We are excited about this years dance season!

If you are interested in competition and want more advice or details please contact us as directed on our web site.

 

At Dance Dreams we believe in a longer and fairer audition process than just a onetime audition. We place the student in the appropriate age and skill level that is expected for them. Then we have them come to classes during the month of August (announced each year) to first of all, get them back in shape after a long vacation period and secondly to show the improvements they can be achieved over the course of the month. This works especially to the advantage of the new student coming into our program. New teachers and different challenges cannot show a student's true potential by a one to two hour audition only. It is also a chance for the student to see as well if indeed they do want to do competition themselves.

Dance Dreams also offers (to qualified students) Performance Teams. These dancers come once a week and perform one routine at fewer competitions than the traditional Competition Teams. Once the month is complete, an official audition is held that the students have prepared for by showing variations of leaps, turns, flexibility, ballet technique, timing and showmanship.

Auditions are announced each year and are at Dance Dreams and last about 1 hr. These are also the same qualities the judges at the competitions we attend are looking for as well. The students are notified within a one day period of their status and which team they are placed on. At this point, if making the team, they continue coming the exact same times as they attended during the month of August. (Unless otherwise told.) If a student is not ready after all for our competition program, the student is then placed in the class best suited for them personally. Sometimes a student is invited to study with a particular team in hopes that they can achieve the level required for next year's audition. This does not guarantee a spot on a team but merely reinforces the structure needed to achieve a better audition the following year. All students, recreational or competitive are given the same motivation and encouragement. The only difference that is seen is that the competition teams attend classes twice a week; therefore a difference should be seen in their performance level.

 

 

Competition Team Requirements

 

Competition teams are offered to ages five (or soon to be) and up. The teams come to class twice a week attending classes in ballet, tap, jazz and as they mature, lyrical dance. Competition teams must be ready for an early spring performance, so costumes must be ready earlier than the regular summer recital time. 

 

A  $140 a month costume deposit fee (varies with teams and solo options) is paid from September through November to pay an approximate balance expected on their costumes. They will have 2-3 costumes ranging in price from $85 to $150 each depending on the necessary things needed to complete the look of the dance. Parents are always proud of their investment when the students step out on stage as well as knowing they will be getting many performances out of the costumes before the performance season is complete. Many fund raisers are offered, but not required, throughout the course of the year to help pay for costuming, attending competitions and a yearly dance workshop held in Charlotte or one in Myrtle Beach, S.C. 

 

A Dance Convention is held with (our favorite) Showstopper National Talent Competition and Conventions every year in Myrtle Beach in January (Martin Luther King Holiday weekend) and others in the fall in Charlotte. Dancers are required to attend a workshop as part of their contract to the team. It is an exciting and motivating weekend that exposes the dancers to professionals in the dance world that have performed with the student's favorite pop stars or on Broadway. These professionals teach classes in a variety of dance styles that encourages dancers to think beyond the limits of just their dance studio. For students ages 9 and up there is also a workshop held in Charlotte that is an option as well. 

 

Three competitions are attended each spring usually beginning the second or third weekend of March continuing through the first weekend of May. Payments are made beginning in January and spread into monthly payments to make things easier. The cost of competition dances vary but usually cost $65 per dance routine performed. The average cost per team member is for two dances per competition totaling $96 (jazz, tap) paid monthly for each competition. (Example: 2 Compt. divided up payable $96 per month in Jan., Feb. and March.) Once again, optional fundraising is available. The Performance Teams will only compete in one dance per competition for their competition experience.

 

Our Competition teams always shine at our performances! Dance Dreams always places at the Gold or Platinum level (Highest Honor) as well as achieving top ten overall placements at awards honored at regional competitions located in Concord and Winston Salem. This year they placed Top 1st overall  at every competition! They have received numerous Entertainment Awards and noted fun specialty awards. We do not usually attend Nationals in the summer so all can enjoy their own vacation time. Sometimes we have taken a special group, solo or duet/trio that has swept up top awards at regionals, but it is discussed and voted on. We are planning to do team and family optional performance vacations every other year in the summer. We performed on Carnival Cruise Lines in the summer of 2002 and performed at Disney as guest performers on the Epcot Stage in 2004. We performed at Disney World in June 2008 and we performed again in the summer of 2012 when we danced down "Main Street USA" in Disney's Magic Kingdom Parade. We usually plan an optional fun summer performance trip every 2 years.

 

If you are interested in competition and want more advice or details please contact me at 

704-239-3347 (cell - Glenna) DanceDreamsInfo@gmail.com