We had our first comp yesterday. First comp as a partnership after almost 2 years of dancing together, first comp and also the last comp of the year. It was a bit of a nervous lead up having not danced together in a competition environment. It was filled with us trying to figure out what usually falls apart under pressure and focus on preventing that, eating well throughout the day and staying calm, cool and collected even though we were both excited, nervous and had lots of adrenaline running. I also had new hair, new makeup and a new dress and Jaxon was wearing his brand new suit. Everything was so new! But we couldn't wait to get out there and perform and compete and do what we’ve been training for. This competition was on the smaller side so there weren’t as many competitors in our events as there normally would be but it was still great to dance beside everyone. We started off the day with a fairly early start. We have 2 of Jaxon’s mates staying with us for a few days so they got to tag along with us. Our videographers and dietitians (by dietitians I mean handing us lollies and bottles of water whenever we get off the floor). It was lots of fun having them around and they were a great help to us both on the day. Mitz was cooking us protein pancakes for breakfast and Tommy had the pump up music going in the car on the way there. Once we got warmed up, hair and makeup done and got our suit and dress on it was time to dance! I think as a dancer you are always so self critical of every performance. Nothing will ever be good enough and there is always room for improvement. We had great moments and also moments where things fell apart but overall we were happy with our performance and our first comp together. We were just so excited to be back out on that comp floor again. Unfortunately neither of our parents were able to be there but there were hundreds of facetime calls so they could see us dancing. Mitz was on Facetime duty whilst Tommy was recording the dancing for us to look back on. They boys did a great job of keeping things calm off the floor and they were an incredible support team. Mitz was our motivator and Tommy just kept things very calm. A great balance. Of course, some things don’t go to plan. Especially when everything you're doing is fairly new. I’ve always grown up with my dad telling me not to change anything, practice and train how you would compete. Don’t even try new foods on the day. Find out what works and stick to it. Obviously, this wasn't possible with this comp, and this led to some wardrobe malfunctions. Both Jaxon and I had something go wrong. The first instance was in New Vogue. In ballroom you wear floats on your wrists to try and accentuate and lengthen your arm lines. These floats can be made of all sorts of materials to suit the dress, they can be made in light materials so they float, ribbons or even feathers. In ballroom they are usually bigger and longer as you are in ballroom hold the entire event, but in new vogue they are smaller and shorter so you can move around and present your arms more. Mine, for this event, were feathers that had large dimontis on the ends to give them a bit of weight. We walked on the floor to compete in our first new Vogue event and from the first move I knew they were going to hurt. The dimonti’s were flying around, whacking Jaxon in the face, whacking me in the face and getting caught up around my arm and hand. Then finally they both got tangled within each other and when I did a big accent line they ripped off. It was almost a relief because they were very annoying but you also don’t want anything to go wrong on the floor. The presenter made a comment that I was malting because there were feathers now all over the floor. We threw the floats to the side of the floor and continued but I’m sure they will be finding feathers in that room for weeks after. Our second malfunction was Jaxon’s suit. Again in new vogue (Darn New vogue) midway through the dance, his collar popped. The presenter actually stopped the event in between dances so we could fix it. Unfortunately the collar was broken and even after trying to fix it, the collar just wouldn’t stay. We heard both the boys yell out to throw the collar to the side and keep on going. We even had someone run out onto the floor to try and help us. Sounds very dramatic for a collar I know, but all this happened in the span of like 10 seconds and it gave us a bit of break between dances (so a very strategic move, wink wink). In the end we just threw it to the side of the floor and continued on but lesson learnt, no plastic buttons. Once we finished dancing we were able to socialise with the dancers we hadn’t seen since the last Australian championships in 2019 (pre covid). We then had our presentations and headed out for a well deserved drink at the opera bar where we took in the sights of Sydney. I don't think I will ever get sick of the view of Sydney Harbour. The Bridge and Opera House are unreal and I just love the atmosphere of Sydney. One day of rest by the beach and back on the grind tomorrow!
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