AANCE Rules & Regulations

GOAL - AANCE is the only Amateur National Swing Dance Tour in the Americas and Abroad. AANCE’s purpose is to promote and preserve the art of West Coast Swing Dancing, and its many related regional styles. This tour will not consist of any dancers in the Rising Star/Advanced or Professional Levels.

MISSION - AANCE’s mission is to offer a worldwide platform for all swing dance styles. The Tour focuses on Novice and Intermediate level competitors only.

SEASON - Each AANCE tour will last one year with the Americas Amateur National Championship Events. During the course of the year, Events will be held to determine the winners of the qualifying divisions. Once all Events have been held, the Final Event will be held. The winners of all tour events will vie for the Championship title at the annual Meet Me in St. Louis Swing Dance Championships (MMISLSDC), held each September in St. Louis. Meet Me in St. Louis SDC will be the first and last event of the AANCE year. If an event is prior to MMISLSDC, it will be included in the current standings. If it after MMISLSDC, it will be included in the following year.

MEMBERSHIP - Any WCS event, will be eligible to become a sanctioned AANCE event, provided the event is, 2 years old and in good standing with the community. Failure to remain in good standing may be cause for immediate removal on the AANCE Tour.

Actions include but are not limited to:

Failure to pay hired staff
Failure to pay prizes advertised
Failure to hold competitions in an ethical manner
Failure to hold competitions within the rules set forth by the AANCE Tour

Accepted AANCE events will pay a $100 fee, and we ask all AANCE tour event Directors to provide tickets to their respective events for these champions as a part of their winnings. This is a total of 8 tickets per event, per year. We further require all participating events add the AANCE logo to their websites to identify themselves as an AANCE event.

SYSTEM - Each member event will hold the following competition categories:

1) Novice Jack & Jill and Strictly Swing Divisions

A minimum of 10 couples must enter said category in order to sanction the event as an AANCE Tour qualifier.

2) Intermediate Jack & Jill and Strictly Swing Divisions

A minimum of 10 couples must enter said category in order to sanction the event as an AANCE Tour qualifier.

In addition to the winners, (Top 5), the remaining top 20% of “Semi Finals/Finals” will qualify and be eligible to enter the National level in that category. At the end of each participating event we require each event provide their “Qualifying List to AANCE within and no later than 10 days after events’ end. If available, we request the submission of each qualifier’s email address. Results to be emailed to triplestepproductions@gmail.com.

RULES

For continuity, we recommend the inclusion of Strictly Swing and Jack & Jill rules from MMISLSDC (taken from WSDC).

If, in any division less than 5 couples/5 leaders and 5 followers register, the division will not run, and the qualification will roll over to the next year's final.

In addition:

1. Qualification for Novice Dancers: You must have never danced in an Open or higher class in Classic, Showcase, Strictly Swing or equivalent categories, or as a Pro in a ProAm in a WCS division at a WSDC sanctioned event. This division is not open to all levels.

2. Qualification for Intermediate Dancers: You must have never danced in an Open or higher class category in Classic, Showcase, Strictly Swing/Just Dance style or equivalent categories, or as a Pro in a ProAm in a WCS division at a WSDC sanctioned event.. This division is not open to all levels. If an Intermediate qualified dancer has moved into the Advanced division, and has placed Top 3 at a WSDC event, OR has earned 8 or more points in the Advanced division, they may not compete in the Intermediate AANCE final.

If a Novice dancer advances to the Intermediate level and qualifies, they must dance in the higher level they qualified for at the AANCE finals.

Events