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Competition Workshop Notes

• Dress:
  • Men -- Generally, you want black dress pants (no jeans!), a white dress shirt, a black belt, black socks, polished/shined shoes. For standard/smooth dances, you need a tie (the long kind, not a bow tie) and it should be held in place on your shirt with a tietack or a something similar. Jackets aren't really necessary, because unless they're specially cut, they will puff up at the shoulders when you raise your arms to go into dance position and it will look funny. If you have a suitable vest, you can wear that; it will help keep your shirt from puffing out while dancing. For latin/rhythm dances, you don't wear the tie, so you can just remove the tie and you're ready. You can also change shirts if you desire, for example to a black turtleneck (solid black is a fairly common look in the latin/rhythm dances for men).
  • Women -- Generally, something that looks attractive on you and fits well (nothing that's too baggy or will prevent you from moving well). Options include a dress, blouse, skirt, leotard. Skirts are generally a bit longer in standard/smooth than in latin/rhythm; from about ankle length to knee length for the former, and around knee length for the latter (it's important for the judges to be able to see your leg lines in latin/rhythm). Pants are usually acceptable, but it's not your first choice. Always wear hose (sheer to the waist), dance trunks that match the color of your skirt, and other appropriate undergarments.
  The basic look, as Karen put it, should be something like if you were going out to dinner or to church. Another note here, the men wear numbers on their back. The numbers should be pinned on so that when the man is in dance position, the number is in line with the man's elbows. The women need to remember this, because the men can't really pin the numbers on their own backs. :) Another thing to remember is that you have to carefully read the rules on dress code for each competition; just because you can wear something at one comp doesn't necessarily mean that you can wear the same thing at a different one.

• Shoes: If you have dance shoes, then wear them. Otherwise something like tie-up Oxfords or leather street shoes will be fine. Make sure they fit well and are shined/polished. Ladies often switch shoes, wearing a close-toed court shoe for standard/smooth and an open-toed sandal for latin/rhythm. However, it is not necessary to switch; if you just have one pair of dance shoes, use them for everything.

• Hair: Similar for men and women. Hair should not be flopping around and should be clear from your face. If you have long hair, you'll want to make sure it's pulled back tightly (away from your face) and it can be slicked back with gel and/or hair spray, or braided or something. Just make sure it's secure because you don't want your hair exploding in the middle of a dance.

• Jewelry, etc: Generally, you don't want a lot of jewelry. Definitely no watches, men or women. Women should wear earrings. For necklaces, choker types are good, but you don't want something so long that it will flop around as you move. Glasses -- if you have contacts, wear them instead of glasses. If you don't have contacts, then wear your glasses if you cannot see without them. No chewing gum while you're dancing, either.

• Makeup: Men don't need makeup. (Karen said some pro men do wear makeup, but it's definitely not a necessity.) Women, however, do need makeup. In particular, their eyes have to be done and they need a brightly colored lipstick. She mentioned that false eyelashes are not necessary (at least not at the newcomer/beginner level). She said you generally need to wear a lot of makeup, more than you might normally wear, because even though it may not look good from close up, the judges are looking at you from a distance and it will look fine to them from far away (it's just like actors in the theater who need to wear lots of makeup to look good under heavy/strong lighting conditions). I don't remember much else on the topic and don't know much about it myself, but I'll find you answers if you have questions about it.

• On the Dance Floor: You need to be ready to go out on the floor as soon as your event comes up. Sometimes there will be an "on deck" area where you can line up before your dance is called. If there isn't one, then you have to pay attention when they call the events and listen for your number to be called. Check the program and make sure your number is listed in all the events you signed up for. Callbacks/recalls are normally not posted anywhere so you must pay attention when they call numbers for rounds after the first. When you go out on the floor, you should walk out with your partner with your head up, man holding the woman's hand, and walk out to some position on the dance floor. Once there, the man should simply stop walking and let the woman walk around to face him. You have the option of standing facing each other until the music begins or taking dance position immediately and then waiting for the music. As soon as the dance is over, you should leave the dance floor immediately. Some men like to lead an underarm turn at the end of the dance just before leaving the floor, but if the man doesn't lead it, the woman shouldn't try to do one. Leave the floor the same way you came on, together with your partner with heads held up, either hand in hand or with arms linked. If you know that you are in the next dance, then you may remain on the dance floor. If you're not sure, then leave the floor and listen for your next event to be called.

• Etiquette Type Concerns: The big point here is to show respect -- for ballroom dancing as an art/sport and for all the people and things you represent when you dance and compete (yourself, your partner, your school, your teacher, etc.). This is why there are things like a generally accepted dress code and procedure for running the competition. The competition is a fairly serious event; it's not a pep rally. There's some cheering, like people calling out numbers and things to cheer on their friends/schoolmates, whatever, but there's not supposed to be a huge ruckus. For example, if you get called back to dance another round, you'll probably be pretty excited. Go ahead and cheer, but do it off the dance floor; once you step on the dance floor, you should be serious again and ready to dance. The team matches (which I'll explain a bit about below) are a bit different in that they fall into the "fun" part of the competition and so are a bit more relaxed (as are all the other "fun" dances in the comp). Generally there's a lot more noise here as everyone cheers for their school, so it's OK to do a lot of cheering in the team matches.

• Multiple Heats: Sometimes there are so many couples dancing in a particular event that they can't fit everyone on the floor or just want to make it easier for the judges to decide who to call back. For example, it's pretty hard to have 20 couples dancing on the floor at once and have the judges calling back say 12 of them. So what will happen is they will split the event into two heats (in this case) with 10 couples dancing first, then they leave the floor, then the other 10 couples dancing second. The judges then have an easier time selecting who to call back since they now have a little more time to look at each couple, and it generally makes things run more easily. You should stay near the edge of the dance floor if your event is split into heats so that you are ready to dance as soon as they call your heat to the floor. It's really not much different from any other event; you're just splitting people into groups so that you don't have everyone dancing at the same time.

• The Team Matches: OK, in case you don't know about these, here's how it works. The team match consists of four dances and each team consists of four couples; one couple from the team dances one dance, so that each dance is danced by a different couple. There are usually chairs set up at the edge of the dance floor, grouped in sets of four, where the women of the team will sit while the men stand behind them. When each dance is called, all the couples doing that dance will go out on the dance floor, dance their very best, and then leave the dance floor (go back to their seats). The judges will normally place all the couples on the floor, like 1st through 6th if there are six couples. This procedure is used for each of the four dances in the match. Then the judges' points are totalled and they figure out who won the team match. When team matches are done, there are usually two -- one in American style and one in International style. There's no limit on the number of teams a school can have, so don't think that out of everyone going to the comp there will only be one team. If you have lots of people from your school going, then you can make two, three, four, or more teams as long as you have enough people. And in cases where a school doesn't have enough to make up a team, they may go around asking for other couples to join their team. Since it's a fun comp, nothing says everyone *has* to be from the same school.

And that about covers it. If you have any questions about things relating to the competition, please e-mail me and I'll try to get answers for you.

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