According to the Collegiate Dancesport Association a costume is defined as the clothing including:

• Jackets of any kind, including tail suits, tuxedo jackets, and off-the-rack suit jackets, constitute a costume.
• Floats, streamers, scarves, cords hanging from sleeves, sashes, or any other non- structural material that flows behind while a dancer is in motion constitutes a costume.
• Shirts or tops that are open to below the breastbone constitute a costume.
• Skirts or dresses with more than two layers in the skirting constitute a costume.
• Any article of clothing incorporating rhinestones, gemstones, sequins, or actual lights constitutes a costume. “Articles of clothing” include shirts, pants, vests, skirts, socks, ties, pocket squares, belts, suspenders, etc. (Jewelry items, as distinct from articles of clothing, may include stoning, etc. These include: rings, necklaces, belt buckles, tie pins & clips, bracelets, earrings, other piercings, hair pieces, cufflinks, watches, and lapel pins.)
• The heavy use of feathering, glitter, metallic fabric, metallic threading, and related decorative effects constitutes a costume when more than 10% (cumulative) of the area of the article of clothing is covered by these effects.
• The heavy use of fringing constitutes a costume when more than 25% of the total area of all clothing is covered by fringe.

Shoes are excluded from these costume guidelines since they present an unavoidable expense regardless of their appearance. Nevertheless, dancers are expected to honor the spirit of costuming restrictions and not augment (e.g. add stoning to) shoes for levels of competition in which costuming restrictions apply.

Further, CDA recognizes that case-by-case judgments may need to be made and recommends that competition organizers provide for such adjudication. If you’re not sure, come ask at the Head Table.

Dresses and Skirts: Please be sure to wear dance shorts under your dress or skirt. Dance shorts must a color other than nude; black or the same color as the dress or skirt are both great options!

YES! We understand that dance shoes can be a big investment. However, We would like to help UCSB keep the floor in good condition. Please help us keep our gym floor scuff and dent free!

YES! Please help us keep our gym floor scuff and dent free! Suede stars can be purchased from the Registration Desk.

Beach Ball at UCSB, and other CDA competitions, structure the skill levels consecutively from Newcomer through Open. That means that Newcomer level dancers may also compete in Bronze, Bronze level dancers may also compete in Silver, Silver level dancers may also compete in Gold, Gold level dancers may also compete in Novice, Novice level dancers may also compete in Pre-Championship, and Pre-Championship level dancers may also compete in Open. Dancers are NOT allowed to compete in two levels of closed syllabus AND two levels of open syllabus like at other competitions.

Also, dancers may only compete in one level in the nightclub category – beginner OR intermediate/advanced, not both.

Lastly, the Newcomer level is reserved for dancers with less than one year of competitive dance experience. This is a rule that most collegiate competitions have – some choose to enforce it, some do not. CDA Fair Level Certified competitions do so by screening past competition results. If you competed at the same competition during the previous year, then you no longer qualify as a Newcomer.

The beginner level is reserved for dancers with less than 2 years dance experience; the intermediate/advanced level is for dancers with 2 or more years dance experience. You may compete in one or the other but not both. Please keep in mind that this rule does not distinguish between leader or follower or by dance – dance experience is dance experience.

The general rule across the collegiate dancesport community is that the newcomer level is reserved for dancers with less than one year of dance experience regardless of dance style and leader vs. follower. If you competed at Beach Ball last year or any competitions prior to it, you no longer qualify as a newcomer and have been promoted to bronze.

Yes. While the online registration system is open, you can log in at any time to make changes to your entries. Once online registration is closed, changes can be made on the day of the event by completing an add/drop form. Please note that adds will only be accommodated if there is room in the event and that the add does not change the number of rounds that the event has. For example, we cannot change an event from a semi-final to a quarter-final.

Yes, however please keep in mind that there is a late fee of $10/person and that late registrations will only be accommodated if there is room in the event and that the add does not change the number of rounds that the event has. For example, we cannot change an event from a semi-final to a quarter-final. Please visit us at the Registration Desk.

First, newcomer/bronze or bronze/silver level dancers qualify as rookies, and silver/gold level and above dancers qualify as veterans. So, “Rookie/Vet” events are for partnerships where one dancer must be a rookie and the other a veteran. “Leader Rookie/Vet” events are for partnerships where the leader is the rookie, and the follower is the veteran. “Follower Rookie/Vet” events are for partnerships where the follower is the rookie, and the leader is the veteran. Rookie/Vet events are closed bronze syllabus events. Costumes are optional.

Multi-dance events are events where couples dance multiple dances with a dance style, the judges’ marks are combined, and reviewed as a whole. Note that this is different than in single dance events. All dances in a given multi-dance events must be danced and must be danced with the same partner. You cannot pick your dances or switch partners. For example, silver level International Ballroom events offer a 2-dance event of waltz & quickstep, tango, Viennese waltz, and foxtrot. In this example, waltz and quickstep will be danced and scored together. Tango, Viennese waltz, and foxtrot events are available as single dance events.