I have never seen a world championship dance competion, but I've heard people say they've seen such competitions on public television. I called Vermont Public Television, and I was suprised when the lady who returned my call said that there aren't many such competitions made available to public television.

I would like to be able to call the station back to tell them what they need to do to start playing such competitions, but I've got no idea where to start.

How often are dance competitions shown in your area?

Do you have any idea who I should talk to about getting such competitions for the local PBS station? I assume the station will have to do all the work, but if I could give them a lead that would be very helpful.

Thanks.

Kevin Laddison

I'm really disappointed to hear that ballroom competitions have been priced out of PBS's range, but I'm very excited about the prospect of a weekly show about dancing! If Dance Fever is revived, that would be great exposure to the dance world!

I just found out that "Dance Fever" is being revived, most likely by this June on the ABC Family channel.

More info here:

Disco Step By Step

Hoo Hooooo Hoo Hoooooooo

Kevin -
PBS isn't showing them even in my market (Dallas). The newer shows were priced out of there budget once cable networks were able to get paying sponsorship for their broadcasts. We only get very old re-runs that the station purchased in better financial times.

I've seen dance competitions before on TV, i forgot what channel, but I've seen them before. You should try calling your local cable network and ask them about it.

Dance is not only a way of life but a state of mind...

Luv, Kisses and Cookies,
<[**<) Bri [>**)>

The 2003 World Amateur 10-Dance Championships were just shown on Oxygen (a cable channel) last week.

Dancesport events aren't shown very often in the US due to lack of interest in funding the production costs. The Ohio Star Ball used to be shown every year, but they stopped taping it in 2001 due to lack of funding. The 2000 edition didn't even show the actual competition, either -- it was the 20th anniversary speical show, with lots of performances by top couples and also group production numbers. So really, 1999 was the last year for the Ohio Star Ball (called "Championship Ballroom Dancing" on PBS).

Good TV (another cable channel) used to tape events at various competitions in the US, including the US DanceSport Championships in Miami, but they stopped doing it after the 2000 USDSC -- again, due to lack of funding. Sure, you can get advertisers when the show is being broadcast, but that doesn't help with the upfront pre-broadcast costs.

There were a couple of "made-for-tv" competitions on ESPN (cable), A&E (cable), Lifetime (cable), and NBC in 1999-2000. In this time period, one of the cable channels I mentioned also showed the World Amateur Latin Championships, and Good TV showed the World Professional Standard Championships once too. So it's not like no one has tried to put this stuff on the air. They have, but the ratings generated were not high enough to keep such shows on the air.

I was pleasantly suprised that the 2003 World 10-Dance was shown. I'm hoping this is the beginning of a new effort to get DanceSport on TV in North America.

Laura