Another dilemma. As I've said before, I teach at a small studio where my girls that dance on our competition team only meet between 3-4 hours a week! COmpared to other studios who get their girls for 20+ hours a week, this is not very much.

When we compete this year, most of the competitions have the reacreatonal and competitive catergory. According to the description my girls should go into the recreational catergory because they only meet 3-4 hours. But would you do it? I want my girls to be challenged. It sounds horrible but I KNOW that they will not place well in the competitive group BUT I really don't want them to just take all firsts in the recreational......what would you do?

Thanks so much!

If the objective is to make them better put them in competitive. If the objective is to have fun, put them in recreational. I have a few groups that are in recreational for different reasons. One is younger & new to competing so I think the recreational will help them.(they auditioned but were not strong enough to make the group but some of them have potnetial)The other group has been competing for a while and are very lazy. I used to take recital dances & this is the last year for that. They expect to go & do not put any effort into it.

I would make the decision by each individual group, my criteria to decide would be:

1) Are there any first time dancers in the group?
2) Have you seen growth in your dancers?
3) What would competing Rec. accomplish?
4) What would competing Comp. accomplish?
5) What's the dancers & their families ultimate goal?

what about for the first few comps, put them in the recreational category, and the last few in competitive? can you change categories this way? this will work as they will get a confidence boost, and then also later in the year a challenge.

I would put them in recreational. If they dance only a few hours a week then this division is for them. Surely there will be other studio's around who dance the same hours as you and have a similar standard.

Everyone seems to view the recreational level as the competition short bus or something. It so isn't! My girls have been competing for four years, and we still always enter the rec level. Why? Because we only practice 3 hours a week. Do I think my girls are talented dancers? Absolutely, 100%! But who do you think will score higher: a group who competes mainly for fun and only meets a few hours a week, or a group that meets 15-20 hours a week? Do the math. You should NOT feel bad about entering your dancers in rec. It's there for a reason...for people just like me and you who aren't ultra-competitive, but still like for our dancers to do well. There's no shame. If they're young, they hopefully won't even notice the difference. They will score well in the level they belong in and feel wonderful about themselves. If they are stuck in competitive too early, they will score low and not understand why. Do yourself and them a favor and put them in rec. Everyone will have a much better time at comp!

Also, I wouldn't worry about them taking all firsts. Most competitions state in their rules that if there is a group that they feel was entered in the wrong category, they will automatically place them where they need to be. If they don't and you end up taking all firsts anyway, good for you! Now it's time to move up to competitive. As stated by someone before, though, there are other studios like yourself who will most likely be there and be at a similar level to your dancers. I do understand your concerns though. I worry about going to new competitions and not knowing exactly what kind of studios will be there, where they will enter their students, etc. It's just a risk you have to take. Do what you know is best.

Thanks that really does make sense! I will be discussing it with my SO

I might be a little late for this one, but I think I saw another one of your posts about the students thinking they are better then they are. If thats the case, I might consider putting them in a competitive category maybe once. Let them see the dancers they are up against and what the other studio's are doing. I'm not saying set them up for failure, however you want them to work hard and improve, so maybe if you place them in the category with dancers that are already at the level you want them to be, it might help.

Side note: If I hadn't just read the other post, I would say put them in the rec. level for the first year. There is nothing wrong with letting students that are new to competition be in the novice level.

Thats part of the reason I was debating it. My older students are the ones with the problem of thinking they are better than they are. It ISNT them being arrogent or anything, it's just the way they have been taught to think everything they do is great. My younger students, are doing it more for fun and really try very hard to correct the things I tell them.

So what I've decided is to put the older girls in competitive and my 12 and unders in recreational. I think that should solve my problem.

Thanks so much everyone!

we charge the same for all classes whether it is the comp choreo class or the technique class. We add up their total hours per week and give them a set price per month. Our tuition is based on a sliding schedule so the more classes you take the cheaper each one becomes - but we dont differentiate on what type of class it is

Seems like you've got some really great advice so far. And I tend to agree with most. Keep them in the rec. level. Nothing wrong with recreational. But hopefully you won't run into what I ran into last year at nationals. Most of my kids are advanced with competition experience and spend at least 5 days a week in the studio. However, I had two young girls (9 & 10) who did a tap, jazz, and ballet duet together who did not have the experience, nor did they spend as many hours in the studio. I'm a rule follower so of course I put in the appropriate category, recreational. But at nationals they were up against these girls who were absolutely AMAZING and were doing triples (CLEAN!) and turns in 2nd (CLEAN!) and all kinds of things that kids who spend 3 hours a week cannot do. I'm not kidding, those girls were fabulous! I was aggrivated because the people running it should have immediately moved them into a competitive category, but they did not. So be prepared for something like that. That just angers me because it's just not fair to the kids who are put up against that, ya know?

But even if you put them in the rec level, make them sit in the audience and watch the higher level so they can see what's out there and hopefully that will push them to want to work even harder for you so they can eventually be placed in that level.

Best of luck to you!!

^^^^ That was another thing under consideration....I've seen rec groups that really are "recreational," and then I've seen the "recreational" dancers who MOST DEF should be competitive.

In the past....I would say my girls are in between the two which is why its hard for me to choose! Eeek! The first comp we are going to doesn't have divisions so we'll see how that goes first! Thanks for the advice!

The reason you will see so many more advanced dancers in a rec division is because of the way many of the competitions have their rec division set up. The requirements for a recreational solo are usually a student who is in their first year(or second) of competing a SOLO. They could be competing with a group for several years, and you will see them in the competitive division in their group routines, but this is the first year they are doing a solo, duo or trio so they are allowed to be in a recreational or novice division. Try the first competition based on the advice you have gotten and see how it goes. You can always change it the second time around.

When I danced at a competive level as a teen we had a company class and choreography for about 6 hours each Saturday and Sunday. Technique classes were held on weeknights. Technique classes were offered each weeknight and we had to take at least 3, but they didn't have to all be at the same studio. The parent company was a non-profit. The students were all intermediate and advanced so no little 3-8yr old cash cow classes on the weekend. 20 years later the same non profit has tons of classes including the little ones, and still turns amazing dancers.