For those of you that are not involved in the dance world then the following entry will either give you an interesting and surprising insight into the structure of the sports dance world or a realisation that even in dance sport things are never quite what they seem.
In Sweden we have 2 national associations:
1. The Swedish Dance Organisation -SDO
2. The Swedish Dance Sports Federation- DSF
SDO is a member of 2 International organisations:
1. The World Dance Council
2. The International Dance Organisation
DSF is a member of the National Sports Federation-R:F
It is also a member of of the World Dance Sports Federation - WDSF
On a national level there is a very succesfull co-operation between the SDO and the DSF
The SDO offers dance teacher education and qualifications in a wide field of dance forms. They offer Judge's training and education. They offer further education for their members. They are also a national association for dance school and dance school owners.
At the same time through their membership in the 2 international organisations they offer a full national competitive system in,
Ballroom dancing ,Latin American dancing,Disco,Freestyle,Street dancing,Hip Hip,Salsa,Argentine Tango.
During the last couple of years they have produced World Champions in many of the disciplines that they offer and represent the largest group of dance schools and teachers in the country.
The DSF offers training for teachers in the Bugg and swing related dance forms such as Boogie Woogie and Rock and Roll.They also have a full national competition system in All swing disciplines and 10 dance.
They represent a national association of voluntary clubs which organise sports dance training throughout the country. and offer Adjudicating training in their disciplines. They do not have dance teachers /trainers/ judges as members
These 2 national organisations have a functional co-operation in Ballroom and Latin American dancing which has been in place for over 15 years and works well for the dancers, Teachers Judges Clubs and schools as it allows and means that everybody benefits from each others strengths.
However this co-operation is very fragile and it requires constant negotiation so that it does not fall apart.
Unfortunately, Internationaly the WDSF and the WDC do not have a similar co-operation .
This constantly leads to international conflicts which can create problems for the sports dnace world here at home.
The WDC has a policy of free market and freedom to dance and their competitions are open to the world and their adjudicators and teachers are free to work where they wish to.
Th WDSF has now a policy of compete only at those competitions we decide you can dance at. Judge only at those competitions we decide you can judge at and work only in those places that we allow you to teach at.
Untill this year WDSF dancers have been able to compete at all events through out the world. However from next year this will no longer be possible.
If WDSF dancers compete at events that are not approved by the WDSF they run the risk of being banned from competing for an unspecified period of time.
If an adjudicator judges at an event which is not sanctioned by the WDSF they then risk being banned or black listed from adjudicating for an unlimited period of time.
Now how is this possible?
Today most of the dancers and judges in the WDSF are registerd businesses and run their dancing through their own companies. How can it be possible that an association can decide and control how a person runs thier own business?
At the same time most competitions are organised by businesses, By controling where a dancer can compete the WDSF are also controling the individual business owners rights to run their Business .
At the moment here in Sweden we have managed to maintain our co-operation . This means that the only problems are being forced upon us by outside influences.
However there are certain things happening outside the dance world which give us hope.
1 The Swedish Konkurrens verket has driven forwards a court case based on the Swedish racing car associations decision to restrict their competitions and where their members drive. On the 19th of may this year the Swedish Board of monopolies decided that this was not allowed and that they could not inforce these rules on their members.
This is now up in the Swedish court of appeals. The outcome of this case will be the guidelines for how we will do things in Sweden. if you want more information go in to
www.konkurrensverket.se and check out Svenska bilförbund.
The strange thing is that we are a part of the European Union and there is a E:U office called the commission for competition. This organisation is responsible for seeing that there are no monopolies or cartels established in Europe.
You can go into their webside and get more information.
Now when all is said and done we all want what is best for the dancing . First and foremost in our own countries and then internationaly.
I live in Sweden.
My Business is in Sweden
My dancers ar Swedish.
The most important thing for me is that we have a good situation at home.
I mean lets face it We have 9 judges that are judging internationaly and 6 couples that compete internationaly in Ballroom and Latin.
Should we really put en entire country in turmoil because two international organisations cannt reach an agreement .
The good thing is that other sports have found themselves in similar situations and laws are changing the outcome of which will affect how we do things in dance.
For now we all wait in anticipation to see who will do what.
I just wonder who makes the decisions?
If no body wants whats happening to happen, then how can it be happening?