Chris Stratton
New Member
There's been another round of discussion recently about the participation of ballroom competitiors who started training for competition only in adulthood. While that's centered largely on debate over how to sustain things at the upper levels, my own belief is that one of the primary causes for limited participation by adult start dancers is the relative lack of entry-level recruiting. Dancing is dfficult, demanding, and not everyone will decide to stay with it, so graduating reasonably numbers of dancers to the upper level requires making the basic opportunity as broadly available as possible.
Unfortunataly, outside of a few settings, opportunities for adults to walk in off the street and start seriously training for amateur competition are limited, and those opportunities that do exist are not widely known. Worse, many who do find a path to some progress end up pursuing it as the lone serious couple in their circle, or worse, as frustrated individuals in settings with poor leader/follower balance.
There is however one fairly succesful example of large scale recruiting for amateur ballroom competitions: each year, collegiate ballroom teams introduce a few thousand undergraduates, graduate students, and assorted older university staff to the joy of social ballroom dancing, and also the possibility of ballroom competition. They not only introduce the possibility, they efficiently develop it, putting a few hundred brand new couples on the floor in beginner competitions events after a month or two of total training. In short, they prove that with a supportive environment, amateur competition , surrounded by a thriving social dance community, really can be open to the general public.
Granted, collegiate teams enjoy some advantages, such as having a lot of active, single younger adults in close proximity, easier access to workable floor space, a pre-existing sense of community, and often some seed funding. But these are only advantages - a loose association of post-collegiate adults should also be able to work together to gain some of the same advantages of learning in the context of a peer group.
The problem is that we've been waiting for the studios to create it for us.
It's not that ballroom studios are unable to play host to amateur competitors (many of us virtually live in one after all), but that recruiting and developing a regional community of adult ballroom competitors is not usually their primary business focus. More advanced dancers benefit from being able to seek out a variety of expert teachers with competing ideas, but the range of choices may see beginners divided into many little pockets, each too small to build a real community effect and each unkown to (or even suspiciously regarded by) the others.
So I've been thinking of trying to start an informal recruiting / development group to promote the idea that ballroom competition, and ballroom dance in general, are practical pursuits for adults.
Some thoughts on possibly goals:
- Hold interactive practice events with a focus on welcoming new dancers, interaction between dancers of different levels, and of course networking between possible partners. Not a competitors practice in that it would be open to unpartnered dancers, not a group class in that there would be no formal program, and not a social or runthrough in that stopping to discuss the details is encouraged - but rather a combination of a bit of all of those things.
- Organize lectures / masterclasses by leading local ballroom teachers on core subjects, perhaps host visting teachers from out of town. Often there's a lot of expertise available, but it's mostly available in private lessons and at rare special events. Give teachers a forum to put their expertise on display; we benefit, and they probably get some private lesson bookings.
- Group outings - to socials further afield (or even just a group deciding to attend a given local one some weekend), trips to competitions
- Dance suport networking... who's selling a costume, who's trying to sew one, who needs to find a day job so they can move here, whatever...
Some concerns:
- Too much organziational structure too soon is not necessarily worthwhile. Also, political neturality may be easier to maintain as a loose association rather than a formal one. Informal cooperation with USA Dance chapters may be easier than formalized chapter functions, though that of course remains an option.
- Implicit assumption that many involved will also have loyalties to studios, as alumni of college teams, to particular coaches, etc - the idea is not to replace those resources, but to provide the context of larger group for the times when a smaller circle of association is too limited.
Unfortunataly, outside of a few settings, opportunities for adults to walk in off the street and start seriously training for amateur competition are limited, and those opportunities that do exist are not widely known. Worse, many who do find a path to some progress end up pursuing it as the lone serious couple in their circle, or worse, as frustrated individuals in settings with poor leader/follower balance.
There is however one fairly succesful example of large scale recruiting for amateur ballroom competitions: each year, collegiate ballroom teams introduce a few thousand undergraduates, graduate students, and assorted older university staff to the joy of social ballroom dancing, and also the possibility of ballroom competition. They not only introduce the possibility, they efficiently develop it, putting a few hundred brand new couples on the floor in beginner competitions events after a month or two of total training. In short, they prove that with a supportive environment, amateur competition , surrounded by a thriving social dance community, really can be open to the general public.
Granted, collegiate teams enjoy some advantages, such as having a lot of active, single younger adults in close proximity, easier access to workable floor space, a pre-existing sense of community, and often some seed funding. But these are only advantages - a loose association of post-collegiate adults should also be able to work together to gain some of the same advantages of learning in the context of a peer group.
The problem is that we've been waiting for the studios to create it for us.
It's not that ballroom studios are unable to play host to amateur competitors (many of us virtually live in one after all), but that recruiting and developing a regional community of adult ballroom competitors is not usually their primary business focus. More advanced dancers benefit from being able to seek out a variety of expert teachers with competing ideas, but the range of choices may see beginners divided into many little pockets, each too small to build a real community effect and each unkown to (or even suspiciously regarded by) the others.
So I've been thinking of trying to start an informal recruiting / development group to promote the idea that ballroom competition, and ballroom dance in general, are practical pursuits for adults.
Some thoughts on possibly goals:
- Hold interactive practice events with a focus on welcoming new dancers, interaction between dancers of different levels, and of course networking between possible partners. Not a competitors practice in that it would be open to unpartnered dancers, not a group class in that there would be no formal program, and not a social or runthrough in that stopping to discuss the details is encouraged - but rather a combination of a bit of all of those things.
- Organize lectures / masterclasses by leading local ballroom teachers on core subjects, perhaps host visting teachers from out of town. Often there's a lot of expertise available, but it's mostly available in private lessons and at rare special events. Give teachers a forum to put their expertise on display; we benefit, and they probably get some private lesson bookings.
- Group outings - to socials further afield (or even just a group deciding to attend a given local one some weekend), trips to competitions
- Dance suport networking... who's selling a costume, who's trying to sew one, who needs to find a day job so they can move here, whatever...
Some concerns:
- Too much organziational structure too soon is not necessarily worthwhile. Also, political neturality may be easier to maintain as a loose association rather than a formal one. Informal cooperation with USA Dance chapters may be easier than formalized chapter functions, though that of course remains an option.
- Implicit assumption that many involved will also have loyalties to studios, as alumni of college teams, to particular coaches, etc - the idea is not to replace those resources, but to provide the context of larger group for the times when a smaller circle of association is too limited.
