Most dancers who take part in competitions and conventions attend with a dance studio. However annually, a small group of soloists decide to go for it as independents, and not using a studio affiliation. There are many advantages to this method—in addition to a couple of potential drawbacks. Earlier than you enroll, think about what you’re prepared to place into the expertise, and what you hope to achieve.
Why Be Impartial?
For dancers who don’t attend competition-oriented studios, competing independently may be the one choice. As a ballet pupil, Rachel Quiner—now in her first yr as a main-company member at American Repertory Ballet in Princeton, New Jersey—spent her weekdays in bunhead mode, and her weekends at occasions like NUVO Dance Conference and New York Metropolis Dance Alliance. Although Quiner was capable of compete along with her native dance studio, “lots of ballet dancers select the unbiased route as a result of their studios don’t do competitions and conventions,” she says. “Though I used to be targeted on pursuing ballet, it was enjoyable to study different types and develop into extra snug onstage.”
Even when a studio does compete, it could solely journey to 1 or two occasions annually, or solely permit sure dancers to enter as soloists. “At my daughter’s studio, it’s important to be in tenth grade to get a solo,” says Mehgan Jarvie, who teaches dance at a number of studios within the Philadelphia space and whose 13-year-old daughter, Margaret, trains primarily at Lionville College of Dance in Exton, Pennsylvania. Margaret competes in group routines along with her studio classmates however has entered extra occasions as an unbiased soloist. “It’s been such a shallowness enhance for her,” Jarvie says. “As a soloist, she will get to point out her abilities otherwise than when she’s in a gaggle, and the suggestions she will get comes again to the studio along with her.”
What to Take into account
Competing as an unbiased usually means going the additional mile. Solo rehearsals will doubtless must occur by yourself time. Quiner ran by way of solos at residence in her basement, getting suggestions from her household. Jarvie makes certain to not register Margaret for occasions that battle with Lionville’s competitors schedule, and he or she and a rehearsal coach work along with her at a studio the place Jarvie teaches. Competing independently can even develop into pricey. Pondering of hiring a choreographer? “Even a single two-minute solo could be costly!” Quiner warns. She usually requested her sisters, who’re additionally dancers, to choreograph her routines—or created her personal. “I knew tips on how to spotlight my strengths,” she factors out. “Additionally, while you choreograph your individual solo, you may consistently be tweaking it, primarily based on judges’ suggestions from one occasion to the subsequent.”
That mentioned, working independently with an outdoor choreographer can even foster progress. Jarvie created her daughter’s competitors solos till this previous yr, when she requested a colleague to choreograph. The end result was Margaret’s most profitable season but. “I believe a part of the explanation she did so nicely was that she had somebody new working along with her,” Jarvie says.
Competing with out studio assist can really feel lonely. As an unbiased competitor, you might want to be prepared to place your self on the market—even for those who aren’t naturally outgoing. “If you’re onstage for awards, you gained’t have that huge group of associates cheering you on,” Jarvie notes. Attending to know conference school members and different dancers can preserve these lonely emotions at bay. It could additionally enable you construct networking abilities, since making potential skilled connections is certainly one of these occasions’ main advantages.
Going it alone can provide you a unique perspective in your dancing, because it requires you to develop an understanding of your individual strengths and weaknesses. Even when certainly one of your objectives in competing as an unbiased soloist is to construct confidence, “it’s important to go in figuring out what you deliver to the desk,” Jarvie says. And constructing that form of self-knowledge can preserve you from falling into a standard competitors lure: evaluating your self to these round you. “Be your individual finest dancer,” Jarvie says. “Dance for your self.”
