I'm an amateur guy and have been dancing for 7 years, in my early fifties and don't have any hope of going to Blackpool with my late start in ballroom. I have done 10 years of adult ballet, but lots of these skills don't transfer. I take great care of myself and plan to dance competitively for another 15 or 20 years.

I dance at the silver and gold level and do Am. Smooth, Q. Step, V. Waltz Std., Am. Rhythm, and Int. Latin. Plus I am competing in WCS, Hustle, and Salsa in 3 weeks. My next dance to learn is the Two Step. Know that I am way to diversified with my dancing, but I really enjoy all the dances and there is of carry over from one dance to another. I am probably better at Am. Smooth and getting better at Int. Latin with my Pro partner. I would love to get better at Std. Waltz, Foxtrot, and Tango--but there is just so much time and money.

I'm probably a good all around dancer and can use all of the above social dancing, but I have not done as well in competitions due to the lack of specialization and a steady partner. If I would specialize and try to be competitive--I would just dance Am. Smooth and maybe a show dance.

We are lucky in our area since we have good teachers in all of the above dances. Plus, I have a dream partner to dance with now.

I having loads of fun social dancing with a variety of partners, but do feel a void by not being more competitive and living up to my potential by specializing more in fewer dances. Since I have only had this great partner for about a year I am still thinking and evaluating on what to focus on. A well trained, steady and stable partner has lots to do with how well and far you can develop your dance skills. Plus, you are better off if you are not romantically involved with a dance partner--been there done that.

It depends on what you want. It is very hard to do both very well. Times are different from when Irvine competed. The time and energy (and money) required to be successful either in Latin or standard is not like Irvine's time. You mentioned World ten dancers. But look at them what happens when they enter only one style, let's say, at Blackpool. They are just mid-range dancers. But once they decide to commit only one style, some of them do make to the final sometimes. So it really depends on what you want. If you want to be versatile in both styles and happy with never making it to the top in either, ten dance is the way to go. If your ambition is to be a Balckpool finalist, you need to choose one style.

Is it a good idea to compete in both styles. The case for yes is there are 10 Dance Championships. To that we will add that even the winner in both Amateure and Professionals only make the semi's. But when they stopped dancing ten dance. The former champions are gong well in Standard.
Probably one of the all time greats Markus Hilton and Karen were Blacpool amateure champions in Latin and never did much in Standard untill they entered the professional ranks in that style in which they went to the top and stayed untill they retired from competition . I am not running down the Latin style or the Standard. What I do ask is it better to stick to the style you are better at in competition. Instead of dividing your time between the two. One couple who did excell in both sryles at the same time was Billy Irvine in 1966.