Can someone please explain this rating system? My wife and I have just completed our intermediate ballroom classes and someone asked me what rating we had.

Thanks, Billman

Well, the metals are a way of separating the syllabus figures into groups of increasing difficulty (generally speaking). They correspond fairly closely to the levels, at least with the ISTD, teachers would progress through. Pre-bronze is like student-teacher, bronze is like something I forget, silver is like associate, and gold is like fellow. If you look at a syllabus list of figures, you'll probably see them broken up into bronze, silver, and gold groups. The bronze figures are the basic ones, teaching you the fundamentals of the dance. Silver ones get a little harder, often doing things like including more turn or more OP positions, things that are a little harder. It helps to have the bronze level basics down before getting to the silver figures. Gold is more complex again, often including picture line figures (e.g. Oversway, Contra Check) or perhaps more syncopated timings.

Your approximate level would depend on how the class was set up and what it was teaching. Over here, the international style intermediate class is about silver level. American style classes are similar, I think, but their syllabus is no where near as standardized as the int'l syllabus so it can be a little harder to judge levels there. If you're interested, why not ask your dance teacher? Say you've heard about these bronze, silver, and gold levels and were curious what level you were doing in class. I'm pretty sure he/she would be happy to explain things to you. My guess, not knowing anything about your specific situation, is that intermediate is probably silver, but there's no way to be sure with only what you've said here. Anyway, I hope this is of some help.

Just tell anyone who asks what level you dance at that you are double platinum and it will surely keep them quiet!

Check out USABDA.org for a list of steps for the dances. They use the bronze, silver, gold. These are closed choreographies with focuses on technique and partnering. Ideally a student masters these and then moves to open (noive, pre-chap, champ) but typically students compete in student figures (bronze,silver,gold) and also in novice etc. E.g. someone with really good dance training might just skip the school figures (we sure did not as we need/needed them :) USABDA (NDCA is taking them over I think) gives points for advancement so you can compete in Bronze and Silver and Novice until you get points. Then you become a Silver and compete in Silver and Gold until you get enough points to move to Gold. As for Novice, I suspect if you get points to become pre-champ then your dancing is probably advanced past the school figures.

That's how I see it.

Tim (still in bronze but hoping to get points enough in the next one or two comps.

Hi Tim, I'd like to clean up something regarding the USABDA point system. You said:

"Then you become a Silver and compete in Silver and Gold until you get enough points to move to Gold."

and

"still in bronze but hoping to get points enough in the next one or two comps"

This is not quite how the USABDA point system works. You do not need to acquire points to move to the next level. The purpose of the point system is to prevent people who are at a higher level from going back to a lower one. In other words, you can start at any level you want, and move on to any level you want, at any time you want. If you, your partner, and your coach think you're capable of dancing at Silver and/or Gold, go ahead and do it now if you want rather than waiting around to earn the rest of your points.

If you have any questions about the USABDA point system, please feel free to ask. I am very well acquainted with both the letter and spirit of the USABDA Rule Book. If there's anything I'm not sure of, I can check with our Regional officers and/or DanceSport Representative for you.

Laura

For me, I dance only for fun. Enjoy the music and dance. Couldn't care less about the competition. Most teachers would like students going into competitions for obvious reasons. LOL

QUOTE:...the most obvious reason being that they enjoy competing. I can't speak for every teacher, but I can't imagine that I don't speak for most competing pro-am teachers when I say the following:

If I was only interested in money, I would have ended up on Wall St. I became a dance teacher because I love to dance, I love to teach, and it's nice to make a living doing something you love.

I started competing professionally with my wife because I enjoyed the process of competing itself, but even moreso the benefits. I would not have had 1% the skill I have today were it not for my engaging in competitions. And trust me, the costs of competing faaaar outweighed the prize money.

I take students to competitions because I think that they can reap many of the same benefits that I did. The dancing improves faster and to a greater degree because there's so much more motivation to improve. Even the most highly motivated students... you know... the one's who say "I don't need any motivation -- I can motivate myself" inevitably improve faster when they enter a competition.

I enjoy teaching social dancing, but a competitive student is far more interesting to me. That's true no matter who's paying me more money. For me, it's a more rewarding experience to train someone with a specific goal. And, being the performer that I am, I also prefer training someone whose goal it is to stand out, to someone whose goal it is to blend in.

As I said, I enjoy teaching dancers of all types. I just find that the most rewarding experiences have come from teaching competitive students. And while I need to make a living as much as the next guy, money is not very high on my list of reasons for encouraging students to compete.

Regards,
Jonathan

Well said, Jonathan!

I am at bronze level and I like the idea of competition. Social dance is fun but competition means much more.