensive competitions - and therefore those best suited to newcomers - are run by collegiate dancesport teams. It can be a little difficult to find some of these competitions, as none of them are listed by NDCA and not all of them by USA Dance. I try to keep up with the local ones here, but as you can see from the calendar posted a few days ago, it's not always easy to get current information. Start with the USA Dance competition calendar, though, and Someone there will know Something - enough to get you looking in the right place.
If there's not a collegiate event handy, look for a USA Dance chapter or regional competition. Everyone in the organization is a volunteer, so you know they really care about what they're doing. The goal of the national organization is to get DanceSport into the Olympics, so you know they really care about competition. They'll do their best to answer your questions and make your first outing fun.
Once you've found an event, review their entry and registration information. Most of the time, you'll be able to find a Newcomer category as well as a Bronze. If you're learning American style, Newcomer Smooth is usually Waltz, and Newcomer Rhythm is usually Cha-Cha. You can only dance Newcomer at your very first competition, so don't miss this opportunity - it will help you warm up for Bronze. Bronze Smooth will be Waltz & Tango, or Waltz & Foxtrot; Bronze Rhythm will be Cha-Cha and Rumba. Now you know what routines to put together.
Your routines can include as many of the Bronze syllabus figures as you've learned. It's entirely up to you and your coach how you put them together. Your coach will also help you avoid technical mistakes that could disqualify you, such as not closing your feet at the end of each figure in your Smooth dances. The competition DJ will play between 1.5 and 2 minutes of music for each dance, so you can choose to choreograph up to two minutes of music, or one minute with a linking move to start over with. The latter route is usually the best for newcomers. Each of the dances for Bronze will have between 26 and 32 measures of music per minute. If you choreograph at least 30 measures, you're covered. This won't go as far as you think: most figures are two, four, or six measures.
Okay, now you've found an event, submitted your entries, and learned your routines! You're ready to go, right? What could go wrong?
Five Most Common Competition Disasters
1. You forget your choreography. 2. You crash into another couple. 3. You have a wardrobe malfunction. 4. You arrive too late, or are out of the ballroom, and miss your event. 5. You dance off time.
Avoiding, or Planning Ahead for, Competition Disasters
1. The best way to prevent mind blank is to practice, practice, practice. Do your choreography to many different pieces of music, in many different spaces. The things you see around you while you practice can become subconscious visual cues to your choreography, and in a different environment, you miss your cues. If you get a chance to perform your routines, take it! Most studios hold practice parties, and student performances are nearly always welcome. If your local chapter of USA Dance does Outreach events, join in and perform there. You'd be surprised how much it helps.
2. The best way to prevent crashing is to dance, a lot, socially. The only way to get good at floorcraft is to maneuver around a dance floor often. The more proficient you are at avoiding collisions, the more kindly competition judges will look upon you. You will probably have more space on the competition dance floor than you do at a social dance, but - especially in the smooth dances - people do progress around the line of dance and you can count on having to avoid someone, sometime. Remember that both partners share responsibility for watching traffic.
3. Wardrobe malfunctions are more likely to befall ladies than men, but anyone can lose a button. Be sure to actually dance in the clothes you plan to wear at the competition at least once - and dance full out. Exaggerate your action to make sure your clothes will move with you. Check on things like bra straps, buttons, hooks & snaps - anything that might distract you or come undone while you're dancing. Spaghetti strap on dresses are notorious for slipping off a shoulder; use garment tape if it will make you feel more secure. And take a spare pair of shoes: it's uncommon to have a shoe fail on you, but if an ankle strap should break, and you don't have any other acceptable shoes, you'd have to scratch your entry.
4. The best way to avoid missing your event is to get everywhere early and to make sure at least one partner is in the ballroom at all times. Organizers try very hard to not shuffle the heats around, but sometimes things do get rescheduled, and they cannot send out runners to find missing contestants. You should be at the competition and checking in no less than ninety minutes before your first heat is scheduled to run. This may seem like overkill, but consider that you have to get changed, get your leader's number on, try to get out on the floor to get a feel for it, drink some water and/or coffee, go to the restroom, fix your hair, and hyperventilate a little bit ... you'll want the time, believe me.
5. The best way to avoid dancing off time is to listen to, and dance to, a lot of different music. Learn to hear the rhythms. Anytime you hear music, try to figure out what kind of dance you could do. Learn to hear the phrasing of the music. Most dance music is phrased in four- or eight-measure blocks; you'll want to get comfortable with starting at the beginning of a phrase. For cha-cha in particular, learn to hear the "2". If you start your rock step on "1" you'll be marked down.
We're ten days away from High Desert. Are you ready?
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