Becoming Ballroom Comp Literate

[pygmalion]

I'm still setting dance goals for the next year. (My list of goals is way long. LOL!) Anyway, another of my goals is to get with it in terms of understanding the ballroom competition circuit -- knowing who the movers and shakers are, understanding the issues, etc. How do I go about doing that? What are the resources out there? Books? Magazines? Websites? People? Networking opportunities?

[Vince A]

We went though this . . .

You probably already have enough websites . . .

We subscribe to several magazines that pertain to the venues that we compete in, so we could stay up with the latest news . . . we did the tape of all the Pros thing . . . we attended all the their local dances or workshops, so they could meet us . . . I could go on. It can be very political, so learn to kiss a**. I couldn't do it, but I still took 3 first overall last year, but sucked at World's.

You need to compete in both coasts circuits, so all of the judges get a chance to see you . . . as many events as you can muster! This is what killed me at World's - the East coast judges had never seen me before.

We went to take privates and to compete with those who are always seem to be in the limelight, which was exposure for us as well. Now most of the Pros and judges know us on sight by our first name - more to do with Carolyn's level than mine though, but I'm along for the ride).