How To Win a Dance-Off

Ingredients

• Multiple dance styles
• Fitness
• Confidence
• Humility
• Excellent posture
• Precise movements
• Stage presence
• Practice

Steps

1. Learn it all - Learn as many dance styles as possible; you never know what’s going to be thrown at you. Judges particularly like to see ballet skills in dancers, even if that’s not their specialty. (22 sec. )
2. Mix it up. Find a way to fuse classical dance with street moves, and you’ll stand apart from the crowd. (34 sec. )
3. Be in tip-top shape - Be in peak physical shape and stick to a healthy diet: Otherwise, you won’t be able to keep up with the competition’s grueling schedule. And be sure to stay hydrated; in past competitions, contestants have been hospitalized for dehydration. (40 sec. )
4. Be self-assured, but humble - Walk that fine line between self-assured and humble. Judges are like anyone else: They root for likable people. (53 sec. )
5. Play on people's sympathies - If you have a sob story of some kind, by all means use it. And shamelessly promote yourself. Sometimes, it’s not the best person who wins, but the one who’s best known. (61 sec. )
6. Remember the five Ps - Work on the five Ps: Posture, Precision, Presence, Personality, and Partnership. That’s what the judges are rating you on. (73 sec. )
7. Look happy - Look like you’re having fun. You can be technically perfect, but will lose points if your face is scrunched with concentration. (82 sec. )
8. Make it look easy - Now put all that together and make it look easy. How? With the biggest “P” of all – Practice. (91 sec. )
9. In 2008, a group of supporters petitioned the International Olympic Committee to get pole dancing into the Games. (98 sec. )