COMPETITION DETAIL

We always love Showbiz!!! My daughters always have a lot of fun and it runs very smooth.

Do not recommend! Horrible weekend so glad we won't be returning. Judging bias, one studio allowed to move dances to other days and still receive awards- which is completely stated in the rules that they are not. Favortism evident as a judge knew choreographer of one studio. Staff was very rude backstage. Nothing good to say. Several other studios were equally frustrated.

Love it! The staff at showbiz are the sweetest people I’ve ever met. Well run competition, beautiful venue every time. Only real complaint is the adjudications vary on level, but that’s it!!! Love, love, love this competition!

I’ve been going to showbiz for years now and its actually one of my favorite competitions , super friendly staff , amazing judges and great competition and venue. I definitely recommend !

Staff was friendly. Well ran. Loved awards went very fast. They would give you your award of your dance right when you walked off so awards would go by fast. ** A little disappointed this year 2019 because we went back and they were given out banners for placing overall instead of last year 2018 where they got trophies.

I have been attending Showbiz Talent as an instructor now for almost 10 years. Every year we are beyond happy with how this competition is run! Not only do we receive fantastic feedback from judges, but we can also enter our dancers in their appropriate level as they offer beginner, intermediate and advance categories. Showbiz Talent also always runs on time and/or ahead of schedule while keeping you in the loop! I highly recommend Showbiz Talent to any one who wants a genuine competition experience!

I am not one to write reviews, but I just HAD to write this one. The judging at Showbiz was INCREDIBLE. And we didn’t win much. So I’m not saying it’s incredible because we won it all. LOL. We didn’t. 🤷‍♀️ But, the critiques were exactly what my dancers needed to hear. Each judge gave great and useful critiques so we could go back into the studio and work towards our next goal. I was so happy to hear the truth! Ahh! Thank you. And while I’m here, I’d like to mention the friendly and attentive staff. From registration to the last day of comp, they were there for us whenever we needed them and they kept checking in on us to make sure all was going well. Everything ran on time and it was still daylight when we left a sold out competition on a Sunday night. Thank you for not over selling and running into the wee hours of the evening. We will always support this honest and well run company. Thank you!!!

The staff did a great job on running the competition fast and smoothly and also not having crazy hours for being a sold out competition. On another note, I wanted to express my concerns for some events that took place the weekend that we attended that we are unhappy with. It is very frustrating going to a competition and the kids are not placed in the proper levels. I know that ultimately it is the studio owners fault because they are the ones that register them and put them in lower categories but Showbiz (or any other competition) should be held accountable as well. This is very discouraging to the students that do follow the rules and it makes the competition unfair. Please explain to me how soloists that compete in the Diamond level and either receive Elites or place in the top 3 are allowed to compete in lower divisions for duets, trios and/or groups? There were a couple of studios that did this but one in particular did this SEVERAL times and you rewarded them for it. You also gave this studio all three group icons when two of the dances share the same dancers. How can you compete in diamond and receive elite adjudications and also compete in ruby? I did express my concerns to Justin the director of the competition that weekend via email after the event was over and he said that I simply just didn't understand the system of how they level the students. And that I was suggesting he take a score away from the kids that won. I don't even know how he could suggest that when I made sure to send the email after the competition was over to express my concerns. He then said it would be best to discuss this on the phone as I agreed with and gave him my phone number. I never received a call but I did receive an email a few weeks later saying that he hadn't forgotten about me and would like to discuss the situation that current week. By then it was too late as I already made up my mind that our studio will not be back.

Showbiz is AMAZING and unique to other competitions we have previously attended. Judging is immensely difficult. 1st place received high golds. It was definitely a breath of fresh air to see that they were not calling out platinums left and right. Awards were quick and made the day fly by. I didn’t think it was impersonable at all. In fact the MC for Awards was pleasant, funny and attentive. Our studio LOVED the banners. I am over the cheap trophies and this was most unique. We look forward to attending next season.

This is by far one of the best out there. I have been taking my daughter to dance competitions for years and I have never seen a more organized, efficient, and friendly company. I read the review below, and they do give out cash prizes and credit to the 1st place winners. Our studio loved the quick moving awards and did not think it came across as impersonal at all. I was home before 9pm! I'll take that any day! Our emcee was fabulous and quite funny! I certainly hope we go back!

I am happy that our studio did well, but the banners were disappointing for the amount of money we paid into the competition. If groups, duo or trios didn't place in the overalls, they just received a pin. If they did place in the Top 10, they received a banner that says Top 10, not 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc. Also, there were no cash prizes or studio credit for the following year. I'm fine with keeping things simple for awards, BUT when they charge just as much as other competitions who hand out more awards and actual trophies, it's hard to want to come back and spend money at their competition. It was nice that they were running ahead, but it seemed like they were trying too hard to run ahead and that they wanted to get it done and over it. We were not the only studio who felt this way. There were multiple studios and families who thought they same. I timed one awards and it was 8 minutes long. It didn't feel genuine and felt very rushed. I did like how they streamed the competition live and it was at a beautiful venue. We were excited to try something new, but was very disappointed in the awards and that there were no cash prizes or studio credits for the amount of money we paid.

Attended Regionals in Daytona Beach. Venue was not the best. Liked that they gave the adjudications right after performance, made awards go much faster. Title awards didn't make much sense. Like the Icon award concept. Nice staff. Great Emcee. Fair but tough judging. good critiques. Like how the ages are split.

Showbiz is a wonderful competition. Our studio has been competing at this for the past several years. Wish it had master classes with it, but the competition itself is run for smoothly with great critiques which is very helpful for the dancers, So often you don't get much with the critiques that is helpful, but Showbiz is one that we like.

Showbiz was not a great experience for my dance studio. This was our first and last time attending. We're a small studio and only brought a few numbers, but we're still paying customers, so we shouldn't be overlooked in ANY manner whatsoever. Bigger studios were definitely favored. From seeing another studio's teacher in the wings doing choreography and helping a dancer on stage (which no one on staff, who could clearly see her stopped her), to seeing bigger studios misplace students in levels and dominate the entire competition with advanced dancers competing against legit beginners. It was just a frustrating experience. The venue was great and the actual judges' critiques were informative and helpful, but the staff wasn't helpful in my opinion. I had a dancer in 2 trios that were spaced 2 numbers away from each other in the program, and the backstage staff member told me "she had time to get her self situated for the next trio/no worries". The changing area was no where near the stage, so she literally ran up to where she had to change, fixed her hair, took a swig of water and then the MALE backstage staff member came into the dressing saying "you need to be onstage". Like what happened to his initial statement of "we'll wait for her to get dressed/no worries". On top of that they were running 2 hours ahead of schedule, which is fine. 1 of our duets CALL TIME (not actual performance time) was scheduled for 7:45pm, so I had them arrive at 5:15pm. Tell me why at 5:15pm they were told they were up in 5 numbers. I spoke to the director, and he said that they need to be ready 2 hours in advance of their performance time (which was past 7:45pm). We were there with ample time of their call time. Like why bother with a call time if they are going to be that far ahead of schedule. Poor communication, poor experience for us as a small studio.

After many years of attending this competition (including Nationals) I have to say that has consistently gotten worse each each year, particularly compared to other competitions that have continuously improved. The Judging at Showbiz is confusing, looking at the judges bios there is nothing impressive and in general they seem to value flash over actual dance technique. The stage and the floor were good. The photography was in house this year and was terrible!!! Blurry pictures, missed all the moments and in some cases missed half the dance. On the plus side I really liked the immediate adjudication of acts!

I absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE how this competition splits up the ages. I have always found it unfair that at most competitions the "new" 12 year olds compete against 15 year olds. This competition gives the 9 and 12's their own category. This really makes for true competition. I think all competitions should learn from your age categories. Also love that each age group and skill level has a title winner! Only down side, I really wish the title winners received a tiara. But this competition does a great job in building confidence in ALL the dancers because of how they arrange the ages. My only critique is they give the dancers their adjudication immediately after they dance. I think it makes it too hard to judge and ensure the dancers are scored appropriately, especially those that dance very early because there is nothing to compare them against. Overall, it was a great event and I hope we come back next year.

I can't write an actual review on the competition as we won't get to experience it. We won't get to experience it because they decided to cancel it 2 weeks beforearlier they were scheduled to come here. Very bad business. We have been to a few comps that had low registration and still held the event because that's what you should do. Sometimes you just have to do an event and not make as much much. I'm sure it all evens out when you factor in all their sold out shows. We have a lot if disappointed girl's. We literally just sent our registration 2 weeks ago, and one would think they would've been able to gauge at that point what the attendance would be. We really wanted to try this one, and now if it comes back next year, it will be hard to trust it. The date listed is actually incorrect. They were coming February 11.

Beautiful venue. Judging seemed ok, though the critiques were poor. A lot of fixation on teacher\'s personal likes, dislikes, and inconsequential asides, rather than commentary on technique and showmanship or suggestions for improvement. WONDERFUL backstage staff, who were extremely helpful and kind when my young daughter had a problem. At this particular event, there were a lot of entries that were placed in a lower division than they should be. It created a distinct lack of competition at the highest level, which was disappointing. Could be because Showbiz provides little guidance for level placement in their rules, which opens the door to more level misplacement than usual. Regardless, it was a generally positive event.

Loved that they ran ahead of schedule. Not thrilled with the cheap plaques (if you can even call them that) that were given out - for the amount of $$$ studios pay in, I would think they could afford to put a little more effort into awards. All in all, just an ok competition.

Great competition. Very fair judging!

Just returned from a great weekend! Competition was way ahead of schedule - really messes you up when it\'s an hour ahead. Plaques the kids received as awards was a little cheap, but other than that, great competition. Always love Showbiz and feel like they judge very fairly.

This was our second year attending Showbiz. Both years the event has seemed rather small, only covering 1 day. We have been generally happy with the event overall though. They strive to keep everything running smoothly. This year, there were a total of 4 groups each doing 2 routines, they put the 5 minute intermission after the first group did their 2nd routine-it was a group of 18 8 and unders. Our studio director asked that they do the intermission before to give the group more time to get onstage and they ended up forgetting or something. Fortunately the girls got out there in time. On awards, I wish that instead of just saying Top Point winner, they actually listed places. A major problem however was the photographer/videographer at the event. We were unable to view our daughter\'s solo routine prior to leaving that day due to a sick child and have been waiting for it to appear online. It has not despite every other event appearing online.

Overall good competition! They ran ahead (way ahead on Sunday) which is a sign of bad event planning in my opinion. The plaques are pretty low budget, but I agree with their philosophy that you only have space for so many trophies in a studio. I would be happy if our studio competed with Showbiz next year!

Love this competition!!! All the staff were amazing they were good with timing and making everything goes smooth!

Didn\'t really like the set up of this competition. Studios were allowed stall putting of there routines causing the competition to run really late. Liked that they had live streaming of the competition and that you could download programs on your phone or home computer before the competition.

This is a great competition! Love that it has an app with live streaming. Friends and family can see my dancer perform in real time even though they are unable to be present at the venue! Tool is very usef for alerts and communication from the staff with notifications of being on time, early or late and time expectancy. Judging is fair. I think it is totally appropriate for them to decide if the level of the dancers need to be adjusted. Those who are obviously who have far more training will not be judged alongside a Ruby Level dancer. Biggest flaw: scheduling young solo dancers for the last entry of the day on Sunday night. It would have made more sense to have the young dancers compete on Saturday instead of the \"Adult Competition\" that was scheduled on Sat night. The vend they use for photo/ video were outrageously expensive. It would have cost me nearly $400 for the 8 photos I wanted to buy and even more of unwanted to purchase a video of each dance she was in. Showbiz the competition is awesome--- their outside choice for video/ photo --- poor!

:) really enjoyed this competition

STAIRS IN LOBBY :( & PLAQUES UGH BUT OVERALL GREAT COMP!

I was verg upset to see how competitive all the other studios were! I was verg disappointed and I was trying to be friendly but the other dancers had no respect for my group and studio. It was very disrespectful and I hope all other studios in MN regionals show some respect.

It\'s a big one but we loved it. Like how there\'s a title winner at each age and at each competition level. That\'s nice for the younger dancers. Love the student choreography category. My daughter choreographs her solo each year for just this competition. Last year she was the only entry at the regional we attended but the judges still recognized her for her choreography. They didn\'t have to, but it really made her day.

Great competition. Well run for such a large competition

We had an excellent time at Showbiz. My daughter really liked it, as did I. The venue was great, plenty of room which I greatly appreciate. The dressing rooms were excellent. The critiques were very helpful. I loved that all three judges spoke together so you didn\'t have to listen to the same thoughts three times. The digital programs are great! The live feed is wonderful! I also loved that the emcee encouraged all dancers to get to know others from other studios and stressed the importance of these relationships because it is very possible you could dance professionally with them someday. Great message! I know this is the first year of three levels (sapphire, ruby, and diamond) and it is left to the studio/parents to level their kids correctly but in my daughters age and level it was obvious there were many dancers not leveled correctly. There was at least one in Sapphire that should have been Ruby, and three in Ruby that should have been Diamond. And only one little girl in Diamond all by herself. The leveling seem so difficult for some studios. For Minis and Petites, it may be helpful to highly suggest that if a student has had a solo more than one year, they should be considered competitive and placed as such (diamond). It\'s important for studios to stop trying to put them in a lower level so they win. It\'s about becoming a better dancer, not the trophy. Besides, the win is worth more when the child is actually challenged to earn it. So this past weekend the intermediate level (Ruby) was more competitive than the actual competitive level (Diamond). I look forward to finding a competition that cracks the code for proper leveling since studios are having such a hard time figuring it out. It is the elusive missing piece to almost every comp. I want to be clear though, on the whole, Showbiz is an excellent competition. It is a ton of fun and the critiques are extremely helpful! Everything we were looking for by participating. Thanks Showbiz!

We had a great experience at Showbiz. Justin,the backstage manager was a joy and my kids adored him. We liked that eqch dancer got a pin and had some thing to go home with.

I personally didn\'t like the set up of showbiz I felt the competition just wasn\'t right for my studio. I like how they gave the award at the end of the weekend for like the best dance or whatever it was called but other then that I didn\'t like it. I got a score of 295.3 but a girl wth a score of 291.8 beat me which I don\'t understand. The pictures they take and videos are absolutely embarrassing but I do like the live streams they do

EDITED TO ADD: Competed at an additional event later in the season and saw a shift in judging that was inconsistent. Seemed to favor flash over substance far more so than before. Disappointing. Hope it was just a quirk of the judging panel and not an indication of the direction the competition is going. ORIGINAL REVIEW: Was disappointed to see that Showbiz changed its awards structure this year. I preferred last year\'s format, in which routines were assigned levels based on scores. I felt it prevented some of the blatant leveling down that I see at some many competitions. With that being said, we still enjoyed the competition. Scoring seemed to be consistent. The dances which won were definitely deserving of the win - judges did not seem to reward flash over substance as some comps do. I like that they award title within each level, though I think there should be a minimum number of soloists in a level to do so. Several parents on my team complained that one male judge frequently texted/used his phone while dancers were on stage; however, I did not personally witness this because I was not really paying attention to the judges. The dancers from our studio love the MC - great personality and humor, interacts well with the kids.

It was a good competition. The owner is very personable. It did run up to two hours early, which got me home early both nights. I wish they would have done more judges choice awards. I love how they did the pictures. They were organized in folders by studio name and then dance or childs name. They did not give out any cash prizes. I do not like that the program did not have times they were supposed to perform in it. The program is only avaialbe online. I like how they had several short awards instead of 1 or 2 per day. Back stage crew was friendly.

Terrible competition. Only two judges, judging seemed oddly arbitrary. Overall winner name announced first as a dancer who didnt compete in that category! Although later amended, it lent suspicion as to accuracy in scoring. Routines were all out of order. Hopefully it was a one-time bobble.

Loved the competition itself but it ran 2 hours ahead of schedule both days. This was hard when it came to getting all our dancers there ahead of time. Very stressful for dancers, parents and teachers

This was our studio\'s first time at Showbiz. Absolutely loved it. The venue was perfect, couldn\'t be better (Ellie Caulkins Opera House)and they ran the competition with clockwork precision. In fact at our competition, we were running 1 - 1 1/2 hours ahead. Made for some fast scrambling by our dancers, but we survived. Kudos to the whole Showbiz crew.

Louisville got to nearly 1:30 ahead of schedule! There should be a limit to this madness! Numbers were practically announced before previous dancers were off the stage & no significant breaks to allow for possibility of slowing down. The too cheesy announcer was so proud of this & thanking everyone for keeping up...yet no one was enjoying the pace & lack of structure at that point! It is unfair to the dancers and their family members who frantically try to get there in time to watch what the kids have worked so hard for! Photos are overpriced in comparison to other competitions, and...who wants a plaque? Kids want trophies! I hope we skip Showbiz next season & I\'m thankful that our studio didn\'t choose to do their nationals!

LOVE SHOWBIZ! Ran about hour ahead of schedule, had live stream, solo are automatically entered for title and was able to print out program from home, awesome!

Good, well run large competition. Plaques/pins for general awards and trophies for overall tops and title. Organizers were courteous, professional and fun. I gave it 4 stars because the judging was a little interesting -- especially their choices for specials. Worked in our favor some of the time but it was almost as if they just \"picked a number.\" Overall a good experience and we would go back.

Very very large competition. Schedule ran on time which was much appreciated. Hated the 7:45 start (especially since my daughter was the 7:45 start). Emcee and stage staff beyond fun. Will definitely attend again.

We recently attended Showbiz for the first time. I loved the stage manager, he\'s very fun and funny and I love how he always makes the dancers give kudos to each other even though they are from different studios. Judging appears to be a little all over the place especially at the teen level. I would reccomend Showbiz though, it was a fun and well run comp, even though it was huge, we ran early all weekend.

Showbiz did not honor a solo scholarships awarded by its employee. Shame on you, Showbiz. Poor customer service.

Showbiz was okay...I loved the stage manager. He made all the dancers feel so relaxed and happy before going on stage. I love the mantra they make the dancers say before awards about sportsmanship and supporting each other. That\'s what dance is about! What I didn\'t like was the judges...they were soooooo harsh. I\'m the first to critique my dancers but I expect judges to at least say something positive even if it\'s \"nice smile\" I mean geez. My girls won numerous choreography, entertainment, and special awards with the same dance from several other well known competitions so I know objectively they weren\'t as bad as those judges made it seem. Also, all the top scoring routines had a million acro tricks, and tumbling passes regardless of the category. I saw so many routines from other groups that were beautiful technically, with great presentation and costuming...but no tricks and they got nothing. I really thought competitions were finally trying to go back to appreciating technique and ARTISTRY; but Showbiz still seems smitten by the acro and tricks bug...plus the scoring/level system is confusing and very unpopular as I spoke to parents and other studio owners.

We will continue to attend Showbiz because it\'s one of the FAIREST comps out there!

I agree they need to tweak their scoring but you can\'t deny the professionalism and kindness of the folks running Showbiz:) I was happy to see them at the summit and look forward to attending again in the future.

The rating system they used at awards was demeaning and upsetting to the dancers (who wants to do a solo and be told by the judges they are lower competitive level than they think they are?), and they seemed to spread awards around so that every studio got their fair share of each rating level when many made no sense at all. Dancers who veiwed themselves as intermediate but were put in \"sapphire\" (the equivilant of novice) barely wanted to come up and get their overall awards they were so upset. Same deal w/ advanced dancers who were put in \"ruby\" (intermediate). There are also dancers w/ multiple solos who scored in each level which is just crazy! I\'ve never seen so many dancers crying after a solo awards ceremony in my life (mostly the top winners in the lower levels). Their competition fees are also WAY above average and they didnt give out cash awards to winners. I know people complain about studios down-leveling advanced dancers so they will win more awards, but this was NOT the way to go about fixing that - it just really confused and upset a lot of young dancers and the judges were definitively not applying the rating levels fairly. This is not a comp I would ever like to return to again and I don\'t understand why they feel they can charge so much more than other, much better, competitions. They get 2 stars instead of 1 only because they ran on time.

We use to LOVE this competition... But the way they do the new scoring/rating system made things really difficult to understand. They always are so personable and enjoyable to work with so it\'s a bummer that we won\'t be returning back next year. Please go back to they way you use to have the levels.

The competition was well ran and even ahead of schedule. The staff were really nice and the director Mel B was very entertaining. The downside to whole competition was that they only gave away plaques-no trophies, no pins for group numbers. The kids in group numbers didn\'t leave with anything for themselves which was a huge disappointment. Nothing to show for their hard work but a plaque and even the plaques had stickers on them for whatever they placed. That was horrible. $40 for a group routine and couldn\'t even get a decent plaque for the studio.

Did not compete this year, however in years past it a well run, fair competition.

While it was a fun competition and ran ontime- even early, the new scoring/ rating system was really confusing. Most comps stick with the Gold, High Gold and Platinum ratings so this was all new and kind of frustrating!

We have attended Showbiz every year. This year, it was completely different. The rankings were extremely confusing - if you placed last, you were recognized as being the top sapphire level, which is a bit nonsensical. Back stage was disorganized. It just didn\'t seem like the Showbiz that we know and love.

We attended Showbiz for our first time this year and I wasn\'t impressed. The levels thing is weird and just outright confusing. They also presented my daughter with the wrong plaque for her solo and it gave her false hope that the announcer had just said it wrong. (she earned a platinum, but they gave her a double platinum) She was disappointed all over again after we had to go ask someone to confirm her score.

Ran ahead 1-1.5hrs which is good and bad. Judging was very hard which is good for the girls.

the competition wasn\'t bad, but the awards are rediculous! It took me a whole day to just figure out the award system!

Nice competition we quit going several years ago because they did not manage the times very well and it ran long ... Really long. My parents complained so we replaced it with others. The competition itself is good. Just had issues with getting acts on and off in a timely manner Did a lot of waiting on costume changes and prop stuff

Our city was much smaller than recent years (a mega studio that normally brings over 200 dances was not in attendance). Also, another major comp was the same weekend in town which really split the studios. So I am not sure if this year was a true representation of SB for us. Having said that, I did get a chance to speak with Mel directly about some of my concerns about the new SB/PT scoring system. She did explain some of the rationale which I appreciated. She also mentioned that SOs have the ability to level up for Nationals (we all know dancers can have a bad day), but not level down. Having attended both PT and SB, SB felt more \"accurate\" in their scoring in that advanced dancers scored in the Diamond category and Intermediate dancers scored in the Ruby category. Unlike PT, I did not see any dances place in the novice category (269.9 or lower). And just like PT, I did not see the highest adjudication (290+). Occasionally a placement surprised me, but overall, they seemed to be dead on. While I am still not a fan of the new PT/SB scoring, I do feel a little better about it. Live streaming is a huge plus since we have non-local family! And my big detractor for the weekend. Despite the live streaming, picture and video quality was pretty abysmal. I checked out all of the pictures from all of my kid\'s dances (6). There were maybe 1-2 pictures per dance that were good. Most were blurry, out of focus or just plain weird. It was obvious that the photographer glommed onto a single dancer in group dances; most pictures featured one dancer even in group dances, and if it wasn\'t your kid, then no pics for you in that dance! It was equally obvious that either the photography equipment needs updating or the photographer needs additional training in how to take action shots.

Don\'t like this. Awards are stupid... Diamond 1st... 1st... 2nd place 1st place? Wish it would stick to platinum, high gold, gold, ect. The judges totally say the opposite of the other. One judge didn\'t say one thing in a tape.

I really liked this competition. The staff was friendly and helpful- judging was fair and video critiques were helpful. The judges were enthusiastic as well. At first the adjudicated system seemed confusing but once I read over the rules it made sense and I actually liked it. We are looking forward to their Nationals this summer. It was our first time attending this competition and it seems like one we will attend again.

We thought it was very unprofessional. It was a big disappointment, and it was definitely not because of close mindedness. It was actually the competition we were most looking forward to last year. The judges seemed to only reward raunchy dancers. They barely paid attention to the dancers while they were on stage-- two of them left in the middle of my number as was pointed out to me by someone from a different studio for the record. On top of already having biased judging, the scoring system was entirely screwed up. I understand that it is partially to keep studios from cheating the competition-- which I\'d appreciate-- but this is far from an effective way to do that and causes more serious problems.

The event I attended ran on time for the most part. Loved that the announcer spoke clearly when he read off the scores. Judging seemed fair. I would go back. The scoring system was confusing at first, but made sense once I read the rules. Part of me thinks that the teachers know their students and should be the ones to assign the levels. Part of me, however, likes that they assign the division, so certain studios can\'t put dancers in lower divisions than they should be so that they sweep the overalls. No good answer to that problem, though.

Mel the host was terrific and the competition ran right on schedule - very professional. That said, the scoring was insane and HAS to be fixed. Everyone competes together and then at awards they tell the dancers what division they wound up in. There were some crazy folk dances that just weren\'t on par with the other dances from a skill and technique standpoint, yet they received the highest possible score in a lower division - their studio owners were screaming and carrying on like they\'d won the Olympic gold. It made a lower score for a more challenging, technique-based routine in a higher division seem like less of an achievement. None of this is spelled out up front. If Showbiz can fix this they\'ll have a MUCH better competition - one that we would return to.

We attended this competition as the only person from our studio. POSITIVES: it is live streamed so family/friends from a distance can watch your dancer. Critiques were good and scoring was hard (mostly). The staff is very friendly! NEGATIVES: Competiton ran perpetually an hour behind. Junior solos (9 and 10 year old kids) were going on stage on SUNDAY night after 11PM. Awards not over until well past midnight. Got my daughter in bed at 1:40AM. I wish they would reject entries like us (only solos) if the competition is this full.

Couldn\'t hear the music. Scoring was extremely bizarre. Couldn\'t hear tap or clogging sounds. Whole competition was between an half and hour to an hour ahead. One large dressing room for all studios to share. Small temporary stage. Couldn\'t see through the elevated judges, who had no idea how to judge tap or clogging. Terrible venue choice,terrible judging, and terrible competition experience. Better luck next year, hopefully it won\'t be so awful if we even come back.

I have attended this comp for the past 4 years. Apparently they have gone through some changes and I wanted to leave such a horrible review after last year but decided not to. Then our studio decided to go again and I must say again it was a disappointment. So here is my review for the past two years. The scheduling was horrible last year. While most comps start late in the afternoon for Friday comps, this one not only started Friday morning with the minis at 8:00 a.m., they didn\'t send out the schedule until the Monday night before. Poor planning and completely over booked. So all mini and junior solos were all day on Friday. The minis before lunch and juniors after, however they didn\'t do awards for the minis until 9:00 that night. ALL THEY HAD was solos that day, why should the minis be there for over 12 hours? On the positive, they were giving out scholarships to their new workshop to the winning numbers in each division and to the miss/mr showbiz winners. always love freebies!!! So this year they did not over book, but again decided to change things up and add different levels. However the levels are determined by the judges and not the studio, so know one knows what division they are in until awards. All the children were so confused when they got off of the stage and became disappointed when they found out what division they ended up in. Also in years past they did a Mr/Ms Showbiz and a costume winner for each division, now they only do one for the entire age group. They also claim on the website that they do a top 10 for each division but in reality they only do it for the Diamond and Ruby division, the other two only get one top score announced. The schedule ran true to order, but they ran about 30-40 minutes late most of the time. I can\'t remember last year, but this year it was clear that they reward tricks way more then actual dancing or technique. While I enjoy tricks and the entertainment of them, I also enjoy watching a beautiful routine done with emotion and beautiful lines and feet to simple choreography. I seen so many of those that went overlooked. Also no extras were given, no special awards and no scholarships for the workshops to anyone. On the positive note the live stream is awesome. The photos were much better this year than last year. Last year you were not able to order online only at that time and place, but this year SUPPOSEDLY you can order them online after the show if you want more. The photos are grossly overpriced, but some are worth it if they come out really good. I like that they sell earring and other merchandise onsite. I think the studio finally agrees that we will skip this comp from here on out. I did rate their sister workshop/convention great. Not sure if the same people run this, but if they do then they are much better at workshops that competitions. Please go back to the way things were. One of the reasons why we always liked Showbiz was because there was something for all levels without costing a fortune.

They are very professional, run on-time and reward good technique!

Excellent! Love that every girl is automatically entered to be Miss Showbiz!!!

Hard but fair, good critiques. The staff was super friendly and very accomodating. Would love to go back!

We Found This Comp To Be Hard But Fair. Ran On Time And Professional.

I found the competition brought out different schools than we typically compete against however, some of the judges comments were more than constructive criticism and at times downright mean. My dancers is very young and after hearing some of the critiques she contemplated no longer competing.

Judges seem to show preference to certain larger studios. My daughter who places in top 5 for solos in 5-6 other competitions each year, has never placed at Showbiz.

Love Showbiz! Can't wait for 2014!!

Great staff. Judging seemed right on. Schedule was good for all ages. Our dancers LOVE competing at Showbiz!

Great Competition and ran smoothly.

Well put together, done on time, sounding was just right. I hated we only did showbiz once this season.

Great competition! Comp ran on time, fair/quality judging, couldn\'t ask for more. Thanks!!!

Loved this competition! Heading for the Nationals this weekend in Arlington, TX. with 3 of our soloists. Hoping to bring entire team to nationals next year. The only drawback to this comp really has nothing to do with the comp itself. The video people had no way for you to view your video before purchasing. Seemed odd when all other comps, especially ones with in-house video allow you not only to see your video, but also you get to walk out the door with it if you purchase it.

Another favorite. Great, friendly staff. Nice awards with a normal length awards ceremony. Lots of opportunities for recognition. Good judges with good critiques.

Ran like a well-oiled machine. The judging was very good & their critiques were actually very helpful and detailed. Will be back!

The competition was nicely run, prompt, and everyone was helpful and friendly. BUT did not love the judging- dancers were marked down for costuming, etc for no apparent reason.

Nicely run. Organized

Good competition. They did run early, but not so early that it caused panic.

Good competition! Well run, fun for the kids, good judging!