Diamond, Platinum, 5-Stars, Oh My!

Originally published on my Facebook page on March 3, 2019.

When I coached Pop Warner and high school dance, things were so simple. The teams were grouped by ages (for Pop Warner, our 12-15 year-old team were in the Midget division). No large/small/medium, no novice/intermediate/advanced, no tap/jazz/lyrical/acro/modern, just ages. The M.C. announced 3rd, 2nd, and 1st places for overall. That’s it. To boot, there was only one national (in Orlando), so if you won first, you were truly the national champions. Easy to follow, easy to understand, and easy to explain to young kids.

So you can imagine my confusion when I attended my first competition as a parent. The announcement of adjudications, placements, special judges’ awards, Golden Tickets, “overalls,” and all that made my head spin. By the time I realized I should have been writing all of this down, it was far too late. Thankfully, my girls were only in one routine so it was easier to tell how they placed. But the whole 5-star, diamond, platinum, elite, revolutionary, stop-the-clock, critics’ choice, and the myriad other levels they announced absolutely baffled me. And then, my family members were whispering hushed questions to me across the aisle while we sat in the audience, and I had no idea how to answer them.

If you’re an experienced dance parent, please take the newbies under your wing and hold their hands during the awards ceremony. You might even consider creating a visual diagram of the levels that company uses in advance; feel free to quiz them so they’re ready for the big day!

Work hard, have fun! – Danielle

When another mom starts recording your child’s routine, you may want to lose it! Check out It’s Going Down for my story.