How important is confidence?

[Medira]

Confidence is extremely important every time you have any sort of interaction with people. Whether it's a competition, a job interview, a date or even just a conversation, people tend to respond better to someone who seems confident and poised.

If you concern yourself only with you and your partner/coach, as opposed to the others on the floor, this should help...after all, you're dancing for you, not them, right? Make the dance about you and remember that you dance because you love it, and that will come shining through on the floor.

 

[wyllo]

But, back to the original question, yes, "confidence" helps. The judges are always watching you, from the moment you step on the floor, to when you take your final bow (curtsy). You need to give the appearance of a winner, even if you don't have a winning performance.

Good advice, and harder to do then you would think! I think practicing entering and exiting and bows are an important part of competition preparation. Having a plan for every moment you are on the floor helps you stay focused and prevents nerves from getting the best of you.

 

[fascination]

yesterday we even practiced HOW i put my hand in the crook of his arm to walk on....

 

[chica latina]

Confidence is extremely important every time you have any sort of interaction with people. Whether it's a competition, a job interview, a date or even just a conversation, people tend to respond better to someone who seems confident and poised.

If you concern yourself only with you and your partner/coach, as opposed to the others on the floor, this should help...after all, you're dancing for you, not them, right? Make the dance about you and remember that you dance because you love it, and that will come shining through on the floor.

I totally agree. Great advice!!! Once, I was under too much stress (knew other couples were working really hard to beat me, since I placed better in the last comp) and my coach had to have a talk with me about "why i'm I dancing and how I should never forget that it is for me and not the coaches", after that we danced another round in front of her and she said it was a totally different performance.

 

[mamboqueen]

Good advice, and harder to do then you would think! I think practicing entering and exiting and bows are an important part of competition preparation. Having a plan for every moment you are on the floor helps you stay focused and prevents nerves from getting the best of you.

I had to actually spend time on this in my last lesson because when he was spinning me out at the end of the dance, I wasn't always "sticking the landing". So, 15 minutes of work on that...and more to come, no doubt. Yup, every little bit of confidence helps....

 

[Ralph]

I think confidence is very, very important. At first I was always pretty nervous and was thinking I wasn't good enough, which effected my dancing. After having a good talk with someone who said that confidence was very important, I grew confidence, and everything went much better. In the end I even became second in my class on the Dutch Championships.

 

[DanceMentor]

Dancing is something that gave me confidence that I very much lacked as a young man of 23.

 

[Laura]

Then what's with the hand in front of your face in your avatar?

 

[alemana]

Busted

 

[hamstersphere]

I started out as a classical musician. You'd have thought that would have given me enough confidence ... but it probably had the opposite effect. A friend introduced me to ballroom, and the confidence and spirit and etc it's given me in even a short space of time have changed everything. Honestly.

But you're right: how the (£$& do you build on that?

 

[DancePoet]

I am new to this forum, but I've read some of the other threads and was hoping some other dancers would be nice enough to give me their advice.....

I've been ballroom dancing for a few years, socially, and started training to compete a few months ago (1 lesson a week for about 5 months). While I love all of the styles of ballroom dancing, my favorite (and specialty) is smooth dancing [Waltz, V.Waltz, Tango, Foxtrot].

Last weekend I had the wonderful opportunity to compete in my first dance competition in Newcomer and Intermediate Bronze (latin and smooth) Pro/Am. However, I was stunned when I received the results..... I placed last in almost every smooth dance! (Of course, that meant being #2 out of 2 couples, and #3 out of 3 couples.... with the exception of waltz, which I won.) My pro teacher (who is Arthur Murray trained but is now independant of any studio) was shocked, and nobody on the sidelines could figure out why I had placed so low. In fact, several other teachers (who knew my teacher) came up to us and said that they didn't know how that happened.

To make a long story short, that really did quite a number on my confidence level, especially since it was my first (and only) competition. I am finding myself reconsidering if I'd ever be good enough to be a competetive dancer, and whether it would even be worth it to try anymore. Since I just graduated from college (I have a job, but at entry-level) I don't have the finances to pay for private lessons every night of the week, or for expensive coaching. I love ballroom dancing with all of my heart, but the thought of failing at competing in it (which I've always wanted to do) makes me want to cry. I've had a lot of ballet training, and pick up on ballroom really quickly, but I've started second-guessing myself and constantly doubting my ability. My instructor mentioned that it could be politics, since he's not affiliated with a studio, or just that since we didn't have any choreography (we did completely lead/follow) we might not have scored as high as the people who only did fancy moves that they planned out.

I was just wondering if anyone else had experience with this sort of thing, and what your recommendations would be. I would really appreciate any sort of help you could give me!

Hmmm ... keep in mind 5 months and 1 lesson per week isn't very long. Besides, how much practicing were you able to do in between lessons?

And I'm not sure choreography had much to do with it, but maybe politics ... anyway ... try to refocus on what you enjoy about dance. After all it really was just your first competition. Set some personal goals with your training, work on only a selected number of basic patterns, just enough to get around the dance floor, and practice, practice, practice. If you have an instructor that compliments your learning as well as critiquing it that is a good thing, too.

When started competing in Amercian Smooth and made all sorts of beginner errors. When I switched to International Standard, the learning process was different. With Waltz, I believe I used maybe 4 or 5 patterns, Tango only 2, Quickstep 3, V. Waltz 2, and Foxtrot maybe a handful as well. Then all the emphasis was placed on getting the techniques of these introductury steps down to the best of our ability. We would go over them again and again, tweaking and finding ways to improve what we were doing.

At a competition it is important to give yourself enough time to warm up, be relaxed and comfortable with your knowledge which is based on how you've prepared, and then step on to the floor, feel the beat, and dance for the fun of it.

 

[DancePoet]

Thanks for all of the wonderful posts so far... they're greatly appreciated! To clarify, I'm dancing in Minnesota, where there's a fair amount of competition (right in the Twin Cities), and my main concern was that I had my competition videotaped and, after watching the competition, didn't think that the girl that beat me was very good.... not to be conceited, but she had no expression on her face, and kept losing her frame. That's why I looked at the video and said..... "If they thought she was better than me, then I really must be terrible!". *sigh* Does that sound mean? I don't mean it to be...... I guess I'm just shocked that I placed so low, and disheartened.

Placing 2 out of 2 or 3 out of 3 really isn't "so low". It is just relative to the other's performances.

Interestingly, you mention looking at the other ladies faces and frame. This is important, yet my understandign of the beginner comp's are that judges look at your feet first and then move up the body. If there are differences in the way folks were handling there feet, this could eb the first area where the markdown began, and the judges may have ruled you slightly lower in this area then the other's as well. You probably aren't "terrible", and I wouldn't feel so disappointed after just one comp. Getting back into the studio, working on the basics, and feeling good about your individual improvements could help you in the long run.

 

[DancePoet]

I've competed 4 times so far and am now preparing for my 5th competition. In every competition, I ended up competing against a person who danced down in level, so I never got anything higher than 2nd place. My goal is to improve from one competition to another, and the base for comparison is my tape and feedback, not the placements.

Excellent approach!

And maybe one of those turkeys who is dancing down will ...

(DP, this a public forum, be careful. )

... oh, right ... hmmm ... maybe they'll ... make a mistake. :raisebro:

 

[DancePoet]

This is so unfair, especially to newer dancers!

This is why the dancing down age levels and dance levels should NOT happen! They ( some organizers and some teachers) are doing that purely for money, but how does that make a poor beginner feel? It sucks!

I never did that to my students. They danced their real age and real level, period. I cannot rip people off like that! How many beginners have been scared off like this? Grrr.:???:

Hmmm ... I can see dancing down in skill level could be an issue, but I'm wondering how dancing down in age is an issue?

Now if dancing up in age was permited, I could understand that! I wouldn't want any of those flexible and enthusiastic youngsters kicking my butt. Hmmm ... well, maybe I can equal there enthusiasm, and maybe with some stealth tactics I could even beat their flexibility ... :lol:

 

[DancePoet]

I dont feel ripped off but I'm never gonna be that way....and I'm gonna take special pleasure in beating them

:lol: And I suspect you have a few stealth tactics that can be used, too.