Individualized training. A meaningful personal challenge.
En Avant’s Competition Team pathway is designed primarily for selected dancers pursuing solo or duet training and approved competitive opportunities.
Competition requires more than learning an additional routine. It asks dancers to take personal responsibility for practicing, applying corrections, maintaining choreography, performing independently, and approaching feedback and results with maturity and a growth mindset.
Our goal is not simply to collect awards. It is to provide appropriately prepared dancers with an experience that supports their technical growth, artistry, resilience, confidence, and responsibility.
What competition means at En Avant
Competition can be an exciting opportunity, but it is not the only measure of a dancer’s success.
Scores, placements, and awards provide one form of feedback. They do not define a dancer’s worth, potential, importance, or progress.
En Avant approaches competition as an educational experience. Dancers are encouraged to:
– Set individual goals
– Prepare consistently
– Perform with confidence
– Receive adjudicator feedback thoughtfully
– Celebrate the accomplishments of others
– Represent En Avant with kindness, authenticity, and professionalism
Awards may be part of the experience, but growth remains the purpose.
How the Competition Team is structured
En Avant’s current Competition Team pathway centers primarily on solos and duets rather than large competitive groups.
Selected dancers work individually or with a duet partner and an En Avant choreographer through private lessons. They continue attending their regular technique classes while learning, practicing, cleaning, and preparing their competition routine.
Depending on the dancer and season plan, some individualized routines may be created for personal growth or approved performances without competing. Having a solo does not automatically make a dancer part of the Competition Team or guarantee a public performance.
Competition participation requires separate Director approval.
What can individualized training develop?
A well-supported solo or duet experience can help a dancer strengthen:
– Independence and personal responsibility
– Individual artistry and performance quality
– Practice and goal-setting habits
– Confidence performing without a full group
– Technical consistency
– Ability to apply detailed corrections
– Resilience under pressure
– Humility and healthy sportsmanship
A solo is not a reward that makes one dancer more important than another. It is an individualized challenge accompanied by greater responsibility.
Who is considered for Competition Team opportunities?
Competition readiness is considered individually. Factors may include:
– Consistent attendance in regular classes
– Technical foundation appropriate for the proposed routine
– Work ethic, preparation, and coachability
– Performance maturity and emotional readiness
– Ability to handle correction, comparison, and pressure
– Family schedule and support
– Choreographer and studio availability
– Whether the opportunity appears healthy and productive for the dancer
Being told “not yet” does not mean “never.” Sometimes the best next step is additional training, stronger consistency, or more time to develop confidence and independence.
Expressing interest does not guarantee an invitation, routine, choreographer, performance, or competition placement.
The consideration process
1. Interest or invitation
A dancer may be invited to consider an opportunity, or an eligible family may request the Solo Information and Commitment Guide and complete the Solo Interest and Readiness Form.
2. Director conversation
The dancer and family may participate in a conversation about readiness, goals, training, schedule, style, and whether the experience is an appropriate fit.
3. Approval and planning
If approved, the studio will determine the type of opportunity, choreographer, proposed style, training expectations, and possible performance or competition plan.
4. Choreography and private lessons
The dancer then begins private lessons to learn the routine. Additional lessons are then scheduled for cleaning, corrections, stamina, and performance preparation.
5. Performance and reflection
Approved competition dancers perform, receive feedback, and use the experience as part of their continued training and growth.
Regular classes come first
A competition routine does not replace or take priority over consistent technique training.
Dancers must remain enrolled in and regularly attend the class or classes that support the routine’s style. Depending on the routine, this may include jazz, tap, ballet, contemporary, lyrical, hip hop, pointe, or another approved technique class.
Private lessons are where choreography is learned and refined. Regular classes are where dancers build strength, alignment, vocabulary, musicality, coordination, and consistency needed to support that choreography.
Group classes, rehearsals, and existing team responsibilities continue to take priority.
Private lessons and practice
Lesson length
Solo private lessons are generally 45 to 60 minutes long. Duets and other shared private lessons are typically scheduled for approximately one hour.
Most dancers need several lessons to learn a complete routine, followed by additional cleaning lessons. The exact number depends on the dancer, style, complexity, timeline, preparation, and goals.
Practice outside the studio
Private lesson time cannot replace independent practice.
Practice may include:
– Reviewing choreography
– Applying corrections
– Listening closely to the music
– Marking pathways and transitions
– Practicing performance quality
– Mental practice
– Building stamina through complete runs
Repeated cancellations, extended gaps between lessons, or lack of preparation may affect whether the dancer can continue with the routine.
Emotional readiness matters
Individual performance can be rewarding, but it can also involve:
– Nervousness
– Frustration and disappointment
– Detailed corrections
– Repetition
– Performance pressure
– Comparison
– Results that differ from expectations
Dancers considered for competition should be able to accept feedback, continue working when the process becomes difficult, and understand that one score or performance does not determine their value.
Families play an important role by encouraging preparation, responsibility, resilience, and a healthy perspective on results.
Frequently asked questions
Does every solo compete?
No. Some individualized routines may be used for training, personal growth, or approved performances. Competition requires additional approval.
Can a dancer enter a competition independently under the En Avant name?
No. All competition entries, routines, music, choreography, costumes, and events must receive prior Director approval.
Does completing the interest form guarantee a solo or duet?
No. The form begins the consideration process but does not guarantee approval, placement, a choreographer, or a performance opportunity.
Can my dancer choose their own song and costume?
Dancers may share ideas, but final music, theme, choreography, and costume approval belongs to the choreographer and Director. All choices must be age-appropriate and align with En Avant’s values.
Can a dancer new to En Avant immediately join the Competition Team?
Usually not. Teachers need time to understand the dancer’s training, consistency, work habits, readiness, and program fit. The first step for a prospective family is an appropriate weekly class.
Interested in a solo or duet opportunity?
Already an En Avant dancer?
Begin by emailing the En Avant office at info@danceenavant.com to request the Solo Information and Commitment Guide and Solo Interest and Readiness Form.
New to En Avant?
The first step is joining an appropriate weekly class. This allows dancers to build the training foundation and relationship with our staff needed before pursuing additional opportunities.
Get started with a free trial class here: