Cool Star gazer. and of course, congratulations to your daugther! and best hopes for her next weekend at OSB!
Based on responses, i think Mandees is another great store to look for clothes for am/ams... depending on the time of year, they may even have a few dresses ok for standard.
Joe, does IDSF actually care what people wear in syllabus? I was unaware of that. I thought IDSF just cared about the champ level. *** I overstate my case when I say I couldn't wear my Dance America practicewear to a pro-am NDCA event, but it would definitely stand out. I guess I do worry that some judges would see that as underdressed. I know, "baaa, baaa!" If I go out there and deliver the dancing and I shouldn't have to worry...maybe. But I worry. I would feel comfortable wearing it to a USA Dance event, and in fact very well may do so!
Oh, I think it does matter. I did a scholarship event where, looking at who made finals and who didn't, one girl from our studio not only should have made finals but probably should have finished ahead of me in the final going on technique. She was wearing a matte black cocktail dress didn't move a lot, and the other girl who was cut from an eight-couple semi was also in non-dancewear. All of us who made final had real costumes (mine is even predominantly black--but with black stones.) I think the pictured dress isn't too bland that it would matter, but sometimes dressing down too much does. I don't know if it's the judges think it's someone not taking it seriously enough, or if it's just that when you're in matte fabric with little/no embelishments surrounded by people in brighter colors with sparkle or fringe, you're just not going to catch their eye. Even the dress I have from Cache that I wore for pre-bronze Rhythm at Ohio and which is still my backup dress has a rhinestone pin and the ruffles are made of a very light fabric that move with me a lot. I save money on custom gowns by minizing stoning--I figure that part I can always amp up myself, and sometimes all you need on a well-cut dress is a little in the right places. But it does pay to have something that catches the judges' attention, be it light or movement. I really think one of my pros would okay a dress that was almost any color or shape on me so long as it REALLY moved well as I danced. (The other pro is the reason I tried on about thirty dresses from eight designers at Ohio last year and didn't buy a thing--but then at Tri-State I tried on two, showed him one, and bought as that was the one. There was another thing--I got money off that dress for consigning my old one, it was used, and she knocked off a little more as it needed stoning repair that I did myself.)
I guess I can stone the dress myself too. I have nothing to do except dancing. Plenty of time...... hahaha......
Well, Maria Manusova, IIRC, tended to wear understated dresses in Latin. Didn't seem to hurt her any. But many people here (myself included) are discussing the Am half of a Pro-Am couple. Can't disregard the influence of the Pro on the results. Not trying to stir up a hornet's nest, but let's be realistic - it can make a difference. And unless you really pick the brains of the judges out there, you can't know what they were seeing and thinking when they marked those couples. The inexperienced eye might think "Oh, it was the dull boring dress", but the judges may have seen some other area that was lacking that eliminated her/him from the next round. Good judges easily see past crappy dancing in a spectacular costume. Should you wear something that emphasizes your strong points and camouflages your weaknesses? Heck yeah. But you shouldn't (and shouldn't HAVE TO) spend thousands of dollars to do so, particularly at lower syllabus levels.
Well, personally I agree with your opinion about not spending tons of money for dresses, but we can have a control over someone buying a 5k dress for the competition. I guess that's a part of competition as well. Plus, some dress makers need work.
Oh, don't get me wrong -- I admire and covet those gorgeous expensive costumes, and have a few reeeeally nice ones, but I don't think it's right for lower-level dancers to feel they NEED them in order to compete.
I have no idea why IDSF cares so much about syllabus rules, but the reason the USADance rules are so draconian is that they're trying to conform with the IDSF rules.
I actually can't find any indication in the IDSF rules of syllabus versus open, except for the vague statement that "dresses and make-up have to respect age and level of dancers." The rules are downloadable at www dot idsf dot net/ dancesport_competitions/ idsf_dress_regulations_macau_2009.doc Am I missing something?
No, nobody else has ever seen a published idsf rule for adult syllabus either - as you will see the only distinctions in the ISDF rules even from the latest adopted set are by age category, something USA Dance has never been able to explain. The only realistically logical explanation is that they are still trying to apply IDSF juvenile rules to syllabus adults... the first edition of a USA dance rulebook that did this a few years back went so far as to ban men from wearing latin shoes! That was quickly withdrawn, but there has never been an explanation founded in actual IDSF rules for the current adult syllabus dress code.
This is a bit off topic, but IDSF doesn't use Bronze, Silver, and Gold to designate levels either. Is that an acceptance of NDCA/FADS/AM designations? Why don't we adopt the European leveling system, which is used in most of the dancesport world?
Because for the most part, only in America to our couples do both NDCA and USA Dance comps (and maybe Canada), in most of the rest of the world Am/Am couples only do IDSF events and so they can use the designation they want without confusing their couples. Can you imagine the confusion if we asked our couples to use Bronze/Silver/Gold/Novice/PC/Champ for 10 comps that they do and then a totally different proficiency category for the 10 USA Dance events they do. Talk about complaints from parents, coaches and fellow competitors. I can just hear it now: Hey, in the NDCA event last week couple A did Gold and now they are doing level B, couple B did Silver and now they are doing level B and couple C did Gold and now they are doing level A, that's not fair, how could you let them do that, don't you know what each of the couples do at each comp? Don't want to go there, don't even want to be a fly on the wall when someone else has to deal with it.
Oh yes, it would be an administrative nightmare if we continued with two separate tracks. I just wish (in vain, I know) that the NDCA would adopt amateur association-derived rankings rather than the other way around.
Heh. Considering majority of NDCA couples (And even most USADance couples, except at top level), aren't going to be competing outside of the states, I'm not sure that it makes much sense for them to conform to IDSF policies
How much can you adapt that to allow one lead to dance with multiple follows who are relatively close in age and level? NDCA's pro-am levels are partially designed so that pros can dance more students with a minimum of conflicts.
Ok so this is probably not the best place to post, but an email went out today annoncing new dress rules for USA Dance.. anyone knows what are the changes and who do they affect?
