Tag: ballroom dance

Ask the Girl Episode 6 – Competition Budgeting

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A fellow ballroom student, thinking about getting back into competing after several years, asked me for a refresher on what expenses she needed to account for as she budgeted for a comeback. It’s great timing as the new year brings a whole new cycle of ballroom competitions to enter. So for any other pro-am ballroom dancers gearing up for a competitive 2016, here is a quick breakdown of what you’ll need to include in your budget. Note this list is based on my experience with NDCA competitions.
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Missing Something That Isn’t Really Gone

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I miss ballroom dancing.

I haven’t completely stopped, but I am doing a lot less. So far in December, I’ve had two private lessons. In mid-November, I had to cut down from two to one per week due to finances. Then Teacher was gone for a week for the Holiday Dance Classic. This past week, we were supposed to return to the normal two, but Teacher cancelled the second one.

Two lessons. Normally, it would have been six by now! Or at least four, if you account for the week Teacher was gone for the competition. And with the holidays coming up, I might have two more lessons before the end of the year.

I miss dancing.

Two is better than none though, right? Am I just being ungrateful?

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Ask the Girl Episode 5 – Why Do I Do This to Myself?

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Today’s Ask the Girl episode was inspired by a conversation I had with the creator of freeballroomlessons.com.  He specializes in teaching social-level ballroom dancing, but used to dance competitively. We were talking about how expensive ballroom competitions are, especially for a pro-am student like myself, and about the emotional rollercoasters that competing in ballroom puts me on.

He wondered, with all of the financial and emotional stress involved in competition, why do I do it?

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Ghosts of Ballroom Past and Ballroom Future

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A year ago, on this Thursday (although it was December 11 in 2014), I was in Las Vegas dancing in my second-ever ballroom competition, the Holiday Dance Classic. I didn’t sleep the night before, made my morning tea with hot water from the bathroom sink because I had no money left after getting myself TO the competition, and had an amazing time dancing.

It’s weird that it was a full year ago! It is cool, however, to look back at the four competitions I’ve danced in and see how far I’ve come.

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Holiday also marks what would have been my first repeat comp. What would that have been like?

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Ask the Girl Episode 4 – Finding the Right Partner

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It’s Tuesday again and I’ve got another Ask the Girl post for you!

I don’t know about you, but I had a rough Monday. If there is such a thing as a case of the Mondays, I had it bad! But I survived to write again.

Today’s question came from one of my Instagram followers! She just started dancing and competing in pro-am ballroom with a pro who also happens to be a good friend. Their connection outside of dance makes their connection and performance on the dance floor really strong, but she has also found that it sometimes causes extra heartache and disappointment. She wanted to know how I found my dance partner and how I knew he was the one to stick with.

Is there any pro-am dancer out there who hasn’t experienced the odd mix of joy and pain that is ballroom dancing? I doubt it.

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My Last Performance

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For awhile at least!

The Dancers United for Saving Lives event was a success!  There was a LOT of last minute and last second changes and cancellations to the performance line-up, and the organizer worked her butt off to keep the show running smoothly.

In the end, it was a successful event and I think everyone that came had a great time. And my waltz? Well, that’s what I really want to write about.

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Dancers United for Saving Lives Event

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I have a new answer for “what’s next for you”!

I’m performing a waltz demonstration with Teacher at an event this evening! Latin club dancers and ballroom dancers are coming together to dance and support two charities: the Pet Adoption Center of Orange County and the CBZ Foundation. If you’re in the area, you should check it out:

https://www.facebook.com/events/509351932572990/

The event includes workshops, social dancing and performances. Originally, a couple months ago, Teacher and I were talking about doing a choreographed showcase dance. But then Life happened, and I didn’t have the money to pay for a new choreographed number. One more performance passing me by.

Then Teacher mentioned last week that he was thinking about asking the organizer if she wanted/needed additional numbers for the show. He thought we could just dance our waltz routine that we use for competition. It sounded great to me! But then I didn’t hear anything more all week. So I asked about it on Wednesday, and we confirmed that yes, the organizer would love to have us do a waltz demonstration!

It’s not going to be anything flashy or fancy. I’m not even wearing a costume, just my practice skirt. Which is actually kind of nice. We’re just going to dance.

I’m a little nervous, of course, but mostly I’m just happy to have the chance to perform with Teacher. Who knows how long it will be before I’ll have another chance?

Stay tuned to hear how it goes!

 

 

“So What’s Next for You?”

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I get this question a lot when I’m at the studio. I ask this question a lot! It’s a standard “catch up” question among ballroom dancers to find out what event you’re working toward. But it’s also become an awkward question because my answer is “I have no idea.”

I’m slowly figuring out how to cope with not having a real answer to that question. I’m working on setting non-competition dance goals to keep myself busy and motivated (keep an eye out for an article on those!). Teacher doesn’t want me to give up on competition goals though, even if the next one is six months out or more. Usually encouragement and support from Teacher would boost my motivation to find any and all creative solutions to my financial dilemma. That’s how I managed to afford my 2015 comps!

But something is holding me back. And considering I just wrote about why I crave a challenge beyond just dancing, I want to explore why I’m having trouble motivating myself to find a new path to the fuel that feeds my inner fire.

You guys don’t mind me using this platform to psychoanalyze myself, right?

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Psycho-what?

 

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Ask the Girl Episode 3 – Practice

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I didn’t get any new questions for today’s episode, so I went back into my emails to see what people have contacted me about before I started this series.

The most recent question was from Nick; he just started blogging about his own ballroom journey here: http://theballroomjourney.com.

He asked how I fit in ballroom practice with work and the rest of my life. Since I had been thinking about doing a “how I practice” post anyway, it seemed like a good topic for this week’s “Ask the Girl” post!

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Ask the Girl Episode 2 – When is Enough, Enough?

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Welcome to the second episode of Ask the Girl!

If you have a question or topic that you would like me to address, leave it in the comments or contact me directly. I’m excited to hear from you!

When is Enough, Enough

Today’s question comes from Kelly, founder of Lady Boss Lifestyle:

When do you know that enough is enough?  Is it totally ok to simply dance without a longterm goal of competing? Or do these types of dancers typically just need a great coach to build up their belief that they can trust their passion and set competition goals?

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