https://www.sgdance.org/why-we-dont-compete/
I chose this article to help with my documentary. In this article Sacred Ground Dance talks about what competition dance really is. They talk about the pros and cons of competitive dance. They start out by talking about how competitive dance has become more commercialized. They explain that now dancers compete with risqué costumes and inappropriate music because that is what is wins. They explain that competitive dance is now just a big money scam. Studios now a days are only competitive studios and it is very hard to find a studio that isn't competitive. Sacred Ground Dance talks about how winning at competitions has now become the only goal of dancers instead of the actual education of dance. Studios now only care about winning so their studio looks better and eventually this will allow their studio to collect more income. They also explain that the winning dances at competitions are the ones with the most "tricks" instead of the actual dancing. I am using this in my documentary to explain the unfairness of competitive dance and to show that judging now a days isn’t based on dance ability and performance. Its based on costumes and relationships of competition owners and teachers. I think this article is a great asset to my project because it explain another persons opinion on my topic.

 

This is a picture of me and a few of my teammates after the awards ceremony at a competition. We all have our trophies in front of us and some of us also have a medal as well. I chose to use this photo because I am doing my documentary about competitive dance and the effects of unfair judging. I used this picture to show what a competition stage looks like and the different trophies you receive after every competition. What you don’t see in this picture is the placing of each dancer in the overalls. You can’t tell who beat who and who won the highest award. You also can’t tell that because of this award ceremony, some of us are not friends anymore. Judging at national dance competitions has become something that is unfair and harsh. Judges now use connections and familiarity to choose the winner of the competition. In my documentary, I would like to talk about the unfairness and why judges don’t use a criteria for judging. I also would like to talk about the effects of judging on dancers and their families. I think that picture best shows what national dance competitions look like and gives you a feel for how things are done for competitions.

The community I have chosen to write my documentary on is the competitive dance community. This is a community of top selected dancers all over the country competing for top awards. This is a community because all of the dancers share the same passion of dance and they all work together to reach the same goal of winning 1^st overall or the Victory Cup. Growing up as a competitive dancer, I know a lot about this community. I know what each award means from a gold to platinum. I know which styles tend to place higher than others. I have learned what judges like to see performance wise and which judges are more difficult than others. I also have recently learned about the political game that is involved at each competition. I would like to know why there is not a specific set of requirements for each competitive dance to follow so all judging is fair rather than the dance teacher who has the best relationship with the owner of the competition winning every award. I also would like to know why children with disabilities are not allowed to compete in the dance competitions. My relationship to this community is a competitor or participant. I have been competing for over 12 years. I have chosen this community because these issues have been concerning me since I was 7. There was a young girl in my class who had down syndrome and the owners told her she wasn’t allowed to participate because of her disability. I also have lost awards because my studio owner did not “kiss up” to the manager of the competition being hosted. I really look forward to continuing my research on this community.