That New Ballroom Show

So there is a new “reality” show that follows a group of women who are serious amateur competitive dancers. I watched a short highlight reel of one episode because it popped up in my You Tube feed. And I did check out the website after seeing a couple of commercials but it isn’t my cup of tea so I’m not going to watch it.

I have no issues with anyone who gets into the competitive part of ballroom dancing. To me, there is no wrong reason to dance. There are plenty of wrong reasons why people don’t but why you choose to do something is your business and no reason is more valid than any other. And if these ladies want to invest a significant amount of time (and money) to go after a competitive goal, then more power to them.

The funny thing is that I’m certainly competitive in other parts of my life. Played multiple intramural sports in college and was on a softball team for several years with a group of friends and I always wanted to win. As a family, we play cards at gatherings and you play to win.

Ballroom is strangely different to me and I’ve become far less interested in competitive stuff the more years I’ve invested into it. If you ask me “why”, I’m not going to be able to come up with any rational answers. Just a feeling that says it isn’t really the path for me. I get joy out of dancing and that’s what I go to experience at things like Showcase.

And you could probably cite a laundry list of things I could get out of going (certainly my instructors have) but, for reasons, those arguments don’t sway me.

It is true that several students go to these big events aren’t really that competitive. I think the Franchise events are probably a little more low key than a true competition and some people just like to go and live the fantasy. I just think it is too much money to spend unless you are really going for the competition part of it.

The part that I did watch brought back some things. I guess I always found the vibe in those big events to be off. Lots and lots of tense people and nervous energy and it was hard to tune it all out. Plus, you are in the same spot for a couple of days trapped in with all that stress and tension. Bad mojo.

I didn’t hate the last one I went to when I was dancing with Kid T. But that was because I ended up hanging out with a couple of other students from the studio who weren’t as serious about the competitive thing. I could likely duplicate that if I went again but then it comes back to spending a rather large sum of money.

I’m kind of in my “been there, done that” phase when it comes to the bigger and more competitive events. So the story of others following that path doesn’t really interest me. Not that it matters but since I do write about ballroom, I figured some might be wondering if I was watching this show.