USABDA Announces 2005 Regional Qualifying Championships

[DanceMentor]

IMMEDIATE RELEASE

USABDA ANNOUNCES 2005 REGIONAL QUALIFYING CHAMPIONSHIPS

August 21, 2004 – Wilmington, DE – The United States Amateur Ballroom Dancers Association (USABDA) is pleased to announce the following schedule of USA DanceSport Regional Championships for 2005. These events are all recognized as qualifying events for the 2005 USA DanceSport National Championships, to be held in Minneapolis/St. Paul, August 12 – 14, 2005 – the only Championship recognized by the IDSF to crown US Representatives to IDSF World DanceSport Championships.
Oct 8-9, 2004 - South Eastern Regional DanceSport Championships The Georgia World Congress Center – Atlanta
Organizers: Ann Smith & The Greater Atlanta USABDA Chapter.
Mar 5-6, 2005 - NE Regional DanceSport Championships/NJ DanceSport Classic Garfield, NJ. Organizers: Mario Battista & Wendi Davies.
Apr 1-2, 2005 - North Central Regional DanceSport Championships - Galt House, Louisville, Ky. Organizer: The Greater Louisville USABDA Chapter.
Jun 3-4, 2005 - South Central Regional DanceSport Championships - Holiday Inn Select Hotel & Conference Center Baton Rouge, LA. Organizer: New Orleans USABDA Chapter
Jun 11, 2005 - Western Regional DanceSport Championships - San Jose Civic Auditorium San Jose, California. Organizer: The NorCal USABDA Chapter.
July 2-3, 2005 - NW Regional DanceSport Championships - Sea-Tac Hilton Hotel Convention Center Seattle, Washington. Organizer: USABDA NW Chapter.

Detailed contact information for these events can be obtained on the USABDA
website, at www.USABDA.org

USABDA is a non-profit 501(c)3 organization administered through the volunteer efforts of its members. USA DanceSport is the competitive division of USABDA which is recognized by the IDSF and the US Olympic Committee as the National Governing Body of amateur DanceSport in the United States. USABDA is dedicated to promoting and sharing the excitement and joy of both social and competitive dancing.

[pygmalion]

This is cool! I assume this is the same qualifying structure as before, but the actual date and location announcements are new, right? 8)

[Chris Stratton]

This is cool! I assume this is the same qualifying structure as before, but the actual date and location announcements are new, right? 8)

Well, the NE regional is a big change - it used to be MAC in January, now it's the NJ Dancesport Classic in March.

[pygmalion]

Hmm. I wonder why the change. It is kinda nice to have all the announcements early in the game, so those who are planning to attend can start strategizing.

[Chris Stratton]

As a guess, MAC was getting cramped in its quarters at Columbia. Without the regionals status it would still be a nice comp, wheras the NJ Classic could potentially grow a lot in that status. That comp's old venue wouldn't be big enough either, but the listed town is different so presumably they have found a new one.

[pygmalion]

And then there's always politics, so who knows. It will be interesting to see what happens at MAC (what does that stand for?) in the coming year or two.

[Chris Stratton]

MAC is the Manhattan Amateur Classic held by the NY USABDA chapter & Columbia University.

http://nyusabda.org/mac2k4.html

I think in some years it's been bigger than Nationals, but can't be sure about that.

[pygmalion]

They have a nice web page! Only 145 days to MAC 2005! 8)

[Another Elizabeth]

It has always been the plan to have the "regionals" title move from competition to competition in each region. My understanding is that MAC only had it for so many years because no one else wanted to take it on.

[Chris Stratton]

Bad News: The Northeast regional in NJ on March 5,6 is in direct conflict with the Harvard Invitational on March 5,6 in Boston. Harvard has traditionally been a larger comp with a wide regional draw of more than just college students.

[DanceAm]

That is rather inconsiderate.

It would seem we need 1 website that tracks all dancesport competitions. It would seem USABDA has been aware of College comps in the past or vice versa, but isn't this one being put on by someone that isn't USABDA? They probably checked the NDCA site so they wouldn't conflict with an NDCA comp in that area, but the college comp is neither in USABDA's nor the NDCA's list.

I actually don't like having two separate groups that ignore each other then the College circuit that tries to accomodate both. Hotlanta and the Southeast Regional Championship (SRC) in Atlanta are 1 week apart. It is hard for us to get time off work in two different weeks to go to both. Comps even this close to us are too few and far between. Since I have to choose, I will go with the SRC.

[Chris Stratton]

Unfortunately, there isn't much room between chaos and the NDCA's "no new comps" moratorium. And that's in trying to avoid direct conflicts; avoiding adjacent weekends is almost impossible once a scene starts to really get going.

As for who's fault the present conflict is... Harvard has been that weekend for the past two years, NJ was later in March last year but a week before Harvard the year before that. I wouldn't be suprised if venue availability is an issue too.