Partner tryouts for non-elite dancers

JudeMorrigan

JudeMorrigan

Forum Master
I've mentioned previously that I'm currently between amateur partners. I have no immediate prospects, but I'm not currently terribly worried about that. A good bit of that is simply because my pro is strongly encouraging me to be picky in my partner search. Which I think isn't a bad thing for now, at least. Suffice it to say, there are plenty of things in my dancing that I can productively fill my practice time working on by myself.

One of the things she's been encouraging me to do for a while though is to use major competitions as an opportunity for tryouts. She wanted me to do that at Nationals last April and has been talking about how I should consider coming up to Ohio the do so this November. When I mentioned that to my old partner this weekend, her response was "that's a thought!"

Here's the thing. I totally see how using major comps for partner tryouts would make sense for championship level dancers or people looking for a pro partner. At that level, it really makes sense to consider relocating for the right partner. I struggle to see the utility for someone at my level though. I mean, sure, sure. There's no way it would hurt exactly, but I was wondering what folks here thought about that sort of thing for non-elite dancers.

(Clarification on my level: modesty aside, I'm pretty danged good for what I am. But what I am is someone who started ballroom in his 30s, had absolutely no prior dance experience in any style, and who does not have any extraordinary talent. More specifically, my results at Derby City this summer make me think that with the right partner, I could move to adult gold/novice smooth pretty much immediately and would hope to be able to reasonably compete in novice/pre-champ by 2016 Nationals. I'd expect to stay at that level for some time. Most likely until I decided it was time to move full-time into the senior ranks.)
 
What's the utility of having an am partner who's hours away (potentially). Not snide, just something to seriously consider.
 
I can't really see what it could hurt. If you have the time to try it, and someone (you, or your pro) can set up some tryouts for you, why not? You'll get the experience of dancing with the potential partners, get the word out that you are looking, and just might meet someone you could partner with (short term or long term, etc). Someone non-local might work if they travel frequently, or maybe they might be relocating nearer to you for other reasons, you never know.
 
From what I know of how your last partnership ended (basically: misaligned goals made it unsustainable long term), I'd suggest focusing less on the quality of their dancing currently and more on their goal alignment with yours and whether or not they're someone you can stand working with. Barring an absolute lack of talent, you should be able to close any skill gaps eventually.
 
That assumes I have people available whose goals truly align with mine. Believe you me, as nice as it would be to have a partner whose current skill fits into the sweet spot, that's not what I'm considering my top priority. Nor do I think it's the biggest reason my pro is encouraging me to be picky, although I suspect it's higher on her list than it is mine.
 
Even more important than skill level is working with a partner you get along well with. My only and last amateur partner was a pita to work with. Thought he had extraordinary talent (he did not) & spent more time teach ing me than our coach did. Will remain pro am forever after that experience.
 
Dancing Irishman said:
If you don't mind me asking, what are your goals? It might help inform whether an elite competition is the right venue for partner tryouts.
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In a perfect world:

- To compete in both smooth and standard but just smooth and standard. That's a significant portion of the difficulty of finding a Huntsville partner. There is a certain strain of thought that runs through elements of the local competitive scene that is ... very 10-dance focused. I'm loathe to give up on smooth at this point, and wouldn't be able to help but look at putting additional serious time into Latin as time I'll never get back, spent working on something I have no desire to be doing. Heck, I'd turn myself into a 9-dancer before I'd be willing to try to seriously compete in Latin again. And people in this town are regretably hesitant to have one partner for one style and another for another, which complicates things.
- In the short term, adult silver and gold standard and adult gold and novice smooth. In the medium term, gold and novice standard and novice and pre-champ smooth. In the long term novice and prechamp in both. Not that I'll ever be truly competitive in adult pre-champ standard. In the longer term, senior I champ smooth and eventually senior II champ standard. I'm not *actually* looking past the medium term right now though. Even though the goals are things that exist, I don't consider them at all relevant to my partner search. I mean, my pro talks about wanting me to find my "forever partner", but that strikes me as more than a little bit optimistic.

Now, those levels are not at all set in stone. I'm totally on board with the idea that dedication is more important than current ability. I would really need reason to believe in that dedication though in the absence of a comparable initial skill level. Dipping back into bronze with someone I was hoping to grow with, only to have them flake out or move on me just when we were starting to make real progress might just break me in terms of caring about amateur dancesport. Yes, I know, it shouldn't matter. But I'm at a point where I need to feel like I'm actually making some sort of progress. For me. It is what it is. And while you'd be correct in inferring that there are specific reasons for it, I'd like to be clear that they're not at all about my most recent partner.

(An aside, if I don't have a partner by then, I'm seriously considering TBAing at MADC, just for fun. Dancing for fun with a TBA-type partner, I might actually do things like compete in Latin again. Hence my talk about "seriously" competing in things and the like.)

Honestly though, while it's very much my own fault, I really hadn't intended this thread to be Jude's-ego-thread-on-his-partner-search. I'm not an elite dancer. At all. I'm just curious if people have thoughts and/or experiences with non-elite dancers trying to set up tryouts at non-local comps and whether they had found it to have any value at all if they had.
 
A friend of mine's AM partnership crashed and burned after Gumbo this summer, and she is also looking to travel to comps to out the word out she's looking for a new AM partner.

But here's my question, asked in total ignorance: how does one do this without the appearance of trying to "poach" from an already established couple? I can't imagine that's appropriate.
 
s2k said:
how does one do this without the appearance of trying to "poach" from an already established couple?
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Interesting question. Although if you throw it out there that you're looking for a partner and people come to you without you "stalking", I don't think that could be considered poaching.
 
fascination said:
I so wish you were in Indiana Jude....I would love to find a gold parnter for standard and smooth near my age...you are a bit young but I would beg :)
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I have thought in the past how nice it would be if we were just a bit closer. I've always had the impression that you were pretty petite though. I know your pros have made it work, but I am certainly not them, so we might have had to stick with smooth. ;)
 
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