Competition dress choice; heel height; re-wearing dresses; & salsa/mambo question

[singndance]

Certainly you don't want to mess with your head, but I agree with @fascination. Trust the pro. The judges will recognize you because of him. And you don't want to sweat too much in that lovely dress....
Also, whenever I say to my pro and coach (his pro partner) that I do not want to change for the multi dance round and give all kinds of reasons why, I am curtly told that I should suck it up and change my dress...for whatever that's worth, dear @ProgressNotPerfection...
The bottom line is that you need to feel comfortable, for sure.
PS I happen to have a beautiful red dress for sale.....

 

[Warren J. Dew]

So yesterday, he looked at me musingly and said, “I don’t think you should wear your new dress for Newcomer Silver.” I said, “it’s not ‘newcomer’ silver - it’s just PRE silver, and we’re also doing intermediate & full silver singles.” He shrugged. “Ok, pre, newcomer, whatever. Either way, that dress doesn’t belong in early silver levels. It’ll be great for the championship & scholarship, but I think you should wear a different dress for at least the first few sets of singles.”

I’m confused about the entry strategy here. You’re doing intermediate and full silver singles, but presilver multis? Are you doing some championship and scholarship events, or is he thinking of future competitions? Are the singles “warmups” for something else that is your “main” event?

In isolation, one justification for the existence of presilver is that it’s for bronze level dancers that are just starting to learn silver. Thus, you might “fit in” better by dancing in something bronze level dancers might be more likely to dance in. But you don’t win competitions by fitting in.

 

[Cal]

The cyniCAL part of me says that the “advice” for Pro/Am Students to “change their dress” might be linked with Pros/Studios who are trying to keep their dress sponsors happy (especially if they are current sponsors or potential sponsors; maybe less so if they are former sponsors). The details of the “dress” itself might not make much difference in judges’ marks, but the idea of the money spent….(insert cynical thought here).

I’m really kind of glad that my dancing isn’t at a level where it would make a difference for me to factor in changing dresses. And, anyway, sometimes it’s all I can manage to whip a jacket on and off between back-to-back heats so that I’m wearing a number when I Lead.

 

[ProgressNotPerfection]

@Warren J. Dew

Pro & I are talking about Manhattan in two weeks, not any other future comps.

I’m doing singles in closed pre silver, closed intermediate silver, & closed full silver. The multis just have one closed silver level; they aren’t split into separate categories like the singles are. I’m doing one championship & one scholarship, both in closed silver.

And yes, for me the singles have always felt like a warmup for the multis (the “main event”). But that’s not universally true.

 

[fascination]

The cyniCAL part of me says that the “advice” for Pro/Am Students to “change their dress” might be linked with Pros/Studios who are trying to keep their dress sponsors happy (especially if they are current sponsors or potential sponsors; maybe less so if they are former sponsors). The details of the “dress” itself might not make much difference in judges’ marks, but the idea of the money spent….(insert cynical thought here).

I’m really kind of glad that my dancing isn’t at a level where it would make a difference for me to factor in changing dresses. And, anyway, sometimes it’s all I can manage to whip a jacket on and off between back-to-back heats so that I’m wearing a number when I Lead.

Really? Interesting... I ' ve never considered myself or my dress vendor relevant enough, even when I was doing open, for my pro or dress vendor to care about that aspect at all...

 

[Cal]

Really? Interesting... I ' ve never considered myself or my dress vendor relevant enough, even when I was doing open, for my pro or dress vendor to care about that aspect at all...

Back in the day when my Pros were still competing Pro/Pro and were sponsored, they HATED the pressure that was put on them to “sell” to their students. I remember one comp where my Pro quietly took me aside and said that he wasn’t going to tell a grown woman where to buy her costumes, but asked me that if I was trying on dresses from a different vendor than the one who sponsored them, would I please do it out of the sponsor’s line-of-sight. He said that I’d be surprised at who paid attention.

Dunno. Maybe things have changed?

 

[ProgressNotPerfection]

The cyniCAL part of me says that the “advice” for Pro/Am Students to “change their dress” might be linked with Pros/Studios who are trying to keep their dress sponsors happy (especially if they are current sponsors or potential sponsors; maybe less so if they are former sponsors).

I understand your cynicism, but in my particular case it’s not applicable. My pro doesn’t compete professionally & has no dress sponsor (current or former or potential) to keep happy. But even if he did, it wouldn’t matter, since I buy all my dresses used, directly from their prior owners, rather than from the vendors who originally made & sold the dresses.

 

[fascination]

Back in the day when my Pros were still competing Pro/Pro and were sponsored, they HATED the pressure that was put on them to “sell” to their students. I remember one comp where my Pro quietly took me aside and said that he wasn’t going to tell a grown woman where to buy her costumes, but asked me that if I was trying on dresses from a different vendor than the one who sponsored them, would I please do it out of the sponsor’s line-of-sight. He said that I’d be surprised at who paid attention.

Dunno. Maybe things have changed?

Probably more likely that your pros took you into closer confidence

 

[fiesta0618]

“Ok, pre, newcomer, whatever. Either way, that dress doesn’t belong in early silver levels. It’ll be great for the championship & scholarship, but I think you should wear a different dress for at least the first few sets of singles.”

....

Anyway, now that I’ve given you way more background information than you probably need, my question for you guys is this: what makes a dress “belong” in full silver smooth but not in lower levels? I don’t get it.

This puzzles me, too. I've heard plausible reasons why a costume is better at one level or another. I've also heard plausible reasons for changing costumes in the middle of an event. This is the first time I've heard the two combined.

Re: levels. Theoretically, lower levels showcase simpler movements; and if so, they should be dressed up with simpler costumes so that the frame suits the picture. For Smooth specifically, some costumes are designed to ripple or float, and lower-level movement might not have enough velocity to cause that

Re: mid-event costume change. I've met several competitors who always wear a different costume in the final. The reasoning goes like this:

• In preliminary rounds, I want to be instantly recognizable. The floor is crowded, and I want judges to pick me up in the corner of their eye and say "Right, those guys. I remember them. They're in, obviously" without having to watch closely.
• In the final, I do not want that knee-jerk judgment. I want the judges to take a close second look. So I put on a totally different costume that they will not recognize, and they'll see me afresh.

**********

Maybe Pro meant the second one? He wants this new dress to be part of the "knockout punch" you deliver during the second-look you get in the championship? But then I don't see how levels play into it. You're the same dancer regardless of the event level--your movement is gonna be the same!

 

[Warren J. Dew]

@Warren J. Dew

Pro & I are talking about Manhattan in two weeks, not any other future comps.

I’m doing singles in closed pre silver, closed intermediate silver, & closed full silver. The multis just have one closed silver level; they aren’t split into separate categories like the singles are. I’m doing one championship & one scholarship, both in closed silver.

And yes, for me the singles have always felt like a warmup for the multis (the “main event”). But that’s not universally true.

Thanks. I would guess the reasoning would be of Fiesta’s mid event change type - save the snazzy new dress for when it’s really important. For you, it’s snazzier because it’s a more beautiful color, being blue. For pro, assuming it’s the dress you tried out a few months past and he believes in the Eastern European Smooth = Standard + Latin aesthetic, it’s probably snazzier because it has a hip length slit and a low back, showing more skin and making it sexier by Latin lights.

Personally, I love the color of the blue dress, but I would consider the cut of the pink dress higher level if I had to assign them by level because it has more fabric. (And if you really needed a slit, you could grab the hem and raise it to shoulder level to effectively make one on the fly.) So unless one is newer and cleaner, I’m not sure which one I’d prefer for the multis - probably the blue if it would be more inspiring for your dancing.

 

[Warren J. Dew]

But then I don't see how levels play into it. You're the same dancer regardless of the event level--your movement is gonna be the same!

Pro might think the judges are looking for different things at different levels and might be planning to lead them differently accordingly.

 

[Warren J. Dew]

PS I happen to have a beautiful red dress for sale.....

Clearly when the dressmakers are looking for someone to sponsor, you should be high on the list!

 

[Joe]

If your singles are the same day as your multis, changing dresses has the advantage of not having to wear the same sweaty, possibly smelly dress all day.

 

[ProgressNotPerfection]

If your singles are the same day as your multis, changing dresses has the advantage of not having to wear the same sweaty, possibly smelly dress all day.

Especially when I can’t sit down while wearing said sweaty smelly dress….

 

[wahoo_foxtrot]

Decision rule taught to me during interviewing days: Whatever makes me forget about my outfit is the winning outfit(s), as long as it is professional enough. If you constantly think about your outfit, it will show.