Ummm. Almost none at all ever.
Usually, I end up competing with people I haven't seen for weeks or months until the day of the competition!
Bit of a broad subject heading, but the question was prompted by my experiences at the Ceroc Champs. The standard of the top competitors was incredibly high, not just in terms of technical facility, musical interpretation and so on, but also their presentation etc etc.
Such preparedness clearly doesn't happen by accident, so I was wondering how much time competitors who are serious about competing (which I suppose could arbitrarily be defined as people who enter more than one competition a year and with a serious expectation of being placed) spend practicing with each other, and preparing in other ways for comps?
Ummm. Almost none at all ever.
Usually, I end up competing with people I haven't seen for weeks or months until the day of the competition!
Well, this year was my first competition, but we spent months preparing for the team cabaret. It involved choosing a theme, arranging the music, choreographing the routine and choosing the team members, all before a single step was danced. Well done to Karen Brooks for all her hard work in putting it together. She did an amazing job!!
Once this was done, we started practicing a couple of times a month from about 8 months out, increasing that to 2 or 3 times a week leading up to the event. I'd say we spent over £1,000 between us on costumes, hall hire etc... We were all very serious about it and put in a lot of hard work, but it paid off on the day
Very!
When we were competing, we were practising about four times a week and travelling from Bristol to London and back for lessons with some of the best instructors. I also drove from Bristol to Hipsters midweek to meet my dance partner/partner for a practice, but that became rather punishing!
We decided after the 2005/2006 season and Blackpool 2006 to bow out as (a) we had done quite well and (b) we didn't want to continue to put so much hard work into it. Pity really, as I had bought a new outfit for another showcase and I still have a routine in mind, but wonderful as the experience was, I would rather be able to have a social life and dance for pleasure!
Elaine
Yeah. Maybe I should have said that I've also decided to stop competing now. Until the next time I get an offer that I can't turn down of course!
Last year I was petrified on the day.
This year we relaxed into having fun, fun , fun, thouroughly enjoying the day by ignoring the result and showing some of what we can do. That said, nerves still affected my musicality but so much less than last year and we all loved doing it so a great result for us.
You "spent months" organising it all and then practiced for "8 months"? Theres a year of your whole teams life there I've been in long practices for team cabarets but thats ridiculous! Next time try and do it in 8 weeks - plenty time
Can't say you're not committed though
Which competition did you win ?but it paid off on the day
I think you have to take it seriously if you want to compete in a "serious" category. More you practice with your fixed partner, the better you are at reading his/her intentions, the better prepared for any hijacks or high-maintenance moves. Of course, if you've got Trampy or Jamie in the Lucky Dip, you don't need to worry about any of that!!!
In total there was probably ten months of work in there, but bear in mind that we are all very busy and couldn't devote 2 or 3 nights a week to practicing. I, for example, spend every second weekend and 2 or 3 days a week in Glasgow, and four of the others run franchises, so were already spready pretty thin, so we met twice a month initially. Putting the routine together was the easy part, although it evolved right up until two weeks before the competition. The hardest thing was getting everybody spotting each other and perfecting our timing. If you get chance to watch the routine when the DVD comes out, I'm sure you'll see that it was worth it
We won the Ceroc Champs this year.
For a serious team routine that I would expect to win, in my experience, the corrie people spend up to 2 months selecting the music, working out the moves and working out which people would be capable of doing it.
Then 3 months practice - 2 times a week.
For showcase or freestyle the time can be cut down, if you have an experienced partnership. Coz for showcase, you only need get one couple up to speed, and for freestyle, you might have freestyled a fair bit already.
So I have spent, max 3 months before the first comp, min 1 week (but I did have all the moves already in my head and just had to teach my partner/s.
3 months was for a seriously hot team routine that won. 1 week was for a double trouble, that we also won (but with experienced dancers, who picked it up quick)
Experienced dancers probably practice more that you see on the outside, which means for a particular event, they already have a lot of the skills required, and just need to know the moves, or just "be themselves" in freestyle.
All of it takes time.
The thing I was most "peaved" about was that I wanted to do a showcase for 2003 Ceroc UK, they said you must send a tape of your showcase before a certain date, and they will pick who goes in....
WELL - I had not even started the corri, coz it was in a few months time So we travelled all the way to the UK, but could not compete
I thought that was so anal. So no respect for that one...
Oh, yes and Trampy does "sometimes" practice - he did amazingly well at the last Brisbane comps - he looked fantastic (but there was SOME practice )
He won with Simone, and full respect to him and Simone.
Musicality, cool moves and some wow factor
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