The Competitive Dance Industry Makes Big Bucks. But Does It Support Its Clients?

The following is adapted from Trash the Trophies.

If you’ve ever spent forty-hour weekends at regional or national competitive dance events, you’ve probably wondered, Is it worth it? 

For several days, you lose your weekday identities of business owner, spouse, lawyer, chef, parent, and honor-roll student and instead transform into Dance Mom, Dance Dad, Dance Competitor, and Number-One Dance Teacher. You sacrifice healthy meals, sleep, and sanity to keep the train running, and the aggressive desire to win becomes all-consuming.

The competitive dance industry asks families and studios owners/teachers to devote massive amounts of time, money, and effort to chasing wins and hoping that students improve their dance skills, form friendships, and add accolades to their extracurricular roster. Meanwhile, the competitive dance industry makes thousands of dollars at every event, thanks to entry fees, educational fees, hotel and corporate partnerships, sponsorships, and merchandise. 

It's undeniable that competitive dance generates massive profits during a typical, operational season. It’s less clear whether its offering families commensurate benefits. Is our investment in this industry a strong return on investment? Or, are our clients and  families misplacing their hard-earned money and time? 

The Truth about the Big Bucks

The competitive dance industry has deep pockets. It costs dance clients a lot of money: travel, hotels, entry fees, costumes, etc. Much of the fees are laundered through the dance studios, as the competitions only accept payments from the studio owner to “minimize” the chance of unethical competition. Competitions sponsor magazine ads in our industry publications, produce the largest educational events in the industry, are involved with dance studio consulting agencies, and offer kickback trips to their most valuable clientele. 

In the studio industry, the competitive dance industry is “big business” and has its hand in almost everything. The studios that participate in a big way have major incentive to continue. The mid- to smaller-size studios continue to compete because they feel there are no alternative options. 

You will not hear many counter-arguments for the dance competition industry in the secular dance space, because it is financially dominated by the competitive market. It is a big, big bear. Because of deregulation, there’s no official data or statistics. When subsets of the industry try to formalize, they tend to spiral out of control or dissolve. That’s what happened to the Federation of Dance Competitions. There’s no regulation, no tracking, no accountability. 

A New York Times piece offered that 52,000 children attended the Showstopper competition in 2016.  That represents one competition out of hundreds that exist. Thousands of studios across the United States participate in dance competitions each year. 

The numbers we can track are staggering, and that’s why this conversation is a necessity. Big impact is happening. But is it the type of impact we want to see as we look toward a strong, powerful, and creative future in dance education?

The Consideration of Family Values

In order to answer that question, we have to look at clients’ family values. Does the competitive dance industry support the needs of the current American family? With multiple children, multi-income households, and a myriad of demands, is this industry an asset or a hindrance to building quality, engaging family time? 

During my days in the competitive sphere, I was a workhorse. I vacationed for work and bookended my work weeks with working weekends. My inner circle eventually brought it to my attention that my work habits were crazy and unsustainable. When I finally broke from the competitive dance industry, the immediate change of pace forced me to look beyond my own personal view.

My clients were feeling the exact same pressure from competitive dance. They frequently allowed their children to start dance as an extracurricular activity because of the skills and opportunities it offered, but over time, they struggled to find a balance between their family’s needs and the perceived social standard of “advancement.” 

Here’s how some of my loyal clients, the Allen family, described their experience:

“As parents of young children, we discussed at length the idea of our kids not dictating our schedules as parents and the desire to create family values. One of the values important to us was spending family time together and allowing our kids to have time for free play. Three kids later, these ideas and values are very difficult to maintain. The culture around us doesn’t give many options. 

When you begin an extracurricular activity at a young age, it’s not long before the conversation shifts to ‘let us tell you about our competitive team’ or ‘it’s just one more practice a week and one more game.’ Before long, a child is eight years old, practicing four to five nights a week, traveling every other weekend just to be on the lowest-level competition team. 

The idea of a family meal quickly becomes a drive-thru dinner and eating in the car together going to the next activity. Free time dissipates as practices and homework increase. And this is all happening for an eight-year-old. Imagine the pressure for families as kids get older. It’s hard to not think you’re doing something wrong if you say no.”

With this perspective, it is easy to see the immense pressure that the competitive dance industry puts on families to conform and excel because “it’s the thing to do,” even when it is contrary to their inclination and purpose. 

Parents feel obligated to give their children the “best” opportunities, but they can only provide those opportunities at the expense of other, more important elements of childhood development: family time, structure, education, and stability. 

There’s a Better Way

The competitive dance industry makes a lot of money, but its pay-offs for families are a lot less certain. In fact, I would argue that the industry is overwhelmingly counterproductive when it comes to creating dance programs that empower and inspire every child. Competitive dance makes it easy for studio owners, instructors, parents, and children to veer entirely off track. 

Many families would breathe a sigh of relief if the weight and expectation of competitive dance was released from their programming and replaced with something more meaningful, cost-efficient, and flexible. It’s time that studios engage creativity, enact change, and embrace ambition. It’s time for parents to understand that there are ample opportunities for their children outside of the isolated competitive dance bubble.. Let’s work together to make more meaningful impact. 

For more advice on the competitive dance industry, you can find Trash the Trophies on Amazon.

As the owner and artistic director of Stage Door Dance Productions, Chasta Hamilton is reinventing the dance education model by focusing on character development and community involvement in addition to technique and performance attributes. She is the founder and president of the nonprofit, Girls Geared For Greatness, and the founder and former editor of The Dance Exec. Chasta was recognized by Triangle Business Journal as a 2014 40 Under 40, and in 2016, a Women in Business, Future Star. Proud to call North Carolina home, Chasta lives in Raleigh with her husband, John, and their Scottish terrier, Elvis.