Nationals Qualification Rules

As many competitors know, there are many potential ways to qualify to compete at the USA Dance National Ballroom DanceSport Championships — March 28-30, 2025, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. To make understanding the possibilities easier, we’ve converted the possibilities to a points system. The rules and combinations remain the same, though please note that no waivers or expansions to the qualifying rules were granted this year. Reach six points total in the relevant age and proficiency level, and you’re qualified to dance it at Nationals!

Quality of Life Improvements for Competitors

• Athletes now qualify individually for Nationals. This means that two dancers who qualified with different partners may dance together at Nationals, even if they qualified with different partners.
• Clarified the standards for medical exceptions and created rules to allow for non-medical exceptions.
• The Senior V definition now begins at 70 years old or greater, expanding access to the category.

Quality of Life Improvements for Organizers

• The Chair of Adjudicators may judge in an emergency, helping organizers maintain high-quality panels in the event of unforeseen issues on the day of the event.
• Regional Championships may use volunteers for medical positions provided they maintain the same qualifications and standards as before.

New Competition Formats and Improvements to Challenges

Several new competition formats have been introduced. These should help us continue to expand the competitive circuit within each region:

The first two categories do not provide any qualification points towards Nationals.

1. Studio and Club Competitions: This replaces the old ‘non-sanctioned’ category. It is intended for chapters, studios, and clubs just starting to host competitions. It has been expanded to allow for more chapters, studios, or college clubs to collaborate to put on one of these competitions.
2. State Competitions: This category is intended to let us better integrate with our fellow USOPC family organizations, such as the National Congress of State Games, National Senior Games, Move United, and Special Olympics.

The remaining categories all help competitors qualify to participate in the USA Dance National Ballroom DanceSport Championships.

3. Local Competition: is a competition at which the requirement for certified officials including judges is relaxed but which otherwise follows the rules for a Challenge Competition. A Local Competition will have up to three years to grow into meeting all the requirements of a Challenge Competition.
4. Challenge Competition: Challenge competitions may now offer WDSF/WDO events. We hope this helps organizers expand opportunities for our competitors to participate in our International Bodies.
5. Collegiate Challenge Competition: A College-Competition-Flavored event that provides qualifying points towards Nationals. A bonus to our Senior and Youth competitors: because college competitions only provide one age category, participation in a College Challenge Competition will qualify our senior and youth competitors in their ‘natural’ age category. We hope this encourages you to check out and support these great events!

A further breakdown will be provided soon in the American Dancer.

Proficiency System Rollout – Timeline and Update

The proficiency system will roll out as ‘information only’ for the 2024 – 2025 season. This will let people see their points and track how they change during the current year, so competitor feedback can be based on personal experience with the system.  USA Dance will seek and incorporate relevant feedback throughout the year. Following the 2025 Nationals, the system will then be used to prevent under-dancing. Competitors may still elect to challenge themselves in higher proficiencies. Expect us to have several articles in American Dancer with more soon!

Other Upcoming Rules in American Dancer

In addition to many odds and ends, there were changes and tweaks to both the Showdance category for Nationals and the Ranking Points system. These changes are in the upcoming rulebook and will be covered in detail in future American Dancer articles.  Are you reading American Dancer?  You should!