By Jasmine Cook, Special to Nighthawks News
“Congratulations… dumbest routine ever!”
“She is like a raging lunatic.”
“I can’t even clap for that – that has got to be the worst dance I have ever seen.”
Seeing local “friends” at competitions may stir drama if you’re on the hit show “Dance Moms” – which provided the famous quotes above – but dancers who have grown up watching each other perform beg to differ. Cheering each other on tends to be the brightest part of competitions for girls on the Outer Banks.
“I think it’s exciting to see everyone’s dances and just see and learn from each other, choreography-wise and technique-wise,” said senior Ella Walker, a long-time dancer at Outer Banks Dance Academy.
Despite the amount of experience a dancer may have, backstage nerves get to everyone. Knowing your competition can either squash or elevate them.
“When you don’t know anyone there, it doesn’t matter if you do badly, but if you do know them and you do bad, you can get more of a reputation,” said senior Abby Wallace, from Island School of Dance.
Sometimes there’s enough time to get a quick photo with team members from other studios, but other times, the atmosphere is buzzing with excitement as you triple check your turn sequence, hair and safety-pinned costume. All you can squeeze in is a hug and a “good luck” while focusing on yourself.
“I think it’s because as the studio directors and the teachers, you’re busy, you don’t have time to sit there and chat with someone,” Island School of Dance owner Sarah Woodley said. “During competition you’re so focused on your own kids that everyone else kind of fizzles away.”
Competing can create a tense, stressful environment for anyone. Before you step onto the marley and into the stage lights, you shake one limb at a time, bounce up and down, or even throw a bobby pin behind you to switch the adrenaline into performance mode. Pressure from the awaiting eyes of peers, teachers and the judges table, well – there’s no tricks to relieve that.
As Abby Lee Miller from “Dance Moms” says, “If the girls aren’t perfect and clean, we are never gonna win this competition.”
Countless hours in the studio prepare dancers to give everything they have on stage, but “winning is only achievable by perfection” is a false viewpoint. Getting first place is only an important aspect of competing for some studios, while for others, winning is simply a reward for all of the hard work that has been put in behind the scenes.
“You should want to achieve what is best for you, not what’s best for other people,” Woodley said. “And if you get on stage and you do the absolute best you can in that moment, that’s a win because there’s plenty of people, even dancers, who have the fear of getting onstage or getting in front of people. So you getting up and doing your thing is a win enough for me.”
Sophomore Jasmine Cook wrote this story for her Intro to Publications semester project. She can be reached at CookJa3154@daretolearn.org.
