-
Competitions vs. Showcases
-
Thanks Empy….we know you care about us on SV! It's professionals like yourself that help make the site great! https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_heart1.gif
-
At Lopsi – I think that people enjoy competition more because there is a winner but we do have a great support group here is Detroit and the midwest that come from all over including Canada to watch and participate. I feel very blessed and overwhelmed sometimes think about the support we've gotten in the pole community. SV has broadcast every single showcase which is awesome because we can include MORE people from the community that way.
Any event is hard to manage and put together, I feel like competitions bring out more people because they think maybe the talent is better? I don't know because every showcase I have ever been to, my socks have been knocked off and I've been blown away but the amazing men and women we have performing pole!!!!! I've been inspired and excited to pole for WEEKS after.
I've only been a part of one real competition and it was a lot of fun but a lot of work and the nerves were terrible. At a showcase you know everyone will love you because it's not judgy at a comp you feel like the whole audience is judging you and you aren't living up to their expectations – or that's how I felt. I felt raw after competing and spent – there is so much more emotion going on.
The great thing about comps is that it brings attention to the level of difficulty involved with pole and further legitimizes it in the mainstream audience minds. Plus competitions push you to be your best and perfect things and polish up. They make you get creative and force you push yourself harder than you normally would. I mean we push hard for shows but much harder at comps – it's a different kind of performance. Both at fun and necessary to the growth of pole.
-
I'd love to throw in my two cents, maybe I can spur some ideas that will help move the concept of showcases and competitions forward for pole.
First, we are hard-wired to enjoy watching competitions. Competition is how pecking order was established in earlier times and is still how the majority of the animal kingdom works out first and last in social units. Competitions naturally have more draw than a showcases because of this.
As to showcases, think about all the showcases that happen around us every day, radio personalities, television shows, sales pitches, construction work and even your line of work. Everything that we do as people are simply showcases of the our talents, regardless of whether someone sits down and watches us or not. The point being that maybe a showcase isn't just setting people down and make them watch people's pole tricks one after another. Maybe there are other options, the first thing that comes to mind is to use your participants to tell a story, people love stories it is engaging and will bring them back. I also remember being at a club in san francisco called Ruby Sky, they had a belly dance troupe backing the dj for the night and they worked for a share of the liquor sales. I think of Veena's ET video where she combined her pole skills, dance skills, creativity, story telling and video production to create a whole that was greater than any one of her many talents. Or Charley's performance at the last detroit showcase where she really pushed to say something with her dance.
I don't think there is a right or wrong answer to whether a competition or showcase should be free or not, that is entirely up to the planner of the event to work out the economics on their own, and whatever they decide they need to be willing to defend just as you would with any business.
Finally, whatever you choose to do, know why you chose to do it and what you hope to accomplish. Armed with this knowledge your critics and detractors will have absolutely no power over you because they certainly don't understand your goal or strategy and you will see that their criticism is most definitely self serving. Without a goal and strategy in mind you will aim at many targets, and you will feel like a failure when someone tells you that you didn't do something right and it will drag you down and make you feel unnapreciated.
Hopefully this is helpful to some in this thread.
-
Very thoughtful insights Webmaster. Thank you for sharing! Gives us all some things to think about.
-
Charley, you're making me nervous as I just entered my first one. I have SO much to work on. I do step arounds and am out of breath… haha!
I'm trying to stay possitive and tell myself that if I don't fall and break my neck it's good. If I have a huge smile on my face that's a win!
Today's practice was a complete fail: I'm sooooo sore from Sunday's!!! HMPH! How you girls do it, I don't yet know, but sure hope to find out!
xxxx
-
Veena, you are so bloody talented, you could do a professional showcase! I'd pay to watch you, but lucky me I get you for free on my computer 🙂 (Ooooo that sounds slightly pervey… sorry…. I really don't mean it in a creepy way!).
I hope you find somewhere to perform live 🙂
-
As a pole dancer, that would most likely be traveling to attend as an audience member, I would have absolutely no problem paying to see a showcase.
Not only will this help the promoters/ showcase managers / owners recoop their investment, but it shows support to our fellow pole dancers and their talent as well as the art / sport itself.
We live in a time where we DO pay for entertainment. We pay to see a movie.. we pay to see a circus…we pay to see hockey games.. etc etc etc.
Why wouldn't we be supportive of a production that featured something we all know and love so much?
🙂
-
First off: Charley, you have done an amazing job coordinating the showcases. I know you must have paid a ton of your own money to put on the first two and I, personally, didn't feel that a modest entry fee was amiss at all! (Especially when you took the time to explain why you were charging the fee ie to pay for MC and DJ which most people assume is free). I also know that you have spent a considerable time managing the "drama" aspect and soothing nerves and so forth.
As for people who object to paying a participation fee to showcases, I would like to make an analogy: showcases are basically recitals. Those of you who have participated in recitals in the distant or not-so-distant past know that they are NOT free. Dancers usually have to pay a participation fee which, in my experience, ranges from $10/person to $100/ person. In addition to that, the audience usually has to pay a entrance fee which I've seen range from $5/person to $30/person. That money was necessary just to cover the COST of putting on the show.
Back in the day when I did recitals we all understood even at an early age that recitals did not just spring forth from nowhere and that there was a great deal of planning and effort involved. In fact, if we were caught grumbling in front of the wrong person about the price, we were often sat down and explained exactly WHY the fees existed.
Maybe the people who object to participation fees have never been in recitals, or just never have given much thought as to why there need to be some fees involved.
My bet is that if every showcase organizer was given half of minimum wage for every hour they spent planning/assisting/organizing/counseling particpants/easing fears/answering questions for every showcase, simply put no one would be able to afford to participate.
Showcases, in addition to competitions, have a very real place in our pole community for the reasons stated in others' posts. It would be a shame if they were to just 'go away' because no one could afford to host them because we all expected them to be free.
-
Thanks Crowningglass. I never knew recitals came with associated fees – then again I think everything does, lol!
I will say though – no matter what event is being put on – there's drama! From being a competitor – I can say that the organizers – Wendy and Anna – were running around like crazy making sure everyone was okay and had what they needed – everything from lunch to water to soothing nerves, answering questions. They were totally accessible. From the time we were accepted as finalist until the day of the show – they were totally available to us to watch videos, music selection, answer any questions no matter how stupid and I had a ton of stupid questions. Plus the amount of work that goes into have the stage built, poles put up, DJ and lighting and getting with 12 girls to sort out their lighting.
No matter WHAT kind of event you're putting on – I think you have to do it for the love of pole – I mean I cannot imagine what Jessalyn must go through putting on Pole Convention?!?!
I hope to see more large scale productions – whether conventions or showcases that promote pole in the togetherness aspect, I think competitions will always have their place but I think events about unity truly make us strong.
It 's important that we attend and support the events we can – I'm not saying go broke doing pole things, but I think community excitement and participation is really important.
And enough about ME lol, I just saw people chatting back and forth about showcases and comps and thought it deserved it's own platform.
Only thing I can say about the Detroit Showcases – is that once the music starts and you see the first dancer up there – the world is right, no matter what drama or nerves is going on.
-
Agreed about Pole Convention. I know Id email her from time to time about questions and she was great about answering them or even offering suggestions. Shes always so calm and cool about it all but I know inside shes freaking out from all the stress.
I want to put on a showcase in my area since we has so much talent and places to learn, teach etc. I just dont have time right now (darn my responsbilites as a parent! lol)
Log in to reply.