My mantra, “I’d rather look amazing doing a basic step then look bad doing a really hard one.” Sometimes this is very easy to lose sight of.
For the past 4 months I’ve been getting ready for a ballroom competition. The plan my teacher laid out seemed insurmountable. Nine routines to be learned and executed well; American Smooth: Waltz, Tango, Fox Trot and Viennese Waltz. Standard: Waltz, Fox Trot, Viennese Waltz, Tango and Quickstep. American Smooth will be danced at Silver level, translation, I’ll have to learn new and harder steps for each of the 4 routines.
I’m 4 months in and it’s all really coming together.
Except one step.
After a very pretty move called swim arms, I will go into a pirouette-esq turn on one foot then lift my leg into a develope. Success rate: 40%. Success rate and looking good; 10%. Success rate looking good and succeeding into the transition into the next step: 2%.
I repeat my mantra. Mantra, mantra, mantra. Oh sweet painful honesty. With 3 and a half weeks to go, it’s just time to let it go. There will be no dream sequence filled with drama. (I go into the step and the crowd draws a breath into silence and as I pull it off with ease and grace, they exhale! I’ve made it look so easy everyone in the stands think they could do it! The crowd of adoring fans jumps to their feet, screaming and cheering. They knew I could do it all a long! In the corner a snotty spoiled nemesis is throwing down her tiara and screaming for her daddy while smashing roses and wiping her nose with the back of her hand.) Nope, not this competition. That move stresses me out and I want it gone. Ego step a side. I’ll get that move someday for a competition, just not this one.
I’d rather go in confident to the competition than be worried that I wasn’t going to be able to pull it off. Sometimes having all the right moves means, you know you can pull off all the moves. That’s confidence and you can’t buy that.
thespinningdancer 