USA Dance Pro Division

s2k

s2k

Well-Known Member
Anyone have any idea what this "new division" is actually going to do, or be comprised of, or what purpose it will serve? Anyone have any suggestions they're hoping it will do or provide?
 
I'm assuming they're hoping it will provide $$$s. Which is not an indictment of their motivations - finances are important. Beyond that, I think they have to be hoping it'll provide a pipeline for home-grown judges. One has to assume the defections from the NDCA will dry up eventually and there are only so many immigrants.
 
They've been pretty vocal about the whys... Brings USA Dance in line with other WDSF member organizations. It creates a track for youth and adult dancers aspiring to become professionals to remain with USA Dance instead of having to jump to NDCA. Many youths chose NDCA from the start because there was no future for a professional in USA Dance, so now they would have USA Dance as an option. As mentioned, it does create opportunities to grow new judges. Also Professionals tend to attend competitions with their student flock, so it can potentially grow attendance. And I suppose there is an Olympic reason in there somewhere, though I can't think of how they tied that in.
 
Time will tell, of course, but I kind of assume we're going to wind up in a world where the folk who come up through the USA Dance adult championship ranks will mostly wind up as USAD pros and the folks who come up from the franchises, pro-am focused studios and the Utah folk mostly wind up as NDCA pros.

Which is a shame, from my point of view, since it would inevitably result in situations where there are top American dancers who never compete against each other.
 
Although in fairness, I'm not entirely sure how many top USAD amateurs wound up going pro at all before. Maybe my uncertainty in this regard is just a byproduct of my paying more attention to the American styles these days. But maybe the impact is more just making adult champ in the international styles a bit more accessible as couples enter the USAD pro ranks. I dunno.
 
Are the pros going to turn out to be those couples who win champ, and then at some point choose stay with USAD's pro division? For example, Daniel Tran and Taylor Kinney won champ rhythm, then turned pro and went to NDCA events.

Or are the pros going to turn out to be those (few) individuals who teach ballroom and currently dance am-am? Will such pros leave the champ events to do the pro events because now there's a place for them?

I guess what it boils down to, for me, is that unless you "declare yourself a professional" by dancing in pro events, you can be an amateur. So if there's a new pro division in what's been largely an amateur organization, I wonder if words will get more defined as this division takes shape.

Because that will be interesting.
 
JudeMorrigan said:
Although in fairness, I'm not entirely sure how many top USAD amateurs wound up going pro at all before. Maybe my uncertainty in this regard is just a byproduct of my paying more attention to the American styles these days. But maybe the impact is more just making adult champ in the international styles a bit more accessible as couples enter the USAD pro ranks. I dunno.
Click to expand...

Usadance ams turning pro include current #2 in the world Victor Fung. Past ams turning pro include Gary and Diana McDonald, etc.
 
Bailamosdance said:
Usadance ams turning pro include current #2 in the world Victor Fung. Past ams turning pro include Gary and Diana McDonald, etc.
Click to expand...
You'll note that those cases are not even vaguely recent. And I'm not intending to say it never happens. To be honest - I'm just trying to find a way to not be completely doom-and-gloom. (And am admittedly overly-focused on smooth, where it seems like there hasn't been a top pro to come out of the USAD ranks since the Spinders. Who seem like sort of a special case to me.)
 
JudeMorrigan said:
You'll note that those cases are not even vaguely recent. And I'm not intending to say it never happens. To be honest - I'm just trying to find a way to not be completely doom-and-gloom. (And am admittedly overly-focused on smooth, where it seems like there hasn't been a top pro to come out of the USAD ranks since the Spinders. Who seem like sort of a special case to me.)
Click to expand...

Agreed re: timeline. But this also points to the damage the infighting has done to our dance world. I would love to see USA Dance support ams all the way thru, let's hope that adding a pro division does not ratchet up the feud and make it even harder to dance freely in the USA...
 
s2k said:
Are the pros going to turn out to be those couples who win champ, and then at some point choose stay with USAD's pro division? For example, Daniel Tran and Taylor Kinney won champ rhythm, then turned pro and went to NDCA events.

Or are the pros going to turn out to be those (few) individuals who teach ballroom and currently dance am-am? Will such pros leave the champ events to do the pro events because now there's a place for them?

I guess what it boils down to, for me, is that unless you "declare yourself a professional" by dancing in pro events, you can be an amateur. So if there's a new pro division in what's been largely an amateur organization, I wonder if words will get more defined as this division takes shape.

Because that will be interesting.
Click to expand...
If the implication is making a no-teaching rule for the amateur ranks, I can't see that happening. Without re-opening the discussion of whether or not such a rule would be a good thing or not - the organization is going to want to be able to field couples who can be competitive in the WDSF amateur ranks. So I can't see them putting such a rule in place without every other country also agreeing to such a rule. Which isn't in the cards.
 
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