CLUB COMPETITION POLICIES

If you are a registered member of the Columbia University Ballroom Dance Club, you enjoy certain privileges when it comes to participating competitions.

Note that these benefits are only accessible to members of the club who have paid dues and registered on the club sport website. They will also only be made available to those who adhere to our club policies about Registration, Travel, Housing, and Team Apparel.

 

Registration 

 

In order to register for a competition with Columbia University Ballroom Dance Club, you need to both register on the competition website and fill out the google form we send out for each competition. This serves as your notification to us that you plan to attend and will do everything in your power to be there. As such, we will cover your registration for the competition, meaning that we will pay your fee, and that you should not pay anything when you register on the competition website.

 

There are some conditions to us covering your competition registration. Firstly, if you cannot make it to the competition due to a scheduling conflict arising, and do not notify us in time to cancel registration with the competition (i.e. we have to pay for you and you don’t show up), you will need to reimburse us for the competition fee, or we will not cover the next competition you go to. That being said, if you come to us with a valid reason for your inability to go, we will consider if you need to pay or not.

 

In some instances, we will pay for your late registration, but these instances will be explicitly noted. Otherwise, if you register late under Columbia, you will need to pay the difference to the team. If your partner is not of Columbia ballroom, we may pay for their registration, but this will be determined on a case-by-case basis, so reach out to us. In this instance, there is no asking forgiveness rather than permission because if you do not ask, we will not pay.

 

Most competitions use an online registration system called O2CM. You can find the link to O2CM on the competitions' websites, which you can find in our list of Competitions for the 2015-2016 season.

 

To find out more about how to navigate the O2CM system, download our guide to O2CM.

 

Travel

 

[General]

We cover half of travel, either to or from each competition, and this will be specified on the form we send out for each competition. For larger competitions, we generally have multiple trips to and from the competition.

 

In order for you to get ½ of travel covered, you need to sign up  on the form by the specified deadline. We will buy your ticket based on what you indicate on the form (which time you will be travelling with the team, and if you are not traveling with the team, what alternate plans you are requesting tickets for).

 

Once the deadline has passed, you cannot request a different ticket to be purchased for you or cancel your request. If you want to make changes to the ticket, you can request that we send it to you and then make the changes yourself and we will not cover the associated fees.

If we purchase a ticket for you and you do not show up for that travel designation, you will need to reimburse us for the ticket fee, or we will not cover travel for the next competition you go to. That being said, if you come to us with a valid reason for your inability to go, we will consider if you need to pay or not.

 

[Alternate plans]

For alternate plans, there will be a cap for the amount that we cover, specified in the competition form. It will be based on how much tickets cost for the team organized trip. Additionally, we must purchase your tickets ourselves and send them to you - we cannot provide reimbursement if you have already purchased tickets yourself (unless there is a special situation and we give the okay for you buying the ticket yourself).

 

[Open Level Mentors]

For open level mentors, the above policies apply as well. However, we will cover travel for both ways (to and from the competition), and for those of you with alternate plans, the cap will be twice the cap for non-open level mentors.

 

Housing

 

Housing will be for competitions that span multiple days. Included in the competition sign-up form will be the ability to sign up for housing. If you intend to receive housing through the competition, you need to use us to act as a liaison. DO NOT GO DIRECTLY TO THE COMPETITION WEBSITE. If it is possible for you to stay with friends or family in the area, please do so. Do not refrain from staying with friends or family because you think it will be too far away, as you will not always be housed very close to the competition venue (and you will be more comfortable with friends/family!).

In the event that you originally say you do not need housing and then subsequently change your mind, we cannot guarantee that you will get housing, so please keep this in mind when filling out the form.

In the event that you get assigned housing but cannot compete, make sure to notify your host, the competition’s housing coordinator, and us.

 

Team Apparel

 

If you would like to borrow team apparel for a competition, note the following: it is first come first serve within levels/sizes, and you must sign up through the form we send out by the deadline in order to be eligible. After the deadline, we will reach out to you with information on how to try out team apparel/where and when you can get it, so please be patient until then!

You cannot reserve apparel in advance of our sending this form, and you must return it by 1 week after the competition you borrowed it for has ended. Additionally, if you damage the dress/costume or get it significantly dirty, we will hold you responsible for the charges associated with repairing, replacing, or cleaning the dress.

 

A little bit more about how ballroom apparel works:

• We offer team apparel for both men and women, and for dancers of all levels. However, our apparel is limited (especially for men). Additionally, certain pieces are more suitable for dancers of certain levels as per ballroom protocol. This is where our “first come first serve within levels/sizes” policy comes in - if both a gold level dancer and a bronze level dancer need a costume and request before the deadline, the gold dancer has higher priority.

• Newcomers and bronze dancers are typically not allowed to wear “costumes” to competitions -  but we do have several pieces that newcomers are allowed to wear and encourage newcomers/bronze dancers to check them out. Additionally, there are often older members on the team who have pieces they would be willing to lend out, so there is no need to stress about what to wear/whether to buy something new for ballroom.