COMPETITION DETAIL

This is hands down the worst nationals competition I have been to in all of my many years as a dance parent. Their regional competitions were small and not an accurate example of their nationals at all. They were very unorganized. We ran more than 3 hours behind schedule one of the days. They had two stages and clearly were not equipped to handle that capacity of dancers. There was one studio there that presented highly elite dancers that were clearly not leveled accurately. These dancers were highly talented but their levels were not fair to not only our studio but most that attended. We were told nothing could be done about their levels because the manager at their regionals did not catch this. Being a parent who pays a great deal of money to attend nationals I can attest to this one being a waste of time. I firmly believe that you have to earn your spot but this nationals was outrageous. I will never attend another believe competition.

Where can I even begin? This is hands-down the worst dance experience we have ever had in my 15 years of being a Dance parent. This system allowed a very large dance studio to put their dancers in the incorrect levels. I have never experienced anything so disorganized and completely Unfair. Not just for our studio, but also all the other studios that were present at this national competition. The studio that presented was an elite studio, but they had elite dancers in all levels of the competition from the very young all the way to the top. Our studio would never attend another believe, dance competition or nationals. This system needs a makeover in there levels of Dance and their rules I have never seen so many different studios so upset at one national competition in all my years. There were lines of teachers, complaining and upset for all of their dancers,to come to a competition that was cheating and unfair. And also shame on this elite studio for coming to this national competition and so blatantly cheating.

The judges at Believe love acro & floor routines with minimal dancing. The more acro & tricks you have in your solo, the higher your chances of winning first overall & title. They ignore technique, musicality & artistry. Also they pander to the studios bringing the most kids. These kids will sweep the overalls every single time!

We have always loved this competition and the SDA! Very professional staff and well-run events. We attended Dallas this year and will return anytime they come to the DFW area!

Our experience was pretty good. My only complaint was that the rules said something about checking in an hour early with the backstage staff, but that clearly wasn't enforced. There were many changes to the order/program that were not made in the program they gave the directors. I paid to have my dancers changed to a higher level & was told I could only get my new dance times at the competition. The program I received still had them in the wrong level at the wrong time. This happened multiple times to multiple studios so it was a little confusing backstage & as an audience member trying to follow along. My other issue was that no one backstage was making sure the lines & productions had a clear backstage area. I had dancers trying to run around backstage & couldn't get to their spot in time because there were other kids in routines after ours standing in the wings blocking my dancers. Thus happened to other routines too. I watched other dances struggle with their entrances because kids were in the way.

We just returned from their competition in Wheeling, West Virginia(second weekend event) for the first time and had a great weekend! Positive atmosphere, nice dressing areas, nice awards, great staff, judging seemed appropriate. It was held at a very nice theatre, but had some issues. The roof was leaking, ON THE STAGE, but this isn't the fault of the competition, obviously. There wasn't really much backstage space, very crowded. Those are really my only complaints from the weekend. Other than that, the venue was very nice, just needs some maintenance. Great location and very easy to find! Scheduling was nice and easy, they ran about an hour behind at one point, but they worked hard to get back on schedule, and they did! Overall, great weekend, will probably go back some time in the future!

Out of all the number of competition I've gone, from Encore, ShowStoppers, Hall of Fame, State Dance, Inspire, etc... This was the WORST dance competition I've ever gone to. They may have taken away trophies and overall categories from our hard working dancers, but what they couldn't take away was their Gifts and Talents. Our dancers are going to continue to SHINE They are VERY unfair and show GREAT favoritism. Even other studios saw and approached our parents and dancers with the concern on how this competition mistreated our dancer and underscored their performance