Embassy Dance Championship 2012

I have just returned from Irvine, California after attending the Embassy Ballroom Championships with dance teacher Yanna Samkova.  Glen Okazaki and Ann Ho also attended and participated in the competition, where it was wonderful seeing them perform with such grace and skill.   A few others also came from Hawaii as spectators, and it was really nice to get together and share some time with Karen and Stanley. 

The Embassy was not my first choice, but my travel schedule did not allow many options.  This being my 3^rd competition of the year, following the Heritage and Millennium, it was a bit of a letdown.  A medium sized competition, it had many positives but also many negatives which I will no doubt bore you with.  I will try to be terse, but my writing tends to slip swiftly to free flowing verbal diarrhea.  This is no less controllable than my balance on the dance floor, so I apologize in advance for the following long winded boring bantering blustering dialogue.

The Venue: Nice place Irvine, nice weather, far enough from downtown LA to have clearer skies and cleaner air, the Hyatt Regency Irvine was a very nice hotel.  I loved the Café, for which I frequented every morning to get my fix of their English muffin with egg whites and cheese…..yummy.   The room coffee was all I need to do the trick, and I was happy.  There was also a half turkey sandwich that I purchased every day for lunch.  Just enough to keep me happy and the blood flowing with the right sugar level, but not overly large or rich in calories to add more fat to my embarrassingly protruding tummy…..yes, I need to lose weight.   The rooms were nice, the bar was nice, the restaurant was adequate, and the lobby was typically sterile like most hotels in Anywhere, USA.   One restaurant a mile from the hotel worth mentioning was the Winery Restaurant; wow, what wonderful food and ambiance.  Plus, my son and his new lovely girl friend Sonja, drove up from Encinitas to share some time and enjoy the dance competition.  He was also there when I was awarded one of the top 20 student awards in the Dancesport Series for my performance at Embassy.

The Competition:  Medium size is nice, I had 1 to 4 other competitors for most of my heats, the uncontested heats were not plentiful, and the competitors were worthy and reasonably experienced.  Overall, I cannot complain.  Unfortunately, there were no multidance events for gentlemen, and the unisex events in my age group included an expanded age group starting from 50 yrs and above making it difficult for this almost 66 year old man to make a grand showing.  I did compete in one senior event (65+), but that was an open event and my competitors were open “gold” dancers who easily outshined my “bronze” dance skills and put me into 3^rd place (however my heat scoring sheets demonstrated that at least several of the judges scored me first (3) and even more scored me second (7) which was very gratifying…..however, I still finished a solid 3^rd).  

The Positives and Negatives:  The comp was reasonably well organized although my heat sheet was incorrect and needed fixing before the competition started.  The ballroom was a no frills ballroom with crowded tables and no room to move.  It was not adorned with any magical or thematic décor  that made it special or unique, except that the lighting was cleverly set to show off glows and shadows in different directions creating a warm and cozy sensation.  

The dance floor was adequate and was not split for any heats.  The floor space was indeed double the usual space provided for most of the competitions during single dance events.  This gave all of us every opportunity to succeed, especially inexperienced dancers, in navigating along the line of dance without collision.  These are almost guaranteed when the space is sliced in half and the human “pinballs” have nowhere else to go but bounce off of each other to the next collision.

The competition itself was a little impersonal, at least compared to most that I have attended recently.  I’m told by others attending in years past that entries were down from previous years. The organizers were observed by me only once; the last night of the competition.  To be sure, I am more accustomed to organizers making a presence and being visible day and night - wanting very much to please their customers, the students, to have them happy and contented, hoping for them to return the next year and the year after that and the year after that…...  

Moreover, the competition seemed a little restrictive and did not cater to the dancers in other respects like I have been programmed to expect. Rather, it was run with a firm hand.  Signs on the entrance to the ballroom prohibiting food or drinks in the ballroom which most tended to ignore, lines that needed to be straight and tight before we were allowed entrance into the ballroom allowing for very little time to settle in before the first heats were to begin.  Guards were patrolling the ballroom during the main events, aggressively checking anyone using a cell phone and reminding them in no uncertain terms that NO PICTURES or VIDEOS were allowed.  There was water in the ballroom and hand towels, hooray! But no bananas or popcorn like some events provide continuously to all participants.

But then again, everything at this competition was offered ala carte.  There was no opportunity to purchase any full package…which included meals, entrance to the ballroom, and other goodies like the ones that are provided by Michael Chapman during the Millennium and Hollywood competitions.   So it may not be fair to compare apples to oranges.  Still the atmosphere was unsettling in other ways as well.

On one night an older Asian gentleman – guessing in his 80’s was attempting to take a picture in the ballroom instantly attracting the attention of a large and healthy attendant twice his size to shut him down, which was enough to insight an argument, deteriorating over the course of 30 seconds to loud shouting and then shocking the audience who witnessed the brave giant shoving the poor frail senior citizen to prevent him from shooting his picture, who was ostensibly just trying to take one of his competing son or grandson or family member…my best guess.  This seemed an overreaction to a seemingly innocent act by an older gentlemen which didn’t go unnoticed by the crowd including one brave not so large man in the audience who demanded that the attendant not shove this older gentleman.   This wasn’t a gun that the gentleman was holding but by the reactions of the Embassy attendant, you would think it was an assault rifle.    

The Professional Show:  To my chagrin, there was no professional show….I somehow thought there was one on the last night but indeed there was only a endless procession of competitions – one  after another.  But the good news was that the best dancers in the world were there to compete and the quality of the dancing was spectacular.  I expect that the Embassy comp was a warm up to this week’s USDC comp in Orlando, Florida where the winners are crowned the champions for the year.  This same event I attended the year before and felt little inclination to make a repeat appearance. 

My Performance:  The biggest joy that I experienced at this competition was my performance in Smooth.  Not just the results, not just the technical presentation, not just the stage performance, but a level of enjoyment during the dances that I have never experienced before.  Others noticed me as well and sought me out to share their observations.  Soon, I will have some pictures to share which I hope will convey this feeling of happiness; in the meantime, you will have to accept my word. In addition, I learned something meaningful from this experience that I hope will translate to an improved attitude and performance in the other types of dances including my nemesis; international ballroom.

Otherwise, I do not feel I have any special bragging rights.  The advances that I made and the lessons learned were important to my growth, but I did not accomplish any news worthy results to write home about or publish in the Los Angeles Times. Funny, in the  past, I would have been happy with taking mostly first and some second places in my single dance events as I did at Embassy, but now it takes more to make me feel that I have really accomplished anything of importance.  That came, for example, at the Millennium competition when I won to top solo award among 36 entries in the bronze division across all ages.  That I am truly proud of.

Finally, I think I learned some things that I will try to describe in another writing….the concept of “sponge”; that to be really successful in dancing, you have to achieve a certain level of confidence, know your steps and rely on your balance and frame and be able to demonstrate showmanship which are all a prerequisite to allow yourself to “soak up the music” much like a sponge and translate this message through dance.   Sounds like my brain has turned into a sponge….but give me a chance to try to explain sometime soon.