Posted on behalf of USA DANCE, Inc.: USA DANCE OFFICIAL ANNOUNCEMENT REGARDING DEMAND LETTER TO NDCA’S BOARD OF GOVERNORS CITING VIOLATIONS OF ANTITRUST LAWS. On January 7, 2015, USA Dance, through its legal counsel, sent a demand letter to the National Dance Council of America’s Board of Governors. This letter informed the NDCA that its rules, approved in July 2014, barring NDCA-registered adjudicators and officials from participating at non-NDCA events are unlawful, that the NDCA rules are in restraint of trade, represent a group boycott against USA Dance, and that the NDCA has violated and continues to violate federal antitrust laws. (Note: The full text of the Demand Letter is available at usadance.org.) USA Dance has further demanded that the NDCA take immediate action to eliminate all related rules that prevent NDCA-registered adjudicators and officials from being able to judge and officiate at non-NDCA events, specifically at USA Dance National Qualifying Events and the National DanceSport Championships. As the USA Dance demand letter to the NDCA states, in part: “The NDCA’s use of coercive enforcement mechanisms, such as NDCA-registration suspension and cancellation and fines for noncompliant judges, constitutes a classic group boycott in restraint of trade by the competitors who serve on the NDCA Board…. The United States’ antitrust laws do not permit entities that dominate the marketplace to act as governmental regulatory bodies and restrict others’ freedoms to associate and do business with whomever they wish.” With a five-decade history in the dance industry and as the United States Olympic Committee-recognized National Governing Body for DanceSport, USA Dance has consistently advocated Freedom of Participation for everyone in the dance industry, both at home in the USA and abroad. The NDCA’s actions have threatened these freedoms. Since July 2014, the NDCA’s continuing actions, both direct and indirect, have resulted in USA Dance National Qualifying Events losing valued judges who have declined NQE invitations out of concern for future career opportunities and loss of income. In January 2015, at least two valued judges to USA Dance and the WDSF received NDCA-issued letters imposing immediate six-month suspension of their adjudicator’s license, or the option of a $500 fine to gain reinstatement under the condition that they breach the rules no further. USA Dance’s letter makes the following demands: “Accordingly, USA Dance demands that (1) the NDCA immediately withdraw all rules restricting judges’ and others’ participation in non-NDCA-sanctioned ballroom dance competitions; and (2) within 14 days of withdrawal, the NDCA notify all NDCA-registered judges and other officials in writing of the removal of all restrictions against their participation in non-NDCA-registered ballroom dance competitions.” USA Dance asks that everyone who believes in Freedom of Participation in dance to support our national organization, our athletes and social dancers, our chapters and all of the professional instructors, adjudicators, officials and studios in our local communities. Let us stand together as one dance community that excludes none, guarantees the essential freedoms of participation and reunites an industry whose mission, whether nonprofit or for-profit, is to bring enrichment and opportunity to everyone’s lives. # # #
Posted on: Fri, 09 Jan 2015 02:38:33 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015