COMPETITION DETAIL

I’m a dance mom who’s a former dancer and I’ve been in this industry a long time. There were so many things wrong at the Fly competition we went to, it’d be hard to name them all, so I’m just gonna share the one thing that’s inexcusable. I was backstage with my dancer fixing a costume malfunction and walked up behind a guy who was on a laptop CHANGING SCORES! I stood there for a minute just baffled and he did it to three other routines! I know what their program looks like because I judged for a comp a few years ago that used the same program. I left it alone because one session already did awards and after seeing him change more than one score, I’m sure he changed scores there too. Why have judges if you’re just going to fudge the numbers? How is this justifiable? This same guy was seen walking around through the day, not watching dances. Then he went on stage and did the most rushed and boring awards ever. The awards coordinators tried signaling him to slow down but he was in his own world. It wasn’t until our next comp practice that I found out the guy is the OWNER and he has ZERO dance experience! I’m sorry. WHAT!? Needless to say, we won’t be back. And maybe it’s just me being jaded, but does anyone honestly believe that all of these 5 star reviews are actually written by parents, dancers, or SOs? Yeah, me neither. He fudges scores, so writing fake reviews definitely isn’t below him.

My Mom and I absolutely love Fly Dance Competition because as a young dancer, Fly has given me opportunities that most competitions don’t offer. For my level of dance they offer a Regional Title Competition and a National Title Competition. You have the option to participate in the opening number of their Turbulence Showdown at Nationals, which is a huge honor, especially for someone who’s in the First Time Flyer division. At Fly Dance Competition everything is based around their flying theme. Which is so cool! If the dancer is in the Novice Level, at Fly they are known as First Time Flyers, Intermediate Dancers are Business Class, and Advanced Dancers are First Class Flyers! Even their awards ceremony is based off their theme as well. They also offer amazing workshop classes and a super fun Improv Competition. At Fly they recognize no matter if you’re a First Time Flyer or a First Class dancer, we all put in the same amount of hard work and dedication. They give us all fair opportunities to succeed in the dance world.

We LOVE fly! The competition is extremely well run! We love the awards and dancing even got to learn a line dance from the staff! To add on to that the staff is so welcoming and is so helpful if any issues! Not to mention extremely kind, the judges are extremely fair and give amazing feed back especially love Ms. Harper! The floor and back drop are very nice and good quality! One of our favorite competitions since covid!!

Fly has historically been a hot mess for many. But we were left disappointed and frustrated. Regionals was a mess- tons of issues with their sound, forgetting to give awards, mixing stuff up. The MC was treating it like her own personal comedy show and every single time someone got a Million MIler, she made obnoxious airplane noises that drove everyone in the audience insane (maybe that was the point?) Nationals was a let down. First, one of the judges/the teacher for the master class was stuck at the airport trying to rent a car. They had to combine the teens and juniors/minis for the first class (1pm-2:15pm). The second class was supposed to be from 2:30-3:30, where they would be properly split up. The teens then left to do their second master class, while the 11 and under kiddos sat around having ZERO update or idea what was going on from 2:15-3:45. Studio owners/teachers were trying to track someone down to figure things out rather than Fly coming and communicating, or just combining the classes. They sat around doing nothing, the teacher suddenly showed up and they did a very rushed class from 3:45-4:30. The opening number rehearsal was supposed to be from 4:00pm-6:30pm but they pushed it back to 4:30, so kids who didn’t opt to do master classes had to wait to start the opening number, and the kids had no break between the master class and opening number. No compensation was offered. There was not a lot of diversity chosen for the Turbulence Showdown (some studios didn’t get routines chosen at all, while others had a lot of routines and were basically competing against themselves). They had routines with the exact same kids in both placing in overalls (usually only the highest scoring can place in overalls if it’s the same exact kids). Every Title winner was already the 1st Overall and the MC would literally say “Okay let’s do this again except with a crown!” When honoring them. What in the point of Title if you’re just going to give it to who got 1st Overall? For a Nationals event we expected so much more. They had a PJ party Thursday night and that was the only “special”/different thing besides the Turbulence Showdown and the master classes you pay extra for. Other than that, it’s the same as regionals. Bottom line is- there are better comps out there that provide a more diverse, fun, and organized experience for Nationals. Spend your money with them. Also do some research in the various FB groups to read other experiences— especially from past employees/judges/etc— who will never work with Fly again because of the way they run the business.

Thanks for a great Nationals in Seattle. Everyone with Fly Dance was so positive and supportive. My daughter is beyond shy and the love she received was amazing. My daughter loved her classes and fell in love with her very first opening number routine. She loved the energy of the judges and felt so confident in class and on stage. We can’t wait to Fly again next year.

This is our daughters first year of dance competition and our experience has been incredible. The Fly Dance judges are so positive and welcoming and all of the dancers have such a positive attitude. We love the Fly Dance atmosphere and are honored to be part of Nationals.

In the heart of Tacoma the Fly Dance competion was held with such professionalism, in a a spectacular venue that had an amazing stage setup. The schedule was right on time and information communicated out was in line with the event.

We love attending Fly Competitions. It's one of our most favorites!!!

The competition was so well organized and such fun staff!!

Such a fun competition to be at!! Love the staff!

This competition was amazing! Loved the hard working staff

This is our first Nationals with Fly! Classes and show rehearsals have been intimate and so positive! We will be back!

The experience so far has been very positive. The staff are helpful and informative, the classes are fun, and they truly care about the dancers. We’ve been to a number of competitions and conventions, and Fly is definitely one of the BEST!

We love this competition and all it has to offer!

What a great comp we love bringing our studio here!

Very inclusive and fun awards.

We love Fly! This is one of my favorite competitions to compete at!

Coming with my daughter as an independent entry was hard and we were all alone but all the staff was so welcoming and amazing to work with and even went above and beyond to make her feel comfortable and less nervous since she was there by herself sometimes it can get a little overwhelming and lonely especially also taking convention classes.

Friendly and great pacing.

Wonderful event! Daughter had so much fun!

Great competition! Great time!

Would rather a Nationals competition be held somewhere more accommodating than a high school

Fasten your seatbelts for a high-flying spectacle that will leave you soaring! This dance competition truly took off, with performers executing gravity-defying moves that had the audience's spirits in full ascent. From the moment of takeoff, it was clear we were in for a first-class experience, with routines so smooth they seemed to glide effortlessly across the stage. By the time this aerial showcase touched down, there was no doubt that these talented dancers had truly earned their wings.

Amazing venue, instructors and experience with Fly Dance Competition !!

This is my first time with this competition for Nationals and I just love the energy the staff, the judges, the backstage crew— everyone brings it and makes this event about the kids and how hard they have worked. The events they host bring all of the studios together and i have made so many new friends. The master classes were probably my favourite part of the whole weekend!

This is our first Nationals competition and I can’t even begin to explain how great Fly has been. Everyone is so friendly and helpful. The Fly National Competition is second to none when it comes to an incredible experience both for dancers and parents!

Amazing staff! Very organized and this is the third fly dance comp. Love it every time!

We love coming to Fly! It is a fun atmosphere and we have enjoyed the locations they have chosen. The awards are always fun to watch! All of the staff have been wonderful when we have had questions or even buying gear at the merch tables. We are exited to be here!

We love Fly! Staff was great and venue was nice. Great weekend.

We love Fly! At nationals right now and everything is awesome as always. We look forward to everytime we get to go to a Fly comp!

Our family loves Fly. They have always done a fantastic job with our dancers.

Love it

We love FLY!

This is the worst competition we have been to in 10 years of competitive dance. We attend at least 6 competitions a year. They say they have a tap judge? Just because you can do a few tap moves, doesn’t make you a judge. Our teachers wouldn’t even let us listen to the judge’s comments because they said there was no point. Fly Competition thinks they know a dancers level from the 2-3 minutes they see them on stage and the number of dances they are in. Our studio will try and put the dancers in as many dances in their level as the parents request. So the number of dances a child is in has nothing to do with the ability of the dancers, but Fly thinks so. There was an AMAZING dancer with elite capabilities in turns, leaps, and other techniques. This dancer had 3 solos, but was allowed to remain in the primary or intermediate division and of course took 1st. There were songs with the n- word and other vulgar language and still placed in the overalls just because it was a hip hop number. There were highly suggestive dances with inappropriate costumes that did not get disqualified and placed in the overalls. We have attended Fly for 2 regionals and a national in Las Vegas and it didn’t get better. Three strikes, we are done. Don’t bother paying cash for title because they will forget to call your dancer and since it was cash there is no way to get your refund. The ninth place banner was spelled incorrectly ALL 3 TIMES WE ATTENDED. Our dancers and parents didn’t want to even attend this year, but our studio wanted to give them another chance. Please read all the comments about this competition. The staff rude to the dancers. I could keep going, but if you got this far you get the point. I will say the awards are cute.

Amazing dancers, judges and staff. Everyone was very helpful and made the experience great!

Great variety of dances and a great atmosphere!

I love this competition so much! They were so nice to all of the dancers and studios and were really helpful to the teachers! I can’t wait to attend this competition more in the future!! I really recommend coming to this competition!!

We have attended Fly each season since they started, and we have had a great time each year. Communication is good leading into the event and the event runs on time or a little early. Our daughter loves attending and looking forward to attending again next season!

So much fun, good organization and loved the theme!

Fly was a first class experience all the way! 😊 As a parent I enjoyed this competition tremendously and so did my dancer. We loved how they switched it up and instead of a dance party they brought up coaches/studio owners to show their talents! Our girls are still talking about Fly two weeks later! Thank you to the staff for being so accommodating. We will be Flying 😉 again soon!

Love this dance competition. Everyone is so friendly and love how many opportunities it opens for our girls !

Wish it was in Tulsa, but venue is great!

My daughter and I had a great first experience at Fly! The staff and environment were amazing! There was a few mix ups back stage but the staff helped to get things straightened out in a timely manner . We needed to leave early due to timing and travel and accommodations were made so my daughter could receive her awards. Can’t wait for nationals !

We attended the Dallas competition as an independent with my 8 year olds solo. The staff was amazing and super kind. They let us know promptly where to go and guided us since we were without a studio. The backstage help was Chris and he was OUTSTANDING!! Competition ran on time and my daughter loved how relaxed they made her feel. Awards were amazing, and she walked out with her head held high! Thank you for an amazing time, we will definitely Fly again next season.

One of the worst competitions I've been to. My daughter has been competing for 5 years now. Last year was horrendous at Fly. This year we decided to give them another shot and were disappointed again. They pride themselves on "supporting the underdog" but they punish kids with good technique and skill. And if they think your studio director placed another kid in the wrong level THE ENTIRE TEAM pays for it. There isn't even me tap judge yet they pride themselves on having a dedicated tap judge. One of the judges is engaged to the announcer. But then that same judge also passes out awards during adjudicating. NOT the specialty awards judges give out, the adjudications and overalls the judge was passing out. I've never seen that before in all the years I have gone to competition. It seems like a conflict of interest. The announcer Dixon was unprofessional and classless. I get having a "laid back" attitude, but we also pay a lot of money to have a professional competition. If you are a small studio that has newer dancers, this is your competition. But if you are a larger studio that focuses on technique and putting on a performance, DO NOT WASTE your time!!!! Good dancers want to see good dance. They won't adjudicate appropriately and in the end will never have the larger well-known studios competing there. Complete waste of time and money.

I’m loving how chill the atmosphere is.

We are new to this competition this year. Very appreciative of how the competition has kept us in the loop with everything that's going on. I'm very Impressed.

They have been very communitive. And this is a new comp for us! We will def be back! FLY!!!

This competition has been great! Friendly staff and have communicated with parents as they have had technical difficulties with a truck breaking down and not having all the things they need!

Fly is by far one of our favorite competitions. Not only is the scoring actually fair but they have great merch too! The staff is so helpful and kind. Very professional. My daughter and I absolutely love the whole experience! We will be back!

I was very hesitate to write anything but I just can't get over what a disaster of a dance competition this was. I have been in business for over 20 years bringing dancers to competitions each year and I have never experienced anything like this. And we have been to some crazy ones. But nothing like this. We attended the Atlanta competition on May 4th. We arrived at 7:15am (when they stated the doors would open) as we had our first dancer scheduled to take the stage at 8:05am. There were no Fly Staff anywhere to be found which I initially thought was strange and my first red flag. I thought surely there would be a check in table or something like other dance competitions have but nothing. We waited so long that I actually started thinking if the competition was actually happening or not. At around 7:50am, doors opened and we all walked in to the area where the competition was which is an open type convention hall. The competition staff were still setting up, laying wires down, putting tables out, lights, etc. I was floored and knew this was about to be horrible. No one told us what to do. There were no announcements letting us know where to go , where to change, what was going on, or anything. We just found our way where they had constructed dressing areas. If this had been my first time ever doing a competition I would have been very lost. From experience doing this as long as I have I knew what and who to look for but there were no representatives from Fly walking around checking on dancers or anything. I would think if you are starting as late as they were when you had Parents and Studio Owners walking in someone should have A. Been greeting people letting people know what is going on and B. Make an announcement letting people know when you planned to start etc. But they couldn't do that because their sound system wasn't hooked up yet. The reps that we did see were sat a table and you had to go find them. Once you found them they weren't welcoming or friendly at all. Once we actually got into the area where the competition was we waited for an hour and a half before the competition even started. My first dancer that was suppose to start at 8:05am did not go on stage until 9:30am. You would think that since they started LATE that they would be trying to catch up and get back on stage?? Nope. After about 8 dance routines they took a judges break. We were floored. I understand that Judges need to take breaks, I have been in that position myself but you dont take a break after you have only started 15 min ago. AND you especially don't if you are running behind an hour and 30 min late starting. But the amount of judges breaks that they took were unbelievable. There were a lot of them all day long. Because of all of the judges breaks combined with numerous technical issues by the end of session one we were a little over 2 1/2 hours behind. After Session one ended the rep for the comp made an announcement for all Studio Owners to meet her at the merch table . At this point It was around 4:40pm. She proceeded to let us know that the stage was broken and that we would have to wait for someone to come and fix it. She couldn't provide any time line for us other than it would take an hour for even someone to get there to access it and then additional time for them to fix what was wrong with it. All of us studio owners agreed that we didn't want to wait as at this point because by this time it was already 5:30pm/5:45pm and technically we were suppose to start Session 2 AWARDS at 6pm! We had not even started the Session 2 competition yet! None of us Studio Owners had had a good experience at all and truthfully we didn't trust what we were being told. Our faith in what they were saying was broken. We all asked could we be refunded for the fee's for Session 2 that clearly weren't going to happen. Finally after much pleading and begging for some sort of answer we were told we would be refunded for the Session 2. I received an email Saturday night stating apologies and that the comp would be refunding us for Session 2. I inquired Monday about when we could expect a refund and was notified by the Director that we should expect it within the next day or two as the office was traveling . If Fly plans to stay in business lots of things need to change with customer service being one of the top priorities! Along with organization. I had a Senior who this was her last competing and I hated that this was the type of competition she finished her competitive career with. We will not return ever again. If I could give zero stars I would.

To say that this was the worst experience at a dance competition would be an understatement of the century. Doors were supposed to open at 7:15am and dances were supposed to start at 8am. At 7:15 the director poked her head out of the door and said that they are not ready and that they needed 20 more minutes. It took them over 30 minutes to open the doors and then they didn't communicate anything for nearly two hours with the dancing not starting until 9:30am. Once they finally got started they kept having all sorts of audio issues with the wrong music playing and audio going in and out. The stairs to the stage were not properly attached with large gaps between the stairs and the stage. The stage itself was not super even and extremely wobbly/unstable. They setup giant lights on huge tripods on each side of the stage, which kept tripping the kids up as they were coming on and off the stage. Even though they started extremely late they made no effort to try and catch up on some of the time, continuing to take breaks and stopping for no apparent reason. And the only communication we got was a "We appreciate your patience. Obviously we are sorry" one second statement at the beginning of awards. The awards were strange, to say the least. The mic was not working properly, it was either super muffled, not working at all or it was screaming, which they laughed off once and never tried to correct. You couldn't hear or couldn't understand most of what the director was saying. No one could follow the awards to the point that some of the kids were not coming up when called because they (and the rest of us) didn't understand that they were being called. They literally took one of the judge's tables, dumped all of this poor woman's stuff on the floor and put her table on the stage so that the director could spread out all of her papers, which she had trouble following during the awards (partially, probably, because the table was so low that she was fully hunched over for the entire awards ceremony). But what made this an absolute disaster is that during that awards (the only awards that occurred) a big part of the stage literally collapsed in on itself, with one of the legs bending out of shape and sticking out like a little mountain in the middle of a big, collapsed valley. There was little to no communication to everyone in the ballroom. At one point they called up all of the studio owners to the back of the room and basically kept them there with little to no information for hours. Two hours after the 2nd session was supposed to start, which was actually 4 hours delayed already (at this point almost half an hour before the whole day was supposed to end per schedule) they announced that there was an issue with the stage (DUH!) and they were trying to work with the 3rd party vendor to possibly come out and fix the stage. The stage was not safe to dance on! One of the crew actually came on the stage at this point and tried to jump on top of the collapsed area and over the leg that was poking to, seemingly, show all of us that it was not all that unsafe. Personally, I thought the man was going to fall through the stage with the broken leg going straight through him but I am thankful that it did not happen. I have to give props to all of the studio owners there who, together, said that enough was enough and the safety of their students, as well as their mental state (as they were all being held in limbo and have been there for nearly 12 hours at that point) was more important and they pulled the plug by pulling all of their dancers. My hat is off to the studio owners and their leadership! Once the studio owners did that, the comp finally cancelled the rest of the event. Hugely disorganized, totally uncommunicative, careless competition! I would not recommend this to anyone.

This was our second year at Fly in Vegas, and our second season competing with our studio. My daughter's technique was horrendous from her previous studio and had recently been recovering from a hip injury. So naturally, she was in an appropriate level in ALL of her dances but because of some arbitrary rule they HAD to be moved up because of the amount of dances they are in. They were being punished for wanting to be better dancers and improve their technique. This is nearing the end of the dance season, so of course they are better than they were in August. Two of my daughter's dances are choreographed to Novice level dancers and stood no chance in the intermediate division, yet they were forced to compete in that level. Fly's IG bio clearly states "we have a tap judge!!" I beg to differ. None of the bios on their website state any tap experience, one judge wasn't even listed on their site. If they did, then some of the tap numbers (primarily the solos) would have scored higher than Private Charter. They seemed to prefer the extremely inappropriate, sexually suggestive, sassy jazz numbers. To Be honest, with two male judges that is very questionable that the barely there outfits, heels, and lyrics that were sexual innuendos were getting the highest adjudication and placements left and right. Very creepy and disgusting. Not very family friendly AT ALL which is a rule they say they strictly enforce. They did last year. They docked a routine 20 points for it having the B word, but a hip hop solo this year was praised and given Million Miler with absolutely no editing of the B word, S word and N slur at least 2x each. I paid for and entered my daughter in the Title competition, they completely skipped over her, didn't adjudicate her for it but gladly took my money that I will most likely never get back. The girl backstage said she would check on it, she didn't move from her chair. This competition follows the rules they want to follow. Not family friendly, completely unorganized, and definitely not qualified to be scoring certain genres of dance.

Based off last year I was dreading coming to the competition this year. My clearly novice level dancer was forced to move to intermediate because she’s in a lot of dances… honestly very stupid. Wasted my money because she had ZERO chance going in from the beginning. If you can’t control how many hours someone practices then base it on what you can control and see (the type of moves and tricks as well as the amount people make etc…) Some routines and outfits were a little too sexy for their ages in a “family friendly” competition… Awards are BS banners (cmon we pay similar price at other comps and get actual trophies) award show was extra long my child fell asleep on stage. And improv should’ve been more fun. We paid $40 for her to be on stage for a few minutes. What’s the point. Schedule was all over the place with entries that weren’t even in the program and dancers dancing one day and then another day for the same category… if you know your competition is during prom season, schedule accordingly. Overall money DOWN THE DRAIN.

Absolute worst competition we have been to… and we have been to MANY! No organization, comp always started late, breaks were taken at times other than advertised, comp order was very different than the program order, people paid for title but weren’t scored for title, and one of the judges is the fiancé of the director so make sure not to have an honest conversation with the director or your scores will suffer. Also, the judges wouldn’t know technique or movement quality if it slapped them in the face. They are incredibly unqualified to be judging dance. No real industry professionals here. Just a bunch of people that probably never did well at comps growing up so now want to allow studios with poor technique one opportunity in a season to place. Dance competitions are not a charity, and we pay a lot of money for fair and valid critiques and adjudications. I guess moral of the story is if you are an “underdog” studio this is the comp for you, but if you are a studio that has incredible technique, choreography and performance, you want to search elsewhere.

We attended the Atlanta Competition May 4th, over 2 hours behind schedule. Very unorganized.. audio was horrible couldn't understand anything that was being said during the competition or during awards. I did not like the way they did the imrpov portion, it was not the same way they had done in previous years. During the awards my children weren't given two of their awards... they said they would announce 2nd session but that never happened 2nd session was canceled. It was just all around a disappointment, I'm sad this was the last competition of the season for us and this is how it ended for the kids! I tried to talk to someone while we were there but the people that worked there kept disappearing. I would like a refund for the title competition that i paid for. I know i probably wont get one. I mean my girls were not scored for it, they said they forgot about it during awards....The only good thing was it was a nice venue. This is the third time using Fly but this will be our last. I wasted $150 on extra stuff there the improv and title and it was just that... a waste...things need to be changed on your website...if that is not the kind of quality and care being used to represent your business

This was the most unorganized competition I have ever attended, The atlanta date started two hours late and continued to have multiple music and staff issues, There was little to no communication between staff and studio owners, teachers, or parents. The stage broke during session one and caused a cancellation of session two, however it took them over an hour to provide any information about the situation, and this was only because of complaints. Staff was impossible to find and unhelpful when found. The microphone at awards was not working so you could not even understand what was being said. half a star.

Never in my life have I been to such a terrible event. We attended the Atlanta competition. They started an hour late stating the venue people did not let them in. However, we are all let in and no Fly staff was present. From there it got worse, technical difficulties galore. Then of course two hours behind. Then the stage literally broke and was unusable for the rest of the competition. After 3 hours of waiting we were sent home. My kids are so disappointed, hotels were paid for,costumes not to mention the time and effort the kids put into the routines. Yes we were offered refunds but that’s not the point. Staff was on their phones or reading the whole time. The poor director was completely frazzled, kept losing her place at awards and saying things out loud like “is that right “? But with all the stress the poor girl endured no wonder she was in bad shape at awards.

Friendly environment, great music quality for the kids. So far so 😊.

I love this competition. It is well organized,the judges are so positive,and the venue is spacious. Staff is super friendly as well.

We absolutely love Fly! It’s our favorite competition of the year! The staff and show is amazing!

This is our 2nd Year and we Love Fly! The people are so friendly and welcoming.

Such friendly staff on site! Loved the selection of apparel

Everyone was very friendly and helpful! Great atmosphere and large selection of apparel!

This is our second year at FLY and we have enjoyed the hospitality and flight related puns as we travel through the comp. We also love the great selection of merch!!

This is a fun competition. My daughter loves to participate in the improv contest. She loves it and the staff really cheer them on while they dance!

The Fly competition employees were so helpful and kind!

Spent the weekend in Davenport, and had a blast!

This competition is the best competition I’ve been to. So much fun! Nice merch and fun judged.

This was a very nice dance competition. We had lots of fun being able to dance and preform here! I cant wait to come here again!

I love this competition so much, the people the judges, the staff, the support is amazing! It’s definitely feels like a second home here! I would definitely recommend this competition!!

Bring on the energy!! Love all the judges, makes everyone feel so welcomed in a place where we have 1 thing in comment! We all love to dance!

Very fun competition and kept things flowing!

Well run competition. We always have a great time at Fly!

We always have so much fun at Fly competitions!

Fun competition! Great Judges!

Have not even gotten to the competition yet ...and the office staff comes across as rude! Can't wait.

It had a great time there with my team , all the judges / hosts were so nice and helpful to all of us and made it a very memorable day !

Staff was nice

You guys say really fun stuff introducing dances and I love your merch and how you work things here!!

Staff was friendly and sweet

My daughters absolutely love Fly!!! This was our second year coming to Fly and it did not disappoint, my daughters both won title , (Teen business class and junior business class title winners). The judges are also always amazing and very qualified!!!

We love FLY dance! Our girls are excited to shine on stage! The venue is fantastic, stage is great and staff are great!!

Great venue and excited to see the improv comp and all tge dances. Cute merch!

So far love the venue! Dressing room is huge. Like that I can purchase with my Venmo account.

I love attending Fly Dance Competition each year. The crew and faculty are always so sweet throughout the entire weekend! Fly always makes sure to create an encouraging and safe atmosphere for their dancers and that is one of the things I love most. I am so excited and cannot wait to be coming back this year!!

Just DONT. Save your time and money.

I would like to preface this by saying that I have never written a negative review for a company in my life, but our experience warrants it. This competition was our most expensive non-convention circuit competition this season, but by far the least professional. The competition was unorganized, so far off of schedule, and the event director even came up to our kids asking if they knew when the judges break was supposed to be. Additionally, they lost several critique videos and it has now been over a month and we have not received them. After many weeks of communication, FLY has not rectified the situation. There were also several studios competing in the intermediate category that clearly should not have been and none of the pieces were moved up in level, even one with synchronized front aerials, even though their rules state otherwise. Our kids were the only group pieces in the advanced category and I wish they would have moved others up so that we had someone to compete against and the actual intermediate level dancers could have placed. The only redeeming quality was the judges critiques, which were wonderful, though I wish we would have gotten them for all of our pieces. In over a decade of attending competitions, FLY stands out as the worst experience.

This is one of our favorite competitions, the staff is friendly and super helpful, the judges are top quality and always have great feedback, awards ceremony are quick and to the point but also fun, adjudication and placements are always fair. They are also one of the few competitions that allow adults to compete and take adult dancers seriously!

This competition was great and I had a lot of fun. The staff was extremely kind and so were the dancers. I think the whole experience was amazing, the only confusing part was the communication towards my dance teacher. The venue and city kept getting moved and we had to sign wavers in order to get our schedules. Other than that we had a very good time.

REVIEW UPDATED 04/14/2024**** This makes me so sad to update because this has always been one of our favorite competitions to attend and have done several location each year in the past but I don't think we will be returning based off of last month's experience. We attended their comp this year under a new studio owner due to some ableism/toxicity that was occurring at our previous studio. Our previous studio also attended this competition and it felt like because they were the biggest studio there, they were able to do whatever they wanted. Their "first time flyer" group won a million miler rating with the overall highest score of the session. Based off of how fly does their leveling-- 0=disabled, 1=novice, 2=intermediate, 3=advanced with no averaging- this routine alone should have been at minimum in intermediate/business class, with most of the others in advanced/first class off of hours alone (almost every dancer with this studio has 6-8 competitive routines this season plus regular class time). When our SO brought this to the competitions attention, no remedy was offered. And just to make it clear, this dance/dancers are phenomenal and would have most likely had the same adjudication placement/overall had it been appropriately placed, but another novice team's placement was unfortunately taken from them due to the egregious decisions of this studio director to incorrectly place their students. This was also in addition to this studio receiving a sportsmanship award after the director ignored a dancer on our team that used to dance for her backstage, attempted to solicit a dancer backstage (where's the class in that???) and told all of her dancers they were not allowed to speak to us-with several ignoring my child backstage right before she went on in front of staff. And for the record, I don't think it was the children's fault in any way as they were previously speaking to her earlier that day in the hallways when they were not in front of this director or her "teachers." At the end of the day, it just feels like because they brought the most dancers to this competition, that they could do whatever and that the other studios and dancers did not matter. I hope policies are updated in the future to prevent this from happening -- especially when one of our truly novice dancers (1st year to competitive dance and is only in 4 routines TOTAL which 2 of are solos and neither are practiced in studio weekly) was told that they could not perform a second solo in the first time flyers level. I hope Lewis does better in the future because this was one competition we always looked forward to.

We had an unforgettable experience at the Fly Dance Competition in Tampa, and we couldn't wait to share our thoughts on this event. As a new dance studio with just 15 passionate dancers, every competition holds a special place in our hearts. Fly marked our fourth competition this season, and it undeniably stood out as one of the most memorable ones yet. Despite our initial nerves about having all our dancers perform on the same day, Fly National Dance Competition ran like a well-oiled machine. The fact that it was a One Day event astonished us, given the seamless organization and execution. We were pleasantly surprised by how everything was spaced out flawlessly, accommodating dancers of all ages and levels without a hitch. It was a testament to the meticulous planning and dedication of the organizers. One notable aspect was the stage size, which was smaller than what we're accustomed to, as it was a high school auditorium stage. However, everyone involved, from performers to crew, adapted seamlessly, making the most out of the space available and ensuring that each performance shone brightly on stage. The staff at Fly deserves a special shoutout as well, for their exceptional hospitality and professionalism. Whether it was the brief but sweet exchanges with some of the judges or the infectious energy of the MC, every interaction left a lasting impression. The finger snaps from the MC added an extra touch of charm to the event, creating an atmosphere of camaraderie and excitement that resonated with everyone at our studio. We appreciated all the sauce!!!! Our time at Fly National Dance Competition was nothing short of amazing, and it left us eager to return in the future. The memories we made will remain in our hearts forever. Thank you, Fly, for an incredible experience—we'll definitely be spreading our wings and flying back again soon! Huge thank you from your friends at Revive!

The Savannah, Georgia, competition this weekend was a complete disaster. For starters, there were problems with the venue location as the location they had originally selected was a new building that was not even finished with construction during the weekend of the competition (they're months away from completion). So they had to choose a different location which was not finalized until 2 or 3 days before the competition date. (This should have been finalized months before the competition.) Being in the competition circuit for 6 years, every competition we've ever attended has ALWAYS had 1 or 2 host hotels lined up - but not Fly Dance Competition. The flight concept of their competition was very, very cheesy and got old real quick. Their category of awards was completely different from all other competitions which caused confusion. Competition attendants could purchase an app to follow along with the competition order BUT the app didn't work. The competition got started late and then had 1 dance before they had to take a 45-minute delay break because of technical issues. The technical issues pertained to the judges not being able to record their comments which left the first dance group not being able to get the judge's comments on their dance. There were also multiple other delays throughout the competition. The director of the competition did not have a single clue as to what she was doing as the whole thing was tremendously unorganized and chaotic. The event was also severely understaffed. With Fly Dance Competition having to scramble to find another location for the competition, they ultimately settled on the competition being in the gym of a local school which was tremendously less than optimal. Having the competition in the gym created a completely unsafe environment for the dancers as the portable stage moved several times during the event creating an unstable platform. Secondly, the gym had recently been painted and paint fumes could still be smelt which caused dancers with asthma issues to be concerned. The awards that were given out were the cheapest of the cheap as some of the dancer's awards were coming apart before the competition was even over. The judges were ok although their scoring seemed rather inconsistent as some routines received higher awards than they should have gotten while other routines, which were better, received lower awards. The competition itself ended 2 hours later than projected due to the many delays. Honestly, they don't even deserve a 1-star review as the competition was that bad. I didn't come across a single parent or dance competition owner who was pleased or ok with the event as everyone was expressing this displeasure. I even made a post on Fly Dance Competition's Facebook page about how the Savannah event was a total disaster, only to get blocked - no apology, response, or anything. The best part was that the competition only lasted 1 day as the director would not have known how to handle a multiple-day event (she barely was able to handle a 1-day event). Please don't waste your time with this event - this event is a pure money draw for the owner as they do not care about the dancers or their safety as everything was extremely low quality.

This was our first time in fly! Loved the energy. Veniew was great staff was super nice. The quality of the awards is amazing. Loved the concept of being on an airline / airport. It was fun ! Hope next years dates will acomodate the schedule and be back soon

This is our dancer's first Fly Dance Competition!! So excited and happy for them perform! Really like the friendly staff and welcoming venue!

This is our first time competing with Fly! The staff was super nice and the energy was great!

Fly Competition was fun!! Great experience!

This is my daughter’s first competition ever and she’s having so much fun!

Great dance competition! Fast paced and fun atmosphere!

Great origination very helpful team

Merch people are really awesome

We had a great time at Fly! This was our first time attending, and we hope to compete with them again in the future! A studio scratched which changed the schedule, but the staff was very supportive and helped things run smoothly regardless of the change. We also loved the improv competition!

2nd year at FLY Great Competition

Amazing

Fly is hands down our favorite comp! They are all about the dancers!

My dance team had a very amazing time at this competition! The competition was so much fun both on and off stage! Fly's merch is so adorable and is some of the best merch that I have ever seen at a competition. The environment is very supportive and comforting! We LOVED this competition and will definitely be competing at this competition again in the future! I have danced at many different competitions, and I very highly recommend attending this competition!

Really enjoyed my daughters team competing at this competition and how chill it was there. Not chaotic like most we’ve been to. Thanks for a great competition and can’t wait for Nationals!

loved it ! competition went by smoothly and the staff was lovely!!✈️ Definitely would recommend getting adult sweatshirts though too cute for just kids sizes !!

This competition was very fun and had a very nice environment! The reason I don't give it a 5 star is because the ranking is kind of confusing but they do explain it during the awards. They did run a little late but only a little. But the awards were pretty cool and I really like the idea.

best competition I’ve been to in awhile. LOVEDDD the whole airport theme!! and everyone was so nice and tech was very friendly the whole time

We loved the environment & positive atmosphere that was there.

Doesn’t follow their own rules. Lets dancers in the lowest category compete in multiple solos then instead of being bumped up per their rules, they overall in the first flight category. Much less the line in the rules about tricks and being bumped to business for turn sequences and flips. Complete waste of money and discouragement to actual recreational dancers looking for a fair competition MC has no idea what is going on. Skips numbers during awards. Apparently videoing is allowed in the audience and songs about finding your drug dealer are allowed. Not the family friendly recreational competition we were sold. Very disappointed. Memphis competition 3/23/24