Contests & Shows

We pride ourselves on being the stress-free weekend at the end of the competition year, where we can all come together, let our hair down, be creative, take epic classes and party/dance all night long! With that said, what’s a little competition amongst friends!  TAP is a WSDC Sanctioned Event and hosts a myriad of Sanctioned Jack & Jill Contests (All Gender / Any Role / Improv Divisions) and a couple other comps for funzies! 

Here is the breakdown of each division offered and corresponding rules:

Jack & Jill Contests (WSDC Points Based):

• Novice Jack & Jill – Open to any dancer who hasn’t pointed up out of Novice. 
• Intermediate Jack & Jill – Must meet World Swing Dance Counsel requirements.
• Advanced Jack & Jill – Must meet World Swing Dance Counsel requirements.
• Allstar Jack & Jill – Must meet World Swing Dance Counsel requirements.

Jack & Jill Contests (Age Based):

• Masters Jack & Jill – Must meet World Swing Dance Council age requirements.

Fun Contests & Shows:

• Strictly Swing B (Nov & Int) – Contestants sign up as a couple and dancers should be eligible to compete in WSDC in Novice or Intermediate in the role that they are dancing in this contest. If you petition down for JJ and you’re approved to go down, you may also go down in this SS in that role. 
• Strictly Swing Open (< Champ) – Contestants sign up as a couple. All levels welcome except those with over 10 Champion Points at the beginning of the weekend. Also, if you make finals in the DJ Battle, you can not dance this contest with the same partner you danced in the Champs/All Star SS (DJ Battle) on Friday. 
• Champs/Allstar Strictly – This is the Friday Night big show! Aka The DJ Battle. Both partners must have Allstar points or higher to enter. For all intents and purposes, this is a standard Strictly Swing from the dancer’s point of view. Our DJ Battle twist is: We use the DJ’s (who are typically all Allstar Level Dancers) to judge the prelims along with a couple high level judges. The DJs then draft couples onto their team after the finalists have been announced. Then the DJs are incentivized in finals to play a song cherry picked for that couples on their respective teams! This is a celebration of  improv dance, DJ skill and Showmanship!
• Inspirational Champs Improv Show – This typically is an invitational show.  We limit this to a straight to final ‘reasonable’ size, so please if you are not selected for this show, we ask for your grace and compassion. We love you and wish we could put everyone in it, but alas, that’s not realistic. If you’re coming to TAP and are not on staff, but have done high-level invitationals before and would like to be in this division, please let us know!  We’ll do our best. If you do not get selected to be in this invitational, we have a Champ/Allstar JJ as well!

Notes on dancing in multiple contests and the petition process:

Petition Guidelines:

Petitions to move up:

All petitions to “dance up” at events that take place after July 1, 2024 must be submitted to the WSDC Chief Judges Committee (CJC) using this link: www.worldsdc.com/level-up-petition/. The CJC will review the competitor’s Points Registry record and submitted videos, and reach out to the competitor for any additional information they need to make a decision. Please note that this new process takes time to complete. The CJC will notify the competitor of their decision to approve or deny the petition within three (3) weeks from the date of submission. Petitions that are approved will allow the dancer to enter that higher-level division for six (6) months at any WSDC event anywhere in the world. Competitors will need to earn at least one point in that higher division in order to keep dancing at that level after the six months have passed. Please submit petitions by October 15th, 2024 to allow time for review before TAP.

Petitions to move down:

All petitions to move down must be submitted and accepted by a Petition panel – separate petitions are required to move up a division or move down a division. To move down a division, petitions must be filled out and sent to our Head Judge at [email protected].  A separate petition audition may be required by the request of the HJ (Paul Warden).

Moving down petitions will be due by Wednesday, December 3rd, 2024 at 12pm PST to the HJ. 

Non-Dominant Role Jack & Jills – Yes please! Feel free to dance one division as a leader and one division as a follow. We follow the World Swing Dance Council’s restrictions here. You can only dance 1 level down from your highest ranking, or you can petition down one more level in accordance with WSDC’s rules. Please be advised that to make our schedule even remotely work on time, we often are forced to run contests simultaneously in two ballrooms. We do our best to make sure we account for people dancing up or down 1 division, but as of now, we can’t see a way to make 2 division separation totally accounted for. So you might need to choose a division if you make semis. Please see WSDC full specs HERE.

Strictly Swing Divisions – Follow normal guidelines above for your traditional role. For non traditional roles that a dancer has less points in than their traditional, you may dance down. This is a great place to sharpen your skills.

Allstars – You man dance in both the DJ Battle SS and the Strictly Swing Open division. If you are in the Invitational, you may not dance the Allstar Jack & Jill.

Possible Division Condensing

Although TAP is typically a very well attended event and has almost always reached the upper tier for each leveled division; with the Global Pandemic, it is almost impossible to predict turn out or the state of affairs leading up to the event that might cause fluctuation in competition numbers. So please know that there is always a chance that any division might fall below the threshold to run. If ultimately we all face that situation we will follow WSDC guidelines and condense division down.  Please know this is not our intention, but it’s always a possibility.  i