How to Feel Like Number One
By Maria Heath
In dance lessons, many instructors will tell you that when you do ballroom you’re always performing. Especially at competitions, you should assume a judge could be watching you at any time, and so you should always put your good foot forward, so to speak. Others might tell you to imagine that you are the best dancer in the room, that you’ve been hired to perform, that you already have the skills and just need to confidence to get out there and show everyone. This is a useful exercise to remind yourself that if you look confident, others will judge you to be more confident. But I’ve found that although these exercises can be very helpful in preparing for a competition, nothing can quite match the joy of having someone come watch you dance who has never been to a ballroom competition before.
This year at Dance Fest was the first time I’ve had friends from outside ballroom come watch me dance at an event. Three different friends from different parts of my life came, each to watch a different session. All of them were surprised to find that ballroom competitions were nothing like they expected. What seems obvious to any veteran dancer, such as how the heats need to be organized to maximize efficiency and the amount of cheering encouraged, is fun to explain to a first-time attendee. But the best part of having friends there is watching their impressed expressions when they see you in your full get-up and out on the floor.
“You’re clearly the best couple out there!” one of my friends kept insisting. I know it wasn’t true, since I was only dancing at the Bronze and Advanced Bronze level, and I kept encouraging her to stay later to watch the Gold level dancers; but she wouldn’t have it. It was so exciting for her to watch me dance that she only had eyes for my partner and I. And it felt good.
When we got out on the floor, I didn’t have to imagine that I was performing for an eager audience that was only there to watch me, or that we were the best couple on the floor. For those moments when my friend was watching, it was true, and I danced like it. I trusted that I knew my basics, and I put on a show. Even when I didn’t place very well, I went home to excited congratulations from admiring friends and a bunch of blurry phone photos of me dancing tagged on Facebook. In their eyes, I won every event.
I know there’s a lot of work left for me to do on my dancing, so those metaphors about constantly performing and being the very best are helpful when I practice. But dancing for friends and family who have only ever seen ballroom in movies before is really a pinnacle competition experience for which there is no adequate substitution. I hope my friends who watched me this year will help me encourage more of my friends to come next year for Ballroom Blast, and that I can open a few more eyes to the beauty of ballroom while upping my own competitive game. Even if you’re not the best dancer by the judges’ standards, there’s always someone out there who thinks you are!