Washington DC Grand Prix

General

Reviewer:

Parent with Dancer Input

Pre-selection process:

Competition experience:

More than 10

Event Details

Round:

Final

Season:

2023-24

Location:

Washington DC

Entry affiliation:

School

Rules Easy to Access?

Yes

Did Dancer Miss School?

Attended master classes:

Yes

Master Classes

Master Class Types:

Technique

Master class teachers:

Xiomara Reyes and Rinat Imaev

Distance from venue:

More than 10 miles away

Received corrections:

Yes

How corrections were given:

Mostly general class corrections with some given to individual dancers.

What corrections were about:

Dancing

Anatomical language:

Yes

Correction tone:

Positive

Teacher engagement:

Seemed engaged and enjoying the class.

Crowding:


Really Crowded	Plenty of Room to Move

Master Class Feedback

Technique:

Additional master class comments:

Not really anything special or standout. Dancer felt like it was a normal competition master class.

Performance Details

Venue name:

A High School in Columbia, MD

Venue description:

A nice HS auditorium with plenty of seating for all.

Stage description:

Marley. Stage was a little small but nothing had to be adjusted or modified

Off-stage warm-up space:

Dancers warmed up in the hallways and backstage area

Dressing rooms:

Unsure

Parents in dressing rooms:

Male dressing room:

Unsure

Parents backstage:

Onstage warm-up:

Parents were not supposed to be backstage according to the competition rules but they still came back and clogged the dressing rooms. Open stage was long, crowded, and disorganized. Some dancers didn't know it was time for open stage and missed it because there was no announcement and the competition was so far off schedule.

Schedule adherence:

Tended to run behind

Other schedule comments:

The lobby opened late, the registration ran late, the competition started late, and then ran later and later the entire day.

Staff communication:

Nothing. Communication was pretty poor and lacking.

Parent seminar offered:

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, Brief written feedback

Feedback helpfulness:


Not Helpful At All	Extremely Helpful

Main takeaway:

Feedback was written on score sheets and was pretty concise with critiques. Literally each judge handwrote comments on a score sheet and then passed it down the table to an assistant after a dancer performed for collection. The next dancer was not called onto the stage until all forms were collected...it was very long and tedious.

Scoring felt fair:

Yes

Awards & Scholarships

Awards ceremony:

The ceremony started almost two hours late and was extremely disorganized. The assistants seemed to not know what to do and there were many mistakes made when announcing awards. They also didn't have enough plaques for winners and promised to mail them later.

Won an award or training offer:

Yes

Festival offer:

Gala offer:

Award or Training Offer Description:

Top 12 in classical and contemporary Scholarship to some local schools

Final Comments

Best aspect:

Its local for us

Worst aspect:

The lack of communication, the sheer disorganization of the competition and award ceremony.

Competition culture:

My dancer enjoyed seeing friends from other schools and performing. There did seem to be favoritism towards several schools.

Attendee culture:

Positive. No drama noticed between parents, teachers, etc.

Suggested changes:

Improve communication tremendously, stay remotely close to the published schedule timing wise, invest in a computer based scoring system, check results prior to awards to avoid making mistakes. (Calling dancers for two different categories) Also maybe have winners of a category sit down after their group instead of remaining onstage the entire ceremony. My heart went out to the handful of kids left in the audience that didn't receive any recognition because all awardees stay on the stage rather than returning to their seats.

Cost vs. expectation:


Significantly More	Significantly Less

Time worth it:


Not Worth It	Worth Every Minute

Overall rating:

Anything else?

If youre not traveling for it, it's worth the time and effort to allow your dancer to perform onstage. Be prepared for spending considerably more time at the venue than expected because of the chronic lateness of the competition