The Jack & Jill contest is a mainstay of some couple dance styles, from local contests to international competitions like the International Championships. It’s an exciting and dynamic format that many feel is a true test of a social dancer’s ability.
It’s also an archaic term that we should stop using.
A bit of history first. Harvest Moon Ball winner Jack Carey is credited as the inventor of the Jack and Jill contest in the 1950’s. The innovation he introduced to dance competitions was to randomly pair couples during the contest to make it a true test of partnering ability and improvisation. His intent was to make it easier for anyone to enter a dance contest, since it didn’t require a partner or any preparation at all.
The Jack & Jill is now a common format in west coast swing, lindy hop, salsa, zouk and hustle competitions worldwide.
The scene today has a large and growing number of women who lead, men who follow, and people dancing both roles. Increasingly dance classes and workshops are using gender-neutral language to encourage men and women to take on any role they wish.
Fortunately, the dance scene has many creative and smart people in our community. They have come up with better terms that capture what we want to express about the Jack & Jill contest, and doesn’t exclude people. There are already some interesting suggestions out there:
Are you getting ready to compete in Novice Jack and Jill and want to know how to train and what to do on competition day?
You’re not alone.
This are some questions I have and probably we might share some of them:
So I thought I’d let you know what to expect and give you the best advice that I found or was told (this will be my next challenge to face in the coming dance congress or festival I assist).
More than likely we are going to get our ticket and accommodation sorted months before your event. Once we have it, we can focus our attention on preparing for our competition.
Correct preparation comes down to knowing how the judges will judge our dancing.
There are 6 judging criteria in competitions. They may slightly vary form one dance style to another.
They are;
Newcomer and Novice Jack and Jill: You’ll be judged on your timing, technique and teamwork.
Intermediate Jack and Jill: You’ll be judged on your timing, technique, teamwork and variety.
Advanced Jack and Jill: You’ll be judged on your timing, technique, teamwork, variety and contrast.
All Star & Champion Jack and Jill: You’ll be judged on your timing, technique, teamwork, variety, contrast and showmanship/musicality.
These judging criteria breakdowns provide a lot of clarity so we know what we DO and DO NOT need to train…
For Novice dancers;
DO train your timing, technique and teamwork.
DO NOT WORRY ABOUT VARIETY, CONTRAST OR SHOWMANSHIP!!
Don’t try to do your most advanced moves or that cool pattern you watched on YouTube… It’s not important and won’t help you in your competition. In fact, chances are, it’ll hurt your results if you and your partner mess it up.
Leave your fancy moves at home…
Don’t try this on competition day…
Instead, keep it simple.
Lets break down the three T’s that Novice ranked competitors should focus on in Jack and Jill competions. That is: Timing, Technique and Teamwork.
is simply your ability to step/transfer weight on the beat of the music. This means you’re not early or late, but simply ‘on time’ to the music. Timing is also extended to mean that you complete your double and triple steps ‘on time’ also.
This doesn’t mean that you can’t use syncopated rhythm or delayed rhythm as the music might suggest… it’s simply that you are on time with the music.
In Jack and Jill finals, you’re judged as a couple. If you’ve ever seen a couple dance where one or both dancers are off-time, you’ll see it’s a hot mess. It’s awkward to watch and very noticeable.
But when both dancers are on-time, even basic movements look fantastic.
Timing is one of those skills you can develop on your own. A good advice is to train your footwork drills almost daily and play music and dance in single time, half-time and double-time.
Simple movements like step-touch or touch-step are great training drill exercises that can help develop your timing and agility. Plus it’s a lot of fun to dance and experiment on your own to figure out what works for you and what doesn’t.
is how you perform your dance actions and movement. It’s where you demonstrate your ability in each component of your movement while you dance.
Example: When you step and transfer weight is an example of technique. As is how you roll your feet and settle on your anchor.
Ask yourself: Is your movement smooth or jarring? Do you have bent knees or straight? Are you engaging your core and maintaining your frame through your movement? Do you stumble through turns and spins or are you upright and spotting?
A hot tip: Have someone record you dancing with a partner so you can see what you look like. When I do this the first time, I saw myself and how my head was looking so ridiculously stiff as turning, and couldn’t believe no one told me before. As soon as I saw it, I corrected it and looked much better dancing afterwards.
Good technique is never awkward. It’s why we’re so attracted to pro’s in all dance forms and sports.
For novice technique as a leader; Focusing on rolling your feet, having smooth weight transition and engaging your core and frame while using your body to lead instead of your arms/biceps will get you 99% of the way.
Teamwork
Couple dance is a partner dance and well… you’re supposed to dance together as a team. Not as two individuals.Teamwork can be summed up as paying attention to your partner and dancing together in partnership.
In Novice levels of competition, this may simply boil down to being a good leader by clearly leading a pattern that your partner can follow. As a follow it’s as simple as following the lead the leader is giving.
If you’re both experienced, the follow may deviate from the standard pattern in an appropriate fashion to enhance the song and add flavor or musicality. The leader may then respond and extend the pattern to accommodate the followers deviation. This is an example of great teamwork.
But there are many times in a Jack and Jill competition where experience levels are different. So a more experienced Novice may be paired with a less experienced Novice competitor. When this happens, each dancer should aim to dance together, as a team. Being aware of each others limitations and dancing within those limitations is a great example of teamwork.
When you see the opposite… One partner dancing at a high level and ignoring their partners ability (or current lack of)… it looks terrible. It’s like watching a train wreck where one person makes their partner look bad, awkward or leaves them standing there wondering what the heck they’re supposed to be doing.
So for Novice Jack and Jill competitions, my best advice is to keep it simple.
Focus on the three T’s and forget everything else until you reach intermediate.
In doing so, your competition will be less overwhelming and more enjoyable. You may not feel like you’re pushing yourself or dancing to your full potential. I know it could feel a little robotic during the competition. But remind yourself that you are in a competition… and to compete is to play by the rules and do your best to win.
So keep it simple. Good timing, technique and teamwork will do it.
You’ll have plenty of social dances at the event to show off your fancy moves or experiment with some newly acquired skills. At the end of the day, having fun in your competition and dancing to the best of your ability is all that matters.
Judges will only see a small amount of your dancing as they don’t have enough time to watch everything you do. So as a rule, consistency is better than excellence.
Be consistently good in all areas of your dancing instead of being excellent at ‘spins’ or at ‘timing’. Work on every area and shore up your weaknesses. Then you’ll give yourself the best chance at placing.
I hope this research gave you some more clarity on how to prepare and how you’ll be judged in your Novice Jack and Jill competition.
Break a leg on your next J&J competition! And enjoy it fully!!!
Challenge your soul, mind and body by training and preparing yourself in the dance style you like the most. Is not about perfect is about progress. Check on our channel with classes, start today and be persistent, you will be amazed as how your dancing skills grow every day!
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Read more:Dancing: a gender issue?
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