IDO Dancing part 2

Today, we are talking again about dancing. But today, I will show you (or I guess tell you), how it works on the actual dance floor. Of course, it's not the same every time because every time the dance floor is different than the other times, but I am going to try to make it simple.

DISCLAIMER: This is from my personal experience but it does not have to qualify for every Hip-Hop competition that there is. So let's get into it.

What is the dance floor?

So, what is the "dance floor"? Like you obviously know what it is, but it is a completely different thing when you are standing on it, the lights are going into your eyes and everyone is looking at you. Especially if you're dancing the solo category (or at least that is my personal opinion).
The dance floor can be anything for anyone, but what all dancers have in common in the dance floor talk is that it's a stressful place. Even someone that loves the dancing and has been through this stuff a thousand times gets the one millisecond full stress in your heart. And if you don't and are a dancer you are a freakin' artist!

But how does it actually work?

It goes both simply and confusingly. Let me break this down for you:

It can be simple on small championships but on those big ones. When you get to the competition as a dancer in every category you have a different number. So on those small competitions the moderator says the numbers that will dance at the moment while the rest stays in the back. But on those big championships there are multiple people spreading the people into groups which will preform together (solos and duos). When it comes to the groups they come individually or two at the same time (groups) and just one at a time for the big formations (you could not do two at any occasions since the formations have custom music).

The number

So, as I said before you have a number that kind of guides you when you will dance. You get it in a paper form and you have to have it on you while you dance. Most people put it on their thighs, calves or back, or if they dance with any props they can put it there.

How long does the dance last?

The time is really important (not that much for solos since you just probably do freestyle (dance the way you feel the music)) but it matters with all the other ones since you need to know how long of a choreography/song mix you need to make. So this is how much the choreography should last for:

• Solos: 1 minute
• Duos: 1 minute
• Groups: 2 minutes
• Formations: about 3 minutes (it's basically your own choreography and music so it does not matter if it's 2:46 min. long or 3:15 minutes long, it's okay if it's not like 2 or 5 minutes long)

How does this relate to IDO dancing?

It's more than you might think, this is how it works on every IDO competition (that I have been on).

IDO dancing

Today I am going to start blogging about the second side of this blog, which is about IDO dancing. If you don't like dancing and came here for the other content (Slovak culture), just go read another blog post this one is not for you, and the other ones about dancing will probably not be as well.
I am talking IDO since that is not featured in the USA. I have seen how dancing (or kind of seen) in the USA works from the show Dance Moms. Anyways, IDO dancing is featured completely differently than American dancing. Just to let you know, IDO means International Dance Organization that is featured in those countries:

• Canada
• Slovak & Czech Republic
• Germany
• Estonia
• Jamaica
• Belarus
• Poland
• England
• Australia
• and many other countries from around the world (but these are probably the most featured, or these were featured at least at the competition where I was at)

So what's happening?

The season starts in January, and a lot of different cups in your country are made and you have to qualify for at least 1 to go to the nationals. After you do the country nationals, if you get a high enough place in the finals (if you even get there), you can go to the European or I guess your continent's nationals. And if you get a high enough place in the finals, you can go to the world championships.

OK, but how does it really work?

We have different types of dancing competitions as well, but there are not 2 different dance styles featured in one group. So you either have for example disco, but not mixed with Hip-Hop so you don't have 2 types in 1 column. Until now, I have been only featured in the Hip-Hop and Street dance (which is usually on the same competition as Disco), so I am going to talk about that the most over here, at this blog. If you have any questions, write it as a comment, cause if I will write everything about IDO I would be dead by the time I finish.


Here are the categories you can go into:

• Solo (1 person)  
• Duo (2 people)
• Group (3-7 people)
• Formation (8-24 people)
• Rookie champ (beginners)
• Battles (a whole another chapter that I will explain later)

People get judged by the judges (obviously) in a form of numbers. In the finals, if a competitor gets a 1, it means the judge wants him on the 1st place (if they say 6, 6th place etc.). In the other rounds (semifinals, quarter finals etc.) they either say Yes or No (as if they want them in the next round or not.). People in the finals receive diplomas, medals and/or cups. If the championship is a cup, every person gets a diploma (the place they got doesn't matter). If the championship is a normal championship people get diplomas only if they make it into the finals.

People get sorted into their "locker rooms" as a crew, in a medium size into multiple crews, or in a bigger championship as a country.

There is not a specific number of judges (I think), but there are usually about from 6 to 8.