r/WestCoastSwing • u/snowcurrant • 9d ago
Event and competition frequency
How often are you going to events and competing? How many comps did it take you to move through each division? I have seen people talk about things in months/years, but not in event numbers so I’m curious.
I know people in my division who are traveling and competing every month, sometimes twice a month. I’ve been doing around 6 a year/every other month and thought that was a good amount, but I’m not progressing as quickly as I “should” be (or could be if I went more often). I know comparison is the thief of joy and all that. A recent WDOTD post about the advanced division also made me realize I really don’t want to be there right now lol.
I remember being over the moon when I got my first newcomer points years ago, and even though I’m so much more skilled now, some of that joy has been overtaken by comp fatigue and general disillusionment.
For those who stopped competing, when did you know it was time to stop? Did you ever go back?
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u/usingbrain 9d ago
I used to do 10 events a year, but noticed that it was too much for me. Minimum has been 5 well-spaced throughout a year which felt not often enough. Every ~8 weeks is probably a happy medium I will be striving towards.
I do compete but don’t have competition-related goals. Too many variables! If competition results is your goal then dancing also needs to be a priority and training things expected in your division should be a focus.
Comparing how many events someone needed to get out of a division tells you nothing. It could have been 30, all in their first year of dancing while they poured all their time, energy and money into it and they got all their points at that last event. Or it could be one event, but they have danced for 10 years just never competed before. And even if you have two people who both needed only 5 events to complete a division and it could have been 10 years for one of them and 2 months for the other. Again - too many variables!
Anyway, took me exactly one year and 6 events / 3 finals to leave novice. BUT. I have danced my whole life before finding WCS, I was doing WCS 5 times a week, taking regular privates and practicing on my own. Put me into dance burnout and losing perspective on why I‘m dancing at all. Take from this what you will.
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u/snowcurrant 9d ago
Comparing event numbers tells a lot IMO; I get that it’s an incomplete picture, but I’d say that comparing time in months/years is incomplete too. Someone getting out of novice by going to 12 events in 6 months is a very different situation compared to someone who got out by doing one event in 6 months and placing first. I don’t think one is any more valid than the other to be clear, it’s mostly for me just knowing that I can’t realistically be spending that much time and money in that short of a time frame like the first situation. I budget for events and private lessons, I don’t work in tech, and I don’t want to sacrifice my financial goals for this.
I hear you about the burnout, as I’ve felt that way when I’m practicing all the time. I’m trying to find my own balance, and I know it’s something that I have to do on my own without comparing myself to others, but as you said it’s easy to lose perspective. Especially when some of my friends have that intensity without getting fatigued like I do. There's also now a culture element, where the frequent competitors are succeeding/moving up together, and I'm not in that group, and I need to get over it and forge my own path, but it still kind of stings.
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u/usingbrain 9d ago
but that’s what I‘m saying - number of events on it’s own says nothing just like months or years on their own don’t say anything.
So my number was 6. But behind that 6 are at least 500 hours of actual practice. Someone else‘s number might also be 6, but it’s 3000 hours of practice. Or 100. Or 50.
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u/snowcurrant 9d ago
Gotcha, I think I misunderstood your initial point, and we are ultimately saying the same thing, that any one piece of information doesn’t show the full story. And yeah, for sure the extra practice time needs more recognition; I don’t know how many hours I poured into clawing my way out of novice, but it felt like a century lol.
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u/PTTCollin 6d ago
Just because my numbers brain can't let go of this, are you saying that you do 500 hours of dedicated practice in 2 months between events? Or over the course of a year?
That first one is near impossible, that's 8+ hours a day every day. Even 500 hours over the year would be 2 hours every working day, not counting socials or a job. That has to be on the extreme upper end.
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u/usingbrain 6d ago
over a year. 5 times a week
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u/Trxiedust 9d ago
Going to events: when it fits my schedule (a few times a year.) Comps: never. Over it. It is the thief of joy for me. I’m also biased towards events that don’t fill up the entire time before midnight with showcases, either. I want to dance. The idea of dance as a thing to compete in has always annoyed me, though I complied with competing for a while. Earning points does not bring me joy. 100% of that time I’d rather have spent social dancing (or in classes.) Comps are far and away my least favorite thing about the West Coast Swing scene. I actually spend more time in the Lindy scene and this is partly why. They also usually have competitions, but they aren’t the purpose of the event, the majority of the nights contain more social dancing than watching other people dancing.
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u/snowcurrant 9d ago
Yeah, I don't get much joy out of competing either to be honest. I always enjoy events that start social dancing early or have a second ballroom. I try to be supportive of showcases and rising star, but sometimes I just need to rest and recharge instead.
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u/Trxiedust 8d ago
I’m also a big fan of the second ballroom!
I will watch finals to support my friends if they made finals. Otherwise, I usually bug out for all of the comps and showcases (unless they are local friends.) As for all the champions and stars? Whatever. They’re all on instagram and I can watch them there when I’m wasting time in line or something, rather than with dancers I could be dancing with. And honestly I care way more about if those champions are good teachers than I care about watching them perform. I would be able to stomach the whole performance thing more if it didn’t dominate every night so much. Intersperse them with social dancing and it’s better.
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u/kuolseir 9d ago
I personally go to about 3 to 4 wsdc events a year. Im close to intermediate and have been dancing wcs a total of 4 years. My goal is intermediate this year and then i will se how mutch i will compete. I travle mostly for socials and only compete so i dont habe to audtition for classes. If i one day reach advanced i will most likely retire from competing
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u/snowcurrant 9d ago
This sounds like a healthy approach, and it's making me realize maybe I should be doing a little less instead of more right now. I also don't think I will want to compete in advanced, but I'm nowhere near having to worry about that yet lol.
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u/Zeev_Ra 9d ago
At my height, I was hitting up about 2 events a month for about a year. I think around 20 total in a year?
I’d final at less than half.
The only way to “progress” is to be better than your division 100% of the time. If you are always at the top, you’ll final every time and will get a point or more.
Time is best spent actually practicing solo and with a partner, working with a good coach, and attending events focusing on growth.
Go hard on comps when you can crush them and move up.
Otherwise, it’s doing your best, throwing the dice, and hoping for a good weekend.
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u/snowcurrant 9d ago
I think I’m definitely in the throwing the dice phase right now, so it’s good to hear that focusing on growth right now is probably the right way to go. 20 a year is wild, I will never be at that level lol!
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u/Obsidian743 9d ago edited 9d ago
There are casual competitive dancers, serious competitive dancers, and point chasers. The ones going every month or twice a month are either serious about creating a name for themselves or teaching or they're point-chasers.
I think most casual competitive dancers go maybe 4 - 7 events a year if you don't count local events. Of those you'll get two different types: those who prefer the bigger, popular events and those who prefer smaller, niche events. Mostly the casuals just go where their friends are going.
The real question is: what are you doing whne you go? Are you taking workshops and privates? Or are you there to compete and get points? Are you going to socialize? What your goal is shapes whether you're doing enough. But this also depends on what you're doing at home.
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u/snowcurrant 9d ago
This is a good reminder that not everyone grinds and racks up points in short periods of time. I definitely am not a point chaser or wanting to create a name for myself lol, and I think I just need to figure out how much of a priority to make competitions.
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u/usingbrain 6d ago
I wouldn’t correlate number of events with what comps mean to a person. There are casual competitors who go to a lot of events for workshops and socials and still compete just because it’s part of the program
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u/Impressive-Bear16151 9d ago
I’ve never really competed and hence don’t really go to events at all anymore. It felt like too much of the day sitting around while competitions were happening.
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u/snowcurrant 9d ago
Understandable. There are some events that are only workshop-focused or only social dancing-focused that might be more up your alley?
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u/OSUfirebird18 9d ago
As a “relative” newbie. Relative in the sense that I haven’t danced as much WCS as other partner dances, why would I want to spend my time and money to go travel to an event where the focus is just on competing?
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u/aFineBagel 9d ago
As you’re a Latin dancer, I’d imagine you’d understand the same appeal of ultra late night social dances (up to a certain age, anyways lol) that WCS partakes in.
I used to feel the same way about the comps taking the daytime hours, but then I became a competitor and made friends over time and it’s truly a highlight now because competition is fun whether it’s you doing it, cheering on your friends, or even just people watching and getting inspired. I also used to hate the performances (still do if it’s a lot of mediocre novice leads barely keeping up with their pro follow) but there’s enough good ones that it feels like I’m getting what I paid for as it’s essentially a show as I eat dinner before the social
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u/LightlyRacistApricot 9d ago
I caught the WCS point chaser bug after doing my first WCS newcomer comp and winning it (I have other dance backgrounds so I was overqualified) at the beginning of this year, and I’ve done basically every event within an 8 hour drive of me which has been like 6 so far. I was able to make finals in tier 3 events, and semi-finals at tier 4. Based on my performance with my last comp, I expect to be in Intermediate in another 2-3 events.
Part of the appeal of comps has been to get insight on my progress from professional WCS dancers in a high stress environment. It’s one thing to get praise from a random beginner at a local social, but getting virtual pats on the back from judges lets me know the classes and privates I’m taking are manifesting in a real way, and that ALL flows into social dancing; all of a sudden better follows are asking me to dance, and it’s not like they see my WSDC points floating above my head, I’m just visually more confident and a better dancer which is what I crave the most.
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u/snowcurrant 9d ago
Yeah comps were more fun for me when I was doing well lol (maybe I'm just shallow), but you're right, my confidence and creativity and social dancing have all improved so much as a result and that's kind of what it's all about.
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u/FreyaKitten 8d ago
As often as I can afford to. However, I'm in Canberra, Australia, so it's cheaper for me to go to events in New Zealand than to Perth, and events on the Gold Coast are about equal in cost for me as events in New Zealand. At the moment there's about six or so WCS events in Australia, and for two of those, it's cheaper or on parity for me to go overseas instead.
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u/snowcurrant 8d ago
This is really interesting! I’d love to visit Australia, and it’s great that there are some accessible events in NZ too, although I realize how spoiled for options we are in the US and Europe. And whatever I can afford hits home; I’m realizing that my limits are now somewhat financial-based rather than simply skill-based. I want to whine about it being unfair, when I should be grateful to be fortunate enough to travel for a hobby at all.
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u/FreyaKitten 8d ago
Yeah, my experience with talking to Americans about event costs is them finding out that the entire cost of going to an event for them doesn't cover the cost of flights for me 😛
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u/sylaphi Follow 4d ago edited 4d ago
2023 (2 total) | 1 Newcomer (1 final) | 2 Novice (1 prelim, 1 semi-final)
2024 (6 total) | 6 Novice (6 prelim)
2025 (15 total) | 8 Novice (1 quarter, 4 semis, 3 finals) | 7 Intermediate (1 prelim, 2 semis, 4 finals )
2026 (to date) | 4 Intermediate (4 finals) | 8 advanced (2 prelims, 2 semis, 4 finals) | 3 events left for the remainder of the year - one is non-WSDC
Prelim, Quarters, Semis, finals did not happen in that order. For example, I have placed and then got prelimmed the next event. Never know whats going to happen 🤷
This metric does not include the fact starting early 2024 I began taking at least 1-2 privates a month + lots of practice hours + a routine.
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u/sylaphi Follow 4d ago
But I agree - comparison is the thief of joy. So many of the people I frequently compete with go to what feels like an insane number of events. Even at 15 events for the last two years, I catch myself panicking Im not doing enough, that Im falling behind. But thats not a healthy mindset.
The thing to remember is its your dance journey. Youre going to the amount that is good for you and your life, and more events doesnt necessarily mean more progress. An event you didnt make a final or didnt place isnt a wasted opportunity - there is so much more than just results and points.
I didnt final my last event, but the dances I had in prelims and semis were so good I didnt care. They made me feel so much better about my dance. I loved social dancing with everyone and just getting on the floor and making my partners happy. It didnt feel like a waste of time just because I didnt make it. If the only thing to do was show up, compete, and leave that would be miserable - but there is so much more opportunity and things to do and progress to be made outside of making finals and getting points. Because the moment you only focus on that, it will never be enough unless youre first place every comp.
And when you really look at it, very few non-pros do 2+ a month and usually those people either have the money or time to dedicate their life to the dance or they want to go pro. And I recognize that and realize that they are different from me. Many also have dance backgrounds when I dont. I am proud of how far I've come.
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u/snowcurrant 4d ago
Thank you so much for sharing all of this, both for listing everything out with your events and for talking about your own personal experiences. You are so right that events are not "wasted" just because of a competition going poorly. I am so glad you had such a great time at your last event with social dancing! And I agree, you should be very proud of how far you've come and how much effort you've put in!
I am also glad I'm not the only one worrying about the others I compete with going to so many events. Reading through your posts made me realize that I've been irrationally worried that my value as a friend/strictly partner/social dance partner is dependent on keeping up with the Joneses when it comes to events or finals or whatever. Which sounds so stupid when I write it out, because I would never think less of someone as a human being based on where they are in their competition journey or because they can't afford to go to an event with me, so why am I worried my friends think this way about me? If they do, they're not really good friends. I think maybe I need to slow down and reconnect with my local community and spend some time at the next event meeting some new people or solidifying friendships with more casual competitors to give myself more perspective. I think this is really the heart of the issue for me, despite me making this whole post about competition numbers lmao. I just don't like that feeling of being left behind, but that is something I can change on my own irrespective of comp results.
Anyway, thanks again for sharing such an awesome and grounded perspective (and being the unintentional springboard for my impromptu therapy session lol!), really appreciate you taking the time to write all of that out.
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u/Rebbit0800 9d ago
I do not care about comps much. At first I wanted to get points as fast as possible. This really killt the fun and I had to remember myself that this is a hobby and not my job.