#competition dance

[mathernz]

hey slays, i’m totally new to tumblr so excuse me if idk what i’m doing 🫣 some quick facts about me!!

i’ve been in the ld fandom for a while, and i had an insta fan acc at one point

my favorite studios are expressenz, mather, p21, and club

just a few of my favorite dancers: the jarboe sisters, haas sisters, foertsch sisters, and szyndlar sisters, gracyn french, maddie ortega, nyla mccarthy, dyllan blackburn, and olivia taylor

anyways please be my friend, i promise i’m nice

[dancers-unite21]

pave

Can someone pls explain pave teams I really don’t get it. Last years Newbies and Rookies are posting pave pro? Plus it seems Amanda and Alexis quit pave which is shocking after their success at nationals.

[elewoodsdance]

I loveeee learning to ride the waves

[ld-supremacy]

hi everyone i'm new to tumblr and the dance fandom! i grew up a competitive dancer and now am starting to teach dance🕺🏼 my favourite studios to watch are larkin, p21, club, and mather:) i'm a jazz girly at heart but really appreciate all styles of dance❤️

[dancer-24]

Hello! Competitive Dancer, Taylor Swift fan!!!

[statictelevision]

I hate when people say that dance isn’t a sport like bro stfu

[tfbsafeageappropriatedance]

SURPRISING Reasons Why Some Dance Adjudicators Reward Trick-Laden Routines

I bet you dance teachers and parents can relate: some dance competition adjudicators reward routines with the most tricks crammed apiece. Social media is rife with comments about them.

One teacher pleaded, “I also feel that one of the many ways to change this is up to us instructions, directors, and choreographers, specially in the competition circuit: we need to stop to glamorize tricks over substance.”

“We need to stop rewarding dangerously achieved contortionist-like positions and tumbling-style choreo that have no meaning. These don't belong in a dance choreography especially when they don't help to tell a story or have a connecting step. What happened to artistry, musicality, hard work, technique? When did it become ok to leave this out?”

“If we stop choreographing that in, and present a piece where dancers DANCE, we will be able to change this from within. I am not alone on this and if we all unite we can make the change! It may be hard at the beginning because some of those professionals who judge will go for the awe provoking trick, but we need to be consistent and change will happen.”

As a dance history buff, I turned to Poe – Quora’s free app in which you can ask their AI bots questions – on why some dance adjudicators do those things. Here are key points:

1. Entertainment Value: Tricks can be visually impressive and captivating for the audience. Judges may reward routines with many tricks because they believe it enhances the overall entertainment value of the performance. These moves can generate excitement, thrill, and leave a lasting impression on the viewers.

2. Trend Influence: Dance competitions, like any other field, can be influenced by trends. If there is a current trend or popular style that emphasizes tricks or acrobatic elements, judges may be more inclined to reward routines that align with these trends to reflect the preferences of the dance community at that time.

I have to say that those reasons are most valid takeaways when it comes to a number of, as opposed to all, dance adjudicators who reward the most trick-intensive routines.

But a chapter in the book Rooted Jazz Dance: Africanist Aesthetics and Equity in the Twenty-First Century further provided me with more insight on this. It made me realize that the ones who reward the most trick-intensive routines byproducts of choreographic anti-intellectualism. This is when the dance industry places greater emphasis on fame and trend influences over history, safe technique, and heritage, especially in jazz dance.

Utah high school jazz teacher Jessie McCullough noticed initial resistance from her incumbent students when she started teaching the genre, and her classes were different and had more movements rooted in African American heritage.

In her classes, dancers would wear school dress code-compliant dancewear as opposed to bra tops and booty shorts over bare legs. Turkey trots, Savoy kicks, eagle slides, and Jump Charlestons would trump over calypso leaps, a la seconde turns, turning disc jumps, and firebird leaps. The students wouldn’t compete at commercial competitions, but instead they’d dance in their annual showcases.

They key root of McCullough’s students’ resistances is ego orientation, a strong comparison with others and a desire to win.

“Students with ego orientation can have lower self-esteem, suffer from performance anxiety, and have a tremendous fear of making mistakes and an addiction to perfectionism,” she explained on Chapter 18 of Rooted Jazz Dance.

“These fears can greatly impact a student’s ability to engage with new material. As they have a learned desire to equate quality dancing with Eurocentric models of perfectionism, exploring jazz from a new perspective can be disconcerting.”

And it doesn’t help that the staple competitive dance jazz movements stem from Caucasian-majority aesthetic sports AS WELL AS ballet. For instance, the pirouette detire – known as the “leg hold turn” – has its roots in figure skating and rhythmic gymnastics, the latter of which the International Gymnastics Federation calls it in their Code of Points “a split pivot with help.”

McCullough’s students were afflicted with the “illusion of knowing,” the belief that they had learned something when they actually hadn’t. “Competition students can cling to learned beliefs about jazz out of a desire for correctness,” she further explained.

“Competition rewards virtuosic movements, often referred to as ‘tricks,’ and teaches students that sharp, aggressive, sassy, and/or sexy movements are jazz. Add to this a fierce loyalty to competition teams and coaches – and a top prize-winning jazz routine – and students may falsely believe that competition versions of jazz are ‘true jazz’ and the instructor new, sometimes contradictory ideas is ill-informed.”

To further confirm reasons why some dance judges reward the most trick-intensive routines, those two traits – further exacerbated by trend influences on social media and reality television (e. g., SYTYCD and Dance Moms) – combine to create cognitive dissonance.

“I see very little choreography in competition dance that would be ‘at home’ on the Broadway stage or in a concert dance company,” Luigi Technique teacher Bill Waldinger explained on the cognitive dissonance, “And similarly, a piece like Bob Fosse’s ‘Rich Man’s Frug,’ brilliant as it is, would not do well at a competition due to its lack of technical difficulty despite its incredibly challenging artistic demands.”

All the key factors lead to confirmation bias, a tendency to seek information that concerns rather than discredits current beliefs.

McCullough recalled, “When exploring vernacular jazz, students in my class sometimes struggle to make their own choices regarding movement possibilities in improvisation and movement creation activities. They often fill their improvisations and choreographies with the virtuosic movements, valued at competition, striving for a previously learned version of ‘correctness.’”

She concluded on the high-scoring, highly-trick-intensive routines, “(They) are highly commercialized and often utilize Eurocentric technique. These portrayals inform student expectations of jazz and influence what studios teach, reinforcing a belief that commercialized representations of jazz are most valuable and uphold students’ illusion of knowing.”

As Bob Boross, a pupil of Jack Cole protégé Matt Mattox, lamented in 1996, “Our dancers are going through their dance careers with blinders on, ignorant of the rich heritage of social and theatrical dance styles that make up the whole of the jazz dance experience.”

“They also are growing up without exposure to real jazz music - music that swings. Our dancers are performing a hybrid theatrical movement to pop music, but probably wouldn't know a Lindy from a Shorty George. Finally, they are being given the impression that jazz dance is only commercial - to entertain or impress.”

Some of those same dancers eventually grew up to be THOSE dance judges who’d score the most trick-laden routines highly. Most of them, in fact, lacked sufficient exposure to vernacular jazz dance as well as all genres of jazz music.

“It’s important to note that while tricks can be impressive and exciting, they are not the sole criteria for judging a dance routine,” the Poe answer read, “Other elements such as musicality, technique, choreography, interpretation, and overall performance quality should also be taken into consideration to ensure a fair and balanced evaluation of the dancers' abilities.”

Especially regarding musicality and performance quality, the best way to shift judges perceptions on tricks being more prize worthy is using trend influences to teach jazz dance history.

It’s highly understandable that the latter group of people have very tight schedules and are often too hard-pressed to read books on it, hence why some would reward the more trick-intensive routines in the first place. But they mostly have extra free time to watch old footage of vernacular jazz or videos of previous Lindy Hop competitions on YT.

We should encourage dancers, their supporting kin, dance teachers, and judges to follow accounts that show insights on it such as Sue Samuels’ Jazz Roots, Pat Taylor’s JazzAntiqua, and Afro Lindy Hopper.

Sharing video footage and photos of celebrated POC figures in the genre such as Pepsi Bethel, Eithel Smith, and Ed Mock (whose named company’s member was the late lyrical dance choreographer Doug Caldwell) on social media is a convenient way to help dance judges – and teachers and students – understand and learn from jazz dance history.

Students – and teachers themselves – may also tape themselves (with proper technique and background knowledge teaching) dancing those rooted moves, Charlestons included. Who knows – will the Black Bottom become the NEW a la seconde turns? Will the Jump Charleston match the popularity of the firebird jump?

[grungebutsoft]

Hey dancers of tumblr reblog if you’ve ever lost a toenail because you danced too hard I’m tryna see something

[planet-9guy]

The sort of gender expression I’m going for can be described as “only boy in a competition dance number.”

[hitwiththetmnt]

One of my moots! @bluesgras !!

Good luck in the au competition, the spitfire bros are cheering you on･:*+.

[elewoodsdance]

New here

I am Elewood, 18 from Canada

My favourite dancers are the Szyndlars, Savanah Manzel, Lily Anderson, Ava Wagner, Taylor Morrison and Crystal Huang.

May upload dances I have recorded if I figure out all the rules.

May upload my own dance progress here and possibly YouTube.

Pfp is of little me in my ballet dance costume lol.

[st-pop]

tango dancing zosan!! based off of this post by @apollo41writes!

funny how zosan is one of my favourite ships but this is the first time ive drawn them XD

[nights-flying-fox]

Hi turtle fans, do you like tmnt events? Comps? Zines? Well, good news! I gathered them all in a spreadsheet!! If I get anything wrong, please tell me, btw :3 (or if you know any other blogs - just please avoid anything that has tc*st in it)

Please reblog to help!! :D

[dedlit]

[tangledinink]

an excuse to draw swanatello as a flapper? :3c well gosh if you insist.

@tmntaucompetition

[tfbsafeageappropriatedance]

"May we please discuss tours a la seconde for a moment?," jazz dance teacher Bill Waldinger observed a ballet teacher gripe on a forum.

"I tend not to spend a lot of time at (multigenre dance comps), but I have done a LOT of observing this season. Tours a la seconde are traditionally a male virtuoso skill performed in a variation."

"The correct execution includes a turned-out preparation, a fully engaged leg turned out from the hip at 90 degrees and arms that remain in the second position during the execution of the turns which are usually performed consecutively, with the leg turned out in retire on the pirouette that follows. What I am seeing is a gross abomination of said skill."

What she didn't know that Anna Heinel - A GERMAN BALLERINA - invented the sequence of grandes pirouettes a la secondes, or GPALS, with releves in between, a staple initially in male parts of grand pas de deux codas and then jazz, lyrical routines. A rival - and then wife of - Gaetano Vestris, she did those to initially outdo him.

But it was the then-20-year-old Enrico Cecchetti who bought it to the mainstream in 1885 in the La Scala performance of Excelsior. After slipping on wax, falling on wires, and hearing a prop crash to the floor, he salvaged the performance by doing 32 GPALS with releves in between. He even - surprise - taught that sequence to his danseuses.

But since Maestro Cecchetti's death, far fewer females had executed that sequence.

So how did the number of danseuses doing GPALS with releves in between rebound? One of the earliest instances of them doing those moves - especially in non-ballet contexts - was a 1990 jazz routine by Dolores Warner Performing Arts Studio (Tucker, GA) titled "Future."

Slowly but gradually, more and more dance studios adapted the sequence for their female students. So did collegiate and secondary school dance teams, seeking to win titles at competitions. As early as 1997, it made its way into lyrical routines, though fouettes en torunant were dominant advanced turn sequences of the day.

Around that time, the International Gymnastics Federation listed fouettes with legs in horizontal, their jargon for GPALS with releves in between, in the 1997-2000 RG Code of Points. More and more athletes of the type incorporated them in their routines over time.

As dial-up started becoming obsolete and Web video sites like YouTube were founded, netizens of independent dance studios look beyond dance team videos and ballet excerpts and watched rhythmic gymnastics routines to see which tricks would work in their routines to raise their scores.

"Part of the disagreement seems to stem from the fact that teachers working in the pre-professional world, especially pre-professional ballet, want competition dance to work the way they work and do what they do," Waldinger explained.

"But much (not all) of competition dance is simply DIFFERENT. Not worse, not better…different. I see very little choreography in competition dance that would be 'at home' on the Broadway Stage or in a concert dance company. And similarly, a (classic jazz piece) would not do well at a competition due to its lack of technical difficulty despite its incredibly challenging artistic demands."

"And let me state that when competition dancers come to Joffrey and join the pre-professional programs, they typically do very well. VERY WELL. There is an adjustment, for sure, but their discipline and training serve them well."

However, Waldinger has some reservations on the overuse of GPALS with releves in between. "I hate it when turns are used as a vulgar display of technical prowess," he wrote, "When these turns are part of a 19th century men’s variation, that’s pretty much what they are… a display."

"But in more modern choreography, if you are going to use them, in my opinion, they need to have an artistic purpose. An if you can find a way to make them work within the context of jazz - great! Jack Cole made East Indian dance work within the context of jazz. This is how art grows. And with respect to ladies performing the step…why not? We no longer tell girls they can’t play football, should we be telling them they can’t/shouldn’t execute a ballet step?"

"With respect to performing/competing with one shoe… It is not an artistic choice that I would ever make. But I recently was made aware of a piece that was choreographed for dancers wearing one pointe shoe and one stiletto heal. Another choice I would have never made."

Bob Boross, himself a protege of Matt Mattox, also has some gripes on those and GPALS with releves in between. "I can only speak ofpast days when jazz dance was presented in a way that did not honor the tradition, nor honor much creativity in creation," he addressed the Dance Teacher Summit in 2018.

"The prime reason for the choreography was to display the ability of the dancer, often resulting in a surfeit of tricks and of course the ridiculous inclusion of (GPALS with releves in between) in a jazz dance routine. I would imagine that it hasn’t gotten much better in recent years... but competition jazz dance has not done much to improve the quality of the form or its knowledgeability in its audience."

Boross suggested balancing the GPALS with releves in between with elements of classic jazz. He includes "finding the true range of emotions inherent in jazz music and not focusing solely on hot expressions;" executing "movements in (demi-plie and fondu), with a forward bend in the torso;" manipulating a spectrum of dynamics in movement execution; discovering "cool" expressions in movement; and seeking out "new movements in traditional patterns that will show creativity rather than use of established audience-pleasers" that complement them well.

"Drop the switch split and come up with a different,similarly exciting leap...and a triple pirouette on a straight knee is not the only way to turn in a jazz dance – come up with something original."

"A la seconde turns will not book you a job," advised Courtney Ortiz, dance teacher and host of Making the Impact: a Dance Competition Podcast, "but FOUETTÉ TURNS will! In this biz you NEVER know what will be thrown at you in an audition and you always have to be prepared for anything."

"It’s not my place to tell the competition schools what and how to do what they do," concluded Waldinger, "It is my job to bring what I do to them. And perhaps it will influence what they do and perhaps it won’t.

"And perhaps one day there will be a new grand pirouette a la seconde that is part of the vocabulary of competitive dance. It won’t be a ballet step. It won’t be worse, and it won’t be better. It will be something exciting and astonishing and unique to competitive dance."

As for classic jazz and ballet purists who want ONLY MALES to execute GPALS with releves in between, RESPECT. AAAAAAAAANNNNNDDDDDD I leave you with the Pink Windmill kids classic jazz dancing and singing a Dixieland evergreen - in CHARACTER SHOES.