I think it's a little different in Canada here,
Generally there's a bronze, silver, gold and high gold.
But either way, i think it's a good idea to not be too easy with some exceptions.

first is when I have groups entered for fun, like my adult classes where its all dance moms who just want to have fun. Most of the time these ladies work their butts off, and always, ALWAYS have massive panic attacks about going on stage. And I really hate it when a judge just nails them, because really they aren't there to be competitive they are they to have fun and experience something new and beat their fears of benig on stage etc.
The other one is younger kids, like 5-6 i feel like it should be easier marking for them...unless the group is just extremely below par.

Otherwise, it's perfect
I hate it when students, including my own don't deserve a gold and get it. I had one specific girl last year who didn't practice her solo at all, and it looked horrible, it was sloppy and just gross and she walked way with a high gold...because the adjudicator was handing out high golds to any beginner dancer... which is not an okay thing to be telling these kids that don't practice at all or try.

I am in Western Australia and in past there has only been 1st 2nd 3rd and Hm. depending on the size of the section depended on the amount of places - ie very large maybe a fourth or fifth but that was way back! There are so many comps now that there aren't as many kids in the sections warrant this .
We had one judge decide that for an advanced section that the girls weren't nearly as strong as they should be, there was 3 places, she ONLY awarded a 2nd trophy as noone was technically good enough to win. That was probably 12 years ago and boy did the parents hate that! It sure was a wake up call for the teachers, it certainly took some courage for the judge to do this.

I've been a teacher/choreography at many a competition for nearly a decade and frankly there are some that I won't return to. One competition in particular comes to mind. I entered my student, a 9 year old ballet dancer in basically the intermediate level, because I wanted her to have a challenge. I even told her going into this competition that I would be happy with a Silver or a High Silver as it was her first year competing at that level. She walked away with a High Gold. As did everyone else who didn't get a platinum.

I was so overwhelming disappointed in the judging that I refused to return. Instead of the High Gold making me happy, it just frustrated me that she wasn't receiving any real critique and the whole point of her doing competitions is for the performance opportunity and for her and me to hear the critique so she can continue to improve her dancing and performing. Yes she got the chance to perform but I got better feedback from a *drill team* competition we went to early in the season just so she could have stage experience with no pressure.

Hand out your bronzes. At least that way if their students need to be rehearsed more or their technique needs improvement then they know where they stand. And really, if the studios who score bronze don't come back then you've just gained a higher class of dancer and if they do come back, hopefully it lit a fire under them and they're determined to grow and learn and improve.

I agree that you should stick it out. The one thing that DOES bug me here in Idaho, however, is that EVERYTHING is judged based on precision. If I take a class of 5-6 year old who do fairly clean singles, ACTUAL flat splits, and so on, even being together pretty well, they always get 3rd. Or the lower gold or whatever because they weren't 100% together. That's all that matters. They always get lower scores than the girls that shake their butts for most of the song (in unison, of course) and do much simpler moves. I refuse to become another studio that values precision over technique, but it is still incredibly frustrating as most of the studios in the area lean more towards precision.

Keep doing what you're doing! I know that myself and my dancers don't want to go to a competition where we know we're going to get platinum every time. I want them to know they have to work hard for that! And if competitions just hand them out left and right then dancers get lazy in my opinion. Not always, but alot. So I say good for you! Do you go to Indianapolis? I'm always looking for new competitions. I know you probably want to not say your comp on here but if you're comfortable sending a message that would be cool!

Best of luck to you!

I personally would also like to see bronze given out, but what really bothers me is the reaction of the audience. Platinum: big applause. Gold: a smattering of less enthusiastic applause. Silver: dead silence. (And the audience are the parents, teachers, and studio owners that are supposedly telling the kids that their scores don't matter.)

Having yourself announced to the world as the lowest scoring contestant is just humiliating. And that's why you see the kids crying. I would not be upset if my daughter's solo received a bronze, if it were told to us privately. I WOULD be upset if it were announced, but that is only because my heart would be breaking because I know how embarrassed she would be.

When you get the lowest grade on a test at school, does the teacher announce it to the class? And can you imagine the uproar if she did? Frankly, I do not understand the insanity that is adjudication. But I also realize, that for whatever the reason, I am in a tiny minority in my opinion.

I do understand what you are saying, and that is why it is so important that the audience does show support for all of the awards. And I can tell you, even though my competition is adjudication, we normally don't announce 1 bronze or 1 silver...there's usually SOME. I can understand your heart going out to your daughter if it was her, but that's also the learning experience. As a teacher ALSO, I have a student that has gotten platinum since she started as a solo and it's really hard to MAINTAIN that platinum EVERY year we go back and choreograph a new dance! I mean, where do you go from the top? I'd rather start low and gradually grow. And that is simply an opinion, but I respect your opinion as a parent. I think teachers have to prepare their students for whatever the competition may bring and also let them know that whatever the score, they will be happy for them! It's a learning experience above all else.

I personally like it when everyone is adjudicated according to a medal scale, and then 1st, 2nd, and 3rd places are handed out.

I don't think you should stop giving out bronze medals...it's not any SO's place to tell you what you should or shouldn't be doing as far as adjudication goes- and if you let them tell you how to run it, you're letting them get one up on you. They're only complaining because they want their kids to win everything, and by actually having FAIR ajudications, not everyone gets to win everything, and many SO's aren't used to that, possibly because they've gone to previous competitions that hand out platinums left and right.

I really think you should tell the SO's to step off, and continue to do the right thing- fair ajudications.

In the past few years, I've gone to two styles of competitions - the ones who give out just the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd places, and one that gives out platinum through bronze.

I find that I appreciate both as a dancer.

The one that gives out the placements give out really awesome, quality awards. And it's a hard competition, so they mean a lot to me.

The one that gives out the platinum-bronze I liked because I was able to see how I did as an individual, not just in comparison to my competition. If there's only 1 or 2 against me, where's the glory in getting first place? When I was younger, I used to get mostly silver. The first time I got a gold, I cried out of happiness. I was PROUD of myself. I feel so few competitive dancers get that way anymore. It's all "this is a joke" if they don't get gold or higher. But some of those same competitions aren't good with the gold. They will give it to those who clearly don't deserve it, which also makes my awards less meaningful. If a person with no technique or stage presence can get a gold, what does that mean for me?!

I personally have never received platinum at a competition - they are rare, rare things for those who do receive them. It would be a day of glory for me if I ever won one.

But I understand where you're coming from. I've heard dancers, parents and TEACHERS from my studio complain about receiving bronze or silver for routines - when the performances clearly earned it! It annoys me so much. And then they're like "it's such a joke to come to this competition."

You're completely right, everyone wants the best all the time. It's horrible.

I could remember watching an awards ceremony online from one of those national competitions and couldn't believe that everyone was getting "gold first place" or "platinum first place"... i thought first could only be awarded to one!?

It's sad. But good luck to you - I have intention on directing my own competition in a few years. You've given me some insight for sure.

I ran my own competition for years, just a local one. I also gave out bronze, honorable mention, etc. A few studios would not come back but others came every year.

Platinum was 2 points short of a perfect score and in all of those years, only 2 people received one.

One year, we gave out one honorable mention, a lot of bronze and silver and two gold. No platinum. We did not do high gold, etc. I think it is stupid actually.

My last two years, I continued with the colors but they only got them as ribbons. Each category had 1st, 2nd, 3rd medals and trophies.

Then I had overall high score for ages and groupings (solo, duo, etc.) and special awards (Greatest Potential for solos ages 12 and under, Overall Excellence for solos age 12 and up, Choreography Award, Top School Award). We also gave out small certificates for special awards.

I only stopped when I stopped owning my school as I am trying to cut back on outside of family things but I intend to start up again, someday, again, just one per year, locally, but I abhor "give 'em all gold" competitions and stopped judging at many that did this. I let them know WHY I would not judge for them either.

Good for you!! I applaud your efforts. Do it the right way and never worry about the ones who do not come. The weaker schools will look for the easy comps. The better schools love tougher competitions because they do not want their hard-working kids scoring the same as a school with sloppy dancers.