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Development Competitions to attract new competitors
17-07-2017
As part of DanceSport Australia's commitment to growing DanceSport, an exciting new type of competition - the Development Competition Pilot Program - has been launched. These are targeted to get new dancers involved. It is intended (but not limited to) that this Development Program be run in participating Registered Teaching Facilities (RTFs). This partnership will benefit studios registered with DSA and will promote an environment that will encourage participants at the 'grass roots' level.
Development Competitions have the following features:
- Free admission for spectators
- Small fee per event to compete
- Easy online registration
- Short duration (4-6 hours maximum)
- Nationally recognised competition (results are included in the National Points System)
These competitions are designed for maximum appeal to new dancers, keeping costs to a minimum. The program may include a variety of Recreational, Amateur, Coach/Student, Differently-Abled and Street Latin events.
DanceSport Development Competitions are designed to:
- Attract new dancers, as costs are very low
- Make it free for friends and family to support their loved ones
- Increase participation in DanceSport as a sport for people of all ages
Lowering costs as much as possible
So they can appeal to as many new people as possible, events are to be run simply and at low cost by:
- Using dance studios or other venues with minimal hiring fees
- Having all event administration online, including entry, running order, information and payment
- No need for full DanceSport membership in order to participate
Dancers will not be required to become full members of DanceSport Australia. Non-members will simply purchase a $5 ‘Recreational Day Pass’ via the p5000 website, using PayPal or a credit card. The website is simple to use.
Free admission for spectators
All DanceSport Development Competitions will provide free admission for spectators, which is already being done very successfully in Europe, Asia and the USA. This will not only benefit dancers, their families and friends, but also increase awareness of DanceSport among the general public. We want to encourage people to come along, enjoy watching and potentially get involved themselves. This means:
- Family and friends can attend without concerns about costs
- Free admission will attract spectators from the wider community and improve value to sponsors
- It will be competitive with other free local sporting events, i.e. football, tennis and cricket
- No ticketing for admission means less administration and fewer volunteers required
- Shorter duration of events = equals higher turnover of seats
Competitors' costs
All competitors will, via an online portal, pay $5 for each event they enter. This makes organising competitions easier if competitors pre-pay.
If you are not a DSA member you will need to buy a $5 Recreational Day Pass.
This is in line with overseas DanceSport competitions, where competitors pay an online entry fee prior to the event.
Competition duration
DanceSport Development Competitions are designed to be of much shorter duration than the traditional ‘all day/all night’ competitions/championships:
- For each age division, events will run over no longer than four hours and the entire day will be no longer than six to eight hours.
- Families are busier these days, with many parents both working full-time. Their weekends are crammed with activities and they do not have a whole day to spend at a sporting event. Budgets are also tighter.
Presentations
Another innovation is that, rather than dancers having to wait long periods for their presentations, these will be scheduled at intervals of no more than two hours.
