Just got my score sheets back from the judges from a recent competition. I was amazed at how accurate most of the scores were. Those judges can see a lot in a short period of time.

We danced silver and gold syllabus without much pre planned chorography--we really had to vary our routine due to floor craft--got run over from behind on our first waltz. We made some mistakes that I thought the judges might not catch, but they did.

Our next comp. is going to be better planned and rehearsed with better choreography. We just hired someone to do our new choreography that would hopefully fit us better. A 50 minute lesson covered enough for our new Int. Rumba routine with lots of technique movements. We will practice it and then get him to clean it up a couple of times. He is doing a 2 or so minutes worth of choreography, so we can use it as a showcase too. I have never hired anyone special to do choreograpy, but it really felt like the right thing to do after the lesson. We will probably let this teacher do all of the dances in Latin. I'll start adding more open work in American Smooth--my teacher partner competes professionally in these events, so she can probably add what is needed herself.


It will take about 6 to 8 months to get all of our dances down with the new movements for another comp. Oh well, hope it works.

Competition dancing is really a different type of dancing with all the routines, technique, and the awareness that the judges are looking closely.
All this planning, thinking, and work is hopefully what helps one grow or become a better dancer. By the way I was pleased with our results, but at the same time think of many ways that we can improve.

In fact, pre-planned routines is the way to go, especially when you get to more advanced levels.
You want to know you routines so much that you don't even have to think about it when you dance at a comp, all you have to worry about is performing and be on your feet.
Looking at the judges marks is a great idea, you can see which dance are weaker. In latin, your spot on the dance floor is very important as well. Some judges won't make a big effort to see you if you stay in a corner, they won't recall you if they don't notice you. Make sure to stand out!
Good luck!

A former 7th Professional Latin in the world in a lecture which i attended said that a new group should be practiced for a minimum of three months before attempting it on the competition floor. To be the best that is what it takes. Practice and more practice. Any style. His exact words were that at first without music he would practice the new group at varying speeds before adding music. A bit different to most of us who learn the whole routine in a couple of weeks and put it on the floor.

I have been watching the TV show, So you think you can Dance. The young dancers only get about a week to learn a routine and on a dance that most are not familiar with. They dance for about 1 1/2 minutes--just like a competition.


I noticed that Demetri, the guy that did the Samba was very good, but he did nothing for his partner that had not done Samba before. One can really make your partner look bad by criticizing or not supporting her or him. There is a lot of chemisty in dancing with partners and it is hard to measure.

In a recent competition I competed with an amateur partner (we have competed for 4 yrs.) and for the life of me I can't figure why we can't get better marks. My guess is that we make each other uptight (we fight a bit) and it shows in our dancing. Probably the same is true with husbands and wives. I feel more relaxed and confident with my Pro partner and feel like I dance better with her. The pro is not as good of dancer as my amateur partner, but is a much better match mentally and how we relate in a more relaxed and positive way. She tries to make learning upbeat, fun and without sacrificing technique, whereas, my amateur partner is driven by technique and is takes a much more serious approach. There is something intangible about what it takes to be a good partner and bring out the best in both of you.

I noticed on the TV show that the partners that do better develop some type of mutual chemisty (they try to laugh and have fun during rehearsals) quickly, try to work together and sacrifice their individuality. We could all learn from this show about adapting to and bringing out the best in a partner.

It's interesting that you find it easier to compete with your pro than with your peer (amateur) partner because of nerves and tension. For me, it's always been the other way around -- I know the Pro knows every single little thing that I'm doing wrong, and knows how much better I could be doing things, so I'm much less nervous dancing in amateur events!

Sometimes people's personalities, goals, and approach just don't work together so well. Every pairing is a bit different in its own way.

I haven't taken lessons with the amateur partner for 3 years. We just started back competing recently and did a lead follow using the chorography that I did with the Pro partner. So, we made mistakes. Made mistakes with the Pro too, but she would just keep dancing and smiling, whereas my amateur would breakdown some, have a frightned look on her face or temporarily stop. The pro is a better follower, she gets a lead better and definitely will not back lead.

I was better rehearsed with the pro and didn't make as many mistakes--I have taken regular lessons with her for about a year before the comp. I just dance socially with the amateur and try to practice some of the routines.

My amateur partner is now interested in competing again (beleive me USABA amateur competition dancing is much less
expensive than Pro Am) and we are hiring a new male coach to work with us.

To help us (am. partner) dance better I've made a list for me:

1. no fighting, I will just shut up and try to keep it lighter.
2. Get a new teacher to help us with technique, connection, and routines.
3. mind control for a different attitude for me, smile more, and really look like I am having a good time regardless, and hopefully it will rub off to her (I have a tendency not to smile that much).
4. really concentrate on giving good leads.
5. hold my posture and frame better with her. Our 9 inch height difference is a challenge with this issue--hopefully the new teacher will help.
6. Try and get her to practice more on routines that we will do in comp.

After reading and thinking about the above items, we should improve--if we could just implement some or most of the items.

Why on earth would you need a chroeographer for syllabus?

It's variations to syllabus work. The way he is doing it makes it adaptable to competitions, but mixing it up a bit where it looks different. For example,
there appears to be about 3 or 4 ways to do the sliding door syllabus in rumba. Plus, he is enhancing the technique.

I recently watched a gold level couple do syllabus work with different variations and at a high technique level and it looked totally differnt than what the other lower level couples were doing--even though, with a closer look they were doing the same syllabus.
It's all about technique and how you arrange the syllabus and how well you can do it.

Well, honestly, working on technique is not the same as choreographing.

And the reason a higher level couple looked different doing the same syllabus steps was simply that - that they were higher technique and not that they were doing anything 'different'. In fact, in syallabus level dancing, you get penalized if you do the steps differently timing wise than what's 'in the book' (for instance).

I think perhaps that putting syllabus steps together is not really choreographing but really more lessoning...

He used syllabus movements that best fit me. We only dance for one minute in Pro Am and one and a half minutes in Amateur. The teacher just sequenced the syllabus (mostly silver and gold) to fit my strengths and left out some that didn't work so well together.
It only took a lesson to do this and I thought it was better than us just organizing some type of arrangement.
You can call it lessoning if you like, but he worked with me in detail on some technique. I thought it was worth my time and the lesson that it took to do it.