Entry point: my guide to west coast swing competition for novice leaders

    This is a guide for those competing in west coast swing as leaders in the novice division. It is more of a strategy guide than anything else. I am not going into technical advice, arguing connection or teaching or learning methods, or presenting some magical path to assured victory and levelling up. These are not ‘hacks’ to please the almighty judges and game the system. This is a layout of advice that, if followed, should help you become a very strong novice competitor pretty much anywhere in the world. Are there successful novices who lack some of the things I outline below? Absolutely; none of this is ‘necessary’, it’s “the more of these boxes you check, the better”. I hope you like it!

 

 

 Safety first 

    This is where the bar starts below ground level for you. Avoid causing pain or injury to your follow. Going with an idea that might cause this is not the right thing to do. If you get to finals by ruining someone else’s shoulder because you were selfish, you’re an awful person.

• Don't pull down on your follow's arm coming out of turns, especially tucks.

• Don't try ambitious weight supported moves if you aren't comfortable leading them on multiple people already.

• Don't thumb. That is, your thumb shouldn’t touch the back of your follow’s hand.

• Don't pull on a hammerlocked hand. If their hand is behind their back around their waist, you don’t get to pull hard on that hand.

• Try not to step on their feet or trip them up. Keep your feet under you and get out of their slot. This will help with lead clarity, too.

• Don't be a bigot. This is the biggest one. It is a partner dance, not a solo dance. You are competing as a leader. You might draw anyone who is competing as a follower. I literally saw a guy say that since he paid to compete as a lead, he was ‘owed’ a ‘real woman’ (i.e. white hetero cisgender woman). Dancing with anyone else was some sort of challenge to his supposed manhood. Now, being a bad dancer doesn’t make you a bad person but this individual managed both easily. Don’t be this guy.

Basics

    This is where T^3 comes in (timing, technique, teamwork). Just from a viewer’s perspective, here are the most important bits.

• BE ON TIME. Basic time without syncopating or extending anything should be completely ingrained. Most songs in novice are pretty basic and easy to keep time on. Find the boom-tick, stay with it. Not getting off time is a much higher priority than doing something cool. Guess what; do something cool and you will draw attention to yourself. Great! Unless you’re off time. This is the equivalent of trying to cough to hide a fart and we know how well that goes.

• Triple step. Doesn't have to be two triples in every pattern, but close to that is a good idea. Lots of time standing in place and moving your arms around will stick out like a sore thumb in a field of leaders who are stepping .

• Don't hunch, don't stick your butt out, try to avoid pigeon toeing and keep your shoulders down. If I had to pick the more important ones for visual in this type of competition, I’d go with keeping your shoulders down and having good open posture first. Loosen up your biceps and pec minor and do those rows!

• BASIC pattern work. Starter step, inside roll, passing tuck, sugar push and tuck, basic whip, underarm turn and free spin should be super easy for you. Don't do basic/natural hand hold left side passes. At least make sure it's a handshake hold. 

    In terms of “super easy, barely an inconvenience,” this just means that you can lead these patterns on most follows and they will understand your intention and both of you will be on time. Yes, you will probably be stiff and your connection might vanish in places. Working on these things is ALWAYS important, but if we are just focusing on competition the ability to make it work is really what counts. If you barely connect but are able to show with your body what you want your follow to do clearly and it works, guess what, you are in novice and it will be just fine.
 

Above basics 

    I think a good novice lead should do about 50% plain vanilla basics (the above list) and the other half elevated basics. Stuff like open whips, folds from various hand positions, a few body catches, maybe some simple syncopated footwork. Having at least one dip you know well and can set up from a few different places is a good idea, too. And be sure that anything you try won't put you off time *and* you can lead it on pretty much everyone, not just one person. 

• Try not to do two vanilla basics back to back. Mix those two halves together.

• Practice acknowledging the music in your dance. You don't have to be able to phrase like a boss but at least doing something other than mindlessly trucking right through musical changes really helps, even in novice. 

• On that note, being able to either extend patterns in two beat increments or do some rock and goes will make that more possible. 

• Knowing a few different ways to open up for your follow, even just a handshake hold passing tuck that you can walk forward when there's a foot-workable moment for them will help. Please don’t do the hated dance monkey dance move wherein you stand stationary and hold your hand up for your follow to ‘fill space’ when there is nothing happening in the music. This is not good for anyone. Every time you do this you ruin a puppy's day.

Presentation 

• Know which patterns look bad on you. Say your basic tuck just looks super weird, try to avoid leading it and do other things instead. It's not like you need to show a certain movement syllabus and a judge won't have time to look for one anyway. Should you be able to do your basic tuck in a clear, well-connected way that is also aesthetically pleasing? Yes, absolutely. Train it. But compete with your strengths.

• Wear comfortable clothes. Dressing in clothes that aren't comfy is awkward, don't do that to yourself. Find stuff that's flattering not just when you're standing still, but also while dancing. If you're taller, tapered pants. If you bend your knees a bit too often something looser would be preferable. An unbuttoned collared shirt will help a LOT of body movements look better, and can somewhat hide bad posture or shrugged shoulders too. Stay away from super super loose or overly casual clothing clothes (jeans/white t shirt/ball cap isn't a great idea).

• Most people advise 'traditional' dance shoes for novice leads, but honestly, wear something that doesn't restrict your foot rolling or pinch your toes. If your feet aren't great, don't wear shoes that stand out. Lighter brown/tan/nude colors can blend right into the floor. In the same vein, don't wear white pants unless you want everyone looking at your legs.

• If you wear sneakers like converse, getting laces the same color as the shoe might be a good idea if you don’t want extra attention on your feet. Don't wear white socks with black pants and shoes.

Strategy

• Partnership: Look at your partner and smile. Looking down just doesn't make you look good, RBF makes you look bored or unfocused, do not look at your partner's chest (if she's a woman) don't always stare straight into their eyes. A neutral, happy smile looking at their face most of the time is a good place to start. Yes, for some people (yours truly included) this is extremely difficult. Try to work on it anyway. Watch a comp prelim and see how noticeable the RBF is.

• Floorcraft--it'll be crowded. Don't bump into people. Practice shortening your slot and stuff while social dancing. I’m not sure if this is still a trend, but thumbing or yanking your follow’s hand is not an appropriate warning sign.

• The judges will see everyone, but that doesn't mean they always get a good look. Don't get stuck in a corner and if you're shorter than those around you, jockey for a spot closer to the inside of the circle. Don't crowd the judges though, if you're too close they won't see you

• For finals, try to get some crowd reactions. Dance near your friends and have them cheer (and say your name). If it's a spotlight or semi-spotlight, look at and acknowledge the audience/judges at least a couple of times during big moments if you can set them up that way. Once again, do this if and only if you can still pay attention to your partner and stay on time; don’t get caught up in working too hard to try something big.

• That said, elevated basics are a good idea to do more of here and if you end up in a spotlight where you can hit a big moment with a dip or something, that could easily win you the event. After you do hit a big moment, it’s tempting to keep button mashing and spamming ambitious patterns. Avoid this, make it a habit to get right back to basics. If you get off slot or don’t move your feet for a while, reslot + triple + anchor as soon as you can.

• If you're confident in your dancing but are in a new area, do a strictly so that the judges get a chance to see you before you compete in the J&J. Maybe choose someone local who you enjoy dancing with rather than someone from your hometown to partner with.

The personal side

• Learn how to warm up. Some people take a while, some don't. If there's someone who really helps you get into it, great, but be sure to dance with at least a couple other people too before competing. Believe me having some great warmup dances all with your favorite person might well make your comp dances feel terrible.

• Don’t just warm up in a side ballroom. At least step on the main comp floor before competing. Feel how fast it is, change shoes if necessary. Comp floors tend to be fast in my opinion, have a shoe brush handy. If your shoes have thick suede you can always just step outside onto a (clean, dry) sidwalk and scuff your feet a bit. Don't track dust and grit back onto the floor of course. I re-sueded my jordans once with really thick suede and never brushed them; just always walked across parking lot when possible.

• Food and caffeine: how much, when and what type play a big part in physical comfort. Figure out what's right for you; going on the floor dehydrated and not having eaten all day isn't a very good plan. In the same breath, having coffee poops looming over you or feeling sleepy and dull after a big meal might not result in a good time either.

• Stretching, meditation, taking a hot shower, playing certain music... experiment so you know what helps. For a long while, doing some solo basics with a song playing in my headphones alternated with watching my favorite leaders (on video or whoever was at the event) helped focus me. Maybe it’s visualization, maybe it’s repeating a mantra of your current focus in your head, whatever works.

• Drinking: don't compete drunk, full stop. You're literally putting other people in danger at that point. But 1 drink can really help some people relax and not overthink. Try not to rely on it though. 

• Don't wear a watch. Just... why. Unless it’s super sleek and unobtrusive.

• Also be careful with rings, wristbands, etc. that could get stuck in your follower's hair or clothing. Wear your comp band, if it's the regular plastic clip kind, on your left hand and cover the plastic tab with electrical tape if possible. If you have phone/wallet/keys on you make sure they are secure in your pockets and won’t come flying out.

• Keep an eye on where you are in heats, etc. so you know when you have time for a bathroom trip, when you want to warm up and so forth.

    Get comfy with your follow in finals as much as possible. Look them in the eye, smile, hug/say hi, introduce yourself, be encouraging and (even if you aren't) find a happy place with regards to drawing this particular person. If you are in a shitty mood don't let it affect them or your dances together... try to put it aside and just have a good time with your partner. A bad mood or frustration will show a lot more than you might think.

    If things DON'T go well, try to cope in a healthy way and enjoy the rest of your weekend first. When you're ready (for some maybe later that day, for others it might be weeks) watch your videos carefully, try to watch and figure out objectively what you need to improve. Make notes of how you felt or what went wrong. Was it a song, a partner, your energy and concentration...? It's easy to blame bad luck or other people but fact of the matter is you ALWAYS could have done something differently and have that to work on for next time. In short, cultivate a growth mindset as much as possible. Not only will you be happier but it will set you up for greater successes in the future.
 

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