Universal Ballet Competition

Final

General

Reviewer:

Parent

Dancer Age:

Competition experience:

More than 10

Event Details

Round:

Final

Season:

2024-25

Location:

Orlando FL

Entry affiliation:

School

Rules Easy to Access?

Yes

Did Dancer Miss School?

Attended master classes:

Yes

Master Classes

Master Class Types:

Technique, Contemporary, Variations, Other

Master class teachers:

The various judges

Distance from venue:

Less than five miles away

Received corrections:

Yes

How corrections were given:

Different depending on the instructor

What corrections were about:

They were about dancing and all appropriate.

Anatomical language:

Yes

Correction tone:

Positive, Neutral

Teacher engagement:

Every one of them was extremely engaged.

Crowding:


Really Crowded	Plenty of Room to Move

Master Class Feedback

Technique:

Contemporary:

Variations:

Other:

Additional master class comments:

UBC finals had an extremely full schedule of fantastic master classes. It was a great opportunity.

Performance Details

Venue name:

Phillips Center

Venue description:

This was a beautiful theater with an incredible lobby. This was definitely the nicest theater that we have ever seen used for a competition, but this is our only finals experience.

Stage description:

Marley

Off-stage warm-up space:

I don’t remember.

Dressing rooms:

I am not sure if the males had a separate dressing room.

Parents in dressing rooms:

Yes

Male dressing room:

Yes

Parents backstage:

Onstage warm-up:

Comparable to every other open stage.

Schedule adherence:

Tended to run ahead

Staff communication:

Good

Parent seminar offered:

Yes

Parent Education

Seminar content:

There were multiple seminars that were for both parents and dancers. The two we attended were Q and A with judges and mental health for dancers.

Seminar helpful:

Yes

Why (not) helpful:

They were both great seminars. UBC really tried to provide a well rounded experience for the participants and parents.

Judging

Judging rubric clarity:

Judges' attentiveness:

Yes, all judges were actively watching

Feedback turnaround:

A few days after the competition

Type of Feedback:

Numerical scores, Audio commentary over a performance video

Feedback helpfulness:


Not Helpful At All	Extremely Helpful

Main takeaway:

No coded language and good feedback.

Scoring felt fair:

Yes

Awards & Scholarships

Awards ceremony:

My daughter loved it. They make a compilation video of the dancers experience at finals. The dancers were all screaming and clapping and having a ton of fun. It made the awards more focused on the experience and less about winning.

Won an award or training offer:

Festival offer:

Gala offer:

Final Comments

Best aspect:

The classes were phenomenal. There was very little downtime. When they weren’t at the theater performing for the competition, they filled their time with classes.

Worst aspect:

I don’t like that they give out platinum, high gold, gold, etc, shortly after the dancer is done performing. It can cause dancers to compare and potentially feel bad.

Competition culture:

The teachers are wonderful and encouraging that the prize is in the experience and not in winning. It is a very friendly and uplifting competition.

Attendee culture:

The dancers were fairly happy, except maybe a little bit nervous about getting their medal announced for everyone to hear. So the culture had a bit of a nervous energy amongst the dancers during the time of competition.

Suggested changes:

I would prefer to see the dancers metal remained private, not to be announced for the entire theater and backstage after every individual performs. I also really appreciate that they have an intermediate division, but unfortunately, a lot of dancers who are advanced take advantage of that and enroll in the intermediate division, so they can place. I wish they had better protections against people taking advantage of that, so the intermediate division could truly be for intermediate dancers.

Cost vs. expectation:


Significantly More	Significantly Less

Time worth it:


Not Worth It	Worth Every Minute

Overall rating:

Anything else?

It’s an excellent competition if your dancer doesn’t mind having their metal placement announced. Everything else about the competition is great.