I won first place of L-CSR Silver Closed Rhythm Scholarships (Cha Cha/Rumba/Swing/Bolero/Mambo) and L-C Closed Silver World Dancesport Series Rhythm (Cha Cha/Rumba/Swing/Bolero/Mambo). It’s the first time I ever climbed up the award platform let alone standing at the top in a dance event. It’s both an exhilarating and humbling experience. My previous competition experiences had always been scary and disappointing. But after years of hard work and countless coaching sessions with top pros, I am finally getting better and ready to compete. This local event has been the perfect one to reenter the competition scene.
Thursday night, I did two open smooth with Tim and it was very enjoyable. I was confident about the routines, waltz and foxtrot and everything worked when I danced. And it was the first time I had confidence and also enjoyed the dances. I wanted to go out there and do more that night. It’s a great beginning for the competitions. Just right to ease my nerves and to look forward to the rhythm heats the next day.
I awoke early and tossed and turned the next morning in my hotel room. Finally I decided to use what Gregor has suggested and did a relaxing meditation and reconfirmed my wish to dance well and I left the winning part to God. Got up, showered and went down and had a good breakfast. Spent the next couple of hours putting on the makeup and getting ready. Leo came shortly before my heats and went downstairs with me. I barely got there to start my heats. That hour was the biggest fear I had whether I would have the energy to do a whole hour of dancing without stop. I did almost 20 heats in that time. And I ran to the water lots of times in between the heats. Feeling self conscious but also thankful that I could. The first round went fine, the second round I slipped up on a couple. It reflected in the results. I got 2 3rd places, 2 2nd places. But the rest were all 1st places. At one time I felt silly when I was getting 1st place one after another. I went up to get the ribbon, turned around to leave only to hear my name again and turned around to receive the next ribbon. It’s a wonderful feeling though.
After an hour of rest, the two scholarships came up. After learning that I did poorly in a few heats, I was a bit nervous. But after we got into it, I settled down and started enjoying myself. I had fun dancing one of the swings. Jonathan, my instructor and partner, has trained me well and was a calming effect for me to carry me through the heats. I am very thankful for his help in the last 10 months. From the pictures the photographer took, I know my form isn’t always good, and my facial expression not so complimentary. 🙂 The exhaustion did get to me. I’m just not in a good enough shape for a 5 dance scholarship or heats one after another. But fortunately the judges overlooked it and gave me the 1st place. I am very grateful for it. I know it’s just a local event and I am not dancing the best I can, so to win the 1st place is a combination of a not so competitive field and God’s grace on me.
All in all, it’s a great experience and I know I have a lot more to work on. Tomorrow I’m going back to hear about it. But I’m ready to improve and get better. I’m looking forward to the next few years.