THE UCWDC BLOG
UCWDC Blog Series – Operations
UCWDC® Series - Spotlight on Operations August 31, 2020 Spotlight on Ron 'Moose' Muse Q: Tell us a little about what you do in your operations role at UCWDC events? A: Depending upon which event will depend upon what...
UCWDC Blog Series – DJs
UCWDC® Series - Spotlight on DJs August 24, 2020 Spotlight on David Muzii What is your favorite two step competition song (regardless of level)? Hard Not To Love It – Steve Moakler Share a favorite competition memory! At the 2016 New England...
UCWDC Newsletter Archive
Did you miss the newsletter? Sign up on UCWDC.org! 2020 Date Online January 2020 https://conta.cc/30GTeUW March 2020 https://conta.cc/2UBtOFs 2019 PDF only - no hotlinks Online with hotlinks November 2019 https://conta.cc/33AAt64 August 2019...
VP Rules: Dispensation Discussion
Hello Dancers, In this time of COVID-19, many of us cannot attend our first event of the year-or our second if you got to Tulip! I miss seeing my dance family as some events are being forced to cancel. I thought it would be helpful to review the...
Info from UCWDC President, Keith Armbruster, about Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19)
September 12, 2020: UCWDC County Dance World Championships Update UCWDC Rules Announcement - Graduation and Eligibility UCWDC Associate Membership Update UCWDC Line Dance Update July 15, 2020 - UCWDC Country Dance World Championships...
New 2021 UCWDC Event – Global Dance Festival
Global Dance Festival ~ September 24-26, 2021 The Global Dance Festival would like to than the UCWDC for giving us the opportunity to run the event in Korea. When we first started planning this event, we wanted to make an event where everyone has...
New 2020 UCWDC Event – South African Classic
South African Classic November 20-22, 2020 Stellenbosch, Western Cape, South Africa Event Directors: Theo Williams, Keith Armbruster, Lizette Williams, Mark Engelbrecht Team SA is very excited for our First Year UCWDC Provisionally Sanctioned Event to be held at the...
VP Judge Certification: 2020 Comment Codes
2020 Comment Codes “E” -“I”- “O” This year the 2020 comment codes are aligned with the UCWDC Rules. This means that both judges and competitors should be well versed in the rules as the comment codes will provide an effective method for each...
2020 Line Dance!
Welcome to the 2020 dance season! Fellow line dancers - Welcome to the 2020 dance season! With long anticipation, we will be posting the 2020 dances this week. www.ucwdc.org You may notice there are some missing dances as we are going...
UCWDC Special Directors Meeting
January 5, 2020 UCWDC Directors Meeting Highlights Event Ownership Changes: ⁃ Anita Williams, new co-event director of the Arizona Dance Classic ⁃ Ed von Adelung, new co-event director of the Las Vegas Dance Finale ⁃ Tim Perez and Steven Bennett, new...
Worlds: From the Director
Worlds 2020 is now part of our history, but what a memorable experience we had last week at what may be our final event at the Opryland Hotel in Nashville. I’d like to send out a huge thank you to everyone who attended and enjoyed the 2020 Country Dance World...
Philly Fall Fest 2019
Philly Fall Fest was a big success! Many of you may know that Halloween in Harrisburg, one of the founding events in the UCWDC has recently been taken over by new management. We have re-branded and moved the event to the great Philadelphia area. We had our...
VP Judge Certification: Comment Codes On Hold
Keeping you in the loop --- Comment Codes on Hold! In trying to give you the best experience when competing UCWDC comment codes were introduced at the beginning of 2019 UCWDC dance season. The goal of the comment code(s) was to provide valuable information to our...
New England Dance Festival 2019
New England Dance Festival Why Boston? Because it is a blast! 2019 New England Dance festival was amazing! There was something for everyone (the competitor as well as the social dancer)! A great group of UCWDC competitors helped to make all of the competitions loads...
German Cup 2019
German Dance Cup 2019- a review from a competitor, friend and supporter It`s getting hot in here…. as in previous years, whenever the German Dance Cup opens its doors it is so, so hot in Germany. Nevertheless, the new event director team, Marina Krüger, Slavi Baralic,...
What’s in your Competition Bag?
Recently we asked Dance Dress Couture followers on Facebook what were the must-haves in their dance competition bag. We have all shown up to competition only to realize that we forgot that extra pair of tights, bobby pins, safety pins, our favorite lipstick, etc. Then...
All Ways Dance…monthly musings of a convert to the ministry of dance -Getting Ready for Worlds!
All Ways Dance! …monthly musings of a convert to the ministry of dance Autumnal greetings one and all! I know everyone has been waiting with eager anticipation for the next installment of Dance Etiquette but I’m going to take a quick diversion to discuss the biggest...
New Mexico Dance Fiesta 2019
New Mexico Dance Fiesta 2019 We had a great time celebrating our 30th Anniversary of New Mexico Dance Fiesta! Albuquerque provided us with beautiful weather and an abundance of local dance community support this year! Ronnie DeBenedetta kicked off the...
Blog: Don’t Touch My Hat! And More Stuff You Should Know about Cowboy Hats
That hat you wear on the dance floor? You know that doesn’t make you a Cowboy—right? UCWDC rules require men to wear a traditional Cowboy hat, but traditional Cowboys would give us the side eye over the way we treat a tool of their trade. Cowboy hats easily come in at...
Line Dance Committee Chair: New Motions! New Countries!
New Motions are coming! This year we introduced Samba as our newest motion and it has been well received by the dancers! As our competition Line Dancesport has evolved from country to social to a Dancesport form, so must we evolve and offer new motions....
“It’s all started with a movie…” – National Teacher’s Association – NTA®
“It’s all started with the success of the movie Urban Cowboy in 1980” remembers Kelly Gellette, NTA’s current President. At the same time, C.W. Parker put the National Teacher Association together, as a nonprofit organization which promotes Country Western dancing....
FreZno 35
AN EPIC EVENT TO REMEMBER – FREZNO DANCE CLASSIC – 1985 TO 2019 FreZno 35 is in the books – right along-side 34 other very memorable years. 842 dancers attended the Grand Finale – each contributing to the unique flavor, the spirit and...
Big Apple 2019
HAPPY 25TH ANNIVERSARY BIG APPLE! The Big Apple Country Dance Festival is officially 25 years young! Dancers from all over converged in July just outside New York City at the beautiful Hilton Doubletree Newark Airport for a memorable weekend of dance. It's hard to...
City of Light
The City of Light – Thank you for your support for two decades! Started in July 1999, the City of Light – the French Country Western Dance Championship - and its organization team has been happy and honored to welcome all of you for twenty years. The idea of an...
Hot 2020 Rules Preview!
Introduction to 2020 Rule Changes Here are a few rule change previews! A full version of the updated rules will be available at the start of the new dance season! 2020 Newcomer costume rules relaxed For the past two years, we have allowed junior...
Blog: Fright to Flight
You’ve practiced for months, week after week, and with each lesson, you feel more confident and stronger in your abilities. You know your routines, and you’ve drilled technique skills countless times in your head. Unfortunately, time and time again, when competition...
China Dance Camp – July 2019
For three days in July 2019, UCWDC® in partnership with China Line Dance Promotion Centre organized a Dance Camp in Hangzhou, south of Shanghai. After the success of the first UCWDC competition event in November 2018, and in preparation of the upcoming second “China...
Make the Judges Happy! Fabulous Footwork…A Must!
A great smile, personality that matches the dance, detailed grooming all are important aspects of competition but if your footwork is not pristine, it will put a damper on just about everything else! Let’s take a closer look! A house is only as strong as...
Orange Blossom Dance Festival 2019
2019 Orange Blossom This year was another great year! We had a great year of Pro-Am, Couples and Line dance. Most dancers took advantage of the mall that is attached to the hotel. The UCWDC competitions were amazing. Our Master's out did themselves Saturday...
Arizona Dance Classic 2019
August 1st – 4th, 2019 marked the 25th year of the Arizona Dance Classic, and event directors Mona Brandt and Tim Perez remarked on how the event has grown and changed since it was started in Tucson in 1993 by Bob and Juanita Schoene. One of the highlights of this...
All Ways Dance! …monthly musings of a convert to the ministry of dance
All Ways Dance! …monthly musings of a convert to the ministry of dance My friend Debbie must have been in 4th grade when she strolled up to me on the playground and announced proudly that she was going to “cotillion” next week. I had no idea what this cotillion thing...
MidAtlantic Dance Classic 2019
MidAtlantic Dance Classic 2019 #MDC2019 ! We had a great turn out this year and were so happy to have the support of our dance family across the UCWDC®! Our farthest travelers were from California and Spain! The event ran smoothly and the highlight was the Saturday...
All Ways Dance! …monthly musings of a convert to the church of dance
Why Dance? In the summer, even at 8:30, the contrast of the bright Texas sun with the pitch black interior of the dance club was stark enough to instantly blind you. Slowly your eyes adjust and with the help of the flicker of faded neon lights over the bar, a magical...
OKC Dance Rush 2019
"I felt ‘The Rush’ the moment I placed my foot on the dance Floor!" “The crowd cheering, the beautiful backdrop, the great music, the supportive staff, and the friendly atmosphere are all parts of what makes up The Oklahoma Dance Rush!” The Oklahoma Dance Rush...
San Diego Dance Festival 2019
San Diego Dance Festival 2019 was a tremendous success! With UCWDC entries up 20%, the competitors enjoyed a fast paced, on time schedule. Our awesome instructors, judges, emcees, deejays, and staff kept the event running smoothly and our patrons entertained. Social...
2019 CALGARY DANCE STAMPEDE IN REVIEW
It’s amazing how much dancing you can fit into one weekend. Even though the Calgary Dance Stampede is Canada’s largest and longest running Country, West Coast Swing, and Line Dance event, they’ve still managed to maintain a familiar atmosphere that’s warm and...
Tulip Challenge 2019 Review
The Tulip Challenge 10th Anniversary took place March 8-10, 2019 in De Rijp, Netherlands. For the first time in Europe we were able to offer a 7 judge panel for UCWDC competitions from all over the world including USA, Europe & Asia. As we always do we offered the...
Peach State 2019 Review
The 29th consecutive Peach State Dance Festival is in the history books now. The Event went well if I do say so myself. All the competition was on time again this year. That is due to our excellent competition staff including judges, mc, dj, contest coordinator,...
Line Dance Committee Chair: SO MANY LINE DANCES TO CHOOSE FROM…HOW DOES THE COMMITTEE FIGURE IT OUT?
Have you ever taken a look at all the step sheets on a line dance website? Copperknob, Kickit and many others compile all those dances and videos on their websites so everyone can choose which ones they would like to teach or learn. So many dances to...
Classic Line Dance Competition Part II How to Get Started
Now that we have clarified Pro Am line dance competition, let’s look at the other options that a line dancer has for getting started in competition. The definition of the Classic Format of competition is as follows: …the “choreographic interpretation” of pre selected...
Hose Horror
‘Pantyhose’ versus ‘Dance Tights’ and yes they are required for Ladies! d. Hose (tights) and dance pants (shorts) for women, if either are revealed during the dance performance. Current 2017-2019 Rules Names have been changed to protect the innocent... Newcomer dancer...
Line Dance Competition Part I: Pro Am Line
Line Dance Competition Part I: Pro Am Line I think I would like to try competition, but I don’t know where to start. Can you help me? There are two options for you. You can start in Pro Am line dance competition or you can choose to start in the Classic Line Dance...
Associate Membership Director: Benefits of Membership
Dear Associate Members, It is a great honor and pleasure for me to be your first point of contact with our Organization. First thing first, let me introduce myself, my name is Bruno Vastel and I’m one of the event directors of the City of Light event in Paris,...
Line Dance Committee Chair: Making History
There are so many talented dancers that have been a part of the UCWDC over the years in both couples and line dancing genres. However, there is a part of our recent history that not many people know. There is a small, select group of exceptional dancers that belong in...
VP Rules: What Do Those Medal Grades Mean?
Hello Dancers, This year the UCWDC® will standardize by using medals not just in ProAm, but in all Dance Types: Line Dance, ProAm, Couples and Teams. The medals are Honorable Mention, Bronze, Silver, Gold, Gold with Honors, and Gold Graduate. What do the...
VP Judge Certification: FUNdamentals
Give Em’ What They Want! The Judges That Is! It is a known fact; major companies spend countless dollars and time researching to find out what their customer(s) want. Applying this important information to their product helps to insure it will be a market success! So...
President: 2019 Spring Council Meeting
Once again the UCWDC Spring meeting has concluded and we are excited to share with you these updates. We are happy to report that Associate Membership renewals are strong, volunteers are engaged, competition participation is up at almost all our...
Line Dance Committee Chair: 2019 Line Dance Updates
Going forward here are a few things that I would like to inform you all of: Competition dance videos will be standardized - all videos will be taken backing the camera, in the same format & size. Tempos will match the current UCWDC tempos for all dances Dances...
VP Rules: 2019 Rule Changes and Clarifications
Congratulations to all of you who competed at the Country Dance World Championships! We congratulate those who came away with World Championship titles as well as all of those who attended qualifying events, worked hard all year, and had the courage and perseverance...
President: 2018 Year In Review
One morning last June, I awoke, like Rip van Winkle, to find myself coming to a realization. Although the UCWDC has not changed much to the casual observer, its challenges, its resources, and even much of its personnel had changed significantly. Thanks to the efforts...
VP Judge Certification: Understanding What Judges Are Looking For
Everyone wants to win! However, it is very important to enjoy the entire journey of competition dancing not just the moment of glory! The benefits of competitive dancing are endless; it’s fun, it’s challenging, it’s healthy, it’s a goal system and the list goes on!...
Don’t Compete? No Problem…Come Anyway!
Yes it’s called a dance competition! But there is SO much more to it! Dance events are a great place for continued learning. Talented dance professionals concentrated in one hotel for a whole weekend equals a great opportunity to take workshop or a private lesson!...
The Dance Boot
Written by John C. WilsonAlthough the cowboy boot was most likely used in the very early country dances we’ve come a long way since. At least some of the early roots of country dance began as barn or house dances and as a form of recreation. Likely folks wore what...
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