COMPETITION DETAIL

If I could leave 0 stars I would. This was a terrible competition. They were very disorganized, the staff was incredibly rude, and so were the other dancers, teachers, and parents. Normally I love taking my dancers to competition. I grew up going to starbound and loved it so I was excited to take my girls to it. I am used to comps running slightly early as that is a normal thing to happen, however this comp ran over an hour early and didn’t let anyone know when they checked in. Usually they let you know if they are running early and they try to get back on track but that did NOT happen. When it came time for my girls to perform the staff came into the dressing room demanding the girls get back stage to check in, (mind you we had no clue they were running that early and we had shown up 2 hours early) when we checked in the staff backstage was incredibly rude to both my girls and myself. I understand that comp is a stressful situation but the way they were acting was uncalled for. The second day they made of of my girls cry backstage by their comments and actions. With that being said when it came time for my other soloist to go on we went back early just in case. I talked to the stagehand who was checking performers in more than 6 times while we were back there as he kept coming up to us to “check us in” when in fact he didn’t. We waited there for 45 minutes when I finally asked him if my dancer was still set to perform. He said he never checked her in and that they had been looking for her. We had been there the whole time and “check in” 4 times. They favor the studios that pay the most money and have the most dances registered. I highly do not recommend this competition to anyone. “Number one in the US” I don’t think so.

If I could rate 0 stars, I would. This was by far the worst competition I have ever been too. It was an absolute joke. From being out of order all weekend, equipment malfunctions, and score changing . . . THE WORST. DO BETTER STARBOUND!

Sadly, I normally would write a great review on my child's dance competition weekend, but this truly had to be the worst I've been to. Don't waste your money with this place! All they care about are the dancers that are in the top studios. Of course that equates to the most money taken in. There were so many entries and you felt so rushed. So many parents, backstage and random people. It was very awkward. Anybody could have been lurking around. I found that very unsettling and unsafe. The judges were bias in my opinion and I felt a couple of them had no more experience than I did in judging a dance competition in certain categories. It was plainly obvious all the favoritism going on. And speaking to some other parents that I had just met they felt the same way. Girls were not winning on their talent. It was on who their dance company etc was. Many mistakes were made and judges turn their heads and girls still took first place. We will not be back either. The kids need to be based on their talent. Starbound has been the worst by far dance competition that we were a part of.

DON'T DO IT!!! The judges are AWFUL! The dancer who belonged to the top studio with the most entries that won title FELL hard to the floor and she still won! The Dance Mom judge was a joke to say the least. The judges were eating half the show and cheering for certain dancers from the big studios. This show was literally a glorified circus...total joke. We will NEVER be back.

We should have read the reviews prior to registering this year. The show felt rushed and very commercialized. Several people, even a professional dancer agreed that the judging was inconsistent to say the least. Overall, the show was a big, rushed blur that left many of us scratching our heads as we left the auditorium.

Conflict of interest. Dancer who won 1st overall Elite Super Senior soloist: one judge is listed on a studio website as instructor at the winner's studio. This judge presented his studio's dancer with the overall awards. Judge has been with competition many years. So has dancer. Dancer has won top three places at the same event (taking 1st, 2nd and third in one division at the same event) and has also been their "new face" cover person for at least two non-consecutive years. Edited to add: Less than 24 hours later, the same dancer was crowned with a title. Dancer is a great dancer but so are others. Crowning your own dancer as winner of everything just smells rotten.

We went last year and they were great so we decided to come again. Big mistake. Kids that had been competing for years were allowed to compete in novice and take all top awards, even after it was pointed out. Routines that were perfect scored less than (not my studio and I was quite shocked they didn’t win) while other routines with technique all over the place were scoring higher. We had little to no talking on our critiques. I also watched a judge on their phone during the whole duet performance. What a waste of money and how discouraging for our dancers.

We just recently attended Starbound & it was a GREAT experience. Our dancers had such a awesome time & the staff made them feel welcome & didn’t rush them during quick changes. The staff were super friendly & made the weekend so much fun. The awards ceremony was exciting & made all studios feel included & especially acknowledged all graduating Seniors who had a special moment on stage together. The judges were fully engaged & gave helpful critiques during each performance. Thank you Starbound for a great event, we’ll definitely return to your competition!

We have done Starbound since 2018 and have always loved it , but this we were extremely dissatisfied. The judging was very off in comparison to previous years. Elite golds going to dances with little content, dancers who could barely execute turns, no pointed toes, and technical issues, while other dances that were technically sound were receiving high golds. They favor tap and boys as evident that the same two tappers get first and scholarships every single year, and still competing in the lower level. Also can tell very blatant favoritism towards one certain studio. The critiques were awful as they didn’t have much to say and didn’t even really seem to know much of what they were talking about. We typically love this competition but our studio will be taking a break from it next year. Also wish they did a scoring breakdown (so many points each for technique, performance, choreography) instead of just a general overall score because I feel like that’s where unfair judging comes into play since they aren’t really taking off points for anything in particular. Hopefully this season was just a fluke!

The judging favored one style of dance over all others. He liked tap so tap placed no matter the performance quality. Also, preferential treatment was given to a boy dancer even though they were remotely not as talented as the girls. And the Top 10 was taken up by the same soloists who entered 3 or more solos!! Seriously? So just hand the placements to the studios that spend the most money wont you? I truly hope the judges/organizers read these reviews.

ABSOLUTELY AWFUL. Horrible horrible horrible. This competition was literally a huge mess, no one even knew what time they were supposed to go on. So so many awful things. I do not recommend at all

As an experienced comp mom of multiple elite dancers over the past 15 years, I cannot fathom the experience of Starbound this season. They have always been all over the place in judging, but our latest experience solidifies our studio's decision to never attend again. I have always read that there is favoritism toward specific studios from their staff & judges, but finally witnessed it full-out without question. I was skeptical going in when I noticed that several of the studios appearing during the weekend were listed as SB's "top studios" in their cruise contest on instagram – clearly noting who has been putting in the money all season already in a big way. But most notably, there were many numbers awarded the highest overalls in every category that literally had no regard for feet, choreo, technique or showmanship. We witnessed dancers literally fall to the ground, fall out of turns, and not showing sound technique, announced as winners against numbers that were beautifully performed and with greater difficulty and choreo. I have never seen such partisan unbalanced judging. And to top it off it was overbooked as usual.

This competition plays studio favorites more than I’ve ever seen. The kids who attend know it too, which is so sad. The starbound staff is so rude to the kids, except for the ones from the biggest studio, they hug them and shower them with compliments. The judges ‘critiqes’ we’re a JOKE. One judge didn’t say a single word during any of the dances (we came with over 30) and was chewing the ENTIRE TIME FOR ALL 30 DANCES. All of the awards went to the biggest studio, and they knew it too. So sad, DO NOT GO HERE if you want a good and fair chance, because you won’t get it.

I am so incredibly disappointed in this competition. I brought my studio here, after taking a few years away from starbound, and I remembered every reason why we stopped coming here. The backstage staff was pushy and rude. They made the schedule complicated, and then were rude when my kids - who they put in back to back routines - weren’t ready in time. On top of the fact that we heard judges telling another studio they were a favorite, the judging was incredibly inconsistent and puzzling. Certain studios - the favorites - racked up every award with incredible scores, while other studios didn’t fare as well. The awards ceremony was complicated and confusing. Why were large groups and small groups given overall awards together? Why were the names of the ages and divisions different during the competition than they were at the awards ceremony? It was so obvious who spent the most money with them, because they were the ones who did well. They like a specific style and type of dancer, and that’s it. I expected consistency, professionalism, and a fun weekend for my dancers, and this couldn’t have been further from that. They need to reevaluate their priorities. Good dancing is good dancing regardless of what studio you’re from.

Competitions like this are the reason studios don’t go to competitions. It is a classic case of favoring studios that they have long withstanding relationships. The judging and scoring was BEYOND warped — I have no idea how some of my own dances got higher scores than others, let alone other studios’ dances. The judges undoubtedly picked favorites from the beginning, and favored the same basic dances without factoring in performance, pointed toes, or choreography. I’ve never been so confused as to what the judges were seeing in my entire life. One of my dance moms heard a staff member tell another studio “oh you guys are my favorite,” and they responded with a “shh- you can’t say that out loud.” COME ON. I have amazing relationships with other competitions and we are ALWAYS judged fairly. Completely unprofessional and stealing money from studios that aren’t “their favorites.” I will never return to this competition again. Seriously a waste of time.

Terrible! We will never return. Judges had their favorites from the beginning regardless of talent. Staff was extremely rude to our dancers the whole competition. Lots of disrespect for no reason. Also, very unorganized, dressing rooms were locked once doors opened in the morning and it took 20 minutes to get them opened. Schedule was all over the place. Worst comp I've been to in all my years. Not sure how they are in business.

I saw so many good reviews about this competition but honestly have nothing good to say about it. The judging was 100% based on who spent the most money. The dancing didn't even matter to them! I'd give it 0 stars if I could.

My kids love Starbound Competition. Staff is always so nice. Very well ran and always on time.

This competition is a small one for dancers, but with that being said it is a great one also because it gets our kids a way to learn from other dance studios and help all the small studios get their confidence up on stage. we love going here for the small atmosphere. the judging to be very fair and honest with each studio.

New favorite! This competition has fair judging, does not favor the larger studios and is fantastic with communication . All the staff from backstage to director are personable and helpful. Can't wait until next season to bring my dancers back!

We had a blast at Starbound this year!!!! Staff is very friendly. Event ran smoothly. Fair judging. Love the special awards. Can't wait for next season!

Good competition! It was nicely run, witha friendly staff!

Regionals was overbooked. Nationals was scheduled better and nicely run.

Not our favorite, but not the worst either. Nobody comes to this one in our area so kids are bored. Wished studio owner would drop it. Dance numbers are not listed in order so you may have to buy a program. Judging is fair. ++++++++++++++++EDIT TO ADD AFTER ATTENDING ANOTHER++++++++++++++ Still not a favorite. Another small competition yet again. Backstage was rude. Dances were all out of order from the start. Routine numbers are still listed in random so hard to follow. I guess judging was ok. Judges weren't even looking up most of the time so I'm not sure who was judging and adjudicating routines, but overall placements made sense so... ? Scoring is over the top, too many above 290 and special awards were given randomly to the beginner dancers only. Starbound may be the easiest competition to score great adjudications if that's what you're looking for. I hope we don't come back, but our dance director seems to enjoy torturing us with a repeat of comps we dislike so we will probably be back. Skip it if you have a choice.

WE really enjoyed this competition. The staff seemed friendly and the event ran smoothly and on time. Love the smaller age brackets for solos, however we got a little confused for the groups/duos/trios because while it lists the same breakdowns, they lumped together for overalls. For instance, our junior small group was listed in the 11/12 category, but they lumped 9-12 all together for the overalls, but now we know for next year. The awards ceremony was fun. Love the special awards, scholarships they give out. It is so nice t=for the dancers to be recognized for something other than their score/placing. Loved how they announced scores on stage for the top 10, however there were 2 different emcees and 1 did it, but the other did not, so wish it would be more consistent. Loved how it is a continuous running event. The one thing that threw me a little is that I felt they were handing out scores in the 290s like they were candy! An 8 and under beginner should NEVER have the highest score of the event.almost a perfect score! To me that is almost saying that he has nothing left to improve on. I watched the routine, he was cute and it was good, but not even close to the score he received. WOuld love to see it be a bit more realistic. Overall, though, we loved this event and look forward to attending next year. The venue is ok, really not a huge fan of Highline. Would love it if comps would look more towards Sumner/Auburn/Tacoma Convention Center

Judges have long standing favorites. Dancers come away believing it's not about hard work, talent or technique, but instead about how much money you throw at someone and how much you suck up. Have heard one event host verbally insulting other competitions, all while on stage, directed to the audience during awards ceremonies. Not the lessons we want to give our dancers.

I was very disappointed with this dance competition. It was very unorganized. We had quick changes that they did not schedule well for and then hounded us to hurry up when we were behind. We NEVER received our judges critics. We called and emailed several times with no response. We will never go back to this competition.

The judges actually watched our performance this time, which was great! Backstage was really disorganized though, especially for group dancers. All the dancers in group dances had to wait outside in the dark when it was 40 degrees (which made warming up completely impossible) and the staff wouldn't even let the dancers go back to the dressing rooms to get a jacket. The venue is also really dirty (it's the theatre of a high school).

We have been attending Starbound for two years now. Of course I can only speak from our experiences, however I am shocked to read some of these reviews. We are a small studio relative to many of the studios that attended the regionals and nationals. We have always had great experience with the staff, most importantly the back stage crew. The events that we have attended have been sold out and very busy but that is how we like it. 30-40 studios at Nationals, big studios. We want to compete against the best the east coast has to offer. Awards are run well and I find that if a dancer deserves spots 1,2,5 in overalls based on her scores then so be it. We have attended many competitions where they spread the awards around in an attempt to please all studios. I would rather not have that. If you beat me then you beat me, not looking for charity. Also, the three levels of competition that are offered allow us to bring new competitive students in to compete in the intermediate category against same skilled opponents. I can not say enough good things about this competition and the staff. Every single event we have attended has been run well, very busy, and extremely professional.

Review has been banned.

Oh where to start with starbound... ill just say mever attend a "free" competition no matter who you tjink your dancers are going against...its free because it is a show for tv filming and not a real competition...because of that my dancers and moms will never trist them

Venue- high school, no concessions available Judging- fair and consistent timing - ran very ahead. very large period of dancing for awards. approx. 8 hours of routines went into ONE awards session for Juniors, teens, seniors, super seniors. these could and SHOULD be separated. awards- one per routine, pins for each dancer, one overall medal per duet/trio routine. Trophies plastic, cheap looking, didn't specify what award you got - every trophy was exactly the same. disappointing experience all around. would prefer not to attend this comp as a studio in the future.

Minneapolis 2017- ran very ahead. They announced before anyone took the stage that by the end of the day the would be 2 hours ahead. This signals poor planning. Running that far ahead is worse, in my opinion, than running behind. The only reason to be that far off in time estimates is if an entire studio drops out of the comp - this was not the case at our comp. Numbers assigned to dances were hard to understand. Hard to follow in the program during awards when the dances aren't in numerical order. Would prefer to have studios listed in program as well. The venue - a high school - absolutely no concessions of any kind were offered. Poor decision on someone's part, a missed fundraising opportunity. Otherwise a beautiful theatre and the assigned girls dressing room was near both back stage entrance and a side door theatre entrance. Judging: Judges comments were constructive and actionable. I really enjoyed watching the judges when they got into the routines and practically danced along. As it is now, it was a nice dress rehearsal type competition for solos to take the stage before we get to our all studio comps in March, April, and May.

There was no idea of the order of dances prior to the mintue you step in. Only thing you have close to an order is a super vague time that is quite off. Ran too early, and let dancers hold numbers for silly reasons.

Competition is okay. Our studio attends every year. I really hope that staff reads these comments and attempts to make some changes, as it does have the ability to be a great competition. Please, stop catering to the mega studios.....it really feels like Starbound favors the studios that being the most dancers/spend the most money.

starbound is one of our favorites great awards and judging!!!!

My girls had the most amazing time last year at Starbound. Things were very smooth. Time was very effective and on schedule. It was overall a great comp.

My daughter has attended this comp many times over the years. Always a good atmosphere, locations are good and staff has been professional. As with most competitions this size that we have been to, could use more space in the changing areas.

I hate Starbound. And judging from the lack of entries every year at Regionals, lots of studios hate them too. Because of this, we are usually stuck competing against maybe 5 other studios at Regionals. Which is the reason our girls are rushed on stage. Because there are so few entries, we are pretty much competing against ourselves. We actually had to beg the judges for a break between dances because the girls were exhausted from dancing back to back routines. The only good part was that we pretty much swept because it was only our Elite studio and some Novice studios. But the girls arent challenged by competing against ourselves. In the past, I\'ve watched the judges texting and eating while the kids danced. They write the scores during the first 30 seconds and then stop paying attention. We view Starbound as a dress rehearsal for the March and April competitions.

This review is for their Nationals held in Orlando July 25 - 28, 2016. Their staff is beyond rude, threatening to pull numbers if dancers can\'t get changed and back on stage in an unreasonable amount of time (1 number), while other studios are sitting around. Running dancers so hard they collapse from exhaustion because they weren\'t given a second to rest, while entire studios were taking food breaks. And seriously who turns the lights off in the dressing room as punishment? Talk about a safety issue. The boys dressing room was on another floor practically on the other side of the venue, yet they brag about how security is their priority. One of the backstage \"ladies\" was yelling at the dancers to shut up and also told one of our prop dad\'s \"you have two choices, I can escort you out for talking or I can duct tape your mouth shut.\" Oh and btw making derogatory comments about where schools are from \"of course the New Yorkers are here shooting off guns\" is never acceptable for any business, last I checked we paid YOU to be there. Treat your customers with respect and they bring their business back, treat them poorly and lose their business. I gave 2 stars because up until Senior showcase, I agreed with their scoring. However, their whole backstage crew should be fired.

Enjoyed it. Our event ran on time (a little early).

This was a small competition but it was very professional and very well run. They kept the awards exciting and had varying levels for the dancers based on their experience. I also enjoyed the they had more categories other than just dancing.

THe judging conpletely dumbfounded me. Basic dances with poor technique placed high, dances with boys in them placed high, and dances that had received platinums and overall placements of 1st to 4th in every previous competition of the season were dropped about 30 points to Gold in this one for no apparent reason. Saw this several times. Feedback was almost nil ( Good. Good. Faces. Faces was about the extent of it) and the video quality was so poor it was hard for the dancers to see how they looked. I saw two of the judges actually stand up and clap over their heads for two dances while I was there. How unprofessional. Judges are expected to behave with impartiality. THe rest of the staff were great and the comp ran on time, but clearly at least one female judge had no clue whatsoever. NOthing in her bio indicates that she knows much about dance and it showed. We won\'t waste our time there next year.

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Had a great weekend in Atlantic City. Entry numbers were confusing to say the least. I wish that they would place them in order of performance rather than having a bunch of random 3 digit numbers, this was the only problem that I found with the competition though. Competition was one day long but the talent and judging was still of a very high calibur. Our studio had a number of mishaps and the backstage staff was absolutely incredible and had no problem helping with anything and everything. Trophies were probably the nicest I have ever seen at a competition. The directors are doing a fantastic job, would go back again and again.

I would have given this competition five stars if it hadn\'t been for the staff. I just competed at this competition over the weekend and found the staff members to be very rude. It was after my last dance, late at night, I had to use the bathroom and change but the clean up lady wouldn\'t let me, so I started to walk to the dressing room, I was calm and not rude at all, than a lady in a red dress says to me from her seat \"We don\'t use bathrooms as changing stations\" she said it in such a nasty voice and the comment was completely unnecessary as I was going to the dressing room like the other woman had asked me to. I like this competition, but this experience made me never want to go again.

I have been to many competitions and this by far was the best one this season! Judging was very fair and seemed spot on. The judges were amazing! The best ever. They were attentive, animated and you can tell they love what they are doing. They danced along to all the music, smiled at the dancers and even clapped for them when they were done dancing. It was so refreshing and exciting to be a competition that was so positive and encouraging for the dancers. They did not over schedule like recents comps we went too. The times were perfect! The staff were so friendly and nice!! Thank you Starbound for an amazing weekend!!

Did this competition as an extra one this year (Burien, WA April 2016) so my daughter could compete her solo and duo and extra time. Competition was on time if not early, the judges were very enthusiastic and gave great comments. The gentleman MCing was great we all got a kick out of him! Our team did this one as well 2 years ago, and it was just as great for us then!

How can one soloist place 3 times in top 5?? Get better please

Terrible experience for dancers, parents and teachers! Scheduling was a nightmare, staff was rude and unprofessional. Not enough dressing space. Disorganized! Avoid at all costs!!!!

This was a great competition- great energy, moved quickly, and they even had an app with a live feed of what numbers they were on, when awards were, what time awards would start, restaurants in the area, etc. I have to shout out one specific worker at this comp though. I unfortunately never got her name, but she was the runner to make sure al the kids were lined up for their scheduled performance time. All of our numbers happened to be spaced together between 2 and 3 numbers apart, so t was a mad rush after each dance. This woman stayed calm and helped us through the rush all while making friends with all our little dancers and learning their names, trying to keep them calm even though it was a highly stressful 2 minutes. I truly feel like this worker kept our sanity!! Only thing Ihave to comment negatively on is that the MC for our event spent probably about 20 minutes playing an audience interactive scavenger hunt with a few select dancers onstage. While this might be fun for the few dancers that were chosen, it wasn\'t really needed, and I felt like if you needed to tabulate scores or prep the stage, at least tell us before hand and not make us wait in the audience for longer than we have to. Other than that, great comp. (The fantastic worker had victory rolls in her hair, probably about 5\'5, and was often running from stage to dressing room calling for numbers to line up. If you get her name, please let me know!)

Did not enjoy this competition last year but thought I would give it another try. Same outcome. Scores were terrible because they consist of a number circled by the judge. No break down of scores at all. Also they only place teams that had lots of numbers, if you are from a small studio don\'t plan to attend. I usually am glad when a comp runs early, but this one was 3 hours early because they printed the schedule wrong and if our studio hadn\'t had someone there in the morning session we would have totally missed the competition. They didn\'t send out anything to let us know it was ahead. Will not be attending this competition again.

This was our first year attending this competition. I brought my level one dancers. Everyone was super friendly. They accommodated dancers with quick changes without going off schedule. The judges were awesome! Since my dancers are young and beginner lever, sometimes we don\'t get detailed critiques. Thank you for treating my dancers the same as an elite level. Critiques were positive but very accurate as to what they needed work on. We will be returning next year!

Love it, they make title contestants feel really special and recommend going for title if you are a strong soloist...only a few things that could be better: at regionals there should be an overall high score award for top scoring number of the whole comp (or maybe a top studio award?) to help decide who was truly the best that weekend and also alotttt of elite high golds given out, I think the judges should score tougher because a 290+ should be a little harder to reach. But I always have so much fun and will probably bring my solos to nationals!

This, by far, is one of my favorite regional aND National competition. Somehow they always seem to run on or close to schedule. In my case, ahead of schedule. The judges are always energetic and positive in their critiques. My daughter and her friends always seem to make new friends while at this competition which is always a plus and my favorite is that you can pre-qualify at Nationals with another routine and compete it again for a National placement!

Always an enjoyable competition. I have competed with the several times enjoying each one more than the last. I would love to compete with them again. It is a wonderful experience and great time.

This competition did not run on time and was not organized as well as others I have been to.

Not that organized. Awards are cheap. Judges not helpful, not consistant.

Been competing at this for years. Great competition very organizated. The staff is great. The Judges are always on point

Don\'t know if it was just the competition we attended, but it ran over an hour and a half EARLY. We felt very rushed and didn\'t dare leave the venue in fear of missing of awards (we had teammates that did miss awards). Found out that we didn\'t have to worry about missing awards because they went on forever. Seemed like the same dancers won everything. The judging comments were a little harsh in my opinion.

:)

Our dance studio attends Starbound yearly for regionals. This venue did not have a photographer or videographer this year. Not sure why, but it was disappointing. Other than that, a good competition.

Wonderful, helpful staff. Rin very well

I don\'t like to give a negative review, but the last 2 years we have had very negative experiences at Starbound. The backstage crew was disorganized, and they went from running an hour ahead to 2 hours behind! They also are extremely hard to get a hold of on the phone or via e-mail. We tried to pay for Nationals and called before the due date but didn\'t get a response until after. We were told they wouldn\'t charge us a late fee, but they did! We called and e-mailed several times after that to try to get a credit, but got no response!

Always enjoy this competition as our studio does it as a whole. We love how they treat the dancers and find it a very fair comp! The judging is generally consistent and fair! The staff is always very friendly and make the time we spend there enjoyable for both the dancers and parents! Would recommend this competition to any studio no matter size or skill level.

Just returned from Nationals in Atlantic City. Competition ran very smoothly, but small studios have no shot at awards. Cater to the large studios spending money. Age groups are too broad...9 year olds competing against 12 year olds is ridiculous, especially at the competitive level. Not interested in attending this again.

We typically enjoy this comp but felt this last time the judging was off. I really do not care to hear how pretty the dancer is or costume. Need more feedback on dance and technique.

Competition\'s judging is way off. Only studios who spend a lot of money there do well.

Should not allow same person to place 1st 2nd and 4th. Awards seem to go to studio with the most dancers there

We just recently attended a Starbound competition in Rochester and we loved it! It was fun, energetic and judging seemed very fair and appropriate!! Staff was friendly and so accommodating. The only downside was they lumped all 13 and older duet/ trios together. My daughter is 12, but her duet partner is 13. Since Starbound rounds up, they had to compete in the teen level. Her duet was against 19 yr olds. That I didn\'t think was very fair. Otherwise it was a fun and good competition.

This was our teams 3rd competition ever. As a small studio we didn\'t expect much from what the reviews said on here about how they cater to bigger studios. We went and were completely impressed with how it went! It is definitely a competition that we would like to return to! As far as the awards, they weren\'t as organized as they could have been, but even still they were not terrible! They just did it in a different way than we have ever experienced! The backstage staff were amazing as well as the other workers that were there! We fell in love with this competition and had so much fun! I would definitely recommend this competition to go to! The only thing i have to complain about were the awards but they were still enjoyable! Also, we had read on this site that they ran very late but they were early everyday! This was an amazing competition that definitely is worth checking out!

Combined small and large groups for overalls and combined teen and senior duets/trios into one category for overalls.

We love Starbound. The judges are fair and useful in their critiques! Comp ran a bit off kilter, but the feedback was well worth it. :)

Let me first say that I try to be very open-minded, tolerant, and understanding when developing an opinion of a competition, because as a studio director, I know first-hand that you can never please everyone. With that being said, I\'ll skim through the minor annoyances and get right to the deal-breaker. The schedule was incredibly unorganized, stage was the smallest I\'ve ever seen, all small and large groups were combined for overalls, very few awards were given, some divisions had top 1, others top 5, but it wasn\'t very reflective of the number of entries, it was very \"fly by the seat of your pants.\" I honestly would\'ve overlooked most of these things and still given Starbound a decent review. However despite scoring very well, the deal breaker was when I saw the scoresheets and realized just \"how\" the routines were judged. The scoresheets looked like something you would see at an after-school talent show, not a legitimate dance competition. There was no rubric, you did not receive points for technique, stage presence, costume, choreography, etc. Instead, the judges basically watched your dance, and circled a number 83-100 and that was your score. How is a professional judge supposed to pick one number to sum up an entire dance? As you can imagine, this would lead to LOTS of ties because you\'re just picking whole numbers. How did they break them? Well all of our routines that placed in the overalls had random decimals added to them (clearly added after the fact, sometimes in different handwriting). Where did these decimals come from? There was no point values assigned to any particular aspect of our dances, and only our dances that were in the overall high scores had them. So all I can conclude is that when there were ties for overall high scores, they broke them by just randomly adding decimal points to the original scores. I am appalled at the level of unprofessionalism displayed, and despite doing well at this competition, my team will never return.

By far the worst competition we have attended. As a smaller studio, we certainly went unnoticed against bigger studios. The winning routines seemed to be the ones with the least clothing on the children. We saw one young girl gyrating on stage in a judge\'s face, and he stood up to enjoy it. Not the environment we are looking for as a studio. We went once and would never return.

I don\'t know if it was availability of the venue or what, but it was exhausting for the dancers to cram everything into 1 day and a few late hours on Saturday night. The schedule also didn\'t run as expected, making things very confusing for the parents. But I also understand because the schedule that was created didn\'t allow time for the dancers to change in between numbers. Our studio has been coming to this competition consistently but this was the first year where the scoring was very inconsistent.

One awards ceremony was an hour and 15 minutes early and then the next was an hour late. Awards take forever. I don\'t like how they combine small groups and large groups for overalls. They also combined all duets ages 13-19 for overalls. They were very inconsistent with how many overall places they gave. There were 6 entries and they gave top 5. There were 20 and they gave top 10 and then there were 23 and they only gave top 5 or there were 8 and they gave top 3???? Either do top 10 or Top 5 for everything and do separate overalls. Large groups and small groups should not be lumped together. There were also several people videoing in the auditorium and behind the stage. After one warning they should be kicked out or disqualified. One of the parents heard a director telling another studio what levels to put their kids in to ensure they would place higher. They do not follow their own rules. The program stated top 10 competitive groups and they only gave top 5. We swear we saw the same girl compete her solo in 2 different levels. Not sure we will attend this competition again.

Overall this competition was good, and I believe that the judging was fair. The biggest problem was that the competition ran very LATE! They attempted to squeeze too many numbers into one day of competition. In my opinion it should have been separated into two days. We were there for more than 14 hours. My other complaint is that although each dance was assigned a number, the number did not correspond to any order of performance. It was confusing to say the least.

This was the worst competition I have ever been to. Competition began at 8:00 a.m. and was not over until after 12:30 a.m. We were assigned numbers and they didn\'t go in numerical order. They also jumped around in the schedule so much that you were afraid to leave the venue to feed your dancers. Venue did not allow food or drink in the building at all, but did not have a full food concession stand. Only candy, chips, and drinks (which were so over priced it was ridiculous!) Dressing rooms: not enough rooms for the number of people there and were first come first serve. Venue managers would yell at people dressing in the halls but there was no other place to dress. I am not a dance teacher so I can not talk about judging, but I can say that some of the highest scoring dances were way to sexy for the age of the girls dancing. I know that our studio will never return to a Starbound event. Hopefully, if they continue in New Orleans, they will find a better venue and I highly recommend they research scheduling applications and adopt a more organized way of scheduling their programs.

GREAT COMP FOR SR BUT MINIS ONLY HAD TOP 3 OVERALL

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Good competition. Nice staff. There wasnt anything extra exciting about it. Good intermediate competition.

Attended Starbound at two different locations. Both competitions small. Would love separate dressing spaces. Each time had to share with multiple studios. Would love for them to do more than the top placing duet/trio. Top 3 would have been nice at the minimum. Overall a good experience.

The backstage staff was very polite and kid-friendly, except for one of the ladies. She rushed my dance coach when we had back-to-back numbers. The vendor was beautiful, but the space for a dressing room was not enough for the amount of people who attended. What was weird though, was placing. I had 2 solos, and only the higher scoring one placed. They both received High Gold and were .5 points separated. That would\'ve meant that my ballet solo should\'ve gotten 5th overall and jazz still would\'ve taken 4th. Awards were fun! Favoritism was shown, but all judges paid attention!

As a dance dad, I normally keep my mouth shut, but I have to say that I truly enjoyed this competition. I have friends in other states, who have kids that dance and they told me about this competition. One big plus, the judging panel actually watches the kids dance and have energy and excitement on their faces. My daughter could not stop talking about how the judges were smiling at her. The scoring is fair and the staff was very professional and friendly to all the dancers. I would love to see them award Best Technique, Entertainment, Showmanship and Costume. Because studios are paying to attend the competition...things like those types of awards keep us coming back. I heard that one of the judges was pretty much dancing in his seat for EVERY routine.....who does that?? Now that is FULL SUPPORT of every dancer!! We will keep coming back every year!!

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This was a fairly small comp. Not bad though, other than they ran about an hour and a half ahead. We don\'t mind running ahead, but they were skipping through the program, due to kids not being ready. The judges critiques were ok. We met the owners and they were very nice. Overall, due to the small size of the entire comp(only about 4-5 studios), we would probably skip this one next year.

Everything from the venue to the \"stage\" was horrible! We were in a ball room with a piece of parkay flooring and 3 strips of Marley running across it. No side curtains or even a real backstage. Dressing area was tiny, no air and no room. Comp ran early which was great but never ran in order due to scheduling dances back to back or with 1 dance to change. Did not like the way everything was lumped together (no real teen division, small groups and large groups in the over alls together) and didn\'t understand why they had levels when productions and lines were all together in the overalls. It\'s no shock that the top 3 were all elite studios. Made for some very frustrated dancers. If you are going to offer levels then have levels and don\'t put them together for the overalls. All in all not a comp I want to attend again.

My daughter\'s studio has competed at Starbound for the past two years. We have always had a pleasant experience and felt the judging was beyond fair. We will be back again in a few months.

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Very fair, but no too challenging

Done Starbound several times and we\'ve had a great experience. We\'ve found the scoring to be on par with the others theoughout the year. They do a nice job at nationals making the final showcase feel very much like an event and you can access it online so relatives at home can watch. Wouldn\'t say we\'re the smallest or largest but have always enjoyed this comp. we do it every other year.

Starbound is the most UNPROFFESIONAL competition out there. They do not reward talent or technique, they do not even care about it! You\'ll not score high or win if you\'re not coming with one of the studios that come back to them every year. There is LOTS OF FAVORITISMS to these studios and starbound will score their routines higher no matter what. The judging is terrible(blank score sheets) and the treatment to independent dancers is awful. My daughter said that this hoster \"Katie\" was sitting next to the judges talking to them all the time when she was dancing, almost like she was trying to distract them, very unprofessional. At the same recently nationals there was a girl attending by herself, she was a first place overall in more than 10 regionals this year, she is also a national winner for another competition, well, she got beaten by a studio owner\'s daughter at starbound! the difference between the two performances was huge and it was obvious they managed the scores...SO SAD AND SO WRONG!!! Please stay away from starbound, we\'re very sad about having this experience and won\'t come back again!

Only took one dancer because it was Spring Break, huge mistake. Studio with the most dancers wins. The dance was adjudicated so much lower than other competitions that it was unbelievable - and it was so much better than the other entries that the bias was glaringly obvious. The scheduling is confusing. Won\'t waste our time and money here again.

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One of the Best Competition out there! My studio has gone to starbound for the past 6 years and each year the competition gets better and better. Starbound has the most friendly staff who great with the dancers. Yes sometimes the schedule gets out of order to accommodate quick changes but what dance competition always runs exact to schedule. Starbound\'s owner is an amazing person and you can tell she really cares about her competition. Overall I recomend this competition to everyone who needs an amazing competition to attend.

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Getting really sick of this one- only the studio that brings the most acts gets the top awards. this really is frustrating. Runs ahead which is OK- but judging is so biased.

WOW! I thought it was just me being a proud mom thinking thew judging was bad, but as I have read other reviews I see it is not just me. My daughter just turned 7 and this was the third time she competed her solo. Her 1st time competing it she scored Platinum with the highest being Diamond, the 2nd she scored a Platimum which was the highest and 3rd Overall. At Starbound she scored a High Gold, 2nd Highest, but the scores were really low, just squeaking into the high Gold, One judge actually scored her a GOLD. I\'m not saying her routine was flawless because I saw a few minor things she could have done better, and yes she aged up since the last competition 2 months ago, but I didn\'t feel she did as poorly as they scored her. The comments are all audio so her teacher and I are going to sit down and listen to them, she was shocked as well. I do honestly feel they favored the BIG studios as ours is small and all you heard were 2 names. The scores on other dances our studio did were very inconsistent as well. At the end of their hip hop routine, my daughter said she saw the one judge actually put his fingers in his ears and close his eyes. They did get Elite Gold and 3rd overall for that dance, but seriously, be professional these are little kids who work hard doing what they love, don\'t show them a physical distaste for their dance.

Starbound was our first competition as being a part of a team. My daughter had a great experience and we look forward to regionals in two weeks.

Our team did well...however...the planning and timing of routines was terrible! For one number, our girls were in the hallway backstage waiting for over an hour and a half because the stage manager felt it was more important for other numbers to go ahead of us. I understand quick changes and schedule adjustments...but...we saw one school do three numbers ahead of us to accommodate their quick changes - but it was the three numbers they were trying to accommodate around. All in all...good but long for all the wrong reasons.

I like Starbound, but it seems to have gotten so large that it has become impersonal. On the day of groups the dancers are lined up like here\'s cattle. This year the judges were attentive, but last year they were texting on their phones and not even watching the dancers. It needs to scale down a bit and focus more on the dancers instead of the bottom line...the money

I thought the staff was were very nice and accomadating. It seemed a little disorganized and sometimes sound system was a problem. Bigger studios seemed to be favored, but our smaller studio did very well.

Don\'t see why people hate this one. The only complaint i had was they did large groups and small groups into one. And duet/trio top 10s were 13 and over. This is a good challenge, you won\'t automatically place. Wouldn\'t recommend to novice studios. Awards is fast and fun. The BEST part was that awards begin almost IMMEDIATELY after the last dance. Pretty good comp.

We attended Starbound last year and I would\'ve given a much lower rating due to disorganization. However, they seem to have gotten their act together. They ran a little ahead and stayed in the correct order for the most part. Judging was fair. I will say- the music was too low. My daughter had a hard time in her solo and her group ballet (she starts by herself) hearing the music start, which is her cue to dance, of course. Additionally, they left zero time between dances. A dancer was exiting the stage and they were already announcing the next act.

My experience with Starbound was a pretty good one. I went last year and it was a competition that was well organized, had a great staff and ran on time. The only thing bad about this competition is that they didn\'t have any video or audio critiques, only score sheets with comments on them, which kind of disappointed me. Other than that I enjoyed attending.

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We decided to give them another chancewhich was a huge mistake. From the moment we walked in the door there were issues. They had some of our performers in wrong age groups which we let them know in advance. They did switch, but failed to also carry over the Novice division with the switch. Our duet placed third overall in the comp division, but they were supposed to be novice. These girls take class 1 1/2 hours a week. When we went and talked to them their response was \"They are all Novice at this age.\" No, many of them take many more hours. We asked them to check to see if they REALLY placed first in the Novice overall (which we already knew they did because they announce scores). When we went back to them, it was obvious they didn\'t even check and wouldn\'t give our girls the award that was deserved. The venue was moldy, filthy and disgusting. Parking was a nightmare (only 77 spots in the lot) so you had to park on the street. The venue was also in a very high crime rate area so I was nervous for my families that had to walk. Definitely favored the studios that brought in LOTS of money. Allowed one studio to park a trailer for the whole weekend in the ONLY good spot for unloading props, therefore everyone else had to carry props a long distance. Judging was totally inconsistent. One of our dancers, who always scores very high and in the overalls received a Gold. Had total strangers telling me how beautiful her routine was, but you sure couldn\'t see it from the scoring. They give this stupid judges award for 1st routine of the day and we even got ripped out of that award by the large studio. We were scheduled 1st routine on Sunday (7:30 a.m.) Our 5 & 6 year olds were back stage ready to go on (and they were the ONLY ones backstage) but they put one of the big studios on first so they got the meaningless award. Need to send a detailed schedule in advance. You only get a general one. We will not waste our money on this comp again.

Sit back - this is going to take a little bit. We did not find this website until after we had already registered so we suffered. I am not going to complain about the venue even though the bathrooms and parking sucked. Program - the program does not list what studio is at the competition and the numbers are assigned by studio not by dance so it is hard to look up a number. Awards - They distinguish between large groups and small groups in the program but they do no give a top ten for the 2 different ones. They have each one in the top ten say there name, the choregrapher and the name of the studio. It takes forever. They give no special awards for choregraphy or entertainment etc. If you want to win the costume award you have to pay 25 to enter. Judging - 2 of the judge\'s critiques are hand written so I don\'t even look up. So how do they judge. There were 2 point dances. One was a traditional pointe and the other was jazz dance on pointe shoes. The jazz point was entertaining but the girls didn\'t even fully get up on their box and they got a higher score. There were several other dances that scored really low that houldn\'t have. We also had several dances that scored really high so the judging was just inconsistant. Size - We do not how many numbers there were but we did not get done until almost 11 on Sunday night. They end to clost it so that people can get ome a descent time. I hope this helps you to steer clear of ths comp. Good things. They tried to move through the dances really fast.

I was hoping that we\'d have a decent experience at Starbound - unfortunately that wasn\'t the case. My primary issue is the JUDGING. At this particular competition the talent was pretty low and they were handing out High Golds to some REALLY poor dances - novice dancers with zero technique and no choreography getting High Gold? Really? Soloists said that two of the judges didn\'t even look up at them or watch - they were completely disengaged. Two of the score sheets were blank - just a number. It was well organized and positive but other than that it was a complete joke. I\'m sorry we went - if this was my only experience with competitive dance my kid and I would quit in a heartbeat.

Terrible competition! The back drop was put too far downstage so the dancers barely had room to move the way they\'re used to. We attended another competition at the same venue, so we know how large the stage actually is.Plus, it was sloppy looking and dragging on the floor.We NEVER got our score sheets or critiques. Then, we arrived early so we could get started on hair, and they made everyone who got there early stay out in the cold because they weren\'t set up. Since no one knew the schedule (they didn\'t release it) we of course wanted to come assuming they would put us on stage first. They wouldn\'t even let dancers into the dressing room or bathroom. But because the theater and merchandise wasn\'t ready, we couldn\'t enter the entire building! We ended up starting hair in a moms mini van. Also, the dancers were really flustered because they\'d get backstage and be told that they have time; then all of a sudden they\'d get called by the announcer and music would be on. It was really unnerving. To top it off, our dance was the last one before first awards and as my dancers were exiting with music they were wheeling the trophy cart on and started the ceremony! My dancers had to run to the dressing rooms for their jackets and run back on the stage! It was so rude. They were running early so they could have just waited a few minutes like most competitions do and properly announce the awards ceremony. I felt as if they wanted to just get through the solos, duos/trios and get to the small groups. They rushed that whole first competition. The MC was so corny; she was treating the awards like a talk show and asking some really weird questions to the dancers which really confused them. There was an awkward silence in the audience & it was embarrassing. And finally, the house lights stayed on for the entire competition. The whole auditorium was bright...who does that? Never EVER coming here again. Such a waste of money!