Ohio Star Ball

Every major competition brings with it the same sort of challenges and triumphs. There are the various travel mishaps and logistical issues of getting half a dozen people hundreds of miles across the country. All the dancers are dealing with their preparedness mentally, emotionally, and not least of all, in terms of their dance skills. We meet, fail to achieve, or surpass our expectations, and then deal with the fallout. 

This year we knew there would be a lot going on with someone dancing in nearly every session. In the lead up to Ohio it always seems like the week is so long, loading in on Tuesday and not departing until Sunday, but with such a jam packed schedule there’s not much time for thought. A quick recap of the week:

Cary started off on Tuesday employing her new strategy of dancing with routines and the resulting dancing was freer and more musical. Not having to worry about steps allowed her to be in the moment and concentrate on interpretation each dance. 

Gary picked things up Wednesday morning (and later on Friday) and for him it was his first Ohio. Having seen the level of the best dancers in the country, he really stepped up his game in terms of movement and the quality of his shape. 

Jerry followed after later on Wednesday afternoon dancing Smooth and then Open Rhythm. As a higher level male amateur he has the challenge of matching the male pros in providing a framework for the partnership. He’s well on his way there and in many ways surpasses some in terms of flexibility and body skill. 

Thursday was the big day for Best of the Best performances by Gretchen and Sheryl. They had both been putting in tremendous work to detail their show numbers. Gretchen’s Mary Poppins routine was a singular piece, and while it didn’t place in the top 6 was clearly one of the audience favorites garnering praise throughout the weekend for its great delivery of character and flawless execution (minus Michael knocking his hat off in the first five seconds). Gretchen also danced her first Ohio at the open level making semis in singles and quarters in multis of one of the most competitive divisions. 

Sheryl danced her new cabaret piece for both Best of the Best and the cabaret scholarship. She was spot on in some of the most difficult lift work she’s ever done all while delivering on the musicality of the piece. If you’ve never done cabaret it’s hard to understand just how impressive that is. Then on Saturday morning she turned around and did it again delivering the same level of musicality.

Heidi has been making huge strides (pun intended) in her movement across the floor in Smooth so she definitely looked at home amongst the dancer in the Open Silver on Friday. She kept her movement and did that while performing very recently changed routines with much more complicated elements of position changes and times. 

Friday evening was the time to shine for Cary and Sophia. Dancing in Battelle Hall is a special experience. The crowd is huge and with the stadium seating you really feel part of a grand experience. Cary transformed herself into Lucille Ball for her Friday night show. This was the third (possibly final) performance for Lucy and it was the best yet. The experience of dancing it was a blur, but looking back it was objectively the best in terms of the quality of the acting, the comedic timing, the movement, and the way it was staged. Cary took on the role not only through costuming but really lived the nuance of all Lucy’s mannerism. 

Where Lucy was fun and character based, Sophia’s performance of The Phoenix was much more abstract and emotionally based. Dancing with the three pros she does Latin, Smooth, and Theater Arts with (Nick, Max, and Michael respectively) she delivered a performance that demonstrated how she’s integrated all those modes of dancing expression. Saturday she gave her most committed and full performance of her relatively new cabaret routine. Placing 3rd in a very competitive field. 

Each individual dancer may have had different feelings of success this week but for the Big Apple Team Ohio was an unqualified win. We all went in with great preparation, executed our plans, and hopefully had a little fun in the process.