Reserved a room for the ALHC

[SwinginBoo]

Ok, going to re-post this.

I reserved a room for the American Lindy Hop Championships. That's my first step towards competing. I've decided to compete in the Open Jack & Jill category. It's on a first come first serve basis so I'll have to get there early. I'm psyched. :D

Oh and Jenn, I think you asked what Jack & Jills are. It's when you get paired up with a partner at random and music is selected by the judges. You have 45 seconds to dance with that partner alone on the floor. Then they take six couples at a time and dance for 1 min. 30 secs. That's called a heat. Judges decide who moves on until there is only one Jack and Jill left. :cry:

[pygmalion]

Yup, SwinginBoo, I did ask about Jack and Jills. Yikes! Sounds fun, but the randomly switching partners thing sounds terrifying! :shock: Fun, and educational, but scary. Good luck. :D I'm sure you'll do great!

[SDsalsaguy]

Ok, going to re-post this.
Ok, in that case I'll re-post too... Good Luck SwinginBoo! :D

You're probably the last person who needs to be reminded of this, buit just have a great time and enjoy!

Jenn...Jack & Jills are, beyond a question, the most honest contestations of real lead & follow dancing. Really interesting to watch too! You get to see who's just into themselves, who really connects with their partner, etc.

Boo...at your events to you stay in the same pairings all the way through or, in each round, to they re-mix and match all the leads and follows? Just curious.

[SwinginBoo]

Boo...at your events to you stay in the same pairings all the way through or, in each round, to they re-mix and match all the leads and follows? Just curious.

In each round you may be paired with new people, so you never know. It really is a diffcult competition because you don't always have great connection with every person you dance with. It's funny that way.

[SDsalsaguy]

Yeah...but that format does empower the best and most adaptable leader and follower to excel accordingly. What I absolutely hate are Jack & Jills where you stay with the same person for every round (even on multiple nights!)... that makes it more luck of the draw then anything else. :(

[SwinginBoo]

This is true.

Of course imagine being paired with your perfect partner and advancing to the next round and then being paired with someone you can't connect with...and not advancing. I think it's luck either way.

[SDsalsaguy]

True, luck is still (and obviously) an element...but I still think that by switching you have better odds, overall, of getting the best leaders and followers to do well.

[SwinginBoo]

So this is my first competition. I'm not sure what to wear for an open jack and jill. Does anyone have any suggestions? :?

[pygmalion]

No clue, but a few questions to clarify for others who might know. What dances are you doing? What kind of competition is it?

[SwinginBoo]

It will be swing -- particularly Lindy. But I'm thinking that since this is a casual competition that serious vintage dress-up would be over-kill. I don't know though. I was hoping someone else may have done one of these before.

[Swing Kitten]

All of the photos I've seen (not all that many) show people in preety casual garb... gals in flowie pants etc.

I'd say something to accentuate your nice swivels ;) knock 'em dead!

[SwinginBoo]

Ok I just bought my weekend pass which will allow me to enter competitions :gulp: and workshops with various instructors. Too bad you can't come Swing Kitten, it's going to be an awesome time. There will be balboa, lifts/drops, flying lindy, and all sorts of cool workshops.

I'm getting a bit nervous. I don't want to screw up and ruin someone else's chance to win, you know? But I guess this competition is just about that. You don't know what will happen. I know if I don't enter the comp, I will regret it for the next year, so gosh darn it, I'm going to do it. :D

[SDsalsaguy]

Hey now...you may be just as likely to win it for someone as to lose it for them! AND... I'm sure that you'll make it fun for them no matter what, so it's win-win either way! :D

[SwinginBoo]

Well it all happens tomorrow. I will report back to you all ASAP. Probably won't be until monday though...

[SDsalsaguy]

Good luck Boo, and have a blast! :mrgreen:

[dancergal]

The Jack & Jill for WCS are random partners for 3 songs, switching partners for each song in the preliminaries. You are judged individually. Then for the finals, you get one partner for all three songs, but you move to different places on the floor between songs. You are then judged as a couple. Depending on how big the comp is, you can have many couples on the floor or just a few. Some girls dress with really flashy tops and black swing pants or just casual dance tops. Girls like to wear something that will make them stand out so the judges will notice them, so more reds or white than black. I've seen the lindy people sometimes wear swishy skirts, but not all of them. Good luck Boo! It's a lot of fun!

[SwinginBoo]

Well I'm back and had a fantastic weekend. I didn't win, but didn't expect to. I did find something to wear and it was really cute I think. (I hope to post some pictures if I can figure it out.) With workshops and social dancing I think I danced for about 15 hours on Saturday. It was a blast. I got to take a Hollyvoy (hollywood/savoy) workshop with sylvia sykes that was great for learning some new syncopations. Bruce and I also took a Lifts/drops workshop with Kenneth and Helena - the 1997 ALHC Champions. They were a lot of fun. We learned some neat dips and fun jumps.

The time leading up to the competition Bruce was like, are you nervous? And I wasn't because for one thing, there were 40 couples competing so the odds of actually making it - this being my first j&j were slim- so really I just took the whole thing as a fun experience. And it was. It was something special to go there and have them call your name in front of all these people and be able to feel like you're a part of what's going on there without any of the pressure. I really want to compete next year in a real category, perhaps strictly lindy. I'm not sure yet. All I know is that i really need to do a lot of work before I would be ready for it. Going to an event like this is so exhilarating and thrilling, to see the things people can do with their bodies and feet. But it's also a little daunting to realize there is so much I don't know and that I have to learn. Also, realizing these people are as good as they are because of the time they put in. It's a bit depressing to know I can't financially or time-wise afford to learn all there is to learn. But I suppose I'll try my best and do what I can. Right now I think for me learning more syncopations would be the best route.

Thanks for all the advice and support. :D I'll let you know if I get the pictures up and running.

Stephanie

[Sagitta]

Great to see that you had a good time. :)

Virgilio

[SwinginBoo]

Ok I posted the pictures under the member galleries section. I'm so mad...they're all blurry. I need a new camera. :cry: