2021 competition opportunities

Warren J. Dew said:
Seems like there would be a big advantage to being prerecorded, then, especially in the "doesn't always get the timing" age groups and proficiency categories. I also remember being impressed with Jennifer Lopez' dancing in Shall We Dance 2004 until I watched an uncut video of her doing several takes, where she was falling off her feet in a majority of takes.
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In most cases, prerecording should be a mixed bag. It is a clear advantage for people who are at both extremes of skill and experience, and basically a wash for those in the middle.

I say this because of my experience recording video and radio. Putting an amateur in front of a camera or microphone in an empty room yields a peculiar response: they experience all the psychological stress of performance, but feel none of the positive energy of being in front of a crowd. The results can be shocking! Folks who normally have no stage anxiety whatsoever seem to entirely lose their minds. So while they do have the option to only keep the cleanest take, the energy level and performance quality suffer compared to a good day performing live.

On the extremes, though, you're right--prerecording is unequivocally great. On the unskilled side, you have J-Lo's example: avoiding negative variance by keeping the one take that wasn't horribly flawed. On the skilled side, you have folks who are able to bring high-octane performance energy under any circumstances, so the opportunity to keep only the best take has no associated downside.

Also worth mentioning: the upsides of recording only appear when you set a side *a lot* of time to do it. I'm talking 10:1 or more. I image most folks won't do that.
 
fiesta0618 said:
In most cases, prerecording should be a mixed bag. It is a clear advantage for people who are at both extremes of skill and experience, and basically a wash for those in the middle.

I say this because of my experience recording video and radio. Putting an amateur in front of a camera or microphone in an empty room yields a peculiar response: they experience all the psychological stress of performance, but feel none of the positive energy of being in front of a crowd. The results can be shocking! Folks who normally have no stage anxiety whatsoever seem to entirely lose their minds. So while they do have the option to only keep the cleanest take, the energy level and performance quality suffer compared to a good day performing live.

On the extremes, though, you're right--prerecording is unequivocally great. On the unskilled side, you have J-Lo's example: avoiding negative variance by keeping the one take that wasn't horribly flawed. On the skilled side, you have folks who are able to bring high-octane performance energy under any circumstances, so the opportunity to keep only the best take has no associated downside.

Also worth mentioning: the upsides of recording only appear when you set a side *a lot* of time to do it. I'm talking 10:1 or more. I image most folks won't do that.
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I always find my first take is the best, so we only shoot one. unless something totally screws up, like the music freaks out or someone drops the camera or something. Also my stamina is still not there, so i just want to do it once, lol.
 
fiesta0618 said:
worddancer said:
What did concern me was that I found out later some judges were judging using an iphone to look at the live zoom videos of the comp, so it's like a gallery view but on a phone. But someone assured me that the judges are that good.
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"I can judge just as well in a gallery view on a teeny tiny phone screen as at a live comp" might not necessarily be saying they can judge well on a phone screen.
 
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I am not sure how a live zoom event would work b/c internet delays... Then all couples will appear to dance at different timing... For pre-recorded clips, organizers can at least match all the timestamps using the music from recordings... so if someone is off beat, it'll show...
 
Having done a couple virtual comps (1 solo, 1 with partner), I concur with fiesta and scullystwin.

I realize it seems like an advantage to have endless opportunities to get it right, but you're kind of playing whack-a-mole. You screw up one thing in take 1, something different in take 2, just felt wonky in take 3, and now in take 4 you're tired. You really don't want to film every heat 4x if you don't have to. (That is what the pro did with me in my first one, and I was freaking exhausted). Because every comp specifically prohibits editing the videos, which I take to mean you cannot splice your best sections together from different takes (obviously deleting beginning and ending unneeded footage should not be an issue).

I've also had some people - frankly all guys - muse that you could do the tapings over a series of weeks to really nail them down. Right, because I, as a follow, want to do my hair and makeup and tanning on five separate occasions for the same comp. No thank you. One and done, please.

And yes, there is definitely a different psychological factor to trying to get something right for a video, vs. a one-shot deal where whatever happens happens.
 
IndyLady said:
I realize it seems like an advantage to have endless opportunities to get it right,
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When I entered the Heart of America online comp, Studio Mgr had priced it assuming we would record two takes per dance and choose the better one to submit. But on the day we recorded the videos, my pro wouldn't let us do multiple takes except when something seriously bad occurred. He said "if you want to do this competition, then it needs to FEEL like a competition. You don't get second and third and fourth do-overs at a live comp. Your 'do-over' is the next heat."

Honestly, knowing that you're gonna record just ONE video per dance relieves some of the pressure. You don't waste any energy thinking, "but I'm sure I could do it better if we just did it one more time." You dance - it's recorded - you move on.
 
fiesta0618 said:
In most cases, prerecording should be a mixed bag. It is a clear advantage for people who are at both extremes of skill and experience, and basically a wash for those in the middle.
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I'd agree it matters less as the skill level goes up, though I don't think that reverses.

For 8 year old and partner, though, who would go through their routine twice in one minute, a third of the time they start off time, a third of the time they go off time before finishing the second time through, and a third of the time they make it through two repetitions or more. Getting to use that one best take in a newcomer competition could make the difference between placing last and placing near the top, maybe even first. I sometimes take a video at the end of a lesson for the grandparents, and the grandparents are definitely seeing the good videos - and probably think 8 year old and partner always stay on time.

I'd agree it matters less for more experienced couples, and perhaps also in pro-am competition where the pro can keep the couple on track in a lot of respects, especially when the pro is the lead.
fiesta0618 said:
Also worth mentioning: the upsides of recording only appear when you set a side *a lot* of time to do it. I'm talking 10:1 or more. I image most folks won't do that.
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Their coaches recently spent the majority of a 45 minute lesson on getting the best take of one dance for a virtual showcase, which was more than a 10:1 ratio. I believe they did that for all the showcase participants.

I will say I don't see a lot of point to doing multiple heats if you can do multiple takes. I suppose one might want to see how one places against different fields. I wonder if you can submit the same take for multiple events.
 
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Warren J. Dew said:
I will say I don't see a lot of point to doing multiple heats if you can do multiple takes. I suppose one might want to see how one places against different fields. I wonder if you can submit the same take for multiple events.
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I’m not sure if all virtual comps follow the same process, but the way Heart of America worked was this: I entered singles of all 9 American dances in both Newcomer Bronze and Pre Bronze, then also entered the Closed Bronze 3-Dance Multis in Rhythm and Smooth. The comp organizer provided all the music with recorded introductions saying, “next we have Newcomer Bronze, American Smooth waltz. Waltz music, please,” and Song A started playing (after 4 tambourine strikes, which is how they synced up the videos so all couples were dancing at the exact same time). Then the next piece started with, “and now for the Pre Bronze, American Smooth waltz. Waltz music, please,” and Song B started playing (after the 4 tambourine strikes). That same system applied for every separate heat, so Pro & I had to submit a total of 20 separate videos (18 singles and 2 multis). Here’s my post from last August about this (I think HOA was the very first comp to be conducted this way, so the separate thread about it, linked below, provides lots of useful details):
ProgressNotPerfection said:
Pro & Studio Mgr (SM) did not cut me much slack this morning. <Snip> All 9 American dances, in both newcomer & prebronze, plus the two bronze championships...24 dances total, 20 “heats.” <Snip> Only twice did they insist on a retake (one mambo & one foxtrot) - and I do mean THEY insisted, not me. That was interesting, because both times I thought we should have kept going (I didn’t think the error was big enough to stop for), but both times they simultaneously stopped & said, “nope - gotta do that one again.”

SM told me afterwards that he was surprised we did the 3-dance multis in both styles in just one take each. :rolleyes:
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Another good thing about the HOA video submission process: when the hosts aired the comp two weeks later, and showed each couple in an individual zoom-like window on the screen, they played the music solely from their (the hosts’) end, and removed all the audio from the competitors’ videos. So there was no risk of hearing any distracting background noises such as traffic outside the studio, people talking, whatever. (I was particularly glad about this, because Studio Mgr had loudly cheered, “goooo, PNP! Yaaayyyy, PNP!” in the pauses between the multi dances, lol.)
 
In the virtual comps I did, musicality/timing had been removed from the scoring system. This was live zoom and was to account for the music lagging.
 
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