Dance Comp Season

By: Tilly Pilarski 

They say “dance like no one’s watching”, except in competition season, hundreds of people are watching, and a panel of judges are critically analyzing your every move, scoring it to the decimal point — all the while you are dancing your heart out, and every one of those decimal points matter. 

In this time of dance competition season, I hope to answer all of the What’s, Who’s, How’s Where’s, and When’s that you could possibly have, and hopefully add a little extra to your perspective on dancers. 

What is comp Season?

Dance competition season is the period from around March to May (with nationals in July), when dancers perform at judged events.  Competitions feature a variety of styles, including Ballet, Jazz, Modern/Contemporary, Lyrical, Acro, Tap, and Hip-Hop. In an average week of competition season, a dancer may have 6-12 hours of classes plus 10-40 hours at competition (depending on the dancer).  This follows months of class and rehearsals.

Blood, sweat, and tears (often quite literally) go into these dances. 

“I wish non-dancers knew how much energy and effort is put into one weekend,” said Jacinda Mazzarello, a grade 10 student dancing at Capital City Dance.  “from packing my rack and roll, to waking up early to do hair and makeup, to actually competing all my dances. It's nonstop, the quick changes, sore muscles, cheering for teammates, and giving everything I have each time I go on stage. It’s chaotic, exhausting, and a lot to handle, but it’s all just part of comp season!”

Grade 10 student Gabriella Goldmaker agrees, saying, “I wish more non-dancers knew the amount of time and effort we put into our sport and all of the ups and downs we experience. I also believe that others may not realize that dance is not as easy as it may seem and that it takes a lot of long, hard practice in order to make it look easy and effortless.” She dances at Elite Dance Studio.

How does it work?

Dancers are scored by a panel of judges on many elements, including; technique, performance quality, choreography, creativity, staging, dynamics, execution, and difficulty. Each judge gives a score out of 100, and the judges’ scores are then averaged to determine that dance’s ranking in medal/ribbon placement, category placement, and overall placement.

The competition is divided into categories/divisions based on:

• age

• number of people in the number

• dance style

A dancer may participate in a few dances or some as many as 20, spanning solos, duet/trios and groups.  

People compete both as a team, and as individuals.

That is the part that Piper Kraglund says she likes the least, “the constant comparisons between people”. Piper is a grade 9 student that dances at Leeming Danceworks. Her favourite part of comp season is, “experiencing new memories with the people [she] love[s]”.

Speaking of highlights, grade 9 student Amira Smaili says her favourite thing about dance competition season is, “performing on stage and watching my fellow competitor’s dances. Learning from other dancers and taking inspiration from them is one way I like to improve as a dancer.”  Amira dances at Greta Leeming School of Dance.

How does comp season affect school?

Many dancers during comp season find it difficult to balance school and dance. With spending nights at the studio, weekends at competitions, and missing school days, your balancing skills need to be “on pointe”. So, this is how some of St. Pius X’s very own competitive dancers balance school during comp season…

“Over the years, dance has taught me the importance of managing my time in order to make sure everything gets done when it needs to,” said Gabriella Goldmaker. “ A lot of late nights and early mornings are put into my schoolwork or dance in order to complete everything to my one hundred percent. It is definitely not easy, but I have grown and gotten better at managing my time as my schoolwork has become more involved.”

Another dancer in grade 9, Vanessa Matias, said, “To manage school and comp, I try to finish as much of my homework in school and after school, and I make sure not to miss a lot of school.” She dances at Step by Step School of Dance.

Bottom line

“Competitive dance teaches dancers not just dance but also life skills that they will need in the future like teamwork, perseverance, and time management.” Said Amira Smaili.

As the curtain falls on both this year’s comp season, and this article; hopefully you now know more about what comp season is, how it works, and how it can impact dancer’s lives at school.  For dancers, it’s a journey of growth on and off of the stage.