USA Dance/NDCA Syllabus

[Smooth Dancer]

(I'm a Bronze level dancer preparing for my first A-A competition.) Saw a good Gold dancer disqualified from an USA Dance heat last weekend for not conforming to syllabus. Sad. Don't know the details, but seems perplexing. I thought general USA Dance policy is to accept figures from any widely recognized syllabus. I can't imagine any step one might do at the Gold level that is not at least close to one of these syllabi.

1) Is this in fact USA Dance policy? (And while we're at it, NDCA -- they cite the same syllabus in their rule books.)

2) What about figures composed of parts that are allowed by this syllabus. For example, DVIDA has a "twinkle & weave" that appears to be simply a combination of outside partner fwd/back changes, and (essentially) twinkles. Are such figures allowed?

3) Where the heck does one go (apart from this forum!) to get answers to questions like these!!??

-- Cheers

[suburbaknght]

1) Is this in fact USA Dance policy? (And while we're at it, NDCA -- they cite the same syllabus in their rule books.)

USA Dance rulebook does not allow outside syllabi, but they have generally permitted outside figures as long as they conform to the permitted elements. NDCA does specify outside syllabi are accepted but has the same elements restrictions. For example, Arthur Murray teaches rocks in shadow position in early bronze tango, but shadow position is prohibited in NDCA and USA dance competitions in bronze and would not be permitted. When my partner and I composed our routines from the DVIDA syllabus, we went over each figure and checked them against the list of prohibitted elements to make sure everything was kosher, and we've had no problems to date.

2) What about figures composed of parts that are allowed by this syllabus. For example, DVIDA has a "twinkle & weave" that appears to be simply a combination of outside partner fwd/back changes, and (essentially) twinkles. Are such figures allowed?

The thing to be careful about with DVIDA is that often the last 1-3 figures are actually silver figures or use silver elements; they're there to prepare you for that level of study and to get you used to that level of technique (i.e. fallaway and box in their bronze waltz). I would not dance twinkle & weave because step 6 could be considered continuity work by some judges.

3) Where the heck does one go (apart from this forum!) to get answers to questions like these!!??

Well the forum is a great place to start due to the enormous breadth of backgrounds among our members. I'd also check with your coach and, if you're still concerned, find someone whose worked as an invidulator (usually listed on competition websites) and hire them for a coaching lesson to review your routines.

[Meagan]

Obviously this all can depend on the competition and how strict the invigilator is but in my experience it also varies greatly by style...
Deviance from the USAD. syllabus in Gold Latin for example is fairly regularly invigilated even at college comps where they aren't as strict as say an NQE...but invigilation of the upper level and even lower level American styles is a little more all over the place. Why its helpful to have a coach in the syllabus levels who really knows the syllabus!

[nucat78]

The thing to be careful about with DVIDA is that often the last 1-3 figures are actually silver figures or use silver elements; they're there to prepare you for that level of study and to get you used to that level of technique (i.e. fallaway and box in their bronze waltz). I would not dance twinkle & weave because step 6 could be considered continuity work by some judges.

<Slight hijack>

Y'know, I've wondered about those two figures in the DVIDA smooth manual. Thanks for clearing that up.

<Sorry, back on topic!>

[suburbaknght]

Y'know, I've wondered about those two figures in the DVIDA smooth manual. Thanks for clearing that up.

Glad to help.

One of the reasons I love the DVIDA American syllabi so much is that the tail end really is phenomenal preparation for silver. This means, however, that you need to be careful for competition purposes. In general, the ones I'd watch out for in bronze are:

W14 - Fallaway and Box (fallaway prohibited)
W15 - Twinkle and Weave (possible continuity violation)
F15 - Running steps, both rhythms (confusion with international style, possible continuity violation)
T15 - Oversway (picture lines, including oversway, prohibited)
V9 - Change of Place (can be considered separation if hand doesn't trail across partner)

Rhythm is much more permissive; I can only find two patterns that seem problematic and mambo is questionable since the prohibition on timing changes explicitly refers to the beat one breaks on.

B10 - Hip Twist and Spin (syncopation; timing changes prohibited)
M15 - Crossover break and swivel (syncopation may qualify as timing change)

[Smooth Dancer]

suburbaknght,

Thanks for the specifics on DVIDA! This really helps a lot, and much more than I expected in my original query.

-- Cheers

[suburbaknght]

suburbaknght,

Thanks for the specifics on DVIDA! This really helps a lot, and much more than I expected in my original query.

-- Cheers
My pleasure. I lived and breathed the smooth book while going for my certification, and am now doing the same thing with bronze. Those tests really do force you to analyze the heck out of the thing.