Thank you, guys for your answers.

>If it's your first competition, keep it simple

Yes, Laura, this is what I thought. Just wanted to be sure that I thought right I'll try to find out what kind of changing room they provide.

>My advice to you is unless you have lots of
>money to throw away, get out of pro-am.

John, this depend on someone's goals. For men it is often important to be a "Champion". It is just natural trait of the male psyche, nothing bad about it. But girls usually better appreciate light and flirtatious fun of the dance and ambitious side is less dominating.
I cannot say I have a lot of money, but competitions look like a lot of fun for me and I just want to try it. If I'm correct, it will be another thing I can occasionally indulge to. If not - well, we all make mistakes sometimes.

The thing I have a problem with here is that contradiction between psychological, spiritual nature of dance and reality of dance business. I believe this was discussed in this and other forums more then once.
On one hand, I like my instructor. He is a good teacher and I definitely make good progress with him (not as fast as Gold in six months though but it's rather my fault ). He is also very nice guy, cute and friendly and I always have to keep myself on the verge of having crush on him (which I like, actually. Hope he does not read this forum )
But on other hand, when it comes to business, he minds his one tight and sometimes it shocks me badly. Kind of a cold shower to slow down my fantasy
This is why I _really_ need a partner. Well, I think most of us here are in the similar position. Yeah, BTW, any tall guys from southern CT in here? My dancepartner.com profile is http://dancepartner.com/profile.asp?Template=N&Username=ritagwen&KW=

Smooth dancing to everyone

rg

PS. I hope it is not prohibited to post URLs in this forum. This is not a commercial ad so I should not violate anything.

Most of the comps I go to allow you to enter in two skill levels (your "declared level" and one higher) and two age categories (your actual age and the category below that). I like to enter 4 heats per dance, so I usually do each skill level in each age category. When you think that each dacne is only about 90 seconds at most, it just seems like too much effort and expense to go to a comp to dance only a few times. Especially if it's your first comp, you may be nervous at first (I still am) and not dance your best in the first couple of heats, so I like to give myself a few more chances.

One thing I do to save money is only compete in one style (for me, smooth or rhythm) at each comp. That way, I can do 12 or 16 heats, but only need to remember 3 or 4 routines. Since the styles are almost always on different days, dancing one style also saves money on hotel rooms when I have to go out of town.

I've been to several comps in the city where I live. The first time, I stayed in the hotel and that was certainly convenient. But now I stay at home. It's nice not to have to pack (I always forget something!) and to sleep in my own bed. I usually get my hair done by the comp hair stylist the night before and do my own makeup at home the morning I'm competing. If it's not a long drive to the comp, I put on everything but my dress (fishnets, etc.) at home and carry the dress to change into at the comp. If you just have to slip into the dress, it's not a big deal if you have to change in the bathroom. But make sure to bring a bag with extra makeup, safety pins, snacks, and whatever else you might need.

If your pro is planning on doing your hair and makeup for you on the day of the comp, then a hotel room would probably be most convenient. Does he have any other students competing? If so, you should all be sharing the cost of the hotel room.

Even when I am staying in the hotel, I never go to my room between heats. There just isn't enough time. Usually all of my heats take place within an hour or two. You might want to check the comp schedule to see when the categories you're thinking of entering are scheduled, to see if you would have time to rest between dances.

Of course, driving from home can lead to adventures. At one comp, I went out to drive to the hotel for my heats and found my car had a flat tire! I went right back inside, called a cab, and to save time, changed into my costume while I was waiting. Heaven knows what the cab driver thought when he first saw me! (I did explain.) But I got to the comp in time and did fine. So, if you're not staying at the hotel, make sure you plan to get to the hotel plenty early, just in case.

When my pro and I begin discussing going to a comp, he works up a couple of different budgets, based on different numbers of entries and I pick the one I can afford. Or sometimes I'll tell him what I can afford and he'll figure out what we can do with that amount. So maybe you can negotiate. If the total price he's giving you is too much, tell him what you can pay and ask him what you can do with that amount.