Competitor Handbook

Several clubs have created competitor handbooks. It would be helpful if you would post a link to your club's competitor handbook, team manual, etc. in the comments for this post. Here is a link to the Dancing with Wolves (NC State) competitor handbook.

http://dancingwithwolves.org/docs/CompetitorHandbook.pdf

To clubs that do not have such a document, please feel free to use any of the provided documents as a template for one of your own.

Lessons learned at Baby BAM Jam

This past weekend I judged at Baby BAM Jam. Experiencing the competition from the perspective of a judge was enlightening. Here are a few things that I think competitors would benefit from.

• Dance to the music. It's being played over loudspeakers for a reason. Timing is everything!
  
• Number placement on the man's back. Ask a more advanced dancer to show you how to pin a number on your back. The number should be flat on the man's back. If the number is pinned on incorrectly, it might bow out which makes it hard to read and much more likely for the lady to accidently rip it. This past weekend, I would try to recall a couple to the next round; the man would have his back to me, but his number would be bowed out so much that I still couldn't read his entire number. I could see only two of the three numbers on his back, making it exceedingly difficult to mark the couple into the next round.
• Latin choreography. Be sure that your choreography is such that the man's back faces where the judges are from time to time. If they can't ever see your number, they can't recall you. Over the weekend, I'd make a mental note to mark a couple later on since I couldn't see their number at the moment... if I did or not, I'm not sure.
• Fix the simple stuff. Fix the annoying quirks in your dancing that can be easily fixed that will offend a judge. How the man holds the lady's right hand, the man's right hand on th e lady's back, facial expressions, costuming, smiling.
• Dance where you can be seen by the judges. Enough said.
  

Buying Dance Shoes for Dummies

Still being edited for content, but check it out. And just a little disclaimer... no, this is not a real "... for Dummies" book. If you'd like to make suggestions or make a contribution, please leave a comment.

http://dancingwithwolves.org/docs/DanceShoes4Dummies.pdf

CDC Comments

The Charlotte DanceSport Challenge was held last weekend (March 23-24, 2007). The competition was a great success. As a first year competition held in North Carolina, the turnout of 170 competitors was fantastic. The competition started off Friday night with a group lesson, a social dance, a show, and a mini-match. The group lesson and show were given by Robertas Maleckis and Inga Sirkaite out of Durham, NC. I thoroughly enjoyed their demonstration and lesson, and I got the feeling that most people shared that sentiment. For the mini-match, several social style dances like west coast swing, hustle, and salsa were danced and judged like fun events with judges tapping people into the next round until a final was reached. Unfortunately, the dancers in the final didn't have numbers, so the judges (myself included) had to rank the dancers according to what the ladies were wearing.... for example, "green shirt", "brown and white dress", "slinky black", "black with red trim", "black with shiny stuff". That made determining the final results interesting. Competition on Saturday was very good. As a whole, the level of dancing in this area gets higher and higher every year. Making it even better, Charlotte DanceSport raised enough money to offer a scholarship for every event up through Novice level.

Good things:

• mini buffet-style catering for social dance on Friday evening
  
• Competition was run very well for a first year comp
• Scholarships were fantastic and will definitely help to encourage our future stars
• Ballroom looked very nice
• Lots of competition in newcomer through silver levels
• USA Dance style registration allowed dancers to compete in several more events giving them more floor experience

Things that could be improved on next year:

• The ballroom became excessively hot at times
• Ran out of water and cups
• Transitions from one event to the next were slower than usual (can be alleviated by more streamlined front desk operation, a more organized on deck area, and possibly a speaker and/or call back sheet in the on deck area)
• Due to the announcement of scholarships being offered primarily in the newcomer and bronze events, many dancers danced down to have a better chance of collecting a check (this problem should really be handled by team captains and not competition organizers)
• Floor was a little small for Smooth and Standard

If you have videos or pictures from this event posted somewhere on internet, please leave a comment to this post with a link to where we can find them.

Congratulations to everyone that participated in this year's CDC!

Baby BAM Jam

DanceSport workshops and beginner competition
http://ballroomatmaryland.com/babybamjam/
Sunday, April 15, 2007
College Park, MD

The morning session consists of several workshops. The competition in the afternoon has events for dancers that have one semester, one year, and up to two years of experience (Beginner I, Beginner II, and Beginner III respectively). There will be plenty of social dancing, fun events, and lots of opportunities to meet other dancers from different clubs.

Charlotte DanceSport Challenge

After a 5 1/2 year hiatus, the University of North Carolina at Charlotte is hosting its annual competition again. Regular registration remains open until March 17th. Please support this competition in it's "grand re-opening". It looks like the competition circuit is starting to expand further south into region VI with collegiate competitions like the Triangle Open in Raleigh NC, DC DanceSport Inferno in Maryland, Charlotte DanceSport Challenge in Charlotte NC, the Gamecock Invitational in Columbia SC, the possibility of UVA hosting a competition, and our USA Dance Regional in Atlanta GA. Let's all be sure to support all of these competitions by competing at them or being a spectator at them. Hopefully sometime in the near future, competition will be more affordable for dancers in our area since we won't have to travel up to Region 3 to compete.

http://charlottedancesportchallenge.com

You can use the comments section of this post to search for a partner (make sure you give some contact info), ask questions, organize rides, housing, etc.

Independence Day Ball

Independence Day Ball. June 30-July 4, 2007. Near Washington, D.C.

This camp is organized by Ily Zislan and Joe Wheeler who are both very active with BAM and GUBDT. The camp is quite pricey (well not really, it ends up being just ~$8/hr of fanstatic instruction), but the money can be very well worth the sacrifice. This camp will bring together incredibly qualified professional dancers including

• Ron Bennett
• Todd Borzych
• Dan Calloway
• Glenis Dee Creger
• Wendy Davies
• Victor Fung
• Jean-Marc Genereux
• Victor Kanevsky
• Anna Mikhed
• Lydia Petrigova
• Igor Pilipenchuk
• Polina Pilipenchuk
• Frank Regan
• Karina Smirnoff
• Bill Sparks
• Erminio Stefano

For more information and to register for this event, go to
http://www.independencedayball.com/