3 - 2 - 1 GO!

Sometimes it feels like a race to get in to the dance competitions you wish to attend because many sell out so early! You may have some competition pieces finished and some you may just be starting. It may still be up in the air who is even doing solos this season. But ready or not, registrations are open and it is time to get to work! Some of you have general questions about registering early, scheduling, and levels. Leveling students is an entirely differently ballgame that I tackle in a separate post!

REGISTERING EARLY IS THE THING TO DO! DO NOT WAIT!

Since many competitions have begun a trend of selling out months in advance, do not hesitate when it comes to registration. As soon as you make your final decision on which competitions you will be attending for the year, start looking for the date in which they will open registration. Once it is open, START TO REGISTER! If you cannot put all of your routines in at once, I suggest you call the competition to let them know how many routines you will be bringing if there is not a space to do so in the online registration. You want to secure your spot because you don’t want it to sell out without you! You also need to update your rooster, and/or enter your dancers to let the competition know you are serious about attending if you cannot register your routines at the time you reserve.

Yes, it can totally be misleading. Many websites have in their rules language such as, “Entries are not complete without payment”. That is a yes and no statement. Some competitions will hold your place without a full payment until it either:

A) sells out
B) begins a waiting list of others because others want in
C) until somewhere around 45 days out from the actual event date
OR
D) They may require a deposit to ensure that you will complete the registration, reserve your place, and/or make the payment in full by a certain date.

These are details that may vary from competition to competition. One thing that will not vary is this: GET YOUR ENTRIES IN OR AT LEAST GET STARTED as early as you can. Let them know are coming, but DO NOT register for a competition that you have not fully committed to attend. You can always go in and edit, add to, delete, make change to your registration at a later time. (SIDE NOTE: If you have fully committed to attending a competition’s national finals, a courteous and thoughtful thing to do is let them know now.)

IMPORTANT! Yes, editing and changes happen but please DO NOT WAIT until the week prior to or the week of the competition event to make your changes. I repeat, PLEASE do not wait until the last minute.  Be accurate, timely, and considerate with your edits and changes to registration. A good rule to follow: make them as they occur. Another good rule to follow: read all competition emails immediately and thoroughly, especially when it contains information about an event in which you are competing. This will save you headaches and so much time in the long run!

WHAT DO I DO IF THE COMPETITION I WANT TO ATTEND IS SOLD OUT?

There are two things you can do if an event sells out before you have time to register. You can chose another location for that competition to attend, or you can ask if there is a waiting list before moving on to your second choice. Some have waiting lists and if a venue is available, they have enough staff to produce another event, and they have enough studios and acts to host a second location, they just may do so. Some have a waiting list for the unfortunate situation that someone doesn’t make a payment by the date provided.

SCHEDULING

Once you finally get your entries in and the season is starting to get underway, the scheduling panic may hit. Questions such as, “When will petite solos perform?” and “When will senior groups perform?” just may be questions that are unanswerable months in advance, and sometimes unanswerable weeks in advance. Some competitions list a suggested time table on their website in the rules. Please check the rules of each competition before calling the office. If you call, you may end up frustrated because you will not get a firm answer. MOST OF THE TIME, schedules are set once all of the entries are in, and within a couple of weeks (1 to 3 weeks) of the competition. The reason they are set at this time, even when the competition has been sold out for months, is because of changes studio owners and office managers make to registration. This is another reason it is very important to get all of your changes done, and to double check your entries, before the actual deadline date. Many competitions may vary their schedule pattern from city to city depending on the number of entries in each division in order to make “everything best fit” so to speak in the amount of time allotted for the event. Some may have a set pattern. If they have a set schedule, it will be on the website. If they do not, then the person on the other end of the phone will most likely not be able to give you a definite answer months in advance, sometimes weeks in advance, on scheduling. When putting a competition down on your calendar, it is best for everyone to block off the entire weekend.

Please trust me when I say that the competition owners and the entire competition staff really do want everyone to have a fantastic time. Every event is different depending on the breakdown of the routines entered for that specific competition. A lot of time, consideration, and effort goes into the event planning and scheduling. Please remember many, not all but many, people working in this industry are or once were dancers, dance parents, dance teachers, and/or studio owners themselves.

Competition can be such a great experience and wonderful learning tool. I hope everyone has a fantastic competition season!

Dance hard. Dance smart.

Meredith
thecompetitiveedgebymeredith.blogspot.com

*Originally published November 4, 2016 on Dance Apps Inc.'s app with NappyTabs, Dancer's Toolbox. You can read more posts from Meredith on the app under Dancer's Dish.

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