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Report on the NDCA Meeting |
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Written by Lori Woods Gay
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Jan 15, 2010 at 07:02 AM , Last Updated ( May 18, 2010 at 04:45 PM )
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By: Lori Woods-Gay
Dear Members ,
I recently represented the USISTD at the NDCA meeting which took place on Jan. 9, 2010 in Dallas Texas.
These meetings take place twice a year with about 50 persons in attendance all representing different organizations here in the United States. There are 19 member organizations and each is entitled to send up to four delegates to represent their constituency, depending on their affiliation with the NDCA . We are a Full Member organization and are allowed to send four delegates and have 6 votes. Also in attendance is the Executive Committee, Directors and Committee Chairmen. More details about these organizations and the structure of the NDCA can be found on the NDCA website, www.ndca.org.
Here are some highlights of this past meeting.
Jackie Rogers, Director of Public Relations, reported. NDCA is going to be looking into producing a TV ad. More on this at the July meeting. Community Service awards are given annually. If you are active in your community, charities etc. Let Jackie know. You may be eligible for this award. Jackie unveiled the new NDCA website. It is beautiful and will be a service to our Dance Community. We, the USISTD will have a page where we can advertise our organization, also a link to our website and a link to you if you have your contact information on the USISTD website. For those of you who participate in NDCA pro/am events, there will be a feature that will allow you to view a video of the "allowed elements list" . This will help competitors see what is and isn't allowed in the various pro/am events. This Project is in early production so may take a bit of time before it gets up onto the site.
Lee Wakefield, Director of the Ballroom Department gave a very detailed report. A lot is covered in this meeting as it deals with the extensive list of NDCA recognized competitons and championships and matters such as name, date, location changes etc.
New National and World Class adjudicators were approved.
Lee reported on how well many of our US dancers did this past year. The US team won the Blackpool team match. Congratulations to Arunas Bizokas and Katusha Demidova, the new "World Professional Standard Champions". Also from the US, Victor Fung and Anna Mikhed place 3rd in the World Standard. In the World Pro Latin Riccardo Cocchi and Yulia Zagoruychenko place 2nd and they won the World Pro South American Show Dance. Eugene Katsevman and Maria Manusova came in 6th in the Pro Latin. The winners of the World Professional ten dance were Gherman Mustus and Iveta Lukosiute. Go USA!!!
Andre Gavriline and Elena Kryuchkova officially retired from the Professional Competitive World. They are a lovely couple and will be missed on the Pro circuit.
Eleanor Wiblin, NDCA registrar, reports on all the stats related to registration of events and the various registrants. When you register be sure to check the box if you want to receive a certificate of registration, which is available to all registrants if they would like to have one. This has become optional in order to support the "going green" efforts.
The invigilation sub-committee submitted an Approved Figures, elements & restrictions list for Silver American Style Smooth. This list was accepted and will be placed in the back of the rule book, but will not be officially in use until Jan. 1, 2011. If you are a pro/am competitor or have interest in this list, check it out. If you want to make suggestions, address them to Richard Booth, Chairman of the Invigilation Committee. It is a work in progress and suggestions are welcome.
Many Rule changes were passed and will be sent by the Ballroom Director to all NDCA registrants via e-mail.
An interesting discussion ensued regarding a motion put forth by Judi Hatton, 1st VP, about how Pro/Am couples are judged in the higher, mainly multi dance events, at the Championship/Scholarship levels. Especially when you have male and female pro/am competitors on the floor at the same time---- the question is "should they be judged as a couple??? Historically when pro/am championship events were first introduced at the United States Championships back in the 1970's the concept was that they were competing as couples, men and ladies competing against one another. This was intended to create a real Championship atmosphere for the Pro/Am dancer that wanted to compete at the highest level and allow a real competitive environment. It was fun and exciting for these dancers to dance in many rounds (just like the pros) and was innovative and quite different from the pro/am single dance events where only the student is judged. As time has gone by and more Championship type events have been added, such as scholarships etc. the criteria for judging these events has become a bit fuzzy . Weigh in your comments with the NDCA judges commission (contact information is on the NDCA website). This will be discussed at the next NDCA meeting.
"Going Green". .... Passed at the previous meeting, The NDCA rule book will no longer be mailed out to all the registrants, but will be available on the NDCA website. Also when you register in the future you will be able to check a box to allow competition organizers to e-mail you their competition packets rather than the printed brochures via regular mail.
The Board of Governors meeting re-elected Brian McDonald as President and Brian Puttock as 2nd VP.
Judi Hatton, First Vice President offered a paper outlining some thoughts and ideas for a
discussion that will take place at the next NDCA meeting regarding the issue of unsanctioned, or 'one day events' and how they interface with the current NDCA calendar.
I would also like to note that many of the items that were on the original agenda were either tabled or withdrawn and that is why they are not mentioned here.
I hope you find this brief synopsis helpful and informative. If you want to see the complete minutes of the NDCA meetings or have a specific question about a decision or the NDCA in general, contact Tom Murdock, Executive Secretary of the NDCA. Contact information is on their website www.ndca.org
The next NDCA meeting will be July 9 & 10 in Dallas. |
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