Dance: Dallas trip 6/4/2023, WCS day. "Westie Remix HD with Jordan and Tatiana", brunch, critique and guided practice

 Jordan Frisbee and Tatiana Mollmann are West Coast Swing (WCS) champions; 11-time US Open classic division champions and celebrities in the WCS community. 

You can see the reason by just watching their dance. Here I paste a link to one of their performances.

[2015 US Open. Their "routine retirement" piece ]

There are many WCS dancers out there, but few have their level of visible refinements in the movements that can be presented to lay people on Broadway-style shows. 

Being celebrities in a dance community is one thing. Their dance having appeal to broader lay people, thus them being strong entertainers beyond their own community, is another.

They were visiting Dallas for Sat and Sun. The event was called "Westie Remix HD with Jordan & Tatiana". 

There were 2-hour intensive and dance on Saturday (which I missed for Tango party. No regrets). 

On Sunday, the event organizers at Studio 2155 scheduled brunch, 3-hour spotlight critiques and a 45 minutes guided practice. So I signed up.

In the Spotlight critiques, couples who signed up for the critiques dance in front of Jordan, Tatiana, and audience. After their dance, Jordan and Tatiana provide comments on each of the couple for improvements. The personalized feedback can be invaluable for contest-minded WCS dancers.

Each couple danced for about 2 minutes. They could choose blues or non-blues (most chose non-blues), then several minutes critiques followed.

The critique session was quite amusing.

The couples came with different levels of dance skills and appeals. Some are probably novice if not a beginner. A few looked like dancing at a higher level category. 

Note: WCS contest is segmented to categories such as newcomer, novice, intermediate, advanced, all-stars, and champions, by dance points dancers have acquired through participation and winning in contests. The dance points are considered to reflect the dancer's dance level, although not necessarily so. 

At first it was amusing because I thought it was like watching speed dating or something. 

After a few couples dances and comments, I began to catch on the format and started thinking my own critiques, which may or may not align with Jordan and Tatiana's comments.

Besides, their way of commenting was quite entertaining by itself. Somewhat like watching good stand-up. Professional, sincere, sometimes funny, while imparting their expertise. Love it.

Probably people there took the event in their own ways. Dancers taking critiques were naturally focusing on their own dance and comments. For me, the critique session was helpful to transplant their eyes and install their thought processes while watching WCS, or at least an attempt toward it.

As you can see in the format, they did not have much time to make comments. They watch a couple dance. Then one of them started talking.

The format was not rigid, though. In a case, Jordan danced with a girl for 30 seconds, then commented on the connection being (too) steady, instead of "ebb and flow" or stretchy. It was an extended diagnostic time, and connection is not always visible, or can be diagnosed by just watching. They made personalized comments in such a manner.

How did they come up with comments so quickly?

I'd imagine they already had a matrixed system in their minds on the domain of WCS, and used it to get to a personalized advice. 

From the dance visuals they determine;

lead or follow, dancer's level, style, noticeable character,  a subject to be mentioned (like connection, timing, body usage, or anything that would be relevant to judging the individual's WCS dance).

As WCS contests are structured in a leveled manner, the way they address an issue to a novice differ from the way to, say, an all-star. 

Dance teachers have to deal with all the different students, from elementary school kids to graduate school PhD candidates. Isn't it weird or what.

Long and rich experience should have served them to get there.

It was amazing to watch the top-ranked professionals work. I was quite entertained by that.

Of course, how their comments are going to be used is primarily up to the comments' recipients/ dancers. In addition, audience including me got to witness the advice, too, and learned how to see the dance from their viewpoint. Also learned how to diagnose a dance, and how to fix or change the dance for the better, when any of the issue occurs.

I am a dancer and also a dance geek. I found the whole thing amusing, entertaining, and useful. 

Maybe not for everybody. But it was a good time. $35 was cheap for the fun time.

Dance: Dallas trip 6/3/2023, Tango day. Jack and Jill, pro show, milonga

 This past weekend I made a trip to Dallas. Saturday 6/3 was Tango day for Jack and Jill, pro show, and milonga. 

Sunday 6/4 was West Coast Swing (WCS) day for Jordan and Tatiana workshops (next blog entry at a later time).

These two events were overlapping. I went to a half of both.

On Saturday I went to watch Argentine Tango Jack and Jill finals, pro shows, and dance at milonga.

Jack and Jill format was the same with swing dance Jack and Jill. Contestants with bibs, dice roll to determine rotation number, and dance to 3-4 songs in front of judges and audience. Rotating after each song. In nice dresses and suits, which is a difference from swing dance. Swing dancers are more casual.

The host George and Jairelbhi invited professional instructors/performers (Guillermo Merlo, Gimena Herrera, Tomas Galvan, Celina Rotundo, Hugo Patyn). 

Guillermo was performing with Jairelbhi, in place of George who is recovering from his knee surgery.

Guillermo, Gimena, Tomas and Vania Rey were serving as judges for the Jack and Jill.

I enjoyed watching the semi-finals and finals for Vals, Milonga and Salon Tango categories.

The Jack and Jill outcomes?

In addition to dancing itself, I was curious about judging and what they value.

For the leads, in short, the judges awarded "solid and steady".  

This Jack and Jill is for contest novices, and the priority being placed on showing solid lead sufficient to create safe environment for his follow to express her dance is understandable.

For the follows, they seemed to have awarded "relax, expression, and with ease". That is, what was positively evaluated was a little more advanced dancer-looks than the leads.

Perhaps, the judges expected proper role play from the lead and the follow. Solid lead with expressive follow. The frame (him) and painting (her) in the ballroom dance. 

In Jack and Jill, too strong a lead or a follow can easily upset the balance and matchup. That is the tricky part of Jack and Jill contest. I did not watch the preliminaries, but I imagine the balance between leads and follows was not as leveled as in the finals.

Tango follows face dilemmas. One of such dilemmas is "solid follow" vs "expression". The mix is mostly suggested by the lead, but her preferences and tendencies count. For this contest, judges seemed to like dancers who was able to add time for embellishments while keeping more relaxed look. And of course with the music.

This "expression with ease" is a character that comes only after cultivating some Tango in her. It takes experience. So in other words, the judges collectively awarded the looks of "veteran" dancer-follower, it seems.

Pro shows/stage tango were entertaining. And I wanted to be entertained.

I watched Guillermo's performance videos before and loved the style. Suave, I'd say.

Also I appreciate the instruction videos he posted online. Some time ago I was searching for videos to catch up with Tango after covid, and found their tango vocabulary series. It was quite useful for social dances.

Tomas and Gimena presented a fast-paced "perky" Tango. Impressive moves included that move in which he kicks through between her legs successively in molinete. Getting the timing right in the move is not easy, especially with the fast song they danced to. 

Audiences expect professionals to show something amazing. Their techniques did it.

Hugo and Celina were of course both strong dancers. Loved their choreography and expressions.

As this was Jack and Jill week, they added rotation for the three pro couples. 

The milonga ended around 2am. But I didn't feel tired much. After losing 15-20lb (-7.5 to 10%) from dieting this past 5 months, my body noticeably moves easier and smoother to my delight. I should have done this dieting business earlier.

On Sunday they had Tango workshops. I'm sure they were good. But I went to WCS event instead. cont. to Next entry.

Dance: Tango Jack and Jill. What can you do to prepare for it?

 As in previous entry, there is a Jack and Jill contest coming up. For Tango, it is new.

But this contest style/category itself is not new. Swing dancers have been doing it for decades. And they have a few tricks to prepare for the contest.

I'll list a few of what you can do to prepare for the Jack and Jill contest, in case you are new to it.

(i) First of all, don't be naïve. 

It is not your usual dance at milonga, although the format may deliberately look similar. It is a contest. There are judges. There are other contestants. You have to visually appeal to judges and audiences that your dance is somehow interesting or looks good, in order to advance.

That means, if you do not like the above idea of contest, or do not have dance skills enough to compete, probably, "not signing up the contest" is a good option for you and for others who are more serious about the contest.

Once you are determined to go for it and paid up your fee, then;

(ii) Dance with everybody beforehand.

Tango has the cabeceo culture. The "asking dance" ritual is actually an active selection process for your partners. As a result, you may have a lot of people you never danced, or have not danced with for so long, for whatever reason.

In Jack and Jill, your partner is drawn and assigned to you. You have no choice. For music, too. You dance to the song the DJ plays. 

Well, diagnostics is an important and indispensable (or even fun) part of social dances. But for contest purposes, familiarities with your partner will give you advantage. 

He may have favorite sequences or habits in his on-spot choreography. She may have strength to showcase, or weakness that she does not want to be led. 

He may be a fast and smooth mover, but it can overwhelm her if she is not used to it (he may even feel rough to her in the case). In which case, he has to slow down and seek ways to still look good, somehow. 

Solving these "issues in social dance" on the spot under contest pressure is not easy. That is why "dance beforehand" is important.

Also that is why in swing dance event contestants seek out other contestants and ask for a dance beforehand. They wear bibs, so it is not difficult to know who else is competing.

Overall, this is another example of how contest affects and even changes the way amateur social dancers get involved in the dance.

(iii) Be identifiable.

When I am a visitor and watch others dance, I don't know their names most of the time. 

What I'd catch are visual characteristics like "the red dress", "short one with blue hair", "tall, thin, blond", "the tuxedo with red tie", "blue shirt",.....

You want something identifiable and consistent. This is an audition trick.

There are physical characteristics that are difficult to change (race, skin color, body type, height, shape, large tattoo, etc), that are modestly changeable (hair do, hair color), and that can be modified easily (accessories, shoes, dresses, costumes, and their colors).

For accessories and dresses, make sure they can be seen from at least 10 feet away, and make sure they send a message you intend to.

You can add something like red jacket, if you don't want to be buried among black suits. You have to be seen and be memorable.

(iv) Plan ahead for your SOPs and practice ahead.

In social dance, professional followers would start with following with solid follow, grasping her lead's habit, then start adding embellishments and plays, if she feels it is safe to do so.

Professional leads would start from basics (basic salida is most frequently used as opening move). Then evaluate what she can comfortably do, and add things from there. But they wouldn't want to challenge the follow too much.

Either way, professionals usually have their "standard operation procedures (SOPs)" for social dance. 

You can have similar SOPs. For that, you plan ahead and practice ahead.

(v) Take your time.

Unlike some contest for which you have a minute or less to dance, you can take time.

Excessive chatting would be distracting, so don't do it.  But you both can have time to listen to the song, embrace, ensure energy flow match, etc, before you even start dancing. In fact, these are essential process for social dance. Showcase how you do it.

(vi) Know what is valued.

This is about knowing what is positively evaluated, and reversely, what makes your dance be seen negatively. "Fifty points from Gryffindor"-kind of things.

They usually spell this out in contest rules. 

If they like "elegant", then, show elegance. If they like "musicality", "technical efficiency", or "solid navigation", show them. Usually they seek something positive and pick dancers they like.

But be aware of red card events. If they prohibit lifts, certain stage moves, breaking embrace, going past a couple before you, or unreasonable use of moves from open embrace that would be strange to regular milonga, then, don't do these.

........

These are what I can list off the hat. There should be some more. But it is your job, contestants. Do what you think going to work. Might as well enjoying both preparation and the contest.

Hope this helps. Good luck and have fun.

Dance: Upcoming: Dallas Argentine Tango Jack & Jill Competition and workshops 6/2/2023 Fri- 6/4/2023 Sun

 Argentine Tango competitions are usually for professionals. Then, here upcoming is Dallas Argentine Tango Jack & Jill Competition (they say 1st annual) and workshop weekend. For all social AT dancers who are not AT pros.

Many other dances have built competition systems (Ballroom, WCS, Country Western, etc), and it affects how amateurs or social dancers get involved in the dance. For WCS, we have seen transition from strongly "party dance" culture to more competition-minded culture in this past 10-15 years.

This transition is occurring, at least in part because it benefits event organizing professionals, and perhaps, competing non-professional but motivated dancers. The points and leveled systems of course come with merits and demerits. But the notion of "climbing-up-the-ladders-toward-champion" is well-ingrained in many people's minds, so it should be fine for the people. If you don't buy it, you don't have to participate. Either way, such transition is a trend. 

Speaking of structured competitions, Ballroom dance is probably the "furthest ahead" dance, so we can speculate what can happen in the future. But whether social dance-originated dances like WCS or AT are going to take the same path as Ballroom remains to be seen.

In general, dance competition is a young man's game. (But it's not cheap with traveling and stuff. Such dilemma for cash-strapped poor younglings.)  Older people need to find their ways of how they get involved (or not). Also, even when you are up and coming, how you get involved in a dance that you do not actively participate ("WCS dancers, do you compete in Salsa?"-kind of thing) is something you need to decide. 

If you are a dance major in college (!) and working with city ballet or some other company, you may not have to get involved in amateur social dance scene at all, at least for now. Everyone's situation is different. You have to think for yourself.

BTW.

Dallas being 4 hours away, the schedule (prelims on Friday) is not exactly going to work for me, so I'm out. But tango people in Dallas area (and beyond, maybe even Austin or San Antonio) should enjoy this. 

I am not sure about Oklahoma dancers. Had a chat with a few people, but they had some other business. I hope some can make it.

I read the contest rules (you can find it from the event link). Once competition is involved, people get fussy about rules and judging methods, so I was curious. The rules look quite fair to me, though.

Certainly I'd love to watch Saturday comp/finals and attend following milonga with pro shows. I'll decide later if I'd go or not.

Quoting announcement:

"We are excited to announce the 1st annual Dallas Argentine Tango Jack & Jill Competition held at Studio 22!
.
You are cordially invited to join us June 2nd - 4th, 2023. The weekend will be packed with:
- Competitions
- Milongas
- World Class Judges
- Professional Performances
- Top Coaches
- Full Day of Workshops

For registration and weekend passes please visit:
https://studio22dallas.com/calendar-classes/special-events/

Some of you most be asking, What is Jack and Jill?
Jack and Jill Competition allows individuals to demonstrate their skills in spontaneous social dancing with a variety of random partners. No partners needed to compete
The weekend will be packed with competitions, milongas, world class judges, professional performances, top coaches & a full day of workshops! Competition portion of the weekend will consist of 3 categories - Tango, Vals and Milonga, where each category will have 3 winners (1st, 2nd and 3rd place).

Salon Tango Category:
1st Place: $300 ($150 Follower/ $150 Leader)
(SoCal Tango Comp Feb 22-25, 2024 Milonga Pass)
(San Antonio Tango Festival Sept 22-24, 2023
Milonga Pass)
2nd Place: $200 ($100 Follower/ $100 Leader)
3rd Place: $100 ($50 Follower/ $50 Leader)

Vals Category:
1st Place: $300 ($150 Follower/ $150 Leader)
(Boston Tango Festival- Oct 18-22, 2023)
2nd Place: $200 ($100 Follower/ $100 Leader)
3rd Place: $100 ($50 Follower/ $50 Leader)

Milonga Category:
1st Place: $300 ($150 Follower/ $150 Leader)
(Holiday Tango Weekend Milonga Pass-Dec 7-10, 2023)
2nd Place: $200 ($100 Follower/ $100 Leader)
3rd Place: $100 ($50 Follower/ $50 Leader)

Must have 10 couples on each category to get the cash prizes. Competitors must buy minimum of Milonga pass to compete.
Competitors must register by Tuesday May 27 to compete.

For more information, registration and weekend passes please visit:
https://studio22dallas.com/calendar-classes/special-events/

All Sales are non-refundable
If you have any questions please contact Jairelbhi and George Furlong via PM"