My First Comp and I Didn't Pee My Pants!

I made it! I survived my first ballroom competition - in one piece. It was such an intense experience, but so incredibly worthwhile.

We flew into LA on Friday evening and more importantly, our luggage made it as well. Just to be on the safe side I had packed a carry-on with competing necessities - costume, shoes, jewellery and dark foundation. I recommend everyone to do so. A fellow dancer travelling with us was not so lucky. United lost her luggage and she only received it after the competition. (I would like to take this opportunity to say that I have never had a pleasant experience with United for various reasons. I will save this discussion for a different blog)

Saturday flew by so quickly. I was awake at the crack of dawn for various reasons. Anxiety and, also, not knowing how long it would take for me to do my hair for the most part. Having started at 8am I was finally ready at noon. Getting ready involved tanning, doing my hair (with a fro like mine at one point I had two other people helping me), extensive makeup and adorning oneself with jewellery, rhinestones and shiny lotion.

Once I made it to the competition, it finally hit me! I'm actually competing! Yes, there were various intimidating dancers - giving each other the stink eye of course. I fel so uncool! Like an imposter of some sort. My costume wasn't nice enough, my make-up wasn't heavy enough - plus I didn't have a fancy robe like the other girls. This definitely felt like a first day of school nightmare.

Soon enough they were calling numbers of heats and next thing I knew I was being led onto the dance floor. The music started and off we went. I'm not going to lie, it was not good (note: I'm referring to myself, not my talented partner). I was off at certain points and the 1.40 minutes seem to last forever. I was pooped and dragging my ass on the dance floor. But before you knew it, its all over.

My coach came rushing to us, asking how we felt about the experience. He was trying to assess if we had been scarred for life. Hell no, I answered, I wish I could do this every single day! As crazy and scary as it was - it was amazing! I have never felt so alive. We got to do a second round later in the afternoon and the performance only got better. The rumba was amazing and I got through my paso without any falls! And I was calm enough to wink at a few audience members!

At the end of the day, we didn't do so well in terms of ranking. But its important to remember that everyone has to start somewhere. And when you start at the bottom, you can only go up! So, its back to the studio for practice and the countdown for Grand Ball in November begins.

PS: I'm waiting on some pictures. Pictures of us and details of some of the pros we got to see will follow soon. And you won't be able to guess who we ran into at the airport!