I do not think that I have ever seen this subject addressed here before... I sure would welcome any comments

My husband and I have danced at a competitive level for 10 years. We dance both silver and gold level and dance at the amatuar level. We compete about once a quarter, and usually and gladly fly to the competitions.(Yikes, yes we even have a comp budget)

When we started to compete, our posture, presentation and balance had much to be desired. Still, we worked with our coaches, competed about once every three months, and learned how to feel comfortable in competition. We scored low, and took the mind set that as long as we improved our dance we were successful regardless of our placement.

Ten years later, after a great coach that has taught us great technique and how to prepare for a comp, we score no better.....

We have just come home from the USABDA regional in Atlanta. We worked for six months for this. We put in about 15 hrs per week in coaching and practice and felt so ready.... Yes , we came in dead last again.... For the first time in 10 yrs, I felt I cannot do this again.... Oh, I felt every line and walked off of the floor and felt such progress only to come in last.....

I was, well what can I say...words cannot describe my complete dissapointment. I was no longer willing to accept the words my coach says," but did you improve".....It just hurt to much!!!

So we come home and our coach tells us that you have been competing a long time, and now all the judges know you..( yes they do) He tells us they have come to expect a certain level of dance from us, and we may in fact have improved greatly, but the judges already have a impression of us before we even enter the floor....

After this last comp, I thought what now.... It is my life to prepare for each comp.. I have no interest in social dancing, I love the comp enviornment and it is this venture that gives me the drive to succeed.... If I cannot anymore accept last place, then dance life for me is over....

It is so painful for me to have to be at this place..... Ya know for the last 10 yrs my whole life has been dance and to walk away now when I just dont want to , but see no altertive just is quite painful....


Sorry for the long post and going on so...

Janet

"He tells us they have come to expect a certain level of dance from us, and we may in fact have improved greatly, but the judges already have a impression of us before we even enter the floor...."

This is BS. Judges are WANTING to see yo improve. They would love to see you come on the floor and wow them.

Get a new coach. Someone that can help you dance instead of telling you how great you are even when you come in last, and then procees to tell you that the judges are wrong or don't know how to look at you with "unclouded eyes."

I do so much appreciate your honesty...

Perhaps I stated this wrong... Our coach never told us we were great(in my dreams only!)

Ya know thought, after working together for 10+ years, I just have become fustrated with the pep talks.... Something is just wrong that we cannot place at all. I wish we could get beyond the worry of hurting our feelings so we can disucss the real issues of our failure....

Tell your coach you want the absolute truth as to why you aren't placing any higher. Remind your coach that you neither want nor need a pep talk. If he/she can't give you the truth, then look for another coach who will. It might hurt to look at it but then you can come to terms with it rather than feeling stuck.

Good luck to you, it sounds like you want change and you want answers, which is a good start.

Just curious, is your coach a champion or former champion caliber coach? If I was as serious a competitive dancer as it sounds you and your husband are, I would only work with someone who had at least made the finals of a major comp.

We work with two coaches....
Our main coach is quite good in technique, and we learn a great deal from him. He, in years past was at the champion level.

Our other coach, comes in from Fla one a month to work with us (and others) Both he and his wife, often judge at all of national comps....

This last comp the Fla coach was the scruniteer(sp) at the nationals , and had the opportunity to watch us compete. We had a lesson the next week... He imediately had issues to fix with us, but was not ready to tell us the whys of our scoring.

We do have a stong desire to succeed, and incredible love for dance and do not carry with us these big Ego's. We are so ready to address whatever shortcomings we may have, and I so much wish someone would be honest with us. Sometimes I feel that the studio owners are so caught up in reveue that they neglect to see that at least for us "feel good" does not produce revenue.... I would rather be told my shortcomings so I can improve than tell me how great I am...when in fact I already know I am not....

Again, sorry for the rant.....

One thing that could be going on is that while you are improving, so is everyone else. You say you've worked on your dancing for 10 years and are dancing at Silver and Gold level. It seems to me that all the up-and-coming couples are coming up and passing you by so your results stay low. Are you in a rut? Do you maybe need to try another style, or push yourself to dance at the next level even though you aren't making the finals of your current level? That would probably shake things up. Or maybe you need to back off and go back to bronze and really examine every bit of the basics there to see what is missing. What about the frame, the posture, the fundamental movement?

It's so hard to be so frustrated and feel so stuck and not know why. I know someone who felt stuck after five years of trying. Unfortunately, this person had gotten some advice about their performance/presentation skills and about their grooming that they consistently chose to ignore. Believe it or not, presentation and grooming makes a difference, and can sometimes make the difference between getting to the next round or not. I watched a tape where several judges were interviewed, and one of the first things they all said was that grooming was very important. The higher in the levels you go the more important it is, in that more leeway is given to newcomers and bronze-level dancers than to more experienced competitors.

Do you ever get yourself taped when you compete? Can you see the differences between yourself and the other dancers? Is it something as small as showing personality on the floor, or being physically fit? Or do you look stiff through your frame, or maybe not move as fully as the other couples? There's so many things that come into play, I find it strange that your coach can't or won't tell you the top three things that you have to work on right this second so as to get ahead.

Janet, maybe you should compete in lesser events - just to get into the finals and gain the security of someone who has actually won things?

I do not know how it is in the USA - but I find it hard to believe that the judges are that dependable on their previous impressions. Sure, you won't be seen as the candidate for winning the event if you were last a year ago. But there should be some place for improvement.

Janet, best luck!

Hi Janet,
My husband and I are amateur competitors as well so I can relate to you as an amateur competitor and also as someone who loves to compete! (altho we both love social dancing as well).

You've gotten some really good advice from several folks. I'd also recommend video taping...I do that every lesson. Sometimes things that feel great do not look so good. Seeing yourself on tape I think is a great way to see truthfully how you look when you dance.

I would also recommend checking out other coaches. Maybe even with all of your coaching, nobody ever really made you do the basics correctly. Who were the judges for the regional? Can you schedule a lesson with one of the judges ...maybe he or she will be able to tell you what it was they were looking for. I agree with the person who recommended finding a coach who has also been (or is ) an active competitor.

Where are you from? (I'm guessing the south somewhere). I can recommend some coaches in my area (midwest). If you would like me to email you some names of coaches we have used, please post your email address.

One other things I would say...my husband and I dance socially together almost every week as well as work on competitions. I believe that our social dancing improves our competition dancing. We can relax and have fun socially and it is practice in dancing together as well as in doing "freestyle" ie..non-routine dances, which I believe makes us dance better together in competition. I'd recommend that you try social dancing sometime. It also makes you both better partners...you may be compensating for each other's weaknesses if you only dance with each other.

I wish you all the best in continuing to do something you love.

I'd also suggest that if you know the names of some of the judges you ask them what it is they specifically look for at your levels. That might provide some clues and I don't think it's unethical to ask.

OB