This has been an awesome weekend, in so many ways a benchmark for us. Classy and well run, with great participants, we are so happy to have come to this event... Semifinals in the senior events, good music lengths and good music period lol, and senior competitors are treated like the top folks. While pro standard had a 4 couple final, senior 3 standard was a semi. While pro Latin was a straight final, we had 2 Latin events, and our event had 6 couples, another sr 3 and 3sr 1... No putting us with kids or shunting us off to the side. Ballroom entry was for all day and night, which of course encouraged you to watch outside of your time slot, so even during the daytime, the place was a lively mob scene at times. It was not the empty room seen so often in comps that misguidedly make entry even to the comp qualifying, so that an elitist feel permeates the room and the pricing makes it impossible to justify paying $50 for us to watch other sessions. We have often discussed the fact that events that exclude, either by allowing only qualified competitors into the comp, or by pricing sessions so that competitors basically sit in their hotel rooms until their heats, makes for dull events, and costly, since when you exclude people, the people who are there sometimes are expected to cover the costs. The open bar until 11 pm, the coffee and food service in the ballroom itself, and the gracious vendors ((Aida did a repair job on Marthas well worn Latin shoes while we were there) made us feel like it was more of a party. Apparently Canadians see dance differently than the USA... The place was sold out in the evening, with many folks just there from the area, to watch. Assigned seating was de rigure and is what is done here, and it meant that you never fought over seating, or felt that you were crowded out. Also different was the way you found out if you made it to the next round... You stand there as they call you to the floor! It was incredibly stressful but also very cool, and is making us think a lot about how we prepare. It did foster friendships, since altho this particular comp was in English, sometimes the multi languages meant a lot of discussion by participants.
Posted on: Sun, 21 Sep 2014 14:55:08 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015