So we got the schedule in for our competition in about 2 weeks. There is a serious drop in the amount of people attending! Usually (as in for the last about 10 years), it's so jam packed that there are three stages going nonstop from 7am until midnight on Friday and Saturday and some random things starting around 5 on Thursday. This year, there's only 2 stages. That's a LOT of people to lose...

While we're excited that we have a better shot at winning overall awards... it's still upsetting that our routines aren't actually COMPETING much with other performers in the age divisions/categories.

Has anyone else been experiencing this with their competitions this year? A big drop in participation?

I'm wondering if it's because of the economy... or maybe something happened last year that discouraged participants (I did not attend last year)... or maybe both?

Just kind of surprised!

I have some friends who run competitions, ones I attend and some that I judge for and all have seen a drop in entries. I truly believe the economy has a lot to do with it.

It's going both ways -- some near us in NJ cancelled, like Hall of Fame, Thrive, and KAR, and some actually had to add Thursdays! Headliners did that. Michael Larkin, one of the folks who runs Thrive told me even though he had to cancel NJ, in Syracuce they have almost 1000 entries. Doesn't seem to be much rhyme or reason!

I think alot of it really depends on your location and how hard the downturn in the economy is affecting your area. I'm in Southeastern Michigan where pretty much half of households have someone employed in the auto injustry, which we all know is at its worse. Competitions is definitely one of the things families cut first. Obviously most parents still want their kids to enjoy activities, so cutting out competition instead of stopping dance all together is an easy way to save alot of money. I can tell you alot of families could use that money for a month or two of mortgage payments.

I think you'll find that the hardest hit places are the places that you are more likely to see this type of pattern. Hopefully things will turn back around in the next few years.

We were actualy turned down for a competition this season due too many entries. The competition started on thursday, had 1200 acts and included the best studios in the area which are two of the top 25 rated studios in the nation. We attended this competition last year and it was not nearly that booked. I know why however, becasue they only charge $25.00 a group. Why don't competitions understand that they will recieve more studios if they lower competition costs?

us to in NJ a competition that only charged 25.00 I didnt take my dancers to a comp this year that was over 28.00 to many parents having money issues.

Yes, it is definately hurting. I noticed that Star Power dropped their nationals in Ocean City from 7 days to 5 days. I received an e-mail from another regional competition we entered this year and they were allowing anyone to attend their nationals. You were not required to qualify at a regional event to attend their nationals.

You may see some of the smaller comps decrease their venues next year.

We attended 3 competitions this year...and all of them where scheduled to be 3 day competitions. Two of them cut down too only Saturday and a 1/2 day on Sunday...and the last one was cut down to 1 day. The competitions that we attended are larger competitions adn always are packed. The economy is hurting everyone.

Yet some were insanely overbooked. One near us added a Thursday, which caused us to drop out. Too far to travel to on a school night.