This August, I and ten other dance friends from Japan attended two dance festivals in the U. S. Although I haven’t heard the exact figures, one was a very large festival with over 3,000 people attending. The other was about a tenth that size, with about 200 to 300 people attending. I thought it might be interesting to write about our impressions of each.

We purposely chose the two very different events because we thought it would be fun to compare. After attending both, no one could say which one they liked better because they were so very different. We got something out of both of them, it was just something completely different, even though they were both C/W dance festivals.

The first event we attended was the smaller one. We thought it would be nice to warm ourselves up, so to speak. It was in a small town, sponsored by a smaller organization and it was only workshops; no competition. It was meant to be a more laid back kind of event. One of the main reasons we chose it was because JO THOMPSON was the featured guest instructor. We are bringing over JO and her dance partner TIM SZYMANSKI to teach at a festival we are putting on this November and we thought it would be nice to be able to get to see them in action first. We ended up taking all of her workshops, and as anyone will tell you, she is an excellent instructor.  Because I am an instructor myself, I ended up sitting in a corner in the back and taking notes during her technique workshop instead of dancing so that I wouldn’t forget anything. One of my primary reasons for attending dance festivals is so that I can pick up as much new information as possible. The more pointers I can pick up, the more I have to teach everyone back here in Japan. It also helps to make me a better dancer at the same time, which doesn’t hurt. I used to try and learn as many new line dances and couples moves as I possibly could. However, I have since learned how futile that can be. It seems like the more you learn, the less you retain. And besides, by the time I come back next year, no one will be doing the same line dances anyway!

But, I am digressing now. I started out to tell about our impressions of the festival. The good things about attending a smaller festival are the obvious ones. The fact that there weren’t so many people attending meant that we kind of got to know everyone by the end of the weekend. Everyone was very friendly and many people made a point of coming over and talking to us. Just the fact that we’re from Japan and are all talking in Japanese makes us stand out anywhere (except in Japan), but it is also a very good conversation starter. The nice thing about having a limited program is that it is a lot less stressful. You don’t always feel like there are three workshops that you want to be at all at the same time. And our level of dancing was just about average with everyone else, so we didn’t need to have an inferiority complex. We weren’t too intimidated to join in the open dancing in the evening.

 However, we all agreed that we would only want to attend such a festival if there was a big name instructor that we were very interested in taking classes from. It probably wouldn’t matter so much if we were only driving a couple of hours by car to attend. In that case, just the fellowship and chance to dance with other people would make it worth attending. However, because we travel so far to attend, we want to make sure that there is something worthwhile to learn while we’re there.

Anyway, we all had a good time and were glad we went, even though it was in the middle of nowhere. We all went our separate ways for a few days and then reconvened in time to attend another event the next weekend. This second event was a huge one. There was swing dancing, couples dancing and line dancing all going on continuously. There were multiple workshops to choose from, plus all kinds of competition to watch. After the first event, it felt a little overwhelming, although in a good way.

Again, the advantages of a big event are the obvious ones. There were many very good instructors to take workshops from. I spent a lot of time checking out various instructors who I’d only read about or seen on video. l sometimes snuck into workshops for a few minutes just to watch. And, of course, there was so much competition going on that it was impossible to catch more than bits and pieces, all of which made you want to see more. We barely took any time to eat. I tried to pace myself, but of course it just wasn’t possible. One of the best things of all was watching the Masters competition. We had front row seats and it was absolutely breathtaking. It’s not at all the same as watching it on video.

An interesting side note is the different way the two events made me personally feel about my own dancing ability. Here in Japan, it’s easy to start feeling complacent about my level of dancing. It’s the old big fish in the little pond syndrome. I get lots of compliments on my dancing, partly because I’m the instructor. After attending the first event, I was secretly feeling a little hit smug. Most of the people attending were your average dancer and I felt like I compared pretty well. However, at the second event, the level of dancing went up quite a few notches. Many of the people attending workshops were instructors in their own right. All of a sudden, I wasn’t necessarily one of the better dancers. Comparing myself, I could see that I still had a lot to learn. While being somewhat deflating, it was also quite stimulating, as it gave me something concrete to strive for. I could see more clearly what my strengths and weaknesses were. (I learn very quickly and my turns are nice, but my body rolls need a lot of work, etc.)

And so, my advice on whether to attend a big event or a little one? It all depends on what you want to get out of it.  lf you want lots of stimulation and new goals to work towards, go to a big event. If you want fellowship and just want to feel better about your dancing, go to a small event. And if you can’t make up your mind which you want, then do like we did and go to one of each!!