Riot and Frolic

With all my complaining and whining about the state of ballroom dancing the last few weeks, one might think I've lost my love of shiny things and pretty music.  

NAY!

Nay, I tell you.  

I DO have a desparate need to inform people how the choices they have consciously or unconsciously made appear on the dance floor.  I DO like to field questions in a general forum, since if one person asked, 72 other people were probably thinking it.

YAY! 

Yay, I say.

YAY, to all you college kids, pre-teens, freakin' babies (actual babies!  little humans who can't pronounce their "r"s yet!), late bloomers, amateur couples, 80-year-old rock stars, newcomers with blue eyeshadow on, smiling, nervous, awkward, amazing dancers.

Any time I take off my judge-y pants, I LOVE you.  LOVE.  YOU.

It is a joy to watch everyone moving and shaking and having fun or having nerves, but GETTING OUT THERE.

Getting out there is tough.  All that prep.  Never feeling ready.  People watching you.  Being judged.  It's insane.  And fantastic.

I am proud of the big grinners, the forgetful leaders, the gigantic egos, the sheepish bows, the losers, and the winners. 

You are great.

Go forth and conquer.

One year ago: Yo, My Peeps

I wasn't going to write this post for fear of offending someone, but it's my blog and I'll cry if I want to.  And truly, if you haven't been offended by now, I'm in the clear.

Blue eyeshadow.  I get it.  Blue is a pretty color.  Blue eyeshadow looks good on every skintone.  

But why blue?  I see a lot of ladies wearing blue eyeshadow on the dance floor and can't help but wonder why they choose that color (I'm talking to you, too, church ladies).  If your dress isn't blue and you're wearing blue eyeshadow, I'm bound to be confused.  

Ballroom makeup should make your eyes (and other facial features) stick out from across the floor and enhance your beautiful face.  Using any color (as opposed to neutrals) is GREAT, as long as it's used to moderation, AND in relation to your ensemble.  

Pinterest has several great boards dedicated to ballroom makeup and hair (check out Lauren's or mine).  Find your favorite look and practice mimicking it before the day of your competition.  Non-ballroom ladies, you'd be in good shape if you thought ahead of big events, also (prom, company holiday parties, weddings, etc.).  

If someone else is doing your makeup, make sure they know what color you're wearing.  Bonus points if you bring pictures of makeup styles that you like…  And make sure they have other colors than blue in their eyeshadow palettes.

Next up, the sticky-out arm while walking on the floor.  The guillotine, I'll call it.

Clearly, someone has taught you to stick out your free arm when you walk on the floor with your partner.  

But WHY?  The goal of walking out on the floor is to get to your spot on the floor, not to take up the most space and take out the most judges on your way there. 

Many of you were utterly perplexed when I planted myself in cutting range of your guillotine arm.  "WHAT WILL I DO NOW?" was written across your face.

I'll tell you what to do.  Get your ass on the floor and PUT YOUR ARM DOWN!  

If you just made the final from a huge group of people, then by all means throw that arm up and strut on the floor thinking, "LOOK AT ME!  I'M AWESOME!"  But until then, you just look silly and sheep-like in your ability to follow a direct order and follow the crowd without knowing why you're doing it.  

And I make fun of you.

My name is Kate and I use a lot of hairspray.  

Not on a day to day basis.  

I'm more of a social hairsprayer.  

I don't neeeeeeed it.

…

Okay.  I need it.  

NEEEEEEEED IT!

Unlike DWTS, real Ballroom Hair needs to be pretty, interesting, and still.  Like, unmoveable.  That requires a good hairspray.  

Here's what I'm looking for:

• EXTREME HOLD – able to withstand a hurricane… or an entire day of sweating dancing
• aerosol
• not stinky – sorry, Aveda, you might be out
• layerability – totally a word and totally important for anxiety-driven prep (reapply lipstick, freshen up foundation, spritz more tanner, ADD LAYER OF HAIRSPRAY)

I'm open to different "finishes" (matte to high shine) and washability (how many times I need to shampoo my hair to get it clean).

Here's what I've tried so far:

Ah, Aveda Firmata.  You bring me back to my early days of ballrooming.  Your unique smell, your shiny finish, your strong hold.   Overlooking nostalgia, I give you a 7.  

• hold: 9.  For context, I have only used this with short short hair.  But it worked like a champ and I sweat a LOT.
• aerosol: 0.  Duh, it's not.  It's a pump and that just annoys my trigger finger.
• not stinky: 4.  It's Aveda.  It smells like… Aveda.
• layerability: 10.  Plastic-y, shiny, lovely.

göt2b glued hairspray has been floating around the ballrooms for the last couple of years.  I see those reeeeeeally great guys who do their partners hair using this, so I had to try it.  The Screaming Hold gets a 8.

• hold: 9. It's fiiiirm, baby.
• aerosol: 7.  The mist isn't that fine and the spray is pretty wide (AKA less accurate).
• not stinky: 9. The "top notes" are a bit chemical-y, but I can't smell it 5 minutes later.  Neat.
• layerability: 5.  After a few coats, it starts forming droplets of stickiness.

I'm also a fan of it's glossy finish and one-heavy-shampoo cleaniless factor.  I'm not a fan of how it is not the easiest to find (AKA it's not at Target), but it is relatively cheap (AKA $7.50 or so).

Salon Grafix is a pretty good choice.  Meh.  I say 6.7.

• hold: 6.  I've had better.
• aerosol: 8.  It's a light mist, and you can aim well with it.
• not stinky: 8.  It's unscented, which doesn't always mean "no scent", but it works in this case.
• layerability: 7.  It tends to look more and more matte the more you add.

It's cheap (around $5).  Awesome.

What kind of hairspray do you use?  GUYS, you can answer, too!  I know you guys have some secret hair serums [no lie, I know a guy who has a secret hair serum and his hair is soooooo shiny and cement-like and I'm Jealous with a capital J].  

Last weekend, I had the pleasure of seeing BBDC perform their 10th year anniversary show at the amazing Cowles Center in Minneapolis.  They happened to reprise their original production from year one, Dinner For Seven, which has always been my favorite.  With a several change-ups to the cast and the remaining original cast being 10 years older, I was curious to see what would unfold on stage.

My first reaction was, "Ah, yes, this is pleasant."  A charming ensemble of local ballroom professionals glided on stage, introducing their characters in little vignettes as they entered the dinner party thrown by the feuding host couple, Julie Jacobson and Jay Larson.  Ladies' man Shane Haggerty popped his collar and swaggered in. Chris Kempainen played the totally hot Good Guy.  Deanne Michael stumbled in after having a few drinks beforehand, only to play the part of the hussy/villainess.  Christine and Charlie Hardcastle played the bougie lovebirds.  The crew dances through some lovely formations and combinations to great music.  Nice.

My second reaction was, "I LOVE THIS EFFING SHOW!"  Somewhere between the guys' number and the catfight (Barracuda!), I was pulled into the obvious camaraderie happening on stage.  The highly anticipated and hotly debated question, "Is Julie going to do the thing?" which everyone followed up by this weird hip-shimmy action was answered when she proudly dropped dress in the middle of the stage and shook her booty in a sexy West Coast Swing with the four guys.  No one will argue that that was awesome.  Hot.

My third reaction, more of hindsight really, was, "What now?"  While obviously the show revolved around dance, I was never struck by, "OH MY GOD, HOW DID THEY DO THAT?!" or "THAT WAS SUPER CRAZY!"  The characters stuck out to me more than the dancing did and I expected it to be the other way around.  Harumph.

Last year, I was all, "Oh, this was great, but I really liked that other show," but now after seeing the Other Show, I want to go back to last year.  Grass is always greener, huh?  It's probably unfair for me to compare the 10th anniversary performance to the original.  But I'm not the only one who saw the first go-around and wanted… more on the second trip.  More!

One year ago: Don't Dance What You See – Body Contact – Part Two

Dinner is, ever since the industrial revolution or so, the main meal in most households.

For dancers, particularly ballroom dancers, timing needs to be dinner.  Unfortunately, many ballroomers' timing is more like happy hour cocktails.  It looks like this:

Just like alcohol beverages don't count as a meal, your lack of discernible timing does not constitute dancing.

Because timing is about half of what I'd define as ballroom dancing:

ball-room dance [bôl rōōm dans]: two people moving together through a set sequence of steps that match the speed and rhythm of a piece of music

Yeah yeah yeah, "two people".  Yeah yeah yeah, "steps".  But "MATCH THE SPEED AND RHYTHM OF A PIECE OF MUSIC".  That's the clincher, people.

 There's about four situations that happen while dancing:

1. A couple dances the popular and highly-recommended rhythm of the dance, to the popular and highly-recommended, corresponding beats of a song.  [They dance Foxtrot as slow quick quick on 1 2 3 4 of a song.]
2. A couple dances the popular and highly-recommended rhythm of the dance, to … different beats of a song.  [They dance Foxtrot as slow quick quick on 3 4 1 2 of a song.]
3. A couple dances the popular and highly-recommended rhythm of the dance, but at a different speed than that of the actual song being played.  [They dance slow quick quick on 1 2 of a song.]
4. A couple dances … a different rhythm to … something else besides whatever song is playing.  [They dance quic slooo qu, quikee slo-i-ty on 9 4 72.]

These timing situations have gone from acceptable to WTF (haha, dance joke!).  Often, these situations can happen from the same couple in the same dance.  While that is exciting, it is also confusing to watch and, therefore, wrong.

Here's how to get more nutritional benefits from timing:

1. Have a teacher count timing.  Over and over and over and over.  
2. Listen to music.  All.  The.  Time.  Ask instructors or other seasoned dancers for song recommendations.  (Some waltzes/mambos/cha-chas are easier to hear than others.) 
3. Tap a foot.  Try doing a simple movement in time to the music.
4. Count out loud.  No no no, OUT LOUD.  
5. Do the basic, in time with the music, while counting out loud.
6. Crank up the music louder and do all these things.
7. Dance steps while concentrating on the music and not steps.  
8. Do it all again.

The best thing anyone can do to learn how to dance on time with music is to practice on time with music.  After awhile, an internal metronome will be set.  At that point, even if you can't hear the beat of the song, you can dance a consistent rhythm and speed.

And here, have a second helping of timing.

 
One year ago: Don't Dance What You See- Body Contact. It's like 2-for-1 up in here! 

I live in MN.  Land of humidity, mosquitoes, 10,000 lakes, and heavy snowfalls.

Minnesotans complaining about snow emergencies (the city declares these after snowfalls over 3" and then a bunch of confusing parking rules go into effect so that streets can get plowed) is like dancesport competitors complaining about conditions at a dance competition.  

Complaints often overheard at competitions:

• The floor is too slippery.
• The floor is too sticky.
• The floor is too small.
• The floor is too big.
• The judges are watching.
• The judges aren't watching.
• There were people in my way.
• We were the only people on the floor.
• There were too many people on the floor.
• The music was too slow.
• The music was too fast.
• The music was weird.
• I didn't recognize the music.
• The ballroom was too cold.
• The ballroom was too hot.
• There were too many people watching.
• There was no one watching.
• I didn't know anyone who was watching.
• My partner did things differently.
• My partner didn't do anything.

Dance competitions aren't about who is the best dancer.  They're about who the best dancer is under those conditions.  Like a Minnesotan who expects to coast through winter without picking up a snow shovel, a competitor who doesn't expect all these challenges is setting themselves unrealistic expectations for their experience.  And is likely to think of each hurdle as an Emergency.

Watching the final that you didn't make, you think, "I am TOTALLY better than her/him/them!"  But were you really?  Really?  Were you calm, cool, collected, and compelling to watch THE ENTIRE TIME you were on the floor?  Did you deal with adversity in a relaxed and proper manner?  DID YOU?

Here's my advice:

• The floor is too slippery. [Click the link.]
• The floor is too sticky. [Click the link.]
• The floor is too small. [Learn to steer.]
• The floor is too big. [It's not baseball.  You don't have to touch each corner.]
• The judges are watching. [That's their job.  You entered a competition, not a showcase.]
• The judges aren't watching. [They did.  They watched you, and everyone else.  And then they were done.]
• There were people in my way. [Go where people aren't in your way.]
• We were the only people on the floor. [A great way to showcase your awesomeness without having to pay for a solo!]
• There were too many people on the floor. [Everyone loves to dance.  Be calm.]
• The music was too slow. [Dance slower.]
• The music was too fast. [Dance faster.]
• The music was weird. [The music was challenging.]
• I didn't recognize the music. [Yay! New music!]
• The ballroom was too cold. [Yup.]
• The ballroom was too hot. [See above.]
• There were too many people watching. [Everyone loves dancing.  Be calm.  Make them love you.]
• There was no one watching. [Dance like no one is watching!]
• I didn't know anyone who was watching. [No pressure to impress friends and family.  See above!]
• My partner did things differently. [Your partner is saying the same thing.  Everyone reacts differently under stress.  Be nice.]
• My partner didn't do anything. [See above.]

My best advice is this: a competition is not your studio, so don't expect it to be.  It's not the same round of music  you play every day, with the same people around,  in the same square footage, on the same surface, without an active audience, and without people judging you.

Learn to not park on the Night Plow Routes the night after a snowstorm and stop thinking of it as an emergency.  Learn to not freak out when there's 24 other couples on the floor and give up that excuse.  All the excuses you create are all the reasons people can beat you.

One year ago: Eat It.