The Future of DanceSport

Woah! Talk about a move that could shake things up something fierce...

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The Future of DanceSport

September 30, 2003 – Wilmington, DE – In the future, all DanceSport athletes will compete against one another based on proficiency level and skill. Amateurs and professionals will be able to compete in the same events and earn the right to advance in DanceSport based on competition results. Dancing, as a sport, will advance as all dancers will be eligible to compete. This is the vision for DanceSport in the United States set forth by the USA DanceSport Council, USABDA’s advisory and administrative body for DanceSport athletes and competitions. This is not a new vision. The countries that are most successful in producing champions and in attracting high percentages of their population to DanceSport, already have adopted this practice which is supported by the International DanceSport Federation (IDSF).

To support this vision, the USA DanceSport Council has recommended the following sweeping proposals to USABDA’s board:

1. Eliminate the distinction between Amateurs and Professionals and open competitions to all DanceSport Athletes. This new proposal will classify dancers based on proficiency and skill, rather than income generating activities. The new format will open USABDA competitions to all athletes and allow them the chance to develop their dancing and floorcraft. Dancers who currently compete in rising star or professional open competitions will also be allowed to enter USABDA competitions, with their prior competition results used to determine their proficiency level.

This new rule will benefit all dancers. Those formerly designated as Amateurs will no longer be constrained from earning money from teaching or performing shows using their DanceSport skills. Many competitors would like to have the option of offsetting their DanceSport expenses without the risk of losing their competitive status. By eliminating the distinction between Amateurs and Professionals, all dancers can compete on one equal playing field (or in this case, dancefloor). All competitors will simply be DanceSport Athletes.

2. Create a new proficiency level, World-Class Competitor. Only couples that have earned and currently maintain a high level of DanceSport proficiency may compete in designated World-Class events. In order to dance at the World-Class level, a couple must earn points in qualifying events.

3. Develop new rules to allow mixed-proficiency level couples to compete in separate DanceSport events. For example, a champion level dancer could compete with a syllabus level dancer where only the syllabus dancer is judged. These changes will make it easier for champion level dancers to find and develop new partners and give those without regular partners an opportunity to compete in USABDA events. Rules similar to the current “Pro-Am” rules would apply to this type of partnership.

The goal of these changes is to open DanceSport to all athletes and remove barriers to competition. USABDA, the only US DanceSport organization recognized by the US Olympic Committee and International DanceSport Federation, is committed to furthering ballroom dancing in the US by attracting new dancers to the sport and improving the quality of all competition levels.

USABDA represents its members, and as such welcomes your input on these proposed rule changes. These changes will be on the agenda at the next USABDA Governing Council’s meeting. Please email your comments and suggestions to: futureofdancesport@usabda.org

Seems ultimately fair and reasonable. Hence, my complete lack of belief that such rules will ever be put in place! :lol: Seriously, though, this bears watching. Wow!

I seriously doubt if the professional organizations will ever go for this. There has already been a big controversy over amatures being able to teach. I personally don't see the problem with changing competitive divisions. But I do see a problem with uncertified amature teachers. Again just because you know Math doesn't make you certified to be a Math teacher. Same with dancing.

smoothdancingirl said:

I seriously doubt if the professional organizations will ever go for this. There has already been a big controversy over amatures being able to teach. I personally don't see the problem with changing competitive divisions. But I do see a problem with uncertified amature teachers. Again just because you know Math doesn't make you certified to be a Math teacher. Same with dancing.

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First off, welcome to the forums smoothdancingirl!

I also agree wholeheartedly that dancing and teaching ability are not the same thing! At the same time, however, there are a lot of upper ranking competitive ams who have far more technical training then over half of the "pros" teaching. If you want to say that certification should be the requirement to be considered a pro then, again, I wholeheartedly agree. Just because you are paid, however, does not – in and of itself – make you a "professional" in anything save financial terms.

Some good, some bad

I'm in favor of rules that open up competition to make it more interesting, but not rule changes that allow amateurs to teach. I suppose it's tough for the governing body to do one without the other.

In Canada, our state-equivalent dance organizations adopted rules some time ago that force you to move up to new levels once you've achieved enough points. DanceSport BC, the governing body in my province, makes you move up to Gold after winning three competitions at the Silver level (a total of 9 cumulative points). You get 3 points for a win, 2 for second place, 1 for third. This gives people incentive to keep trying at their level, but once they've won a few times moves them up to a higher level to give others a chance at the level they were at.

This system really works well, though some people say it forces them to move up before they are quite ready, as in the case of someone who placed third several times, then second several times and never had a win before they have to move up the ladder. I feel you have to draw the line somewhere and I'm comfortable with this points structure.

My view is also that amateurs should be allowed to earn money from performances, but not teaching. That doesn't sit right with me and suggests that things can get out of control quite easily. We already have "professionals" teaching in settings like community night school courses who, in my view, should not be certified to teach. What happens when amateurs are allowed to do that as well?

Just to play devil's advocate Adwiz... what about when some amateurs are more qualified then some of the nightclass "pros" you mention?

I'm not saying there shouldn't be distinctions but, rather, posing the question of what differences (if any) there should be and why...

SDsalsaguy said:

Just to play devil's advocate Adwiz... what about when some amateurs are more qualified then some of the nightclass "pros" you mention?

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That's a good point, and certainly possible.

But if that argument is used to certify amateurs as teachers, then it must be accompanied by more rigorous certification. A great dancer isn't necessarily a great teacher.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but currently the requirements for teacher certification seem to be based mostly on head knowledge. The ISTD gives you some tests to prove you know sufficient details about dance in theory, combined with medal test results to show you can actually dance. That's a good start, but not enough, especially if you now massively increase the size of the teaching field by including amateurs. It does not prove that you can actually teach someone what you know. That's my concern. I don't mind amateurs being allowed to teach as long as the quality of teaching is as good or better than it is now, and I'm not convinced that will be the case. How can it be without changes to certification itself?

Fair enough Adwiz... and I'll be the first to agree that dancing ability and teaching ability are far from synonymous. As far as certification is concerned, have you seen the certification thread yet? I'd be interested to see what you have to say on the matter...

I don't think that [good] professional teachers should be concerned with amateurs entering the teaching market at all, since students (aka The Market) always want to buy from the best. Word will get around who is good and who is bad, and the best teachers (regardless of their competitive status) will come out with the largest clienteles.

In the long run, this may also help produce better professional instructors, since the teaching-amateur population, which is required to certify, will drive the standards and expectations upward, given that currently there are so many low-end teachers that start teaching only a few weeks after answering a want ad.

I have faith that good teaching and good dancing will prevail in the end.

8)

Hey guys. I don't mean to be difficult here, but, at least in the US, there is no certification requirement before becoming a dance "pro". Head on over to the certification thread, please, and post what you think about that. Or if things are different in other places, please post. I'm quite curious about that.

On this issue, recently, the local Arthur Murray's placed an ad for a part-time dance teacher. I almost applied, because I thought their six week training program wuold be a great place for me to learn (and to get a couple hundred hours of free dance training! :lol: ) But, because I've decided to go into competitive dance, no AMI for me. I can't afford to be grouped with pros.

Bumping this thread up so that someone can update us on this.....

Basically, #2 and #3 happened, but #1 did not.

Why the hesitation to adopt #1, I wonder?

<sigh> Why can't we all just get along.......

This has already been discussed before...but I haven't heard what the final verdict was about making DanceSport an Olympic sport. What does anyone think of that? I think it is the equivalent of figure skating and rhythmic gymnastics in that it requires much of the same flexibility, stamina, grace and originality. I think it would be very good for dance as a whole showing everyone that this isn't your granny's ballroom. Especially for people that have never seen a pro comp before.

TemptressToo said:

This has already been discussed before...but I haven't heard what the final verdict was about making DanceSport an Olympic sport.

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It's looking extremely unlikely to happen, and as a result I wonder if it's time to re-evaluate the merits of treating it like an Olympic sport.