Auditions 

Signing up for a dance competition with a cha cha piece was terrifying. Primarily having studied ballet and contemporary I was beyond nervous. Performing the piece in front of my dance teacher the Monday before the audition was a horrible experience since I managed to execute the entire dance completely off beat. But still I worked on it through the week continuously running through the music and choreo in my head and marking and practicing the routine whenever I could.I was especially nervous about the ending which was a turn into a middle split something I had never done in a routine before. However on the day of the audition I was warmed up and ready to perform.To my surprise I felt confident and stayed on beat throughout.

Preparation  

Having watched most of the groups that auditioned and seeing the standard of hiphop being performed I definitely did not expect to get selected. When I got a call back I was so excited but nervous at the same time. I decided to switch my genre from latin to contemporary since its a style I’m stronger at.

I choreographed majority of the dance myself and learnt the rest off a dance cover on youtube. Choreographing the dance was especially challenging as I needed to the routine to be seamless and interesting while not disrupting the slow pace of the song.After the dance was complete I continued to rehearse it over the span of two weeks.My dance instructor and seniors also coached me and gave me a lot of feedback and constructive criticism. One major correction I received was that I needed to work on “finishing” each step rather than rushing through entire dance. I also focused immensely on facial expressions and making sure that they conveyed the intensity of the song.

Finals 

At the stage rehearsal on the afternoon of the event I was devastated to find out that the floor we were dancing on was rubber carpeted with is not ideal for floorwork. There were also two huge speakers on stage which I needed to avoid to ensure that the judges could actually see my floorwork. So I spent the session visually mapping out my spacing and trying to adapt my dance to the limited floorspace.

Later that evening walking off stage after my final bow I felt good about my performance. I truly enjoyed performing that night and believe that I conveyed the essence of the music to the audience.But still I was up against 9 amazing competitors and 8 of them were hiphop groups and much loved by the audience and judges. Which is why when they announced my name as the winner of judges choice I simply could not believe it. As a dancer you constantly compare yourself to others and there’s a constant nagging feeling of not being good enough. As someone who isn’t the most confident about their dancing winning this competition really gave a boost of self esteem and make me want to keep working so that I can be the dancer I aspire to be.