First Time

We all remember our first time.  For some of us, it was awkward and painful.  Others felt they were being compared to someone else.  Everyone experiences a mixture of excitement and fear, and sweaty palms are par for the course.  Some are immediately ready for the next time, others so turned off by the experience that doing it again is the furthest thing from their minds.  Alida Esmail’s first time happened at age 18, at a luxurious hotel in the romantic city of Montréal, with a handsome 30-year-old man.  Yes, Alida just came back from her first time competing at a Ballroom Dance Competition – La Classique du Québec.

Although Alida has been studying jazz, tap, and hip-hop since she was seven years old, she only began Ballroom and Latin Dancing in July 2006.  Her first dance partner may seem like an unusual choice – her big brother, Tariq.  Alida describes dancing with him as “very fun! We have a good relationship and he was also very eager to learn. We did have the frustrating times, blaming each other for messing up. But overall, we laughed a lot and it all worked out great.”  All of Alida’s family has been bitten by the Ballroom bug at one point or another.  Both of Alida’s parents have taken lessons, and her older sister Nadia is now teaching Cha Cha, Merengue, and Salsa in Ottawa.

When Alida’s brother moved away for school, she was left without a dance partner – a dilemma only too familiar to many female Ballroom dancers.  She continued taking private lessons with her instructor Trevor Copp from danceScape Learning Centre, and decided to compete in the ProAm category - a division of most competitions in which one partner is a teacher (professional), and the other is a student (amateur).  “I love competing pro-am. Trevor is a wonderful partner and I am very lucky to be dancing with him. I know it cannot last forever so finding a partner is in the back of my mind, which would mean competing as an amateur couple in the future.”

The biggest reason why the partnership “cannot last forever” is that Alida plans to go away to university in the fall.  “My goal at the moment is to retain as much knowledge as possible and take it one step at a time. Then, when I head off to university, my goal is to [continue to] study dance on the side. As a long term goal after finishing university, I would like to become more enthralled in the Ballroom/Latin world and become a top professional. In order to achieve these goals my main tactic is to never give up!”  She sees dance as a big priority in the next five years, and hopes to still be dancing when she’s 50.

It sounds like a tall order, but from her track record, Alida is up to the task.  At present, she is in her final year of high school with a 94% average, taking an additional course to prepare for the two-week long Global Youth Leadership Conference this summer in Vienna, Austria and has applied to McGill University in Montréal, Québec.  As a result, homework takes up a lot of her time, as do weekly yearbook editor meetings.  She also has a large leadership role with Burlington Student Theatre (a local theatre training program) spending two to four days per week there, and working three or four times a week at her part-time job.   In addition to this, she takes private lessons twice a week, and comes to weekly open practice times.  Her favourite thing to do to relax?  “Go for a massage!”

Because so many things come easily to Alida, one of the hardest things for her is not ‘getting’ something immediately.  “The most difficult times that I have are usually during rehearsal when I either don’t understand something or I just can’t get it. I have high expectations of myself so when something isn’t working I get pretty frustrated. When this happens I tend to just put it aside for the moment and come back to it later.”

Alida finds something rewarding in all aspects of dance.  “I like competing because you are able to rank yourself with strangers you have never met, you are able to watch what could potentially be your future and meet other with the same passion as yourself.  Performing is not as stressful as competing but you are still able to have fun and share what you love with others who wish they could do what you do. Rehearsing […] is the time where I can practice and perfect each dance.”

Alida competed in seven styles of dance at La Classique, but has three favourites. “Jive is upbeat, a good workout and the most pleasure for an audience, Waltz is slow but involves a lot of technique so it is challenging, Tango is fierce and you don’t have to smile.”

Alida described the feelings she had leading up to the competition.  “I was totally nervous, excited and scared. I have and always will be nervous before a competition or performance; it is part of the experience and adrenaline rush. I have learned through theatre performance to use those nerves and channel it into energy in my performances. The hardest part is remembering all the technique I have learned but at the same time forgetting it and just dancing.  Once I am doing my thing I become more comfortable with the atmosphere and work with the environment. After the first couple dances I warmed up to the environment but the awe-inspiring atmosphere never subsided.  On the first day I was told by a couple to ‘dance for the audience, not for the judges’. This really stood out to me and showed when this couple won in their division. It showed in their performance and made a huge difference.”  Alida found huge inspiration in other competitors. “Watching other dancers who have been in the same field for so much longer, I felt privileged to have discovered the world of Ballroom Dancing. I have met and been around some of the best dancers in the world.”

Dressing up for competition was also a highlight.  “I wore two dresses from Le Château that I got two days before the competition. I had gone shopping, saw them on a mannequin, and when they fit, I knew I had to get them!  I don’t usually wear a lot of make up (if any) on a day-to-day basis; therefore for competition or theatre performance it is a drastic change. It takes a lot longer to do but makes you feel even more like a million dollars when you are done. It is nice to set aside time to make yourself look pretty every once in a while because we deserve it!”

Some people find the competition environment stressful, but for Alida, dance “takes my mind off the rest of my life and allows me to be happy in the moment.  I consider it [dance] both an art and a sport. Dance is art because it is a form of expression but it is also a sport because technique and skill are apparent and important.”

So what next?  Alida and her instructor Trevor are preparing to enter the Crystal Leaf Competition in Toronto in April.  Her goal for her second competition?  “Use the advice and technique tips from the judges at the last competition and apply them to my dancing. My goal since now I know most of the basics is to pick at all the details.”

Does she have any plans to audition for CTV’s Canadian version of “So You Think You Can Dance” in April?  “I would have to look into the details of the process as it would be a large sacrifice to devote my time to the TV show instead of schooling, but school can always come later. I haven't thought about it at all but it would definitely be a thought in the back of my head.”

Whatever she does, we know she'll be a success!

New Dancer? Seasoned Pro?  Tell us about your first time!  Email your memories, photos, videos, and stories to editor@dancescape.com