NCDC: Syllabus Dress Code

[paintanker]

I recently attended the National Collegiate DanceSport Championships in Columbus, Ohio. The rules clearly say that syllabus Latin leads can only wear a plain, unpatterned, non-shiny black, midnight blue or white shirt, and plain, unpatterned, non-shiny black or midnight blue trousers (with the exception of a satin stripe down the outside of the leg). I even confirmed this with the USA Dance Chair of the National DanceSport Organizing Committee.

Because I was foolish enough to believe her, I had to buy a whole new pair of latin pants (as mine were pinstriped), and I didn't get a latin shirt. But what did I see when I got there? Pinstriped pants and Latin shirts. She had said that they would ask offending dancers to change clothes, or withdraw them, but couples made it to the finals and were placed wearing these things. Clearly NO care whatsoever was given to enforcing the dress code.

My question is, is this typical? Even if a competition says it will enforce the dress code to the best of its abilities, it might just not care (outside of crystals all over and such)?

 

[Gorme]

I've seen it enforced at MAC and Nationals. On my local scene, nobody seems to care unless it's rhinestone related.

 

[pygmalion]

From what I've seen and heard, sometimes the dress code is more stringently enforced than other times, and it can be hard to know in advance which is which. You did the right thing by making sure to adhere to the rules. My $0.02.

 

[dbk]

I've seen it enforced at MAC and Nationals. On my local scene, nobody seems to care unless it's rhinestone related.

Last time I was at the MAC (either this year or the year before, I can't remember) there was very little enforcement going on... to the point where one woman wore a smooth gown 100% covered in bright sparkly gold sequins. Really annoying when I'd left my costume at home and was wearing a black practice skirt.

I don't think my local collegiate comps even have rules about costumes (past newcomer, anyway).

 

[mindputtee]

I was there too, I didn't notice the pinstripe latin pants, but I do have a complaint: I was dancing silver and gold smooth and I had some rhinestone hairpins in because they usually don't care about that kind of thing and they are easy to remove. After dancing the first waltz of the waltz-quickstep combined event, an official came up and asked me to take them out after I finished the quickstep. I had a second so I took them out right then and handed them off to someone. I was actually glad they were enforcing the rules for once. What made me upset is that later on I saw other people that still had very obvious sparkles in their hair and much more than I had and they still hadn't taken them out and wore them all the way to the final. I like it when they enforce the rules they say they are going to, I would just prefer if they enforced them fairly and it applied to everyone.

 

[Ray Sison]

I was there too, I didn't notice the pinstripe latin pants, but I do have a complaint: I was dancing silver and gold smooth and I had some rhinestone hairpins in because they usually don't care about that kind of thing and they are easy to remove. After dancing the first waltz of the waltz-quickstep combined event, an official came up and asked me to take them out after I finished the quickstep. I had a second so I took them out right then and handed them off to someone. I was actually glad they were enforcing the rules for once. What made me upset is that later on I saw other people that still had very obvious sparkles in their hair and much more than I had and they still hadn't taken them out and wore them all the way to the final. I like it when they enforce the rules they say they are going to, I would just prefer if they enforced them fairly and it applied to everyone.

I agree...

 

[Daphna]

I recently attended the National Collegiate DanceSport Championships in Columbus, Ohio. The rules clearly say that syllabus Latin leads can only wear a plain, unpatterned, non-shiny black, midnight blue or white shirt, and plain, unpatterned, non-shiny black or midnight blue trousers (with the exception of a satin stripe down the outside of the leg). I even confirmed this with the USA Dance Chair of the National DanceSport Organizing Committee.

Because I was foolish enough to believe her, I had to buy a whole new pair of latin pants (as mine were pinstriped), and I didn't get a latin shirt. But what did I see when I got there? Pinstriped pants and Latin shirts. She had said that they would ask offending dancers to change clothes, or withdraw them, but couples made it to the finals and were placed wearing these things. Clearly NO care whatsoever was given to enforcing the dress code.

My question is, is this typical? Even if a competition says it will enforce the dress code to the best of its abilities, it might just not care (outside of crystals all over and such)?

Hi,

I'm the person you spoke to prior to NCC and I'm sorry that the rules weren't strictly enforced. There was one observer there and I know for a fact that he did ask many of the dancers to change their clothes, remove various glitter items and button up shirts. He may not have been as strict as you may liked but he was trying his best and if a couple of items escaped his notice, all I can say that with only one person looking and over 100 couples in a number of events it was a next to impossible task :headwall:.

It's not that we don't care, but rather its more like monitoring speeders, you don't always get caught but the law of averages is against you and if you speed enough you eventually get caught. If you wear costumes that are not allowed eventually you will get caught and asked to change what you are wearing. (And no, I'm not saying that wearing a pinstripe pair of pants is the equivalent speeding down the highway and potentially killing someone.)

 

[danceronice]

With respect, if as the OP says there were couples in violation making the finals, it isn't a matter of sorting through 100 couples at that point.

 

[pygmalion]

True, doi, but the point is still valid, IMHO. It's easy to sit in the spectator's (or even competitor's) seat and see what the observer should see. Pretty hard to observe everything at once. My $0.02.

 

[etp777]

That would assume that person enforcing the dress code was just sitting there on floor watching every dancer enter and then dance, and had no other responsibilities. If this on the other hand is the deck captain or someone similarly busy, it's lucky they catch any violations.

 

[paintanker]

I believe that if I am paying all this money to USA dance and they have rules that they claim they will enforce, that it is their responsibility to have those rules enforced. If they have only one person tasked with this job among others which pull him back and forth, it is USA Dance's responsibility to its patrons to get another person or take any means necessary to make the competition fair.

I would not be complaining if just a pinstriped pair of pants had gotten into a few rounds, but a when a competitor walks up to receive his award in a Latin shirt, that just shows me that USA dance doesn't care, because to miss something that noticeable all the way up to the finals is unacceptable.

I used to hold USA dance in high esteem.

 

[pygmalion]

I believe that if I am paying all this money to USA dance and they have rules that they claim they will enforce, that it is their responsibility to have those rules enforced. If they have only one person tasked with this job among others which pull him back and forth, it is USA Dance's responsibility to its patrons to get another person or take any means necessary to make the competition fair.

I would not be complaining if just a pinstriped pair of pants had gotten into a few rounds, but a when a competitor walks up to receive his award in a Latin shirt, that just shows me that USA dance doesn't care, because to miss something that noticeable all the way up to the finals is unacceptable.

I used to hold USA dance in high esteem.

I hear you and you're right. But ... it's a volunteer organization whose resources are stretched to the limits. What should be, in an ideal world with unlimited resources, and what really happens, are two different things. I hope the two will be as close to each other as possible.

 

[danceronice]

I hear you and you're right. But ... it's a volunteer organization whose resources are stretched to the limits. What should be, in an ideal world with unlimited resources, and what really happens, are two different things. I hope the two will be as close to each other as possible.

If you are serious about being a sport, let alone an Olympic sport, then you can only coast on "we're all volunteers" for so long. If I send my 4-H kids into the ring with an illegal piece of equipment on the horse and get away with it once, that doesn't excuse the (all-volunteer) ring stewards from busting us for it if they get called back for a championship class, and I can't say "Um...we wore it before" and get away with it.

And if they're the deck captain, yes, they have a hard job, but they have a six- or seven-couple final they might miss a pair of pinstripe trousers but stoning and open Latin shirts? I think anyone who did follow the rules, removed things they were asked to remove, or in one poster's case went out of their way to buy clothes that conformed to the rules has a right to be pissed.

 

[Daphna]

I hear you, and once again I apologize, and next year, in order to make it better and more fair, we will try to bring more people to NCC and at least have one person at the on-deck area taking down numbers of the couples who are wearing items that are not allowed so that they can be found later and told to change their clothes or be DQ'd, & one person in the spectator area watching and looking for couples that may have been missed by the on-deck area. If anyone would like to help, please let me know. I'm really not trying to be snide or use the "it's an all volunteer" argument, but in order to bring the people, they need to take time off from work (usually 2 days), and I just don't have enough people on my volunteer roster to do this, and everything else that needs to be done, so any help would be greatly appreciated. Send me a PM if you'd like to volunteer.

 

[middy]

Definitely depends on the comp. Whether it is enforced or not (for you) is just a matter of luck, so it's just easier to follow the rules and not be worried about it. Now you have an extra pair of pants!

At MAC in syllabus standard, at least a few men had to go running around trying to find a white shirt to change into (instead of a black one) a couple of minutes before dancing.