Compete in Solo Dance? (Adults)

[Integrity]

Hello Everyone:

Do any of you Adult skaters compete in Solo Dance competitions? I am a bronze level dancer & like competing. I have competed for many years in Synchro and would like to try dance. I wish there were some men dancers in my area, but there just aren't.

I'm wondering if any of you who may do this always compete against young kids? I assume you must enjoy it if you take the time & effort to do it....?

Thanks in advance.

Integrity

[coskater64]

I have just started dancing in competition (solo) as an adult. I mostly attend adult only competitions, therefore I skate against adults. It is very fun, and I highly recommend it, I skate at pre silver and the competition allows me to see different ways to present the dances.
la :D

[Integrity]

Thanks for the quick response Coskater. Does the CO mean that you are from CO? I live in New England & I'm not sure if we have a whole lot of adult only competitions in the area. It sounds like fun though. I used to compete in Adult Free but I stink at jumping LOL.

[TashaKat]

Solo Ice Dance is relatively 'big' in the UK so it isn't unusual for both adults and kids to compete in Solo Dance. We even have a championships specifically for Solo Dance (for the kids).

I've done a couple of competitions though I was lucky to have a dance partner so did more couples dance stuff.

[icedancer2]

We have solo dance here in the US -- in some small venues (club competitions, etc.) you may compete against the "Kids" and I think at Adult Sectionals you can compete against other Adults -- men and women compete against each other in Solo dance.

I don't understand why they don't have Solo Dance at Adult Nationals -- with the relative lack of partners/partnership potential I would think this would be a popular option and would give the numbers of registrants at AN quite a boost!

[Integrity]

"I think at Adult Sectionals you can compete against other Adults -- men and women compete against each other in Solo dance."

Really? I didn't know this. Going to check out the website for Easterns this past year if I can find it.

I have often wondered too if they would add solo dance to AN, but they'd have to expand the competition quite a bit I guess. It would be great if they did, however.

[Beccapoo2003]

Come to Peach Classic in Atlanta and you'll have plenty of fellow Adult solo dancers there!
Becca

[coskater64]

Like becca said peach (labor day weekend) has solo dance so does the halloween classic in Philly, at least I think that has dance. Most of the adult competitions have solo dance. I will skate w/ a partner this year and solo dance. I am from colorado. Solo dance would be huge at AN's and probably mandate a 3 rink facility just for the competition. I would be nice if they would consider a championship for solo dance.

la

[Mrs Redboots]

Solo Ice Dance is relatively 'big' in the UK so it isn't unusual for both adults and kids to compete in Solo Dance. We even have a championships specifically for Solo Dance (for the kids)..Not just the kids - there were three adults competing in it last year, yes, at the elite level! And very well they did, too.

But yes, many competitions offer solo dance classes - including the Mountain Cup, but not (this year) Oberstdorf.....

I have stopped doing it, because I simply am not as good at it as I am when I dance with Husband. He has stopped because he says he can't get the timing right on his own, which may or may not be true, but he is a lot better at it than he used to be! Golden rule, though, is that we don't compete against one another (he'd finish ahead of me, and I'm not having that!).

[CanAmSk8ter]

I'm a YA (or I was, before the age limits changed at Governing Council- I guess I'm a real adult now!) and I competed in solo dance at Sectionals in 2003 and 2004. In my area there aren't very many adult-only competitions, and I only know a couple of adults who compete solo dance; they mostly compete against the kids. I do too, but I compete at the Junior level usually, so I'm competing against the older kids- and since I still get carded at R movies, I assume I don't look out of place.

[Integrity]

Thanks for the responses.

Another Q: Do any of you travel for a competition just to compete in dance or do you do a freeskate as well?

[Mrs Redboots]

Another Q: Do any of you travel for a competition just to compete in dance or do you do a freeskate as well?I have certainly done so in my solo dance days - and a couple of the adult competitions here in the UK are dance-only, including both solo and couples dances. One can, and both Husband and I have, compete[d] in both disciplines in the same competition!

[CanAmSk8ter]

I don't do freestyle anymore, so I'm always traveling just for dance. Sometimes it works out for me to skate two levels (if the requirements overlap they'll often let you do that), other times it doesn't.

One thing you should defintiely consider if you're on the east coast is the pro-am competitions, where you compete with your coach. There's one the weekend after next in Virgina and there's one in New Jersey in the fall. They're a lot of fun, and you can usually skate your test level and then a a couple of "open" dances, where there's no test requirement but since almost everyone's skating with their coach (competitive teams can skate these events too) the levels are evened out a bit.