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 Competing
to Compete
By Jennifer Rienert
Make choosing competition teams objective instead of
personal—hold an audition!
Planning for competition season brings a big question—and
sometimes an equally big headache—for school owners: Who will
dance on your competition team? It’s inevitable, but figuring
out the answer doesn’t have to bring on a headache. As
teachers we are constantly defending our decisions on class
assignments, recital parts, when a student is ready to go on
pointe, and so on. Choosing students for your competition
teams is one decision you don’t have to make. Here’s how.
I can still recall, in the beginning years of my roughly
15-year-old competition program, having to decide how the
teams would be chosen. I had talked to numerous studio owners
about their processes and found that most of them took it upon
themselves, with input from their teachers, to decide which
students would be on their teams as well as which dances each
one would perform. But I had a problem with that method, which
required that I explain and justify my choices to parents and
students. I didn’t want to face an onslaught of “Why isn’t my
daughter in that competition group?” or “Why can’t she
have a duo like her friends?”
Dance teachers know that not all parents have an objective
view of their children’s abilities. We also know that not all
students are at the same competitive level and that it is
unfair to lump them all together to keep peace. After racking
my brain to find a way in which the students, not me, would be
in control of their placement, I finally hit on what has been
my proven method for many years—the audition process.
My school has about 50 students ages 7 to 18 who compete in
three age categories. They audition in those age groups as
well: ages 9 and under, 10 to 12, and 13 and up. (Age is
determined by the date of our first competition and not the
audition, which is usually in October.) The students must
comply with the audition dress code (for ladies, a black
leotard and pink tights; for boys, a white T-shirt and black
tights or shorts). Each dancer receives a number and auditions
in the genre they wish to (ballet, pointe, jazz, lyrical, or
tap).
Objective judges are a critical part of the audition process.
I use a panel of four judges, usually other dance teachers and
studio owners as well as accomplished dancers who are not
affiliated with my school and do not know the students very
well. The students are given three combinations in each
discipline and are scored accordingly. When the audition is
over I take the score sheets home and spend careful hours
calculating the winners. My personal preference is to cross
out the high and low scores and add the two remaining scores
together; if there is a tie, I add up all four scores.
I discovered many years ago that even though it works well,
the audition process alone is not enough. I have taken it a
step further by announcing in advance how many team
members I will accept into each group. First, either by
sign-up sheet or verbal acknowledgement, I find out how many
students plan to audition. With that information I can figure
out how many teams to make. For example, if not very many 9-andunder
students are auditioning, I may anticipate that only about 10
dancers in that age group will make the team. Then I announce
to the studio that I will take only 10 dancers into that
company. Since far more teen or senior students typically try
out, I break up these students
into two separate companies. Since I like to work with nine
dancers in creating choreography, the nine highest ballet
scores will become Ballet Company “A” and perform a ballet
piece together. The next 16 high scorers will be Ballet
Company “B.” I repeat the process for the jazz, lyrical, and
tap groups.
To encourage camaraderie among the various companies, I
usually combine them for one large production number. In
addition, I give an incentive to my strongest students by
announcing that those with the five highest ballet and jazz
scores combined will perform a dance together.
By laying out the selection parameters to the students and
parents in advance, I avoid being hounded with questions about
why I didn’t take 10 or 11 dancers instead of only 9 once the
teams are posted. Explaining how the system works—clearly, and
before the audition—eliminates many quest ions
afterward. When the teams are
posted, it is obvious where everybody’s scores fell
based on which teams they made. I also announce the highest
scorer in each genre; sometimes, if the choreography calls for
it, that person might get a stronger role or the center spot
in the dance.
Even with this kind of preparation, there are still
disappointments and tears from those who didn’t make it into a
company at all or didn’t make the company they had hoped to. Many
of them just need words of encouragement and some tips on how
to do a better audition next year. And some
students are ecstatic because they worked hard all year and
were placed in a stronger company than they were in the
previous year.
I make my policies on the subject of solos and duos equally
clear. I believe that students shouldn’t perform a solo or duo
until they’ve reached a certain level in their dancing.
Carrying an entire three minutes onstage takes maturity as
well as ability, and repeatedly receiving negative scores and
low medals can take a toll on students’ self-esteem. Therefore
I clearly state in advance that only the top scorers in
each company will perform solos and duos. That means that out
of about 25 students in the 13-and-up companies, only half
will be allowed solos or duos. That percentage is even smaller
for the younger students. Of course, teachers at other schools
need to look at their own students before the audition and
decide how many solos they will give out. Schools that have
incredibly strong students can give out more solos
confidently, while others should offer only a few spots.
The audition process has helped my school in many ways. First,
the students have the opportunity to participate in a
professional-quality audition experience each year. This has
definitely helped them in other auditions, such as those for
scholarships and college admissions, over the years. Second,
this process takes me completely out of the “choosing”
equation and puts the results solely onto the students. The
only involvement I have in the process is teaching the
combinations in the audition and adding up the scores.
If you’d like to try implementing an audition process at your
school, here are some additional tips.
•
Make sure the judges are qualified and do not know your
students very well.
•
Charge the students a small fee for each discipline they
audition in to cover the cost of gifts for the judges.
•
Allow plenty of time for the audition. You will have to live
with these teams all year, so make sure the process is
thorough.
•
Level the playing field a bit by teaching a few combinations
that you plan to use in your choreography (and the audition)
to all of the classes a few weeks before the audition. This
gives everyone an equal opportunity to practice at home and
master a few steps before the audition. Otherwise, some
talented students might be eliminated because they are unable
to pick up combinations quickly. (Learning choreography very
quickly is not always necessary if students will be working on
competition pieces all year long.)
I have found that in most cases, the placement of the students
who scored well is what I would have done if the decision were
up to me. Occasionally, however, a dancer has an exceptionally
good day and surprises even me. Whatever the results, be ready
to stick to them 100 percent. The audition process cannot be
successful if emotions are allowed to influence the results.
Sometimes teachers need to take an objective view.
Photo Captions:
Students at New Hampshire School of Ballet are divided by age
in auditions for the school’s competition teams. Here, a group
of 10- to 12-year-olds dances before the panel of judges.
All photos courtesy Jennifer Rienert
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