When Kamille Upshaw arrived at the Juilliard School in 2007, she had been a competitive dancer for a decade. “There was still a bit of a stigma against competitive dancers,” says Upshaw, who attended the Baltimore School for the Arts and trained at Spotlight Studio of Dance in Millersville, Maryland. “We were seen as all about legs and turns, and that wasn’t necessarily true! I had to fight against this stereotype. Yes, I can do the leg thing, but I also have something deeper to offer. Casting directors agreed: Since graduating, Upshaw has starred in three Broadway shows.
The image of the “comp kid” has come a long way. Once considered over-the-top performers who favor figures and trophies, competitive dancers now occupy the ranks of top colleges, conservatories and companies around the world. Competition studios produce dancers who are not only ready to win, they are also ready to work professionally. And the world of dance now gives them space to flourish.
The bar continues to rise
How has competitive dance managed to improve this image? One factor is that competition technique has exploded over the past 20 years. “Every time someone steps up, whether it’s a studio or a dancer, a complete change happens,” says Upshaw. “You are only as good as whoever you are competing with.” And versatility, always a strength for kids, has become even more impressive. To win, today’s young competitors must do more than master the latest trendy moves: they must also study various dance styles and perform innovative choreography.
Competitions and conventions have also shifted their priorities, with many now emphasizing their educational aspects instead of focusing on titles and trophies. Choreographer Jessica Lang, who competed as a child and teenager before attending Juilliard and embarking on a professional career that included directing her own company and dancing for Twyla Tharp, believes the change has had an impact particularly important. Lang says that education-minded competition directors helped competitive dancers “become more than what the outside world might perceive of them.”
The studios are also welcoming more guest artists. “Competitive dancers come into direct contact with the professional world at a very young age,” says Katie Langan, chair of the division of fine and performing arts at Marymount Manhattan College. Often this contact takes the form of successful former students returning to teach and choreograph.
Competitions and competitive dancers tend to be very active on social media, offering lots of information and images about top artists and schools, which has helped raise the overall technical and artistic standards of the scene. “Students can easily search for a competition, see who won last year, and watch those routines,” says Michele Larkin, co-owner of Larkin Dance Studio in Maplewood, Minnesota. Larkin’s niece, Mackenzie Larkin Symanietz, an instructor at Larkin Dance Studio, adds, “We can all look at what other studios are doing, in a way that’s not about copying but about admiring.” What can I take to do OUR the dancers are the best possible?
And visibility on social media has helped those in other parts of the dance world understand what competitive dancers are capable of. “Competitions post winning dances for marketing purposes,” says Upshaw. “It gets people’s names out there.”
Dance culture is changing
Langan admits that when she first got involved in competitions, about ten years ago, she was skeptical. Then she saw the artists. “These students are very, very talented,” she said. “They are fearless and their solos are so well choreographed.” Langan isn’t the only college dance program director who has had her assumptions about competitive dance challenged. Scholarship programs at competitive events have led to an intertwining of the fields of competition and academia: more and more competitive students are pursuing dance studies and, in turn, more dance departments welcome them.
There has also been a change In these dance departments. “We broke down the hierarchy,” says Langan. “No style is better than another.” This often involves incorporating cultural and social dances into the school curriculum; it also means no longer viewing concert dance, particularly ballet and modern dance, as the be-all and end-all. Dancers who have competed in jazz, contemporary, tap, hip hop, theater dance, and acro may feel more welcome on campus if every aspect of their training is valued.
To land a job, versatility is an asset in today’s dance climate. Even the most classical ballet companies are looking for well-rounded dancers, a trend that started a few decades ago and has only become more widespread. Madison Brown, now a dancer with American Ballet Theater, frequently attended competitions when she was a teenager. Although she remembers some teachers wondering why she would continue to compete in contemporary ballet after declaring her intention to become a professional ballet dancer, Brown says she is grateful for the extent of her training: “I hear a lot of people say that they wish they could I did other styles growing up.
Looking to the future
Just as professional dancers often return to the studios of their childhood, many former competitors, now affiliated with renowned shows and institutions, return to teach and judge at events they attended as students. More and more of these alumni have gained positions of power in the dance world and are able to mentor or even hire members of the next generation.
“When I was doing conventions, I crossed paths with choreographers like Andy Blankenbuehler, who I ended up working with later,” says Upshaw, whose Broadway credits include the ensemble of Hamilton and assistant choreographer for the musical Hell’s Kitchen. Now Upshaw is the one with influence. As a judge for On Stage America a few years ago, “I loved being behind the table,” she says. “I saw so much potential in these young artists. The confidence they exuded gave me a lot of hope for the future of dance.
The “Dance Moms” effect
From 2011 to 2019, the reality TV show “Dance Moms” attracted a large audience thanks to its talented preteens, their overbearing teacher and mean stage parents. Unfortunately, “the show made competitive dancing seem like it was all about negativity and drama,” says Mackenzie Larkin Symanietz. “It gave the competitions a bad name.” Now that several years have passed since the series ended (aside from a recent reunion special), the shadow cast by “Dance Moms” is finally diminishing.
“It wasn’t representative of the community that most of us try to surround ourselves with,” Symanietz says. “You have to have a positive competitive relationship with the people you’re competing against. You have to appreciate everything that happens on stage.
Comp Kid Magic
As more and more competitive dancers enter higher education and the professional world, directors and choreographers are discovering first-hand everything they have to offer:
Confidence on stage: “Competitions give you stage experience,” says choreographer Jessica Lang. Broadway dancer Kamille Upshaw agrees: “Competing every weekend made me feel more comfortable in front of audiences. I knew how to manage my nerves. I’ve made mistakes on stage and learned to recover from them. These tools are so important.
Strength and endurance: “As a professional, you can dance all day, with only a short break for lunch,” says Madison Brown. “For me, it was like a workshop day at a conference! When I joined ABT Studio Company, I was less overwhelmed because I had been exposed to this workload from a young age.
Quick thought: Through their experiences in fast-paced convention environments, “competitive dancers are able to learn a lot of things very quickly,” says Lang. “They are musical and hyper-rhythmic.”
