Hi I'm a relatively new teacher - I only graduated from dance college last July and this is my first year of teaching full time. I'm originally from the UK and have moved to teach in Canada however... I'm totally confused about festivals!!

We don't really do many festivals in the UK and I've never been to one in my life so I've no idea what to expect. I've got all my dances finished and we're in the process of cleaning them up but I was hoping some of you guys could help me figure out what to expect when I get there? Like are the judges really harsh? What are they looking for in particular? I've been told they even make comments on things like if a bun is in a slightly different place to everyone else - is that true? Are they really that harsh -especially to the younger ones??

So far all I've got to go on is that I'll be playing the music and stressing out backstage!! SO if anyone has any advice for first time teachers at their first festival that would be amazing!!

Thanks!

First off - Welcome to Canada! I hope you are enjoying it here. Don't stress to much about Festival - it can be alot of fun. Depending on what festival you are entering - the catergories can be quite large (ex 3 sets of 11yr old jazz solos - each set having 15 dancers etc) So it can be a busy busy place! At festival they will have one adjudicator specific to each discipline - so a ballet professional will only judge the ballet - in contrast to weekend competitions here where its the same 3 judges watching all routines in all disciplines. It's good b/c then you get more specific comments on you adjudication sheets. As for nasty judges I have not experienced it myself, but it probably does happen sometimes, I have always found the comments to be constructive criticism. Ummm what else.... They will adjudicate after each category which is nice so you dont have to wait around for an awards session. The adjudicator will come on stage and make some comments to the dancers oh what they liked, where they would like to see everyone improve etc. Festival is also where students can qualify for the Provincial dance festival - in BC anyway - I'm not sure about other provinces. The requirements for that are online. Personally I reserve festival for my stronger students, and then send weaker students to weekend competitions. anyway hope that helps, let me know if you have more questions

Hey thank you!! Our first festival is next week and I'm looking forward to it (even if I am worrying a lot about things but that's just a first year teacher thing I think!). I think I'll enjoy it a lot more when I know what's going on so I really appreciate your help!