Chanel has fun at Gala Ball, comes home with more trophies than she can carry
In case you can’t tell by the title or the photo… It went well!
The rankings:
- 2nd place in Rising Star (Rumba, Quickstep)
- 2nd place in Advanced Standard (Tango, Quickstep)
- 2nd place in Viennese Waltz
- 3rd place in Foxtrot
- 3rd place in Jive
- 3rd place in Paso Doble
- 4th place in Advanced Latin (Cha Cha, Samba)
All my life, I have been the kind of person who has had to work really hard to do well at many things some people have no trouble with. I’m not super skinny, I don’t have naturally straight legs, I don’t have good balance, I don’t have good musicality, I feel awkward moving my arms and I don’t have much stamina. In order to dance and to dance even the least bit well, I’ve had to work hard on all of those things. Nothing (except perhaps hip movement) has come naturally.
I won’t lie—it has been downright frustrating and disheartening at times to see people swoop in and do the things I struggle at with the slightest of ease, especially when it seems like no matter how hard I work, I will always been in the middle of the pack—not the best, not the worst, but average. Mediocre. Even if it’s mediocre of the best.
This has been the case in school, in work, in dance, in running and in pretty much everything I have ever set out to do. But I have learned something over the years (especially within dance competitions) that has made all the difference in how I see things: you are not competing against other people, even when you’re competing against other people. The only person you are ever competing with at any given time is yourself.
As strange as it may sound, our goal was not to win—our goal was to become better dancers. Not better dancers compared to the ones we competed with, but better dancers compared to the ones we were last year. And did we achieve that goal? Absolutely.
The improvements in my dancing have happened so gradually its almost hard for me to notice them, but when I step back and examine things critically, so much has changed. In great part, this wouldn’t have happened nearly as fast had we not had the looming pressure of a competition to motivate us—and to me, that is why I compete. (That, and to dance in front of people—which, strange as it may sound, I have recently discovered I love!)
All in all, a great weekend!
You can read more of my thoughts on Gala ball in Friday’s edition of Grace In Small Things. Photos and videos to come!
Oh my gosh, I love this post so much:D Congratulations for you awards and achievements! I know exactly what you mean, I took up dance two years ago and it drive me CRAZY how everyone in my class is naturally just insanely good at dancing and can do whatever our instructor throws at us, because I have to work HARD to get the same results. So good job to you!
March 15th, 2009 at 3:35 pmCongratulations on your success! Your own hard work is definitely motivating me to try and achieve the same results for things with my own life!
March 16th, 2009 at 4:15 amOMG you went to the gala ball too?!!?! WOW~ =O You must be really good at ballroom dancing!
My friend’s boyfriend competed too, his name is Jacky Tang, I dont know if you know him. I saw some videos of him dancing at the Gala ball … now I’m gonna rewatch them to see if I can spot you XD
As for the rest of your post … well-put! The only way to improve is to compete against oneself =)
Reply: I know *of* Jackie Tang; I watched him compete in Champ level Latin at Gala and Snowball! How crazy, what a small world! :)… I’m definitely not anywhere near his level; Gala Ball (as with most ballroom competitions) ranges from the most beginner beginner to the top amateur dancers. :)
March 16th, 2009 at 9:24 amYou do ballroom? That’s awesome! I joined the Berkeley Ballroom team but had to drop out because of tendinitis.
Anyway, congratz on those awards!
March 24th, 2009 at 11:17 amYour thoughts on this post was very interesting. It’s always nice to read about fantastic results from hard work! Also, I think you just love to do well in anything you do:)
April 6th, 2009 at 8:54 pm