Amateur American Smooth

[zlapi]

Hi Everyone,

this is my first time posting, yay!

I am an amateur American Smooth dancer based out of NYC and I see a trend that a lot of amateurs in smooth who start to do well go professional very quickly. Looking at the finalists from the USADance nationals from this past year I know of two dancers who have turned professional. I look at couples that dance in the amateur International Championships and they stay in that circuit for a long period of time, just look at Eugene and Maria. Is this because the amateur smooth scene is so small that dancers turn professional just so they can have more people to dance against? IMO, If people didn't turn pro so quickly amateur smooth could be huge. I myself was in the final and have since split with my partner. There are very few championship level AMATEUR smooth girls who want to put in as much time as I do and some high level coaches tell me that if I turned professional that there would be more opportunities for partners. I don't want to turn pro, I love being an amateur. I also see this as a problem for the amateur smooth division as a whole. If every time a couple starts to develop into good dancers they go professional it will never be a strong division, and that really bothers me. I understand that there are a lot of reasons to turn professional and I am not trying to judge anyone for doing it, I just wish that amateur smooth would become a stronger division.

My view is based on what I see in the northeast and in USADance competitions. I am specifically excluding dancers out of BYU who dance at the NDCA amateur nationals because there the amateur smooth division is very strong, but the dancers rarely go to other competitions. I also realize that there are a number of couples who have been in the amateur circuit for a long time, Nels and Theresa / Jonathan and Malin, but I feel they are the exception.

Hope I didn't ramble too much. Thanks!

 

[Mr 4 styles]

amateur ADULT championship division in all styles is often a tune up before going pro.. Rhythm is so lightly populated in part due to this reason..

the senior divisions are more robustly populated in part due to no one trying to go pro over 35 years of age

Nels and Teresa dance down in age but im sure you know this

wait till you are 35 it will get better

 

[TwoRightFeet]

It's sad that there aren't very many amateur smooth competitors. It's almost not worth competing in amateur smooth. At the Emerald Ball this year, for example, there were only two couples in the Open Amateur Smooth division. There were lots more competitors doing standard.

 

[Mr 4 styles]

It's almost not worth competing in amateur smooth.

adult you mean??...

am/am at ndca tends to be very light except standard in certain areas of the country

 

[TwoRightFeet]

adult you mean??...

Yes, in the adult divisions.

am/am at ndca tends to be very light except standard in certain areas of the country

And in certain areas of the country, the local USA dance am/am (adult) American Smooth events are very light too. I'm curious in what parts of the country can one find adult am/am American Smooth events with at least enough entrants for a semi-final, other than the national USA dance events.

 

[zlapi]

I prefer to view adult amateur as being "pre-professional" for those who do want to go pro. What I have seen of successful international couples who turn pro is that they are in the amateur scene until they are good enough to at the very least get a number of marks in the professional division. However, that is not what is being done by amateur smooth dancers. Couples are turning professional and are not being marked well. If more time was taken in the amateur division to develop their dancing when they turned professional they would be able to get called back. If this was done there would also be a much stronger amateur Smooth division.

 

[Mr 4 styles]

I'm curious in what parts of the country can one find adult am/am American Smooth events with at least enough entrants for a semi-final, other than the national USA dance events.

no usa dance events no ndca event maybe byu maybe ndca amateur nationals

 

[middy]

Occasionally MAC would have a semi-final for champ smooth.

 

[Glady789]

This is my first time posting as well!

As for competitions with semifinals, I know of at least 3 NDCA comps that have had semifinals in the last few years (Embassy, Ohio, Nevada Star Ball). There may be more.

I think MAC has had semifinals in one or more of the open levels for smooth the last few years as well.

Collegiately on the East Coast, I can think of MIT (regularly a semi/quarter), Big Apple Dancesport and there are probably some others. In fact, it seemed like there was enough interest developing in smooth in the past few years that some of the comps were able to do a prechamp/champ split and still have multiple rounds.

NDCA Nationals had first rounds and quarterfinals in its open smooth events I think. They had multiple rounds listed even at the youth level!

As for Amateur Couples going pro and doing well, I can think of Travis and Jaimee Tuft (who were amateur until a few years ago) and also Kyle and Allie Spinder. Both seemed to find some level of success in pro almost immediately. Perhaps this is the exception rather than the rule or an example of waiting until one is ready before turning pro (I expect the second).

 

[Mr 4 styles]

few years (Embassy, Ohio, Nevada Star Ball). There may be more.

ohio is under and over 45 not really adult which is under 35 7 couple final in 2012

embassy had 5 couples in 2011 6 in 2013 cant find 2012 yet at least 6 from supershag pics

Nevada did have a semi this year 10 couples these do look like the big ones thanks for the tip

 

[Mr 4 styles]

8 couples in MAC 2012 also

 

[zlapi]

This is my first time posting as well!

As for competitions with semifinals, I know of at least 3 NDCA comps that have had semifinals in the last few years (Embassy, Ohio, Nevada Star Ball). There may be more.

I think MAC has had semifinals in one or more of the open levels for smooth the last few years as well.

Collegiately on the East Coast, I can think of MIT (regularly a semi/quarter), Big Apple Dancesport and there are probably some others. In fact, it seemed like there was enough interest developing in smooth in the past few years that some of the comps were able to do a prechamp/champ split and still have multiple rounds.

NDCA Nationals had first rounds and quarterfinals in its open smooth events I think. They had multiple rounds listed even at the youth level!

As for Amateur Couples going pro and doing well, I can think of Travis and Jaimee Tuft (who were amateur until a few years ago) and also Kyle and Allie Spinder. Both seemed to find some level of success in pro almost immediately. Perhaps this is the exception rather than the rule or an example of waiting until one is ready before turning pro (I expect the second).

The Tufts and the Spinders are a product of the BYU/Utah couples (which as I said in my first post I am excluding because they are the only place that has truly strong amateur smooth.) Also, they both won the NDCA amateur nationals multiple times. So they are EXACTLY what amateur smooth dancers should be doing. They aren't the exception to the rule. They, IMO, are the RULE!!

EDIT: I did not mean that to sound hostile to you. Sorry if it did.

 

[Glady789]

No, I think we are on the same page -- I think both were great example of a couple waiting until they were ready until they turned pro. I was just pointing out that there were some amateur couples that did very well once they made the switch. Perhaps it wasn't relevant to your post.

But I guess that goes back to your original post -- I think that people turning pro quickly is a problem, but hardly the sole reason that smooth is small and less competitive outside Utah.

I am curious -- do people have any suggestions on what (if anything) high level amateur dancers can do to help grow their field and make it more competitive, other than simply staying in it?

 

[Glady789]

I shouldn't have said "waiting until they were ready" - that comes across wrong, as there are a number of reasons one could be "ready" to turn pro. Sorry if I offended anyone . I just meant those couples were at a point that the transition between amateur and to rising star would be a relatively smooth one.

 

[Mr 4 styles]

do people have any suggestions on what (if anything) high level amateur dancers can do to help grow their field and make it more competitive, other than simply staying in it?

I think it would be a "mass effect" if this style was pushed at the collegiate level same for rhytym