Leveled, Concept-Based Workshops

There are many mixed opinions on creating and enforcing levels within an event’s workshop structure. There are the distinct advantages of learning with a group that has a smaller range in experience and skill level. There are more similar goals within the student group that the teacher is able to focus on and help that group make the most progress that they possibly can. Swingtacular wants to take advantage of this while not disregarding the other issues that come into play while holding an audition process and excluding people from certain classes. To do this, we have implemented three things that have worked exceptionally well for us thus far:
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I

We are going to organize the levels a bit differently. We are going to use WSDC points as an immediate qualifier, but we will also hold auditions for people that may not compete or travel as much.

Level 1
No points in Novice or above

Level 2
Any number Novice points or above

Level 3
Any number Intermediate points or above

Level 4
Any number Advanced points or above

II

The first three workshops of the weekend will be Sharkfighting 101, Sharkfighting 102, and Sharkfighting 103. These will be held BEFORE the first audition Friday evening. 101 is meant for dancers that wish to audition for dancers that wish to audition for level 2, 102 is meant for dancers that wish to audition for level 3, and 103 is meant for dancers that wish to audition for level 4. Of course, even if you don’t intend on auditioning, you are welcome to take the workshops and you are encouraged to do so.

The workshops will go over some of the attributes that the staff will be looking for in the auditions to decide where the best place is for everyone to learn the most throughout the weekend. So you will have a chance to hear exactly what they are looking for, and you will have a chance to work on it for an hour before auditioning. Remember that most of these attributes they will be working on usually take SIGNIFICANTLY longer than an hour to obtain, but we wanted to provide this opportunity so people have more of an understanding as to why we may want them to focus elsewhere for the time being.

III

Lastly, we wanted to do our best to not make people feel excluded. Everyone will have the same color wristbands. There will not be anyone at the door telling students that they aren’t allowed in because they didn’t get into the appropriate level. We will be going off of the honor system. Our instructors for the weekend have about 100 years of dance experience among them, so we would hope that you can trust for your own dance growth that you should be in the workshops that are suited to the level our instructors recommend for you. However, if you don’t have a workshop on for that hour, and you want to sit and observe, please feel free to do so.

We have amazing instructors lined up for this weekend. Please take every opportunity that you can to soak up as much knowledge as you possibly can. This is meant to be a learning experience that keeps you occupied until at least Swingtacular next year.