{"id":8539,"date":"2024-08-12T09:30:45","date_gmt":"2024-08-12T13:30:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fredastaire.com\/bloomfield-hills\/?page_id=8539"},"modified":"2024-08-12T09:41:30","modified_gmt":"2024-08-12T13:41:30","slug":"my-first-dance-competition","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.fredastaire.com\/bloomfield-hills\/my-first-dance-competition\/","title":{"rendered":"My First Dance Competition:"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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My First Dance Competition<\/h1>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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\u201cMy first time at a dance competition\u201d:<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Your very first dance competition can be a bit intimidating, but fear not, our instructors and fellow students are with you every step of the way! Take a listen to our student\u00a0Mike explain what it was like for him at his first ballroom dance competition.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Uda\u2019s Competition Experiences:<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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July 25th, 2016<\/em><\/p>

\u201cOhmigod, as a spectator, just to see what some people can do, it\u2019s amazing,\u201d says Uda Shallop, one of our dedicated dance students who has competed already many times and is eager to do more.<\/p>

Uda earned the distinction of top bronze student at our Washington DC competition, where we earned runner-up for top studio and our instructors Yuliya and Tamerlan took second place in professional rhythm.<\/p>

Uda has competed twice so far and is working on going to the Fred Astaire Dance Studio world competition next.<\/p>

\u201cYou\u2019re your own worst critic,\u201d says Uda, \u201cbut I do enjoy it and especially when you do good and you get a medal, it makes you feel really great. Wearing those beautiful gowns, that doesn\u2019t hurt, either.\u201d<\/p>

Uda\u2019s first one was an emerald green dress and she says, \u201cI still love it today.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cMost of your dresses you have special made. You just feel so much better wearing these gorgeous dresses than when you wear training stuff. You walk different, you present yourself different, and believe me it\u2019s not all that easy, I get real nervous, but somehow I feel more comfortable.\u201d<\/p>

At competitions, Uda says, \u201cwe\u2019re busy from morning to night, hair done, makeup done, in the dance ballroom a minimum of half hour or 45 minutes prior to your first dance, everything has to be done early, sometimes 3 or 4 a.m. in the morning.\u201d<\/p>

Competitors don different dresses and shoes for smooth or for rhythm. \u201cSmooth is always the long gowns and closed-toes, and rhythm is shorter dresses, some are very sexy, and open-toed shoes,\u201d Uda says.<\/p>

\u201cPosture, frame, it\u2019s a little bit intimidating, because they look at you, there\u2019s no smile, I mean they can\u2019t, but my god you\u2019re scared. We try to have meals together with the group from the studio. During the day, we sit at the same table, everybody\u2019s assigned a table, you root for each other, you bring each other up, and say, \u2018Hey you look fantastic.\u2019 We\u2019re all in the same boat. I\u2019m a newcomer but you see some 5, 10, 15, 20 years, and watch them dance and say oh my, maybe I\u2019m as good as they are, but oh really I\u2019m not, but that\u2019s what I would like to be, that\u2019s how I would like to dance.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cYou can only dance to your own ability,\u201d Uda says. \u201cThey teach you real good at the studio. The competition is the reward that pays you for all you did. I feel really good about it.\u201d<\/p>

Earning the distinction as top bronze student is always a thrill. \u201cI\u2019m in shock every time I get it,\u201d says Uda, who\u2019s earned it twice now. \u201cIt\u2019s a big deal. It really is a big deal. I just hope I do good again. I enjoy it. It makes me happy and thanks God I can do it.\u201d<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My First Dance Competition \u201cMy first time at a dance competition\u201d: Your very first dance competition can be a bit intimidating, but fear not, our instructors and fellow students are with you every step of the way! Take a listen to our student\u00a0Mike explain what it was like for him at his first ballroom dance […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":382,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-8539","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fredastaire.com\/bloomfield-hills\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8539","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fredastaire.com\/bloomfield-hills\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fredastaire.com\/bloomfield-hills\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fredastaire.com\/bloomfield-hills\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/382"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fredastaire.com\/bloomfield-hills\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8539"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.fredastaire.com\/bloomfield-hills\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8539\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fredastaire.com\/bloomfield-hills\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8539"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}