Most Asked Questions About Competition

Does your daughter dance everywhere she goes? Does she talk about wanting to perform more?
Can she focus and isn’t afraid of putting in the time and effort for what she wants to accomplish? One of our competition teams may be a great fit! Here are the questions I get asked the most!

Which of your two teams do you recommend for my daughter?
 So, we have two teams – the regular competition team (trains in ballet, tap, and jazz) and the hip hop crew (takes a comp hip hop class and a recreational hip hop class). If you are looking for your child to be a well-rounded, diverse dancer, go with our regular competition team. If they love hip hop and can’t stand ballet, go with our hip hop crew.

How many hours/days do they train?
The regular competition team takes 5 classes (ballet, tap, stretch and strength, choreography, and progressions). This ranges from 3 to 4 hours per week. They come to Soar two days per week. The hip hop crew takes an hour and 15 minutes worth of class, one day per week.

At what age do you recommend my child audition?
Students ages 5 through 18 can audition. It is easier to make the team at a younger age. Once the student is about 12 or older, they have to match the skills of what our current team can do.

My child can’t do a split (or any other one skill). Do you think she will make it?
 We are not looking for one particular skill. We have a sheet of skills for the regular competition team that they are judged on. We are also looking for their ability to focus and learn choreography.

Besides dancing, is there anything else you look for?
If they’ve danced with us before, we do take a few other things into consideration. This is how the student has participated in past classes, what their attendance was like, and also did the family usually pay on time. Competition takes more of a time and financial commitment. If a family had trouble in our recreational program, this will only put more strain on them.

What level will my child be at?
This is completely dependent on what we see at auditions. This includes how many students audition and the skills the student can do. Please note that age is only a small factor on what group they are in in competition. We are mostly looking at skills and maturity. This means a younger dancer might be at a higher level than someone of an older age.

My child participates in another extracurricular activity. Will this conflict?
That is solely dependent on the two schedules and how involved they are. We have had competition students run track and compete. One has been able to do school volleyball and compete. However, we do have attendance requirements. If you are too busy, please consider not auditioning as the team will be relying on your student.

Can my child do a solo?
Regular competition students have to have one year of comp experience before being eligible. Hip Hop Crew students need two years of comp experience before eligible. Solos are one of the hardest areas to compete in because of the number of entries. There are additional fees and rehearsal times for solos.

What are the financial commitments?
We ask that you come to our parent interest meeting to get more specific information. This will be held on April 3rd at 6 p.m.

What can I do to help my student prepare?
If the student is auditioning for our regular team, attend our Training Camp. This is on Saturday, April 5th. For ages 5-10, it is from 1-1:45 p.m. For ages 11-18, it is from 2-2:45 p.m. This is $25 per student. We will go over the jazz technique that we look for.

If your child is auditioning, a registration appointment is not required unless the student is taking summer classes or fall recreational classes. We will cover much more information at the parent meeting. We hope you attend.