DanceSport

     DanceSport is a vitalizing experience that is about to be an olympic sport. Learning to dance is a great way to excersize, meet great people, and in general have fun with life. There are always studios willing to teach at any level, specifically anyone new to dancing or wanting to learn to dance, in the UConn Storrs-Mansfield area should come to the UConn Ballroom club, which meets at 7pm every Monday on the 3rd floor of the student union.

Styles:
Waltz,Viennese Waltz,Tango,Foxtrot,Cha-cha,Rhumba,East-Coast Swing,Lindy,Charleston,Balboa,West-Coast swing,Hustle,Paso Doble,Samba,Jive,Salsa,Mambo,Bolero,Merengue

Levels:
DanceSport is divided into 5 levels. They are ordered as follows: Newcommer, Bronze, Silver, Gold and Open. Newcommer is a level reserved for dancers whom have been dancing for under a semester. Dancers dancing at a particular level are restricted to using only steps in a predefined syllabus. This is used so that dancers are judged on how well they dance a step, not what steps they know. Once a dancer has moved through the different levels and into Open, the dancer is free of any syllabus requirements. Here is a link to the different syllabi for the different levels.

YCN Points: The point system is used to allow dancers the opportunity to compete against dancers of similar levels and experience. As a dancer begins to place ( i.e, finishes in the top 6 of a judged heat with a semi-final) the dancer will earn points, 3 for 1st, 2 for 2nd, and 1 point for 3rd-6th. Once a dancer has 7 points in a style, the dancer must dance up to the next level.
My Points to date:

Smooth
Standard
Rhythm
Latin
Level WaltzTangoFoxtrotViennese Waltz WaltzTangoViennese WaltzFoxtrotQuickstep Cha-ChaRhumbaSwingBoleroMambo Cha-ChaSambaRhumbaPaso DobleJive
Bronze 7777 77777 77777 77717
Silver 7777 77477 77756 57507
Gold 7777 34243 33312 11101

Comps:

Season 1: 2003-2004 Reflections: With the end of the comp season I have now completed my rookie year. I competed in 7 competitions, point in the basic smooth dances, solidified a partnership, and can now be considered a true bronze level dancer. Okay, so that doesn't mean much to anyone, especially people whom have been dancing ( yeah, solid Bronze, just wait until you start timming out ), however it does mean a lot to me. At the begining of the season, I didn't even know if I could dance. Now, I'm getting out of the first round in just about every style ( something that the advanced level dancers said wouldn't happen ), and feel very strong about my progress and where I'm going. As in, I now can see a lot to the technique of dance, though I still have a long way to go in terms of knowing what the judges are looking for in terms of dance. However I have a great partner, one which has as much fun as I do, and competes for the same reason, for the love of dance, not ribbons. Not bad for the rookie season, and with the oppurtunity to dance for a few more years in the college leagues, I'm very proud to be part of UConn Ballroom.
Things to work on: Of course technique is always at the top of my list. I believe now that in most dances, I have enough of a bronze syllabus to clean up. Another thing that I think I should work on would be learning what judges are looking for. For example I can tell that in bronze smooth judges are looking for correct rise and fall, closing feet, clear consistent heel leads, and most of all a constant frame/top line. At least, this is what I think they're looking for. I have found that I am not very good at being able to see what couples are going to get called back and which ones won't. Seeing these things would be a great asset in terms of competetive dance. However I acknowledge that most of these things come with experience and time.


Season 2: 2004-2005 Goals and thoughts: I'm very excited about the upcomming season. I felt that in some ways I've grown as a dancer over the summer, and now feel like I can approach competition style dancing with new vigor. Some of my budget freed up, which will allow me to take some lessons and partcipate in seminars. I'm partnering again with Kat, and I couldn't ask for a better match. I believe this semester we can really drive together our frame and connection. I'm also finding myself able to think about more things during dance, for example closing all of my legs, not just the feet. I hope to be able to finally nail down clear leading ( something that I have yet to be able to produce ), and become more 'frontweighted' however while balenced. I feel that balence was the key that I was most missing in my lead. I feel that if I can add those things to all of my smooth dances, that will allow me to work more heavily on more advanced technique such as rise/fall which is necessary for progression. For rhythm latin dances, I have finally started to understand motion and isolation. I don't know if I yet have the control, however that would be something to add this year, along with groundedness. If I can add these things and keep a good frame then I will feel like I've accomplished a lot this season. I feel like my syllabus is more than adequate to most degrees, however hopefully I can add to it the final components of the Bronze syllabus. All in all, its going to be a semester of a lot of nit picky things, that should make me a better dancer for the wear.
Reflections:Over the coures of the year my dancing has changed a lot. Most of my focus was on frame and contact and my placements have shown that as now I have usually been able to make a final in Bronze Smooth/Standard and even some silver Smooth/Standard, however placements within the final are dependent on more than just frame. I've learned some poise and comfort in Rhythm and Latin dances, however still swing and Jive I can't seem to master. This year also ended with some added responsbility, as I took the presiding role on the team. I have a good board, and hope that we can all work together to get things done. In talking with the newbies they don't seem to see the mistakes in my dancing and so I count that as a positive mark. I want to start looking towards other coaches and try to get some different insites. To move forward from here will be much harder than getting here, and I recognize that it will take some substaintial amounts of work to bring myself to the next level.
Things to work on: Well, so far I feel like my frame and contact are alright. I'm starting to get extension in the backwards steps however not as much nor as often as I'd like. I can see my mistakes in figures like the spin turn, where I need to get lower. However everything else now seems sloppy. Sloppy alignments, sloppy footwork. I need to bring those things up, especially in standard. As for Latin, well, first of all posture. My motion looks funny for some reason and few people have been able to articulate why. The things I see I need to work on here is turn out ( which will help with the leg action ), and isolations in the dance, especially upper isolations. I want to start drilling stepping through the floor more. These are all technique wise elements. The other as I'm begining to see equally important element is choreography. I don't like and absolutely abhore routines, however the steps that I'm leading on the floor are basic and not very flashy. I want to start puting together amalgamations for basic dances ( Cha-Rhumba). Some of the latin dances don't lend themselves well to non-pre choreographed amalgamations such as boto fogos and volta motions. Mostley though, I think good posture and leg action goes far, so I should stress that.


Season 3: 2005-2006

Season 4: 2006-2007 Links: