United Country Western Dance Council | |
![]() UCWDC Logo | |
Nickname | "The U-C" |
---|---|
Formation | 1989 |
Founded at | Grantville, Pennsylvania, United States |
President | Keith Armbruster |
Vice President of Judge Certification | Kathy St. Jean |
Vice President of Rules and Scoring Procedures | Beth Emerson |
Treasurer | Tim Perez |
Key people | Noelle Linch – Secretary, Kathi Bittner – 1st Past President, Jeff Bartholemew – 2nd Past President |
Website | https://ucwdc.org |
The United Country Western Dance Council (UCWDC) is an organization that advocates for and organizes competitive country/western dancesport events. UCWDC regionally-sanctioned events are hosted in more than two dozen U.S. cities and also in the nations of Canada, the Netherlands, Italy, Germany, [1] [2] South Korea, Belgium, Malaysia, Ireland, Japan, China, South Africa, and Lithuania. [3]
The UCWDC is based on a framework of event directors, who are owners of regional dance-competition events in cities around the world. The event directors are overseen by a board of directors. The board of directors governs the overall organization and maintains a standard of operations, uniform competition format, judging, scoring and comprehensive rules, adhered to by dancesport competitors.
These dancesport participants compete at authorized regional dance competitions during the dance season, beginning in January and ending in December of any given year. After attending a required minimum number of dance events, dancers are able to establish eligibility for attending the UCWDC Country Dance World Championships at the end of the year. [4]
The UCWDC was established in 1989 and was incorporated in 1990 as a non-profit organization in Camp Hill, Pennsylvania. [5]
In 1980, the film Urban Cowboy, featuring John Travolta, was released. [6] The movie influenced popular culture with not only the success of three #1 hits on the country music charts, but the portrayal of a country/western nightclub, country/western attire and a dance competition at the Dallas, Texas honkytonk, Gilley’s. [7] Country/western dance became popular in the United States and gave rise to nightclubs such as the Grizzly Rose in Denver, Colorado, [8] the Lone Star Cafe in New York City, New York [9] and the Wrangler’s Roost in San Diego, California. [10]
A new dance craze began in the United States and with it, the rise of country/western dance competitions. [11] [12] In 1989, a group of 21 country/western dance-event owners met in Grantville, Pennsylvania with the goal of creating a national organization with uniform rules, teaching canon, judging, dance standards and competition formats. Prior to the creation of the UCWDC, country/western dance events had differing formats and rules. The UCWDC created a uniform structure. [13]
The UCWDC Country Dance World Championships, popularly referred to as "Worlds", [14] [15] is an annual competition which awards country/western world dancesport championship titles to individuals, [16] [17] couples, [18] and dance teams from around the globe. [19] Worlds has been held every year, since its inception in 1993, with the exception of the 2021 event which was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. [20]
The world championships are the culmination of a competition season and have been located primarily inside the United States, however they were held once in Canada, [21] once in the Netherlands, [22] [23] and once in Sweden. [24] "Worlds" is the largest event on the UCWDC calendar. [25] Worlds 2020 had over 6,500 entries, [26] while Worlds 2023 has over 7,000 entries. [27]
The UCWDC maintains a program for judge training and certification in order to establish uniformity and credibility. Potential candidates for this training must pay fees for training, adhere to a code of conduct, [28] and maintain currency as a UCWDC adjudicator. [29] The Vice President of Rules oversees UCWDC-certified judges, [30] maintains a list (or "pool") of qualified judges [31] and establishes standards for judging methodology. [32]
Competitors at UCWDC events are required to have a current UCWDC associate membership. [33] Dancesport contestants may register in couples, line dance, teams, ProAm, ProPro, cabaret or showtime competition divisions. These divisions are divided by skill level and by age. Dancesport competition occurs via a system of “heats”. As a heat begins, contestants enter the floor from a staging area, take positions, a deejay plays music and the contestants perform. UCWDC couples, ProAm, and ProPro may compete in as many as eight country/western dances which are danced in the following prescribed order; triple two-step, nightclub, waltz, polka, cha cha, east coast swing, two-step, and west coast swing. [34]
In couples competition, one partner, generally a male, is the "lead" and the other, generally a female, the "follow". Leads wear a number pinned to their back. The number allows the judges to assign judging scores to the appropriate competitive couple. [35] [36] In UCWDC couples competition, dancers compete at a dance level commensurate with their skill abilities and/or qualifications. [37]
Dancers may choose to compete in Classic style or Showcase style. In Classic, the competitors do not know which song the deejay will choose for them. In Showcase, couples choreograph routines to specific songs. [37]
Dance levels:
Couples divisions are also organized by age [37] [38]
Age Division | Age Restrictions |
---|---|
Junior Primary | less than 10 |
Junior Youth | 10-13 |
Junior Teen | 14-17 |
Open | 18+ |
Crystal | 30+ |
Diamond | 40+ |
Silver | 50+ |
Gold | 60+ |
Platinum | 70+ |
ProAm couples are a dance partnership formed between a professional dancer and a student. In general, the student pays the professional to dance with them in competition. [39] [40] ProPro couples are made up of two professional dancers, one of which is generally the senior instructor and the other, a professional who is the "student". [37] The students wear a number pinned to their back. In UCWDC ProAm or ProPro competition, student dancers compete at a dance level commensurate with their skill abilities and/or qualifications. [37]
Dance levels:
ProAm or ProPro divisions are also organized by age [37] [41]
Age Division | Age Restrictions |
---|---|
Junior Primary | less than 10 |
Junior Youth | 10-13 |
Junior Teen | 14-17 |
Open | 18+ |
Crystal | 30+ |
Diamond | 40+ |
Silver | 50+ |
Gold | 60+ |
Platinum | 70+ |
Pearl | 80+ |
Event name | Location |
---|---|
Utah Country Western Dance Challenge | Salt Lake City, Utah |
Atlantic Seashore Dance Faire | Williamsburg, Virginia |
Star of the Northland Dance Festival | Minneapolis, Minnesota |
River City Country Western Dance Festival | Edmonton, Alberta |
Gateway Country Classic | St. Louis, Missouri |
Missouri Country Dance Rodeo | Joplin, Missouri |
Firecracker Country Dance Festival | Dayton, Ohio |
Sunshine State Country Western Dance Festival | Ft. Lauderdale, Florida |
Derby City Championships | Louisville, Kentucky |
Portland Dance Festival | Portland, Oregon |
London Dance Classic | London, United Kingdom |
Eastern Invitational Dance Challenge | Washington, DC |
Ballroom dance is a set of European partner dances, which are enjoyed both socially and competitively around the world, mostly because of its performance and entertainment aspects. Ballroom dancing is also widely enjoyed on stage, film, and television.
Dancesport is competitive ballroom dancing, as contrasted to social or exhibition dancing. In the case of Para dancesport, at least one of the dancers is in a wheelchair.
Formation dance is a style of ballroom dancing. It is pattern or shadow team dancing by couples in a formation team. The choreography may be based on a particular dance or a medley of dances. Formation dancing may be done for exhibition or for competition between teams. There is also a type of formation in Bhangra.
Strictly Come Dancing is a British dance contest show in which celebrities partner with professional dancers to compete in mainly ballroom and Latin dance. Each couple is scored by a panel of judges. The title of the show is a continuation of the long-running series Come Dancing. The format has been exported to 60 other countries under the title Dancing with the Stars, licensed by BBC Worldwide, and led to a modern dance-themed spin-off Strictly Dance Fever. The Guinness World Records named Strictly as the world's most successful reality television format in 2010. The series is currently presented by Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman. Bruce Forsyth co-presented the series with Daly until 2014.
The IFBB Pro Arnold Sports Festival, also known as the Arnold Schwarzenegger Sports Festival, is an annual multi-sport event consisting of professional bodybuilding, strongman, fitness, figure and bikini weekend expo. It was established in 1989 and is named after Arnold Schwarzenegger. The main event is held annually around late February or early March in Columbus, Ohio, by the International Federation of Bodybuilding and Fitness Professional League. It is considered the second-most-prestigious event in professional men's bodybuilding, physique, figure and bikini after Joe Weider's Olympia. When the Ms. International competition was hosted, until 2013, it was the second-most-prestigious event in professional female bodybuilding.
Paul Killick is a British professional ballroom dancer and an International Latin American Dance Champion. He appeared in the first two series of the television show Strictly Come Dancing. Killick specialize in Latin dance and has won The World Cup, World Trophy, World Masters, World Series, Universal and British Professional Latin American DanceSport Championships.
The Inter Varsity Dance Competition (IVDC) is an annual student dancesport competition organised by Inter Varsity Dance Association (IVDA). The IVDA write rules regarding entries, dress code and which dances will be part of the competition.
Driton Dovolani, commonly known as Tony Dovolani is an Albanian-American professional ballroom dancer, instructor and judge. He is known for his involvement in the American version of Dancing with the Stars on ABC. Dovolani also portrayed Slick Willy in the hit film Shall We Dance? and spent time coaching actress Jennifer Lopez.
DanceSport BC (DSBC), founded in 1968, is the governing body for competitive ballroom dance in British Columbia and Yukon, Canada. It is a member of the Canadian Amateur DanceSport Association.
Karina Smirnoff is a Soviet-born American professional ballroom dancer of Ukrainian origins. She is known as a professional dancer on Dancing with the Stars, where she won the thirteenth season with army veteran and soap opera star J. R. Martinez. She has also won two runner-up titles, a semifinal title, and several quarterfinal titles.
Wheelchair DanceSport is a dance competition, individual, partner, team and Dancesport where at least one of the dancers is in a wheelchair.
The 8-day Blackpool Dance Festival is the world's first and most famous annual ballroom dance competition of international significance, held in the Empress Ballroom at the Winter Gardens, Blackpool, England since 1920. It is also the largest ballroom competition: in 2013, 2953 couples from 60 countries took part in the festival.
The Dinagyang Festival is a religious and cultural festival in Iloilo City, Philippines, held annually on the fourth Sunday of January in honor of Santo Niño, the Holy Child. It is one of the largest festivals in the Philippines, drawing hundreds of thousands to over a million visitors every year.
Oxford University Dancesport Club (OUDC) is Oxford University's largest sports club and is the second largest club at the university after the Oxford Union. Founded in 1968 it currently has an annual membership of around 800 members. It runs professionally taught classes in the following dance styles:
Shirley Annette Ballas is an English ballroom dancer, dance teacher, and dance adjudicator. She specialises in the International Latin division, where she won several championship titles which earned her the nickname the Queen of Latin.
Daniella Karagach Pashkova is an American dancer. Karagach and dance partner Leonid Juashkovsky are three-time United States junior I and II Latin champions. They were the 2007 junior II 10 dance champions. Abroad, they reached the finals in the Celtic Classic, Moscow Open and Barcelona Open. Karagach and Juashkovsky were the United States representatives to the World Championships in Latvia, Russia and Barcelona. They appeared on seasons 2 and 3 of America's Ballroom Challenge on PBS. After Leonid, she paired with Pasha Pashkov, with whom they won numerous US and world championships, including, National titles in Latin, Ballroom, 10 dance and showdance. They won the Rising Star championships in Blackpool,UK Open and UK Open 10-dance. She became a professional dancer on Dancing with the Stars in 2019, when she was paired up with Nelly. She went on to win her first Mirrorball trophy in with celebrity Iman Shumpert.
Peta Jane Murgatroyd is an Australian and American professional Latin dancer. She performed in the international tour of the dance production Burn the Floor, including its Broadway run. She is best known for her appearances on the American edition of Dancing with the Stars, which she and her partners have won twice.
Emma Slater is an English-American professional dancer and choreographer. She is best known for her appearances on Dancing with the Stars.
Amy Dowden is a Welsh professional ballroom and Latin American dancer from Caerphilly, Wales, best known for her appearances on the BBC One television show Strictly Come Dancing. Dowden joined the series in 2017, and in 2019, she was a finalist in the seventeenth series with TV presenter Karim Zeroual. Dowden and her partner Ben Jones are former British National Latin Dance Champions. She has the Guinness World Record for the most back-Charleston kick-steps in 30 seconds (2022). She has a twin sister and an older brother.
Laura Nolan is an Irish ballroom dancer and choreographer.