Need some encouragement-another issue about pro/am vs am/am

standardgirl

standardgirl

New Member
It's not like I have never heard of the arguments. Those arguments are on DF so often, but when I heard it again from a friend today, it made me so depressed. I just wanted to cry, and all the sudden I had only one question in my head: "What's so wrong about dancing pro/am?"

About pro-am, I still don't think it should be the main goal of dancing, especially when it is male pro, which is mostly all about how the pro pulls out the show to make the am look better than she actually is.
The real test is to dance with real people and improve together....
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I want to dance am/am, but there is no one with the desire and passion where I live. I can have a long distance partnership, but I dont see how that's going to be much different from pro/am in terms of cost and the amount of practice, and I do think pro/am will make me grow faster than a long distance am/am partnership. And it's not like I am picky, I am willing to partner with anyone, less or more skilled than me as long as there is a promising partnership, potential and a physical/personality match.

So, what is so wrong about pro/am? or is it just wrong because of my age (I am under 21)? I mean, when I look at my tapes I can see the improvement in my dancing. Although I can't deny that my teacher is much better than me (they rank top12 in the US), I did improve myself. Wouldn't this prepare me one day to move to perhaps NY and dance at a higher level? I know pro/am girls who turn pro's later and did well, so pro/am do produce good students, right?

It just makes me feel like I have wasted my money and time all this time. It's like what's the point of dancing pro/am if people will just look at you differently even when you win that A scholarship? I mean, if people just can't respect pro/am dancers, then what's the point of dancing and competing pro/am? People here think more highly of dancers who make final at a collegiate gold competition than someone who make top 3 in a pro/am closed scholarship with a SF. Or maybe, I can just convince myself that those who think that way are just naive and they just can't judge? Maybe this will make me feel better. lol :roll: Somehow pro/am keeps on giving people the impression that all work are from the teacher and the student just sucks, period. :x The partnership is unequal, but so are a lot of pro and am/am partnerships.

I don't know, but I feel depressed right now. I have a lesson tomorrow, and I can think of all kinds of answer my teacher will give me if I were to ask him the question about what's so wrong about dancing pro/am. I guess, I just need some ecouragements and some justifications.

:cry: :?
 
Do you want to achieve respect for competition placements earned, or for dance skills learned?

Both are possible, but neither will be automatic in everyone's eyes no matter what the degree of achievement you attain - someone who can't see the achivement won't respect it. But those who can will.

So pick what you want to achieve and direct your efforts (be they pro/am, am/am or eventually pro/pro) in that direction.

Either way, you are likely to win the most recognition amongst those who have chosen similar goals as you.
 
Chris Stratton said:
Do you want to achieve respect for competition placements earned, or for dance skills learned?

Both are possible, but neither will be automatic in everyone's eyes no matter what the degree of achievement you attain - someone who can't see the achivement won't respect it. But those who can will.

So pick what you want to achieve and direct your efforts (be they pro/am, am/am or eventually pro/pro) in that direction.

Either way, you are likely to win the most recognition amongst those who have chosen similar goals as you.
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Good advice. Also, Standardgirl, at some point, I know you're under 21, so may be many more years to come before you will get to 'this' point - stop looking for validation from the outside. You need to believe what you are doing & continue to do what you believe in!
 
Larinda McRaven said:
Well, there are two camps in life. Those that like black and those that like white. (or perhaps I can say those that like 1s and those that like 0's :lol: ) And you can never please them both at the same time. As you immerse yourself deeper into one camp the harder it is to sometimes see the virtue of the other.
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And then you meet an occasional analog person. :roll: :lol:


Larinda McRaven said:
If you were totally into pro-am with no am-am exposure you would find a community that sees nothing wrong with it and you would meet a lot of cool people. If you immerse yourself into am-am you will still meet a lot of cool people but probably see pro-am as less and less attractive of an alternative.

The end point I guess is that if you find that it is a viable option for you (you enjoy it, find yourself progressing, meet cool people and make nice friends, you are not going broke doing it ((although that would be your business not anyone elses)) you find there to be enough competition in your age and proficiency level...etc.) then ultimately you will find yourself surrounded by the people that will support your choices. And you just have to tune out the naysayers and antagonists, and simply do what you enjoy.
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But yes, Larinda. This is good advice, IMO. 8)
 
I cannot beleive how many of "them" :wink: there are.....I am surrounded...I am married to one , my instructor is one....geez....I am going to have to start using my own shop talk...a combination of medical/psychological and theological...actually, I think it balances me well to be surrounded by them...just sometimes feel like a foreign exchange student
 
pygmalion said:
Larinda McRaven said:
Well, there are two camps in life. Those that like black and those that like white. (or perhaps I can say those that like 1s and those that like 0's :lol: ) And you can never please them both at the same time. As you immerse yourself deeper into one camp the harder it is to sometimes see the virtue of the other.
Click to expand...


And then you meet an occasional analog person. :roll: :lol:
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*giggles* Have I mentioned lately that I love you guys?
 
OK, back to topic,

Standardgirl, i'm sorry people are giving you such a hard time about pro/am. To answer your question, what is wrong with pro/am? The answer is nothing. There are those who prefer pro/am and there are those who prefer am/am - different paths with the same goal for growth, that's all the difference I see.

There are those who are fortunate enough to have an amateur partner. But for the rest of us who are not that fortunate but still desires to compete, the only option left is pro/am. Do am/am partnership always produce excellent dancers while pro/am don't? I think not. I think the misconception comes from the fact that a lot of people think when you have an am/am partner, you put in more work than proammers - maybe true, maybe not true, this i can't answer. It really depends on how much work you put in. When you have an am partner and still don't work hard, you really won't be getting anywhere. But if you put in your effort and work with an excellent pro - your dancing will improve, there's no question about it.

I'm sure you've given pro/am a lot of thought and if you yourself can justify for the expenses/time, then you should stick to it. Unfortunately, there will always be people on the other side of the fence telling you that the grass is greener, but the truth is, the decision is yours and yours alone. If you can justify it, albeit the comp result or seeing improvements in your own dancing, then that should be all the confirmation you need - not people telling you what to do.

Whoa, this is turning out to be a lot longer than i planned.... so sorry, but standardgirl, hopefully you're feeling better today for your lesson!
 
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