Lindy Hop Competition Tip #1" - Dress to Kill

May 13, 2019

As someone who has emceed and judged numerous lindy hop events, I can go on and on about the state of lindy competitions today.

Certainly one of the major divisions is the Mix & Match (sometimes also referred to as the Luck of the Draw or previously as the Jack N Jill). This division tends to have the largest number of entries and the widest variance in skill. Heats can have 10 or more couples in total, oftentimes upwards of 20 or more.

Or a whole lot more.

But what can you do to stand out? For the purposes of this blog, I won’t offer any dancing advice or competition strategy. That’s an extensive article beyond the focus of this post.

What I will say about the Mix & Match is this: Unless you have name recognition within the lindy community, wear something that is easy to take note of. Or better put, wear something that someone can easily describe in 4 words or less.

I mention this because oftentimes judges wil make notes about what a competitor is wearing before the dancing starts. They use that note as a reference point to write comments on their judging sheet. This makes it easier for them to look for “purple skirt” then for #128. It’s also much afterward to remember who “purple skirt” was then it is to remember their particular number.

Obviously, you don’t want what you’re wearing to be the focus…. otherwise we’d have a lot of clown suits out there. But do consider wearing something that is easy to describe and slightly different than what others might be wearing. If you go T-shirt & jeans, I guarantee you won’t be the only one.