Sure, sure... competition, shwompetition. Not on your life.
Followed by the four word phrase that usually ends the conversation:
I'm a social dancer.
As a preface, no one gains a thing by suggesting something that will take the fun out of your dance program, de-rail your learning, or stop your Dance Journey cold in its tracks. So if your teacher has suggested anything from a Dance Routine to a Dance Competition, or both - they have a vested interest in your progress, your dance program, and your overall happiness as a dance student.
So if you've ever questioned your teacher's rationale, ethics, or intelligence for suggesting something as bizarre as a dance competition, here are some social dancing reasons why it may be something to consider... at some point.
Think of how many minutes you typically log when you go out dancing. Let's say it's 60 minutes a week, give or take, and that's with live dancing humans on the same floor as you.
Dance competitions are like a multi-day conference in your professional field. It gives you a chance to practice your social dancing for a few more than 60 minutes. Most students dance anywhere from 50-200 entries at a competition, not to mention that most events will include a night out on the town, and social dancing in the evenings - you can easily rack up minutes refining your skills
Everyone has an audience that matters. We call that "your most important audience", and at some point, they are going to ask you the question you may, or may not, be prepared for:
"Can you show me your moves?"
It's at that point, in the milliseconds it takes you to respond, that your true dance confidence will be revealed, or a lack of it will be exposed. Social Dancing requires confidence, and competitions pump out more dance confidence than any other activity.
Building great dance-driving skills, aka "Floorcraft", is an essential part of becoming a great social dancer. Just like driving, it's important that you can rehearse in a controlled, wide open, environment, and equally important to practice in a busy and less controlled environment.
Your studio is like driving in a parking lot, but a large dance event, like a competition, is a weekend of "dance-driving" through a busy metropolis.
What if you could downsize the fear or anxiety of dancing in a social dance setting? As weird as it may sound, sometimes the solution to conquering something familiar to you is to attempt something bigger. For example - what if the solution to performing well at a 5K run was participating in a 10K run? That's the idea behind "downsizing".
If your biggest challenge is a social dance event, trying a multi-day dance event can downsize any anxiety you may have, and give you the residual confidence to approach your local event with the poise of someone that has conquered something much larger.
Based on your current dance lesson schedule, you may not see many other students that match your age, body type, or interest level to emulate. When you venture out to a competition, you have a chance to see a larger cross-section of students. This allows you, and your teacher, the opportunity of goal setting your social dance skills based on a larger cross section of students that may match your Dance Journey.
At times, we can fall victim to unfair comparisons in our dancing due mainly to a lack of availability. The solution is to have a larger catalog to choose from, and pick specific highlights that you appreciate with dancers that you and your teacher select to watch.
Often times, you are limited by the number of people you can dance with. When you venture to an Arthur Murray competition event, that number changes exponentially.
So if you want to dance your Tango with a Bronze 3 student from Indiana, or hone your leading skills with a Bronze 2 student from Italy - large events like a Dance-O-Rama is where you'll find students of all levels, from all regions of the globe, that are working on the same dance program as you.
It's easy to think of a competition like it's the Karate Championships from the Karate Kid, a fight to the death in Mad Max, or something straight out of Dancing with the Stars.
Not quite.
Unfortunately, things you haven't experienced will rarely get the optimistic, best case scenario, rose colored glasses viewpoint. It's actually the exact opposite.
The reality is that everything in the world of competitive dancing is based on social. The people that participate aren't bloodthirsty dance warlords looking to smite anyone interested in the practical application of dancing.
They are social dancers, just like you. They just know that certain times they go to events where their social dancing gets a little dressed up.
Want to learn more about the Arthur Murray Dance-O-Rama? Whether you are interested in social or competitive dancing, our free guide to this multi-day event will shed more light on how this could help you meet your dancing goals.