COMPETITION DETAIL

We loved it

Overall a really nice competition! Definitely more competition in the solo categories, but I think it was just the area we were in. Very fair judging and helpful critiques! The venue was in a bit of a sketchy area and I wasn't comfortable having some of my 15/16 year old girls walking around in leotards(but to be fair it was Myrtle Beach lol) I really enjoyed talking to Rhonda, she was very friendly and I noticed her talking to some other studio directors as well. Very friendly staff! We couldn't go this year due to conflicts, but we will for sure be back next year!

They know what they are doing and how to get through the day, but they HIGHLY favor lyrical and contemporary. I was competing in a competitive jazz division, but for overalls, only one or two dances were something other than lyrical or contemporary.

Do your own research if you'd like, but this competition favors Center Stage Dance Company. The competition faculty CONSISTENTLY posts with Center Stages Dancers on their personal Instagram accounts, they spend time with them outside of dance, Encore judges/convention faculty choreograph dances for Center stage (which are competed at Encore and judged by the choreographers), and one of the faculty's CHILDREN dances at Center Stage. In my opinion that is huge conflict of interest and Encore proudly displays this all over their social medias every year. If you're still questioning this, do some research for yourself... it's very easy to see once pointed out. If you're considering going to Encore, I would double check if Center Stage will be there when you are, because if they are, you don't stand a chance. If anyone at Encore reads this, I am not posting this to tarnish your reputation. I am posting this in the hopes to bring this to your attention so that maybe in the future, you can be more conscious of how this behavior may be precieved from the outside, and perhaps consider being a little less biased in your judging and treatment of certain studios that have personal connections to your staff. Every dancer that attends is paying the same amount to be there and deserves FAIR scoring.

I would not mind attending another Encore DCS event. This was our first. The judging was consistent. fair. No real surprises. It was a big event with loads of talent. A few more overalls announced would be better since there were so many great dancers performing. The schedule was a bit obnoxious. Teen duets and solos with an awards at 11pm and having those same kids back for a 7:45am start time the next morning is terrible as is a 10 pm awards on Sunday night. Running ahead by an hour and half tells me the schedule wasn't set right to start with. We had a call time of 2.5 hours ahead, but if you had people coming to watch, the standard be there an hour before doesn't work. They did offer a live stream, but the audio was not very good due to a technical problem with mics. This affected the videos we purchased, but the company did make it right and refunded money. I would not let this keep me from purchasing from them in the future. Problems happen, and they took care of it. The company they use for pictures...WOW. So many great shots. My daughter had a random, terrible nose bleed during her large group number and the backstage manager was so KIND AND HELPFUL, reflective of a good organization to hire great people. He brought her teacher tissues and had my daughter laughing and at ease. Even brought her a T shirt to cheer her up for missing most of the dance. It made a great impression on her and me that he cared and went out of his way.

Pros: This competition lets you know who won each individual category, for example, if there were six 9 year old tappers they list them in order at awards. To me this is helpful to see where the kids placed up against their individual style and not just at awards. The playback of the dance on the screen is fun for the kids. The website posts a general schedule outline which is very helpful, since our studio does not give us specific call times until the very last minute. It helps to plan our weekend when we can go on the website and see a general idea of when we need to be there. I like that all participants in duo/trios get medals, not just one. Cons: If you attend a small competition and there are only three or four entries in a specific overall category, they will only announce the high score at overalls. At others comps we have been to , they still announce all the entries in order at overalls, even if it was less than five. The students like to know where they placed. For example, if there are four junior duo/trios, why not announce them all in order? (fourth overall, third overall, etc. instead of just first overall). The same goes for bigger categories - we had several areas where there may have been 12 or 14 entries and they only announced top five. At least announce top 10. The students really do like to know where they placed. Finally, I believe every soloist should get a trophy, not just the top scorer in the category. We pay enough for a solo entry fee and the kids work so hard that I think a trophy for each participant for their adjudication is not so hard to ask. Most competitions do this.

Love Rhonda and her staff. Highly recommended Dance comp for Regionals as well as Nationals. Totally professional. We will be back again for our 3rd year!

This comp was really smooth

Excellent experience for our girls! Beautiful venues - particularly for nationals! Well - on time, but flexible when necessary. Very positive judges and helpful constructive criticism. My only complaint is that I wish there were more policing those companies who entered in a lower category to score higher. They should be moved to their proper category.

Fair competition. Nice venue

Overall great. Love the amount of awards given, but wish ceremonies were shorter. Wish they would post schedule online and live stream was free. At our venue we were put outside in a tent that almost lit on fire from a heater...

Love this competition! The judges really enjoyed the dancers and got into the music while critiquing them. It was very upbeat and a great experience for all.

Good competition. We\'ve been several times and plan to attend next season. Awards would be better with a little less generic speaking, get to the business at hand. The biggest thumbs down was charging $20 for the live feed when other competitions provide it as a free service.

Great venue, judging seemed to be consistent. Pictures & video pricing was ridiculous & Photo people were rude. Awards could have been better, a rubber bracelet for an overall seems cheap to me. Also, one of our dancers had her overnight bag stolen & all of her clothes taken out, but they turned the bag in.

Overall not too bad. Lots of elite dancers in the intermediate category which is unfair but to really fault of the company. Awards went very late into the night. Will try again.

Third year attending and absolutely LOVE everything about this competition. Well organized, comfortable assigned dressing room areas. Everything down to entry fees is priced fair. Friendly staff and LOTS of fun for the dancers. Plenty of space to warm up and run through routines, great. Judging was very fair and the critiques are very useful for our dancers to improve. Will definitely be attending again!

Loved the venue. The judges were fair and gave constructive comments. It was a really GREAT weekend!

This is a competition that you can have the most fun at.

went to the fowlerville comp.I feel this was run well and that the judges gave out very helpful critiques! the awards were a little late at night but other then that it was pretty good!!

Encore was a great experience for my dancer. The scoring seemed fair. The atmosphere was very energetic. Loved the master class during the wait for scores. Also really enjoyed the photos. Great time all around.

I attended Encore last year in Fowlerville but I\'m not attending Encore again this competition season. I only competed one of the days, which was Friday night. We competed very late and awards were at 11 pm at night which wasn\'t the most enjoyable because we had a 2 hour car ride home and had to show up early the next morning to watch the other dances from the studio perform. The awards were enjoyable and I thought it was great that when you won your category, you got to walk up and accept the trophy and tell about your studio and who choreographed your dance because not all of our dances placed in the overalls. The dressing rooms were large classrooms, but they were already equipped with mirrors and the studios were assigned to dressing rooms which was helpful so everyone could find where your studio would be. We had a long wait from when we performed to awards which was 4 hours, and it was a friday night so we were all very exhausted. The food was limited but it wasn\'t being ran by the competition so that\'s not something to mark down on Encore\'s behalf. In conclusion, Encore was an enjoyable competition but I don\'t plan on attending it this season or the next because of timing.

We absolutely love Encore! The staff is amazing, always helpful and super friendly. The format is super family friendly and not political. All of the competitors (other studios and dancers) are extremely nice and supportive. It\'s the best environment that my kids have ever been a part of, with respect to dance competitions. Everything is always scheduled well and very well organized. Happy to go back again this year.

We love Encore. Wonderful staff, runs on time or early and fair judging. We\'ll definitely be back next year!

We always enjoy Encore! The staff is nice and the competition runs smoothly - always on time or even a little ahead. We attended the Lexington regional this time. The judges seemed to be having fun on Friday night but seemed bored to tears on Saturday and Sunday. We were there for the master class before group awards on Saturday and I would say that it was fine, but was a little less fun and high energy than regionals we have attended with Encore in the past. As always, Exulting Images did a fabulous job with the photos. Hoping we attend Encore again next year.

This is a very consistent competition. They have great staff, a good schedule, and everything goes smoothly!

My daughter and I both loved this competition ran on time, fair judging and great venue we are looking forward to nationals!

Encore is a wonderful, dancer and dance parent friendly competition. They are always helpful, always very well organized and scheduled. My daughter\'s company has attended 3 years in a row. We all love it! All of the companies that attend are so nice to each other and the staff is wonderful to all of the dancers.

This has to be one if the most flexible comps out there. When they were full they worked with our director to find a location for our team to compete in as there had been a miscommunication between them and our director. Kudos to Encore for going the extra mile as it was on our directors shoulders to remedy the situation not them:)

Always a very fun competition. A great way to start a season.

Encore is one of our favorites. Always great, friendly competition and lots of fun!!

We really enjoy this competition! Have participated for the past 3 years and still enjoy.

Great competition in North Carolina,numbers all ran smoothly. Venue was a little to small, not enough dressing room space, but overall competition was great. We would definatly go back to Encore.

very nice venue

Kids had fun here! Nice theater the event took place in. Loved the dressing rooms

Great competition! Runs really smoothly and stays on schedule

This competition has been consistently one of our favorites. Always fun, extremely fair, accurate judging, and a very friendly and professional staff. We will always include this one in our season.

Classy competition, organized, ran on time, competent judges, good overall \"feel\" to atmosphere in that routines (from what I saw w/ Petite and Juniors) were age appropriate and kids actually \"danced\" instead of strut, roll on floor, leg lifts, etc. Studios were pleasant and dressed their dancers in appropriate costumes. Awards were quick. Kids received trophies, ribbons, pins, and Encore gift certificates depending on their finish. 1st overall winner for \"Super Solos\" (meaning 2 solos) receives trophy and a cute jacket. We alway enjoy this comp b/c it is refreshing to have true technique rewarded over sass and crazy stage faces.

Enjoyed the Myrtle Beach regional. My only complaint was that the teen/senior groups went so late on Sunday. Seems like it would have been better to do solos Sunday night so fewer people would be impacted by the late schedule. Love the energy level between numbers and during breaks. Judging did seem fair at every level and the judges offered some good feedback. I will agree with a previous poster that in at least two of our trips to Encore, the studio that won the \"Spirit of Encore\" award was one that was rude to our team members. I guess how they behave in the wings when they know the comp is watching and how they behave elsewhere are two different things!

My students had a lot of fun here, but the dressing room situation needs to be improved. Backstage area was organized and the manager was willing to help with small props. Awards were long, but exciting. Students who win at all 3 levels feel equally recognized. Many of our students had several quick changes because of the way numbers were scheduled. The ratings scale was unique to each division, which made ratings and judging very confusing.

Just returned from Encore in Myrtle Beach. It was a full three day competition that had a few pros, but mostly cons. The staff was friendly and helpful and the comp ran on time. The students also enjoyed the encore, encore judges breaks, however....They did away with the bump rule, causing 18 year old students to compete in the 11-12 year old age category, because several studios threw a few four year olds into an obvious Senior dance. This was a total disadvantage to the honest studios who had legitimate entries. Also, there was one studio who was so obviously misplaced as far as skill level went. They have competed in the competitive division at this same competition in the years past, then competed in recreational this year. It was so obvious that even one of the judges questioned it. When the director was asked, by several parents, about this misplacement, she said that she had already questioned the studio owner, but did nothing about it because the SO was defensive! Also. They give no adjudication trophies. Not a huge deal, but when students are used to that, it hurts not to get anything. Duets and trios only get one trophy, and only 1st place overall winners get a trophy. Lastly, the studio that moved all of our stuff in the dressing room, pushed one of my little students, and we\'re very rude to the other dancers, won the \"Spirit of Encore\" Award???? Probably not returning next year. My students left feeling very bad about themselves.

This is our favorite dance competition! My daughter loves dancing at this competition every year!

This was a wonderful event. My daughter and her dance friends had such a great time performing and competing.

We LOVE Encore DCS! I feel like the judging is fair without being to harsh and we got GREAT pictures this year in Gatlinburg! We\'ll definitely be back in 2014.

Love this competition. It is the most professional by far. Have been every year for the past 6 years and will continue to go to all close locations Encore comes to.

Our favorite competition by far! So organized and well run, the staff is friendly and helpful. The judging is fair, and feedback is very thoughtful and useful. The competition is focused on celebrating the success of each dancer, and the Encore Encore breaks are so much fun!

LOVE ENCORE DCS!! Staff is very friendly, judges are fair, dancers have an OUTSTANDING time at both regional & National comps.

I have always enjoyed Encore. It has always been very fair and always run smoothly.

Great competition! Friendly staff! Good judges, organized, and runs on time.

This competition is well run and has a friendly staff. It runs on time and I like that it now has a three level system to its awards. It really levels the playing field and allows all dancers to be recognized. Scoring is fair and the judges critiques are useful! I see our studio definitely returning to this competition!

Comp ran very smoothly and on time. Fair judges from what we experienced. The staff wasn\'t very friendly both times we went. They weren\'t really rude but they weren\'t really helpful either. Still on the fence if we will go back or not.

Nice venue. Well run. Seems more focused on showmanship than on technique.