Recreational is all about involving people in DanceSport at an introductory level and is primarily focused on the participation of the individual competitor. This would include people that enjoy group lessons and may not have a regular dance partner. Competition Organisers should keep this in mind when setting Events for their competitions.
Three Levels
Recreational Level Structure is made up of Beginner, Intermediate & Advanced and is style specific.
Competition Organisers are free to choose which Recreational Events are suited to their competition. For example a large Championship may choose to only run a Recreational Open due to time constraints. An Open event is one that any Recreational competitor can enter into regardless of Level.
NOTE: Recreational Competitors will in the future earn Points from all Recreational Events, even Open Events.
Amount of Dances
Here again the Competition Organiser may choose the number of dances, and what those dancers are, in each event. Common sense will dictate that a balance between giving competitors value for money and too much choice will be a commercial decision by Organisers. For example a Bronze Latin Event that includes Paso Doble will attract less competitors than say Cha Cha.
It is recommended that a Recreational Open (couples event) be 2 dances and Recreational Individual (i.e.. best Boy/Girl) be a single dance.
Best Boy/Girl Events
Competition Organisers are encouraged but not required to run Recreational Events where only one of the partnership is adjudicated. These events are of great benefit for those competitors that do not have a regular dance partner. Organisers will decide on who is able to partner these competitors.
Eligibility
Organisers will also choose what rules apply to eligibility. For example an Organiser(s) may want competitors to only compete in their own Level, or they may allow competitors to 'Dance Up' to a higher level. Of course these rules will need to be published with the Entry Conditions of that competition.
Recreational Open Events
For consistency across competition literature the term 'Open' should only be used if all Recreational Competitors are eligible to compete in that event.
