Millennium Dancesport Competition, 2012

All pics courtesy of Marie Laderta

The Millennium Dancesport competition that just ended yesterday was a masterpiece of planning and execution. I cannot say enough good things about Michael Chapman and his attention to detail.  I 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. This year's theme was labeled the 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.  I think even Chinese competitors were 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 me by my first name, attesting to my growing addiction to buying unnecessary duplicates of dance clothes that I don't need - as for example my 4th Latin shirt. Other items were purchased for presents and other necessities. At least I am a male OR in dance terminology 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 - right Anna Mae?

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, I felt I could flash the card anywhere and 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!  For me, results often prompted a visceral reaction of pleasant disbelief, anguish or resignation.  

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!!!  By the end of the third day, I was burned toast, and my attitude and demeanor reflected it. But I recovered soon thereafter by day four and enjoyed the remainder of the competition festivities.

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.  I danced a few times on the last evening when it was all said and done and I was allowed to lighten up with an infusion of alcohol.  I didn't even care that my movement was restricted because I was there in my street shoes, too lazy to run to my room for a quick change into proper footwear. 

Basically, if you competed at Millennium, you were likely to meet most of your national competitors.  That was certainly true in my age category. 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) travelled 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 their first competition of this year - it was my second.  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!!!  As I've told you before, I wouldn't want ME as a student!


Finally, for that lovely blond lady who stopped me on exiting the ballroom on Saturday night......whose name I didn't bother to look up but I noticed everything else about, I'm sorry I bolted so quickly out of the ballroom at midnight.  I hope I didn't seem rude, but rather I was groggy with fatigue and half asleep, worried about packing and getting a few hours of sleep before my 6AM flight.  

Lucas, ME, Edward, Marie, Anna Mae, Yanna and Paul

food was excellent unless you only ate
vegetables