An Experience
Today I am going to talk about dance conventions. This is a little off topic since I was starting with the basics, but last weekend I went to a convention and it is a perfect time to blog about it. Dancers that are at a certain level go to conventions. You usually go to a dance convention with your dance studio. Now you are probably wondering what a dance convention is. This is where dance studios and dancers come from all over the state and country to a convention. At the convention there are different age groups. At conventions the dancers are taught choreography from amazing, well known choreographers. A convention takes place during the weekends from Friday to Sunday. This is just a brief description of a convention.
What is it? What do you do?
Getting into depth: There are different types of dance conventions to go to. Just to name a few there is New York City Dance Alliance (NYCDA), West Coast Dance Explosion (WCDE), Jump and Nuovo. These are very popular dance conventions but there are many more to chose from. At dance conventions you are split up into age groups. There are the Mini's, Juniors, Teens and Seniors (listed from youngest to oldest). I almost forgot to mention that dance conventions take place at convention centers! Each group has there own ballroom to dance in. There are close to 200 kids in a room, so the big space is needed. At conventions they are like school 'hours, starting from 8:00 am - 2:00pm. Each hour you are taught by a choreographer and they teach you a combination in short amount of time. In conventions you learn to pick up choreography fast. In these hours you also get a lunch break and water breaks. This happens on Saturday and Sunday. Through the convention there is also a dance competition. The dance competition happens on Saturday night and some conventions have competition on Friday as well. Fridays for conventions are either competitions at night or the convention may offer an optional class for any dancer to take.
Scholarships
There is another part of the convention, which is getting a scholarship from the dance convention. A dance convention really tests you as an individual dancer. Each individual dancer has a number that they put on their shirt. This is how the teachers will identify you and give you any corrections that they have for you. The teachers can't memorize over 200 names either, so having the numbers on the shirt help a lot. Getting back to the scholarship part. Through the convention there is a time where you learn an audition piece for the scholarship. You learn a quick combination and then in groups going by the numbers you audition. The people judging you are some of the teachers that have taught you through the convention. Through the process they call who stood out to them back to dance and they are likely to get scholarships. The audition process can be nerve racking but you just have to go out and do your best.
My View
I love going to conventions, I learn a lot through the short weekend. It is also a lot of fun and you can meet other dancers from all over the state and country. It is also a great experience and gives you the feel of going to the real world at auditions. These conventions can get tiring too, so make sure to have a lot of energy! Hope you have a great weekend! I will put a link below to the dance convention websites, that give you all their information about them.
NYCDA
JUMP
WCDE
NUVO
This is a picture of NYCDA Regionals. I highly recommend all of these amazing conventions!
Hi Ashley!
ReplyDeleteThank you so for responding back to all my comments, I enjoyed going through them to see what you had to say. :)
I’m so glad you did a post this week about conventions because it’s that time of year where studio’s go to conventions a lot. In fact my sister is performing her senior solo today at a convention in New Hampshire. I loved how you broke down conventions into sections and really explaining what happens because not everyone understands, even listing some really big conventions gives people that read your blog a great resource to go to if they would like to know more. I personally always enjoyed being apart of JUMP, every time I went studio’s brought some really different pieces that you wouldn't always see at other conventions. I hope you and your studio did well at your convention! Have a great weekend!
Meghan
Hey,
ReplyDeleteAs I was talking to my sister about her convention this past weekend she was talking about what advice she was giving some of the dancer's who were performing for the first time.
What advice would you give to a dancer who was performing in a group piece or a solo for the first time? Do you think the nervousness you feel right before performing ever goes away?
Meghan
Hi Meghan,
ReplyDeleteJUMP is one of my favorite conventions that I go to!! That is a really good question. The advice I would give a dancer for performing for the first time is to enjoy it! You should have fun and give it your all!! Everyone gets really nervous and excited before you go on and that happens all the time. When you get on stage all the nerves go away and it is so much fun! Don't let the nerves get to you and just do what you love, dance!
Hi Ashley,
ReplyDeleteIt's been a long time since I danced and I can remember taking some of my students to a dance convention in MA. I was so overwhelmed by the talented teachers from NYC giving workshops in Tap and Jazz. Lucky for me I spent most of the time watching. It was incredible.
Nervousness is always good - it keeps you on your toes :)
Hi Theresa,
DeleteThank you so much for taking the time to read my blog post! I really appreciate it! The teachers as dance conventions are so talented. I was overwhelmed with their talent as well but I learn so much! Thank you again!