As a dancer, I've been used to having dances (other than traditional ballet) styled on our company, for showcases in modern dance. Which might include hip-hop, some disco, the Spanish Variations from Nutcracker, russian folk dances... many different types and styles of dance. Modern dancers, and I've heard of some ballroom dancers, saying this also: how ballet is such a good background for whatever kind of dance you're going into, as long as your training was good. I studied ballet very seriously and with excellent teachers my whole life. I was someone who was constantly getting exasperated when I'd hear of some little ballet studio in a strip mall sending their students to "competitions." That's why I'm so lost when it comes to knowing where to look for good teachers for competition. In the ballet world, competition is not the name of the game. The serious and reputable schools do not promote these competitions. They are participated in by a whole different type of school: the type who has a "recital" once a year, takes the summers off, the students come once or maybe twice a week to a class wherein they simply rehearse their "routine" over and over, until it's time for the recital. So you see, this is not the way I studied dance. I studied very seriously, in the russian syllabus, under master teachers, former professional dancers themselves. Now I can't seem to find this level of professionalism in the area I'm living in now, for ballroom.
I really just want to study with an excellent teacher, and then see what comes of that. It's not the idea of competition that really gets me going... it's not an idea I'm accustomed to anyway, since ballet and ballet companies are not competition-oriented. It's just that, other than that amazing show, Burn the Floor, I've never seen ballroom showcased in any way except for in competition. I'd love it if there were more showcases, full-out shows, like Burn the Floor, for ballroom dance!
I was also under the assumption that there is competition at all levels of advancement in ballroom, and that one simply moved up in the ranks as one progressed. I wouldn't be expecting to enter into things at a high level. However, when I take a class, I can see that my knowledge of movement and space is that of a dancer, and I'm bored and frustrated in a classroom situation, with beginners.
Not yet knowledgable, but not feeling like a beginner either... and so far no closer to finding a good teacher. 
But I'm currently looking in the Detroit area, and if my husband takes a job in San Francisco, I'm sure I'd have better luck finding training on the west coast.
