COMPETITION DETAIL

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Platinum is one of our favorites. The judges give good feedback and runs pretty true to time schedule.

Pros- Comp ran on time! I am not sure why comps think that running an hour or more ahead of the time you asked you to be there, making it hard to invite friends and family is okay, I assure you it is not. We all appreciate a comp that runs as says it is. Cons: Communication with the audience. Apparently there was voting available for the audiences favorite routine. Would have been nice if that was announced throughout the show. Improv Challenge. We already paid hundreds to come. Please stop asking people to pay to be judged again for a prize that they would ultimately have to pay for to use. Or lower the price to 5 or so dollars. You would have more participants. As a parent I am more willing to shell out 5.00 rather than 25.00...especially after I just paid for the program. Judging-If you score a dancer down, please explain the why behind. The dancers want to improve, so give them something to work on. You marked them down for a reason! It does no one any good if you don't share the why. Additionally, judge the dances based upon their merit and not on if you like the particular style or not. Judge 2 literally said in her critique, that she only likes classic tap. Well, so the heck what. You can't take off because it is not your preferred style. Getting no value from the judging is a big reason why studios do not return to certain comps.

I love how efficient the competition is ran. What I dont love is the judging. I'm all for tough judging, its what makes us better. But, when I solo gets the same adjudication as a duet that stops on stage, it's an issue. When a studio is performing in recreational and intermediate, then gets on stage and says they are in the studio from 3-10 daily, and they are allowed to stay in that category, that is an issue. I cant say we wont ever be back, because that's not my call, but I will say i wont vote to go back. I am up for different types of dance, but when the dance includes 90% twerking to the point the audience is looking away, that is not very family friendly.

Just tried this competition for the first time this past weekend and had a wonderful experience!! Our entire company absolutely loved the event and everything about Platinum! Chris, the owner, was a class act! Full of personality, warmth, & wit and just wonderful with the kids! As an owner, I loved how easy the set up of the event was from registration to the last awards ceremony. No bulky paperwork, easy-peasy! And LOVED LOVED LOVED that even before my car hit the garage we already had video critiques....awesome!! Awards were great, we heard everything from Gold to Platinum Plus and appropriately placed. Also appreciate how they recognize choreography! Its something we love & value dearly so always happy to see a competition that has choreography awards! Backstage was awesome as well! Kyle did a great job... calm & positive, exactly what a backstage manager should be! Can't say enough good things but kudos to them for running such a wonderful competition! We will definitely be back and encourage others to try it as well! :)

Nice staff however I felt this was more of a country pageant than a serious dance competition. Sass, fluff, and cheese rewarded over artistry and technique. Sorry, if thats your dig then go for it. Not the right one for us.

This comp was ok, not one of the best we've been too. One of the judges was consistently 10 points below the other two, it was very odd. My complaint is the pics and videos that we paid for, there is interference in the videos. We got between 10-15 pics for most group dances and approx, six for solos. One solo has no video and one pic, it's ridiculous that they want $30 for that.

We have been going to Platinum for the past 4 years. We have always been made to feel welcome and supported. The competition always runs on time and the awards ceremonies are fun for all the participants. The staff is energetic, understanding and truly have a passion for what they do. We will continue to go back to Platinum!

Platinum is an ok/good competition. Our studio attended in 2016 and again in 2017. I think they should perhaps consider capping registrations at a certain number. We were in Jacksonville and the number of studios and dancers there was insane. Could not find a place to sit in auditorium several times. Dressing rooms were a free for all and overcrowded (they do not assign). Went very, very late into the nights. My daughter (12) had her solo awards on Friday night at 11:15 p.m. and had to be back very early the next morning for first dance. It was just too many dances and too many people. The other thing was awards. This is one of those competitions that DRAG out awards FOREVER with games and throwing out cheap stuff like frisbies. They pick certain dancers and have them call their mom or dad or whoever up to the stage and have a dance off. I don't know - maybe some people like this kind of stuff. To me it just drug out the awards way too long.

The absolute, hands down, worse judging panel EVER!!!! In listening to critiques......there is more time of them breathing and not speaking. When comments were made....drill team terminologies were used. I am disappointed that the competition would allow a 10 points or more spread in the judges scoring. Either someone on the panel is clueless....or simply isn't paying attention. We did not receive professional adjudication but personal judgement!! WE DID NOT PAY FOR SOMEONE PERSONAL OPINION!! You are supposed to be freaking professionals from the industry, but clearly that was not the case. I am a judge....in fact, I'm in a different city each weekend.....and I would NEVER allow that wide of a point spread, pass along my personal judgement, and just give a score and not back it up with the proper audio critique!! My dancers are hurt and embarrassed by this panel. When routines they have competed prior to this competition....and have won. Then to have "professional" judges hit then with tragic scores and no audio to back it up. This is unprofessional and unacceptable!! The one saving grace for this company was their backstage Manager...Kyle!! Words can never express my gratitude for all his hard work and the attention he gave to all my dancers. Although this is our first year and there are allot of things we need to learn......but after 28 years working in the entertainment industry, this is not my first rodeo. So I can call bull-crap...when I see it!!

My daughter was an apprentice at Platinum Dance Convention Oct 2016. She assisted with both minis and juniors. Choreography was challenging but not so difficult that it could not be mastered. Teachers were fun, personal and professional. Staff was great from the greeter to tshirt sales. Awards presented were great including gift cards and free entry in competition. HIGHLY RECOMMEND.

Overall a good competition, lots of energy. Nice appreciation in recognizing quality choreography.

I enjoyed this competition, they gave special awards, the judges fair and helpful on their critiques. The emcee was enjoyable and the best part is it ran on time, sometimes a little ahead of schedule which was great! I would go back!

This review is for the dance experience, senior level, in Birmingham, AL. We usually go to the larger conventions and honestly, my daughter wasn\'t sure what to expect, however, she absolutely LOVED it! When I asked her what her favorite class was, she couldn\'t pick one, she enjoyed them all! She felt the teachers gave good feedback, and the choreography was challenging. It wasn\'t over crowded so she had room to dance, unlike other conventions we\'ve been to. Not having to compete in the same weekend and just focusing on getting the most from the classes was a nice change! Generous scholarships, and I would definitely recommend this convention to anyone!

Overall - a high quality competition with outstanding & talented dancers. Competition is run efficiently and in an organized fashion. They still promote the antiquated photogenic contest, which highlights an unhealthy emphasis on physical beauty, especially destructive for the young girls at which this competition is aimed. Venue: the dressing rooms were adequate, although a bit far from the stage. There were drink machines, but no concessions. We were not allowed to take photos or video, except at awards. They had a nice variety of swag. Judging wasn\'t the worst I\'ve seen, however there were some big question marks, especially in the solo categories! I think it came down to the fact that they weighted heavily on emotion & acrobats rather than technique & advanced moves. Two different studio owners (not ours) approached my daughter and I to tell us they felt my daughter\'s gold adjudication should have been a platinum. There were big questions not just at our studio, but across the board. Overall, the judging of group numbers consistent, but I overheard two studio owners complaining to each other about the judging not being on technique.

Average to above. Fair competition for studio of any size

My daughter (and student) attended the convention in October 2015. She had a great time. There were quality instruction and instructors, plenty of breaks but not \"wasteful\" downtime. The staff was beyond kind and courteous as usual---in fact, when she walked in, a staff member remembered her name from a competition! That is such a good feeling that makes for PERFECT customer service. I wish there had been more chairs for parents--I don\'t mind sitting on the floor but I know some of the moms were not so happy. The audition at the end had plenty of awards and seemed fair in judging. My child was chosen as a Junior Apprentice for the next season!

AMAZING COMPETITION!!! We have attended Platinum several times including their nationals. The judging is fair with useful critiques. The staff is amazing. The MC starts awards reminding the dancers that the adjudications are the opinion of 4 people and on any given day the outcome could be very different. An important message for dancers. Awards move quickly. I would highly recommend this competition for any level of dancer.

We love this competition! We have attended several years now and always enjoy. Things always seem to run smoothly and on time. The management is great and the staff very friendly. For the most part the judges are fair and consistent.

Attended in Va Beach this year. Love that they ran on time or early. Love the app that lets you know exactly when the dance will go on stage so you can plan accordingly. Did a good job sticking to the order throughout the weekend. Judges were low but consistent. Beautiful venue. Great staff. Another great weekend with Platinum!

I wouldn\'t say that this competition was \"bad\" but it definitely wasn\'t good in my opinion either. I don\'t know if it is Platinum\'s responsibility or the venues responsibility to adequately assign dressing rooms, but there was a HUGE issue with dressing room space, so much so that preteen and teen girls were changing in the hall right across from the boys dressing room. Unacceptable and inappropriate. Secondly, the judges seemed to favor one particular studio over the others. In almost every category, in every age division, this one studio was the category winner, despite how well or how poorly they performed. And parents from that team even commented about how so and so from another team should have won that category. Third, the scoring on the first day was really low. Only one of our teens managed to score a platinum when our dancers are generally high scoring teens. I also did not like that they ran early because family and friends that were coming at a certain time to see dances ended up missing them. Also, my daughters duo was one of the last ones and when I went to view the video to purchase, he couldn\'t get it to load and told me to come back and when I Came back 30minutes later he had packed up already and told me I could just purchase the video. Without viewing it first, I don\'t think so. The only thing that made this competition not so bad was that my daughter got a platinum, placed in the overalls, received a special award for her solo and her duo and several of her group dances. And the staff at Platinum were super nice and friendly and the awards went really smoothly.

Great Competition!

Five Stars!! Did a good job managing time throughout the competition. Good scoring. Enthusiatic hudges. Announcer (Chris) was very encouraging, funny and kept awards moving at a good clip. A highlight was having four Moms in a dance off--great stuff! BK

We just attended our 4th Platinum this past weekend. It was yet another wonderful experience! All of the staff was amazing as usual. The judges were really kind to the kids, gave out great special awards, and our critiques have been wonderful. Would always recommend Platinum for a well run on time competition!

Wonderful experience! Fantastic and friendly staff! I appreciate being the mom of a young dancer, going to a competition where my child feels encouraged to dance and the overall positive attitude of the entire competition. I can\'t wait to go back next year! Judges really got into the routines, pictures were great, backstage staff was awesome! I can not say enough positive things about Platinium!

I loved this competition. It was probably one of my favorites we attended this year. We went to two different regionals and it was great both times. Super friendly staff and my daughter has a heart condition and had to wait until after her scheduled time to go on due to her problems at one competition and they were awesome at understanding and didn\'t rush us at all. Judges critiques very helpful. Wish they had a nationals closer to us because we would love to attend. Will attend all around our area next year!

Staff is kind. Two years in a row our critiques were wrong or non-existent. Offered credit for next year. Not beneficial for our studio if we don\'t get feedback.

great competition! staff and judges are all very kind. judges give goid corrections

We love Platinum! The staff is great, so kind and positive to dancers! We have gone regularly for the past 5 years, and will continue!

Best run competition I have been to in the 15 years of attending competitions. Back stage manager very professional. Awards ran very smoothly. Great competition and will definitely go back.

so far... not good

Overall the competition is fine, it ran on time and had friendly staff. The competition felt more like a gymnastic competition than a dance competition though. Almost all of the overalls were to acro routines or routines that were mostly tricks. This leads me to question the qualification of the judges. The only other issue was how long the awards dragged on, its fine to play games mid-day on Saturday, but at 11 on Sunday please make them short and sweet. Also the backdrop is black which makes it impossible to see the pictures if your in a black or a dark color costume.

Platinum has been the one comp our studio has returned to year after year including its nationals. This year things seemed disorganized and rushed. They put all large groups on Sunday yet somehow ran out of programs and were pushing their app with every announcement. As always there were studios there that obviously were leveling down for the win which makes it very hard for the true intermediate and recreational dancers to even place. Our dancers don\'t want to return to platinum and I hope the dance teachers and studio owners listen!

Overall okay. Backstage manager was rude and very pushy towards dancers, parents, and studio directors. The competition ran on time though so that was nice. The scoring seemed low for almost everything. There were even dances from other studios that I thought deserved better scores than what they received. This competition wasn\'t exciting at all either. Most competitions have lights and music and sound effects that just enhance the overall mood but this did not. It was very bland and the awards dragged on. I cannot get over how boring the awards were. The backstage manager who read the awards insisted to every cash prize winner that they MUST put their money into savings. There was a petite winner who won some cash and when she was asked what she was going to do with it and she said \"buy toys\" the stage manager insisted again to save the money. It just felt wrong. Not a fan on this competition.

One of our favorite competitions for the last 3 years. Love it. Consistently great judges. Fun awards. Staff always polite. Runs close to schedule. The venue they\'ve used the last two times has been fantastic and very convenient. Sad I\'m moving to the west coast and they don\'t stop there...

This competition was okay, nothing really great about it. Except they picked a great venue!

Haven\'t been too impressed with this competition. A couple of years ago, they didn\'t cover the stage and we watched several performers fall on stage. Last year they moved it to a different venue at the request of several teachers in our area. Thank you! However, judging has been inconsistent and comments weren\'t helpful. Low scores with little feedback doesn\'t really help.

Good reviews from judges - good feedback. The staff is great. It runs on time. We always attend this one. The levels are confusing at times.

We attend a platinum comp every year and the comp always runs on time, backstage staff are friendly, judges are knowledgeable and the set-up is usually great. Biggest complaint is allowing studios to level down even when they admit on stage that they dance way more than the requirements for the intermediate level. There always seem to be a studio or two doing this every year because they know they can get away with it at platinum. If dancers dance 4-5 times a week they are not intermediate level. It is very discouraging to my girls when they know that they are competing against elite teams and know that they have no chance of placing because they only spend 3 hours a week in the studio.

Yeah! Another competition using the DanceComp Genie app! Looking forward to Chattanooga! We\'re doing back-to-back weekends with DEA coming to town next weekend. Love Platinum! Ron and Terri are great to work with each year.

Just attended our third year with Platinum in VA beach. Couldn\'t be more pleased with our experience. Competition ran on time. Judges were fair and critiques were excellent. The venue was beautiful and the backstage staff were amazing as always. Would highly recommend Platinum to anyone and everyone!

We have attended Platinum\'s competition before but this October attended the dance convention for the first time--it was fantastic. They didn\'t bring in the \"biggest\" and most \"famous\" teachers in the business-but they brought in the most caring, loving and honestly, well organized teachers. It was great to see teachers that had planned the day and not some cookie cutter routine they do for the past three years. My daughter was in the petite group in Birmingham, Alabama and had a fantastic time--she learned so much and especially enjoyed Kyle the lyrical teacher. During lunch, we ran into one of the teachers at Subway and he remembered my daughter\'s name. Little things like that MATTER! They make you want to come back every year! They give away good \"awards\" as well. My daughter won a $25 gift card for her hard work during the day as well as some certificates. When we left, the directors took the time to say good bye and all said they hoped to see us at the competitions. YOU CAN BEAT YOU WILL! See you in Montgomery Platinum! Thanks for the great experience.

Wasn\'t the worse comp, however it certainly wasn\'t the best. There is nothing about this comp that stood out to me. The kids weren\'t as excited as they usually are when it was over. Ran behind at times, but it eventually caught itself up. Rammed the dancegeniecomp app down our throats (5.00 just to use it with the comp).

We attended a regionals for the first time this year. I thought the staff was friendly, the judging was fair, and it ran on-time. The awards were great too! Especially for the Title winners! A few dancers from our studio will be attending one of their upcoming conventions because we had a great experience at their regionals. We might have a scheduling conflict with their regionals in the upcoming year but hope we will be able to attend again in the future.

Great comp! Great MC, great judges, amazing staff. Great for the advanced intermediate studio who is not quite ready for the federated circuit. Can\'t say enough great things about Platinum!

I loved this competition. Ran on time, fair judging, and they found a way to make every dancer feel special. Also, I enjoyed the fact that the judges gave a mini lesson during awards on a couple of issues that they saw during the competition that needed fixing. I think it was good for the students to hear it again from a judge what we teachers have been saying all year. I will be taking my studio there again this year.

I wish we could comment on other reviews, we were at the same nationals at the poster below us. Her soloist placed in the top 10 in the elite category and their production won best of the beach in the elite category. She is mad because her soloist didn\'t get the 1st place trophy in the intermediate division. I applaud Platinum for making their studio compete in the proper division and wish more competitions would do the same! Please keep it up Platinum and continue to bump studios who are obviously leveling down for the win!

Just returned from Nationals and cannot be anymore disappointed! My daughter qualified and is a level 2 dancer and was moved up to Elite after her dance. Our SO was told our kids are more polished and better prepared and more technically trained than other studios. Really?? We were the only studio that had any moved up and were obviously in the right levels. There was a judge who was employed by Platinum as well. THe whole competition was a sham and so political. WIll never give the any of my money ever again.

Not a fan! Allows one soloist to place up to three times in overalls. Also, favors intermediate levels when it comes to titles and judges awards. All of the title winners and judges awards at the awards we were at went to rec and intermediate dances, and yes it was the elite level awards too. Also, did top 15-20 for the lower levels and then maybe top 1 or 5 (even though there were a good amount of dancers in this category) for elite dancers. I wish they would reward dancers for having integrity and actually being in the correct level. Also, you have to pay extra for costume awards and they don\'t announce until the very end and then don\'t even post the results.

Judging seemed fair--bless the judges. However, I have never seen an owner of a competition show favoritism to a studio at a competition like this before. I have heard about it before but not seen it first hand. First during awards he seem enameled by the guest choreographers that did the studio\'s numerous routines. Then, the studio had moved 19 solos from elite to intermediate and during another awards session he asked one of the dancers that was in MANY of their group dances how many hours he danced and he said 20 hours!! It continued liked this throughout the weekend. So, I do not know if he just liked the obvious money he received from this large studio, or if he was enamored by them. Regardless, I hope our studio does not ever attend a Platinum event again.

We did not compete this year. However, my daughter and I went to watch some friends/family from other studios compete. As always, it was very professional, ran close to schedule and the judging was spot on. This competition attracts a great number of the ELITE dancers. We saw some amazing routines.

Not good, not bad. Just average... Ran early at times, late at times. Judging was interesting. Seemed more lenient early on in day and got more difficult as day went on (even with same level). Not sure if our set of judges knew what to look for technique wise with ballet. Keep this in mind if you have classically trained dancers. Judging pretty consistent with jazz/lyrical genres. They seemed to be more impressed with flashy/entertainment factor over technical elements. Non pointed feet, unclean turns, etc. didn\'t seem to effect outcome/scores.

Competition was great!! Long 3-day weekend but well worth it:) Staff was nice and I thought most of the scoring were accurate.

Judges were great! Ran a bit behind schedule.

Conventions are wonderful. If you have a chance to attend one, do it! Competition was ok. It was the first of the year. Some technical difficulties put it way behind, but nothing horrible. I would definitely go again. Very nice staff.

Platinum NDC is one of our favorite competitions. My daughter has been competing now for 3 years and we have attended Platinum every year and have gone to different cities to compete. They are always well organized and run on a tight schedule. The staff is always encouraging to the dancers and very helpful.

We had a good experience at Platinum NDC earlier this month. The staff were all very friendly and helpful. They allowed enough time between numbers for spectators to get in and out of the auditorium without disrupting the dancers. Judging seemed fair (I have not seen the critiques, but my dancers said they sounded reasonable) and pretty consistent. There may have been a glitch of some sort at the end of the day, because there was a long break (insert family dance down type event here) that caused us to get out of there much later than anticipated. Overall we had a very good experience and would enjoy returning to this competition.

Enjoyed this show very much. The judges comments were spot on with what to work on and scores were fair. I enjoyed the announcer and it went on schedule.

Loved this competition. They had great backstage people and excellent judges. I felt like they awarded just as many awards to ballet dances where at other competitions only the dances with \"arials\" or other \"tricks\" won. There were a couple of times that I felt like the group that won the overall should have been bumped up a level and that the other studio had them in too low of a level for what they actually were. We will still definitely be back next year.

Went last weekend. Ran on time, great venue! My only complaint was that there was a huge disparity in the adjudication. Almost all of the rec-level petites received a platinum (you had to be REALLY bad to get a gold) and only 2 of the intermediate petites received platinum when honestly, they were almost ALL better than the recreational petites that scored higher. Also,they really loved the acro tricks... Throw an aerial and Boom! you just won. This was our second time at Platinum and had a better experience last year.

We attend Platinum every year and really enjoy it. Judging seems to be very fair and they run mostly on time. My only complaint is that they don\'t penalize or move studios who are obviously competing down for the win.

Good competition

I agree with the other reviewer who stated the competition seems to favor acro-style dancing and tricks. During awards ceremonies, I was able to call out to my fellow dance moms each platinum based on whether or not the routine had flips and tricks. It was that obvious.

This was my favorite one....would have had 5 stars, but the dressing room was AWFUL! It was an art room. Not a good place for changing costumes, but everything else was great!

1st time at Platinum, overall experience was great!

Love this competition. The staff is extremely friendly to everyone and so much fun. It is a smaller competition compared to some of the other ones we\'ve attended which is nice because we aren\'t dancing until midnight. Love that they give out a sportsmanship type award at the end of the comp to the more courteous and helpful studio.

We attended this competition for the first time this year. The staff was friendly, but the judges were a little laid back in their comments in that they did not really give quality feedback that we could use to improve. One negative was that they ran behind all 3 days, which made the days very long. I also noticed that they seemed to favor more acro numbers and really didn\'t score the true dancing high.

We have gone to a Platinum competition 2 years in a row. Platinum is a well-run competition, but they favor acro and tricks over true dance. They score any ballet routine especially low, and score classical variations and productions from classical ballets lower than teacher-choreographed pieces, which leads me to believe the judges don\'t have a solid background in classical dance. If your studio is strong in acro and musical theater, this is a great competition for you. Otherwise, I\'d warn away, especially since the entry fees are on the higher end of the spectrum.

We\'ve always enjoyed Platinum. Judging always seems fair and they don\'t prefer one type of dance over another. Very pleased.