Why are certain ballroom styles not competed at the college level?
Why are styles like West Coast Swing not normally competed at college ballroom dance competitions? Is it based on popularity or is there something about the style that makes it more difficult to compete?
Answers ( 1 )
The shortest answer is that the organizers don't have either anyone qualified to judge the event (less likely), or they don't think there are enough people attending who want to compete (probably)!
The longer answer really just goes deeper into both halves. Looking at the less likely possibility first: Ballroom dancing studios - commercial ballroom studios - were developed around the first two decades of the twentieth century and refined in the 50s and 60s, and have only really made superficial changes since. They are by and large franchised businesses, which means very risk-averse to trying things that won't make them money. Paying instructors to learn dances like Argentine Tango, Lindy Hop, Bachata, and West Coast Swing are not great moneymakers - until they are! Around the turn of the 21st century there was a big revival of Lindy, and so lots of teachers dusted off their east coast swing and figured out how to turn an 8 count whip into a swingout, etc. If there are people who want to pay to learn how to WCS, teachers will emerge. I used to make a fair chunk of change going from NYC to the midwest and teaching new steps and dance styles that hadn't made it there yet. The internet has made this less possible, I think?
Anyway, Ballroom competitons need judges. Using your own coach/teacher as a judge seems like poor form, and you want 3-5 judges (that is hard work, and you'll want breaks and that means rotating the judges every 30-45 mins), and where are you going to get them? Local dance studios are almost always the answer. And your average local dance studio that is fairly distant from major metro areas is going to have a very limited pool of talent, generally speaking. Even using coaches from other local universities (another good strategy for getting judges) often means that you're getting someone who learned to dance 20-30 years ago, and never picked up WCS.
That being said, most ballroom teachers have no problems judging a dance they don't personally know very well - you're not always an expert but separating out talent doesn't DEMAND expertise. That can lead to some serious disagreement among judges of different backgrounds, but that's another problem.
The other possibility, and to my mind the more likely one, is that whomever is organizing the event doesn't dance WCS, or doesn't like WCS, or doesn't think there is any demand for the dance in the event. Depending on the number of competitors, collegiate dance comps can last for DAYS with preliminary rounds and finals and different skill levels. Sometimes stuff gets cut just for time! But if enough people were like "Hey we'd like to see WCS on the list next year" then 99/100 times it will happen. At the very least, they will sometimes put in a "Fun dances" event (which tells you A LOT about how they think about the other dances, but again another problem) that will have stuff like WCS/Merengue/Bachata/Argentine Tango/Polka/Nightclub Two Step/Country Two-Step/Salsa/Lindy .... whatever it is that isn't making the regular cut. For my money there are better things to do in those slots but to each their own!
So, at the end of the long answer, I say - if you want to see WCS on the event calendar at your next competition, reach out to the organizers and request it in advance! They will usually be happy for the interest.
Good luck, I hope that helps!