As we kick off our competition season here at Mellado Dance Elite, we are busy perfecting our dances, packing our bags, and practicing flawless hair and makeup. We have devoted nights and weekends to rehearsals. Dancers have dealt with sore muscles and emotional exhaustion all for THIS. For many dancers, the chance to earn top scores and bring home titles is exciting, nerve wracking, and beyond all, fun! But is that what dance competitions are all about? Winning? Although winning can feel great, that is not what drives our school to attend competitions.
Through the experience of competing, our dancers learn how to deal with disappointment, adapt to changing circumstances, develop an open mind, and get a boost of self-confidence! Now doesn’t that sound enticing? We think so!
One of the most obvious reasons that we love competitions is that they teach our dancers how to deal with disappointment. We always work very hard in anticipation of the season but sometimes this just isn’t enough. We don’t always score as high as we would like or earn special awards. Being able to handle this disappointment with grace takes practice (even for teachers and choreographers!). Competitions give us MANY opportunities to talk about how to handle these feelings the right way.
A competition that runs exactly on schedule is almost unheard of. Schedules can run ahead, behind, or they can jump around. There will be quick changes, hours in between each piece, no time to warm up, costume malfunctions, music issues, etc. The possibilities are endless! Competitions are great practice for rolling with punches. Our dancers learn how to quickly make adjustments and changes as needed. We aim to teach our dancers how to maintain composure through all the craziness!
Dancers flock from near and far for competitions and with that brings a TON of diversity! At any given competition we are exposed to many different styles of dance and choreography. It gets us out of our Mellado Dance Elite bubble and opens our eyes to new possibilities. We make sure to teach our dancers that being different is an amazing thing and to go into each competition with an open mind.
One of our favorite perks of going to competition is the boost of self-confidence it gives our dancers. Crazy thing, this has NOTHING to do with winning! Getting on stage and performing in front of judges, peers, and complete strangers is very difficult and takes guts! Also, going into each competition we set specific goals completely unrelated to winning. Each time we can accomplish one of those goals, it builds confidence. It teaches our dancers that when they work hard at something, they can achieve it! It is all about being their personal best. We are absolutely in LOVE with that!
At Mellado Dance Elite, we enjoy seeing the transformation of our dancers so much! They have a huge amount of growth from the beginning of our competition season to the end. We are so thankful we get to be a part of that transformation! After all that, doesn’t winning just seem like an added bonus every once and while?! We think so too. Check in on our Facebook Pagefor more details on our competition schedule! More information about all of our programs can be found on our website.
