Draft is quite a strong term, implying that everyone has been compiled, revised, and placed onto a piece of paper. Draft however also means to submit something that isn't quite complete yet, but is an attempt that needs it's loose ends tying together. I would like you to keep in mind the latter definition while reading this.
Today, myself and Sarah sat with Joel in his academy. The BIG problem with our team (and this is not York Dancesport-based- this happens throughout the world of dance) is that we're short of boys. Now, the situation's getting better- which is amazing (we've never had so many non-beginner boys before both on the team and in lessons) but it's still not quite there yet. This means that even the simplest mathematician can spot the obvious consequence of this shortage: Pairing EVERYONE up is a very difficult process, and can't effectively be done.
Helping matters is girls dancing as guy. When you're dancing novice or beginner, there's no real argument saying that you're at a disadvantage against the competition dancing in a girl-girl couple. As you start getting higher up the ladder to intermediate/advanced level however, this argument will naturally gain more credibility. Certainly this year there has been a strong showing from our girl-girl couples, which show that, in the words of those great socio/cultural analysts, "The Pussycat Dolls"- "I don't need a man":
Zoe and Abi winning the Cha Cha at Roses and Emily and Jess getting through several rounds of novice latin at IVDC are great examples.
I'm digressing with that last paragraph, but the point is that girl/girl couples are necessary in dancesport and without girls being willing to dance as a guy- there's no way we can operate as a full team. So thank you, ladies :)
Getting back to "The Draft" in general however, we realised how difficult sorting partners out for possible teams next year is. It would be ridiculous to try and set them in stone now, but it would be nice to see which dancers work together well. So, for Woodstock, many people will find themself dancing with new dancers. It's daunting to dance with someone new, I know. I've been there. I've felt intimidated by the prospect of dancing with someone who'll completley outclass me, i've felt i've missed out on opportunities to dance with people I secretley wanted to dance with/really get on with. But these are worries that soon fade when you get started dancing with someone new. The two things to remember are the following:
- Dancing is a naturally fun and social thing to do. It is a GREAT way of icebreaking/meeting someone new
- The York dancesport team is made up of genuinely decent people. They're not scary, and they won't bite
So after Joel gave us recommendations on what might look good in his professional opinion, Sarah and I put some partners together. It's difficult because you can base partners on so many things: ability, commitment, experience, personality, well suitedness...the list goes on. We've tried to take all these things into account.
We're "trialing" partners in our woodstock demonstration. People will find they have 2,3 or even 4 different partners for the different dances of the show. We're simply seeing who looks good together to take this into consideration for partnering people for the team next year, and it also promotes a more inclusive, social society.
And that's something we can all enjoy,
Keep Dancing!
Luke