Camp Hollywood 2012

Camp Hollywood was a great event for me. It was great to reteam with my teaching partner, Heather Ballew. Teaching without my regular partner has been difficult for a few reasons, so I was glad to be back in Colorado working and teaching with someone familiar.

We competed in the Open Lindy Strictly, Open Balboa Division, Showcase Division and I competed in the Advanced J&J. The Open Balboa Division went straight to finals and featured a 2 couple chorus battle format.  We placed 5th which was a stunning result in my opinion.

Heather and I made the 5 couple finals in the Open Strictly Division. It was a spotlight format with 12 8’s to each couple. Thanks to someone’s suggestion, we came up with a plank aerial featured in our second outing.

I was very relieved the “1” was already drawn when I selected for Showcase placement. I drew the “2” instead. We had room to breathe and then time to watch everybody else. My pre-routine routine consists of not watching anyone else perform, so I was happy to watch everyone afterward.

I did not place in the Advanced Jack & Jill, but it was a heavily stacked competition with many great dancers. I did better this year than I did last  year. And by that, I mean I showed up instead of jamming at the Tempest Freerunning Academy. I did get a nice compliment afterwards from Mr. Camp Hollywood himself, Joel Plys.

Overall, Camp Hollywood was a great event. It was really good to feel involved again at a national, or rather international, competition. I saw a lot of old friends. It reminded me of how long I’ve been away from the competition circuit. Jonathan Stout’s various arrangements all kicked ass. Tise planked a bit – thank you. I participated in another underground competition. The things I do for Nick Peterson and vintage bathing suit fans. Sheesh!