Don't worry! This isn't a journal where I say "I'm going to quit dancing." No, nothing like that! Rather, since Midwest FurFest just opened their dance competition auditions and announced their rule changes, I figured it'd be a good time to share my two cents on the operation of fursuit dance competitions, particularly how preliminaries work. As a disclaimer, I have not yet attended MFF or any convention of comparable size unless you count Further Confusion, nor do I plan on doing so in the near future, as I'll be graduating college and my convention attendance will likely slow down for the foreseeable future thanks to full-time adulting. I simply wanted to share my thoughts on the matter.

To kick off on a positive note, I’m happy that dance competition auditions have the dancers perform their choreography for their auditions. In the case of MFF, this year, they are making the switch from freestyle auditions (which, from my understanding, often had a group of fursuiters audition all at once to the same randomly-selected song to expedite the process of judging dozens of applicants) to having each dancer perform one minute of the (presumably, but not necessarily, choreographed) routine they plan to dance for in the finals. From a saving-time standpoint, especially for huge conventions like MFF, the freestyle audition method certainly helped, but on the other hand, it never made sense to me for people to audition with freestyle if they were going to perform with a (again, presumably, but not necessarily) choreographed dance in the finals. Ultimately, this was probably the result of a careful cost-benefit analysis to which the answer changed over time; in the past, dance competition organizers and judges determined it would be more beneficial to be able to run auditions for massive groups of people all at once with the relatively insignificant trade-off of judging a dancer's freestyle skill rather than what was often a well-prepared choreographed piece. Now, as the mentality around dance competitions has changed, they decide that accurately judging a dancer's experience and skill level is still possible to balance with a procedure that is somewhat more time-consuming, but less so than the full-choreography auditions conducted at smaller conventions.

However, I’m still skeptical about getting rid of the Novice and Veteran categories. This can be seen as a way to maximize the skill level, and hence the entertainment factor, of the pool of dancers who are selected for the final competition, but I’m also always worried about the less experienced dancers who may not be at a level to compete in the same division as seasoned veterans yet. It makes me feel better when there are separate divisions for that reason, because I know dancers at all experience and skill levels will have a shot at making the finals due to participating within their respective divisions. I’ve gotten a bad rap for mentioning this on Twitter last time the issue arose, since the audience (typically composed of a large number of attendees with little to no dance -- let alone fursuit dance -- experience) really enjoys seeing the best the fandom has to offer, but seeing that (in my opinion) fun is one of the most important aspects of fursuit dance competitions — that’s why everyone’s dancing in big fuzzy adorable animal costumes! — I feel like it would be unfair to turn bigger competitions into hyper-competitive environments that only really cater to people who have the time and experience to pack years and years into fitting themselves into the often narrow box that the fandom wholly describes as “good” dancing.

For example, I'm a college student. I have classes to attend in order to graduate, so I can only realistically attend conventions that fall over a school break, such as a long weekend or perhaps even summer vacation. However, these days I attend furry conventions first and foremost for the purpose specifically of participating in the fursuit dance competition. I have the (arguably, depending on how you look at it) good fortune of living in the Pacific Northwest, where the extant conventions are all fairly small; likewise, their dance competitions do not typically have enough entrants to warrant making cuts between preliminary rounds (if there is one) and the finals. As a result, despite the fact that I have NEVER to this day made it into the finals of any fursuit dance competition where preliminary round cuts were made (i.e. Rainfurrest 2014 and FC 2017), I have been lucky enough to be able to participate in many dance competitions over the past couple of years, and I have even placed in the top 3 fairly frequently. (Excitingly, this past summer at Furlandia, I placed first in a dance competition for the first time ever!!) So, while I still very much consider myself a newbie to fursuit dance (primarily due to my lack of self-confidence, as I've been dancing for roughly four years now), I have a wealth of opportunities to get on stage without too much stress available for me.

Imagine if I was a furry who lived on the east coast, and my schedule just so worked out that I could only attend one convention every year, and that convention turned out to be MFF. If I wanted to "break into" the fursuit dance scene, so to speak, I would be very concerned about my only real opportunity to experience performing on stage in front of an audience being a large convention with a highly competitive dance competition where I am judged against extremely experienced dancers who have been in finals countless times rather than solely those around my same skill level. I wouldn't be a lucky furry who had the spare time and money to travel to other conventions and gain experience at smaller conventions or those with novice divisions where I might actually stand a ghost of a chance at making it into the finals, and hence it would be very difficult for me to find any enjoyment in the in-person aspect of fursuit dance (beyond, for example, chatting online, or sharing videos to YouTube).

So, in my opinion, when attempting to judge how to make a dance competition "better" -- for instance, by removing the Novice and Veteran categories -- it is important to consider what aspect of the competition exactly you are improving and how that will affect your audience as well as the dancers who audition.

That being said, it is also important to consider that, within the furry fandom and even outside of it, the subjectivity of what can be considered "good" dance cannot possibly be overstated. Anyone who looks can find a general set of tendencies or consensus within the fursuit dance scene about what defines a "good" dancer, thus dictating where a fursuit dancer should focus their practice in order to maximize their odds at surviving preliminary cuts in a dance competition, or even placing in the finals. To summarize, from my experience, this image of an "ideal" dance tends to have a considerable emphasis on technicality, with occasional, but not often noticeable, inclusion of other aspects such as emotional expression, composition, and even pure fun. However, ask any other fursuit dancer or even audience member, and perhaps they will judge the importance of the many aspects of dance differently. For example, for me personally, dance is all about feeling. Both when I am dancing myself and when I am watching or even judging dance, performances that tend to leave a deep, lasting impression on me are those that both evoke an emotional response when I watch it, and where I can tell that the dancer was, likewise, feeling some sort of essence (be it an emotion or concept) as they were performing. I think it is extremely important to consider the interaction between the dancer and the audience, and the difference between dancing for a camera, or alone in your living room, versus for a live audience -- I put much less value in a mere recitation of movement vocabulary, or what others would consider impressive technical moves. But, as I've said, that's just me. Every dancer and audience member is going to have a different opinion.

Overall, the point I want to bring to the forefront with writing this journal is this: fursuit dance is a constantly changing aspect of the furry fandom that has hugely increased in popularity since its introduction with the first fursuit dance competition years ago, and hence a serious reconsideration of how fursuit dance competitions are run to cater to dancers as well as audiences is crucial. I believe it is important to step back from trying to have the "best" fursuit dance competition, and re-examine dance as an art form, a mode of expression, in addition to a fun way to meet like-minded furries as well as show off for an audience. When too much emphasis is put on conducting preliminary rounds purely with the intent of filtering out the dancers in the fandom who fit the highly artificial and often unnecessarily narrow definition of what is "best," the artistry and individuality of dance is lost, and both the audience and the dancers lose the opportunity to witness the many complex facets and interpretation of dance and what it means to the individual who performs it as well as the audience who experiences it. I fear that this mentality pervading the operation of dance competitions will further integrate the echoes of elitist attitudes I have started to see hidden in the corners of the fursuit dance scene that often sneak to the forefront, only to return to the shadows with little fanfare. I have experienced the fursuit dance side of the fandom largely (but not exclusively) as a very open, supportive and friendly environment that I can utilize to build my creative capacity while also witnessing impressive works of art in a much more easily accessible manner than, for example, paying to attend a dance class -- and, not to mention, I have made so many friends and good acquaintances with whom I can surround myself to further improve the welcoming atmosphere of fursuit dance, and, along with it, the furry fandom as a whole.

I think there is a passage from the manga Welcome to the Ballroom, which is about competitive ballroom dancing (and hence I find it incredibly relatable as a fursuit dancer), which relates wonderfully to this situation. Unfortunately, I do not have the particular volume with me at the moment, so I attempt to paraphrase -- it goes something like: "In reality, with dance, there is no such thing as 'better' or 'worse,' but for the sake of competition, we assign numerical values and hence presume to judge dance." With this in mind, it could easily be true that there is really no one "right answer" for how fursuit dance competitions should ideally be run. However, I think it is critical to keep in mind that, first and foremost, the primary goal of a fursuit dance competition should be to create a fun experience for everyone involved.