This past week at Lindy U, Ann Mony and I taught a class on swing dance contests. We started by talking about competition experience and asked our students how they felt about competing. I explained that contests can be a motivator in working on your dancing, but that the results should not be taken personally. Sylvia Sykes will tell you at a competitors’ meeting that you should go out there and have fun, and that your placement does not reflect your dancing ability. Indeed, “winning” a contest doesn’t mean you are better than the other dancers on the dance floor - it just means that on that given day, when the judges were looking at you, you looked like you danced “better” in comparison to the others.
“Better” can mean different things to different people. Visual appeal: clean lines, nice form. Good technique: proper posture, connection, flow. Emotional appeal: are you giving a credible performance, is the crowd drawn in?
Emotional appeal is the most important one for me. Just like good actors make you believe their story through their ability to tap into their emotions, being authentic as a dancer, dancing for the joy of it - that’s what connects you to the audience and crowd. That’s what makes people enjoy watching you. Not the fake smile, the genuine one. That is, if you are one to smile when you dance. One student told me after class that he doesn’t always smile when he dances, but that his joy is felt inside. This enjoyment may not necessarily show on his face, but shines in other forms, through his musicality and creativity. Good point, David.
In class, we watched three couple performances in the American Showcase at ALHC 2006 and asked students to evaluate them. We then went over the official scoresheets to see what judges actually gave them. This gave way to an interesting discussion. How do you compare Todd & Naomi’s smooth Dizzy Atmosphere choreography to Stefan & Bethany’s innovative 12th Street Rag routine? They were both amazing to watch, and yet so very different. We agreed that in the end, quality of the dance was the most important criteria. Note: choosing music that inspires you and dancing like yourself (not someone else) are also essential for good performance choreographies.
We also watched the Boston Tea Party 2007 Advanced Lindy Hop Jack and Jill finals, and compared our scores to the official score sheets. Because of the sheer number of dancers, students had a much harder time making a decision, showing that judges really have a hard task at hand when evaluating huge number of competitors. We chose this competition footage for our students because there were many recognizable Montreal dancers including Eric Bertrand, Caroline Rossi, Sylwia Bielec, Max Pitruzzella, Annie Trudeau, Mélanie Huot-Lavoie, Benoit Laforest, as well as Ann and myself (did I leave somebody out?). Tea Party is amazing, you should all go next year!
Jack and Jills are contests where you sign up individually, and are assigned random partners. In the prelims, you are evaluated individually. In finals, you are evaluated as a couple. As Carla Heiney and Sean Morris said so well in their Jack n’Jill class at Camp Jitterbug 2007, judges look for good dancing and emotional connection. The whole point of a JnJ is to have two people who do not usually dance together create something beautiful on the spot. In other words, it evaluates your ability to adapt to your partner in addition to your quality of dance.
We put theory into practice in the second half of the Lindy U class with a Strictly (improvised with chosen partners) and a Jack and Jill. To simulate the Strictly, we gave couples prep time before the contest.
Congratulations to all our students who participated - they did a great job despite the stress of being evaluated. Congrats also to Fred and Melanie who got our vote for best couple that evening. They combined quality dancing with great presence and fun.
