Big Changes to ILHC 2019: New Dates, New Contests, Norma 100

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ILHC juniors 2018.jpg

There’s lots of changes coming to the International Lindy Hop Championships in 2019 (basically the Olympics of Lindy Hop, if you didn’t know.) Here’s a summary of what you can expect next year:

New Dates

As we announced earlier, ILHC is moving from it’s traditional dates in late August to US Thanksgiving Day Weekend, November 29 - December. 2, 2019. They explain that this will make the event “more convenient and less expensive for our international attendees as well as help those in the US with School/University conflicts.” On the other hand, this might make it less convenient for those who have summer holidays that they can spend in DC. We’ll just have to see how this works out.

Norma 100

Another reason for the move is to coincide the event with Norma Miller’s 100th birthday, on December 2. This is of course an important milestone for the lindy hop community to celebrate. We should note that it is not clear whether Norma herself will be in attendance, given her strong dislike of cold weather.

New Contests

There are lots of changes to the dance contest divisions next year, including:

  • A new Harvest Moon Ball-style NORMAlizer contest open to all

  • NO ENTRY FEE for Luck of the Draw Contests

  • The Showcase divisions are going to be changed to a ”high-energy, high-flying” Showcase Throwdown

  • 3 divisions of Classic (Open, All-Star, Invitational) — with no preliminary rounds

  • A new Invitational Strictly Slow Swing division

  • No balboa contests

It will be interesting to see what the format of the NORMAlizer contest is. Presumably all the couples will be on the floor at the same time, similar to an “all skate”. Here’s some historic footage of the Harvest Moon Ball in 1935.

The elimination of the Balboa divisions is an interesting decision, given the increasing numbers of Balboa dancers and events around the world.

I am excited about the “Showcase Throwdown.” Showcase is where a lot of the most hype moments from the competitions happens anyway. I’m curious how they will change the format to bring up the energy and the “wow” factor. Maybe just give all the competitors Red Bull before they go on stage?

What do you think of these changes? Will the new dates make it more likely for you to attend? What contests are you most excited about?

See the ILHC website for more about these changes.