On Saturday (the 8th of October) I danced (Lindy Hop swing dancing) in my 3rd and 4th competitions!
The first competition I was ever in was after I’d been dancing for maybe 2 months, I don’t remember. We lost horribly.
The second competition I was in was February of this year. I don’t know how bad we lost, but we lost. Different partner.
The third competition was yesterday as I mentioned. It was “Jack and Jill” competition. All the leads (the guys) picked who they would dance with. I got a girl named Sharon, which I was very happy about. She’s an awesome dancer. Her husband Jon was also in the competition. Their website is how2dance.com, check it out! They’re awesome! There were six couples total. There were two heats, 3 couples at a time, and then an all skate with all six on the floor at the same time.
Sharon and I placed 4th of the 6th. All we wanted was to have fun and that’s exactly what we did. We got the crowd cheering and thus we were happy. All three songs were faster than I had expected, but still not too fast. We could have done better had it been slower of course (not too slow though!), but so would have many of the others. :) I highly enjoyed the competition. The couple that won did an amazing job (they freaking rocked!)
The fourth competition, also yesterday as I mentioned, was a “Swing Kids Trophy Challenge” as they called it. They had each university (that wanted to) in Utah send their two best couples to compete against each other. The winning couple gets a trophy, which they keep for a year at the school and bring it back the next year. The names of the winning couple also gets put on it. Last year Utah State University won.
I don’t actually go to the University of Utah, but I attend their swing club more than any of the others so I danced with a girl (Kristen) who goes to the UofU. There were 8 couples total: two from BYU, two from Utah State, two from Salt Lake Community, one from Weber State, and one from the U (Kristen and I). The original plan was to dance all skate (all on the floor at the same time) to three songs. One slow, one medium, one fast. They ended up playing four, with the fourth being another fast one (well… medium/fast). We screwed up several of our “flashy” moves, but kept on going and did them again successfully. The fourth song was by far our best even though we were extremely tired (our screw ups were very small). If it weren’t for the crowd cheering I don’t think I could have finished. I have a tendency to put A LOT of energy into my dancing, especially when people are watching me like that. So to go four songs in a row like that, especially with the faster ones, was crazy! I had a ton of fun, but was skeptical because of our screw ups in the first three songs, but we ended up winning! Whoooo hoooo! The University of Utah gets the trophy for the next year!
Oh yeah, no lifts or aerials were allowed in either of the competitions yesterday. They allowed drops and small tosses, but didn’t want anyone going over anyones head. I prefer competions with that stuff allowed*, but oh well. That kind of thing provides a huge advantage over people that don’t know any, or many.
Overall, I’ve decided that I like competing. It still turns my stomach into a giant knot, but I figure that’ll go away eventually. Maybe. :)
* = When people think of swing dancing they picture girls flying all over the place, but Lindy Hop really isn’t like that ALL the time. They’re almost non-existant in social dancing, as I believe they should be. Aerials in social dancing is asking to get kicked in the head, get dropped on your head, etc. Trust me, I’ve seen it happen at dances and it’s not pretty. That kind of stuff is for performances, some competitions, and show off moments with plenty of room. If you want to see cool lindy hopping with all the cool aerials and stuff check out www.dcswingdancing.com and www.one2swing.com