2021 competition opportunities

Errrrgggghhhh. I am torn about an upcoming August comp. I was leaning towards signing up, because it's a one-day comp within 30 minutes of my local studio, so it's more convenient and more affordable than most.

BUT:
  • the 2019 results/scoresheets show a TON of uncontested heats, in all age groups and events. And I mean a TON. The largest number I found in ANY heat, including the multis, was only 3 couples, and that only occurred once that I saw.
  • the scholarships are all combined into a single age level, or at least that's what the form implies. Specifically, the entry form says "ALL SCHOLARSHIPS ARE ONE AGE." I can sense you shaking your head, thinking, "no, she must be reading the form wrong." So here is the form itself:
1624307918140.png

It looks to me like the dancers in the Scholarships will be from EVERY age group, from PT up through SR; so that dancers of both sexes, ages 16, 24, 39, 47, 56, 64, and 78 will all be on the floor at the same time competing against each other. I can't come up with a different way to read that sentence: "ALL SCHOLARSHIPS ARE ONE AGE."

So anyway, I'm undecided, but leaning toward no. It looks like they're having to cram so much stuff into one day that there's just not room for everything. I wonder if that's why the turnout was so low in 2019.

I really, REALLY do not want a bunch of uncontested heats. I just don't.
 
ProgressNotPerfection said:
I'm undecided [about the one-day in-town August competition], but leaning toward no.
Click to expand...
I talked to Pro yesterday at my lesson about this comp. When I mentioned all the uncontested heats, he said no, you can choose whether to be contested or not. I clarified that they had so few entries in each category/level/age group that they were in effect uncontested, whether that was on purpose or not. He said there will probably be so many dancers from our studio that the heats will be contested.

But the ladies at our studio who compete regularly are all in silver or above, so I would not be competing against them. I’ve watched the other bronze dancers at the mini matches and fun nights, and I think every one of them is in an older age group than I am…which brings me back to my original objection: I don’t want to dance heats that have only one or two couples in them.

Also, it wouldn’t be the whole experience. I realize it will cost more, but I want the FULL comp experience whenever I eventually enter my first live comp: traveling, staying at the comp venue, meeting dancers from all over the place, getting hair & makeup professionally done onsite, etc. This local one-day comp feels too much like just another mini-match, but for double the cost.

So I’m pretty sure I’m not gonna do it.
 
The other thing you might look for: A first comp that has a scholarship or championship in the "novice bronze" category. Many don't, but you qualify for the first year after your first real comp. (My understanding is the online didn't count-- but you could check. Your internal mini comps don't count. )

My guess is these will be more competitive than most years because of Covid. One of the pro-dancers I talked to at a the recent Crystal Ball comp struck him as unusually competitive and likely because all the more seasoned Ams were coming out of the woodwork while there are fewer than normal "fresh-brand news" or just "go to 1 comp a year for the experience" .

(This particular pro dancer was unusual in that he wasn't a 'normal' ballroom pro. We have a student who does show case with-- and I am not exaggerating-- up to 6 pros backing her up. In this case she had 4. The studio runs out of pros to cast her show case productions so they get some outside pros who aren't dancing pro-am ballroom. It was a lot of fun to talk to him. He does costume design, choreography, dance etc in other non-ballroom venues and got to stand around and watch because we was not otherwise dancing pro-am. Anyway, he does have a good eye for the level of competition. And honestly, I could tell this was true from having googled my "competition" in my heats. )
 
Some newcomer champ categories specify a certain number of lessons like you can’t have taken over 30 lessons.
 
Joy,
I was told lots of conflicting rules early on. I was specifically told that one early on then later on the same person told me a different rule. In both cases the rule I was told encouraged me to enter either in the "30 lessons" rule because the competition would be limited to 30 lessons and in the later case because I still quaified! I know both couldn't be true! (Honestly, I think many people don't now the true rule.)

If it's an NDCA comp, I think best resource is the NDCA rulebook which states:

c) PROAM competitions may offer any orall of the following divisions: NEWCOMERS, BEGINNER, INTERMEDIATE; ADVANCED; THEATRICAL; EXHIBITION; Level sin Pre-Bronze, Bronze, Silver, Gold, GoldStar, Supreme Gold; separate or merged categories by age or gender, etc.

(1) Pro/AmStudent,Student Student and Mixed Amateur Dancers are eligible to enter the Newcomer division for a period of one year commencing with their first NDCA sanctioned event regardless of the style.
(2) Newcomer Division shall be restricted to Closed Syllabus only.

It's worth noting that it is almost impossible to police the number of lessons someone has taken.

Novice is the comparable NDCA "AM/AM" category and has it's own rules. Even some comp organizers sometimes swap the terms Novice and Newcomer. (I have trouble remembering which is which until I check.)

I don't know rules for other organizations.
 
FYI, a lot of competitions over-ride the NDCA newcomer rule with their own. For one comp close to me, it has to be your first time at that competition. For another one, it has to be your first NDCA competition. I always read the rules of a specific competition, partially out of general interest and partially because you never know what might be in there!
 
“You may only dance Newcomer if you are attending the Constitution State Dancesport Championships for the first time.”

“The Newcomer category is restricted to Pro/Am students who have never competed in any NDCA-
sanctioned event prior to the PODSC. The Newcomer division is restricted to the bronze syllabus.”

I not disagreeing with Larinda, just reporting what’s printed. Paragon’s is clearly more restrictive than NDCA’s.
 
At the social dance last week, Studio Mgr announced that 13 students from our studio have already signed up to enter the local one-day comp in August. I’m going to try to find out how many of them are entered in Bronze vs Silver. (But I don’t think knowing the numbers will change my mind and make me want to sign up.)
 
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