TBA System

No partner? No problem!

DCDI believes that everyone should have the opportunity to dance. As such, we pride ourselves on having a well-developed TBA System. Please read below to understand the system and avoid breaking rules.

Violators will be disqualified.

Important Terms
  • Regular partnership – a partnership between two dancers of the same level that is ideally (but not always) prearranged, giving the couple time to prepare.
  • TBA partnership – a partnership between dancers that is arranged at the competition as a last resort, sometimes resorting to a lower-level dancer and a higher-level dancer being paired together. A TBA partnership by nature must be random and used only a last resort.
  • Disqualified – having your entry removed due to violating a competition rule or policy.
TBA Policies
  1. You CANNOT pre-arrange a TBA partnership. Violators will be disqualified.
  2. You MUST dance at the level of the higher-level dancer in a regular partnership. We will disqualify you for dancing down.
  3. For those who do not find a partner before the competition, we will first try to find you a partner at your level. We unfortunately can no longer guarantee partners at the Silver level and above.
FAQs
I don’t have a partner, what should I do?
  1. Find a partner in the  TBA Discord Server or through other means (teammates, other local teams, etc.) prior to the competition .
  2. Find a partner at the social dance on Friday.
  3. Find a partner at the competition when called by the MC or via the spreadsheet found at the registration desk.
  4. Then, only as a last resort (if there are no dancers at-level), a random (never before met) dancer is assigned as a TBA pairing for DCDI.
I am a TBA and found a partner. What now?

Congrats! You have now created a regular partnership. Please register your partnership in O2CM You will no longer be considered a TBA partnership. Please note that all regular partnerships need to follow the registration rules (time-outs, place-outs, no double-registering, etc.)

How are TBA partnerships judged?

In a TBA partnership, the volunteer is not judged. Only the dancer who is regularly registered for that event is judged. This is to reduce advantages that dancing with a higher-level dancer may give. Please note TBA partnerships are not Rookie/Vet or Teacher/Student –  they are a last resort. 

I am a TBA. Can my friend/teammate volunteer to lead me?

The simple answer is no. We try at all costs to have TBAs be complete strangers. While we trust that you and your friend/teammate have good intentions, there are reasons we insist on TBA partnerships being random. Those found to be pre-arranging TBA partnerships will be disqualified. 

Why do you insist on TBA partnerships being random?

To ensure equal advantage and reduce rule abuse.

If a TBA partnership is prearranged, they will have time to practice and prepare (like a regular partnership would). It would be unfair to others in the competition to only judge half a couple that is acting in the same capacity as a regular partnership. Additionally, when a TBA partnership has a higher-level dancer, the random nature of TBA pairings reduces the advantage that may have. 

Additionally, by ensuring the TBA partnerships are random, we can make sure people do not abuse the TBA system to avoid other rules (such as time-outs, place-outs, double-registering, etc.).

Follower Event (Jack & Jill)

To guarantee that all Bronze and Newcomer dancers can compete, we will run a separate event just for the unmatched followers where only the follow is judged. We will call for leaders of any level to volunteer to be randomly matched with the unmatched followers. This means that a leader can be judged with their regular partner and then dance again without being judged to help with the TBA dancers.

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