Hey there! So I've just recently started taking a modern dance class at my university, and I've fallen madly in love with it! I've been a competitive Irish dancer since I was 11 (I'm now 19) but I've never done any other kind of dance, and Irish is very very different from pretty much everything else. Because competition has always been a HUGE part of my dancing, I'm wondering about modern dance competitions, but I'm having trouble finding anything that really explains how it all works.

How do you start competing? Do you have to be part of a school, or can you do it on your own? (In Irish you have to be taking regular classes from a registered, certified instructor in order to compete.) I've seen a little information on levels and ages, but pretty much nothing on the process of getting started. I haven't been taking classes long, so I'm definitely nowhere near ready to compete yet, but I like to have a specific goal to work for, and competition has always given me a motivating goal.

My other question is, I've heard of some competitions (Starpower, KAR, and a few others) but they seem pretty daunting, and it seems like their lowest level is for dancers who have been competing 1-2 years. What would be a good first-timer, low-pressure competition for a newbie? Or where would I find one?

Modern dance isn't quite as competition driven as Irish dance. There's definitely NOT the same sort of structure as irish dance competitions, and as far as I'm aware there's no central teacher certification boards or anything. A modern dance teacher worth their salt has been studying the form of dance for many years and has most likely performed in companies and with many different directors and choreographers.

Competitions like Starpower and KAR are very jazz oriented, and yes they value lots of technique and lots of tricks.

I don't believe modern or jazz or ballet are quite as competition driven as Irish. A lot of studios do have competition teams, but the structure is VERY different than from Irish. Competitions are run "privately" not through a Jazz Dance or Modern Dance organization. Any teacher can pay to have their team enter the competition, from a seasoned teacher with a studio she's been running for 20 years to a new teacher who's teaching out of a church basement. There also aren't the levels of competition that you have in Irish dancing. There ARE different levels you can compete in, like I know some competitions have a recreational level so that kids that are taking dance recreationally, only a couple hours a week, aren't competing against the kids who take classes a few hours every day, but it's not like you're moved up between levels based on scores. It's what your studio owner decides.

That being said, I do know some competitions allow independent entries, and if you really want to compete I would just start researching different competitions local to you and see if they allow independent entry.

As a dancer who has taken jazz and modern and ballet and only competed a few times, I can say that the motivating factors in these forms of dance for me always came from wanting to reach new heights with my dancing, and knowing what sort of dancer I wanted to look like while performing.

I know that a lot of dancers are motivated by competition, but in this case I urge you to enjoy your classes for what they are and try find some other motivation. If a chance to compete presents itself in the future, then great, but if not I just hope you find something else that makes you feel accomplished and that you enjoyed the dance form.