First Dance Competition - Wish Me Luck

This weekend, I will be going to Pittsburgh for a big Blues Dancing workshop. One of the things I plan to do while there is to compete in a Jack and Jill competition. I have danced for a long time, been part of a performance company, even instructed... but I have yet to compete. I am excited and nervous.

For those of you not familiar with social dancing (probably the majority) a Jack and Jill is a competition format where you register as either a lead (traditionally men) or follow and get assigned a partner randomly, rather than showing up as a couple. The idea is, much like spec racing, to keep a level playing field and make it really about social dance skill of what you can genuinely lead/follow, and not have the opportunity to practice any choreography ahead of time.

If you want to know what Blues dancing and Jack and Jill competitions look like, here is an example (new couples take turns about every 2 minutes, so jump around for different individual styles; my personal style is probably most similar to the guy at the 2:00 mark): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMa8mkkZ3ao

I will do my best to get some video up after the event of my actual dancing.

Good luck man, and most importantly, have FUN!

Looks tough- good luck!

I've been trying to remember some interesting steps for Merenge and Salsa for many years- just can't get them to stick in my head.

I've got three left feet. People who can dance and look good at it, always amaze me.

Good luck and have a blast.

Good luck. An I'm with you toyman, I dance at weddings an whatnot but only after many beers and it is not a pretty site. I always wished I could at least not look like a fool when I dance.

Good luck!

I am taking an 11 week course, once a week on sunday nights, learning salsa, swing, chacha, waltz, nightclub two step. Its been a blast so far. Blues looks cool but hard!

In reply to nepa03focus:

If people want me to dance, they better hit me with a taser. There isn't enough alcohol in the state to get me to dance. I'd look like a whale trying to get back off the beach.

Good luck!

My girlfriend and I have taken, and will probably try again, a dance lesson or two. It's an overwhelming catastrophe of nerves, clumsiness, and impatience so far...

The only advanced footwork I am good at is heel-and-toe. Good luck!

It's hard to say if Blues is easy or hard. I found it very intuitive. It is definitely more simple. There really aren't any fancy footwork patterns or crazy rhythms you have to master. A lot of it is just step-touch or step-drag. But it is a lot of body control and being able to interpret and play with the moods in the music physically.

I have been doing a lot of practicing lately. But it isn't fancy footwork. It's things like keeping good shoulder shimmies going while just walking around with the pulse of the music.

And if anyone in Central Ohio wants dance lessons, I'm happy to give them. I'm especially good at connecting the foreign-seeming movements in dance with familiar motions and sensations to make learning dance an organic thing. Especially for men who find dance awkward and uncoordinated.

Kick his ass, Sea Bass.

(Jim Carrey reference)

Good luck! For a solid year and a half, I danced salsa at least a few times a week. In that span, I danced with hundreds of partners. It is great just learning your partner from the first count of eight; every dance is different. Some dances are lighthearted, some are intimidating; some are precise, and others never seen to click. Considering that you will be at a competition, I imagine that all of your partners will be very highly skilled. Let's hope that the all read your lead!

In reply to Mitchell:

It's an open competition, so there could be not so great dancers. They are doing two rounds of competition though. In the preliminary round you ate judged individually and people get eliminated. Final round you're judged as a couple.

I'm confident I'll get through the preliminaries. I'll be surprised, but not shocked, if I place in the finals.

My wife any took dancing lesson prior to getting married, there are all sorts of different styles. My question is how did you fall into blues dancing? looks cool, I don't think we have that local in Erie.

trigun7469 wrote: My wife any took dancing lesson prior to getting married, there are all sorts of different styles. My question is how did you fall into blues dancing? looks cool, I don't think we have that local in Erie.

I fell into it originally through swing dancing. There is usually a lot of overlap between the communities, or at least someone who can point you in the right direction. There are online lessons and such, but they are no replacement for in person lessons. That might require traveling for a weekend workshop or exchange.

Beer Baron wrote:

trigun7469 wrote: My wife any took dancing lesson prior to getting married, there are all sorts of different styles. My question is how did you fall into blues dancing? looks cool, I don't think we have that local in Erie.

I fell into it originally through swing dancing. There is usually a lot of overlap between the communities, or at least someone who can point you in the right direction. There are online lessons and such, but they are no replacement for in person lessons. That might require traveling for a weekend workshop or exchange.

Any recommendations on places to travel? What should we look for in cost?

trigun7469 wrote: Any recommendations on places to travel? What should we look for in cost?

Off the top of my head... I'd need to look more at the national calendar of stuff. I will be going to a big event in Pittsburgh this weekend, but the workshop passes are all sold out... and it's tomorrow. This particular event cost $110, which is 8 hours of instruction and potentially 3 evenings of dancing to live and DJ'd music. That's pretty typical.

Here is a calendar with a list of upcoming blues Exchanges and Workshops: http://bluescal.com/

If you are relatively young and want to save money, most Exchanges will coordinate housing for visiting dancers, if you're willing to crash on someone's floor.

It's why I love this particular site so much. Never would I have thought that I would be interested to hear about a dude dancing and go watch the supporting videos. I love the mechanical talents of the group, and that there are so many diverse interests to fill in the rest of the time. Good luck to you in Pittsburgh - I'll be rooting for you!

Well, had the competition. I think I did solidly, but I did not make it into finals. This is not because I'm a bad dancer, but because the guys who did make it were that good (4 of the 6 of them were traveling instructors who teach at other workshops, but not classes at this one). Here is the video of me in the prelims; I'm the guy with the sideburns:

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10203647608215478&l=6574508969435288526