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behind the curtain competitions

EPCTDL and EPCPL

Royal Palm Dancesport Winter Frolic is just days away and it’s time for Exhaustive Pre-Comp To-Do List and Exhaustive Pre-Comp Packing List. Having done this a fair few times we almost don’t need lists anymore, yet we do still manage to arrive at a comp and realize we’ve forgotten something! So here goes:

To do:

  • Buy tights & eyelashes
  • Do nails
  • Pack my stuff
  • Pack Daniel’s stuff
  • Polish Daniel’s shoes
  • Print heat lists
  • Get hotel reservation
  • Confirm pet-sitter

To pack:

  • 2 dresses, 2 shoes, 2 tights
  • Practice clothes (this is what I always forget!)
  • Dress & shoes for Friday night social
  • Snacks
  • Makeup & jewelry
  • Shirts, vest, tie, pants, socks for Daniel
  • Friday night clothes for D.
  • USA Dance jackets
  • Tylenol, Advil, KT Tape, & Band-Aids

This is going to be interesting as I’ll be at work till about 6 p.m. Thursday and we will leave no later than 7 a.m. Friday. Wish us luck for the prep as well as for the competition–and stay tuned for updates! Our Twitter is usually pretty quiet but I try to live-tweet a bit from comps, so it’s a good time to follow @DLDancers!

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behind the curtain in other news Linktastic

Ballroom dance shoe information!

We are often asked about shoes for dancing. It’s kind of a big subject, and everyone has their own preferences. But for those interested in being appropriately shod for dance occasions, here are some Shoe Basics:

Dancing in street shoes: You can do perfectly well attending lessons and dances in street shoes for a good long time; don’t feel pressured to buy dance shoes right away. For best results:

  • Wear a shoe with a hard (not rubber) sole; your shoe should stay securely on the foot.  The dance floor is a “No Flip-Flops” zone!
  • Ladies, avoid backless shoes since we spend a lot of time backing up.
  • Gentlemen, the more slim and trim your shoes, the easier you will find it to dance with your lady–no fear of accidentally bumping her with your shoe.

Most people who get interested in ballroom dancing end up buying some ballroom shoes. They are lighter, more flexible, and more comfortable to dance in than regular dress shoes. They have a suede sole that gives you just the right amount of grip on the dance floor. The suede means that you can’t wear them on the street, but it’s okay at dance events to come in wearing street shoes and then change to dance shoes.

Dancing in ballroom shoes:

  • Brands: The best “entry level” brands that I’m aware of are Go Go Dance Shoes and Very Fine.  Very Fine is a wholesaler and lots of stores and studios carry their shoes.  It could be worthwhile to shop around a bit and compare prices.  If you are ready to spend a little more, take a look at Supadance or International.  I wear Supadance and have found that ordering directly from the company will get you the lowest price, even taking shipping and exchange rate into account.
  • Styles: Competitive dancers wear different shoes for different dances.  Ladies wear open-toed shoes for Rhythm/Latin dances and closed toes for Smooth/Standard.  It’s easier to waltz in a sandal than to cha-cha in a pump, so if in doubt, get open toes.  (I have these.) Men wear regular heels for Smooth/Standard and a higher “Cuban” heel for Rhythm/Latin–no need for a Cuban heel unless you are competing.  Get plain black leather instead of shiny patent leather. (Daniel wears something like this.)
  • Fit and heel height:  Dance shoes will fit closer than street shoes–you want a snug enough fit that your foot doesn’t shift around inside the shoe.  Ladies often wear their Latin sandals with their toes hanging a little bit over the front edge of the sole.  If you absolutely can’t tolerate a high heel, don’t worry.  Almost every maker has at least a couple of low-heel styles; Very Fine has several. (I wear these when teaching lessons.)

Where to buy: This is where things get a little more challenging here in Macon, GA!

  • Bobo’s Dance Supply (2352 Ingleside) sometimes carries some ballroom shoes and they always carry dance sneakers (which are GREAT if you need/want maximum comfort). They also do special orders.
  • Showtime Dance Shoes in Duluth only carries the more expensive brands (Supadance, International, Freed) but they have tons of inventory and they’re very nice. Once or twice a year they have a big clearance sale; get on their email list to receive notification and plan to carpool with your friends.
  • If you are comfortable with online shopping, Discount Dance Supply has an extensive ballroom selection and their prices are good.

How to put on your shoes: Ladies, you are likely to find that the straps and buckles on your shoes are different from what you’re used to. Never fear; I have made a video to help you sort it out:

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behind the curtain in other news Linktastic

Dresses in; dresses out

“Laura,” I hear readers asking, “how can I be more like you?  I’ve already signed up for dance lessons and gotten a rockin’ haircut, but how do I take it to the next level?”

Well, young padawan, for the next 7 days you have a rare opportunity to own a piece of DLDancers history.  I am selling two of my performance/competition dresses on Ye Olde Ebay.  Check ’em out!

It is a truth universally acknowledged that you have to sell the old dresses before buying new ones.  (Circle of life?)  So please take a look and enable my shopping habits as well as your own!

 

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Ballerina Corner behind the curtain exhibitions & performances Uncategorized

Madison Studio recital day!

MSDE’s annual recital, “Ballet, Boogie, & Broadway,” kicks off in just under 5 hours. We had an excellent dress rehearsal last night, I got to leave my costumes on the premises so I don’t have to carry them over there again today, I have all the correct shoes in my bag, and (hopefully) the things I wore and then washed last night are dry now. Daniel’s stuff is packed and ready to go and the video camera is charging.  Here is what I learned at dress rehearsal:

  • It’s great to NOT be in 12 different numbers (as one of my young fellow dancers is) because that’s exhausting and you sweat a lot.  But being in only 3, widely spaced apart, as I am, is slightly too few.  You get all cold and stiff in between.  I’m going to feel silly carrying in legwarmers and a shrug when it’s 90 degrees out, but I’ll be doing it and wearing them anyway!
  • If you have my haircut (razor-cut pixie, no 2 strands the same length) and have to slick it back to look like a ballerina, the secret is to wet it and then slather on gel like there’s no tomorrow.  When your ballet number is over and you have to unslick to look like a modern or ballroom dancer, re-wet it from another dancer’s spray bottle (bless you, E. J.) and rearrange with a comb.  Be prepared for Horror Hair when you brush it all out later.  Shampoo twice the next morning (buy one of these in advance to use when it’s all over).
  • Draw your eyeliner wings on carefully lest your husband/dance partner point out to you–after it’s too late, of course–that they are incongruent.
  • Something’s wrong when you regret things that haven’t happened yet.
  • If you are planning to wear a wig, bring it with you!
  • There’s no crying at recital.  Mostly.
  • He may not agree, but it was worth it for our Widow Simone to shave his goatee.
  • The big kids are so talented, the little kids are so adorable, and we’re just lucky to be up there with ’em.

Recap/photos/video coming soon!

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behind the curtain in other news

The effect of a dance studio on a Regular Person

Since working on Dancing Stars I’ve started to notice something interesting about the way “regular people” (non-dancers or non-habitual dancers) react to being in a dance studio space.  For as long as I can remember, I have regarded a dance studio as one tiny step–at most–below a sacred space.  In fact, in the Afro-Haitian dance classes I took in college we actually had a little ritual to do with a bowl of water when entering and leaving the studio.  But until just recently I thought I was the only one who slightly fetishized the studio experience: all that open space, all that potential, all that blankness somehow serving as a  frame for the concentration and repetition and work and progress of dance.

Then I noticed that Daniel’s partner Kathryn (substituting in recital for Ashley, who is on injured reserve) stuck around for an extra 20 minutes or so after she was finished rehearsing.  She didn’t really need to be there; in fact, she had a date with her husband.  But she stayed to watch us run through La Fille Mal Gardée.  And then I remembered the time when Jack just randomly started doing cartwheels in the studio.  He said that ever since the first time he’d been there, he had wanted to do cartwheels.

Dance studios are special.  It’s pretty cool.

ETA: What if there are no non-dancers?  Just former dancers, dancers, and future dancers?

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behind the curtain dance events Dancing Stars of Central Georgia

EPDSTDL & EPDSPL

With less than a week to go (eeeeee!), it seems like a good time for Exhaustive Pre-Dancing Stars To-Do List and its little buddy, Exhaustive Pre-Dancing Stars Packing list.  Here goes!

To do before Friday dress rehearsal

  • Book spray-tan
  • Get hair cut & colored
  • Get spray-tanned
  • Do nails
  • Test makeup
  • Rehearse
  • Replace Velcro on dress with hook-and-eye or snap
  • Try shoes with fishnets
  • Buy earrings
  • Pack my stuff
  • Write check to Karen
  • Get flyers copied
  • Get other flyers copied
  • Fix broken strap on dress (argh)

To pack:

  • Performance dress
  • Cocktail dress
  • Performance shoes
  • Evening shoes
  • Earrings for cocktail dress
  • Makeup: foundation, concealer, powder, eyeliner, eyeshadow, shimmer powder/bronzer, blush, eyeshadow, lipstick, lip gloss, eyelashes, mascara
  • Extra eyelashes
  • Fishnets
  • Briefs
  • Camera
  • Hoodie
  • Legwarmers
  • Practice shoes

We are so close now.  I can’t wait for Saturday night!

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behind the curtain in other news

How to Buckle Ballroom Shoes

Last night at our dance a young lady asked me how to buckle ballroom shoes.  “I Googled it,” said the young lady, “and I couldn’t find anything!”  She had a pair of shoes that had been sitting in her closet for at least a year, unworn, because she wasn’t sure how to operate the buckle.  A lot of ballroom shoes come with this nifty (but not self-evident) quick-release buckle mechanism.  If you know how to use it, you will become resentful of ballroom shoes with regular buckles.  If you don’t know how to use it, your shoes will languish in neglect and you will be sad.  To address these problems (baffling buckles and their apparent absence from The Google), I have made my first-ever instructional video, How to Buckle Ballroom Shoes.  Its subtitle is “How to Look Washed-Out in a Webcam Video.” Enjoy! And please send blush & eyeliner.

 

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behind the curtain Dancing Stars of Central Georgia in other news

One month till showtime

Well, sports fans, it’s spring break at the Madison Studio and my parents are in town this week (Hi, Mom & Dad! See you again in June!), so not much dancing going on here at DLDancers HQ.  Nevertheless, because I am just that kind of hard-working bloggiste, I am bringing you some updates.  With Dancing Stars of Central Georgia just under a month away, preparations are going forward even when rehearsals are not.

First, can I show you Jack’s and my Dancing Stars rehearsal video?

. . . Also starring my Lauren-Bacall-style laryngitis voice.  Until I saw it, I’d forgotten that I was sick the day they recorded it.  The show must go on!

On Wednesday we had a production meeting for Dancing Stars at the show venue, Macon’s City Auditorium.  The City Auditorium is the same lovely neoclassical edifice that hosts the Cherry Blossom Gala each year.  We dancers found out that if we sell it out, we’ll have an audience of about 700.  Glory hounds that we are, we immediately set our sights on a sellout–if we can pull it off we’ll be the first Dancing Stars show to sell out the first year’s event.  This is the part where you go visit Jack’s page on the site and buy your ticket.  It’s okay, I’ll wait.

I took some pics at the City Auditorium during the production meeting:

The organizers are still working on getting the stage floor in dance-worthy condition but I’m sure it will be perfect on May 12.  The more Daniel and I see of the stars and pros in action, the more we realize this is going to be an incredibly exciting show.  Click through from Jack’s video and watch some of the other couples: Karla Redding-Andrews, Portia Lake, Mary Perdue, Steve Welsh, Jim Elliot, Elbert McQueen, Terrell Sandefur, Courtney Swift.  Everyone is pulling out these dynamic, high-level, polished routines.  I can’t wait to see them all on the stage!

I also did the only thing a dancer really can do on days off: stretching & flexibility cardio strength training buying shoes.  Got a new pair of pointe shoes, which are still waiting to be sewn (see 1:50) and my shoes for Dancing Stars which are these.  They look amazing.  Now I am just waiting for my dress to arrive. *taps nails*

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behind the curtain in other news

How the other half lives

Dear readers, I have a secret.

I am not a professional dancer.

In fact, because of USA Dance’s rules about amateur competitions, I am explicitly, stridently, and vocally Not A Professional Dancer. But lately I’ve been impersonating one for a couple of days each week and here’s what I’ve learned: being a professional dancer is HARD.

Today I got to the studio at 2:15 and left early, i.e., about 7:15.  That’s an hour and a half of tango rehearsal with Jack, a 45-minute break, an hour of modern, and what would have been an hour and a half of ballet if I’d stayed till the end.  Same thing last Tuesday.  Same thing on Thursday minus the modern class.  It’s awesome, but boy,  I can tell I’ve been working.  Real pros are my new personal heroes.  I’m having tons of fun, just need to build my stamina a little more. And adjust my diet.  Today I ran out of gas because I had virtually no protein.  I can run for a long time on pure carbs but apparently not at this level of activity.  Duly noted, metabolism.  Here, have these mixed nuts and this yogurt.

It’s amazing how dance has taken over my life lately, and I don’t mind at all.

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behind the curtain

The “Merde” Thing, or Why Dancers are Full of S***

This question has come up 3-4 times in the past 24 hours or less, so I figure it needs its own post.  [Warning: contains a Rude Word!]

Dancers–specifically those who come out of a performing tradition such as ballet, jazz, tap, etc.–are a subset of theatre people.  And theatre people are very superstitious, right up there with sports people.  Here are some things that theatre and dance people do not do because they are bad luck:

  • speak the name of Shakespeare’s play Macbeth while in the theatre–they call it “the Scottish play”
  • whistle onstage or backstage
  • leave a stage completely dark (a single “ghost light” is always left on to appease or prevent ghosts)
  • wish each other “good luck”–this is the important one for our purposes.

It’s well known that instead of “good luck,” actors say “break a leg.”  But for obvious reasons, you don’t say “break a leg” to a dancer.  Dancers say “Merde,” which is the French word for “shit.”  I’ve always assumed that the choice of “Merde” is just another reflection of the “it’s bad luck to say ‘good luck'” superstition.  What could be farther from good luck?  If you want a good story, though, Wikipedia explains that “Merde” goes back to the days when people arrived at the theatre in horse-drawn carriages.  Lots of merde de cheval (horse shit) in front of the theatre indicated big crowds and thus a successful show; ergo, merde is good luck!

Regardless of its origins, I love this tradition.  Partially because it makes me feel like a Theatre Person and/or Real Dancer, and partly because it is fun to have a license to use bad language in public.  At our recital today, as at all of our studio’s recitals and performances, we had a “Merde Circle” in which all the dancers, even the tiny 4-year-olds, join hands and say “Merde!” to each other.  Ms. Madison tells them that it’s not a very nice word to say but that it’s okay to say in dance because it means “good luck.”  It probably takes them years to find out what it really means–last year, one of the high school girls didn’t know till I told her.

Now you know what to say to a dancer for good luck.  I think we should make it our business to spread this tradition among ballroom dancers.