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This is Part 3 in a 4-part series. If you have read Part 1: Social, and Part 2: Skills, skip down to the Part 3: Competition section by clicking here. Otherwise, keep reading.
It's the new year - typically a popular time to reassess and take stock, but this year we're a lot wiser than we have ever been.
Have you actually taken stock of what you really want out of your West Coast Swing lately? Because now's a REALLY good time to do that...
Consider this your opportunity to do a philosophical audit of your WCS, and "clean your closet" so you can dump some dead weight in your dance and focus on what you really want.
Here's a quick menu to choose from! Or maybe these will spark new ideas. Don't fall into the trap of saying, "All of them!". Read more below...
Take a moment before answering: your first answer might be keeping you from being honest with yourself, which might be sabotaging your ability to have your needs met.
Many dancers approach us seeking advice, from all corners of the WCS scene: students, teachers, competitors, non-dancing spectators, social dancers, event directors. Our responses as coaches vary, depending not only on who’s asking, but on what their purpose is.
A common mistake dancers make is following advice intended for someone who has different needs/goals/reasons for dancing WCS.
They are likely different from when you started. They're also likely different than this time last year.
Either way, if you have goals and/or needs that are not being satisfied, it’s time for an audit. Time to reassess and make some course-corrections if necessary.
These are the kind of articles you want to read slowly and think. Read and consider all of these goals/needs – you may discover some less obvious ones that you can relate to. Or maybe this will spark some ideas that aren't listed.
All of these reasons/desires are valid: I’m not going to convince you to change any of them: But your (honest) reasons should dictate the path you choose and the decisions you make.
Said another way,
So here's the third instalment in this series discussing the most common reasons people are attracted to WCS in the first place. At the end I also describe a few pitfalls to avoid, and a snazzy flowchart to help put your goals in perspective.
You might want all of these, but consider which ones are MOST important to you. Some of them might seem similar or redundant, but think deeper in order to clarify exactly which aspects of competition are most important to you.
The first thing I ask students when they admit this is, “why?”
No judgement here – just prompting you to be honest with yourself so you can make accurate decisions.
If you feel like you need to prove something to your peers by competing, you might want to analyze why. It's possible you are placing unrealistic expectations on yourself that no one else actually expects of you.
It's possible your goal is to use competitions to "advertise" yourself so you can meet more people and get more social dances later. This is valid too! But don't forget there are also other ways to get this need met, such as attending workshops or joining groups for dinner.
If you honestly want to engage in competitions in order to push yourself to improve, awesome!
But this involves actually following through with activities that cause improvement, such as training.
If you don't work on your dance between competitions, it's totally valid to compete for different reasons, but don't expect better results.
If you want to improve, if you want to advance, you have to put in the work: this means investing in private lessons, getting your a$$ into workshops, and submitting to an intensive.
Want more details? Of course you do ;). I expand on this topic in Part 2: Skills
That's understandable. Trophies are symbols of achievement. They are physical representations of a memory of glory. But here's a question:
Thanks to YouTube and social media, dance recordings are now more valued than trophies. A memorable 4th place dance often earns as many if not more hits than the generic winning dance in that contest.
Plus, you'll have a recording of a dance you can replay, relive, and share. Your non-dancing friends you are hoping to inspire are more likely to be impressed by a video of you dancing than by seeing your trophy.
Up-and-coming professionals trying to build their career often have this as a priority, and so they should. But the activities that build fame and status are often misunderstood.
Many dancers assume that fame and status comes with winning. But if you look at history at all the famous dancers with lasting legacies and status, how many of them have ever won a USOpen?
There are hundreds of great dancers who earned fame and status without winning. Winning isn't a requirement for fame, excellence is. The good news is that there are infinite ways to excel in this art-sport.
That being said,
You can earn it positively or negatively depending on your behaviour. In other words, it's possible to develop infamy and a negative reputation which can undermine your status goals. So for every competitive success be sure to regulate your:
which are pretty universal values in the WCS world. You might want to write those down. Your future self will thank you.
Ok, this is fine, but take a moment and ask yourself "why?".
Is it because you feel like points represent progress? Like they give you an indication that you are on the right track and improving? Yes, we are used to hearing this.
First, I can appreciate the need for some metric for improvement. But let's be realistic: points do not measure your progress - they are just a system of recognition of performance. You could be improving my leaps and bounds, but if everyone around you is too, your comp results are not going to change much. Out in the big wide world, you have to admit that points mean nothing.
There is no universal system currently set up to recognize achievement of skills. This is why in Swing Literacy, we developed a 15-point skills assessment to measure students progress from Newcomer to Champion. So our students know exactly where they stand in each skill category, get credit for the skills they have achieved, and have a clear picture of what they need to progress.
In the meantime, here are a few more things that are far more valuable metrics than competition results:
Are you wondering how you can get to AllStar? Remember the secret of embarking on a big goal is to break it into smaller steps, then break those small steps down into manageable tasks. Here's a map of those small steps in your journey. The next thing you need is to find out exactly what's involved in each of these steps. While this will differ for everyone, there is a formula that makes the journey more efficient which we provide in the Swing Literacy programs.
Now, let's address some pitfalls you might encounter as you strive for these goals/needs:
This is very dangerous. If often leads to burnout and quitting. Why? Because there are a limited number of trophies, and they are given out to the best performances on the day, not the best learners, most improved, funnest dances, most considerate partners, best musicality, best elasticity, etc.
Not only is your dancing is worthy in many other ways than just performance, you worthy as a human regardless, Your self-worth deserves to be valued completely independently of trophies and scores.
This dance can be addictive, but consider the costs. If you are struggling to pay your rent, you really should be reconsidering those flights, hotels, event passes, comp fees, and costumes. West Coast Swing will still be here when your bank account recovers.
Just because all your friends are competing in Jack&Jills, doesn’t mean you have to. If you’ve tried to get into it and it really doesn’t inspire you and doesn’t fill your bucket, don’t force yourself to do something that will lead to resentment. You can still participate and avoid getting left out by volunteering to be the videographer for them.
Once you have identified what your most important goals/needs are in the "skills" department, you can use this to help guide some decisions you make about:
Then use some of the tips mentioned here as a starting point to take action to get more of what you really want.
Below are a few articles that provide more detail.
But first, go to Part 4: Community where I will help you identify community-related goals you have and how to take action to work toward them.
Ah, the eternal competitor question… “What are the judges looking for?” Consider that judges are not necessarily “looking for” positive elements of your dance as much as they are “looking to eliminate” negative elements. We call these “red flags”: bad habits or errors that prevent judges from giving you a callback to the next round. Judges
Last week I released Tough Love: Read at your own Risk (Part 1). You really should read that first, in order to put this article in perspective, and catch the points that are made about aspects of WCS outside of competition. This article is aimed specifically at Competitors. Whenever I start coaching a new student,
Private lessons are a mystery to many dancers, not just the newbies. Veteran dancers tend to forget this valuable resource that can help guide them through the tough phases in their dance development and achieve their goals. Let’s demystify and help you understand exactly: Who can benefit from Private Lessons Why you should bother
Dear Routine Competitors, The month leading up to the US Open is always fraught with emotions. The intense preparation causes us to reflect on why we are putting ourselves through this. It is almost impossible to explain to outsiders who genuinely just want to wish us well. How can they possibly understand? This can be
In every skill-based activity there’s a difference between the beginners and the veterans. This makes sense – the longer you work at something, the better you get at it. Notice I said work at; just because you hack at something longer, doesn’t mean you’re improving. But the dance community is full of distinctions, divisions, labelling…ways
Are you curious about what it takes to do a Rising Star routine? Are you an event director interested in supporting and promoting the next generation of routine competitors? You probably have a lot of questions. This article is aimed at answering them: Who should compete? What is the purpose of the tour? How
And now for a little practical philosophy.
