Clarendon Grill Dance Finals Recap w/Salsa & Bachata Social Dance Videos

05/12/2015

I had GREAT FUN serving as a judge at The 4th Annual Clarendon Grill Dance Competition held the entire month of April 2015 thanks to Host of 11 years, Keith Givens! Every Monday for 4 consecutive weeks, there was a competition to select winners for the semi finals until the Epic Finals went down on Monday April 27, 2015 to choose the Ultimate Winners in the Salsa Division and in the separate Bachata Division! The contestants were judged on Timing, Musicality, Execution, Originality, & Audience Applause on a 1-5 scale. There were 3-4 judges each week who selected 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners during the semifinals heat on 3 Monday Nights. All of the 1st place winners and 2 wild cards (highest scoring 2nd place winners) were compiled to compete in the Finals on Monday April 27,2015 to decide on a winner. Congratulations to the Triumphant Winners- Brandon Carretero & Asia Pelc in Salsa and Henry Zelata & Elisabeth Santos in Bachata!

Based on my experience judging this contest, there were a few observations that readily separated the winners (1st, 2nd, 3rd place) each night of competition from the other dancers. Timing is everything- without it, you are doomed from the start and nothing else you do can save you. Turn Patterns ONLY no matter how tricky will NOT win you the gold without some dramatic styling, changing up the tempo, or doing some shines to amp the dance up. Moving around the dance floor definitely helps competitors stand out and it separates you from the pack of those who stay rooted in one 2 by 4 space. Treating a competition like a social dance is the absolute death knell. Competing is when you should be doing everything BIG and larger than life so that it projects and radiates as NUCLEAR charisma and elevate your dancing to PERFORMANCE ART on the fly to audience AND the judges. You should be prepared or at least know different styles because you will be judged on dancing CHA CHA CHA with CORRECT TIMING if a Cha Cha Cha is played. The Same goes for Dominican Style Bachata- it would definitely help your winning case if you know how to do Footwork when Dominican Style Bachata is playing and not keep doing your routine of sensual Bachata Styling with Body Rolls ad naseum when THAT rhythm of song is being played. This is not the time to play it too cool for Mambo School and/or safe or subtle on the Dance floor. Finally, your clothes can definitely contribute positively to the impression that you are there to Mean BUSINESS! Coming to a competition in your regular street clothes will make your job a little bit harder in the standing out department unless you dance like a PRO and already KNOW that you are of exceptional talent and got this competition thing in the bag. Otherwise, GLAM IT UP, MI Gente so that you get some of those unofficial cool points that come from having MADE THE EFFORT.

Here are some social dancing videos that happened during the Finals Night when many of the Hardcore Salsa AND Bachata Dancers came out to see the fierce competitors CLAW THEIR WAY to victory. The Dancers were blessed with the musical greatness of Resident DJ Hercules and Guest DJ EricB of the Netherlands which made for a frenzied, joyful night of Dancing!

Jimmy & Lynelle Salsa Social Dance: