I just spent over an hour reading comments from a few old Facebook posts about ballet competitions and whether or not they’re “rigged.” Are they? We asked three YAGP judges for their thoughts on a variety of issues related to competitions and we learned some interesting stuff, including whether or not they think they’re rigged.
We have two fantastic podcast episodes launching this week, where they address subjects as varied as the how important costumes are, the value of competing multiple variations, why students go to multiple regionals and what judges love to see on stage. And, yes, we asked if they think the competitions are rigged? Of course, one can dismiss what they say because they’re employed by these event organizers. But, after speaking with a number of studio owners, competition coaches, judges and even the event organizers themselves, the picture seems to be more nuanced than one would initially believe.
A subject we wanted to cover in advance of airing these interviews that of the urban legends surrounding the larger ballet competitions. What follows are the judges’ thoughts on some of the common beliefs that people seem to have.
Please note that we are fairly agnostic on ballet competitions. Both of our kids did them but stopped when they were relatively young due to enrolling in a company affiliated ballet training program that did not have its kids compete.
Ballet Is Subjective
Duh. We all knew this, but it’s hard to reconcile this with the notion of competition. When we hear competition, we think goals, touchdowns and runs. But, it’s much closer to the way ice skating and gymnastics are judged. But, that’s not even a fair comparison because both gymnastics and skating have compulsory elements that are factored into scores. Ballet has none of this. It’s based on what a judge thinks of you on that day, doing that variation, on that stage. And, the judge could be jet-lagged, on the cusp of getting sick or just had the best day of their life. All of this impacts how dancers may be scored.
In our recent interviews, we learned a few things about competition judges. First, most are former professional dancers. Second, they come from all sorts of backgrounds – some trained and danced in Russia, some in France, some in England, some in the U.S. and the list goes on. And, with those experiences come biases. Each judge has a preferred body type, style and area of focus. We don’t love the references to body type, but it’s still often the case in ballet.
In fact, we interviewed two judges, a husband and wife team who both danced with New York City Ballet. Even between the two, coming out of the same training and dancing with the same company, they had different things they looked for.
Finally, judges don’t have much skin in the game with the exception of needing a side hustle because dance pays so poorly in this country. They adjudicate performances and provide feedback and scores. But, they don’t have much say in who may get passed to the next round or, in the case of YAGP, to finals. That usually rests with the artistic administration.
Ok, let’s talk about some urban legends.
Certain Schools Are Favored
How many times have I heard this? I’ve had parents tell me that the only reason a kid did well was because she went to what was described as a “YAGP school.” So, we asked Dierdre Miles-Burger, the Assistant Education Director and Head of Curriculum at Sarasota Ballet School about this.
She told us that judges are not given any information about competitors other than name, age and variation being performed. They have no idea what school that student is from. So, the notion that kids from a certain school have an edge because it’s a “known program,” probably doesn’t hold a lot of water with individual judges.
When we asked Ms. Miles-Burger why it seems that dancers from certain schools seem to do well year-over-year, she replied, “Because they’re good.” That makes sense. If I saw a school that seemed to have a lot of talented dancers, I might want to send my dancer there too.
In addition, ballet competition judges see hundreds of kids each weekend and they come, fast and furious, every three minutes for the duration of the competition. Scores have to be submitted at the end of each variation so there is little time to make adjustments.
So, can judges help sway a competition in favor of one dancer or another? Maybe, but given the format, it’s unlikely.
That Dancer Didn’t Do As Well As Mine
(But Made It To Finals)
This is another complaint we hear a lot: That kid flubbed her routine on stage but still got passed through to finals. We asked Ms. Miles-Burger why this seems to happen so often.
She pointed out a few things. First, she said that the regional events, whether it’s ADC IBC, YAGP or the pre-selection process for something like World Ballet, all look for the same thing: potential. Does a particular dancer have potential to get picked up by a company affiliated program or conservatory and ultimately have a career?
We may see a dancer on stage who does what we think is an absolutely flawless routine. And, right after that, a kid comes on stage and falls out of his turns and doesn’t stick a landing from a jump. Surely we know which of those two kids is going to the finals, right? Not always. Ms. Miles-Burger pointed out that the dancer who performed a flawless routine, might be operating at the top of their game and there wasn’t much room to go beyond what you just saw them do. The dancer that wasn’t so flawless may have only been doing ballet for a few months, or was battling a cold or whatever. The “flawless” kid may place higher, but the less flawless kid might be the one going to finals. Why? Potential.
Ms. Burger noted that they aren’t sending that kid through to finals to have a second shot at placing. Rather, the judges think that the dancer who had some stumbles, but shows a lot of potential, will likely pique the interest of schools that go to finals to recruit talent.
It’s the Instafamous Kids That Win Everything
We’ve all seen these kids. They have hundreds of thousands of followers and we’re convinced that they win everything they enter. Are there Instafamous kids that win at ballet competitions? Absolutely. Did they get Instafamous before they started winning at YAGP and the others or did they build their following on the backs of these competitions? And, does it even matter?
Take a good hard look at the Instafamous kids from five years ago and show me where they are now. I’ll wait.
We asked James Fayette and Jenifer Ringer, a husband and wife team, who both danced at New York City Ballet. They are also the former deans of the Colburn School in Los Angeles. We asked them specifically about the impact of social media profiles on their judging of a competitor. While they didn’t exactly roll their eyes at us, they did make it clear it made little difference to them. They did have some clear opinions on the role of social media and you can hear more about it in our podcast with them that goes live on September 29th.
But, they did point out that they have no idea what the social media profiles are of the kids they judge. They also told us that there is simply no time to be looking at that stuff given the number of dancers that come across their stage each day.
Competition Darlings Go On To Huge Careers
Umm, no they don’t. First, we did a little informal research on the kids that won the Hope Award at YAGP. This is the award that goes to the top dancer in the Pre-Competitive level at regionals and finals. We looked back at about seven years of data and guess what? Fifty percent of them are not dancing anymore. Think about all of the hours those kids put in. For what? A trophy? A huge increase in Instagram followers?
Ms. Miles-Burger also weighed in on this. Despite being a long-time judge and a proponent of ballet competitions (as long as they are kept in perspective). She said that most of the kids who end up in professional careers got snapped up by company affiliated training programs and conservatories while they were in the junior category, which ends at age 15. She noted that these were the kids who tended to do well in ballet in the long run.
She also emphasized two downsides of being a competition darling. First, she described the kids who were on the “competition circuit.” She talked about how these dancers did competitions throughout the year and on through the summer. Throw in a few galas here and there and that can lead to a lot of burnout. She noted that often, these kids would be better off heading to a summer program and cutting back on so many competitions.
We also heard something, not only from her, but also from several other people we interviewed and it was this: It is extremely hard to go from being a competition darling who performs what are essentially principal parts at competitions and galas to joining the corps of a ballet company. We were told that these dancers often had trouble adapting to company life both physically and emotionally.
Conversely, Ms. Miles-Burger mentioned that she has had several students, over the years, who not only never made it to a final round in a competition, but rarely even placed at a regional. And, many of them are happily ensconced in professional careers.
Everyone Is Doing Ballet Competitions
It is really hard to keep this all in perspective when all you see on social media is posts about competitions. Sometimes it feels like your dancer’s further success rests with how they do at YAGP or ADC IBC. The judges we spoke with said this is absolutely not true. In fact, Jenifer Ringer went so far as to say that she simply didn’t have the constitution to handle competitions. And this is someone who had a long and successful career dancing for New York City Ballet.
Ballet competitions are but one arrow in a dancer’s quiver. It may feel like everyone is doing it, but they aren’t. Yes, competitions can be exciting and for some, a ton of fun. But, one needs to keep it all in perspective and understand the role that competitions play.
They are great to see how your dancer stacks up against other kids their age. It can also be a fantastic networking tool. Tune in to our podcast with James Fayette and Jenifer Ringer to hear them talk more about networking. They actually think that this is the biggest benefit of competing.
But, as we’ve said before, ballet competitions are absolutely not necessary in order to have a career. If your dancer likes them, great. If not, that’s great too.
As we mentioned earlier in this post, this week, our podcast episodes feature interviews with three competition judges. Tune in Wednesday, September 27 and Wednesday, October 4, to hear the judges opinions on the good, the bad and the ugly of ballet competitions. Just search Ballet Help Desk wherever you get your podcasts or listen on our website.
Podcast Episodes:
September 27: Deirdre Miles-Burger
October 4: James Fayette & Jenifer Ringer
The Ballet Help Desk 