PITTSBURGH CHAPTER (3007) USA DANCE, INC. PRESIDENT’S LETTER AUGUST 2025

Hi!  Hope you’re having a great summer! Mine is being consumed by planning for the USA Dance National Ballroom DanceSport Championships (Nationals), March 27-29, 2026, at the Wyndham Grand Hotel in downtown Pittsburgh.

Under Chuck Garret’s leadership, for the first time, USA Dance Inc. has combined its major national activities at Nationals:

• DanceSport Championships.
• Collegiate DanceSport Championships.
• Social Dance Celebration.
• Professional Excellence Summit.

I’d like to encourage you to think about participating in one or more of these activities as a social dance participant, a competitor, a spectator or a volunteer.

The Social Dance Celebration is brand new and is being organized as a multi-day dance camp. Activities will include two workshops with local and national instructors running hourly for 1 ½ days; multi-hour social dances on Friday and Saturday evenings; panel discussions with USA Dance leaders and champion athletes; Chapter leadership workshops; and spectator access to the competitions throughout. Social dancers can also compete in the Fun Dances (see below) as amateur couples or with a professional.  

The core of the DanceSport Championships will remain the same -i.e. competitions in International and American Style dances for amateur couples or Pro/Am couples ages 7 to 80+ in syllabus proficiency levels from Pre-Bronze to Gold and open levels from Novice to Elite.  Changes are likely in the competition format (e.g. split floors) and the Collegiate Team Match, and scheduling, including style- block programming.

Details of the Professional Excellence Summit are being finalized but may include panel discussions on how to become a competition professional and a certification test for at least one type of professionals who help oversee competitions.  

USA Dance Inc., its 150 chapters, and all its competitions are run by volunteers. Volunteers will be needed in over 20 different locations for 15+ hours on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Some spots need 4-hour commitments; others, only two hours.  Our past history indicates a need for about 60 volunteers. We’ll need more in 2026.

If you are considering dancing as a competitor, now is the time to start getting ready. Competitors will be classified as USA Dance DanceSport members (or athletes) which implies preparation. So, why would you want to dance in Nationals 2026 as a competitor?  A few reasons:

• Practicing for competitions helps focus your learning patterns and techniques in order to perform at the highest level you can, no matter what level you’re working on.
• It’s a place to test whether you want to pursue competitions in the future. Most of us want to be social dancers, but some will learn they like the challenges presented by competitions
• It will be the cheapest competition ever – as there are no transportation and probably no hotel costs.

If you’re taking lessons at a studio to learn some of the 10 dances in the International Standard or Latin syllabus or the 9 dances in the American Smooth or Rhythm syllabus, and want to compete, ask your instructor if s/he would like to compete with you at the dance level you’re learning.  Individual adult dancers, except collegiates and Pro/Am couples, must qualify by participating in certified USAD competitions prior to Nationals.  You need 6 points as an amateur adult couple to compete at Nationals by attending two of the following competitions:

• October 11, 2025. Carnegie Classic, Carnegie Mellon University – a Collegiate Challenge (2 points)
• October 31-November 2, 2025. Midwest Dance Sport Championship, Chicago. Regional Competition (4 points)
• January 17-19, 2026. The MAC. Newark, New Jersey. Regional Competition (4 points)
• January 31, 2026.  Ohio State University Collegiate Challenge. Columbus, Ohio (2 points)

If you’re a social dancer with an interest in any of the Fun Dances – Argentine Tango, Bachata, Country Two Step, Hustle, Merengue, Night Club Two Step, Salsa or West Coast Swing – there are no prior qualifications for amateur or Pro/Am couples. Find a partner and begin to practice dances and routines to perform at the Fun Dance competitions, most likely scheduled on Friday afternoon.

On our more local efforts:  Thanks to Brian Lee, the DJ for our June 21 and July 19 dances at the Wightman School Community Center and Tango instructor in June, and Jon and Stratton DeWitt Foxtrot instructors in July. Our next dance on August 16 will be at the VFW in Coraopolis.  Dmitry Demidov will teach Jitterbug and Brittany Demidov will be the DJ.  The theme is Elvis Remembered.

Hope to see you dancing,
Jane Downing, President, USA Dance Pittsburgh (3007)

USA DANCE PITTSBURGH CHAPTER 3007 SOCIAL DANCE
SURVEY

USA Dance Inc. is considering the creation of a parallel social dance program during the National Ballroom DanceSport Championship to be held at the Wyndham Grand Hotel on March 27-29, 2026. If there is enough interest, the national planning committee will develop a pilot program. The initial audience is likely to be social dancers and students of the 20+ ballroom dance studios in Western Pennsylvania/Eastern Ohio. An embryonic plan includes using three rooms on the Mezzanine Floor, which in the past two years have been used for practice, social dance/workshops and volunteer/awards activities. WE WOULD LIKE YOUR FEEDBACK.

Would you sign up for the program if it included:

• Access to two social dances (Friday and Saturday night, one in the ballroom).
• Access to all three evening DanceSport Championship sessions.
• Access to 20+ workshops (actual number TBD) in both American and International styles for all levels, taught mainly by local instructors and national judges as well as chapter workshops from Friday afternoon through Sunday morning.
• Base fee of $160/day (actual amount TBD) might replace the competitor fee for those competing in the Pro/Am or Fun Dances on Friday.

1. I WOULD SIGN UP for this program on Friday, YES______, NO_____;
Saturday, YES______, NO_____;
Sunday morning, YES______, NO_____;
all three days, YES______, NO_____.

2. I MAY BE INTERESTED in signing up once there is more specific information about the schedule, workshop content and instructors. a. YES_________b. NO_________

3. I AM NOT INTERESTED in participating in this program because:
______I already attend other established dance camps.
______I am not interested in being a spectator at the Championships.
______The initial pricing seems high
______Other (Over)

​Please scan this survey and return it to Jane Downing, President, USA Dance Pittsburgh Chapter at dancer008-@outlook.com before June 28, 2025. Thanks.

Hope to see you soon!
Jane Downing, President, USA Dance Pittsburgh

PITTSBURGH CHAPTER (3007) USA DANCE, INC. PRESIDENT’S LETTER APRIL 2025

Hi! Happy Spring! 

From all accounts, the 2025 USA Dance National Ballroom DanceSport Championships In Pittsburgh were a success. Seven hundred thirteen dancers, ages 8 to 80, including 16 college teams from all over the country, competed over three days for the love of dance and the privilege of going on to world competitions. A majority of the dancers were amateur couples, but there were also professional/amateurs, solo proficiencies, teacher-students and professionals dancing two styles – International Standard and Latin, and American Smooth and Rhythm, as well as competitions for 9-and 10-Dance, Show Dance and Night Club dances. Our Special Needs Adaptive Program (SNAP) performance team did a great routine on Friday evening to a standing ovation! Congratulations to Barb Johnson and April Fisher and the SNAP team!

Hats off to all the Pittsburgh area Amateur, Pro/Am and Professional couples and teams from CMU, Pitt and Point Park, who participated. And many thanks to the 40 individual volunteers from the Pittsburgh area who helped support the Championships by staffing the Volunteer Room, Consignment Shop and Ticket Booth; awarding medals; organizing dancers in the On Deck area to compete on the ballroom floor; keeping the ballroom safe and accessible to spectators; monitoring the doors of the Main Ballroom, the Social Dance and Workshops, Officials Meals area; and escorting winners for drug testing late at night.

Gloria Schohn and I were given Volunteers of the Year awards for promoting Nationals in a way that had never been tried before. Last fall, Gloria was asked by the now-President of USA Dance, Chuck Garrett, to find ways to increase the number of spectators to watch the Championships. While the final results haven’t been tallied yet, in addition to local outreach to the 17 ballroom dance studios, the four collegiate clubs and sale of $15.00 spectator tickets at the four social dances, and the on-going efforts provided by our board, our experiments included publications in the calendar of Sports Pittsburgh, a division of Visit Pittsburgh, the 55 Plus Magazine, the Murrysville  Star and Penn Franklin News; promotions for 2 for 1 tickets in two non-ballroom dance programs and Dancing With The Stars Tour; and appearances on KDKA’s Pittsburgh Today Live and Talk Pittsburgh. We think we contributed nearly $9,000 in ticket sales. Not bad for a first-time effort. Next year will be even better!

The next USA Dance Pittsburgh event is April 19 at Wightman School with Peter Suchy teaching Night Club Two Step and Brian Lee as DJ.

Hope to see you dancing, soon! Jane Downing, President, Pittsburgh Chapter (3007) USA Dance, Inc.