COMPETITION DETAIL

When teams and soloists place at competitions like JUMP, Nuvo, 24seven and NYCDA over teams placing at this competition with poor level technique, something is wrong. I hope studios stay clear of this competition. I have no idea where they get these judges. Awards are super fast and super cheap. No givens scholarships here either. Owner flies by the awards in rush which is rude given the amount of money paid. Also, rumor is, if your a small studio, or small team, don’t even bother here, it’s highly favored for big team and big studios. Which obviously, it’s all about money and not technique. Unfair judging, sexually themed and explicit music is tolerable regardless of rules given.the venue was at ancient high school and the auditorium was horrible. Music was way too loud. Overall worst competition. This guy is making money, next year it won’t be mine!

I agree with much of what Zoradancemom said in her review. The judging was relatively consistent for the younger dancers, but when it came to teens, most of what placed was decidedly not family-friendly as their rules stated would be required. The venue was fantastic if colder than any I've attended. This was the first time that dressing rooms were assigned which was nice. However, this is the first competition we've attended where there was zero communication about how and when photos would be delivered, and the website is not maintained at all. The general schedule was never available on the site, placement information is nowhere to be found, and the photos tab has an apology for video issues from 2022. Loved that the event ran quickly, but not thrilled with much else.

When dancers place at competitions like Nuvo, 24/7, Radix, etc, and not at here, one has to question.. when a tapper with very minimal tap technique places 1st in a tap category over tappers with obvious high level tap technique, one has to question. When my dancer’s (and other dancers at our studio) highly technical AND entertaining solo does not place, but another solo which has a lot less technique and not as entertaining is able to place , one has to question.. Yes, I understand that competitions are subjective, but when dancers, parents, and dance teachers question the legitimacy of scoring, I say steer clear. When I watch a competition, I can usually see why my dancer doesn’t place well and I have no issues.. This one had me scratching my head. Pros: ran 1 hour ahead, nice venue, nice staff, ran smoothly, photos and videos included Cons: Everything else! The judging makes no sense, especially in the competitive Solo/Duo/Trios. I also saw a lot more sexualized themes than any other competition we have been to in 7 years. Our studio has decided not to return to this one… and not because we didn’t do well, some of our young dancers and groups did fairly well. But because of the blatant overall scoring discrepancies. I would advise parents to tell your studio owners not to go to this competition if you want fair scoring.

New competition for us. We come from a smaller studio and only sent a handful of our elite dancers to this one. Went up against dancers that our studio has beat repeatedly at high level comps like JUMP, Nuvo, 24seven and NYCDA. None of our dancers placed in the overalls. It seemed like the larger studios were favored. I will say though that the staff was amazing from the store clerk to back stage manager. The competition ran smoothly and ahead of schedule. Awards were very fast without useless judges awards. I would like to see more fair judging. It seemed like 85% received platinums and the rest high golds. Will not be returning to this one.

I love The Countdown!! Judging is fair, positive and encouraging. Dennis is great and always talks to the parents and kids. It's well run and usually runs ahead of schedule. My only issue was they misread the title winners. My daughter was second runner up and another girl from our studio was first runner up, yet both of my daughter's solos scored higher on her title score sheets then the first runner up. Other then that we were so happy with our experience at countdown!!

This is a lower budget competition but it is well run and the judging seemed reasonable. The staff is friendly and helpful. I do think they need to improve upon their awards. They were cheap awards and they didn't give anything to the overall lineup. It was really awkward to the girls to be announced and stand there with nothing in their hand. Awards are not expensive when purchased in bulk. Countdown needs to step it up and provide more awards.

Thank you, Dennis, for your wonderful customer service and personalized experience you provide. Your passion for creating a great experience at your competition truly shines through your work ethic and cooperation with me as a studio owner. Countdown will continue to be one of our studio's favorite competition each and every season!

From what I saw this competition completely favors the larger studios! I started talking to different parents from different studios as I like to be social, and the kids that were there competing independently or as a single entry (under their studio name) all had the same story... that the owner personally invited them. I said ok, thats nice of him to go out of his way. But then when awards time came most of those dancers got completely screwed. Meaning either they didn't place or they placed low. Seeing some amazing dancers not place over some larger studio kids who were in all honesty not very good was mouth dropping. At one point I even saw the owner of the competition come sit to watch solo performances for a large studio that was said to "follow him everywhere" & then get up and leave when other kids performed. The awards are terrible. They hand out cheap cardboard trophies when they are charging about the same for solos as other larger competitions. Title winners dont get crowns. And overalls get absolutely nothing. The competition owner is the MC for awards and he is a bore. Doesnt make awards fun for the kids at all and always sounds like he's in a rush to finish awards. Completely disconnected. Hire a fun MC with all that money your saving with those cheap cardboard trophies. My one star is for the photo/video company and march table. They have good photos and videos but thats about it. We gave The Countdown several chances. But we won't be returning to this competition. We were first drawn to TCD seeing some well known dancers competing here, but I see now its just for promotion purposes for the owner. Truthfully the worst competition we've ever been to. Skip this one.

This competition was very well run. My only complaint is that the kids receive absolutely nothing. We\'ve been going to competitions for three years and this is the first we\'ve come across where the kids didn\'t even get pins. This alone would make this a deal breaker for the kids to not go back next year. That\'s just being greedy. Kids deserve some sort of momento.

Still a great comp!! Everyone on staff was super friendly. Ran on time or early. Very well organized too. Even the awards ceremonies went off without a hitch. Well done Countdown!! Judging was mostly fair. But, I didn\'t see anything onstage that was inappropriate. Could just be our area. My only complaint was there was a studio that the judges and emcee obviously knew. Normally, I have no issue with that. It happens. But they obviously loved one soloist whose skills were below par. A waist high fan kick, etc. is not what deserves a Platinum. Don\'t give high golds to other soloists who did better if you want to give a platinum to this one.

this was a fun comps!!

Great front staff, great backstage staff, well run competition that runs on time. Would like to see things a little bit more about the kids. Did not see any favoritism to large or small studios. Which brings me to a point. For those who feel the larger studios get favoritism think of it as a drawing. If there are a hundred raffle tickets and one person holds 50 of them (ie the larger studio has many more routines entered) then that person has a greater chance of walking away with more then one of the raffle prizes why someone holding only 3 ticket (ie the smaller studio with a limited number of routines) may not win any raffle prizes. The judges at all competitions do there best to get it right for that day and time. Another day probably another outcome. Keep up the great work Countdown.

This used to be my favorite dance competition. This past year things have changed. It was obvious that the larger studios were favored. Not sure how dancers were adjudicated, but It apparently had nothing to do with technique. I understand that performance is part of the scoring, but when you have dancers who are clearly leaps and bounds stronger in technique and don\'t score as well as less technically clean dancers, it\'s not right! Everyone sees it, including the dancers. Awards used to be fun filled with music and dancing. Now they are boring. Girls just sit on the stage and wait for their scores to be announced. I sure hope it goes back to the way it used to be..

I understand as competition owner you can\'t control what is brought to a competition but to award routines that are inappropriate and have explicit music get platinums and place overalls? As a mother to a 6 year old I find this very disturbing

The awards don\'t drag on, which is nice. They ran ahead/early - which was great - the whole weekend we didn\'t run behind. I dislike how the kids get NOTHING for placing in high point/overalls unless they get first - not a pin, a ribbon...nothing at all. Also, the judges REALLY seemed to like the extremely sexy and not quite age-appropriate dances - those scored really well. A bit disturbing. Not a favorite competition of ours, that\'s for sure...

Great competition, we loved it. I appreciate that they don\'t start on Fridays before 4pm or go to late.Lots if awards and overalls.

This completion is one of the (many) reasons I pulled my girls from competitive dance AND I AM DANCE TEACHER!! its hurts my heart that parents put their daughters on stage with the \"sex sells\" mentality and it disgusted me that it works! I couldn\'t believe how many dances we saw that where down right inappropriate (even to my college age coworkers view point!) and of course...they all got high scores!! the countdown judges aren\'t standing up for your daughters.

This was a Great competition. It ran smoothly. The owner and all staff were super friendly to the kids. Very importantly judging was fair and consistent. My daughter is in a smaller studio but the judges didn\'t seem to \"FAVOR\" larger studios like many other competitions we have been to.

Done this one for the past four years. I found their staff to be super friendly including the owner. Actually this is the only comp that I actually know who the owner is, I don\'t pay much attention usually. It is well run, on time or early and mostly stays in order. Who could ask for more? My only con is that they rush to get to awards and sometimes they aren\'t fully ready. I would rather wait a few more minutes and have awards run smoothly. We will be back.

We had a good time at countdown. The owner was a tad snotty and too busy to say hi to the kids who wanted to say hi. Other than that, it ran smooth and the feedback from the judges was very useful!