Entry #3: To Compete or to Not Compete?

Although most of the dance world isn’t as crazy as it’s portrayed to be on reality T.V., the over-the-top lifestyle and “high stakes" are what turn some people away from breaking into competitive dance or industry-like training at a young age. My experience as a competitive dancer was so chill and fun, which I am so grateful for! My home studio was small, and we merely did competitions for the learning experience and to get feedback from judges in order to help us improve. As a teacher however, I’ve seen a whole other side of the competitive dance scene, and it’s not as glamorous as most people make it out to be. Please take all of what I’m about to say with a grain of salt. I’m in no way anti-competition. I’ve worked for a couple of dance competitions / conventions and have had great experiences! I love taking my students to all types of dance events! However, with anything I believe it’s important to look at all sides of the picture in order to form your own educated opinion. Whether you’re a longtime dancer, dance parent, teacher, or just a dance enthusiast, I feel like we all could do a better job of taking a step back to reevaluate some things that probably shouldn’t be so normalized. 

Let me set the scene: You're sitting in a cold, dim cafeteria with 200 other girls. You check your watch. It’s only 8:00 a.m. on a Saturday morning and yet Pam is already on her 3rd coffee, rolling up with a dream duffel (IYKYK) the size of Texas. She’s been up since 5:00 re-gluing rhinestones onto her 6 year old daughter's solo costumes. Little McKinsley Grace has 7 solos because she’s versatile and everyone within a 50-mile-radius needs to know it. The fake eyelash that you just spent 10 minutes trying to attach starts to slip, and your eye begins to twitch as you ponder the long day ahead. I digress. 

The competitive dance world is constantly evolving. It’s been around for decades, and I don’t see this aspect of the dance industry going anywhere any time soon. For those that are unfamiliar, a dance competition is where dancers and dance studios enter routines to compete against other groups and studios. In a regional setting, you’re competing against other studios in your area with the goal of placing higher or earning more points than everyone else. In a nationals setting, you’re competing against any dancer or studio in the nation who has either earned a spot or entered themselves into this national competition. In my opinion, you should have to earn an entry slot at nationals by how well you did at the competition’s regionals, but some companies don’t require that. It’s besides the point anyway. At nationals, there are often opportunities to win “Title” or “Dancer of the Year” in some regard. There are often different levels of competition that are divided based on a dancer’s skill level. That way you don’t have a novice dancer competing against an elite dancer. There’s also sometimes category divisions that are based on what style of dance you’re competing (jazz, lyrical, hip hop, etc.). You perform your routines in front of a panel of judges who are giving live critiques into a microphone as you dance. These critiques are completely subjective, and are later sent to the studio where the dancers can listen to their feedback and work on improving their dances. Dances are adjudicated based on their score, which is where they often earn “bronze, gold, high gold, platinum, etc.” depending on how high their overall score was. When I was competing I thought there were too many adjudication awards and now there’s even more! I fully understand what these competitions are trying to do but earning a palladium elite razzle dazzle (I’m known to exaggerate :)) is just funny to me. This is definitely an area where I think we could pull back a little bit - especially when it comes to overall ties. Overall placements are pretty much how they sound. It’s when a dance places first, second, or third, except for the fact that nowadays five soloists are tying for 3rd place out of a competition’s top 25 placements. Again, there just doesn’t need to be that many. I think these events are so money driven (which makes sense because it’s costly to put on something like this) that they desperately want to please everyone and keep their customers happy and coming back. I think circumstances like this take away from the prestige of earning a top 10 placement. Not to mention the fact that dance judges are often underpaid for the countless hours that they’re putting into these days. Because competitions want more money, they allow numerous studios and dances to enter. This is nice in theory, but makes competition days run way too long. There is no reason that an 8-year-old (or any teenager for that matter) needs to dance all day and then have their awards ceremony at 11:00 at night, only to have a call-time of 7:30 a.m. the next day. The same thing can be said about those that are judging these competitions. There’s such a controversy going on about how judges' critiques aren’t helpful or engaging enough, but when you think about how judges are typically accommodated for their time, it makes sense that they might sound more tired when critiquing the routines from 8:00-10:00 p.m. when they started at 8:00 a.m. You might only have a few dances that go on late at night, but those same judges have been there all day critiquing routines. If there was more of a cap on how many routines could be entered during a competition weekend, I think the days would be easier for all involved. 

Dance conventions, often attached to competitions, are events where dancers gather in huge ballrooms to train and learn from well known choreographers and dance teachers. This is like a master class experience on steroids where hundreds to thousands of dancers are piled into a room fighting for attention from these top-notch choreographers. It is a great way to get outside training and step out of your comfort zone by experiencing styles you aren’t as familiar with. I’m in no way anti-convention either, but I am a huge advocate for safe dance training. I think that there’s often way too many dancers in one room to dance safely without hitting or kicking anyone, even when breaking into groups. I’ve seen dancers getting bloody noses and pushed around first hand, which just doesn’t make for a great day. I also think there’s something to be said about dancing super hard on concrete all weekend for numerous weekends in a row. It’s no secret that these “convention-kids” are on another level talent wise and already demanding so much from their growing bodies. These convention ballroom floors offer little to no shock absorption when jumping around and landing. It can be so damaging to the body and joints, and often can lead to stress fractures and other injuries. There are dancewear companies with compression socks that are evolving to better support the feet, but it’s still really hard on your body overtime. Conventions often give out scholarships to other conventions and events, which is amazing, but they’re typically given to the best dancers. While I totally think that talent needs to be admired and recognized, I wish more scholarships were given out to those that could really benefit from some sort of financial aid. Dance is incredibly expensive!! 

*** TW: sexual assault 

There’s also the issue surrounding the hypersexualization of young dancers. In no way am I trying to suggest that competitive dance leads to this, however there have been multiple cases of grooming, sexual harassment, and sexual assault that have come to light over the last couple of years involving big name choreographers and minors. I was so disappointed this year to see studios sending their dancers to train with choreographers who have numerous accusations against them. At what point is getting your name out there more important than your students’ safety? I know so many young dancers who would do anything to advance their career, and we as educators have to be vigilant in our research and approach in taking opportunities where safety isn’t a top priority. There’s SO MUCH good that goes on within the dance industry, but a lot of the song choices and costuming for young artists is not appropriate. I’m well aware that I’m pretty conservative when it comes to dance attire and music, but I really don’t think that there’s any reason for teachers to use such explicit music in class, even if it is the clean version. I don’t want to give the impression that I think two-piece costumes are inappropriate or bad. I don’t think that! However, there’s a huge difference between keeping it classy and showing off a dancer’s lines and movement versus something too risqué. There’s such great music out there… just because something is trendy doesn’t mean that it’s necessarily appropriate. You can train a dancer to have maturity in their movement quality and still keep their choreography age appropriate. I’m tired of seeing 10-year-olds poppin’ it to Cardi B. Sorry, not sorry! 

Teachers, studio owners, and parents need to be more selective in what opportunities they provide their dancers. There’s thousands of teachers and companies out there that run great events, but a lot of these bigger corporations and events aren’t held as accountable as they probably should be. After reading all of this, my hope is to bring attention to some of these problems in order to really consider solutions. The impressions that we make on young artists should not be taken lightly. I’m a huge fan of competitive dance, and that will never change! I’d like to see more advocacy and less politics within the dance world. If done right, I think that competitions and conventions are phenomenal building blocks for competitive dancers looking to advance within the industry. 

With love,

Li <3