While dancing is very much a social activity, the dance scene is also an extremely competitive one, and many couples choose to register with the New Zealand Dance and Dancesport Council, and enter competitions.
 
Competions are held once or twice a month from April to November in Auckland,and with similar frequency  in Wellington and Christchurch.
Provincial Centres like Hamilton Tauranga Rotorua ,Wanganui ,Palmerston North,Nelson, Dunedin  and Gore also host one or two events a year.
 
Competition Dancing is divided into Age Groups as follows :
 
Juvenile  - Under 13
Junior     - 13 to 15
Youth     - 16 to 18
Adult      - Over 16
Senior    - Over 35
 
Youth and Senior Competitors are able to dance in both their own age division as well as the Adult division
 
Couples enter competitions at Level 1 ( a one dance competition) and progress through various levels to Level 5 ( a five dance competition) by virtue of accumulating a number of wins in their own Level and earning the right to dance at the next level.
 
Most competition organisers also run introductory events for dancers who are yet to register so they can get a feel for competition.
 
Competions generally are run across 3 Styles :
 
Ballroom ( also known as Standard)  which incorporates the five ballroom dances -
Modern Waltz,Tango, Slow Foxtrot, Viennese Waltz,Quickstep
 
Latin American
ChaCha,Samba ,Rumba,Paso Doble ,Jive
 
Australian New Vogue ( Sequence Ballroom Dances )
There are 15 different New Vogue Dances performed in competition -
5 in Waltz Rhythm - Lucille Waltz,Parma Waltz,Swing Waltz , Tracie-Leigh Waltz,TwlightWaltz
5 in Foxtrot Rhythm - Barclay Blues, Carousel, Charmaine, Excelsior Shcottiische, Merrilyn
3 in Tango Rhythm - La Bomba , Tangoette, Tango Terrific
2 in March Rhythm - Evening Three Step, Gypsy Tap
 
Some event organisers occassionally include English Old Time (also known as Classical Sequence)
in their competition programme
 
Dancers from Tempo Dance Studio have performed exceedingly well at events both in New Zealand and overseas winning many National and International titles since 2003
The level of coaching at Tempo is probably the best available anywhere in the country.
Tempo trains winners - always has...