Putting on a competition
Originally published in NASSPDA February 2018 newsletter
Posted: January 6, 2022
By: Kalin Mitov
Notes on Organizing a Same-Sex Ballroom Dance Competition
Organizers of NASSPDA sanctioned competitions have agreed to share their experience, thoughts and ideas on how to put on an event:
As the Director of the organization Boston Open Dancesport ( www.bostonopendancesport.com), I have been organizing a same-sex dance competition for the last 5 years, a project that has been challenging. My impetus to start organizing a same-sex dance event was simply that I felt more such events were needed and should be available in every region. At that time I was an active dancer myself and could not comprehend why same-sex dancers had much more opportunities in Europe than in the United States. At the time our options were the Philadelphia Liberty Dance Challenge in Philadelphia, PA, April Follies in Oakland, CA, and Dancing in the River City in Sacramento, CA.
So I started by putting together an Advisory Board, comprised of a few of the students from the studio I taught at as well as myself. Everybody brought some expertise to the table but no one had ever organized a dance competition or anything similar. Many and long talks with the organizers of the other already existing same-sex dance competitions ensued, collecting information on how things are done.
Finding a venue was most challenging and took a very long time. It had to be the right combination of location, size and of course the right price. Places that have ballrooms can be very pricey, especially in larger cities like Boston. We couldn’t settle for a small place, it had to be conveniently located near public transportation and couldn’t have big columns right in the middle of the dance floor, as some venues surveyed did.
When all, venue, audio-video and officials are secured we needed dancers! Networking and networking again was the needed. The Country-Western, Salsa, Swing and Argentine Tango scenes received the honor of my presence at their dance practices, workshops and social dances. We even marched at Pride Events and had set-up Info Booths. Everybody needed to know about the same-sex dance competition coming to town. So many friends helped out with showcasing their talents or marching with us.
In other words, aside from all the other obstacles in putting together such an event, the most important part is having dancers participate, which in turn hopefully will encourage others to start dancing themselves and which then generates a need for more events to occur around the country. Some dancers are afraid that same-sex dance competitions are just for the best, but that isn’t at all the case. You only need a partner and just a few dance steps. Dance competitions are a great place for socializing, making friends and having a big celebration of the acceptance!
Be part of it!