Members of the Ballroom Dance Club at Georgia Tech Competition Team take the dances and techniques learned in
lessons on the road to demonstrate their skill against other collegiate and amateur dancers around the country.
Joining our competitive team is a great way to learn more dance styles and progress at a faster pace. Our competitive team lessons cover the International Latin styles of Cha Cha, Rumba, Samba, and Jive and the International Latin Standard styles of Waltz, Quickstep, Tango, and Foxtrot.
Tryouts for the competitive team are held every semester. We are limited in the number of people we can
accept by availability of space, instructors and the need to make sure the distribution of leads and follows is
relatively even. Many of our competitive dancers start with little or no prior dance experience. All we expect
are a positive attitude and a willingness to learn. Tryouts are low stress and will consist of a beginner lesson
in Waltz and Cha Cha. If you have any questions, you can contact our competitive coordinator.
Competition team members are expected to attend weekly lessons and take advantage of practice times to keep up
with the material taught. If you cannot attend a lesson, it is expected that you communicate this to your dance
partner and the coaching team in advance and learn the missed material before the next lesson. The club books
open practice times to make space available to the team. We also offer weekly “rounds” where music for each
dance style is played back-to-back in a competition format – these are great practice for stamina and
competitions!
Competition team choreography lessons are broken up into three levels: Newcomer, Bronze, and Technique. New team
members start off in the Newcomer lessons. Every semester, returning tryouts are held where returning team
members demonstrate the choreography they have learned and have the opportunity to move up to the next level of
lessons. Newcomer and Bronze lessons are taught by more advanced team members, while Technique lessons are
taught by a professional dance instructor.
Competition team members are also expected to compete in minimum one competition per semester. The team will
attend 3-4 competitions each semester. There are both local and travel competitions, but at least one each
semester will be local.
Competition team dues are paid per semester to cover lessons. Each competition will have a registration fee and
may also include as travel cost depending on location, both of which are subsidized by the club to the best of
our ability. Cost per competition may vary based on the number of attendees. A maximum possible cost will be
announced at the time of signup and will not be exceeded – actual costs are often much lower.