A little bit is a good thing—but where do you draw the line?

By Melissa Hoffman

Competitiveness—anyone who is involved in dance competitions must have a streak of it. And it’s not all bad; after all, the urge to succeed encourages us to strive for excellence. But how much competitiveness is too much?

I have heard of rival studios stealing other studios’ costumes and dumping coffee on their music tapes to increase their odds of winning. I have seen studios use others’ choreography or badmouth them at competitions. Then there are the owners who advertise that their school has won more awards than someone else’s or claim that theirs is the best studio due to these wins. Does this type of behavior gain us customers or, more important, respect, not only among our peers and from our students but also in the community?

I’m lucky, because in my experience, teachers often sit together at competitive events and enjoy each other’s work or vent about their studios. After all, many of us ventured into competitions 20 or so years ago in order to educate our students and ourselves. For some studios, though, this is not the case. For them, competitions have become a proving ground of sorts.

The roots of this kind of competitiveness often lie in personal conflicts. The rivalry comes not from participating in competitions but from bad blood between studio owners. It can happen when a school owner trains someone who then opens a school too close to their own or when studios that have more than their share of “studio hoppers” (students who switch schools) clash.

Getting perspective
To put the rivalry at competitions into perspective, you may need to ask yourself some questions. First, does this type of behavior increase the number of students you have? The truth is that the mother of that 3-year-old who just enrolled is not impressed by any competition your school has won or the fact that you beat the studio down the street. She cares that you have created a safe, caring, and fun environment that will foster her child’s love of dance.

Second, does winning a competition and having rivalries get work for our dancers? Absolutely not. Potential employers have no interest in how many competitions the dancers won or placed in. But in the professional performance world, dancers from schools you considered to be your rivals will be dancing alongside your former students—or maybe one of them will be a director who is considering hiring your dancers. Do you want them to lose a job because of your negativity, which could have occurred years earlier? Those putdowns and holier-than-thou attitudes aren’t easily forgotten.

The mother of that 3-year-old who just enrolled is not impressed by any competition your school has won. She cares that you have created a safe, caring, and fun environment that will foster her child’s love of dance.

Finally, does this behavior make you a better teacher or, more important, a better person? Give this one some thought. Personally, I never want to be defined by what I have won or not won. Nor do I wish that for my studio or my dancers.

Decreasing competitiveness
So what can we do to change this behavior? More than once some wise people have told me, “You can only control your own behavior.” Then there’s the familiar axiom “The apple never falls far from the tree.” So it seems that as teachers, we must control our own actions—and if we do, our students and employees will follow suit. If we talk negatively about other schools, our dancers will believe it is OK to do that. If we have the attitude that “we are better than them,” not only do we leave a bad taste in others’ mouths but we also leave ourselves no room to improve and learn from each other.

At competitive events, lead by example. When other schools present some great choreography, congratulate their directors or teachers. Encourage your dancers to clap for everything they see and appreciate it for what it is; doing so will create an atmosphere that is fun and appreciative rather than stressful and judgmental.

Do not make a weekend’s success at a competition the first thing everyone hears about when they walk into the studio on a Monday. Congratulating your dancers is important, but be careful not to act like that is all you care about; it’s not a good business practice. Your dancers will follow your lead and be less likely to brag.

Establish a policy (unspoken or spoken) with area teachers about studio hoppers. When students who are considering changing schools contact me, I ask them to sit down with their director first to talk about their concerns and explain that they are considering a move. In most cases I let the dancers know upfront that they will need to be enrolled in my school for a year before they can compete with us. If they are truly looking for what my school can offer them, they’ll agree to this policy. If they are simply looking to compete, it may not be acceptable. I believe it’s because of this policy, and the fact that many of the teachers in our area are friendly, that we do not see much studio hopping.

In creating ads for your studio, be thoughtful about what parents of potential new students are looking for. I doubt that many want to see that you scored higher than the studio down the street. Your focus should be to show your school in the best light; for most, that means including photos of young dancers enjoying themselves—and very little text about your numerous awards. After all, the recreational students, not the competition dancers, pay most schools’ expenses.

Keep competition in perspective and examine why you choose to participate. Learning and growing as teachers and students are among the best benefits competition has to offer. If each school handled competitive events, advertising, and relationships with other studios in a positive manner, everyone would benefit. Being negative with our competitors or creating rivalries does nothing to better our businesses or who we are as human beings.