Virtual Dance Competitions

With in-person dance competitions evaporating more quickly than my youth, many dancers are turning to virtual competitions for critiques and adjudication.  Groups, solos, duos, and trios are invited to throw their hats in the ring, and some organizations are even offering prizes (including cash, in some cases) for the dancers’ efforts.  Courtney Ortiz, owner of Impact Dance Adjudicators, provided me with some insight into the virtual dance competition experience. Thanks to Courtney and the IDA staff for these wonderful opportunities!

1.  Where did IDA come up with the idea to host virtual competitions?  Was it suggested by someone internally, or did parents and/or teachers suggest it?

We came up with the idea to host a Virtual Competition because we already have been providing an Online Judge’s Critique service online for the past 4 years. We knew how to achieve critiques online with this previous service, and thought by adding a score and ranking to the mix would be a fun bonus feature! Overall, our mission at IDA is always about training and education, not about the trophy. We have a roster of 150 judges who have been personally vetted and pre-screened to provide high quality critiques in the competitive dance industry. We wanted to create this event to not only help employ our now out of work roster of judges, but to allow them to share their passion and expertise with dancers around the world, all through the power of the internet!  

2.  What can a dancer or instructor expect from the experience?

At IDA’s Virtual Competition, you will receive 3 critiques from experienced, professional, pre-screened IDA Judges. In our solo competition, you will also receive an additional feedback critique, where your judge will start and stop your video to provide even more corrections to help take your dance to the next level. Teachers have the choice to request for a teacher only critique as well. A new addition to the event – contestants may request a genre specific judging panel based on their entered genre of dance, which makes our event extremely personalized! Contestants will receive their score sheet with adjudication,  judge’s critiques and any received special awards back to them within 3-4 business days. Once registration is closed, overall awards and high score winners will be announced on our website. We also host a Top 20 Challenge, where the Top 20 soloists in each age division will re-compete for a new set of judges, to determine their overall rankings and the winners of cash prizes! We offer personalized special awards and sponsored awards at all our events! 

3.  Do virtual competitions offer benefits that traditional ones do not (genre-specific judges matched to each routine, for example)?

No virtual event could ever replace attending and participating in a LIVE in-person dance competition. It just isn’t the same experience. Dancers have already performed this routine. Contestants have the opportunity to re-film their dance multiple times until they are satisfied, or submit a video of their best performance. However, there are a few advantages with virtual events! We can personalize the experience a bit more on our end by offering genre specific judges to provide the highest quality feedback possible. Judges also have the freedom to finish out their final thought before finishing their critique, which is nice when you have just a few more things you want to say! Finally, one of my favorite things about Virtual events is the opportunity to compete alongside dancers from around the world! Our first event had entries from Spain, Ireland and Australia!  It’s so exciting for dancers to compete globally and to be inspired by other styles of dance from around the world.

4.  What is the average turnaround time for critiques?

Our critique turnaround time is 3-4 business days. We want you to receive your feedback as soon as possible! The moment you enter your dance, our judges receive it on their end and start their critiques! Our events have registration open for around 3 weeks, and we don’t want to make you wait til our event has closed to find out your scores or to hear your critiques! 

5.  Are there any changes or adjustments that IDA is planning to make for the next “round” of virtual competition?

One of the biggest things that may make our event different than the rest is that we don’t offer levels. And unfortunately that will not be changing for the next round of our event. We decided to not offer levels, because we wanted it to be a true competition! We will be introducing the option to request a customized judging panel based on your submitted genre, as mentioned above. We also will be announcing the top overall highest score in each genre of dance across all ages. We have a few new features we will be adding to the live stream as well! We are very excited for our next solo event to open, registration launches May 6th!

What questions do you have about virtual dance competitions? If you have done one, what has been your experience?

For a behind-the-scenes look at first LIVE, IN-PERSON dance competition after the COVID closures, read The Greatest Show, Part 1 and Part 2.