Texas Classic Members,

I am writing this to you to try to explain the reasoning for withdrawing from SWRDA (Southwest Regional Dance Association).  The decision was not one reached easily. The debate has been going on for well over a year.  

If you were at either of the last two business meetings you are aware that Classic (TCPC) has decided to pull out of SWRDA at the end of this year.  I understand that a lot of discussion has been tossed back and forth on the discuss list. So I am writing this letter to let our members know first hand our reasoning for pulling out. The decision was not made by me alone, but by all the members present at the club meeting.

First I want to say that that the leadership of the club believes that a regional novice level competition is needed, perhaps more today then ever before, and the Texas Classic Push Club wants to be involved in it. The problem is that the present SWRDA has become too complex, the rules outdated and unenforceable, and most importantly the attendance has become almost embarrassing. The organization needs to be completely reinvented to fit today's realities.

Between just the three clubs in Dallas there are about 1500 members. This number does not include the Houston, Austin and Oklahoma clubs and yet the attendance at the last Regional contest was only about 175 people. No one seems to care. So the question we need to ask ourselves is "Why is no one interested anymore"?

Here are some of the main issues that drove our decision.

· Rules are not enforceable or should I say no one takes time to enforce them.

· Very low participation in the contests and poor overall attendance.

· The whole contest in its present form is outdated. The rules are too complex.

· Few qualified judges. No one attends the judging seminars.

· The Pro / advanced dancers don't attend in large numbers.

· No checks to verify if the dancers competing in the contest are members in good standing of any club.

· We ask people to drive 4 and 5 hours to a meeting that lasts about 30 minutes and produces more of the same confusion.

· Many clubs don't even send representatives to the meeting. Other clubs have to give up delegates to cover for the absent ones.

The Texas Classic Push Club very much wants to be involved in a contest with our sister clubs around the region but we feel that SWRDA, in its present form, is not the vehicle to best showcase our novice dancers.

I will work with anyone for any amount of time to help bring Regionals up to date and back to a contest that we all can be proud of. But to continue down the road we are on is a waste of time and energy.

Robert Nelson
President
Texas Classic Push Club