Showcase Time Again

Got back from the weekend Showcase a bit ago. It was less than two hours away but I just found it easier to go up Saturday and come back today. I suppose you could do it all in one day but when the event starts at 9AM, it would make for a very long day. Oh you could skip the evening but then you miss the pro show and that’s worth the price of admission.

We had enough to fill two tables including a couple attending a showcase for the first time. When you aren’t used to it and see what the other dancers wear, it can be a bit overwhelming. It is kind of hard to describe so you have to experience it. Probably the toughest thing is convincing a newcomer that it doesn’t matter what they look like because the judges aren’t comparing them to other dancers. It is all about getting feedback to improve your dancing.

And I think we ballroom students are a pretty supportive bunch. It helps that we’ve all been through it. Everyone can remember their first event. Well maybe I can’t remember all the details because it was long ago but we can relate to the feelings of trying to take it all in. Dancing with lots of couples on the floor is a challenge. Plus, so many of us find it easier to focus on the flaws so feeling like you don’t look great is pretty common.

I’m getting a coaching lesson tomorrow so I’ll have more to say once I process all the feedback. One highlight was the Viennese Waltz routine which I was most concerned about heading into the event. The floor wasn’t as long as our studio so that was a concern but we had a strong, clean run so that was good.

There is always some thank you gift that is given out in the evening. It is a way to acknowledge each student so your name is called and you go up with you instructor and get a photo with a judge. Anyway, the judge I talked to liked my dancing and said I had a good frame. Nice to hear.

They didn’t have a line up area so you just converged on the floor when it was your heat. I tend to like dancing near our studio just because but it felt like that side of the floor was where everyone wanted to start. So we ended up migrating to the other side for a lot of the heats. And I guess we caught the eye of the people from the studio that was sitting there since they started cheering for us. At the end of the night, one of them came up to say how good we looked and they even remembered my number.

I did fewer heats than I did in June and I think it was a better balance. Didn’t get as overheated as I did in June and my knee isn’t complaining as much. I’ll see if I can stick to that for ours in November.

But a day spent dancing is typically a good day.