well, It just seems the routines put up by my instructor are very basic and not so interesting. even it is for the beginer level competition, there seems nobody at my school can advance to the semifinal. It makes me wonder if I should find a different routine for the next competition, and it also seems some couples are doing a lot of complicated stuff in their routines, and they don't seem follow the rule (they are doing more intermediate or advanced steps in beginer level) and the judges don't seem to mind and they end up in final round or win prizes! what's your guys suggestion? and where can I get a better routine for Jive, Cha, Waltz and QuickStep (for beginer and intermediate) cheers
Does the routine make a difference in the competition?
- Thread starter yoyao
- Start date
I'm not qualified to answer this staight out, yoyao. But there are some things that may impact the types of routines you do -- i.e. whether you're doing closed or open routines. Closed routines are strictly the syllabus steps, and they can look pretty boring next to open routines, which allow more complex choreography and steps at a higher level. Perhaps you were doing closed routines? That might be because of your teacher, but it's also possible that you just didn't have enough time to prepare open routines. A well-prepared closed routine is, IMHO, much better than an ill-prepared open routine. Even if the open routine is more interesting to the student, it's not necessarily better.
And as for advancing to the finals? That's a complicated one. Who knows how these things are judged. There's a good article around here somewhere about how these comps are judged. I'll try to find it for you. In the meantime, go to dancesportcomps.com. There's a good article in the judge's column there this month re: one judges view and her pet peeves. Check it out. 8)
And as for advancing to the finals? That's a complicated one. Who knows how these things are judged. There's a good article around here somewhere about how these comps are judged. I'll try to find it for you. In the meantime, go to dancesportcomps.com. There's a good article in the judge's column there this month re: one judges view and her pet peeves. Check it out. 8)
Adwiz
New Member
Wel, yoyao, it seems that you have noticed an inconsistency which is unfortunate. It's probably a good idea to check in the competition rules ahead of time whether the comp is "invigilated" which means that one of the judges is there purely to see if a couple is doing an "illegal" move in their routine (outside of syllabus range).
One of the challenges in the earlier levels (up to Gold) is that there are so few steps you can choose from, so the routine can look a little boring. This is especially noticeable when you do it over and over and over again in practice despite the fact that you know more complex steps and wish you could just dance them!
But with myself just competing at the Bronze level and working my way up, I've consoled myself with the fact that everyone is in the same boat. the goal is not to create a fancy routine but to dance the simple stuff like a champion. That creates a wonderful goal for us which we strive very hard to achieve. It includes things like expression, lightness, connection, posture, footwork. When you see top dancers doing the basic steps they make it look so good. That's our goal.
We even ask our coach to dance the routine with my partner while I videotape it to review over and over again how he does it so much better than I do. It allows me to slow it down and watch the fine points.
One of the challenges in the earlier levels (up to Gold) is that there are so few steps you can choose from, so the routine can look a little boring. This is especially noticeable when you do it over and over and over again in practice despite the fact that you know more complex steps and wish you could just dance them!
But with myself just competing at the Bronze level and working my way up, I've consoled myself with the fact that everyone is in the same boat. the goal is not to create a fancy routine but to dance the simple stuff like a champion. That creates a wonderful goal for us which we strive very hard to achieve. It includes things like expression, lightness, connection, posture, footwork. When you see top dancers doing the basic steps they make it look so good. That's our goal.
We even ask our coach to dance the routine with my partner while I videotape it to review over and over again how he does it so much better than I do. It allows me to slow it down and watch the fine points.
It's not what you dance but how you dance it. The time limit for a heat is 90 seconds. Therefore the judges get to watch you for about 10 seconds. In that time they don't get to see all the school figures you are doing. But rather they see the quality of what it is you are doing. If your foot tech.,top line ,styling, timing and grooming are better than the other couples you are rewarded. Having a routine to compete with gives you an advantage in that you can work on the technical aspects of only those moves. So what you present to the judges will be perfect. You can't beat great looking basics. If you are bored with the level you are in try a solo routine to learn new steps in.
I would tend to agree with adwiz and twodance on this one. It's a mistake to get hung up on choreography or steps in lieu of good dancing. In my experience, it's not what you dance in your routine, but how you dance it.
Given that dance competitions are judged very subjectively and choreography can be important, it's easy to get lost in the importance of choreography. Particularly if you tend to think other couple are winning with their choreography. However, remember that the judges don't know your choreography and they will probably see you dance for maybe 10 seconds. You can't control which 10 seconds they'll see. Even if you have a fantastic, eye turning open routine, they may catch the 10 seconds where you are dancing a basic and mark you just on how well you did that. Still, it is quite possible to dance the most basic elements in a way that will be noticed and marked favorably.
At one competition, I was a last moment fill-in for a Waltz/Quickstep 2-dance event. I only had an hour to work with my partner before we had to dance. To further add to the challenge, my partner did not know quickstep! :shock: So we spent 20 minutes before the event learning quickstep. Needless to say,
our choreography was extremely simple (especially our quickstep!). My partner was a real trooper and did an outstanding job dancing our primitive choreography with balance, control, and precision. When you combined this with a big bright smile which lit up the ballroom, it was impossible not stand out in a very crowded field of established couples. Despite our challenges, we danced very well. It was not until we managed to reach a semi-final in a very crowded field that our obvious weakness in quickstep finally did us in :wink: . Not bad for an hour of practice!
.
At a recent competition, my partner and I won our category in a very crowded field (over 35 couples! :shock: ). Since we make quality of movement a primary focus in our lessons and practices, choreography often goes by the wayside. I couldn't tell you how long we worked on just basic footwork, but I can tell you we worked on choreography for maybe a few hours (enough to learn the routines!) To us, choreography is simply a teaching tool to learn technique. Consequently, our choreography is pretty basic for our level. Given these circumstances, it felt great hearing the applause for us when we won such a large competition! Hearing professionals and knowledgable fans compliment us on the 'level of quality' in our dancing tells me that our strategy and hard work is starting to pay off. While there is still a long way to go, I'd prefer quality of movement over choreography any day.
Yoyao, you cannot worry about what the judges or other couples are doing. Focus on yourself first. Sometimes things that are 'more complicated' may only look that way when danced with a higher quality of movement. Every competition is different and take care to read all of the rules carefully. Sometimes, the rules allow for this amount of syllabus flexibility! Sometimes events are not being closely invigilated and people get away with breaking the rules. However, you cannot rely on being able to get away with breaking the rules. Being disqualified or being forced to make last minute adjustments to your choreography 30 seconds before your next dance can be very uncomfortable and may hurt you more than if you simply stuck to the simple stuff.
Your instructor may be doing you a favor by staying with the basic routines. If your balance and basic movement is not at a sufficient level, you may not be ready for more advanced stuff. If you are getting bored with your routines, you are always free to add variations or look for some 'complicated stuff'. Just be sure to be careful not to do anything outside of the rules at a competition. Another option is to focus on how you can dance your legal choreography better. If dancing well is a priority for you, then you need to be patient with yourself and work on doing the basics really well. If you have good balance along with good quality of movement and you can combine this with a clear discernible rhythm, this should be more than enough to advance.
Hope this helps!
back to lurk mode...
Given that dance competitions are judged very subjectively and choreography can be important, it's easy to get lost in the importance of choreography. Particularly if you tend to think other couple are winning with their choreography. However, remember that the judges don't know your choreography and they will probably see you dance for maybe 10 seconds. You can't control which 10 seconds they'll see. Even if you have a fantastic, eye turning open routine, they may catch the 10 seconds where you are dancing a basic and mark you just on how well you did that. Still, it is quite possible to dance the most basic elements in a way that will be noticed and marked favorably.
At one competition, I was a last moment fill-in for a Waltz/Quickstep 2-dance event. I only had an hour to work with my partner before we had to dance. To further add to the challenge, my partner did not know quickstep! :shock: So we spent 20 minutes before the event learning quickstep. Needless to say,
our choreography was extremely simple (especially our quickstep!). My partner was a real trooper and did an outstanding job dancing our primitive choreography with balance, control, and precision. When you combined this with a big bright smile which lit up the ballroom, it was impossible not stand out in a very crowded field of established couples. Despite our challenges, we danced very well. It was not until we managed to reach a semi-final in a very crowded field that our obvious weakness in quickstep finally did us in :wink: . Not bad for an hour of practice!
. At a recent competition, my partner and I won our category in a very crowded field (over 35 couples! :shock: ). Since we make quality of movement a primary focus in our lessons and practices, choreography often goes by the wayside. I couldn't tell you how long we worked on just basic footwork, but I can tell you we worked on choreography for maybe a few hours (enough to learn the routines!) To us, choreography is simply a teaching tool to learn technique. Consequently, our choreography is pretty basic for our level. Given these circumstances, it felt great hearing the applause for us when we won such a large competition! Hearing professionals and knowledgable fans compliment us on the 'level of quality' in our dancing tells me that our strategy and hard work is starting to pay off. While there is still a long way to go, I'd prefer quality of movement over choreography any day.
Yoyao, you cannot worry about what the judges or other couples are doing. Focus on yourself first. Sometimes things that are 'more complicated' may only look that way when danced with a higher quality of movement. Every competition is different and take care to read all of the rules carefully. Sometimes, the rules allow for this amount of syllabus flexibility! Sometimes events are not being closely invigilated and people get away with breaking the rules. However, you cannot rely on being able to get away with breaking the rules. Being disqualified or being forced to make last minute adjustments to your choreography 30 seconds before your next dance can be very uncomfortable and may hurt you more than if you simply stuck to the simple stuff.
Your instructor may be doing you a favor by staying with the basic routines. If your balance and basic movement is not at a sufficient level, you may not be ready for more advanced stuff. If you are getting bored with your routines, you are always free to add variations or look for some 'complicated stuff'. Just be sure to be careful not to do anything outside of the rules at a competition. Another option is to focus on how you can dance your legal choreography better. If dancing well is a priority for you, then you need to be patient with yourself and work on doing the basics really well. If you have good balance along with good quality of movement and you can combine this with a clear discernible rhythm, this should be more than enough to advance.
Hope this helps!
back to lurk mode...
Thanks for the answer guys, one thing I noticed during the competition is that the couple start off seperatly rather than in close postition ususally got marked down first. it just seems to be more interesting I guess. another reason I can think of is that there are about 5 to 6 couples from my university alone and we all doing the same routine. but for the other university, each couple seems has their own unique routine. I guess this is an disadvantage. although, I do agree that judge will only look at you for 10 sec, but round after round of the same sample routine doing by like 5 or 6 couples at same time, it just not so interesting as other couple that they are doing totally different stuff?
Porfirio Landeros
New Member
yoyao said:
This is not an observation to be taken lightly.
From the beginning level and on upward, before working on fancy routines, you can be cleaning up your overall presence.
Examples:
- Good Grooming (slick hair, makeup...)
Taking the floor with confidence
Solid/rehersed starting positions
How you carry yourself between dances/songs
Maintaining your performance on exit
SDsalsaguy
Administrator
Excellent post Taita!
Ummm, so what do we have to do to keep you out of lurk mode? :wink:
Ummm, so what do we have to do to keep you out of lurk mode? :wink:
SDsalsaguy
Administrator
So do you want in on the bank heist or what? Boriken's going to be our :car: man, but that's far from a complete plan and team... :wink:Taita said:
guys, just came back from IVDC, one of the most competitive and biggest dance competition for british universities! there are about 7 to 8 heaps in each dance! and around 20 couples in each heap! my partner and me did really well, we went as far as 4th round and alsmot get in to semifinal! especially consider how simple our routin is! in the 4th round, we are the only couples in Cha that starting as close position. I think we are at the stage where we need to add more stuff to the routin and make it more interesting! and as ususal, Oxford and Cambridge again took away all the prizes...in the final team competition round, they end up competing aginst temselves even their B team (the 2nd unit) beat all the other universities A team. so the final is like their A team aginst their own B team!
delamusica
Active Member
yea yoyao! way to go! 