I recently caught up with my dear friends Tom and Becky Hamrick from Huntsville, Alabama. They have recently returned from Italy where they participated in the International Training Camp in Caorle; a 6-day ballroom dance camp with over 500 couples from across the globe! Tom and Becky dance Senior II and Senior III Championship and Pre-Champ Latin within USA Dance. They sat down with me to talk about their dance journey, and their experiences as competitive dancers within USA Dance.
Christine: How long have the two of you been dancing? And what started your dance journey?
Becky: Well, we actually met dancing 17 years ago, doing social dancing at a local studio here in Huntsville, Alabama. So, our relationship really started through our mutual love of dance.
Christine: You mentioned you started dancing socially at your studio. What sparked your interest in competitive dance, and when did you transition from social to competitive dancing?
Becky: We wanted more. Do you know the World Superstars of Dance Videos? Well, we had been watching those and we liked the look of Latin. Then Rick, the owner of our local studio Southern Elegance, brought in Denis Satonin as an instructor. He had placed 22nd at Blackpool in Youth in Latin, so we started learning Latin from him, and we loved it!
Tom: We also liked the look of the WDC (World Dance Council) dancers in Japan, and we wanted to dance like that. We had an instructor in Denis who could teach us.
Becky: I think Denis wanted us to compete, he kind of talked us into it now that we were doing Latin. It sounded interesting but scary all at the same time! He actually didn’t even go with us to our first competition, which was a USA Dance competition in Louisville, Kentucky in 2012, back when they had the one there. It was held in February, and it was cold, cold, cold in the ballroom; but we spent the whole first day watching things in a nervous sweat. We were so nervous…incredibly…. ridiculously… nervous. So, by the second day when we were competing, we were just so tired that we weren’t that nervous anymore, and we had fairly good results in Bronze!
Christine: Do you remember when you stepped on the floor for your first competitive dance? What was that like?
Tom: I remember standing there in the line and looking at the people in front of us and behind us and wondering how we would stack up against them on the floor. Then we went out, and it was kind of a blur, because we just went into autopilot, and then it was over!
Becky: I seem to remember feeling right before that competition the same way I felt before our first Championship debut. It was this weird mix of really nervous and really excited, and not ready and ready. It’s like I had two different people living inside me feeling things, in that moment.
Christine: I know you said it was a USA Dance competition, how did you make the decision to start with USADance?
Becky: Well, we didn’t know much about USA Dance or NDCA (National Dance Council of America), except we had been told that NDCA was more for Pro-Am, and USA Dance was more for Amateur couples. Also, USA Dance tried to make it more affordable. And even then, if you looked at the price tag of one and the price tag of the other, that made it super easy to make that decision.
Christine: What’s your favorite thing about attending USA dance competitions? What keeps you coming back?
Tom: You know, the practice is hard and sometimes not fun; but when I step onto the competition floor that’s, for me, when the fun starts. I actually enjoy performing. It’s like going to a fancy dress-up social dance, only everybody else is uber-accomplished too!
Becky: USA Dance events have become very comfortable for us. I think it is one of the things we like.
Christine: What do you think leads to that feeling of comfort now at USA Dance competitions?
Becky: For me, it’s that you get to know your fellow competitors and it’s like a little mini-reunion every time we go. It’s like, “Oh, Hi! It’s great to see you again! Let’s do dinner!” So, we’ve made a lot of good friends and it’s great to get to see them and to hang out on and off the dance floor.
Christine: What is your favorite memory of a USA Dance Competition?
Becky: I’m going to say, for me, it was the Nationals in Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania, 2022). And to understand this, I need to share some background. Before that, we had danced at Southeastern, in Atlanta, and that was…our lowest point. We were both thinking about quitting; we danced so poorly.
Tom: The competition itself was great. However, we had choreography that was unbelievably complex, including a spin move we called the 30% move. If we got it, it looked great. But 70% of the time we didn’t get it. and the choreography just didn’t feel like us. We decided to take a step back and do a bit of a reset. As part of that, we switched our affiliation to Volga Dance Academy and began working with Katrina (Volgina) and her team.
Becky: Her recommendation was for us to go down a level. She said we needed to get our confidence back because we had none at that point. None.
Tom: We changed elements of our choreography, so they were simpler, more doable by us, and put moves on me that were more suited to a big guy.
Becky: So, in Pittsburgh, we danced Novice and Pre-Champ in our two age groups. And we won! We were first in Senior II Novice and Senior III Novice and Pre-Champ Latin, and second in Senior II Pre-Champ Latin!
Christine: What I’m hearing is that in Pittsburgh, it felt more authentic for you. You felt like the choreography reflected you.
Becky: We were more comfortable in it. We actually had confidence that we could do it. What we’ve heard over and over since then from instructors is the importance of choreographing for the couple. When we were dancing our complex stuff, we got comments like. “Oh, that was really complex.” Or “Becky, I like that new dress” Once we started dancing the stuff that we could actually do, we got serious compliments on our dance like: “Wow, you guys are looking really good these days!” My favorite is, and we have gotten a lot more of this now whether we place well or not, we’ll have people we don’t even know come and say, “We loved watching you guys.”
Tom: The best comment I think we ever got was at Nationals in St. Louis (Missouri)… a coach and judge who we don’t really ever talk to made a point of coming up to us to say, “You two danced really really well.” He didn’t have to say that; it was genuine.
Christine: Tell me why you both dance.
Becky: Because we love it. I mean, all the arguing and the work, and…this thing hurting and that thing hurting. When you dance, you just get into a flow. You’re just enjoying it so much, and people see that. You share that with them, and they share their feelings with you.
Tom: It’s a sense of accomplishment. You work so hard to accomplish this, and then, when you can actually pull it off, it’s incredibly fulfilling.
Christine: Switching gears a bit here. We’ve been through so much in the last couple of years that some people have had to take a step away from dance. Do you have any advice for competitors who have stepped away from the sport and may be thinking about getting back and engaging with USA Dance again?
Becky: My advice would be the same that I try to tell myself when we have taken time off; and that is: Remember why you do this. Are you having fun? Are you loving this? If not, then maybe take up hiking or pickleball, or something… because this sport is too hard not to love it and enjoy it.
Tom: What I would suggest is what Katrina suggested to us — just take a step back. If you’re dancing Championship, and you’re not in Championship form, go into Novice. If you’re dancing Novice, and you’re not in Novice form, go into Gold. This sport is too hard to drop it for a couple of years and try to get back into it exactly where you were. So, step it down and step it back to somewhere where you can do it, and get your foundation back, get the fun back.
One of the things that USA Dance could do to help as well is to have more competitions and qualifiers so there are more opportunities.
Also, take lessons from instructors who will get you where you want to be and who will suit your needs.
Christine: So last question here: What’s next for you both?
Becky: In January, we will be headed to the USA Dance-sanctioned Atlanta DanceSport Cup hosted by Vladimir Karpov and Katrina Volgina, where we look forward to being with so many of our Senior dancer friends and competitors!
Thank you, Tom and Becky! Good luck, and see you on the floor!
