Uncontested heats - how to be sure there will be competition at the competition

JudeMorrigan said:
As far as second places in uncontested events go, I went and looked up a few comps out of curiosity. I mean, Larinda's say-so should be the final word anyways, but I'll also confirm that I was able to find a few examples of it. It's really, really not common, but it happens.

I will say though that "minimum score" makes it sound far more quantified than I think it actually is.
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It's not common that it appears in the results. But I've collected enough ballots from judges to know that they will do it and usually see something like that once a day. It's just that it's strongly discouraged, so I know scrutineers will ignore it and the Chairman of Judges will occasionally pull aside a judge to warn against it.
 
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JudeMorrigan said:
It's pretty rare for them to run uncontested events by themselves unless there's a very specific reason for them to do so. (e.g. The Person That Dances Peabody being on the floor by themselves because they're *literally* the only person dancing Peabody at a given competition.)
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<minor hijack> Single-couple heats certainly make photographing easier though ^_^ Especially when they're sandwiched between heats with 8 couples dancing 5 different events ... x_x </hijack>
 
When you say uncontested heat do you mean there is only 1 couple on the floor or multiple combined heats each being different events? Uncontested events even if there are others on the floor are boring and needlessly expensive if your goal is to compete against others. I have given up having competition in single dances at smaller local comps and rely entirely on scholarship events to get my fix for competition.

Slightly off topic (I can't find a search function so maybe this has been discussed to death already) but I was wondering if anyone had a compelling argument for why gentlemen and ladies events are separated? I think having combined gentleman/lady single dances would be good for both sides. The answer I get when I asked a couple of different pros has been an unsatisfying answer of it's unfair to judge lead/follow together but is it really that big of a difference? Pros for both sides are bottle-necked by their student and will be dancing down either way.
 
I always ask to dance my singles against the ladies. Some organizers say yes some no. If not I'll collect my multiple first place three dollars off entries next year coupons alllllll dayyyyyy looonngggg
 
newcomerdivision said:
When you say uncontested heat do you mean there is only 1 couple on the floor or multiple combined heats each being different events?
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By uncontested I meant only one couple entered in the heat, whether or not multiple heats are danced together.

I am following the advice to look for comps where last year there were larger fields, with the expectation that this year will be the same. But for Embassy, do you think the only reason there were decent sized fields in 2015, even some 1st rounds and quarter finals, is maybe because that was a big year for the standard worlds? Whereas this year it isn't as special for standard.
 
Mr 4 styles said:
What age and level??? That makes a difference
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Over 50. He's Newcomer, and as an am-am partnership, we're Bronze. Perhaps there is not an appropriate event for us at Embassy. I see no closed syllabus for Am-Am. I carry no delusion that just because I dance well with my teacher means my amateur partner and I wouldn't earn one of those 2nd places in an uncontested heat as an am-am couple!

Looking at Embassy 2015 results... The only Pre-Novice heat I see listed from last year is not split by age, which is a good thing since last year the Pre-Novice had only 4 couples, one of which was over-35 and one over-50.

I have not tried pro-am. I expect my teacher would choose the level but if it were up to me I'd be tempted to enter the level with the most competition to get the most number of rounds. My guess is with my teacher I'd be Silver-ish.

Applause to the gentleman who prefers to merge his events with the gent pros rather than go uncontested. A true sportsman.
 
Mr 4 styles said:
The couple I saw was way off time in chacha single dance
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I've seen it several times. The one time that sticks out in my mind (because I wasn't on the floor myself so I had a front-row seat) was a couple having a wrestling match -- one or both of them was misremembering their choreo, and since there was no connection (really saggy frame on both of them), they were both just kind of doing their own thing.
 
JudeMorrigan said:
They certainly don't help, although I suspect the average non-dancer would have no idea what it would mean to have four different events on the ballroom at once with three of them uncontested. It's pretty rare for them to run uncontested events by themselves unless there's a very specific reason for them to do so. (e.g. The Person That Dances Peabody being on the floor by themselves because they're *literally* the only person dancing Peabody at a given competition.)
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Truth, it's not obvious unless you know ballroom competitions well. Had some non-ballroom friends spectate at a competition in town, they didn't understand why my partner and I weren't thrilled to be 2nd. They thought we were in a 6-couple event, but there were 4 events on the floor: two 2-couples (1 was ours) and two solo events.
 
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