Pro in one field , am in another ?

[liz]

I dance pro am in rhythm . What if I wanted to teach in another area of dance. Would it cause me to stop competing pro am in another area of dance? I have asked slot lately about teaching. I have no training in say county western or swing. But seems like I'd might be worth checking in to if it wouldn't effect my competing. Thoughts....

[SDsalsaguy]

As I understand the most recent updates to the rules (and I'm talking about NDCA rules, since you mentioned pro-am), teaching any form of partner dancing counts against being an am in pro-am (i.e. you could teach a jazz class and be OK, but teach AT, WCS, or the like, and technically you'd no longer be eligible to be the am in pro-am).

[lcdancesport]

Yeah Liz, the rules have changed. I was going to compete pro/am this spring, but because I started teaching last year I'm not eligible. I just have to wait for a student who wants to compete with me.

[Cal]

I dance pro am in rhythm . What if I wanted to teach in another area of dance. Would it cause me to stop competing pro am in another area of dance? I have asked slot lately about teaching. I have no training in say county western or swing. But seems like I'd might be worth checking in to if it wouldn't effect my competing. Thoughts....

Liz,
Have you contacted the NDCA itself to ask your question? You can get to their website at ndca.org, and link to its directors/officers contact information. Rather than making your decision based upon our speculation and interpretation of NDCA rules, I'd think it a better plan to go straight to the source.

[Larinda McRaven]

I started teaching last year ... just have to wait for a student who wants to compete with me.

I think is the correct answer no matter what NDCA says.

[Chris Stratton]

I think is the correct answer no matter what NDCA says.

Only if she wants to keep teaching. If she's willing to stop, contacting the NDCA about reinstatement may be productive - they've historically been somewhat accomodating of 'career path mistakes' (though more often of the 'entered a pro division with a partner but it didn't work out' sort)

[dance234]

I would be curious to hear the outcome.... there are some folks i can think of who competed pro then reverted to amateur status to dance pro-am. But wait, that's different. Never mind.

[granola]

lol how is it different?

[Chris Stratton]

Briefly trying competing as a pro, especially if it was to join an already pro partner, might be seen as less "mercenary" then teaching and thus traditionally easier to get reinstated from.

[Angel HI]

I believe the NDCA ruling to be a HUGE mistake on their part, and would also be very interested in the outcome of contacting them.

[Joe]

Which ruling? The one on allowing amateurs to teach, or the one on insisting that all partner dancing is professionally equal?

[Chris Stratton]

I believe the NDCA ruling to be a HUGE mistake on their part

Ideal or not, it was really the only practical choice once the rest of the world went that way.

If keeping pro/am non-professional proves possible, that could suggest that at some point it might become possible to re-create an actually amateur/amateur division in addition to continuing the current legacy one under a more accurate name, but trying to pretend that the full time dancers in the current division are not going to do what everyone knows they are going to do just doesn't work.

[Angel HI]

There is no easy action, but there seem simply too many holes in this one. But, we'll see.