If you’re a teacher who’s new to competition, I have a mantra for you—relax! I know, you’re worried about your students getting the most they can out of competition—but the most important thing they get doesn’t come from you; they get it simply by being onstage. That’s because every time they step out into those lights they learn something about performing: how they work under pressure, how to think on their feet when something goes wrong, how to stay focused when distractions abound, how to work as an integral part of a group. The performing experience provides valuable information that students, even without benefit of a judge’s critique, can use to improve their next performance.

 

Of course, there is one thing that can make performing or competing even more valuable for students: a wise and thoughtful teacher who can help frame the experience for them, placing what they’ve learned in a context that allows them to draw on it to improve their dancing and performances—and themselves—in the future. Sometimes worried parents question whether the time and expense their children devote to dance will reap future benefits—it’s as if they assume that nothing is to be gained in the present. But the lessons learned through every step of the process, from the dance room to the stage, translate into immediate information that students can use for life. And those lessons appear in the failures as well as the successes. Even the most disappointing stage moments include something that a teacher can frame in a positive light. Perhaps a group gamely finished its performance after the music suddenly stopped in the middle of the dance, or a student didn’t miss a step when a costume fell apart. Teachers who congratulate those students for handling mishaps professionally maximize the competition or performance experience for their students. How they frame it makes all the difference.

 

Often teachers who are novices at competition take the results to heart. It’s important to remember (and for teachers to point out to students and their parents) that judging standards differ from competition to competition. The

same routine performed consistently can, and often does, have a different outcome in the medal standings. The judging staff may be experts, but they’re also human, with personal likes, dislikes, and biases—in other words, there’s a subjective element to competition results. A much better indication of how a student or group is doing is to look at how they fare over a number of performances. The critique of a single judge, heard once during the competition season, is probably not as important as a comment mentioned by multiple judges. Occasionally, however, a perceptive judge zeroes in on something that others have missed. Teachers must trust their instincts about judges’ comments and be honest with themselves. Remember, there is possible truth in all comments.

 

Teachers can benefit as well as students if they use the competition experience to further their instructional agenda. They might use the performances of others as examples to illustrate a point. Or perhaps a judge’s comment helps them drive home a correction they’ve been trying to make for some time. It can be gratifying when a judge reiterates what a teacher has been saying all along. Sometimes the student hears it—gets it—for the first time, simply because it comes from a different source.

 

Another benefit of participating in competitive dance is that the students learn how to compete. Our society is based on competition: As children we compete for the best spot in the school play or on the football team; as adults for a better position or a larger paycheck. Dance, as a profession, is one of the more competitive arenas in life. But even if the students never set foot on a stage again after dance school, the experience of dance competition will have helped prepare them for the other contests of life.

 

So if you’re entering your students in their first competition this season, remember: dance is a performance art, and at competitions, students perform. By affording your students this opportunity, you’re helping them learn and grow. Simply put, competition is education!

 

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