National Ballet Competition

General

Reviewer:

Parent

Dancer Age:

Pre-selection process:

Competition experience:

2-5

Event Details

Round:

Final

Season:

2025-26

Location:

Wilmington, DE

Entry affiliation:

School

Rules Easy to Access?

Yes

Did Dancer Miss School?

Attended master classes:

Yes

Master Classes

Master Class Types:

Technique, Contemporary

Distance from venue:

At the same venue

Received corrections:

Teacher engagement:

There was great energy from the teachers, students all seemed to enjoy

Crowding:


Really Crowded	Plenty of Room to Move

Master Class Feedback

Technique:

Contemporary:

Additional master class comments:

Dance reported they were all quite enjoyable

Performance Details

Venue name:

Grand Opera House in Wilmington, Delaware

Venue description:

Was beautiful. Lobby was big, but lots of vendors set up, so not a ton of room. Plenty of places to hide out down the halls or by the studios

Stage description:

Large Professional Stage

Off-stage warm-up space:

multiple small studios upstairs in the building to warm up

Dressing rooms:

As the parent, I didnt see it

Parents in dressing rooms:

Male dressing room:

Unsure

Parents backstage:

Onstage warm-up:

Her age group was given time on the stage to feel it out, was fairly crowded though

Schedule adherence:

Tended to mostly run on time

Other schedule comments:

Was well organized and smooth

Staff communication:

Competition communicated directly with the school, so I can't comment much

Parent seminar offered:

Judging

Judging rubric clarity:

Judges' attentiveness:

Some of the judges watched and some seemed distracted

Feedback turnaround:

More than a week after the competition

Type of Feedback:

Numerical scores, Brief written feedback

Feedback helpfulness:


Not Helpful At All	Extremely Helpful

Main takeaway:

The written comments were VERY brief, no coded language, just an overall dearth of words.

Scoring felt fair:

Unsure

Why Scoring Unfair?

The competition is scored as a combined score of one classical variation and one contemporary variation. I only answered I didn't know it if was fair because my dancer had a HUGE range of scores

Awards & Scholarships

Awards ceremony:

Started out calm introducing the dancers, but things started to go off the rails because of a very large number of students from one school

Won an award or training offer:

Yes

Festival offer:

Gala offer:

Award or Training Offer Description:

Philadelphia, San Francisco City, Sarasota

Final Comments

Best aspect:

The job fair was a great experience

Worst aspect:

It ended up being an incredibly long day for my dancer

Competition culture:

It seemed to foster a well rounded dancer

Attendee culture:

Aside from a massive flock of student from one school, it was great.

Suggested changes:

I get there are "partner" or favorite schools - but consider limiting the number of students from a single school for a more balanced experience

Cost vs. expectation:


Significantly More	Significantly Less

Time worth it:


Not Worth It	Worth Every Minute

Overall rating:

Anything else?

Everything all in one location was helpful, would recommend