This weekend I attended the NJ regional. During the awards there was an annoucncement regarding the new costume rules. Even having read the rules it was quite confusing.

It is already a rule with USADBA until novice, cosutmes are not allowed. I noticed that none of the ladies wore costumes, there were no sequins, floats, ect....

The announcer said that "some of the dresses that you are wearing today will not be allowed come May 1st".... So now where do you draw the line and when does a dress become a costume??? This whole issue has become confusing. For the ladies, it is already a challenge to find a dress to wear at these comps that give freedom to dance piviots, flight, ect without getting caught up in a normal dress. This rule has in the past caused me problems, and now confusion on top of it, fustrates me.

The announcer also stated that some shoes that were worn at this comp would not be allowed. I do not think that I saw one lady wear a dance shoes that was not a 2.5 inch heel.(in international standard) With the new rule of max 2. heel every person at this comp would have to buy new shoes. Your dance shoes do increase or decrease your ability to dance your best, and for me this is an adjustment that I do not look forward to.

Evertime I attend a USABA event it is written in the rules that costumes are not allowed and it states this rule will be enforced. It never is. There is usually one or two in cosutme, and that fustrates me, as I do follow this rule and leave my costume at home. I wonder just how these new rules will be enfored, if at all.

Anyway, aside from this very confusing annoucnement, the NJ regional was a great success. It had very good attendence and was run quite well.

I also find the new set of rules to be quite arbitrary, and I am trying to find out how and why these have all come about.

Apparantly, based on what little information I've gained second-hand, the reasoning beind the "no shoes higher than 2 inches" for adult woman rule is related to how the USA DanceSport Committee would like to see adults trained for syllabus competition.

Now what I'd like to know is what their reasoning is for banning nail polish and fishnet stockings on adult women, and forcing men to only wear suede or patent leather shoes (right now the rules don't allow for the plain leather shoes that most syllabus level adult males wear). I really see these rules as being nearly unenforceable.

I help run a number of USA Dance competitions each year and I'm very distressed by the position these rules put me in. I'm supposed to tell an adult woman who is trying to shape and smooth her lumpy bits that she can't wear fishnets? I'm supposed to tell a greying gentleman that he can't use colored hairspray to cover his greying bits? Oh wait, that rule only applies to women -- why not to men?? That's unfair! And it just goes on from there. It was one thing to play costume police and get people out of floats, ballgowns, and tail suits for syllabus, but it's another to go make someone essentially have to go buy new shoes to compete, or tell them to take off a neat and secure fake ponytail, and that sort of thing.

I'm just posting an update here for anyone happening to still be reading this thread...the adult syllabus dress code issues are being discussed by the people who have the power to actually do something about them. They have been made aware of the various questions and issues people have. As I get further updates, I'll be sure to post and let everyone know!

Hello,
Janet, thanks for posting your question and Laura thanks for your response. I am also confused about the USABDA rules regarding costumes. And I am troubled by the inconsistencies in enforcing the rules. Last year, I understood that no costumes were allowed at my level so I didn't wear one. However, some people did and nothing was done about it. (I actually posted a similar question on this site last year).

So...this year when I go, I am not sure what to do. Follow the rules and don't wear one? The folks who wore them placed high. Were the judges not aware of the no costume rule or did they just ignore it? (My partner and I also did well although we followed the costuming rules).

Laura, I'll look forward to any updates you have. In the meantime, I wonder what anyone's thoughts are...should the costume rules be followed or not?

The costume rules should be followed and, more importantly, the officials and judges should enforce them!

Unfortuantely, it's so hard sometimes. The officials are all volunteers, and it's really difficult to deal with a parent who is willing to fight you to the death so that her kid can wear a costume, or an adult who flew in from out of town for the event and claims they have NOTHING else to wear, or -- worse yet -- someone who is going around in a warm up suit and no one notices they are in costume until they're in the line-up two minutes before the event is supposed to take the floor.

If people just did what they were supposed to do instead of (a) willfully cheating or (b) not bothering to famililarize themselves with the rules of the competitive activity they have decided to participat in, then the system breaks down.

At a competition I was Registrar for last year, a syllabus couple ended up on the floor in costume. I had no idea the woman was wearing a costume, she had on a warm-up jacket and the room was VERY busy and no one noticed until they were lined up before the heat was to take the floor. I immediately ran and got the Chairman of Judges, but we were also keeping to a tight schedule. The choice was to kick the couple out of the event, or to delay the event (and therefore the entire schedule) so they could go change. The Chairman decided to just let them dance. I was particularly unhappy about letting them dance because the couple had danced in our competitions before, the entry form said NO COSTUMES, and yet they still said "oh, we didn't know." Yeah right. But, the Chairman has the final say, and not all Chairmen make the same decisions.

The costume rules for ADULT SYLLABUS, as published a couple of weeks ago, have a TON of problems in them. Turtle Brennen of the USA Dance DanceSport Council has posted a notice on Dance Forums saying that the adult syllabus rules are just competely messed up and that new rules are coming. So, don't panic yet about what you may have heard or read about the new adult syllabus rules...stay tuned for more details...as I get more news I will post it here.

Allow them to dance, but make them wear a spare trash bag over their illegal costume as a scarlet letter. (actually have seen someone allowed to use a warmup jacket for that purpose when a costumed event immediatelly followed a non-costumed one)

Excellent idea re: the warmup jacket, I'll file that one away for future use.

Hi Laura,
Thanks very much for your informative posting. It helps to hear things from someone involved in the competition itself and on the decision process that takes place when someone wears a costume when they are not supposed to.

Frankly, I don't know why costumes are not allowed. Why don't the rules change simply to costumes allowed (but not required)at any level? That way there would not be any issues about costuming and those of us who follow the rules would not feel that things are unfair when rules are not enforced..at least in costuming!

I could also mention that non-syllabus steps are also permitted in levels where they aren't supposed to be. At one of last year's regional USABDA comps, in some heats, couples were told not to use those steps by the judges. In other heats, they were allowed...I saw silver moves in bronze for example, that were allowed.

Everyone makes their own decisions I guess and can choose to partipate or not. My partner and I choose to follow the rules and to enter the competitions even though we do not like the inconsistencies in judges enforcing rules. We do our best and feel good about that. We also felt that in spite of the costume and syllabus rules not being enforced, that the comp results were fair. Maybe I can say that because we did well! But things are what they are. I believe in most cases that judges do their best to be fair and accurate and as you mentioned Laura, it is not always easy to make a hard decision in the heat of the competition. Thanks again for the information.

Hi Laura
I agree with you that things get complicated partly because there are those competitors who either simply don't care to familiarise thmeselves with the rules, or knowingly 'push the barrier' to get an advantage.
I firmly believe that a hard line must be drawn, otherwise people will keep pushing that barier: - so i suggest the following:
1)Let people know in writing that if they break the costume code after a certain date they will be disqualified.
2)The judges are told to simply not mark those who break the costume code.

Those who are responsible for running competitive dancing must make sure that all competitors will in fact reasonably see new rules. This point is often skimped on.