Could someone please explain the U.S. competition system? There seems to be so many different routes and different organizations, what is the true way?

When someone says they are the "U.S. Latin Champions," what competition gave them that title?

Is there a championship, like moving up the competitions.. Or does your record stop after one competition and start again at the next one? Is the Ohio Star Ball only a finals level or do beginners enter that as well? All of the competitions seem so isolated from one another, and all of the organizations seem to "compete" with each other for credibility. Is there one standard way to become champion?

"When someone says they are the "U.S. Latin Champions," what competition gave them that title? "

Whichever competition they won.

The US is actually not all that much worse than other countries in this regard.

The thing to remember is that in the end titles mean nothing. Which other couples a couple beat to earn a title means a little bit, but what really matters is how they dance, or if under consideration as a teacher, what and how they teach.

Dancer's resumes are written for the benefit of non dancers. Fellow dancers don't need to read them - we have our own eyes to judge with.

When someone says they are the "U.S. Latin Champions," what competition gave them that title?

It depends on if they are Pros, Pro/Am, or Amateurs.

The US National Professional Latin Championship is run at the United States DanceSport Championships, held in Miami in the very beginning of September. The US Open Pro/Am Latin Championship is also held there. There are two systems for amateurs, one is NDCA (National Dance Council of America) and the other is USA Dance. The NDCA US National Amateur Latin Championship has recently been held at Provo, Utah, in March, but I think that has changed. The USA Dance US National Amateur Latin Dance Championship is held in various locations in mid-August. The 2005 event was held in St. Paul, Minnesota. In 2006 it will be in San Jose, California. In 2007 it will be in Louisville, Kentucky. Only the competitors from the USA Dance championships go on to the Amateur World Championships. It's sort of like Miss USA versus Miss America: the winner of Miss USA goes on to Miss World, but winning Miss America is the end of the line in that pagent system.

Is there a championship, like moving up the competitions.

Well, if you mean are there a series of proficiency levels, yes. In Professional competition, there are only two levels: Rising Star and Open. In Pro/Am there is a huge series of levels, starting in "newcomer" and going on up to the Open Level. In Amateur there is also a series of levels, starting in Bronze Syllabus and moving up to World Class.

Or does your record stop after one competition and start again at the next one?

I'm not sure what you mean by this. However, if someone has ever won a US National title, some people keep using that title in some form or another forever, even if they only won it once. Still, it's only the person from the most recent national championship event who is really the national champion.

Is the Ohio Star Ball only a finals level or do beginners enter that as well?

Ohio Star Ball is for all levels. They even have special collegiate events for university dancers.

All of the competitions seem so isolated from one another, and all of the organizations seem to "compete" with each other for credibility. Is there one standard way to become champion?

I'm not sure what you're getting at. If you are a Pro or in Pro/Am, then you are only the US Champion if you win at the United States DanceSport Championships (USDSC). There are only two competing systems if you are an amateur couple, and of these only one of them has a world championship to send the top US couples to.

Some other organizations have "closed" championships. For instance, Arthur Murray and Fred Astaire studios both run their own national championships, but those are only for people who are part of those chains. It's not the case that just anyone can enter them, and therefore they aren't the true National Championships because they aren't open to all comers.

I'm not sure what you mean by the Ohio Star Ball being "isolated." It's a very big competition, and everyone knows when and where it is. The winners at Ohio are not the US Champions, though! They're just the Ohio Star Ball Champions. But still, winning at Ohio is a big and important win to most people.

Thank you Laura for your detailed response! I didn't mean to call the Ohio Star Ball isolated, I meant separate competition strands in general. I guess what I was trying to ask is in baseball you have the finals and then the world series. If you win the world series you are champion. In ballroom it seeemed a little different, like you were champion of this competition, or this program, or this organization. I was under the impression that there were many competitions that claimed to announce the next Champions. So if a couple like Bob and Julia say they are the U.S. Rythym Champions that means they won the USDSC? That was the main thing I was wondering.

In Pro, Pro/Am, and NDCA Amateur competitions, there are no qualifying events for the National championships at the USDSC. All you have to do is meet any residency requirements for the US National title, and pay your money and show up. It's not like the World Series where you have to win your Division and League.

For the USA Dance Amateur title, you have to compete at a Regionals during the year leading up to Nationals, but you don't have to earn any specific placing. You just have to participate.

You've hit upon something that is sort of a problem with the NDCA system: it seems that every single competition is a "Championship." This has to do with how the NDCA sanctions competitions. So, you'll have a San Francisco Open Champion, an Ohio Star Ball Champion, a Yankee Classic Champion, and so on. But all of those just mean that the couple won that particular competition. It does get confusing!

Bob & Julia won the US National Professional Rhythm Championship at the USDSC many times.

Lars 123. Does your record stop after one competition.
On the International scene there is a ranking system which can be found from Dancesport UK. Also there is a chart showing exactly where a person has competed and how they were placed, plus if you click beside their name on the ikon a heap of photos will be able to be seen. If you can think of it as tennis where you can have the top ten down to wherever.. If you were in the top twenty you would be invited to competitions all over the globe, with some assistance given. Nobody could travel to Russia Finland Austria Lithuania just for starters, and these are amuteurs. These are IDSF competitions. The Professionals have their own Grand Prix This includes competing in the USA .Japan and in the UK where in 16 days time the biggest anuall comp of them all starts on the 26the May to the 2nd June. This is where the Amuteurs and Professionals meet, but not to compete against each other.In the Professional Standard you would expect to see somewhere in the region of 380 entered for one event.The Latin also. The other big comps in the UK is the International in Oct at the Royal Albert Hall. And another big one in Jan. at Brighton.For those intersted for results and news in genral. Go to Dancesport UK. Then Dance News net and also Dancesportinfo Net. They are on the right side of the opening screen.

That online ranking is for cursiousity only. It doesn't really impact much.