Competitions

Steel City Blues is bringing back our All Level Mix & Match competition!

Register here

Mix & Match (n) — A style of dance competition in which competitors are paired lead-follow at random, and dance to music selected by a DJ. Participants are judged as individuals during preliminaries, and as a couple during finals. Once referred to as a Jack and Jill.

This M&M will be tapout-style until we narrow it down to our finalists, who will then pair up after a brief break, and then finals with start with the band coming back on-stage. Winners will be announced as soon as judging is finalized. 

Prelims:

Done in one heat during the 1st band break on Sunday Night (~9:15pm).  

  • Music will be 4 full DJ’d songs.
  • All leads will have one armband color and all follows will have another.  You must choose one role for the competition.
  • If there is an imbalance, some dancers may not get to dance the first song. We will tap out dancers of the unbalanced role first near the end of the first song. When someone of their role is tapped out- waiting dancers will be sent in to dance.

Finals:

  • Begins after a short break DJ’d break at the end of the prelims
  • Will be done to live music
  • All finalist will be paired at random
  • Two songs to dance
  • Ends in an All-Stake

    • The registration fee is $10, but please talk to an organizer if this is a barrier.

     

     

    Competition Criteria 

    The following judging criteria are not weighted evenly. They are also not listed in order of priority. Dance is an artform that happens to be a lot of fun and  open to interpretation. The judges are encouraged to weight their decisions based upon what they each individually value and prioritize in Blues dance.

    Blues Content/Aesthetic-Dance specific known blues idiom dances (struttin, mooch, funky butt, slow drag, shake and bake,Texas shuffle, savoy walk, strut, stride etc.)  and other movement that shows understanding of the appearance and shapes that define blues dances such as starting in close embrace, broken lines, asymmetry, grounding, cool attitude and energy, etc.
     
    Partnership-Connection is essential to partnered dance. Movement that shows dynamic lead and follow as well as support of one another as individuals through the use of partnering. True partnership is two individuals with freedom and choice building a dance together.
     
    Creativity-Have fun and dance in the moment. Allow your body to express itself pulling from what you know and allowing it to grow.
     
    Skill/Movement Quality– As we all develop and grow as dancers we each have our own unique movement style.  The quality of that movement is subjective.
     
    Musicality-This is expansive. It includes rhythmic and melodic inspired movement choices that help the judges to see what you hear through your movement.

    Winners of this year’s competitions will receive hand-made pottery by Amelia Oleander and a certificate for bragging rights.

    Check out our past competition winners:  https://steelcityblues.com/results/