Compete pro/am or with a beginner?

nycsalsero

nycsalsero

Member
I want to compete at a competition March 1st. I could pay more than $200 to compete with one of my coaches, a professional. Or I could compete with a talented beginner who has far less knowledge. Which would be the best approach? We're looking at competing silver.

I feel like my lead gets worse when I dance with the beginner. Would I improve more if I danced with the pro?
 
Are you sure it's only $200 to compete with a pro? I thought it would be a lot more.
 
$200 is a very low price for a competition, so do check it out. Does that cover just what you'd have to pay the pro? What about entry fees, etc? Are travel expenses (for you and pro) involved?

I do comps on the cheap and one I travel to costs me a minimum of $1500-2000. So if $200 is your total cost, go for it!

If you did decide to dance with the beginner (is it really fair to her to expect her to dance silver if she's a beginner?), I think you should take lessons together between now and the comp so that you can train and develop together and dance as a partnership at the comp as well as possible.

As far as your lead is concerned, seems to me it could go either way. It could be that you are having to make concessions to your beginner's lack of following skills, or it could be that your pro's advanced following skills compensate for some deficiencies in your lead that show up when you lead someone less skilled. I know I certainly follow my pro better than anyone else, but I don't consider following him to be a real assessment of my following skills. I sort of average out how I follow everyone I dance with to see how well I'm following overall.
 
$200 to compete pro-am? Heck, sign me up. Even paying for travel and hotel for pro and I that'd still probably be cheaper than last comp I did. :)
 
It all depends on the competition . . .

If you're doing 19 ballroom dances, Pro/Am or Amateur, the costs start piling up at a major event.

But there are exceptions - might as well try using Salsa as an example - if one wanted to compete in Silver Salsa at the Emerald Ball, the ticket to get in would cost $30 per person and the entry fee to the organizers would be $35 for either Amateur or Pro/Am.
  • For $95*, an Amateur couple could compete
  • For $95* plus the Pro's fee, a Pro/Am couple could compete
not including tax, license, gas, parking, practice, new clothes, make-up, hair gel, photos, dinner, drinks, picking up the tab at the bar, calls on your cell phone, texting on your cell phone, did I say tax, license, fees . . .
 
nycsalsero, is this a salsa competition or a small regional ballroom comp? I know it's not big because it couldn't be for that price. $200-$300 is about what a beginner will pay for a very small local comp for ballroom.
 
Are you looking for a partner?

Are you even looking for an Am. partner (not necessarily the one you'd dance with)? From what I see, Am dancers watch Am/Am events, Pro/Am dancers watch Pro/Am events. So pure speculation here, but if there's even a hint of you hoping to be seen (on the floor) by someone else who is looking, then dance Am. Otherwise I'm with the rest, dance the Pro/Am at that price and take the experience that goes with it.
 
I believe this to be a 2 part answer


1-- dancing with pro-- short term gain

2-- dancing with amat .-- long term proposition ?

Dancing with Amat. also helps financially ( splitting cost of lessons ) also-- practice partner available, to name but a few more advantages .
 
Don't know exactly what you are referring to. I simply meant that it takes a better understood/developed skill to dance with a beginner or am. Everyone could look good (you know what I mean) with a pro.
 
Angel HI said:
Everyone could look good (you know what I mean) with a pro.
Click to expand...

You haven't seen my first pro-am comp video! ;)

I guess the contretemps I was referring to was "before your time" on DF. I won't repeat any of the anti-pro-am arguments here, but if you're curious, you could search for threads like "pro-am vs. am-am."
 
I would go with the pro, for the reason that I think it's unfair to the beginner to drag her directly into silver. It'll mess up her training and she'll suffer in the long run for it.
 
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