Rules Report from the Fall 2021 UCWDC Meeting
Hello Dancers,
This has been -and continues to be- a challenging time. Many of you have already seen our World Championship Eligibility announcement which reduced the number of qualifying needed to compete at Worlds 2022. Because there will be no in-person regional events in 2021 outside of the United States and because many US regional events have cancelled, we are reducing Worlds Eligibility requirements even further:
The US eligibility requirements for the Country Dance World Championships will be reduced to 1 (one) regional event (including one overall in each division where the competitor(s) will dance at Worlds), and the eligibility requirement outside the US will be 0 (zero) regional events. If you need help with eligibility, please contact rules@ucwdc.org.
Syllabus Update: We had a Syllabus proposal from Mike Wagner and Brian Barakauskas (thank you Mike and Brian!) and further consideration by the Rules Committee and the Council regarding that proposal and our syllabus program in general. Most of their proposals have been passed and here is a summary:
- Syllabus will -beginning at Worlds 2022- have overalls
- Syllabus D is already offered at Worlds and will continue to be
- Syllabus will -beginning at Worlds 2022- be 90 seconds
- Syllabus will go to 2 divisions: A/B & C/D beginning in 2022 (it is now 4)
- The current Syllabus (DVIDA patterns chosen by the UCWDC) will continue to be used by those who chose to do so.
- The Education Committee will review the Syllabus presented by Mike Wagner and Brian Barakaskaus and choose which patterns from it fit in our Syllabus Divisions. Once reviewed and accepted by the Education Committee, those patterns would be available to be used in our Syllabus Divisions immediately. This review is expected to take 1-2 months.
- If others wish to submit Syllabi and have the education committee choose patterns that could be used in our syllabus divisions, they may do so.
- The Education Committee will develop a list of skills that will guide how patterns are chosen for our Syllabus Levels and will publish this list.
- Once the UCWDC Education Committee has developed its own Syllabus, we will re-evaluate whether we wish to allow all Syllabi to be used.
Line and Showcase Music Review: The Classic Line Dances and the Line Dance Showcase music will remain the same for the 2022 Dance Season- up to and including Worlds in January 2023. We will work on the process: fix step sheets; look at standardizing videos; fix any issues with current dances. Couples Showcase Music will change 2 (two) songs in 2022.
Eligibility Period: We excluded 2020 from our Eligibility period. We will include 2021.
Dance Order Update: The current Couples, ProAm and ProPro dance order change will remain through Worlds in January 2022 and will be reviewed at the UCWDC Spring Meeting in February 2022. The current partner dance order is: Waltz, NightClub, Triple Two, West Coast Swing, Two Step, Cha Cha, Polka, East Coast Swing.
We hope you all continue to dance however you can safely do so. We also encourage all who are comfortable going to in-person events and can do so safely go for it! It has been great to see some of you and I sure miss those I have not been able to see.
Respectfully Submitted,
Beth Emerson
VP Rules – Rules Committee Chair
UNITED COUNTRY WESTERN DANCE COUNCIL