What it is
The NDCA is a non-profit educational organisation founded in 1948, under the name National Council of Dance Teacher Organizations. It joined the international professional council, today the WDC, in 1962, and it chooses the US professional couples and judges sent to world professional championships.
It has three departments: Ballroom, Performing Arts and Public Relations. The Ballroom Department sanctions competitions, grants championship titles, registers dancers and officials, keeps the syllabus for closed events and runs the scrutineer exams.
Members
The NDCA is a council of member organisations, not of individual dancers. Its members include teacher organisations and the large franchise studio networks, with full, associate and affiliate classes; delegates from each meet twice a year. People who register with the NDCA are licensees, not members.
Competition system
Sanctioning. Events are sanctioned at three levels: championships, multi-day competitions and local one-day events. There is a moratorium on new sanctions, sanctioned events must keep a minimum distance from each other on the same weekend, and every event pays an annual fee. Every official must be NDCA-registered, and minimum panels are set: at least three judges, a chairman of adjudicators, a certified scrutineer and two invigilators.
Registration. Every competitor at a sanctioned event needs a current NDCA registration, renewed online each year. Licensees may not officiate at or organise events the NDCA has not sanctioned.
Judges and scrutineers. Adjudicators are graded by style (International Ballroom, International Latin, American Smooth, American Rhythm and Theatre Arts) through member-organisation exams and the NDCA judges' exam. Scrutineers must pass the NDCA Skating System exam with a perfect score.
Pro-Am. Levels run Pre-Bronze, Bronze, Silver, Gold, Gold Star and Supreme Gold, with a Newcomer division for a dancer's first year. Multi-dance age divisions start at 19 (A), 36 (B) and 51 (C), with senior divisions above. See the levels guide.
Amateur. Syllabus, Novice, Pre-Championship and Championship, with promotion by points, and age groups from Pre-Teen to Senior IV.
Rankings. The NDCA Premier National Ranking, since 2023, gives points for entering and for each couple beaten, at events run on the NDCA Premier software.
Main events
The US National Championships are held at the United States Dance Championships in Orlando each September, and the US professional representatives for the world championships are chosen from their finals. The NDCA calendar for 2026 lists 133 active sanctioned events: 42 championships, 43 multi-day competitions and 48 local one-day events, all in the United States, one of them in Puerto Rico (counted from the calendar on 3 November 2026). The US competition system guide describes how they work.
How it is governed
Delegates of the member organisations form the council. It has elected officers, an Executive Committee and a Board of Governors, with appointed positions and committees for specific work. The NDCA lists the current officers and committees on its own pages.
Official links
- Website
- Rules and Regulations (June 2026)
- Elected officers (current)
- Committees
- Premier National Rankings
We do not print the names of current presidents or board members, because they change. The links above go to the federation's own list.
This page is an independent summary written from the body's own published sources. DanceFlow is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sanctioned by it. DanceFlow is not NDCA-sanctioned.
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Sources
Checked on November 3, 2026. Each document is linked in the language it was published in. Where sources disagree, the text says so.