This competition was pretty unprofessional. First off, the dressing rooms assigned to us were way too small. My decently sized studio was assigned a tiny dressing room with three other HUGE studios. Pure chaos to say the least. Second, the set up. They didn't even have wings for the stage! Third, the backstage staff was RUDE. The people at the front handing out programs were quite nice though. Fourth, the judging was interesting to say the least. They didn't necessarily judge harder, more inconsistent than anything. Sometimes I questioned whether the judges were even watching the same dances because their score sheets were so different, which I will get to in a minute. They seemed really biased towards certain studios and styles(they seemed to hate tap and clog for some reason?). The awards they gave out were mediocre for a national competition. Fifth, the masterclasses they offered were just okay, nothing great. Finally, they were really disorganized. They mixed up score sheets, handed out the wrong awards, announced the wrong dances, played the wrong music, and even had the wrong dance in the top 5 dance off. One of our large groups was mixed up with one of our other large groups. I've never seen that happen before. With all of this confusion you'd think they'd be doing something to try to fix the problem or at least apologize, right? Wrong. Overall, I had a good time. I spent quality time with my dance family, the critiques were helpful(even if the scores didn't make sense), the pictures were wonderful, the masterclasses they offered were okay, the venue was awesome, and the studios all interacted in a positive way. However, due to the lack of professionalism, I will probably not be back.
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As the lady below us states - we had similar experience with Nationals. We went away pretty stunned and heartbroken. And confused. How can a child get Platinum all season and perform their routine (that was made even harder) better than they ever have and get a Gold? The scoresheets were inconsistent. A 92 then a 83? Every judge whole season (even Encore\'s own Regional) - great timing and technique - even the judge that gave him a 92 said this.. Then this judge that gave him an 83 said his weakness was timing and technique... What? Were they watching the same child. I dont care if my child gets dead last against the best of the best - but that wasnt the case and it was pretty upsetting.. It also was very upsetting that he was a young boy and almost ignored. \"Hey Girls\" \"Hey Ladies\"... um there is a young gentlemen up there as well... Its hard enough for him to be the sole boy and he knew it and it really upset him :/
Staff were friendly. Communication ok. Judges were poor. Two judges were from the area and it seemed clear they knew the studios and scored those well. Third judge wasn\'t from the area and had much more experience per the program. Funny how the judge that was not from the area actually seemed to be more accurate on the scores. Scores between the three shouldn\'t be that far off from each other. Do not plan to go back in the future. If you were not from one of the big local studios your child did not do well which is so unfair to a kid that works their butt off all year long.
Sound system is horrible, judges have no clue and seems to be completed on if the judges like the costumes. Overall, pretty bad.
Horrible who gives children high silvers!! Judge based on dance studio size not individual dancer. Unorganized,staff very rude. Don\'t waste your time or money.
Like previous experiences before me, two women backstage acted rude and disinterested. Judges looked bored and didn\'t appear to intently watch anything except broadway tap and mini routines. Appeared to many that the judges very bias to studio with most entries. Unprepared with plaques and had to mail them following week. First time I ever encountered students that did not even want to dance come Sunday because the entire experience was confusing to them and very low on the funometer.
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Nice competition. It is not glitzy and on the conservative If you are expecting a masquerade, energy or bravo...this is not the competition for you. If you want a reasonably priced opportunity to perform with feedback, this will work. Not a single half-naked child or inappropriate routine. The staff is friendly, courteous and responsive The venue was very nice. Plenty of parking, dressing space, bathrooms, etc. There was no marley floor, this would make my overall rating 3.5 stars. The judging was tough and consistent. The few routines that received platinum were worthy of the award. There is no video adjucation, but the score sheets provided decent feedback. My daughter enjoyed the day very much and for this reason, would go to another event.
We were so excited to attend Encore\'s Nationals after attending one of their regional events...what a huge disappointment! The master classes were not well done; and the space was poor. The competition was the worst that we have ever attended in 13 years of dance. Unfortunately, although we initially had a very positive impression of this competition, we will not be back.
Bad. Just bad. We have been to three other national competitions this past few weeks and this one is a total joke. How does a kid go from scoring mid 290\'s at every competition on every one of their number to low 260\'s. Hardly gave any platinums away at least in solo divisions. I honestly thought it was a joke when my daughter got her adjudications and they were high golds because we literally NEVER get anything except the highest adjudications. When she didn\'t place in overalls I thought they had made a mistake because the ones that placed are people we beat all year at competitions. Saw girls leaving crying because they had gotten awful scores as well. Way to make these kids feel awful of themselves especially since it was our final competition of the season. Not the way I wanted our season to end. Will never do the nationals again here but our regional experience were better so may do regionals again next year. Also, in overalls for solos was the same few studios getting everything so they seemed to favor a few and leave the rest feeling horrible.
This is our 2nd year at this comp. We attended the regional as well as nationals in the Cincinnati area. This year the scores and awards were consistently low. Our studio did really well with some of our numbers and flat lined with others. Which happens. But the written critiques were inconsistent with the awards. Critiques are all over the place. I really do not like this competition over all, it\'s close. It\'s here in my home town. Will not attend next year. It is hard to see the dancers on stage. The sound system was hit or miss. The scheduling is all over the place. They schedule with in a time slot and then add dancers not scheduled so your time could and has been pushed back 45 minutes with out notice. Long days. Staff is nice. Videos are reasonable.
Our studio attended their National Competition at the Great Wolf Lodge in Mason Ohio it was excellent , we had a small amount of entries and was treated equal to the large studios whom had an large amount of entries. The staff was friendly and helpful . The Great Wolf Lodge in Mason was excellent for this competition. The judges were fair with their choices, there were multiple opportunties for awards. This was the first time we attended a compeition that did not play favors to the studio that bought them the most money. It was about the talent and hard work of the dancer no matter what studio they were at. We will continue to support this competition in the future.
I liked this competition. It was small, but they stayed on schedule. Judges\' critiques were very beneficial! Lots of \"special\" awards which is very nice! We had not attended this event before; but because our experience was so positive, we are planning to attend their Nationals.
The WORST competition I have ever attended! They have no idea what they are doing! The backstage woman was just plain mean and I the lady in charge was not much better! They wasted our money and our time!!
Loved our first competition!!! Thank you for a great experience...
Extremely inconsistent scoring!!! My daughters score sheets had scores ranging from 82 to 66! Usually judges scores are pretty close on her score sheets! One of the judges remarks were just cruel! We drove close to 3 hours, had a nice experience at the competition, but the awards and score sheets just ruined the whole experience for her. Also there were not any programs available for purchase, so print out a copy of the run order before you leave home!
*** I have to say this was a wonderful fun dance competition for my daughter and her dance team !!! It was very organized, on time, lots of space to get dressed, the stage was great, lighting was good, awards were great and staff and judging were wonderful. Even the vendors for buying merchandise were. Great and the photography and girls working the table were absolutely wonderful. overall a great experience !! THANK YOU FOR A GREAT COMPETITION !!!
Where do I start with this competition? First, the stage...no back drop no wings, no stage lights. It was horrible. I think It was like this because of the venue they had it at was a convention center and they usually have it in an auditorium but still ridiculous. You could barely hear the music in the audience. You couldn\'t even see the dancers in stage, not sure how the judges saw them. The side stage woman that checked you in were not pleasant at all. They also changed the schedule but didn\'t email or notify teachers so we had already printed our schedule out and were going by that. No programs sold and didn\'t tell us that the updated schedule was in the info packet so we didn\'t use that we used the ones we printed out like they told us too. It was originally supposed to be a 1 day comp and then it got changed to a 2 day comp. We were not happy with this. They also added a \"master class\" in the middle of day 2 that we were totally unaware of. Overall it just was very unorganized and not well managed. We will not attend this competition again.
This competition was OK. I didn\'t like that there was no Marley for the dancers to safely do their routines on. This made the floor very slippery. Also, the stage didn\'t have appropriate wings so you could see all that was happening back stage. The judging was overall pretty consistent, but the competition overall was a little lackadaisical. Not really worth coming back.
Good competition very long days.
Our dancers complained about the floor at the venue, seemed to be \"holes\" underneath that they would fall into. Hard to turn. Scoring was wack! Giving out platinums like they were going out of style no matter how you danced. Allowed studios to jump around in the levels, 1 studio had dancers competing solos in level 3 but would drop down to level 2 for groups! That should be caught and not allowed.
Good competition, very long days.
I loved how the girls had a master class with the judge. It was something very memorable!
Competition was great, however facility was too small. Competition ran smoothly and was well organized.
Was an awful experience and we will not be returning.
I could not believe that they will take a last minute school, and almost double the length of the event, running it way overtime and so far off schedule, that we barely had time to eat and sleep. Everyone got high awards, too, no matter how they danced.
Did not have a good time here. The competition ran way over. The backstage staff was not communicating with the judging table/emcee well, and so they were just calling dances out on stage at random before even seeing that they were checked in and ready to go. It was weird! My studio parents would revolt if I told them we were returning.
Not one of my favorites. Doesn\'t attract top talent in our area and level 3 competition was tough to come by. Competed against ourselves. Surprised to see \"poise\" as one of the criteria for title.
We\'ve been to this one a couple of times. Once I\'d have given it a 3.5. The other, it would barely scrape by with a 1. VERY inconsistent. Judging is ALL OVER the place and no one can make sense of it - teachers, parents, dancers. They had to make corrections at both events we attended. Venues were both less than stellar with not nearly enough changing areas. This on eneeds work. On the plus side, the staff is truly friendly and they do try.
Owner and staff are very sweet and encouraging to the dancers. We attended regionals and nationals (which included a GREAT 1 day convention). Encore elite team was a fun experience for my daughters! Will return this year.
Our first year with Encore. I was very pleased with everything. will be going back!!
We had a so-so experience with this comp. Did run on time. Didn\'t care for the venue. Wish comps would take into account the number of dancers and the lack of available dressing areas. We had girls changing on the side of the stage. Not appropriate.
AGREE w/the person below One of the WORST comps out there!
We haven't been to this for several yeas, but my rating should explain... it's awful. Disorganized, inconsistent, & kind of a hot mess.