Entry Divisions & Categories — The Power of Dance

Entry Divisions

The Power of Dance has five Divisions:

Shining Star
All Star
Superstar
Adult
Soaring Stars

Studio Owners must select the appropriate division in the Registration system for each dance.

Shining Star Division is for dancers who take 3 or fewer hours of dance per week and have limited or no competition experience. A Shining Star dancer may compete in no more than one solo and five group dances. (NO Super Star dancers may compete in group dances in this division. The presence of even one Super Star dancer will cause a Shining Star entry to automatically be bumped up to All Star.)

All Star is for dancers who take between 3 and 5 hours of dance per week. A dancer in this division may compete in no more than two solos and no more than 8 group dances. All Star dancers may compete in group dances in both the Shining Star and Super Star divisions.

Super Star is for dancers who take 5 or more hours of dance per week. There is no limit as to how many dance they may appear in, but remember that no Superstar level dancer may appear in a Shining Star entry.

Placement should be made based on the highest recent level of training. If an older dancer goes from dancing ten hours a week to only taking tap one hour per week and doing a tap solo, they would still enter as Superstar, not Shining Star! Dancers may compete UP in division, but not down. In other words, we do not REQUIRE those dancing less than three hours a week to enter the Shining Star Division – it is the studio’s option. But those dancing 4 hours per week may NOT enter as Shining Star. If the judges feel that a piece is obviously placed in the wrong division, they have the right to move it as they see fit.

For dances that include dancers from more than one Division, the dance will be placed in the Division in which the most dancers in the entry are placed. If the split is even, they will be placed in the higher Division. (A Duo with one Shining Star Dancer and one All Star Dancer would be placed in All Star, for example.) Studios may opt to place a dance in a Division higher than the one calculated by the system, but they may not compete down a level.

Soaring Star Division is a very special program for Special Needs Dancers. We invite any studios with Special Needs students of any sort to share our stage, free of charge. We know from personal experience that these dancers share the joy of dance as passionately as anyone can, and we are honored to allow them to share that passion with us. The entire point of The Power of Dance is to encourage children to use their gifts to help others. This category fits that vision perfectly, for when we’ve had special needs groups perform with us in the past, THEY have truly helped US -- our staff, the judges, the other performers, and everyone in the audience. No one, anywhere, has ever seen a truer expression of the power of dance, and none will soon forget it. There are no rules -- we leave it up to the teachers and parents to tell us what accommodations are needed. Dances may be announced simply as "For Performance Only" if so desired.

Adult Division is self-explanatory. The dance CAN be a mixture of parents and students, but if there are any adults in a piece at all, (Ages 20 and up) it will be placed in the Adult Division.

Age Groupings

Mini: Under 5
Super-Petite: 5&6
Petite: 7&8
Junior: 9-10 years
Tween: 11-12 years
Teen: 13-15 years
Senior: 16-19 years
Adult: 20+ (Adult Category-see note below)

Age Cut Off: For both Regionals and Nationals, dancers are placed by their age as of January 1 of that season. For group dances, ages are averaged and anything to the right of the decimal point is dropped.

Age Bump Rule: For Duos, Trios, Small Groups and Large Groups that include dancers from different age groups, the entry will be placed by our system one age group beneath the age group of the oldest dancer in the entry, regardless of the average age of the dance. For Lines and Productions, which often include all dancers from a studio, age is determined by averaging the ages of all participants in the dance. We know that these dances often include every dancer from a studio, and applying a "bump rule" would often cause those entries to be scheduled much too late at night for your 5 year olds!

Adult Category: Any dance that includes a performer 20 years or older is placed in the Adult division.

If a question should arise concerning the age of a contestant, a birth certificate must be provided at the competition as proof of age. All protests must be presented in writing within 30 minutes of the incident to the competition director.

Performance Categories

Acrobatic
Should incorporate dance, floor gymnastic moves and acrobatic stunts. No gymnastics equipment is allowed.

Ballet
A dance consisting of classical steps and ballet technique.

Character
A dance in which an easily recognizable character is portrayed throughout. You may incorporate any form of dance, including acrobatics tricks or tumbling passes, but not more than 50% of the dance may be acrobatics.

Clogging
A dance performed in clogging shoes using clogging technique.

Contemporary
Lyrical or jazz movement infused with elements of modern.

Hip Hop
A dance which consists of the latest “street” dance styles, including funk, break, popping or any other terms they have made up by the time you read this!

Jazz
A dance consisting of classical jazz technique.

Lyrical
A dance that is interpretive in nature and features contemporary lyrical styles demonstrating balance, extension, isolations, and control.

Modern
A dance consisting of modern technique such as Graham, Horton or Limon.

Musical Theatre
A piece featuring any style of dance interpreting a song from a “Broadway” or movie musical.

Open
This category is for any routine which falls into any of our performance categories, or any combination thereof, or any style of dance.

Pointe
A dance consisting of classical ballet technique wearing pointe shoes.

Pom Pom
Pom Poms must be used for at least 50% of the piece.

Tap
A dance comprised of tap technique. Tap shoes a must, and no tap sounds are allowed on the performance CD.

Vocal
Routine may be any type of vocal presentation. Accompaniment must be on tape. No lead vocals permitted on tape, backup voices only will be permitted.