COMPETITION DETAIL

We have done Stage One off and on for years. The quality of judge critiques is never great. The last time we attended, none of the judges could even properly pronounce the name of my daughter's well known ballet variation. Nor did they use correct ballet terminology. I feel strongly that the majority of judges on a panel should be well versed in ballet. This comp also really loves the big studios and it shows in results. Judges score routines with tricks and turns higher than routines that showcase artistry. Which is fine, but our kids need better feedback on their critiques. I am encouraging our studio to skip this one next year. Staff and ownership are very friendly. Runs on time and is well organized.

Other than running back and forth in two different room where our girls were dancing it was a great competition. They use two stages in two different rooms which at times made if very difficult to see all of our studios routines on stage especially during petite and junior solos. Other than that judging and awards were great, quick and to the point. Easy to follow along.

Love this competition, judging was good, venue was great, and love the fairness of the competition.

This was a great event. Our first time going and enjoyed seeing that the judges held all studio's accountable for placement of levels of routines by bumping up those (without any punishment) for routines they felt should compete at a higher level. I also enjoyed the judges comments that really helped us out not just with technical pointers but also with suggestions on making the dance routine as a whole from costuming, to music selections to formations and variations for choreography even better for knowing how to adjust for the next competition. Award system was a bit confusing to figure out with the 1st place high point rating - Still confused on that one. But other than that we truly enjoyed & look forward to attending again next year.

We pay good money to get good comments to help our children become better dancers. Judges simply saying "that's good" and nothing else is not helpful and is a waste of my money. I am so angry with this competition and will never be back.

Great comp!!

Have always loved this competition.

Went to Mason StageOne. The shuttle deal was a mess. Played whip/nae nae song too many times in a day...and uptown funk. Have pity on the parents who have to sit through the awards please.

I\'ve been attending Stage One since I began dancing and I truly cannot say enough nice things. The staff is always friendly, the atmosphere is fun, it runs on time, and most of all we look forward to having our hard work rewarded. As a smaller studio I especially cannot say enough about how important special awards and the ability to have levels is to us. As a dancer I love the trophies and merchandise you sell (although I wish it wasn\'t so overpriced) All in all Stage One is worth the price tag and will deliver you a classic competition feel without all the Dance Moms drama!

Absolutely our favorite because of their clean values and family oriented convention, unlike all the rest!

Love the staff! And they give back for Cancer! \"I\'m A Dancer for Cancer!\" Positive experience for the last 6 years.

Stage workers were used as judges which is very shady and unprofessional. I didn\'t trust the results or scoring based on the fact that the judges listed in the program were not the only ones announced and some were seen prior handing out trophies and working backstage. Also there were lots of breaks were we were waiting on judges. It wasn\'t very exciting. Love competitions were the kids have fun and enjoy themselves!

UPDATE! We attended this competition last year and I didn\'t like it. I didn\'t have any specific complaints, I just felt like it didn\'t have the energy we are used to. Well, we attended again this year and many of the things I didn\'t like about it last year had improved. The energy was good, they moved the competition along better. It was just overall a lot more fun. We\'re attending nationals and I am looking forward to it!

Love this competition. Ran very smooth and they were very nice about switching around routines if kids were in routines that ran too close together. Very fair and unbiased judging. Awards went very smooth. Overall a wonderful experience and my daughter had a wonderful time. Can\'t wait to see you all again at nationals in Gatlinburg!

Was ran smooth and on time. We always enjoy Stage One.

Please come back to NC!!

It was fine. It was mostly a smooth running show except awards were a little rushed and confusing. They crammed a lot of routines into the award breaks that we participated in. Also, parking was $20 (cash only) per day unless you wanted to walk 3/4 of a mile in the rain. Also, the doors opened 30 minutes before my daughter was scheduled to perform. It would have been nice to have a place to do make-up and hair since petite solos were right after (during) school. Lastly, the judging was not awesome. We placed very well but there were some acts that were technically superior and should have made the top 5 but didn\'t place at all. This isn\'t our type of comp and probably won\'t go back. However, it was not a completely terrible experience.

We love this competition, it always runs smoothly and our dancers truly have fun

Loves larger studios, and if you are from the OKC area, you will do well since that\'s where they are based. If you\'re traveling into OKC from the surrounding areas, good luck. Staff is helpful, well run, my only complaint is bias in judging.

Good comp. Ran well, like how they post winning numbers on you tube. Seemed to be fair judging. Awards were easy to follow.

This is one of my sons favorites! We will ALWAYS continue to attend. As with most comps, the more routines a studio brings, the better they do, but StageOne is definitely one of the more fair comps. Would LOVE to get our studio to attend this.

My favorite competition! Not crazy about starting during the week, when our kids are still in school. It\'s already a stressful time of year thanks to all the testing required anymore. Missing school to dance doesn\'t help.

We love Greg and his staff. This year they added a Double Platinum. I don\'t understand the point really. Now they just give out more Platinums and less High Golds. I don\'t remember ever hearing a Gold at this past competition in any of our award ceremonies. What happened to just Gold, Silver and Bronze like when I was growing up? Other than that, Stage One is our favorite competition we go to. They typically run early, which we don\'t mind, especially when you have award ceremonies lasting until late at night with dances early the next morning. This year they began a day earlier too (Thursday starting around 4pm and Friday at noon). A lot of dancers had to miss school which I don\'t think is okay, especially during end of the year testing season.

Kind of liked that they scheduled by age, but it did make for a quick costume change. As a competition new-by, we were lost at awards and our kids thought they\'d been forgotten before they were finally announced.

Loved the staff at this competition. They are great with allowing extra time for companies with multiple dances that need time for quick changes. However, the ballroom setup makes people forget that they are in a theater like space. People tend to just stand around in the middle of the audience and children run around everywhere, which makes it hard to view the dances a lot of the time.

Good. In past years this was the best competition. Now it runs two rooms at regionals which means I miss most of the awards ceremonies.i don\'t like that. Staff is still friendly

Attended Stage One this past weekend. Pros: ran on time, accommodating when we needed to go early in a different category to gain time for a costume change. Cons: too much time between each routine- they would announce the next 3 numbers between each routine and it was confusing to the dancers as to when to go on stage and just took up time that was unnecessary, schedule was not followed (haha, see my pro about them letting us go early)- my daughter was backstage ready for her solo and they bumped her without any explanation 3 times, levels were a mess. I appreciate leveling somewhat- a novice level and a competitive level work great, but having 3 levels of dancers competing at the same time is confusing. Petite soloists for all 3 levels danced intermittently and had awards together, followed by all of the Elite Star junior soloists and then the Shooting Star and Rising Star juniors went the next day. To me it would have made a lot more sense to have all of the petite shooting star and rising star soloists dance with the junior shooting stars and rising stars and then have the petite and junior elites go together. Doing it the way they did made it even more glaringly apparent that dancers were not entered at the correct level. I also would\'ve preferred to see large and small groups of the same level competing against each other as opposed to having all of the large groups from all 3 levels together. My daughter\'s group ended up with 4 dances in their division/competitive level and 3 of those dances were hers! So, we really only competed against one dance. One dance! We spent a lot of money and time to go compete our 3 dances against themselves and one other dance. To me, there was also a lack of excitement. I can\'t put my finger on it, but it just didn\'t have the same feel as other competitions we\'ve attended.

Have attended this one in past years and thought it ran very smoothly. HOWEVER, this is one of those that LOVES the larger studios and seems to show some favoritism. Also, really loves to reward dances that ARE NOT AGE APPROPRIATE! I am one of those that get embarrassed by suggestive costumes, moves and song choices that would be found in a Las Vegas show, not on young children! Nevertheless, these type numbers always seem to come out on top! So much for \"age appropriateness\" according to the rules!!!!

I think they need to give more tough love to the kids and push the kids harder but other than that i liked the energy level the dancers had

Probably the best at explaining the awards and how folks scored. Wish they would chose venues with actual stages instead of ballrooms. For the money paid to enter, we should receive video critiques, not just audio.

We have competed at stage one several times. We have never been disappointed. My daughter moved up in age group this year and she received excellent critiques to help her improve!

Nice large stage. Kept to the schedule and awards were explained before being announced. Staff was very friendly and encouraging.

Great competition with very friendly staff and great critiques. Very fun day. Love that their \"title\" is selected from only dancers who dance in groups so that someone can\'t come in and do two solos, win title and leave. (We were only solos and I was glad to see someone who danced all weekend get some recognition that was deserved!). Great competition!

reg. and nationals are scored so much different wasn\'t inpressed with judging and the score differnces.

Always had great experience at Stage One regionals and Nationals!

Had a good experience our first go round with competitions.

We will not go back to this competition...horrible sound tech....nearly all of the soloists that performed music stopped in the middle of the dance.

Well organized and very professional, judging well done. Stage and lighting was great. Ran on time we loved this competition it was great.

Super well organized and professional competition. The stage, lighting, equipment all very nice. Staff is friendly and helpful. The judging is very tough, but didn\'t see favoritism towards larger studios at the one we attended. We would definitely go back.

We LOVE this competition! The Director is one of the nicest men in the business!! Do not agree with the below posts about no love for small studios. We are a small studio from a small town and always feel very special at Stage One. The judges are tough, but who wants to go to a competition and win trophies if you don\'t deserve them! Now, if we could just get them to find a date in OKC that wasn\'t spring break this year! :)

This is our favorite competition! Love the special awards and how well organized it is.

One of my favorite competitions! I don\'t agree with the other reviews. I come from a smaller studio and our pieces did very well. The judging is tough. The director is very nice and their merchandise is high quality.

I agree there is a bit favoritism towards the mega studios.

Not a great experience. They show favor to the studios who bring large amounts of entries. They print rules in their program but refuse to enforce them. Will NEVER attend this competition again.