It’s ballroom season again! Last weekend, Lina and I attended the Tenth Annual UConn Ballroom Competition in Storrs, Connecticut. We did very well, taking home a healthy stack of ribbons despite some minor injuries along the way. Results and discussion follow, while video will be delayed for some time due to technical difficulties.
| Level | Style | Dance | Final Cut | Marks | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st Cut | 2nd Cut | 3rd Cut | 4th Cut | 5th Cut | ||||
| Bronze | American Rhythm | Cha-Cha | 6th Place | 4/5 | 7/7 | 6/7 | 5/7 | |
| Rumba | 5th Place | 5/5 | 7/7 | 4/7 | 4/7 | 5/7 | ||
| Swing | Semi-Finals | 4/5 | 7/7 | 6/7 | 2/7 | |||
| American Smooth | Waltz | 3rd Place | 3/5 | 3/5 | 5/7 | 3/7 | ||
| Tango | 3rd Place | 5/5 | 5/5 | 3/5 | 6/7 | |||
| Foxtrot | 2nd Place | 5/5 | 5/5 | 5/5 | 6/7 | |||
| International Standard | Waltz | 4th Place | 4/5 | 4/5 | 5/5 | 3/5 | ||
| Tango | 2nd Place | 5/5 | 5/5 | 3/5 | 3/5 | |||
| Quickstep | 2nd Place | 4/5 | 5/5 | 3/5 | 3/5 | |||
| International Latin | Cha-Cha | 8th Place | 5/5 | 5/5 | 3/5 | 3/5 | ||
| Rumba | 7th Place | 4/5 | 3/5 | 3/5 | 3/5 | |||
| Jive | Semi-Finals | 4/5 | 4/5 | 4/5 | 1/5 | |||
| Silver | American Rhythm | Mambo | Semi-Finals | 6/7 | 4/7 | 3/7 | ||
| American Smooth | Viennese Waltz | 6th Place | 3/5 | 3/5 | 5/7 | |||
| International Standard | Foxtrot | 1st Round | 2/5 | |||||
| International Latin | Samba | 1st Round | 2/5 | |||||
Of note, we finally did better in Standard than in Smooth! I think that we would have done better in Latin and Rhythm had we not been so worn out by that time (Smooth and Standard came first), but we had a great time nonetheless.
Lina sustained minor injury early on in the Standard rounds: somehow the square heel of someone’s shoe left a 2cm2 area of missing skin on the back of her heel, unfortunately at exactly the place where the edge of her Standard shoes rub. We didn’t have time for any first aid response before the first round of International Foxtrot, but we gave it a go anyways. Apparently this was a bad idea. Less than ten seconds into the dance, Lina had to get off of the floor, as she couldn’t do any heel pulls — an essential follower’s step in International Foxtrot. I’m surprised that we got marked by two judges in less than ten seconds, and feel confident that our work in International Foxtrot over the last few weeks has not gone unrewarded, regardless of what the marks may say. The trooper that she is, Lina finished out the rest of the competition once we were able to patch her up with some gauze and medical tape.
Videos of this event may follow shortly, and updates will be appended to this post. Stay tuned!
Congrats you two. Find it interesting to see people doing the dances still, and doing them well. Much better then the last set of results I saw. Keep up the good work.
YAY for you two! I don’t know how you manage to train in the midst of all the crazy med school marriage stuff, but I’m proud of you.