Reasons to enter physie competitions

 

5 tips guaranteed to help your holiday physie practice!

Read the original post here: Practice makes progress

2020 club competition

This year's club competition was unforgettable! The event aligned with 2020's theme of expecting the unexpected. We, the novice/intermediate ladies, were just about to finish our floordrill routine when the blackout started. Some ladies joked that we could use this to our advantage as the judges would miss fine details. 

Family members were allowed to watch the show which was held in a large arena venue. However, the march past with our sashes and the men's marching challenge were cancelled. These two proceedings are a crowd favourite each year. 

I love how the annual club competition gives the club community a yearly gathering to watch and celebrate girls and ladies flourishing at physie. Thank you teachers, volunteers, supporters, venue staff, and my clubmates for making this year's event so special. 

Read more:

2018 Club competition

2016 Club competition 

2020 competitions: Team championships

My team competition earlier this month was the first time I've danced in front of judges all year. This year, I had opted to skip the individual championships due to not having any interclubs. 

My favourite of teams was the figure marching at the beginning of the warm up where 4 x 8 counts of the individual warm up were omitted to accommodate the cool choreography. We did a windmill pattern and it was spectacular! I wish we had gotten a video to self-evaluate as a team. 

This year, I was front-left, a position I'd been in for most teams. We had 5 spectators - 2 judges and 3 teachers from our club. Perhaps, this was even more intimidating as we only had experts watching us and not a sea of supporters from across the zone. 

We placed and got a frilly medal! It was great to have our team efforts recognised. 

Thank you to my intermediate teammates. Also, extraordinary effort to the novice team as it was the first competition for some physie newcomers. Thank you D who volunteered to do our hair, your generosity and expertise is truly appreciated. Thank you to our teachers S & L for preparing us for the weekend. Finally, thank you to the supporters cheering on from afar. 

Read more:

2019 teams

2018 zone championships

2017 teams

Practice competition 2020

It has been a long 10 months since I last performed physie. I'd forgotten the feeling on putting on heavy-duty fishnet tights and the fear of accidentally pulling or ripping the mesh.

The showcase was remarkably different from any of my previous physie performances. Usually, dancers would have had at least three opportunities to compete both in informal and judged settings by the end August. 

It was a nice sunny day outside, however, it felt quite chilly to me indoors. I didn't remove my jacket until we had to line up for marching in height order. The practice competition took place in a large sports arena where I'd physied on several occasions. At first, I could hear the lag between the sound bouncing off the walls from the speakers, it was quite boomy. Then, I concentrated on the music. A small audience may have contributed to making the venue 'ring' more as few people were there to absorbed the sound. All the ladies were relieved that we made it to the end of our performance and we felt not so cold anymore.

Well done to all competitors and especially the beginner ladies who have learnt their first set of physie routines through a mixture of online and in-person lessons. Thank you to all the volunteers who made this event happen. I am so grateful to perform physie after this hiatus. 

Learning the BJPop 2020 in 10 days

This August I am going to learn the 2020 BjPop dance. It's a special dance choreographed for all ages to be used as a display rather than competitive routine. 

Usually the juniors learn it during a holiday workshop and one year the ladies did it during a lesson. At my club's annual competition, physie girls and ladies are invited to do a mass display of the BjPop. Ladies stand at the back during club competition and follow the girls, because we often don't know it off by heart. 

This year, I am going to learn it properly and then memorise the BJPop using the SMART principle.

Read about the SMART method of goal setting applied to my 2016 goal here. 

Specific - BjPop 2020.
Measurable - End result = memorised the dance. 
Achievable/Actionable- Spend 10 minutes a day for 10 days.
Realistic - Yes, I can set aside time each day.

Timely - Sat 1st Aug - 10th July

Watching the stars 2020

This year's DVD was a little bit different. Nevertheless, it was an important resource for learning physie at home while face-to-face classes were temporarily suspended. Travel restrictions and closed borders meant that DVD performers did not have the opportunity to film in a professional studio this year, but the end result was still very professional. Well done to Eloise, Hayley, Samantha, Georgie, Ava, Tara, Ashleigh, Peta and Sally. 

For the juniors mermaid print was a popular choice and for the older girls and ladies, performance wear options were embraced. Physie dolls resembling the performers also made it on screen. 

For me, the DVD was valuable for learning the nuances in each routine. The DVD provided clarity on small gestures that I was unable to pick up in asynchronous online modules and live online classes. Watching the difference in style such as how long to execute a position also impacted my choice of style. 

Special features:

• Marching routine - My class learnt some of this before we moved online. The routine looks so cool. Don't you agree? Although, it was a little awkward seeing the part where Peta and Sally were meant to connect their hands but couldn't due to social distancing.
  

• BjPop dance - Performers demonstrated this at different locations around Australia! 
  

• Walk throughs - Each year there are walk throughs of the senior routines. This year there are 'extension' parts for junior ages as well, I wonder how you qualify to get the extension? 
  

• Behind the scenes - This year's behind the scenes included Zoom meetings and home practices, unlike exploring the TV studios and dressing rooms in previous years' DVDs. 
  

• Bloopers - These are a tradition. 
  

DVD performers

Check out previous "Watching the Stars":

Watching the stars (2016)

Watching the stars 2017

Watching the stars 2018