Well, i've been talked into trying out for the ballroom team tomorrow night. I am super scared, mostly because it's something i've never done before and i don't know what i'm going to do ahead of time. I have control issues. I guess I just have to let go and step out of my comfort zone. I'm pretty sure I won't get on any team, mostly because i can't follow for the life of me. Plus i don't want to take too much on this semester, and if I get into Gold II ballroom AND the team that may be pushing it a bit.
I guess we'll see tomorrow.
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Dancesport BYU
Yet another comp under our belt! It was a long and sometimes very stressful weekend, but we learned a lot and I at least had a good time!
The weekend started with our first event Pre-Champ Ballroom which was on Friday. We were dressed to the nines, warmed up, and had checked our dance position with our coach and got a thumbs up. We were feeling pretty good about our prospects, though there was a lot more couples competing in this comp than the previous ones. We danced as best we could, but it still just wasn't good enough to be called back immediately. We did get quite a few judges calling us back, but we were two judges off of being able to make it back. Michael said that he thought we had a good chance at being called back, but we just weren't quite there yet.
Saturday dawned, and I had a renewed wish to make it to the final in one of our events. We had Novice Ballroom and our Gold class event which was Fox-Trot. After prepping myself with all of the needed crap, I headed to the Wilk, got dressed, and warmed up. Scott and I ran our routines, and went over our mental lists about the specific things that we needed to concentrate on while dancing. Michael came up to us and checked off our frame again, giving us a few pointers, and wished us luck. We lined up and anxiously awaited our event to begin. We were the third heat out, so we got to gear up mentally for our event. I think we danced beautifully the first round, and nearly all of the judges agreed as they called us back in both dances. We stopped for a quick word with Michael, and then we were immediately back in line-up for the next round. We were a little tired for the next round, but we still did our best. After we were done dancing Michael informed me that my shoulders were doing something weird, and that I had to get a grip on them and keep them still if I wanted to make it back again. We made it to the Quarter-Final heat. We danced as best we could, but my shoulders still were having issues. Not enough judges called us back, so we missed out on being in the Semi-Final, but only by a few marks.
Fox-Trot went a lot better, though I was still having issues with my shoulders. We made it to the Semi-Finals in Fox-Trot, but just barely missed the finals.
I feel like we are on a plateau and just need to figure out how to make the next leap to improve our impression. Michael coached us on our promenade position, which is where my shoulder problems were stemming from. We are not taking a huge break between now and January's competition, we are going to be pushing through and working on our basic technique so our dances look better overall.
I am confident that this next season will be a lot of fun, and will teach us many more lessons. I hope we can start placing consistently higher in the rankings, both in Novice and Pre-Champ. But my ultimate goal is to get proficient enough to start competing in Championship Ballroom, which is much more competitive, and has all five dances. That is my goal.
The weekend started with our first event Pre-Champ Ballroom which was on Friday. We were dressed to the nines, warmed up, and had checked our dance position with our coach and got a thumbs up. We were feeling pretty good about our prospects, though there was a lot more couples competing in this comp than the previous ones. We danced as best we could, but it still just wasn't good enough to be called back immediately. We did get quite a few judges calling us back, but we were two judges off of being able to make it back. Michael said that he thought we had a good chance at being called back, but we just weren't quite there yet.
Saturday dawned, and I had a renewed wish to make it to the final in one of our events. We had Novice Ballroom and our Gold class event which was Fox-Trot. After prepping myself with all of the needed crap, I headed to the Wilk, got dressed, and warmed up. Scott and I ran our routines, and went over our mental lists about the specific things that we needed to concentrate on while dancing. Michael came up to us and checked off our frame again, giving us a few pointers, and wished us luck. We lined up and anxiously awaited our event to begin. We were the third heat out, so we got to gear up mentally for our event. I think we danced beautifully the first round, and nearly all of the judges agreed as they called us back in both dances. We stopped for a quick word with Michael, and then we were immediately back in line-up for the next round. We were a little tired for the next round, but we still did our best. After we were done dancing Michael informed me that my shoulders were doing something weird, and that I had to get a grip on them and keep them still if I wanted to make it back again. We made it to the Quarter-Final heat. We danced as best we could, but my shoulders still were having issues. Not enough judges called us back, so we missed out on being in the Semi-Final, but only by a few marks.
Fox-Trot went a lot better, though I was still having issues with my shoulders. We made it to the Semi-Finals in Fox-Trot, but just barely missed the finals.
I feel like we are on a plateau and just need to figure out how to make the next leap to improve our impression. Michael coached us on our promenade position, which is where my shoulder problems were stemming from. We are not taking a huge break between now and January's competition, we are going to be pushing through and working on our basic technique so our dances look better overall.
I am confident that this next season will be a lot of fun, and will teach us many more lessons. I hope we can start placing consistently higher in the rankings, both in Novice and Pre-Champ. But my ultimate goal is to get proficient enough to start competing in Championship Ballroom, which is much more competitive, and has all five dances. That is my goal.
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Friday, September 17, 2010
Orem High comp
Orem Highschool competition is tomorrow. After the disaster that the last comp was I am really hoping we do well tomorrow. It's a smaller comp with both of our events already semi-finals, which could be good and bad all at the same time. It's good not to have all of the really good couples going up against us this weekend, but on the other hand that means that there will be less couples for the judges to look at. I am really hoping I can keep my frame in check tomorrow, that would mean that I have improved since the last comp. I'm not really expecting a call back into the final, but Scott wants us to start placing at every comp. I will do what I can to help but that may not be in the stars for us this year.
We are trying to do more rounds during our practice sessions to get our stamina up to par. So far it's pretty much killed us when we do it, but it's good practice and it feels good to be pushing and working so much. This is a sport after all, so we need to start treating our practices as training sessions rather than just remembering sessions. I think Scott is realizing this too, and it helps that whatever Michael says he takes to heart. If Scott can remember and implement all of the technique we learned since the last comp, then I think that we will look like a completely different couple. That goes for me too. I cannot slack on pushing when it's my turn to power, and my frame still tends to break which means it's doubly hard to get it back. I'm most concerned for our quickstep since that's where all of the technique really shows and the lack of technique shows as well. If we can get our quickstep to start looking effortless, then I think that we will be ahead of most of our current competition.
We are trying to do more rounds during our practice sessions to get our stamina up to par. So far it's pretty much killed us when we do it, but it's good practice and it feels good to be pushing and working so much. This is a sport after all, so we need to start treating our practices as training sessions rather than just remembering sessions. I think Scott is realizing this too, and it helps that whatever Michael says he takes to heart. If Scott can remember and implement all of the technique we learned since the last comp, then I think that we will look like a completely different couple. That goes for me too. I cannot slack on pushing when it's my turn to power, and my frame still tends to break which means it's doubly hard to get it back. I'm most concerned for our quickstep since that's where all of the technique really shows and the lack of technique shows as well. If we can get our quickstep to start looking effortless, then I think that we will be ahead of most of our current competition.
Monday, August 2, 2010
dusting off the shoes
Five days and counting. I've been running around like mad trying to get all of the various things that i need before Saturday. There are a lot of "stuff" that i need to plaster all over myself in order to be "beautiful" which also means a lot of money that i never really had to pay for before. I am gaining a new appreciation for all that my mother has done for me in the past.
We will hopefully get two lessons this week, and then we're kind of on our own for the comp. Michael might be there, but it's small enough that I don't think he will be. Lets just hope that I hold together out there and that we can make it through all of our routines!! haha
We will hopefully get two lessons this week, and then we're kind of on our own for the comp. Michael might be there, but it's small enough that I don't think he will be. Lets just hope that I hold together out there and that we can make it through all of our routines!! haha
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Two Weeks
Only two weeks left until BYU comp. We have all of our dances re-choreographed and made more competitive and fitting for our dance level. We recently made our four wall quickstep into an eight wall quickstep, just by doing the correct technique!! Our tango would be doing better if I could figure out how to make Scott stay low! He tends to rise up, and when I don't it looks weird. But I don't think that I should rise up with him just to match him, he should stay down! That has been a hot topic between us. Choreography is another hot topic between us, he is insistent on his way and I am insistent on another. We've had some seriously annoying fights the past two weeks. He has this new attitude that he knows everything ever since we started with Michael, and he got on the team. It annoys me beyond everything else!
If we can make it to the comp without killing each other, then I will call that an accomplishment!
If we can make it to the comp without killing each other, then I will call that an accomplishment!
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Four weeks til BYU comp!
Only four weeks until our first comp of the season!!!! I'm getting really nervous... We haven't been doing rounds like we should for the past few weeks, when we tried to do quickstep more than once around the room Scott was really winded. I am concerned that we won't be able to do a continuous quickstep after doing other dances just before. I'm fairly certain that it won't be a big comp, so we probably won't have time between dances to catch our breath. Which really concerns me.
We got really great Tango technique on Tuesday, but we have the tendency to settle into our hips which looks really bad in Tango. So to encourage us to keep our hips up, Michael pinched us!!! It hurt!! and he said that if we don't keep them up he will do it again! I tried sooooo hard to keep them up, he did have to warn me once and he said he wouldn't warn me again that he'd just pinch. It does work, but it freaks me out a little.
Scott and I are both having to deal with aches and pains that come with bumping up technique and practices. It's difficult, but we can get through it i'm sure.
Competitions! Here we come!!!
We got really great Tango technique on Tuesday, but we have the tendency to settle into our hips which looks really bad in Tango. So to encourage us to keep our hips up, Michael pinched us!!! It hurt!! and he said that if we don't keep them up he will do it again! I tried sooooo hard to keep them up, he did have to warn me once and he said he wouldn't warn me again that he'd just pinch. It does work, but it freaks me out a little.
Scott and I are both having to deal with aches and pains that come with bumping up technique and practices. It's difficult, but we can get through it i'm sure.
Competitions! Here we come!!!
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