Shall we have this dance ?
September 2nd, 2006 | by lissie |We competed in the local Wellington Capital City dance competition yesterday. This was the 1st competition we competed in when we started dancing together - 9 years ago ! There were quite a few beginners at their first competition - but they all seemed a lot more confident than I was at my first competition - my main memory of the first time was sheer terror! This time we were a bit under prepared and both a bit sick - we did OK got re-calls to some adult new vogue events which was a surprise. We didn’t do well in the senior events - but then when we saw which judging panel was judging those events didn’t really expect to ! That’s what 9 year’s experience teaches you - deep cynicism on the quality of some NZ judges. On the plus side we were pretty happy with the way we danced!
We have had a great time dancing, but this is likely the last local competition for the year and I cant say that I am broken hearted ! Admittedly I still get a buzz in front of the audience - and local audience’s are nice because they know us - but the whole judging thing is really quite discouraging and can really destroy your soul if you let it ! Having done a few competitions in Australia too - I do like being able to dance in a venue which reflects the sort of money and effort spent by the dancers on their presentation rather than in run-down local hall.
Next dance goal - showdance at the NZ Masters Games next February.
2 Responses to “Shall we have this dance ?”
By Marisa Wright on Nov 14, 2007 | Reply
Lissie, I read you were a dancer on HubPages and just had to find out more!
I used to dance in a flamenco troupe (before my knees got too threadbare), but in the last three years I’ve started learning ballroom and Latin (because my new hubbie dances both).
By lissie on Nov 14, 2007 | Reply
The related posts features for once appears to be working properly and has brought up some recent posts that we have been looking into the Perth dance. We have been to a few practice classes as we really hadn’t danced since early Feb - which is long time for ballroom, particularly, and the rhumba routine appears to have disapeeared entirely! It was pretty bad the first couple of practices but is getting better now - my partner has just bought a pair of dance shoes - which helps a lot, I carried an old pair around the outback with me just in case! He has also just got a job so now we can afford private lessons if we decide to go back competing. Its a big time/money commitment we haven’t decided yet, though we are enjoying doing some social dancing. If you are familiar with the competition scene we are masters (over 35) and level 1 New Vogue and Latin and Level 2 Ballroom.
My knees are stuffed too, osteoarthritis - had it before I started dancing 10 years ago but hadn’t realized it until I started with the bent knees position in ballroom - the medical advice -dance is good exercise! In fact they hurt a lot less if keep dancing and keep the muscles to keep the joints stuck together! You must find the flamenco helps with the latin - have you learnt a paso doble yet - I love it - unfortunately don’t get to dance it very often.
Its so nice to hear of a woman taking up ballroom rather than taking a male dancer out of ballroom (which seems to happen a lot - especially with the younger dancers). Keep it up - its great to have the common interest - well except when I am throwing shoes but that doesn’t happen too often!
BTW the Australian National Champs are on in Melbourne early - Dec - its a good show - but will be better next year when it incorporates the world 10 dance champs and runs over 5 days - we will probably go next year even if we aren’t competing.