Laura. It is a lot differant for a Lady than a Man. Women can only dance upto the leval of their partner no matter how good she is. But if she is light on her feet and has good balance and poise,there is no reason that she can't compete at a higher leval, if she can find the right partner and is willing to work hard.

Don't get fooled by the choreography and showmanship. The actual difference in things like accuracy between good gold and average champ is fairly small. Of course most good gold couples quickly turn into bad pre-champ couples with over-ambitious routines that spoil the qualities they had were just starting to really develop. Much of what you see in the champ espeically with those fresh from the youth divisions is the result of a rapid push towards creating "the look" - but see one of these couples taking a technique lesson, and they are struggling with concepts already familiar to rigorously trained silver dancers.

We cannot be talking about the same thing. Gold = Novice. Novices must stick to a strict sylibus,they cannot dance anything they want and certinly nothing fancy. Sportdancing International. Doug

In the US there are Novice-level amateur competitions at both USA Dance (USABDA) and NDCA-sanctioned events that allow out-of-syllabus work. Novice in these systems is basically just the first "open" level, below Pre-Championship.

As soon as you are familiar with the basic steps of a dance you are ready to compete. So, be sure to practice them after every lesson.
Attend a competition in your area and you can see for yourself how it works and that you can do the moves because you recognize them.
Check out accessdance.com for a listing of some of the competitions.

So, if somebody's had a year of lessons, owns an appropriate wardrobe and shoes, has the money, and "waltzes right up to" a competition with the entry fee and info.... they can enter?

Please expound... curious novices with only two lessons under their belt love to know!

You don't even have to have had year of lessons. I've been in Pro/Am "Newcomer" events that were set up for people who have had less than 40 hours of instruction. And costumes weren't allowed. All you have to do to enter is have your teacher find one of these comps and sign you up (and of course you have to pay him/her for dancing with you and also to pay for the entry fees).

My ballroom club holds newcomer events for dancers dancing in their first amateur competition (although one of the partners can be more experienced). No costumes required, either. The only thing required is that you join the parent organization (USA Dance) to enter.