0 CommentsTwo days of waltz, tango, foxtrot…and samba
Of all the things I have done recently, I’d have to say that the Milwaukee Dance-athon ballroom dance competition was the most fun! Two days of waltz, tango, foxtrot, rumba, cha-cha, swing, mambo, and samba. The competition included all ages from 15 to 80! The competition was held in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and dance studios from across the United States showed up.
Chris Ramesh of Memorial shows off his tango moves for the judges at a recent competition.
I train at the Fred Astaire dance studio in Memorial, but also in Kingwood because my other teacher started teaching there. Every week I tried to get in eight hours of practice to prepare. We left from Houston on a Thursday and, upon arriving, took a boat tour. That night, all the students performed their exhibition routines and showcases, which are essentially very elaborate dance routines. I performed a paso doble, which is a Spanish-influenced dance with music played during bullfights. The next day, we competed in the smooth category: waltz, tango, and foxtrot. These dances move around a lot more, and the floor was relatively crowded with competitors making navigating very difficult. I was also relatively nervous since it was the first day of head-to-head competition. The next day we woke up early to compete in the rhythm category, my favorite category. These dances include rumba, cha-cha, swing, samba, and mambo. By this time, I was no longer nervous and was able to really put more into my dancing. We competed in about 60 heats (rounds) that day. I was put in the 18-30 age category and although I dance in the bronze level, I was able to compete in the silver level, as well. After the competition, the best part of the entire trip finally came: the professional competition. The professionals competed against each other and it was amazing. The American-smooth champion and the couple that won the Fred Astaire National competition earlier that year were there. Afterwards was the awards ceremony. I ended up getting two first place and one second place trophies from championship categories. I will never forget how much fun I had in Milwaukee.
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