Our Vision

What is Social Dancing?  

Social dancing is non-competitive dancing and is comprised of all the same dances, like Waltz, Jive, Tango or Salsa but, designed to be used in practical settings like wedding receptions, nightclubs, business functions or informal gatherings.    

Social dancing is less conventional that competition or exhibition styles of dancing and is meant to be enjoyed while socializing.  

The most important skills for good social dancing are leading and following; this is the non-verbal communication from the leader to the follower indicating the direction, timing and style, among other things…and, if Leading and Following is a message, then good posture and dance frame are the antennas broadcasting the signals.    

Ultimately, social dancing is having the ability to negotiate around the dancefloor and be able to converse while dancing.  

Being able to multi-task; like chatting about work or the weather while dancing, takes some practice but allows dancing to develop into natural use much quicker.   

While there are types of dances that people can fake their way through, social dancing with a partner isn't one of them.    

What is Competitive Dancing? 

Competition dancing is a form of ‘ballroom’ dancing that has evolved from social dancing. 

It attracts people who love to dance and who have the urge to show their skill and talent in direct competition with other couples on the dance floor.   

Such people dance not only for their own satisfaction but also to impress both the judges; who have been selected to decide who the best couples are, and of course, the audience.   

Competition dancing brings with it an element of show business and consequently additional factors; such as the quality of performance, musical interpretation and characterization become important.   

The two most important facets of the dancers' performance that have to be assessed are quality and crowd appeal.  Quality is expressed through the dancers' technique, musicality and characterization; crowd appeal depends on the dancers' choreography, presentation, and personalities.   

The standard of performance therefore, is made up of many different elements taken together and because individuals place a different value on each aspect, their assessments are subjective, therefore an uneven number of adjudicators is always used for major events.   

Support for the Dance Professional:

The Association of International Dance provides a dance curriculum perfectly suited for those who want to experience the benefits that the various styles of dancing have to offer. 

This curriculum has been created through many years of research, training and technical development and is designed to support both the professional teacher and students with their individual needs and requirements; from the social through to structured level assessments or medalist standards, competition or professional levels (and various stages in-between).   

Great dance teachers understand how to best serve up technical knowledge and in what amounts…too little and the dance is confusing, too much, and the dance is frustrating.  

We support our Professional Members with comprehensive access to ongoing training, technical manuals and video reference for all our syllabus styles thereby allowing their continuous professional development.

Our Professional Members are skilled at ensuring that every student finds a path to success!