COMPETITION DETAIL

Competition donates to good causes however experience was disappointing, venue changed at last minute, not their fault however no extras steps were taken to make sure experience for young dancers was in their best interest. Scoring was not align with last minute changes including a not proper stage for dancers. No COVID protocols to ensure safety of dancers were in place with the exception of limiting audience. Fees were along other competitions even higher, not a good experience.

An excellent competition. Well run, thoughtful and fair. We LOVE what they stand for as well.

Like this company and everything they stand for!

The premise of this competition is great and I really wanted to like it. Unfortunately the judging was unfair, inconsistent, and clearly biased. We attended both a regional and a national competition (I was hoping the nationals would be better). Unfortunately the national competition was the worst I have ever been to over years of competitions. The judges went on and on about how much they love musical theater and how jazz or lyrical can be similar to musical theater and tell a story which they love. None of the judges talked positively about other styles of dance (at least not when we were there). There were dancers who stood and looked around uncomfortably on stage at times but they got high scores, while dancers who danced beautifully did not score as well (in the same category and level). The dancers who did win talked about their "charity" which was different than the one listed, and ended up being a gymnastics gym (is that a charity?). At most national competitions there are master classes and I'm actually not sure if this one had any because there were none listed in the book nor were we advised of any classes, however in the dressing room some of the dancers referenced classes at the venue and the emcee talked to some of the dancers about them being "in class tomorrow". Those dancers were not in categories to compete the following day. This competition was organized and has a good premise but that is not enough when the judging is so blatantly unfair and inconsistent. We do multiple competitions every year and we will not be back to this one.

We attended this competition for the first time last year, and we thought it was great! Everything was well organized and ran smoothly, and the Director is very friendly and you can tell puts a lot of time and effort into this competition. We especially love that the dancers get to see what their competition fees go towards and how much money we raise for charity! There is no other competition that does this while maintaining similar entry fees as others. With a plethora of other competitions in my area (MA), I have added Power of Dance to our regular schedule for each season to come!

We have attended The Power of Dance every other year for the last six years. This year was particularly well run and we attended their nationals. Our studio raised over $1,000 for our charity, and I am so happy for the kids to learn the lesson of dancing for a cause!!

COMPETITION REVIEW - Schedule - the schedule of numbers was followed, nothing unusual or out of ordinary. Facility - Oswego HS was nice, fairly far out of Chicago for those traveling in, but nice area with plenty of amenities near. Competition - judging was fine, nothing great...nothing odd...was to be expected for a national competition. Awards - OK, nothing stellar, just fine for the ceremony...didn't run too far over. If this was the end of the experience would have given 3 out of 5...nice competition if it fits your schedule, wouldn't go out of way to attend. Please see my media only review for media experience.

MEDIA ONLY REVIEW, NOT COMPETITION REVIEW - Our studio purchased all media in advance, all videos and all still images of every routine our studio entered into the competition. We pay in advance, and they are to be delivered afterwards. The competition was March 17th. Information came after follow up emails from the studio sent to Power of Dance several weeks later, the news: "technical" difficulties, lost images, lost videos, problems recovering from crashed systems by the vendor Power of Dance selected. I'm just a parent, but as I understand the back and forth between the studio and Power of Dance, somewhere around 40-60% of the original image/video content exists. Some numbers have nothing, some numbers are complete. So our studio has requested a full refund...ends up that each individual family must go through the images and decide to request a refund on their own if desired. My advice as a parent, don't purchase the all inclusive media option as they do not have a secure way of backing up files to ensure they can deliver on what was sold and payed for in advance. In this day and age with modern DSLR dual card bodies, redundant hard drive work flow on site and in post production during edit, as well as on-line back up services/systems all along the way when dealing with one time only images/videos, it is inexcusable to lose images/videos as a professional photographer/videographer. The detriment is that many families bypassed other media purchases during the season (at other competitions) as this option of "all" still & video was appealing, and they made plans to purchase these images/videos of their child/children in lieu of those other events. My media experience review is a 1 out of 5. What was otherwise an OK event has been tainted due to mishandling of digital content.

The good thing about the competition is that it teaches the kids to use their talents to help other people.

We did this competition and liked it. Judging was very fair. The venue was not the greatest but it was a very small competition. I would have my daughter do it again.

Not a well organized event. Staff were unprepared, confused about the awards they were giving, and gave the wrong awards to several groups. They had nothing listed in the program (nor on the website) to explain their unique awards (ruby, diamond, blue diamond), and when the dancers seemed confused what they meant on stage, the emcee laughed that they didn\'t know how their scoring system worked. Many issues with the sound system, bad speakers, and songs stopping mid-dance. Lastly, and probably most disappointing, was that the judges openly admitted to the studio owners that they never read the essays written by the title contenders. We will not be attending this competition again this year, even though our groups and soloists all did quite well.

I adore this competition brought my students for the first time in April this year to the Chicago event and it was wonderful. Love the nice touch that each dancer gets an engraved trophy to take home as well that isn\'t very common and my dancers loved it. Will keep coming back to this one and highly recommend to others! :)

First time May of 2016 at this competition. It was organized, friendly, well run, classy. Fair judging, one judge particularly helpful as far as comments, I do wish the other two had as much to say. Ran early, was held at a good, clean venue. We don\'t do a lot of competition but was glad we chose this one last year and will do it again.

Wonderful competition. Ran ahead of schedule, friendly staff, positive and organized environment. Will definitely be back!

Review Has Been Locked - Disputed

This is NOT a competition for serious competitive dance studios. First, the sound system was TERRIBLE! Many girls stood on stage for a minute before instructors pulled them off because the music hadn\'t started. Some dancers had their music stop, so they kept dancing, but 15 seconds later, the music would start - however the dancer had already moved on. It was a mess. Several performances had to start over & a few finished without music. Also, the speakers sounded blown as the music was very soft & when turned up the bass was distorted. Regarding the awards ceremony: - Judges took approximately 25 minutes to prepare for the ceremony - while soft music played & no fun dancing etc. - The announcer was CLUELESS and VERY unorganized. - Judges did NOT judge on technique - not sure what they looked at. - Several dances were given the wrong rating & then later corrected. Many were awarded Diamond, only to later learn they only scored Ruby. Not cool. - Award levels are not explained in the program. Parents were clueless as to what Ruby, Diamond, Blue Diamond, etc. meant. - Award winners are not properly recognized. For choreography awards, they don\'t even ask the choreographers name & don\'t invite them up on stage. - Judges loved dance performances which were not unique, not technically executed, but cute.

My daughter is a special needs dancer.The staff at this competition went above and beyond to make it extra special for her. I would definitely do it it again.

My daughter loved this competition. It was very family friendly. Only comment would be it took a while to tally scores and get the awards going. Other then that we loved it.

Good concept however, hyper conservative judges who commented almost every dancer on their own personal opinions on what is \"appropriate\" for dancers such as wearing tights, two piece costumes ect. Comments bordered on insulting at times. Also very unorganized and not formal at all. Good for recreational or novice studios.

Went to the competition for the first time this year! We had a blast! We love what they are doing, as they are the only ones ho are. It was so much fun and the gave $4,000.00 to charities! Incredible!! I also really liked the sound guy! He was hilarious and kept everything running smoothly! Overall an excellent experience

We just finished this competition (May 1 - May 3, LI NY) and I love their concept. Our studio did really well, 95% of our dances received Diamond. The backstage staff was really friendly and accomodating and the judges were great. I even enjoyed the judges awards as they appeared to be well thought out and not cheesy like we see alot. Although they did appear to be a bit unorganized at the start the event did run on time. My biggest complaint is with their sound tech, he was awful just completely awful. The music was either blarring so loud the speakers were crackling or it was so low that you couldn\'t hear it. At one point there were a group of dancers on stage ready to start their piece when he decided to go into a tirade about something and we couldn\'t even hear what he was saying. One studio asked him to turn the volume up during their number...he did....to full volume, it was so loud the dancers on stage jumped back. There were also several times he started the music before the dancers were in position causing them to have to start their piece over. All in all it was a mostly positive experience.

Review Has Been Locked - 'Disputed'

PROS: (1) Concept is amazing, my kids LOVE competing to raise money for charity. There are no other competitions that offer this. (2) Communication - Kevin (Director) is great to communicate with and always responds immediately through Facebook or email. He really cares about his competition, but also seems to be doing EVERYTHING. (3) Ran on time, they take a lunch break. CONS: (1) Awards took 45 min to prep for and tally. Teens /Sr solos/duets did not receive special awards or plaques for their overall placement. Also EVERY group received an overall placement (5 dances in the category = a 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th). Essentially every routine gets read twice (once for adjudication and once for overall) - making the process so long. Could have been that we were at a smaller competition, so less groups, but it did make for a long process. Solos they did Top 10, which was fine. 1st place winners were only asked studio name / charity. Wish they mentioned choreographer. (2) Inconsistent awards/scores - Dancers should have received a higher / lower award based on the scoresheet but were given a different award on stage (ie: scored \"Diamond\" but received \"Ruby\"). (3) Lack of staff - It felt like they needed 1-2 more staff people. Everyone was doing double-duty (4) No assigned dressing rooms: this is the only competition that we attend that does not assign dressing rooms and it creates a very hostile environment in the dressing areas with all schools \"claiming\" space and not sharing. Undermines the positive vibe of the rest of the competition. Seems like a simple fix. (5) Photo vendor only had 2 laptops to look at and no online viewing post-competition. Only option afterward is to buy photos sight unseen. Please allow photos to be taken by parents or offer a vendor who is more professional.

The concept is amazing and awards are easy to understand, but it seems very un-proffesional

Throughly enjoyed this competition! Great to dance for charity and have our dancers recognized for their love of the art!

Favorite competition to be at. The kids learn that they can use their talents to help others. Judging is easy for parents to understand. The personalized trophies for all participants is a nice touch and is good for younger dancers especially.

The concept is wonderful but they are lacking in staff and management qualities.

We love the concept behind this competition! It allows us to teach our dancers that they do have the power to use an activity/sport that means a lot to them, to raise money for those in need. This year\'s event was very well run, more so than in previous years. Excellent staff, very professional and friendly. Awards ceremonies were thorough but brief, which we all appreciate. We love how each dancer gets a small trophy with their name on it. We also like that this competition seems to draw studios that are genuinely nice and good sports, as well as being top notch dancers. We will certainly go back to The Power of Dance.

We really enjoyed this competition. First I love the idea of this competition. Competing for charity was a good feeling. There were just a couple snafus for me. The first day the sound was just awful. You couldn\'t hear any lyrics to the music and it just seemed loud. I thought maybe this was due to the space being very open and vast. By that evening it was better and by the 2nd day it was fine. The particular venue we were at had full lights on all the time. Due to this it lost some of the ambience of a stage show. Those would be my only 2 complaints though. What we loved. Judging was fair and made total sense. Judges seemed very attentive to each routine on stage. There were special and choreography awards given by each judge at each awards ceremony. This was a definite plus for us. LOVED this. Best of all my dancers said the critiques they received were great. Really helpful, applicable and at the same time complimentary. Overall The Power Of Dance was a very enjoyable weekend.

The lessons that my students learned from this competition, with a heart, was awesome. Sometimes schedule went off, but I tell you, all competitions need to go this route. Make it about what dance can do for others.

This competition was great for the dancers. It wasn\'t your average competition. The kids learned that it wasn\'t just about the ribbons and trophies, but they were making a difference. It ran very smoothly (the score calculation could have gone a little quicker). Huge bonus - because there was no photo/video vendor we were able to tape our studio\'s performances.

We attended Power of Dance for the first time last year. Our studio enjoyed the competition from start to finish. The atmosphere was relaxed, the studios participating were friendly and dancing for a cause was a great added bonus! We will return this year and hope to see a Nationals added to the schedule!

Our studio has been going to this competition for the last 4 years or so. The director of this competition is awesome! Takes suggestions seriously. I love that he has a son and understands the need for enough changing space for boys as well as girls! (I have a son and daughter both). I love that every participant get a trophy and all the kids are extremely happy to dance for a cause! Very well run and in our area, never has been cancelled due to lack of participation!

The Power of Dance is still fairly new, only been around a few years and growing each and every year. I\'ve been involved as a judge and I\'m very picky about who I judge for and there are competitions I would never judge for again. The studios that go to TPOD leave inspired by each other and feeling good about dancing for the benefit of someone else. The poster contests and other things that Kevin does to get as much money to the charities is commendable. Kevin has probably the biggest heart of any competition director. Some things are getting ironed out and the competition is open to improving and being the best it can be. Occasionally a comp has been canceled but it\'s happening less and less as they are getting more known. I definitely recommend giving them a try. It\'s a great message for all dancers. You won\'t regret it.

The message the competition sends is great: Each studio picks a charity and 10% of your entry fees are donated to that charity. For each top award your studio wins, he donates more money to said charity, which is pretty cool. At the end of the competition, he wrote a check for $3,000 to the charity of our choice. The problem is that no one goes to these competitions. If there were more entries or more talent to compete against, it would be awesome. The owner is very friendly and nice to work with. Each dancer got a personalized trophy to take home with them, which was also really cool. I would give it 5 stars, but the shows often get cancelled due to a lack of entries.