Tomorrow, we’re all off to the Canadian Swing Championships. Three days of dancing, competing, more dancing, no sleep and then on Sunday night, after the Award Ceremony, time for partying like there is no tomorrow :)
I’d like to share something Byron Alley -our head coach, sent to all of us last night (emphasis is mine):
It’s important to remember that CSC itself doesn’t *really* matter. Nobody lives or dies based on our performance (at least not until the CSC 2112 Hunger Games edition), and it’s really not likely to earn you a promotion at work (sorry!) I’ve danced in teams that have placed 1st in some of the biggest swing competitions, and it was awesome, but not because of the trophy. (Well, maybe a little bit because of the trophy.)
The only lasting, valuable thing is the feeling of working together and accomplishing something beautiful. It’s about discovering that some of our preconceived limitations are illusions, and that we are amazingly capable human beings. And it’s about learning that when we work together to accomplish things, trying to ignore the needs of our egos and to be patient with our partners’ and teammates’ idiosyncrasies, that we discover that successfully working together is just as worthy a goal as the goals that motivate us to be a team in the first place.
We spend a lot of time focusing on the negatives, because we want to get rid of them. I’m a very critical coach because I believe it’s important to seek our full potential. I don’t want you to sell yourselves short. Personally I don’t care if you have great posture or hunch your shoulders. I don’t care if you wait for your partner to lead, or shoot down the line like a rabid beast. It doesn’t make you less of a person, and some of the most inspiring dances I’ve seen have been with a Mr. Offbeat Armleading and Ms. Wiggly Hairtrigger. Who the hell cares? The reason I care is that I want to share with you the joys of taking your dancing and partnership to higher levels. And especially, because I want to hold you to the standards you’re capable of.
But at this point, before the competition, it’s especially important to focus on the positive. It’s crucial to think about what you WILL do, not what you will avoid. And it’s crucial to focus on your confidence that you’ve gotten this far, and you can get out there and do amazing things.
I thought that was very inspirational. At least to me. Even though this year I am not competing with any of the teams. As for the individual divisions, well… we’ll see. I don’t feel ready. I didn’t get much one-on-one training. Only one, in fact. Add to that I couldn’t get my dance shoes either, so I think I won’t compete at all.
Also, I wasn’t able to get a new laptop so I won’t be deejaying either. You might be thinking, what’s the point of going then? And I’d say you’re right. I even sent a message to the Event Director explaining the laptop issue and he insisted that I went anyway. So I’m going. At least, I’ll make a lot of noise when my teams are competing and when N is competing. And taking videos.
Besides, it’ll be great to see old friends from all over the continent too.
So CSC, here we go!
KaBOOM!!!
Summer Solstice Musings 
I’m glad you’re going in spite of not deejaying! Have a GREAT time, then come back & tell us all about it!
Thank you!
I’ll make sure I’ll blog about it :)
Take a lot of pics…and at least one video of you shouting for N. :)
Have a great time SummerSolsticeGirl!
Thanks!
At least I’ll be doing a good amount of dancing :)
That’s a very nice thiing the head coach wrote. Have a great time!!
I know, right? I got all sentimental.
or is it emotional?
Very nice!
Hey Bobby. Thanks for stopping by! :)
SummerSolsticeGirl, I really love this post, but I was a little troubled by your inference at the end that if you weren’t competing or DJing, there would be no reason to go. I feel like that attitude is becoming more and more common in the lindy scene, and my reaction is always — what about social dancing?
This used to be the major reason for dancing, and now it’s almost becoming an afterthought. It seems like people are getting so wrapped up in competitions that they’re forgetting the simple joy of being in the company of someone you’ve never met, and doing something really fun with them for three minutes.
Anyway, I still love this post. :-)
Ah, I see.
What I left out in the post is that the combination of injuries/health issues (which are the reason for not competing) also don’t allow for much social dancing.
If I could be doing tons of social dancing, then of course, that would be more than enough reason to go. But as it is, even the prospect of spending time just socializing with my wonderful swing dance peeps was shadowed by the sadness that it is to be with at a place where both the music and the dancing is awesome and not being able to dance. That’s a little too much to bear. At least for me.
Thanks. That makes sense, and certainly explains why social dancing didn’t leap to the top of your reasons to go. I’ve been there myself, and can confirm that it’s really hard.
I do hope you feel better soon.
:)
Thanks, I’m getting there. I’ve started to dance, little by little and it feels great. I even danced TWO songs at CSC!!!
Oh, and I forgot to add that I totally agree with you on the social dancing part. For us, Lindy Hop (and Swing in general) will always be first and foremost a social activity. This we’re always telling our students and team members.