I have just started my bronze and just go to lessons once a week. I hope to get along to the social nights and I practice a lot at home. As a child I did gymnastics and I also did a bit of calisthenics when I was a teenager (I'm now 22. How long will it take until I can go into competitions and does anyone have any advice?

There are competitions for all different levels, ranging from "newcomer" up to the top pros that you sometimes see on TV. There are bronze level competitions, silver level, and so on. How long it takes to get ready is really something that is best decided between you, your partner, and your coach. Or you and your teacher if you're doing Pro/Am.

Do you enter into the bronze level competitions taken after you have the bronze metal? Or can you enter them before?

as soon as you feel good dancing with your partner, you should compete

In the US you can enter any level at any time you want, so long as you haven't won too many points in that level already. There are no tests or points required to get in to a level -- the points I mentioned are just there to kick people up to the next level if they've done well enough on their current one.

I don't know how it works in other countries.

Usualy couples will only dance up one leval and even then only when they are consistenly in the final of their own leval. It would really screw up the works if someone at gold leval dance at championship leval. First they would stick out like a sore thumb and second thy would pose a risk to other dancers. It would be like a car driving at 40 mph on the highway when every one else is doing 60 mph. But the question was, how long does it take to become a competitor? Some studios and dances have prebegginer competitions. My advice would be to get your gold medal before competing as this gives you a strong foundation to start with,a foundation that will keep you dancing throughout your live.

gold dancers are not a problem on a champ floor, it is overnight "champ" dancers with no background experience in competition and floorcraft who are dangerous.

waiting to get a gold medal first is unecessary, just start with lower level events. its impossible to know what you need to do to prepare unless you get out there and make learning mistakes in the low levels.

I said championship not prechampionship, No wonder the standars are so low in the U.S.A. If you have gold leval dancers dancing international ballroom at two levals above their grade. In Ausralia they have four grades A.B.C.D. just in gold and other levals. You won't find gold dancers in Europe,Canada or Ausralia dancing in championship at any major event. They would be rather watching and learning than making a fool of themself. When I went in a competition in Australia while visting,they did not know what grade in prechampionship to put me in so they put me in the top grade,I did not get one mark. In the U.S. I was winning.

Well I have to agree with Doug. I have not competed in America,but Championship class is so much higher over here than gold, that a teacher would not want their students to compete even in the first rounds untill they had graduated into pre-championship.

I'm a gold-level US dancer making the transition into the out-of-syllabus events. I don't know anyone at my level who jumps right to Championship unless they are an amazing prodigy. Most people dance Novice (which in the US is considered to be the same level as Gold, but with non-syllabus material allowed) and some Pre-Championship.