Competing.

Competing.
(better late than never, so here goes...)

My Palm Springs competitions were successful, highly stressful, and in the end a gratifying experience. It’s one thing to dance locally, but as soon as you get out into the big world, things get scary fast. There are so many good dancers out there! I had a great time working with Espi. During part of the competition, I got paired up with Liz Rojas, from San Francisco’s Salsamanía. This was terrifying, considering she is one of the dancers in the world that I most look up to. Besides the fact that I almost dropped her and her shoe broke half way through our number, leaving us basically unable to dance, I think that part of the competition went ok. Sorry Liz, I’ll try not to break your shoe next time.
Note to self: Get your wardrobe ready in advance.

Um, let’s see… Last Sunday, we had our student competition and I did my best to structure it the same as competitions I have experienced. Just like the organizers of those competitions, I lost money and sleep, but in the end it was all very worth it. Watching people dance and shine (most of them competing for their first time) was a joy. The dancers did so well!
There are things that I will do differently next time, and I’m sure I’ll hear some complaints. But I did my best, with enormous amounts of help from Zyanya & Chantelle. I would like to make amateur competitions more of a mainstay in the Seattle salsa dance scene. Competitions push us out of our comfort zone, forcing us to squeeze practice and creativity into our busy life schedules.

I really believe that no matter how rigorous your work/career demands are, dance, art, and music MUST be present.

by Vassili