General Rules & Regulations

• For syllabus restrictions, we adhere to the ISTD syllabus for the International Ballroom and Latin styles. For the American Smooth and Rhythm styles, any major syllabus is accepted. Syllabus violations may result in a warning, lower placement, or disqualification from placement, as determined by the head judge.
• Both dancers in a partnership must be eligible to dance at the same level – regardless of lead or follow.
• Each competitor may dance in the level appropriate for their skill level and one level higher within the same dance style regardless of lead or follow. For more information check out our Level Structure page.
• Levels are consecutive from Newcomer through Open. For more information check out our Level Structure page.
• The Newcomer level is for competitors who have been dancing for one year or less. Both partners in the couple must be eligible in order to compete at the Newcomer Level. For more information on this check out the Newcomer Level section of our Level Structure page. Newcomer level dancers are restricted to Bronze syllabus steps.
• Newcomer through Silver are closed syllabus events; costumes are not permitted. Costume violations will generally be required to be corrected before being allowed to dance (which may incur the risk of missing an event).
• Gold are closed syllabus events; costumes are optional.
• Rookies are defined as Newcomer/Bronze and Bronze/Silver level dancers. Veterans are defined as Silver/Gold and above level dancers. Costumes are optional.
• Novice through Open are open syllabus; costumes are optional.
• Each competitor may only dance one level in the nightclub category. The Beginner level is for competitors who have been dancing for 2 years or less (regardless of style).
• Registration and payments must be submitted prior to Saturday, November 23, 2024 in order to qualify for the Early Registration price of $40 per competitor. A late fee of $10 per competitor will be added for late registrations and payments.
• Photography and videography are allowed.
• All dancers must have non-marking, suede-soled shoes while on the dance floor. High-heeled shoes must have heel protectors or suede stars. Shoe violations will generally be required to be corrected before being allowed to dance (which may incur the risk of missing an event). Please keep our floor beautiful!
• Please refrain from using UCSB Recreation Center gym equipment. Food is not permitted in the gym or on the astroturf.
• Competitors should be ready at least 30 minutes prior to their first scheduled event.
• UCSB and the Dancesport Club at UCSB are not responsible for items left on the premises or for personal injuries/death. All participants will be required to sign a waiver about entry.

Level Structure

Each competition can structure their skill levels differently, and this is where much of the confusion regarding registration lies. Hopefully this will clear it up...

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. If you register for Newcomer and Novice, your registration will be adjusted. Similarly, if you register for 3 or more levels within the same style (American Smooth, International Ballroom/Standard, American Rhythm, or International Latin), your registration will be adjusted.

Other competitions, such as UCSD’s Dance by the Shores and UCR’s Orange Blossom Ball, allow dancers to compete in two consecutive levels of closed syllabus (Newcomer through Gold) and two consecutive levels of open syllabus (Pre-Novice through Championship/Open). In other words, there are two scales of skill levels and a dancer may participate in both. For example, a Newcomer level may also choose to compete in Bronze, Pre-Novice, and Novice.

NEWCOMER LEVEL
Another thing to keep in mind is that 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 or any competitions earlier than that, then you no longer qualify as a Newcomer. If you or your partner register for Newcomer but one or both of you no longer qualify as Newcomer, your registration will be adjusted.

SINGLE VS. MULTI-DANCE EVENTS
Single Dance Events are events where the competitors are judged based on one dance at a time. Multi-Dance Events are events where the competitors are judged based on two, three, four, or five dances combined. In a multi-dance event you must dance all dances in the event with the same partner; you don’t get to pick and choose which dances to compete in within a multi-dance event. Be sure that you read the registration form carefully. You’ll want to know which dances you’ll need in order to compete in a multi-dance event.

Remember, the rules for each collegiate competition are a little different. So before you register for a competition please be sure to read the rules.