“Heat # 55, bringing to the floor in Male Newcomer Pro-Ams, number 442 dancing with his pro….”

“Now for the dance of love…  Polka!” 

“Remember gentlemen, you’re supposed to gaze lovingly at her during the night club”

“Let’s hear it for our dancers”  *applause*

“And in first place, our new World Champion in Male Newcomer Open…”

Ah, the sounds of competition at the UCWDC Country Dance World Championships, “Worlds” for short.  The World Championships are held the first week of January each year and there are dancers from all over the world competing.  This year it is in Orlando Florida.  The dancers at the event have been working all year long toward this final event of the year, the culmination of 12 months of effort.

Screen capture from live broadcast of Worlds XX Femaile Newcomer Waltz

Just so you know, Worlds XX is actually going on right now; right this very minute in fact.    I’m watching the Female Starter B and Female Newcomer Pro-Am competition right now as I type this, streaming live from GlobalDance.TV.  They are just finishing Night Club and then they’ll do Cha-Cha, followed by the Waltz heats.

Confused yet?  LOL  I’ll do a later post about all the inner workings of the rules and the divisions and the dance styles and what it all means.  If you’re confused by college football conferences, well, dear readers, you ain’t seen nothing yet!  For now, just click on the two screen captures to see what the setting looks like.  Lots of rhinestones, cowboy hats, and twirling skirts.  Oh, and Judges.  It is a competition after all.

Screen capture from live broadcast of Worlds XX Femaile Newcomer Waltz

Competition Dance is not just a “contest” it is a sport.  Competitors in the  entry level divisions are of course, amateurs, however, as you progress up through the divisions, you eventually encounter the elite dancers who are almost entirely instructors, professionals who dance for a living.  All of the dancers are athletes.  The top levels are “World Class” athletes.

And as with any sport, you can’t just throw on a uniform and run onto the field, expecting to be able to play let alone win.  You have to train.  You have to practice.  You have to learn new skills and hone them.

Did I mention the practicing?

Worlds actually marks the end of the competition season.  The competition year runs from the end of Worlds, usually the second week in Jan through the end of the following Worlds held the 1st week of Jan.  Which means, sports fans, that this time of the year is when competitors start planning the coming year.  You look at events, check the schedule, crunch the numbers, plug them into a budget; you figure out how many lessons you can afford and how often.  You evaluate your performance over the past year and lay out a training schedule.  You figure up the number of hours you can spend rehearsing and you lay out a game plan for the year.  And the plan always comes to fuition with no troubles or problems along the way.

YEAH RIGHT!  Could I interest you in some beachfront property?  Or perhaps a bridge?

Superstar line dances, male and female - the best of the best

This year I’m not competing at Worlds XX, for the first time since I started competing in UCWDC.  My dance partner, who is awesome, fantastic and fabulous, injured herself at the last competition of the year, in late November.  Since then she’s been on doctor ordered rest.  No dancing.  No rehearsing.  No practicing.  Have I mentioned the importance of practicing?  Oh, I though I did.  Thus: no Worlds.   At least no competition at Worlds.  *sigh*

Show dance by Masters Level Dancers - The best of the best

I’ll be going down there at the end of this week to see the Superstars (Elite Top Level Line dancers) compete and the Masters (Elite Top Level World Class Couples Dancers) compete.

(Update…Cha-Cha is running and a friend of mine just danced really well!  Yay!!!!!!  *APPLAUSE*)

So, this past Sunday and Monday, I did a lot of planning, calculating and decided that if I am VERY careful with the budget, I can afford to compete this year.  (Watch for an upcoming post about the costs.)

My dance partner and I: 2011 World Champions, Couples Division III, Diamond

The very brief version is that it is cheap to learn to dance socially, or even do a couple competitions “for fun” but as your skill level increases and you “take it seriously” then it gets very expensive.   With my new truck payments and the higher insurance rates that go with it, I didn’t know if I could dance this year.  Here’s the plan:

• I absolutely can not afford to do Pro-Am  (where I, the “am” short for amateur, dance with my coach the “pro” short for “professional”)  Not possible, no way, no how, not gonna happen.  Not unless I win the lottery or find myself a sugar daddy, neither possibility is very likely.  But, just in case…  I’m now accepting applications for Sugar Daddies.  Email me for the form.  😉
• I’ll definitely compete in Advanced Male Classic Line (UCWDC)
• If my dancer partner gets clearance from her doctors, we’ll dance in Intermediate (Division II), Couples.
• I might dance Advanced Male Classic Line in ACDA. (Still debating doing that.)

And I’ll be teaching line dance at some events this year.  One event is confirmed.  Three more are 90% probably.  I’ll wait to announce the event schedule until the contracts are signed.  🙂

So, there you have it.  The dance season starts with doing a budget, financial, and time.  After that, well, let’s save that for another post.  🙂

See ya on the dance floor!

Related articles

• A peek into the life of a competitive dancer… (txcowboydancer.wordpress.com)
• UCWDC – United Country Western Dance Council homepage (ucwdc.org)
• Country Dance World Championships (ucwdcworlds.com)
• ACDA – American Country Dance Association (americancountrydanceassociation.com)
• Global Dance Television – Online live streaming of dance events (globaldance.tv)