Is Pro Am becoming a sport of only the wealthy?

I am from Canada, and it is a bit different here. Am/am is the main focus of comps and I have been present at meetings of the local dancesport organization where they have laughed about how they only have pro/am at their comps so that they make enough money in registrations for the comp to run and cover their expenses. When you consider that pro/am students pay an average of $40/dance and am/ams pay per event (and sometimes with a max of entry costs--at least here Am/ams pay a max of $50 for an entire comp and multiple events entered), one of us is paying almost 10 times more to dance. I realize the situation is different in the US, at least for NDCA, but there is still a huge disparity between the costs for pro/am and am/am.
 
DanceMentor said:
Too high or too low? :)
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I think RnF was figuring $100/lesson. A year of those would break your $4k budget. Lessons are cheaper in my part of the country, but even at Deep South prices, a year of one lesson per week would leave precious little for anything else if I were only going to spend $4k that year.
 
Agreed, Am/am is bigger. It also really depends where you are. In Western Canada, it is almost all am/am, with pro/am slowing growing. My understanding is that t is similar in Ontario and Quebec, but more divided by politics there, although I am not familiar with the current situation.
 
Rhythmdancer said:
@Spookisgirl Your entry fees are subsidizing amateur couples? Where'd you get that from? Most NDCA competitions consider am/am an after thought.
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At least for am/am's competing in open categories, I would argue that it's true in the States as well. Sure, it's only the championship level dancers (and frequently only the adult champ dancers) who get prestigious spots on the schedule. But the big, fancy, luxurious NDCA-style comps with massive vendor halls wouldn't exist in their current form without the money that the pro-am students poor into the system. Now, whether or not that luxury means anything to you is an entirely reasonable question. Personally, I'd be all for more bare-bones style competitions that aren't necessarily held in fancy hotel ballrooms. So I consider it perfectly reasonable for someone to not necessarily *want* that subsidization. But as is for now - yeah. I'd say pro-am dancers subsidize the heck out of the am-am and pro-pro couples.
 
I also agree about being willing to forgo the 'perks' of fancy hotels and even huge 'top student' awards for something more bare bones and more affordable, but it seems that is a minority feeling. The system is what it is. I seriously doubt there will be any change any time soon.
 
I am also curious how you see student/teacher events at USADance comps being likely to reduce pro/am fees? My experience (and it is very limited!) is that student/teacher entry fees are already basically the same as pro/am entry fees. The market already tolerates such big fees, so why would any organizer reduce them? (that said, pro/am fees in my region are an average of $5-$10 cheaper than elsewhere--and I have seen lower fees for events in Quebec as well).
 
Spookisgirl said:
I am also curious how you see student/teacher events at USADance comps being likely to reduce pro/am fees? My experience (and it is very limited!) is that student/teacher entry fees are already basically the same as pro/am entry fees. The market already tolerates such big fees, so why would any organizer reduce them? (that said, pro/am fees in my region are an average of $5-$10 cheaper than elsewhere--and I have seen lower fees for events in Quebec as well).
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Depends on the competition really, most of them the fees are pretty much the same from the organizers.
 
JudeMorrigan said:
At least for am/am's competing in open categories, I would argue that it's true in the States as well. Sure, it's only the championship level dancers (and frequently only the adult champ dancers) who get prestigious spots on the schedule. But the big, fancy, luxurious NDCA-style comps with massive vendor halls wouldn't exist in their current form without the money that the pro-am students poor into the system. Now, whether or not that luxury means anything to you is an entirely reasonable question. Personally, I'd be all for more bare-bones style competitions that aren't necessarily held in fancy hotel ballrooms. So I consider it perfectly reasonable for someone to not necessarily *want* that subsidization. But as is for now - yeah. I'd say pro-am dancers subsidize the heck out of the am-am and pro-pro couples.
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But there's a certain set who want all that...what was the name of that book that was being discussed a few years ago, "ballroom glamour" something?
 
Joe said:
But there's a certain set who want all that...what was the name of that book that was being discussed a few years ago, "ballroom glamour" something?
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"Glamour Addiction: Inside the American Ballroom Industry"

I own that book and read it a few years ago, it's a fascinating read. It made me realize (and allowed me to help some of my fellow students realize) that many of the happenings/tactics that we were not entirely happy about were not unique to our studio, but common aspects of ballroom culture in general.
 
Loki said:
Style?
Level?
Age class?
NDCA or USAD?
Are you anywhere near Chicago? ;)
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I might be thrown out of this thread if I start looking for a partner her, but this actually not a bad idea. Does forum have a place for partnership ads?
Anyway, I am on the west coast, not near Chicago, sorry Loki!
 
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