Student Challenges Prevalent in the Pro-am Structure

I'm curious - how does this work out? I may switch over to an independent instructor in 2014 (yes, I'm planning way ahead...), and he's most likely to have people in my (coming) age group, level, and style. What happens if both students are planning to attend the same comp and we both want to do the multidance scholarship for our level? I mean, i have on my to do list to get info on that when I call the studio, but what's the norm? First come, first serve?

(I think this counts as a challenge for Pro-Am, right, so I'm on thread?)

One of you could dance down an age group, or dance up a level. I've been in this situation a several years ago, when we were at a comp which had only one age group for all scholarships and he had two bronze students (myself and another lady). I danced silver and she danced bronze. If there's no more room for movement (i.e. you all do open) then you just take turns I suppose.

Sure. Or, the student who does more comps and has more experience gets all of the coveted events. Not the student who can't travel all over the country every few weeks and dance 30+ entries per comp. The one who stays local and wants to dance one level plus scholarship is outta luck, even if that person's dance ability is worthy of the opportunity. Not that I would know anything about such practices...

I think there's a whole lot of variation out there. I've known students to take turns. I've known students to stay at a lower proficiency level longer in a given style longer than they strictly have to, waiting for a spot to open up with their instructor. I've known students who routinely volunteer to drop down an age bracket since they're a stronger dancer than the other student their teacher has at that level. I don't doubt that there are plenty of cases like nikkitta describes. I imagine student seniority can factor in. I don't think there are any hard and fast rules-of-thumb.

Most pro am comps gladly create another heat for teachers with multiple students in a category.

Ok. Good knowledge, thank you all! This is really a good thread.

That's fine for single-dance events (although really, there're already enough different levels of those that I'm skeptical it's necessary very often), but I don't think it would really be an option for the scholarship events.

I think sometimes comps eventually do that for scholarship events if they have enough feedback asking them to. When I first started doing scholarships at St. Louis Starball and Heart of America, both of these comps had 2 age groups for closed scholarships, and I think (not 100% sure) just one age group for open ones. Now both of these expanded to 3 age groups for closed scholarships and 2 age groups for open ones, and there is enough local teachers who have students in all age groups for a given level.

I have seen the larger competitions having "A", "B", "C" and "Sr" age groups and also coming up with different types of scholarships, like closed rising star scholarships in addition to regular closed scholarships, and of course championship rounds that can also be split up into 3 dance and 5 dance championships.

That's a tough one Nikkitta, because the other side of the coin are students who feel that they are willing to put forth alot of time, money and effort to travel to different competitions and don't want this to mean that they are automatically shut out from the local comps, particularly as these are the comps that their friends and family can watch, or perhaps has a certain element that they want to be part of. Not saying I don't get what you are saying.. but there is a different way of looking at this. Pros have a hard job having to say who gets to do what comp, that's for sure!

Then there is this to consider in switching from franchise to independent.
My experience is that the cost structure is quite different for comps at franchise VS independent. You may also want to inquire about the pricing structure of comps. A reputable studio should be glad to discuss this with you.

If I was to switch instructors again my question would not be how to resolve many students who are interested in the same scholorship, but how many of the pros students travel to comps.

In my situation all of my pros comp students do local or one state away comps but do not travel to out of state larger comps. What this means to me is that my cost to do an out of state comp is expensive because I soley foot the bills for pros travel and expenses..... I would gladly share scholorship time with other students in return for sharing pros costs.

Just bringing up the downside (or price) of the luxury of unlimited pros availability for scholorships.

No, I certainly don't envy the Pros stuck in the middle. I made my desires and goals known early, and it looked like it was all set until another student decided to go for the scholarship too, at which point I was kicked aside. And the argument about friends and family watching at local comps isn't good since there are still plenty of single dance opportunities. I really wanted to enter the scholarship event, and I too put forth a lot of time, money, and effort in my private lessons, but could not travel far and do boatloads of entries like the others.

It was one of several bad Pro-Am comp experiences, and one of several reasons why I have no interest in going that route any more. If you have found a dedicated and fair-minded Pro who doesn't fall prey to monopolization and manipulation, be thankful. It can get ugly. I detest it when something as beautiful and meaningful and dancing gets ugly, but sadly it happens.

I have a friend who went to the independent pro from the franchise we both were at, at so it's been nice to compare costs almost directly. I'd like to spent a year or two doing some independent comps, and through the franchise it's substantially more costly, especially as (right now, at least) they don't have any other students interested in independent comps. I will definitely discuss the pricing structures and what other students may be traveling with the new pro. I do like my franchise studio - both the pros and the fact that it's like a 7 minute drive from my house - but to be able to afford doing the independent comps, I'd need to change pros for a while - it's literally financially motivated only. I'd probably end up coming back to the franchise, so I don't plan on burning any bridges. At least I'll try really hard not to.

But good to hear other experiences with comp conflicts. Sounds like I need to be prepared with what I want to do, as early as possible.

When there was a potential for a conflict like that - 5 people and only 3 scholarships for silver, my teacher said that scholarships will go to the students who he thinks are the most prepared (which translated into those of us who've been dancing silver the longest). I think the end result for that comp was that his newest silver student didn't dance a scholarship at all, and another lady who was also working on silver, just postponed moving up and danced bronze so that she could still dance a scholarship.

I remember though, somebody posting on these boards a few years back how there was a conflict with two open level students under age 45 doing open, and the comp organizer allowed the older of them to move up in age and dance in the 45+ age group.

So far I have been fortunate enough to not get to a place where I was denied a scholarship. When I danced both rhythm and latin, I would rotate what style I danced with the other student in my age group so that when she was doing rhythm I would do latin and so we both got to do our scholarship rounds. There were only two occasions that I had to dance down an age. Now that I am dancing latin exclusively, there is no other silver latin lady in my age category currently competing, so for now... that is not an issue. I have seen it become more of an issue though with students throughout the years and there are a variety of factors that go into the decision making process by a pro. Some feel that the student who is the most invested ( does the most lessons, participates in the most comps, is most likely to win) should get the scholarship, others think that the student who has never done a scholarship before should get first dibs at the next one... so I have seen quite a variety of responses. I think the best thing is to know upfront how the decision is made and then there are no surprises later.

I guess my friend's situation is unique in that she is the 'new' student however extremely talented and much better than her pro current students that is in the same grade. Her pro acknowledged this and supported her and may I say a little more inclined towards favoring her over his other longer tenured students. Simply due to her talents.

This caused a lot of stir and upset between his students who always thinks he is giving her better choreography (maybe but she is more capable), giving her better teaching, and once she won over one of them hell breaks lose !

after reading the past few pages i can only say

im glad im a man!!!! i pick my pros to make certain there is no other guy in my age/level