By: David Easa
The Millennium Dancesport competition that just ended yesterday was a
masterpiece of planning and execution. We cannot say enough good things
about Michael Chapman and his attention to detail. We should also give
credit to Mary Murphy and Jonathan Roberts. Held in Tampa at the Tampa
Marriott Waterside Hotel, it accommodated arguably the second largest dance
competition of the year - next to Ohio.
Dragon Ball. This is a clever adaptation to a term that has its historical
roots in China and Japan. Strikingly, the ballroom was beautifully
adorned for a proper "Dragon Ball" with eye-catching reds everywhere,
direct and indirect lighting that projected both elegance and warmth but
also some eerie shadows onto the ballroom dance floor. Of course, there was
the requisite Dragon that was hanging from the ceiling and even one that
visited us during the two first-class professional dance shows.
Chinese competitors would even be impressed!
The venue was in Tampa, Florida. Tampa and its four neighboring counties
have a population of about 3 million people although the city itself has
less than 350,000 (2010). Where we were, it felt like an abandoned city.
Almost nobody walked the streets or the river walk. Even the hotel was
spacious enough to reduce clutter and disguise the hoards of competitors
effectively. One exception to the feeling of spaciousness was the
unfortunate crowding of tables in the competition ballroom making it
practically impossible to pass anyone navigating to their destination
without exchanging bodily fluids. This was unfortunately necessitated by
the larger than expected showing of competitors all wanting a slice of real
estate to park their things and themselves as competitors and as
spectators.
The Marriott hotel is situated in an area of downtown Tampa with a river
walk, the Tampa Convention Center next door, and a bunch of other hotels
and restaurants within spitting distance. The weather was breezy and
pleasant the first day but went downhill from there. With so much going on
inside the hotel in order to complete 1371 individual dance heats and the
thousands of the moving parts that it took to accomplish such an onslaught,
few noticed the emerging invasion of rain that was pounding down and
rapidly enveloping the hotel, threatening to seep through its seams.
Outside it was wet, muggy and unpleasant. Inside, we were consumed only by
the never ending procession of dance heats, while adjudicators rained their
pronouncements with precision and posture, and hopefully not too much
politics.
The vendors populated the anteroom of the ballroom which formed a
rectangular perimeter on two sides. By now, roughly a third of the vendors
know us by our first names, attesting to our growing addiction to buying
unnecessary and extravagant dance clothes that we really don’t need. Other
items were purchased for presents and other necessities. If you are a male,
in dance terminology you are a gentleman AKA G. Ladies are designated as L
if you couldn't guess. It's much cheaper to be a G in the dance world;
nothing in the male world of dance costs as much as a beautiful new
ballroom or Latin dress.
The competition was a massive undertaking that has gone high tech. For
package holders, we were given one VIP card that allowed us to enter the
ballroom, the breakfast area, buffet dinners and as identification anywhere
related to the competition. By the end of the competition, we felt we could
flash the card anywhere to secure entry. In the ballroom, the current heat
number was projected on two screens in the ballroom and the results
appeared shortly after each heat, scrolling down another set of screens.
The results were displayed for all to see!
The competition schedule was brutal!!! One night it went past 1:00AM.
Several days, it began at 7:00AM. Now, 7:00AM is 1:00AM Hawaii time and
this was just the start of the day at the comp. Yikes!!!
As usual, the rhythm events were the busiest, followed by American Smooth,
and then International standard and Latin. The group representing Divino
Ritmo had diverse interests and favorite dance events. Unfortunately,
performance did not always match interest and passion.
Dinner for package holders was contained in a separate ballroom. Some
nights were sit-down and others were buffet. The quality of the food was
good to excellent. Desserts could have been a bit more interesting. The
dinner ballroom included tables surrounding a large dance floor with live
mellow music playing decent social dance tunes.
Basically, if you competed at Millennium, you were likely to meet most of
your national competitors. Taken into context, the heat results represent
your national standing in your age group. Of course, this is an uncertain
science because not every heat is populated equally and we all have good
days and bad days. Still, if you study your results carefully and
methodically, you can make your own conclusions as to where you fit in the
world of competitive adult ballroom pro-am and amateur dancing. That is -
if you are willing to see the world as it truly is and you are not looking
through some distorted perspective.
The last two evenings included a spectacular professional show, some youth
performing with precision and athleticism, Latin champions and show dance
performances that were beyond marvelous. The professional dance
competition was of the highest quality and an inspiration for all to
experience and emulate. Truly a wonderful experience, this competition was
not all about competing, there was so much more.
Seven of us from Divino Ritmo (DRD) traveled literally across the country
to get to Tampa including our teachers Yanna and Lucas. There were five DRD
competitors, who were all happy with their performances. We were
supportive of each other and had a grand time. We brought back evidence of
our achievements; paper finalists certificates, smaller plastic and metal
trophies for winning multi-dance events, large bulky trophies for winning
championships, and glass plates for winning top solo awards. The awards
were spread nicely among the group. Everyone was happy.
It's also important to note that for most of the group, this was the first
competition of this year. Other competitors, however, compete much more
regularly! It is not unusual for them to compete monthly or even
bi-monthly. Taking this into context, you have to applaud Yanna and Lucas
for their teaching skills to get us prepared so well and to open the door
for our success. This was no small accomplishment. Yanna, thank you for
this!!!
The End.
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