FCDA Rules for Competitions
Dancers / Parents:
- Be a good sport! Be supportive of members of your studio as well as those of competing studios. Clap for everyone and compliment / congratulate when in order. You are a member of a team, you are there for everyone! Please cheer and clap for all! In addition, please set a good example of teamwork for others, especially our younger team members. Again, we would like all parents and dancers / groups to sit together in the same section / area during competitions and cheer on all of our dancers.
- Be appreciative of what you earn -- the medal you win may or may not reflect how you feel you danced. It is the opinion of a few judges on a specific day, and should be treated as such. Respect their opinion and accept constructive criticism.
- Act like a team - do not fight over who gets the awards!
- Remember, you are there to dance! The experience should be fun, however, remember what you came to do. This may mean not having time to shop or go out to eat between numbers. You must arrive promptly at all scheduled rehearsals when at the event and stay for the awards. It shows your respect for your teachers, fellow dancers, and the judges who so kindly sat and watch you all day!
- Dancers: Treat your parents respectfully!!!! This means no arguing in the dressing room, and no fighting between numbers. Your behavior reflects poorly on the studio, and also is highly disrespectful. If it weren't for your parents, you wouldn't be where you are or where you are dancing!
- Do your best and encourage each other as teammates, however do not act condescendingly towards those who may not have performed up to your expectation. Dance should be fun and while competition are serious; no one is perfect.
- If you went in to a room filled with two hundred pictures and every one of them was really different, how many of us would pick the same one as our favorite? As long as we are happy with our "artwork" and do our very best to make it beautiful, we should be find with that! Be positive regardless of the outcome of the competition!
- We encourage parents not to be in the dressing rooms with the dancers if at all possible. The only time parents need to be there is if the children are under the age of 9 or if they have really quick or difficult changes. We find that the nervous energy of the parents rubs off on to their dancers and the dancers and parents will argue and the dancers will go out nervous and upset. If their bags are organized and packed properly and the dancers have rehearsed dressing, they should be fine.
- Parents are never allowed backstage.
- Parents please make sure that your dancer is easy to locate. They should be prepared to go on stage and should not be gallivanting all around with friends. They need to be prepared for any emergency rehearsal or schedule changes.
- Most likely changes occur due to circumstances beyond our control. We like to have fun too, but when attitudes get heated it makes the experience miserable for all. Be a morale booster -- not buster!
- Make sure to have ALL items listed on your costume sheet in excess!! Also please share if necessary. Everyone has a forgetful day but please don't always be the one asking or people will stop loaning you things.
- Arrive on time and prepared as requested at your schedule class arrival time; especially on the first day of competition. Allow yourself plenty of extra time to find the venue and get settled.
- Remember that dance teams and competitions are more than just focusing on winning an award. The goal is to use competitions and the team as a teaching tool for our dancers. We want to teach them the following things that will follow them their entire life:
· Commitment: Learning that when you say you will do something, be somewhere, etc., that you do not back out because something better came along.
· Perseverance: Never give up, even if the results are not what you wanted or the going gets tough.
· Be a team player: It takes all of us working together and is not about individualism.
· Discipline: Not just listening to your instructor but self-discipline (being able to do what is right without being told).
· Patience: Knowing that things take time and will eventually happen and to just learn to wait.
· Acceptance: Realizing that things might not turn out as you wish, no matter how hard you try, even if it does not seem fair. Life is what happens when you are busy planning it.
· Consideration and Selflessness: Learning to be thoughtful of other people's feelings and do not put your own feelings first.
· Respect: That means respect for our parents, instructors, team members, the worker at the venues and competitions that we attend, for other studio members, for the property of others and respect for the art of dance!