How to Prepare for a Dance Competition

If you are getting ready for a dance competition this post all about how to prepare for a dance competition is for you!

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Preparing for a dance competition can be stressful and intimidating. Which is why I’ve created this detailed guide just for dancers for how to prepare for a dance competition.

In this post you are going to learn all about how to prepare for a dance competition, dance competition tips, how to get ready for a dance competition, and more!

After reading this post your are going to be more prepared than ever to take on your next dance competition.

This post is all about how to prepare for a dance competition

How to Get Ready for a Dance Competition

At The Beginning of The Dance Competition Season

Dance Competition Scheduling

Start the dance competition season out right by marking important competition dates, dance conventions, and travel days in a planner. This will help you keep track of how soon your dance competitions are and how long you have to get ready.

You can also make a dance competition count down with a count down app. Knowing how long you have to get everything ready for your competition will help you stay prepared mentally.

Write Down Dance Details

Write down and make note of all of the dances you might be competing in the coming months. Once you have an idea of your dance costumes, make note of those too.

If you already know which dances will be competing when write that down in your planner with your competition dates.

Getting Competition Essentials Together

At the start of dance competition season, start to get your competition essentials together. This should include all of your tights, undergarments, dance competition makeup, dance competition hair essentials, and everything else you might need for your next dance competition.

The best way to do this is to start to gather everything with your dance competition bag, suitcase, or in a closet with all of your dance essentials. This way all of your competition essentials will be ready to go in one place all together when your first competition rolls around.

Products to help you get your dance competition essentials together

There is a wide variety of products to help you get an keep your dance competition essentials together.

Here are a few different items that might help you:

• Dance duffel of suitcase
• Makeup organizer case
• Portable hanging rack
• Shoe organizer
• Garment Bags

Check out these specific dance competition organization products I recommend:

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1-2 Months Before Your First Dance Competition

Costumes

At this point in the dance season, you have probably started to receive most of your dance competition costumes. Start to get your competition costumes ready by keeping them in an organized, special place like your closet or dance competition bag.

When you receive your costumes, make a list of all of the costume pieces and any potential fixes that need to be made to the costumes before competition day.

Dance Shoes and Dance Tights

If you haven’t already, start to gather the dance shoes and tights you might need for each dance. This is also a good time to start looking to see if you might need new dance tights and shoes for competition.

If your dance competition season starts in January or February you can take advantage of holiday sales in November or December to buy all of your dance competitions tights and shoes.

Practice Practice Practice

Now that you’re getting close to the competition dates you need to get serious about practicing. Hopefully, your dances are close to being done if not already finished. Try and carve out time to work on your dances and review your choreography.

One useful tip is to keep a journal or notebook and write down the corrections you receive during dance rehearsals and review those before and after each dance rehearsal. This will also be useful as you get closer to the competition date to review and keep your corrections and notes fresh in your mind.

Another useful dance competition rehearsal tip is to start recording your dances if you can. This tip is especially useful if you are competing any duets, trio, or solo dance competition pieces. Recording will help you review choreography on your own and make corrections.

2-3 Weeks Before Competing

Make a Dance Competition Checklist

By now you should definitely have a good idea of everything you will need for your upcoming dance competition. Now is a great time to make a checklist of all that you need to be ready the day of your next competition.

Write down everything in detail from your dance costume pieces to other essentials like a phone charger for the day of the competition.

Makeup

Now that you are getting close to the competition date you need to make sure you know what you are doing for your makeup onstage.

If you haven’t already, make a list of all the makeup products that you need for competition and gather the makeup you will need into a makeup organizer.

It is also a good idea to practice the makeup look you will be doing in case your dance studio wants something specific or you have a particular look for a certain dance.

Hair

Just like for makeup, it is a good idea to start practicing your competition hair if it is a different style. Just like with your dancing, practice makes perfect with your dance competition hair.

Also make sure you have all of the products that you need for your dance competition.

Keep Practicing

Now is really the time to keep on practicing. Keep recording yourself and writing down your corrections. You could also start a good habit like reviewing your choreography before bed or before dance rehearsal so you have nothing to worry about when the competition arrives.

It is also useful to ask for some feedback from an audience or your teachers if you haven’t gotten any in a while. Before a dance competition, it never hurts to get a second opinion before performing for a group of judges.

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The Week of The Dance Competition

Write Down the Competition Details

Now that the competition is getting closer, you need to make sure you know all of the details for the competition. Write down the dance competition details including the competition location, competition times, award times, and directions for when you arrive.

Stay Healthy

This dance competition prep tip is extremely important. At a competition you will likely be around lots of people and you want to be healthy before competing. The week leading up to your dance competition, make sure to eat well and drink lots of water.

Double Check Everything

At this point in your competition preparation timeline, you should already have everything together. This should include your costumes, makeup, accessories, and dance shoes. You should also double check and be sure there is nothing left to buy or fix before competition day.

Double checking all of your dance competition essentials will help ensure an stress-free competition day and that you have everything that you need.

Stay Organized

As you continue to double check all of your competition essentials you also want to keep them organized. Staying organized is not only limited to your things and competition items. You want to keep all of your essential documents, checklists, and notes organized as well.

I recommend keeping everything together in a Google Drive folder or a Notion note. This way you can keep all of your checklists, competition documents, and other organization essentials together in one place and easily access them on your phone on competition day.

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The Day Before

Pack Your Bags

Now that your bags are packed and organized it is time to pack them away for the competition. So zip up the suitcases, makeup bags, and accessory compartments and put them in the car so they are ready for competition.

Pack and Prepare Your Day of Essentials

Now that all of your costumes, makeup, hair, and dance essentials are packed up you need to pack what I like to call the “day of” competition essentials. This includes everything you are probably already using on a daily basis or the things that are harder to pack far in advance.

Here is a list of some “day of” dance competition essentials you should pack:

• Phone Charger
• Studio Uniform
• Snacks
• Water bottle
• Camera
• Things to do
• Any Medications
• Wallet

Fuel and Hydrate

Now that everything is ready to go for your dance competition you need to be sure to fuel and hydrate in order to dance all day. Stay prepared by eating a hearty protein and carbohydrate filled meal like pasta or rice and beans the day before the competition. Be sure to drink lots of water and maybe even add some electrolytes to your beverages.

Competition Day

Breathe

You’ve finally made it to competition day! More than anything it is important to relax and breathe. Competition days can be long and stressful but if you have properly prepared up until this point, you can breathe easy.

During competition day take time to let yourself breathe, meditate, and practice mindfulness. If you need more ideas for how to relax and practice self-care during competition day, check out my list of dancer self-care tips.

Be Prepared

This dance competition preparation tip is one that you are already doing! If you have stayed prepared and followed this guide up until now you are already good to go. If you know you already have all of your competition essentials you are already prepared. This way you can be even more prepared for whatever comes your way competition day.

You need to be prepared for changes in schedule, last minute problems, and the occasional bit of drama that comes with dance competitions. By knowing these things might come about you can be prepared for them too and not let them spoil your dance competition.

Celebrate Your Hard Work

After everything leading up to the competition and finally your performance, it is time to celebrate all of your preparation, dedication, and hard work. You have dedicated yourself in and out of the dance studio to finally perform on stage. Win or lose you definitely have something to celebrate.

Celebrate your hard work by going out to eat with your dance friends, getting some ice cream, or buying a competition shirt.

After the Competition

Now that the competition is over it is important to keep all of your costumes, makeup, shoes, and other essentials ready and organized for your next competition. I recommend cleaning out everything that you need to and hanging out your dancewear right after you get home. Go through your competition items and reorganize everything to make preparing for your next dance competition easier and less-stressful.

Before you go:

I hope this post all about how to prepare for a dance competition has helped you as you get ready for dance competition season this year.

If you want more dance competition tips and dance lifestyle advice, then be sure to subscribe to the Charming Dancer below to stay up to date for all of our upcoming posts.

This post was all about how to prepare for a dance competition