General Competition and Event Rules
(all dancing is lead/follow and male/female respectively)

Sportsmanlike conduct is required of all competitors and attendees; everyone should cheer for everyone else, support the staff, respect the judges and make the event as fun and professional as possible. Poor conduct will get you dismissed from the event, forfeiting your event registration and competitor fee.

Competitors Meeting is Mandatory. You may opt out of the meeting only if you inform the Event Director and Chief Judge with justifiable cause. Unexcused absence will disqualify you from competing and forfeit your competitor fee.

To determine your dance level: WCS level will be determined primarily by WSDC points.

Novice dancers: less than 20 WSDC points

Intermediate dancers: 20 to 40 WSDC points, a win in novice, or have dance students who are competing in Novice.

Advanced dancers: more than 40 WSDC points with wins in Intermediate or have dance students who are competing in Novice or Intermediate

You should dance at the level you pick for WCS, based generally upon WSDC points. WCS dancers should pick one competency level for the weekend; however, you can choose to dance at a different Hustle competency level if it is not the same as your WCS level. No Advanced WCS dancers can compete lower than Intermediate level of Hustle, however. Exceptions are where one partner dance (routine or strictly) dancer is one level and their partner is another; the dancers must dance in the higher of the two levels.

Drops, slides, splits, tricks:

Novice and Intermediate dancers: Allowed: drops to follower’s waist height, slides. No lifts or splits to the floor.

Advanced dancers: Allowed: splits to the floor and drops below follower’s waist considered socially lead-and-follow, slides. No lifts.

Any judge, with agreement from the Chief Judge, can determine whether a move is considered unsafe, and will have each judge adjust the contestants’ placement down one level. This may or may not affect their final placement; however, it is more likely to affect them negatively if they are also poor dancers. Unsafe moves that are serious violations of judgment, or injury resulting from poor judgment will result in disqualification. No score will be given, no award will be given. A majority of the judges in agreement with the Chief Judge will invoke disqualification. Judges will not punish contestants for dance floor, clothing or equipment failures (if, for instance, the floor has a divot in it). Poor judgment or lack of composure, however, may negatively affect contestants’ final score.

Percentage of swing content:

Novice and Intermediate in strictly swing and Jack & Jill: show 100% swing content (with allowances for hitting breaks, simple poses or commonly recognized swing-like moves). Dance well and appropriately, and do not attempt to make your dance appear like any other dance besides swing. In routine divisions: show at least 70% swing content. Be sure to show swing dancing; routines may incorporate Balboa, Charleston, Hustle, etc., but that content must be less than 30%. If a majority of judges with agreement from the Chief Judge believe that your swing content is too low, you will be disqualified from award and receive no score.

Advanced dancers, emphasize your swing content with respect to musicality and aesthetics. If your WCS dancing appears too Hustle-like, for instance, a judge with agreement from the Chief Judge may have all judges reduce your placement by one level if your strictly swing or Jack & Jill content is considered too low (less than 80%). If a majority of judges with agreement from the Chief Judge believe that your swing content is too low, you will be disqualified from award and receive no score. Classic division must show at least 70% swing content (less than 70% will invoke disqualification).

Number of Amateurs in Pro-Ams: 7 amateurs in each (novice & intermediate) strictly swing division, 3 amateurs in each routine level. If you have exceptions, contact the Event Director to discuss allowances.

Check awards will be given for all categories (cash for those other than U.S.). Divisions with less than three contestants will be dissolved and competitor fees returned. However, a Jack & Jill dance competition will still run if there is an uneven number of leads and follows. All competitions with more than twelve entrants will run with a preliminary round and a finals round. Competitions with twelve or less contestants will run in the finals timeslot. Time limitations will determine whether the finals round is spotlight or in a heated format for levels Novice through Advanced. Jack and Jill awards will be distributed evenly throughout the levels (so that first place Novice gets the same as first place Advanced). All Strictly Swing and Pro-Am Levels will be awarded equally.