Ok, I had my first showcase about a week ago and really liked it. I am thinking about getting in ballroom bigtime! But I am 48 years young and most of the people instructing and taking lessons are at least half my age! I am fairly good at most of the bronze level steps and would love to move up in levels and maybe compete someday. Is the clock ticking too fast for me? What would be a realistic timeframe to go from bronze to competetion levels? The owner of the studio (a former US latin Champ) is in her early 40s and still sometimes competes with her partner part-time. I am ready to devote as much time as I can to become a really good dancer and hopefully compete someday. Am I dancing on borrowed time?

billman

I read your post with a 'slight smile' on my face. Much to my regret, I must say yes, 'you are dancing on borrowed time.'
I know from experience.
Let me introduce myself. I am now 76 (but still 16 in my mind, when i started my first ballroom dancing lesson). I am a 'former' teen-age ballroom 'class - room' dance instructor, and a former ballroom dancer from 1948 thru 1965.
I have to this date, never gotten over being that kid of 1948 with such a lofty goal of being that next Gene Kelly.!
It was not to be, as the Korean War was looming in the future, & when I returned home in the fall of 1952, my dreams had been shattered. I did manage to become one of the best on the ballroom floor and later on commanded the attention of students of the Great Arthur Murray, in our area.
I do wish you the best of luck, enjoy ballroom dancing as a 'recreation' and great fun, but on a 'professional' or/Exhibition level, it may be a tab bit late, at 48. I was still looking for that ballroom kid of 1948 thru 1965, in 1978 (when i was 48), but by that time, my time had passed. We can now only hope that 'your generation/children & grandchildren will be the next greats of the big-band & ballroom era. Have fun! Enjoy! and thank you for your time, from an 'old' ballroom dancer!, who still misses the Day's of Wine & Roses!.
Sincerely,
The Ballroom Kid of; 1948 thru 1965
Eddie C.

Depends on your goals. Unless you are amazingly fit and athletic, you are probably too old to become a professional dancer.

But if you want to pursue it as a serious hobby (i.e., not your source of income), you're NEVER too old! And you can start competing now if you want.

The big choice you need to make is whether you want to compete pro-am (with your instructor as your partner) or as an amateur (with another amateur as a partner). There are pros and cons to each; for most people, it depends on whether they can find an amateur partner and whether they can afford to compete pro-am (it's costly because you'll need to pay some or all of your instructor's expenses at the comp).

I started dancing when I was 50. I've done pro-am and started competing when I had been dancing only 6 months. Pro-am competitions are divided by both level and age. It varies depending on who's sponsoring the competition, but typically you can compete as a "newcomer" with less than 6 months or 50 hours of instruction. Then you progress up the levels, typically something like beginning broze, intermediate bronze, full bronze, beginning silver, etc. You also enter by your age level, so you'd be competing against other dancers more or less your own age. It is possible to enter as a newcomer in the over-80s age group! I often joke with my instructor that, having started at fifty, I have my eye on a national over-80s title--because it will take me that long to get that good! Amateur competitions call their dance levels by different names, but they too are geared for the dancer beginning as an adult.

Your instructor or the studio owner should be able to tell you more and whether your instructor or any others at the studio would be willing and able to compete pro-am with you.

Good luck!