As a memeber of the dance world I have always been fascinated by the use of the terms Professional or amateur.
They are the 2 words that create the facade that we use as an excuse to argue over who and how the dance world chould be run and organised.
A professional is a person who is paid to undertake a task / job is a specific area of expertise. It is very often that the term professional indicates an acredited level of education. Which also implies a certan higher level of quality.
An amteur is a person who is not paid for their services or task being performed. This word is often used to indicate a lower level of quality and indicated an individual that is not accredited to perform the task. In other words an individual which can do the task from a hobby perspective.
Havng read and understood those descriptions you can understand why the dance world , in part is in such a mess.
On one side we have the World Dance Sports Federation (WDSF) which is traditionaly the world organisation for amateur dancers , amateur teachers and amateur judges/ officials. It is also the organisation which should represent the none commercial side of the industry.
To most people you would interpret this to mean a hobby level of dance as the above description implies.
On the other side we have the World Dance Council (WDC) which does and has represented the professional ,dancer ,adjudicator ,judge and official.
It is also the organisation which represents the commercial side of the dance industry.
Based on the above description then this organisation for the professionals should also represent the knowledge and quality side of the dance world.
And that Ladies and Gentlemen is where everything starts to go to hell!!!!.
Its amazing in arguments that people always get carried away with who did what ,when and why? And who started everything.
In reality it doesnt matter !!
The important thing is how did we get here and how do we solve it?
The Wdsf has amateur dancers that are competing in their events which earn more money than professionals do. However these amateurs are still competing against the real hobby dancers which the term amateur implies.This in itself is a problem.
The WDSF now has a professional section where the professionals earn less than the amateurs and generaly have a quality level slightly less than the WDSF amateurs.
The WDSF is now involved in dance education,qualifications and trying to influence the way the dance schools are being run. All this based on their 2012 vision.
The WDC have professional competitors which are still the highest quality in the indusrty.
They have now started their own amateur competitions . One would expext that they would return to the original value of the term amateur, but no even here ,the top amateurs are earning money from their dancing . However,in general they are a lower quality level than the professionals which at least restores the order and heirachy.
The WDC offer education,qualification and directly affect how the dance schools are being run. But this is part of their responsibility as they represent the commercial side of the dance world.
So as you can see the terms Professional and Amateur are so twisted in the dance world it is hard to see what the difference is.
Realisticaly
All teachers do the same job .Regardless of which organisation they come from.
All judges do the same job .Regardless of which organisation they come from.
All officials do the same job .Regardsless of which organisation they come from.
And with these 3 ,jobs they are all as Highly or underpaid as each other ( depending on who you ask)
The difference between them is a quality level . However that is not related to which organisation tey come from.
With regards to the dancers, the professionals on both sides are as professional as each other . However the quality and quantity is greater in one and lacking in the other.
With regards to the Amateurs. the majority of them on both sides are in theory professionals that have just not changed status.
So a sugeestion would be for both organisations. Sort out what it is to be a professional or an amateur. Implement it in your organisations .That way we might start to get back to being able to understand where the real problem lies.
And if you look closely at the facade then behind it you will see the megalomaniacs that have put it there .