Post-performance thoughts, feelings, analysis

Oh my goodness, smooth Viennese waltz explosions are one of my least favorite moves precisely because of how often it clogs up line of dance in bronze/silver v waltz, esp in collegiate comps where the floor is super crowded. Collisions in v waltz are often no trivial matter too.
 
Studio’s Rhythm “Fun Friday” was this weekend, & it was fun! Latest videos uploaded to YouTube…my first uploads since last November from Ohio. Very casual-style dancing Friday night, focus on fun over technique, did a better job than I normally do in staying out of my head.

(Moderately annoying to see zero application of all the technique we’ve been working on for the last two months, however.)
 
ProgressNotPerfection said:
Studio’s Rhythm “Fun Friday” was this weekend, & it was fun! Latest videos uploaded to YouTube…my first uploads since last November from Ohio. Very casual-style dancing Friday night, focus on fun over technique, did a better job than I normally do in staying out of my head.

(Moderately annoying to see zero application of all the technique we’ve been working on for the last two months, however.)
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More thoughts on this...

My older daughter (age 27) was visiting last weekend, and she came to the studio with me on Friday night to watch. She had a GREAT time, and I think that's why I had so much fun. She was my chauffeur, videographer, and cheerleader, lol. In several of the videos, you can hear her saying things like "oooo!" and "YES!" and "look at that!" (In one of the videos, I actually had to remove about 2 seconds of audio before I could upload it [don't ask].) She enjoyed watching the other couples and trying to guess who was the teacher & who was the student - usually it was obvious, but not always. She was fascinated by the way the teachers are able to dance so differently with each student.

When she was in high school & college, she did a lot of swing dancing (mainly lindy & single step swing), so she really enjoyed the ECS heats. Before my first one, I told her that ECS is my least favorite rhythm dance. After the heat ended, she said "you might not like swing, but it sure likes you!" (Awww...thank you, sweetie.)

Anyway, back to the dancing. The more I watch the videos, the more I want to cringe at the glaring absence of technique.

OhmyGOD what is up with my STUPID LEFT ARM - is my wrist actually, literally, broken? WTAF?????
Oh great - now it's BOTH arms flapping around - am I trying to fly somewhere???
And also - DID I JUST DO A HEEL LEAD ON THAT FORWARD STEP? AYFKM????
And also - how is it possible for me to move my upper body SO LITTLE???? Have I REALLY not learned how to do ANY isolation???
And also - girl! Pull your damn shoulders BACK! What's with the slouching??? CHEST UP!!!
And also - did I really leave both knees bent/flexed THAT ENTIRE TIME????? PNP - where's the straight leg????

Otoh, there's also a lot of stuff in the videos I'm proud of, and I can see how far I've come. My balance and turns and spins have improved beyond what I thought possible for myself (even though on a scale of 1-100, where 1 is an absolute beginner and 100 is a professional champion, I've progressed from 1 to about 4...but nonetheless, that's more than I thought possible five years ago).

Many people say they don't like to watch videos of their own dancing. I get it, but even if I sometimes cringe at what I see, I still find them very useful as study material. You just have to put on the "dispassionate objective viewer" hat first, and shove the "self-critical hyper-judgmental negative nellie" hat down the garbage chute.

Pro says the way I dance at a comp vs a lesson vs a mini-match vs a Fun Friday is completely different for each type of event. I mean...if you say so...? He certainly has more experience than I do at evaluating such things, so I'll take his word for it. I do agree with him that more floor time (at any and all of those events) is beneficial for me.

Next event: studio mini-match in April. After that, hopefully a comp in July or August. (By then I hope my rhythm technique will have improved.)
 
ProgressNotPerfection said:
What?!?!? You mean it’s not instantaneous as soon as I’m introduced to the new technique??? I hereby request The Universe to change that.
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Here, here! This whole 'learning takes time' reality is really messing with my dreams of immediate dance competence. :D

But, I digress... I do enjoy the journey of learning something new. So, it really wouldn't mean as much to me if it came easily. And, american style ballroom is so very new to me that the journey (and working through my challenges with it) are actually fun.
 
Studio's Smooth "Fun Friday" was this weekend, and it was pretty fun. I uploaded some videos to my unpublished YouTube channel - first smooth videos I've shared since the ones from last November at OSB. I'm happy-ish with the overall dancing, and can see some visible improvements since 6 months ago...though the studio "fun nights" are often challenging for me, since (a) Pro sees them as an opportunity to play around with timing & other improvisation, (b) the heats are very crowded (e.g., up to 9 couples doing VW [our dance floor is too small for that, imo]), and (c) I did a few heats with the newish/youngish/"car analogy" pro I mentioned in the Lessons thread, and it indeed felt like I was driving an unfamiliar borrowed car when I danced with him.

But it was still fun. And useful experience as always. AND - I wore a pale pink dress that I bought used (& very inexpensive) from a lady at my studio. Felt kinda weird to wear something other than my signature blue, lol.
 
Prynderella did her first ballroom showcase dance!

Magic Pro and I had the honor of being the opening performance for the fall kick-off event at social studio. The waltz went swimmingly well, despite a brief misstep and a few minor mistakes that only the more experienced dancers recognized. I was very proud. Work is still needed on closing my feet, posture, and weight change - but I can see my improvements since comp.

Our very special rumba inspired dance went over well with the audience. The crowd cheered at the lifts and dips. We received lots of compliments and support from the audience. But, there were a litany of mistakes in it, including but not limited to... me messing up the intro that I choreographed, mis-timed steps, blanking on choreography, Magic Pro getting kicked, me defaulting to salsa technique in panic (soft knees, ball-only foot action, salsa hip actions), sloppy footwork, minimal leg straightening, etc...

Magic Pro and I were so disappointed in how it turned out though that we are thinking about putting on the costumes again and re-recording it. Our practices were just so much better.

The good news was the rumba inspired showcase dance wasn't the closer of the night. There was a late entry to the performance line up. Our resident amateurs who dance Open (AM/AM) in comps wanted to practice some new choreography in front of an audience. When I learned that they'd been added to the line-up, I requested that we not go after them. So, they actually closed the performances out - and did a phenomenal job.

All-in-all, I deemed the night a success. I left smiling despite some of the disappointment of the rumba. Before leaving, a nice woman share with me that she dreamt of doing a competition and she felt inspired by me. (I nearly cried.) I practically begged her to consider to joining me at the next local comp that I'm shooting for. She said maybe. We shall see...

Man, I love dancing... and I love how it can inspire people to dream.
 
Behind as usual, but over the past few weeks:

Showcase went well, I had both a routine with a pro and a formation. Both performances went pretty well so I'm satisfied. I flubbed a couple things in the individual routine but they look intentional on the video (I milked a booty roll too long and consequently missed a move on 5-6 but fit it in on 7-8 so it looked like we deliberately went in sequence instead of simultaneously).

And once again... had a different local lady (but same salon) do my hair for Showcase, and she also knocked it out of the park. I looked fabulous. Maybe I need to bring certain comp vendors down here for training.

I also competed on the TKD performance team at the tournament. Our team did not win (but we should have LOL) but I enjoyed the experience. I also competed at the tournament and fared decently (I'm happy with my form, breaking took too many tries). My son got kicked HARD in a bad spot while sparring (he was practically crying and it took a few minutes for him to recover in time for round 3) but he's a trooper and he brought it for the final round, and won his match. Hardest fought medal ever. I also judged for the remainder of the day which I enjoy. That was a good day, topped off by a fantastic dinner and drink at a chain restaurant.
 
Studio mini-match was this weekend! Hopefully I’ll find time to write more soon, but right now I’m too busy uploading dance videos to YouTube.

Shocking announcement #1: I HAD FUN! (Even though my dancing wasn’t up to my own expectations. But I mean, let’s be real, when is it ever?)

Shocking announcement #2: I wore zero blue dresses all day! (Highlighter fuchsia dress for smooth; highlighter yellow dress for rhythm & then changed into my black/purple dress, also for rhythm. The first two I’d never worn before, as they are both recent purchases from ladies at my studio, and I was delighted at how well they worked out!)

And when I say I had fun, I mean that at no point during the entire day did I think about leaving early, or wonder why the heck I signed up for this. Not even during our east coast swing heats, lol….

This is NOT the same highlighter yellow dress I tried on back in 2022…remember that? I made the “Big Bird Shimmy” video wearing it, so everyone could laugh at the absurd image of me wearing rows and rows of ruffles that looked like feathers:


ProgressNotPerfection

Post in thread '2022 competition opportunities'

Another comp-related story...a dance acquaintance offered to rent me one of her rhythm dresses for Empire, since I'm worried about how tight my turquoise dress is. So I tried it on at my lesson yesterday to get Pro's opinion. It is a bright, vivid yellow - neon, fluorescent, highlighter yellow - glow in the dark, assaultingly, blindingly yellow - which would be very noticeable on the floor. It has a high tight neck but an open back, bare arms, 4 tiered rows of ruffles on the skirt (which only comes down to upper thigh), and the bodice is a stretchy mesh/lace-looking material that is much...
  • Haha
  • Like

Anyway, this new yellow dress is much more flattering on me. I don’t feel even a little bit like a Sesame Street character.
 
I finally made time over the Thanksgiving weekend to look at the mini-match ballots from the judges. The studio went back to its older ballot format, where there were multiple categories of things to evaluate, and the judges would mark plus signs in the boxes next to the things they liked, and minus signs for things they think the student dancer should work on. They could also write their own comments. E.g., here's one of my cha cha ballots:

1764531249599.png

The ballots for the smooth dances were the same format, but with a few different categories and elements:

1764531271880.png

There were 5 judges there, but due to the VERY LARGE number of participants, we received only one ballot from one judge in the majority of our heats. I danced 20 rhythm heats & received 22 rhythm ballots; I danced 16 smooth heats & received 19 smooth ballots.

Just for fun (and bcs I love playing with Excel sheets), I summarized the ballots to see if I could find any reliable trends. I expected the answer to be no, since each judge has different preferences & looks at you at different times & sees different things. E.g., in a rhythm heat where I received 2 ballots, one had a plus sign next to "foot position" and the other had a minus sign next to "foot position." Hmm. OK. Same dance, same heat - but different judges. However, there were a few consistent patterns, which I have noted in the spoiler below (along with the summaries themselves).

Other examples of why I roll my eyes somewhat at these ballots as an overall concept:
  • On one of my smooth ballots, there was no plus sign by "poise/posture," but the written comment was "great poise." This means that the absence of a plus sign by any particular element doesn't mean that said element isn't deserving of a plus sign. Hmm. OK.
  • In a different smooth heat (where I got 2 ballots), one ballot had a plus sign next to "heel leads" and the other had a minus sign next to "heel leads." Hmm. OK. Same dance, same heat - but different judges.
  • On another smooth ballot, there was no minus sign by "heel leads," but the written comment was "watch heels." This means that the absence of a minus sign by any particular element doesn't mean that said element doesn't need improvement. Hmm. OK.
Nonetheless, there were some consistent and probably reliable indicators of strengths and weaknesses, such as these:
  • the judges marked plus signs next to "Movement: Traveling" on 14 of my 19 smooth ballots (the next highest total of plus signs on my smooth ballots for any single element was only 7, for "Dance Positions: Connection" and also for "Arm Styling: Dynamics").
  • my smooth ballots included 5 minus signs but zero plus signs for "Footwork: brushing action" (including all 4 smooth dances).
  • even worse, under smooth Footwork (including all 3 subcategories), there were 16 minus signs total and only 5 plus signs. Definitive? Nah. An indication of an area that needs attention? Definitely.
  • on my rhythm ballots, 26 of my total plus signs were all in the category of Presentation: animation (7), dance character (7), & musicality (12)....
  • ...as opposed to only 12 plus signs in rhythm for Arm Styling: arm position (1), arm articulation (6), & dynamics (5).
Is it news to me that my musicality, animation, and overall performance skills are pretty good, and definitely better than my arm styling skills? No, of course not. But it's still useful to see concrete numbers like these, even though it's a small data set.

It WAS eye-opening to me, not necessarily in a good way, to see these general totals:

StyleTotal # of Plus SignsTotal # of Minus Signs:
Rhythm (22 ballots)7126
Smooth (19 ballots)5028

If I wanted to overthink, I'd wonder if this means any of the following:
  • rhythm is easier than smooth; or
  • I look better dancing rhythm than smooth; or
  • my pro looks better dancing rhythm than smooth; or
  • I dance rhythm better than I dance smooth; or
  • my pro dances rhythm better than he dances smooth; or
  • these judges like rhythm better than they like smooth; or
  • these judges judge smooth more harshly than they judge rhythm; or
  • smooth heats were in the morning and rhythm heats were after lunch, so the judges were in a better mood in the afternoon & feeling more generous with their comments
Without spending too terribly much time on those musings, I'd conclude "nope, those numbers alone probably don't signify anything."

RHYTHM HEATS:

1764534000437.png

SMOOTH HEATS:

1764533886386.png

Final note: the ballots don't identify the judges. If a judge has distinctive handwriting AND happens to write multiple-word comments on more than one of your ballots, you might be able to say "these two ballots were from the same judge." But it's trickier to figure that out if all you have to work with is some random scribblings of plus and minus signs. But ultimately, I don't need to know those specifics to obtain useful information from the ballots, so it's OK.
 
I love that you're into spreadsheets and was able to put the feedback together an even more meaningful way for you.

This looks like a helpful exercise in understanding patterns of what is mostly likely seen by judges.
 
Had a really good competition this weekend (so I will not be posting in the post comp disorder thread)! After all my freaking out in the pre- comp thread, I actually read the program wrong and I did not have semifinals for my smooth scholarship. It was still all-levels, and I did get first over two leaders doing silver routines so that was really nice. Rhythm single dances were kind of rocky and I wasn’t following super well but I did get first for all my singles and my multi-dance. There was one judge who marked me noticeably lower than everyone else, so I’m curious what he was focused on that I could work on.

There was a couple workshops the day before that I thought were really helpful, and the judge who did one of them asked me in the lunch line if I had found it helpful, since the workshop was in mental prep during comps. I said it did so it was nice he remembered who I was and that he could tell I had absorbed some of it.

Andrei and Nino were the pro show and they were incredible.

Downside, I had such a great time that I completely overslept for my flight today and had to rebook for a later flight. Thankfully scholarship money covered it!
 
HappyLilac said:
Had a really good competition this weekend (so I will not be posting in the post comp disorder thread)!
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:D

Congratulations on a such a positive comp experience! You have much to be proud of and it sounds like you took advantage of the whole experience with taking in a workshops and talking with a presenter, and watching the pro show. Kudos!
 
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