Lycra madness

It's leotard try on day! This is the time to choose and design your very own made-to-order leotard for Champion Girl/Lady which are the individual competitions for physie. Upon arrival I was overwhelmed with the choice of colours and leotard styles. Luckily, our club had the try-on box to ourselves due to the fact that there are several boxes circulating all around the country this month. Styles are categorised into junior and senior/ladies. Girls under 13 years old must wear junior styles and girls 15+ must wear senior styles. If you are 13 or 14 you can wear either. All leotards are stamped with the BjP emblem and since there is no expiry for designs, leotards are valid year after year. There's also pre-loved leotards on sale at the club and various places online. These are particularly good for girls who outgrow their leotards frequently or join later in the year and to save money (or for those who miss ordering one in time).

Body-stockings in each colour to find your match.

In total there were six senior/lady designs, some you can choose to have two colours if desired. There was an extensive list of colours to choose from, 23 to be exact. I can't wait to see all the girls and ladies brighten up the dance floor! Here are links colour palettes of different associations: Danz Design (BjP), Karen's Kreations (Edith Parsons) and Reedle Dancewear (APDA's new supplier). As you can see, unlike the other schools of physical culture, current BjP leotards are not embellished with diamantés and crystals which saves us money.

Being my first year I thought 'why not design my own?', so I did. Danz Designs allows an option for front lining which is dearer, but it's worth it for the comfort and security. So after trying on about seven leotards in four styles, I came to my final decision.

Leotard style, check... leotard colour, check... leotard size, check ... but I was not done yet. To complete the package, I needed fishnets, as in the stirrup tights worn by ladies. Being fishnets AND stirrup meant that it was the most expensive dance tights I've ever seen!

On a final note, I'm thankful that 21st century BjP Physie is done bare feet (some associations require silver ballet shoes which are around $70, though I think BjP had shoes once upon a time). This means that only a plain, non-embellished leotard and tights are required for competition. Now I've just got to wait until the last week of July to receive my special piece of lycra.

March into March

Registering with BjP Physie

After my initial trial lessons I have registered with my club and the BjP School of Physical Culture. The club registration covers public liability insurance, music licensing fees, official BjP and club competition entry fees, team leotard hire and end of year awards. Inclusions as part of a club's registration fee varies from club to club. All physie girls and ladies must also be registered with BjP and this fee entitles your rights to learn the syllabus.

This year BjP has introduced online registrations so that girls/ladies can directly pay registration fees to the association. In my opinion, this process is more convenient in terms of administration, enrolments and statistics. From a teacher's point of view it saves time since members are directly providing their information to BjP. On the other hand, families who are not familiar to the net or are sceptics of internet transactions may require extra help.

Filling in the registration form helped me gauge the popularity of BjP Physie around Australia, there was an unending list of clubs to choose from. In total, the Bjelke-Petersen School of Physical Culture has 134 clubs in 6 states/territories: NSW-105; Qld-18; Vic-6; ACT-2; WA-2; SA-1. Physie is particularly popular in NSW, there's no shortage of clubs with 105 BjP affiliated clubs and many more clubs under different associations. So if there's physie nearby, why not give it a try?

Marching

Since it's the month of March, I thought I'd share some information on marching.

In physical culture we march. No, it's not like military marching and it requires much more than just walking to the beat. We point our toes, slightly turn out our legs and swing our arms. Physie marching is always done anti-clockwise and always starts with the left leg. The left leg hits all the strong beats of the song, while the right leg goes on the weaker beats. As the dance floor is set in a rectangular shape, physie girls/ladies have to turn corners.

The corners occupy two counts of the music i.e. left and right foot counts. In physie the act of rising the foot onto its ball is called a toe rise (or releve in ballet). On the strong beat, the left foot rises and on the weak beat the right foot also rises to meet the left foot while turning the whole body 90 degrees anti-clockwise. Just before the right foot lands on the ground you will pivot anti-clockwise while your whole body's weight is on the ball of your left foot. When a corner is turned, the left foot resumes stamping on the strong beats of the song.

I know this sounds a little complicated in words but YouTube physie marching and you'll see hundreds of videos (keeping in mind that different associations do it eg. hands open or clenched). Also, why not try it yourself, especially if you are a kinaesthetic learner.

EDIT: Watch the 2016 grand final here for a visual demonstration.