The weekend of October 5th - 7th was the site of the much anticipated Carolina Fall Classic Ballroom Competition. The significance of this event stemmed from the first attempt at Gold Smooth as well as attempting to qualify for nationals in Gold Latin. As usual Naomi was on hand for our adventures in the American Style however Mackenzie was willing to partner with me for this competition while her regular partner was studying abroad. Although we were all busy with our numerous pursuits we all got together to get ready for this experience. Now you hear the rest of the story.
Friday, October 5th
The ride went well but we didn't get situated in time to get warmed up before we competed in the open events. We didn't advance in Open Bolero however we did place third in the Open American Rhythm (Cha Cha, Rumba, Swing, Mambo, and Bolero). Naomi and I competed in the American Multi-Dance (Waltz, Tango, Foxtrot, Cha-Cha, Rumba, Swing). The Multi-Dance was interesting because the Ballroom and Rhythm portions were split up with the Ballroom portion taking place later in the evening. After competing in the Rhythm events we didn't know what time our next event was so we decided we'd kill some time by picking street fights with the locals. Unfortunately we could only get a pugnacious gerbil to take us seriously, and after a narrow victory we decided to make our way back to the ballroom lest he decide to get friends to even the odds. As we entered the ballroom we heard the announcer say "LAST CALL FOR COUPLE #437!!" We jump across a few tables and Naomi did an impressive back flip over some older ladies but we got on the dance floor right before they called the waltz to begin. We then proceeded to pull off some surprisingly sharp routines. We even managed to win over a few of the ill-informed audience, including the recently defeated gerbil and the naked mole rat he had recruited for back up. With a fourth place finish in the American Viennese Waltz, we ended our first night of American Open dances with relish.
With the American portion of the Open dances over the competition shifted to the fun dances in the Open Latin portion of the evening. Mackenzie and I proceeded to dazzle the crowd with our Open Jive routine. Even though our partnership was new, we danced our way into a fourth place finish. After Jive was done we next competed in the Hustle Fun dance event. The good thing about a fun dance is that the judges are as impressed by what you do as by how you do it, allowing Mackenzie and I to cut up almost to our heart's content (these judges don't care for lifts that much). That being said, we danced our butts off and earned a fourth place finish. So Naomi and I didn't get any blue ribbons or or even advance in some others, it turned out be be a fun and productive night.
Saturday, October 6th
First I'd like to preface this post by saying I got almost *NO* sleep the night before. Although I couldn't identify any particular cause, I can say I had plenty of time with my thoughts that night. In between conversations with God, contemplation of the current presidential election, and talking to my new imaginary friends I spent a lot of time thinking about my routines for the next day. In particular was the Viennese Waltz As went over the routines in my head I kept imagining them to the song "Breakaway" by Kelly Clarkson. My thoughts shifted when one of my imaginary friends asked me if the imaginary dress she wore made her look fat. I said I didn't think so but I could imagine her a new one if need be. She accused me of trying to change her and walked away annoyed.
*sigh*.. women..
Anyways, they day started and got myself together for the Smooth events. We were to compete in Silver (Waltz, Tango, Foxtrot) and Gold (Waltz, Tango, Foxtrot, and Viennese Waltz) levels. Naomi joined me downstairs that morning and I told her about my dream of doing our Viennese Waltz to "Breakaway". She said that would be nice and I agreed it would be so, and we looked forward to enjoying our day's events. We competed first in Silver Smooth and overcame some flubs to almost make finals. We had a small break and then started the Gold event. We gotten the flubs ironed out however my energy started to wane due to may lack of sleep and only nutrition coming from water, peanut butter crackers, and cardboard cut outs of Kim Kardashian and Kanye West (or was it Lamar and Khloe?). Anyways, homeboy was tired and my frame showed. As we trudged through the Waltz, Tango, and Foxtrot we finally got to Viennese Waltz. So as we took our positions for the dance, we heard the song begin to play..
"Da da da da da da
Da da da da da da
da da da da da da da da da da....
THEY WERE PLAYING BREAKAWAY!!!
With a new surge of energy form the song we whisked around the dance floor in a jubilant Viennese waltz, which probably was how we ended up placing fourth in Gold smooth even though we didn't make Silver finals which you could say was a silver lining on the cloud of the day's achievements.
After the Smooth events were over I suited up for Latin. Mackenzie and I warmed up on the practice room (and she was awesome because she is a ballroom BOSS) and later hit the floor for the Silver Syllabus (Samba, Cha-cha, Rumba), Silver Jive, and Gold Syllabus (Samba, Cha-cha Rumba, and Jive). Unfortunately we didn't make Silver finals but we had an admirable showing in Gold Syllabus. We did get a strong third place in Silver Jive, so once again that was a silver lining in the cloud of that portion of the competition.
That was the end of my competition for the day, so I proceeded to get a full meal and then crash while other members of the Ballroom team were were using the carpool automobiles to street race as a fundraiser for our next competition. I did manage to get some quality nappage, and my mid-afternoon cocktail shot of steroids and Vicks Vapo-Rub I was as right as rain. I decided to head out get some salsa dancing in at Eric's salsa social where he listed me as an honored guest. I had no idea he had such talent at his socials (and this was a light week because of a competing salsa event as well as Prince concert). After a fun couple of hours I went back to the hotel to get some rest before the morning comp, happy to have relaxed a bit.
Sunday, October 7th
Today was the last day of the competition and I was hoping to make the most of it. I packed my bags and got ready for the competition. Naomi and I met to practice beforehand. We got our moves together and made our way to the ballroom for our Silver (Cha-Cha, Rumba, Swing) and Gold Rhythm (Cha-Cha, Rumba, Swing, Bolero) events. We were really hoping to qualify for nationals in these events as we had with Silver Smooth. We got on the floor for Silver Rhythm and had perhaps some of the cleanest routines we've done all weekend. Unfortunately it was to no avail. The judges simply didn't like it and we didn't place high enough to qualify. Naomi pulled out her taser and advanced towards the judges out of frustration but I managed to calm her down with a promise of tickets to the Spongebob Squarepants one-sponge show that is slated to come out some time this millenia. We then proceeded to compete in the Gold Rhythm events. Although our routines didn't go off without a hitch, we live our dance life like it's Golden and it showed. We also showed the best technique so far in our Bolero. We ended up getting fifth in Gold level, which wasn't enough to qualify but more than we were expecting, adding another silver lining to the cloud of competition.
So we make our way back to the Triangle, and have had another eventful weekend in the books. Yes, the weekend had more silver linings than if the Grinch decided to get braces, but it was worth it in the end. I may not have gotten what I wanted, but I got what I needed. Good dancing, good people, and a notch in the win column of the rodent fight club.
