I live in a very small village in South Africa and started taking lessons at 14 and am now 18 and many teachers have said that I should take it further. I really want to but I don't have a partner (at the moment) and I'm not really sure where to start. It's my dream to compete professionally one day. Does anyone have any ideas, solutions or answers for me?
Where do you start if you want to be a professional ballroom dancer?
- Thread starter Sway
- Start date
X Cokabella X
New member
Well for starters you need to find a competition teacher (unless your teacher is anyway) which is a good start. Then you'll need to find a partner which is probably going to be the hardest thing. Once you have all that, you need to train with them basically every day of the week to get up to competition standard. It would be tricky for you because most competitive dancers start when they are six or seven but it's not unheard of if you're really good (which i'm sure you are 
). Then you'd need to enter yourselves into some smaller competitions and see how successful you are and then you'll work your way up into larger competitions.
Just as a warning. If you want to be a professional competitor it takes a huge amount of time out of your life (as said before, you have to train virtually every day) and it's extremely expensive to enter the competitions and to get all the dresses/shoes you need for them, especially if you're not hugely successful immediately.
Also, if I were you (despite my warnings) i'd just go for it! I've danced ballroom and latin since I was 6 and had the potential for competition when I was younger and still do. My mum won't let me though because she was a competition dancer (best in England at age 16) and she regrets it a lot because her education got put in second place to the competitions. I've wanted to competition dance for years but i'm also reasonably academic at school so i've never been allowed because of how it would 'ruin' my education. Sometimes, when I watch competitions I wish it was me. If I had a second chance I would enter them (or i'd beg mum to enter me into them
)
Hope this helps and good luck!!!
). Then you'd need to enter yourselves into some smaller competitions and see how successful you are and then you'll work your way up into larger competitions.Just as a warning. If you want to be a professional competitor it takes a huge amount of time out of your life (as said before, you have to train virtually every day) and it's extremely expensive to enter the competitions and to get all the dresses/shoes you need for them, especially if you're not hugely successful immediately.
Also, if I were you (despite my warnings) i'd just go for it! I've danced ballroom and latin since I was 6 and had the potential for competition when I was younger and still do. My mum won't let me though because she was a competition dancer (best in England at age 16) and she regrets it a lot because her education got put in second place to the competitions. I've wanted to competition dance for years but i'm also reasonably academic at school so i've never been allowed because of how it would 'ruin' my education. Sometimes, when I watch competitions I wish it was me. If I had a second chance I would enter them (or i'd beg mum to enter me into them
)Hope this helps and good luck!!!