What Did I Sign Up For?

Last night was the Snow Ball/Showstoppers at the studio. To make it more festive, they invited another studio to come up and share the event and we ended up with about 60 people. I know they used to do Snow Ball at an external venue but the last two years have been in the studio. Must be a cost thing although they did cater in food so they had to spend a little money.

We had a significant number of people who signed up or got their arms twisted into doing a routine. A couple of us did more than one. (Always the overachiever). They divided it into three heats grouped by level so you could say they were saving the best for last. OwnerGuy actually said that so I’m just repeating it.

In between, they had much dancing and nearly all of it was to Christmas music. That created a few “interesting” dances where maybe the beat was similar to a Rumba but the rest of the song had no relation to that dance. I tried to hold back a little because (a) I was in the third act, (b) I had two dances to get through and (c) my knees were acting up a bit. But you can’t sit out every dance and I got in enough that I was a little sore today.

There were many who were doing their first ever performance. Wish I could say that it gets easier over time. In some ways it does but I wonder if I just put more pressure on myself now because I’m supposed to be at some high level where people expect perfection. I kind of got in my head a bit and found my instructor and, since there was a Fox Trot on, we did the Quickstep but to Fox Trot speed. The body knew it but the mind had doubts which is why you have to turn off your mind.

The whole performing thing it interesting to me. Some people come into the studio wanting to compete. But most come in looking to social dance for an event. And yet, they still signed up to dance in the Showstoppers. Couldn’t just be the points you got for it. Maybe all of us are just looking for that moment to be on stage.

This is just one of those little benefits of dancing that you don’t know about until you actually do it. Too many people just assume they can’t and let that fear keep them from actually trying. Now ballroom has many moments of frustration and pain and sweat. But it gives so much back. I mean nobody got a trophy or anything last night. It is just the feeling inside of doing something that you thought you couldn’t do. Even with the mistakes and nerves, it was still an accomplishment for everyone.

So how did mine go? I’m not the best judge but they were well received. Did the Quickstep first and then the Mambo. Did have one (or maybe two) dances in between but since each one was less than a minute, I didn’t get a lot of rest between the two. Got back to my seat and the guy next to me made some comment about why I picked two of the fastest dances.

The tunnel we do in the Mambo actually went better last night than in any of our practices. So that’s a good thing.

Well now I’ll get back to my potential problem. DanceGirl was there last night and she’s kind of becoming a little diva – but in a good way. This was the first time people from the other studio got to dance with her so all the male instructors took a turn because – why not? At one point, Z told me she was sort of standing on the outside of the floor scanning for her next victim – er partner.

I ended up doing at least two dances with her. One was a Tango. I executed a pretty simple collect from promenade when we needed to change directions and this happened to be in front of DanceMom. DanceMom is a really nice person and is super excited about watching and filming DanceGirl. Anyway, we get done and DanceMom comes out to hug me and then says “you two should do a routine”. I said “well that could be fun”. Later, JoNY comes up to me and says she hears that I’m doing a routine with DanceGirl.

Maybe I agreed more than I thought I did. Part of my problem is I can’t say no. And part of the reason I can’t say no is that new things often intrigue me. Something about not wanting to shut off a new experience. Do I want to do a routine with an 8-year old. It would certainly be different and it could be fun. You don’t know until you try.

But I don’t know if this is ever going to be anything more than a conversation. Maybe we could work to doing something at the next Showstoppers. That could easily be done. I guess I’ll see what happens the next time I go in.