Swing Dance Championships ... Huh?

[pygmalion]

Does anybody have an idea of how these work or how they're related to each other (or not)? I looked up swing championships and came up with a long list of different "championships." Pretty confusing. So is there one overall championship? How does competition work in the swing world?


American Lindy Hop Championships
US Open Championsships
National Jitterbug Championsships
America's Classic Swing Dance Championships
World Swing Dance Championships
USA Grand National Championships
American Swing Dance Championship


I'm totally confused. Help, anyone?

[jon]

Some of those are WCS events run under umbrella organizations like NASDE (http://www.nasde.com/) and the WSDC (http://www.swingdancecouncil.com/). Others are Lindy events. There is a little more mixing these days but generally WCS and Lindy are different worlds both socially and competitively.

[DanceMentor]

I've seen this talked about before. And I remember one couple claimed to be the "World Champions", but the event was small, and many of the better dancers did not attend.

At the same time, there seems to be a resistance to trying to create a recognized national governing body for all of Swing. Even within the Lindy Hop community, there have been multiple "World" championship events.

I guess really what would mean the most for a competitor would be to win at multiple events.

[jon]

At the same time, there seems to be a resistance to trying to create a recognized national governing body for all of Swing.

Of course there is. Lindy and WCS and Shag and Step and Bop and so on are different communities, doing different dances, to different music, run by different promoters and teachers and clubs, with different basic assumptions - though maybe one thing all those communities have in common is a general distaste for the centralized and $$$-oriented ballroom model of social and competitive dance (first horrifying thought bubbling to the top of my mind: Archie Hazelwood trying to define how WCS competitions should be structured :evil:). There is no basis for an overarching "governing body" and strong cultural and organizational opposition should someone try to create one. Yay for diversity!

[pygmalion]

(first horrifying thought bubbling to the top of my mind: Archie Hazelwood trying to define how WCS competitions should be structured :evil:).

That is totally hilarious! :lol: :lol: Scary, scary thought.

Question, though. Take WCS for example. Is there a definitive WCS US or World Championship? The impression I get is that there are a bunch of WCS titles, few of them conclusive. Is that wrong? Or, if it's right, how does a dance champion get widely recognized as the creme de la creme? Enter multiple events, as DM suggested?.

[jon]

Is there a definitive WCS US or World Championship? The impression I get is that there are a bunch of WCS titles, few of them conclusive. Is that wrong? Or, if it's right, how does a dance champion get widely recognized as the creme de la creme? Enter multiple events, as DM suggested?.

Well, there's a circuit of events and competitor "points" registry, see the aforementioned websites for NASDE and WSDC. The US Open is generally recognized as the biggest comp event of the year. There isn't enough WCS outside the US for a "World" label to really have any meaning but that doesn't stop marketing labels.

[Jmatthew]

Okay, I can comment (hesitantly) on a few of these:

US Open is a (if I remember correctly) a mostly west coast event with Lindy Categories (Strictly Lindy and a more showy mixed modern dance style thing whose name I forget), and then like 30 categories of west coast.

World Swing Championship isn't as big a deal as the American ones because most Pro Lindy Hoppers don't make enough money to do the in-state ones AND the "world" one, so they choose, and the American ones are more prestigious, so the world championship is kind of a "best of europe, best of America that couldn't make it to the American events" sort of thing. :)

Not sure I know much of the others, because I haven't stolen videos from their websight :)

[Flat Shoes]

The two last Lindy Hop World Championships took place in Sweden. In '02 in Stockholm and in '03 in Karlstad. In '02 they had the sense to put the competition right after the end of Herräng, which ment that several ineternational couples were present and could stay the extra time to attend. I don't think too many did, but the winners, Ramona Staffeld and Skye Humphries were also teaching in Herräng that year.

In '03 the competition was not held in connection to Herräng, and as such it became mostly a swedish event with a few, mostly european and quite unknown foreign couples. The swedes took the three first places.

I think WRRC, a mostly european organisation whi today organizes the world cup for Boogie Woogie and acrobatic Rock'n'Roll is trying to formally to the same thing for Lindy Hop. I'm not sure they will suceed, since the community doesn't seem to care too much for it. Judging by the level of the couples attending last year. Annyway, going to their web pages http://www.wrrc.org, you can find the results for the last two world championships in Lindy Hop.

[Vince A]

I agree with jon . . . the US Open is the biggest, and around the crowd I hang with, it is the the definitive title to have, yet I know a certain Lindy Hopper who will flat refute that statement!!!

I'm sure it all revolves around what dances you do . . . what venues you attend . . . and maybe, finally, what ever blows your skirt up!

I would say . . . for me . . . I personally would respect and honor any dancer(s) who compete in a national or world event and who can muster a first through maybe even tenth place!

[d nice]

American Lindy Hop Championships

The first all Lindy Hop event... It was almost entirely attended by people from the North East the first two years, after that it started filtering through the other states... and it is generally considered "the title to have" but given the huge number of issues competitors have had with the organizer concerning rules and divsions it has pretty much marginalized itself in the minds of many of the top lindy hoppers, but it is still our first national event. IT is the ressurection of the defunct American Swing Dance Championships... a mostly West Coast event, and still uses its rules and divisions with a little tweaking.

In the last few years though three competitions have challenged its surpemacy... The National Jitterbug Championships in Los Angeles, which is a similar event in a lot of ways but with some important differences, namely they looked at the current rules being used in ALHC (namely West Coast rules) and made some changes to make them more appropriate to lindy hoppers.

The Ultimate Lindy Hop Showdown in Minniapolis, which was a hug step forward in Lindy Hop events. They threw all the modern preconceptions of Lindy Competitions out the door and created a new set of rules from scratch along with new divisions.

The most truly prestigious title is the Hellzapoppin' title held in Harlem. No rules. No disqualifications. None at all. You are judged by a panel of incredibly talented lindy hoppers in the begining rounds and the tempos reflect the true diversity of lindy hop, slow is under 150 bpm or so, medium is under 210 and fast, is anything above that. You dance to all the tempos and it is done jam style with an "all-skate". For the finals the top couples dance in front of a panel of Savoy Lindy Hoppers. No one knows good lindy hop the way THEY know good lindy hop.

US Open Championships

The number one West Coast Swing competition. Personally I've been and I am not overly impressed. The competitors in the top ranking are good for WCS, but the Lindy divisions are usually a handfull of good couples and lots of intermediate dancers. The Cabaret and team divisions are hit and miss. My main complaints about the event is the ridiculous amount of money for a ticket, the second class status that it gives other dances (but to be fair despite the name it is a WCS event), and the incredible lack of energy of the event itself and so many of the performances. I've had far better times at events like NADC (North Atlantic Dance Championships) which include a number of swing divisions. What can I say Bill Cameron throws amazing events, period.

It has an Eastern America peer, the USA Grand Nationals which is WCS and Shag primarily. I have not attended the evnt, but I know people who have and they say that they actually prefer it as far as events go, but it doesn't yet carry the prestiege that the Open currently enjoys.

America's Classic Swing Dance Championships

*Shrug*, I don't know this event.

World Swing Dance Championships

*Sigh* It might be better if I don't comment on this event, beyond the fact that its publicity is abyssmal, anything that wants to lay claim to a World Championship needs to actually have representatives from numerous countries that do the dances represented... and as a general rule you need to have the best competitors present from at least your own country in the dances represented if you want your titles to have any meaning. 'nuff said.

[Sagitta]

The two last Lindy Hop World Championships took place in Sweden. In '02 in Stockholm and in '03 in Karlstad. In '02 they had the sense to put the competition right after the end of Herräng, which ment that several ineternational couples were present and could stay the extra time to attend. I don't think too many did, but the winners, Ramona Staffeld and Skye Humphries were also teaching in Herräng that year.


Off topic. Skye used to teach quite a few classes where I am. I think he graduated this past year, or something.

[jon]

It has an Eastern America peer, the USA Grand Nationals which is WCS and Shag primarily. I have not attended the evnt, but I know people who have and they say that they actually prefer it as far as events go, but it doesn't yet carry the prestiege that the Open currently enjoys.

I've been to the US Open once and won't go again, despite it being held 15 minutes away. It's totally competition-focused and I'm not interested in that no matter how good the dancers are. It all starts to look the same after a while (also, the new location is in a former civic arena and is absolutely horrifying as a dance environment, IMO - hard floors, stadium-style seating that makes it hard to get on and off the floor, bad lighting, weird sound - though reports are that the competitors liked it).

GNDC has lots of comps but it's also a very social event and I've enjoyed it a lot the times I've been there (fortunately, they keep the Shaggers from smoking in the ballrooms).

[pygmalion]

Hmm. That's an interesting insight, jon. Do you think the dance is losing its flavor because of the competition atmosphere?

And, just curious, is it only the shaggers who smoke? :roll: Wonder why. It's funny how every dance community has its quirks. *shrug*

[jon]

Hmm. That's an interesting insight, jon. Do you think the dance is losing its flavor because of the competition atmosphere?

Nothing so general. I just don't like watching comps for hours on end. Other people are into it. Fortunately there are events like the US Open for comp-lovers, and Mt. Magic or Frezno for those of us who don't care for it.

And, just curious, is it only the shaggers who smoke? :roll: Wonder why.

The older generation of shaggers is drawn mostly from the Southeast, lots of which is tobacco country.

[Vince A]

I've been to the US Open once and won't go again . . .
Yup . . . once is enough for me too . . . although it's a short drive, it's plenty expensive, and little or no social dancing. Guess I should have looked for place to GO dancing instead of a place to WATCH dancing?
Duh! Silly me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[DWise1]

American Lindy Hop Championships
World Swing Dance Championships

*Sigh* It might be better if I don't comment on this event, beyond the fact that its publicity is abyssmal, anything that wants to lay claim to a World Championship needs to actually have representatives from numerous countries that do the dances represented...
Kind of like baseball's so-called "World Series"?

Sorry; you triggered a long-time pet peeve of mine.