The best dancer doesn't always win
While Mya's "Case of the Ex" was a first-place-winning performance, I understand why Air Guitars should be celebrated too
A group of college friends and I had been practicing our dance to Mya’s “Case of the Ex” for weeks. I even had some kind of stick for a solo portion of our choreography routine. Our group was composed of two guys and four girls (including me in the lead). The day of the performance, we were ready. A few of my dorm neighbors were confused when they saw me walk in with the dance group, mainly because they’d never been to a nightclub with me nor had I ever mentioned that I’ve taken so many hip-hop dance classes I’ve lost count.
I’ve been competing in dance competitions since my MC Lyte “Stop Look Listen” days. And there are music videos right now that I could immediately stand up and do the entire choreography routine, thanks partially to WERQ and the other half to being one of those kids who watched The Box for a ridiculous amount of time.
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But even though they didn’t know I could dance, everybody in that audience knew who would be on campus doing his thing — this one college kid who was forever playing air guitar with his headphones on and sorta dancing like these people. He was the kinda person you see in the middle of a dance floor who you would only describe as “bless his heart.” Whether they can dance or not, their energy is top notch, and they are in the zone. We expected him to enter the competition even though about half the crowd just giggled and the other half started talking to their friends to pass the time until he was done.
When our group walked onstage, we figured our biggest competition would be against an all-girl group, judging from their matching outfits. We weren’t all the way sure who would win, but we figured we’d place in one of the top-three ranks as long as we nailed our choreography.
When the results were read, we didn’t expect this to happen — or maybe we did.