Beginner qustions regarding competitions

dansa

dansa

New Member
So i have finally found a dancepartner in Latin and we started training for future competitions. However i never competed before as i just started with Latin dance recently.. (i have danced all my life though)
But im a very quick learner and i all i need is just to learn the steps, plus i have a very good posture already.

Anyway (lets get to the point) my partner has already danced for 13 years and also competed. He is on the level after gold. (I dont know the name, can anyone maybe help me with what levels come after gold?)

So basically my question is how are the levels after gold?
Are they difficult? Is it a big difference from gold level regarding technique and things like that?

I mean the thing is that i have to compete in his level since he competed already, however im gonna work my knat off to get to his level and so far its looking good...

But i would also like to know what im getting myself into! hehe.
thanks for your help!
 
Dansa, your partner is novice or pre-championship level, depending on where you live. My partner was dancing novice level (and I was new) when we started competing together. If you are hard-working and not easily discouraged, and both you and your partner are patient, you will be fine. If you have good posture, that's a bonus too. (:

The levels after gold are open levels, meaning you are not restricted to a list of syllabus steps--and the only difference between levels is who dances in which level. You could do Yulia Z's competitive routines at novice level, for instance.

In terms of technique, I don't know if "harder" is the right word, but in my experience it is just important for the kinds of steps you are doing to have a solid base of technique...your choreography will *presuppose* good technique in a way that syllabus steps don't. So don't forget about the syllabus. The basic movements are important everywhere, so if you are new, be sure to give yourself a chance to practice them, otherwise your open-level dancing just won't look right.
 
Be aware as well that Latin (and ballroom, for that matter) are VERY different in body mechanics than jazz, ballet, etc. It is far easier to make the transitions among ballet-jazz-modern than it is to switch from one of those to Latin/ballroom technique. Pretty lines and great balance will serve you well, but partnership connection is crucial -- and connection is ideally based on technique specific to Latin/ballroom.

I don't mean to be discouraging, but am just urging you to spend some serious time on basic technique, just as prima ballerinas will go back to beginner classes to perfect their dancing.

Good luck and hope you enjoy the experience!
 
Dansa's location says "Europe," so the USA Dance designations of Novice and Pre-Championship probably do not apply.

By the way, it USED to be that in the USA that sometimes Novice was after Gold and sometime Pre-Champ was, but USA Dance this year changed all that. They put Novice "in line" so that it is officially the first post-syllabus level, rather than being this weird thing that it had been in the past. The USA Dance levels now go:

Bronze Syllabus
Silver Syllabus
Gold Syllabus
Novice
Pre-Championship
Championship
 
thanks guys for your reply..
i totally agree with the fact that i still need to go trough and learn all the basics.
Im gonna do it aside of my training, so that when im nót training i will take lessons just to learn the basics.

I managed to find (i live in europe) how its works for us regarding the competition levels. (totally forgot that im on a US site and that its different for u guys)...

[SIZE=-1]
  • Beginners (Europe: E)
  • Novice (Europe: D)
  • Intermediate (Europe: C)
  • Pre-Championships Pre-Champ (called also Pre-Ameteur Pre-Am) (Europe: B)
  • Open Amateur (Europe: A)[/SIZE]
I found it on a british site which points out that the name written first is only for UK while in brackets its for the rest of Europe...
However i found out that my partner is competing as an Open Amateur (A), so
its back to my qustion, The open Amateur is it very complicated stuff, or its like TAK says its more that you can have whatever routine you want?

Anyone has any kind of info regarding this?
thanks!
 
dansa said:
thanks guys for your reply..
i totally agree with the fact that i still need to go trough and learn all the basics.
Im gonna do it aside of my training, so that when im nót training i will take lessons just to learn the basics.

I managed to find (i live in europe) how its works for us regarding the competition levels. (totally forgot that im on a US site and that its different for u guys)...

[SIZE=-1]
  • Beginners (Europe: E)
  • Novice (Europe: D)
  • Intermediate (Europe: C)
  • Pre-Championships Pre-Champ (called also Pre-Ameteur Pre-Am) (Europe: B)
  • Open Amateur (Europe: A)[/SIZE]
I found it on a british site which points out that the name written first is only for UK while in brackets its for the rest of Europe...
However i found out that my partner is competing as an Open Amateur (A), so
its back to my qustion, The open Amateur is it very complicated stuff, or its like TAK says its more that you can have whatever routine you want?

Anyone has any kind of info regarding this?
thanks!
Click to expand...


It also depends on if there is an "S" level (which would be the highest level and the level above "A") in the country you are at. If there is an S, then the A level is more like prechamp in the US (the competitive field could be better or worse depending on which European country you are talking about). If A is the highest level where you're at, then your conversion chart seems right. That would be the highest level, but there can still be a lot of variability within that level. It depends on how your partner got there (is it a point-in system? etc.). Afterall, I would say that don't worry too much and just work hard and work on the basics. The dangerous of dancing with a much better lead, especially when the lady is talented, is that you might end up "skipping" lots of important things, at least, temporarily. But don't think too much, just work hard, take lessons and practice a lot. There must a a good reason for him to dance with you and you will do just fine. :)
 
Laura said:
Bronze Syllabus
Silver Syllabus
Gold Syllabus
Novice
Pre-Championship
Championship
Click to expand...

Laura does that mean that if I enter a USA Dance comp and it says just bronze or just silver it actually means bronze syllabus or silver syllabus? If I do non syllabus moves during the event do I get marked down?
 
dancingmomof2 said:
Laura does that mean that if I enter a USA Dance comp and it says just bronze or just silver it actually means bronze syllabus or silver syllabus? If I do non syllabus moves during the event do I get marked down?
Click to expand...

Yes -- In a Silver level event you can only do steps from the Bronze and Silver Syllabus. Check your event rules though -- some events have odd deviations. If you are doing pro/am events, some of those have Bronze Star or Open Bronze, which have fewer syllabus restrictions.
 
dancingmomof2 said:
Laura does that mean that if I enter a USA Dance comp and it says just bronze or just silver it actually means bronze syllabus or silver syllabus? If I do non syllabus moves during the event do I get marked down?
Click to expand...
Bronze = Bronze, Silver = Silver and lower, Gold = Gold and lower. You don't just get "marked down" for dancing out of syllabus -- you could get disqualified.
 
just keep working. Don't worry about level so much. Maybe you have terrible technique, maybe you have extreme natural talent, just keep working and make sure you understand what’s going on. You know the franco formica’s current partner made blackpool finals with him when she was 18 or 19? She was his student and they started competing together when she was 17.
 
Sorry for chiming in, but I was looking through the ranking system and I was wondering, where would Pro-Am fit in in the ranking system?
 
It doesn't. It's a separate system from amateur comps (which is what the above discussion is about). Pro-am is also divided into bronze, silver, and gold levels, with various subdivisions of each, depending on the organizers of each competition.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Dance Ads

Advertise on Dance Forums Reach dancers, teachers, studios, event organizers, and dance-friendly brands. View ad options
Back
Top