The Dance Primer

I competed in my third ever Jack & Jill competition a while ago. (I know, with 10+ years of dancing you can see I’ve been really competitive.) It’s not that I’ve suddenly become competitive, it’s that I have come to see Jack & Jill competitions as more of a game than anything else; roll the dice and see how your luck turns up. I love games. This game, I rolled for what would be bad luck, speaking competitively, but I really enjoyed the game.

In a Jack & Jill, you enter alone, as a lead or follow. In the preliminary rounds you are judged as an individual, and get the opportunity to dance with several randomly chosen partners. If you make it to the final round, you pair up with one randomly selected partner and are judged as a couple.

There were nine couples, and in the first heat we danced four rounds. Two folks I danced with were not actually swing dancers; they were ballroom dancers who had a general idea of “things swing dancers do.” If I weren’t in it for the game I would have been upset. Instead, I had a ton of fun dancing with two nice guys I’ve never had the opportunity to dance with before. I would dance with either of them again, any day. The next two songs were very fast, and fast Lindy is not my forte. (So much so these days that I either need to get some lessons on them, I think, or just start dancing more West Coast Swing.)

In dance number three, I got to dance with someone I know and enjoy. He’s a nice guy who has the most creative footwork, which often excites me more than folks who pull out large flashy tricks. Unfortunately, due to my lack of skill in fast dancing and something going on that was keeping us from connecting very well, that dance wasn’t so hot.

Lastly, I danced with one more guy who I know has been dancing for a long time, but honestly isn’t any good. He had an east-coast bouncy style that was far from my preference, but I believe a good follow adapts to match the styling of her lead. In a Jack & Jill, a good judge will see that adaptation – and perhaps that would have been possible, if I’d been given the chance to dance with more leads who had skilled styling.

My husband did very well. He danced with mostly beginners, and made them all look good enough that they all made it into the finals. He also made it into the finals himself. I was so proud, especially since he can no longer claim that he’s never made it past the first round in a Lindy Jack & Jill.

Do you think leads automatically have a better chance in Jack & Jill competitions due to the fact that they lead, and therefore have more control of how the overall dance goes?

*Photo by Physibeth on flickr.