Floortime

"I don't know why Billy made finals when I didn't! I'm just so much better at [xyz miniscule aspect of technique] than he is!"  With sloppy feet, bad posture, lack of phrasing, a stiff upper body, etc. how could someone make finals in a jack & jill?  Everyone has a confirmation bias toward technical elements that they're either working hard on, care a lot about and value in themselves, or both. And this tends to show up when we're judging quality of dance and general dance ability in other people.  The typical response to these complaints is something like "well, were your worst moments better than their best ones" or something similarly unhelpful.  I think that a great lesson to take away from 'who makes it' is to think about why they did  rather than trying to think of reasons why they shouldn't  or why they don't deserve to .  More about growth mindset:  dance image neutrality how to get better at getting better whose fault...

Maybe because it's the end of the calendar year and we're stressed about tangibly progressing; maybe it's simply because the fall events have been stacking up recently... but I've been hearing a lot of frustration from friends and students (and random people online) regarding their competition draws.  "I just didn't like any of my partners, really." "My first draw was good, my second one was terrible though. I hope the judges weren't looking at me for that one."  "My finals partner was awful and I just hope people don't think I'm a bad dancer after watching that. That wasn't my fault!"  Then there's my friend who tells me that their (romantic) partner seems to get frustrated dancing with them when they can't do everything that they want to happen in the dance/make it their ideal.  There's the instructor who blames having "all bad draws in prelims" when she doesn't make finals.  And so on, and so...

 Hey there! First off, if you're a new reader - welcome.  Here is a youtube playlist  of me teaching - mostly group lesson recaps but some other educational stuff as well. Follower technique, thoughts on emotional health while working on your dance, and solo practice advice, among other things.   This is my instagram Here's a bit about my education and influences in WCS If you want to get in touch with me, either IG or FB messenger works or you can send me an email: arisdemarco@gmail.com  Recently I went to two events, Desert City Swing (my old hometown event) and Swingtime (my new one, as it turns out). I loved the venue, the music and social dancing, and how efficiently all the comps were run. It really was a very well done event, my favorite of the few I've been to since before the break.  https://swingtimewcs.com/   At swingtime, I made finals in both allstar Jack & Jill and allstar strictly. They recalled 10 leaders from I think 28 or 29,...

First, the mirror here is an analogy. Looking in a mirror while you're dancing isn't wrong, and it isn't even rude as long as your partner knows you're practicing and sees the dance as such. But it's inefficient and will throw your dancing off. It'll change where your head weight is, possibly affect where your frame is at, and you'll have to abandon it if you're spotting anyway. Plus, watching yourself *directly* flat from the side or front isn't as good as a slight angle. You can get this if you have full unbroken mirrors on two perpendicular walls, but it's still not as good as a video. Or a video of the mirrored dance space! So take videos.  Everyone hates seeing themselves dance , at first at least. There are exceptions, but I think they're too scarce to mention. Even most people who are really, really self obsessed have insecurities and are surprised when the way they look doesn't match the images in their head.  You can think of thi...

I think I only heard this joke once, but I remembered it right away.  What are the two rules of online dating?  1. Be attractive.  2. Don't be un attractive At some point, I was talking with a few friends about what, if anything, the 'secret sauce' or 'weird trick' was to succeeding on the wcs competition floor. Specifically, in jack & jill prelims.  My answer was based on the online dating joke.  What are the two rules of success in J&J prelims?  1. Be noticed.  2. Look like you mean it.  That's it. I honestly think that these two rules are what separate dancers of equal skill and in fact often propel 'worse' (ie less knowledgeable, less generous, less technical--whatever that means) dancers to later rounds above dancers who might 'deserve it more' based on their overall abilities: knowledge of the dance, partnering, phrasing and musicality, and so on.  Next time you watch a J&J prelim, let your eyes wander across the floor witho...

    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 s...

There's that saying, "there's no place to go after allstar." That's partly true. Allstar is where the west coast swing competitive divisions... stop. You either become a champion, you quit, or you stay an allstar. It's somewhat rare air. Simultaneously, there are at least a couple of individuals who have managed to compete in allstar within a year or two of starting their competitive career. Wcs is far too deep and complex a movement art to even approach mastering in that time period, so simply based on that I don't think we can view 'competing in allstar' as some sort of final end point. On a logistical level, anyone who can make finals in a medium-sized advanced division with some regularity, who competes enough in three years can make allstar. When looked at in this way, entry to the division isn't such a high bar in the grand scheme of things. On the other hand, there are professional instructors of some repute and lifelong wcs devot...

Just a few weeks back, I tore my right shoulder. Embarrassingly enough, it was while doing a basic stretch. I then decided to compete in my jack & jill the very next day... and I didn't final. This hurt me a lot more than the actual injury. Maybe it was that I'd simply grown accustomed to making finals regularly, or maybe it was my ego or some sense of entitlement that I should be able to final even while injured. Either way, it sucked. I've had a pretty broad range of experience with making--or not making--finals. In novice, with the exception of my very first competition I made finals every time until I pointed out; and quickly got used to it, getting a bad attitude and being bratty about not placing when I did final. In intermediate, I placed every time that I made finals... which was less than 1/3 of the times I competed. Not only was the record inconsistent but I had an unhealthily large ego and a lot of insecurity at the time. Then, in advanced I took my time; d...