Denise’s Dance Academy Travel Team Tryouts

 

Our Travel Teams are a specifically selected group of dancers who will be required to travel out of town for one regional competition, attend three in town regional competitions and one out of town national’s competition.

Please READ over carefully………..these teams are highly selective and while we always encourage our dancers who have the confidence and meet the criteria for auditions like this, we want to remind you that these teams most often consist of dancers who exceed the amount of experience listed.

ENROLL IN THESE TRYOUTS TODAY!  You will NOT receive the tryout videos sent out on May 28 if you are not officially enrolled in these tryouts.  There is not an extra fee for tryouts – this is included in your audition fee for teams.  You will need to enroll in each style that you are interested in trying out – the times listed on the enrollment page are NOT accurate – times will be set later and sent out.  Plan for these to take place during the morning/afternoon hours of June 4.  Choose Tryout season and scroll to the month of June.  Here is the link to enroll: https://app.thestudiodirector.com/denisesdanceacademy/portal.sd?page=Login

 

INFORMATION AND PREREQUISITES:

If you are interested in auditioning for our Travel Teams – Guest Choreography pieces for next season -below is some information regarding the tryout process. Please make sure to note the prerequisites for each style before your dancer auditions. Only dancers who meet the eligibility requirements will be allowed to audition this season. We also will be taking into consideration 2022-2023 technique attendance, work ethic, class/competition attendance and respectfulness into account when placing these teams.

Dancers who are eligible to audition for these pieces MUST meet the following criteria below prior to auditions on June 4th.  (ages are as of 8/1/2023).  For our travel teams we bring in 4 different choreographers for our pieces in the styles of jazz character, hip hop, contemporary, and tap.  Dancers who meet the requirements can try out for any or all they qualify for. These travel team dancers compete at the highest level of competition so we have strict criteria for the audition and selection process. (the dancers who want to be on our studio teacher-choreographed lyrical and jazz travel teams, need to audition for these during the summer sessions in the lyrical and/or jazz classes)

  • All Dancers must have a minimum of 2 years of technical ballet class experience (one hour ballet classes a week)
  • Tap – open to ages 12 and over with 3 years of tap competition team experience
  • Hip Hop – open to dancers ages 10 and over with at least two years Hip Hop Competition Team experience
  • Contemporary – open to dancers ages 10 and over with at least one year of Contemporary Team experience
  • Jazz Character – open to ages 12 and over with 3 years of jazz competition team experience
  • Regional Teams Experience does NOT count towards the requirements
  • Dancers are required to compete at 1 out of town regional competition, 3 local regional competitions, and 1 out of town national competition (extra weekend rehearsals may be added in as needed)
  • Dancers will be required to take a conditioning class in addition to one leaps/turns class and 2 hours of ballet each week
  • There is an extra choreography fee for each routine that you are selected to be a part of.  This is in addition to regular tuition fees, costumes, and competition entry fees.  Cost has not yet been determined – last year it was $250.  Fees will be set prior to tryouts.   Dancers are also required to purchase a Travel Teams t-shirt –  those run $20-25.
  • Selection criteria includes audition, respectfulness, ballet and leaps/turns attendance, master class fulfillment, and attendance/performance in teams this past year.  These are highly selective teams and require a lot of dedication and work! Dancers currently on Travel Teams may not make one or more travel teams if these requirements are not met.  If you are a new dancer to the studio, you will not be deducted for not having some of the above criteria.
  • OUR SHOWCASE IS A MANDATORY EVENT FOR OUR TRAVEL TEAM DANCERS AS THIS IS OUR DRESS REHEARSAL FOR OUR TRAVEL COMPETITION!

Our Audition Process:

  • Dancers interested in each style need to sign up on the tryout tab of the website in order to know how many dancers we have interested in each style. dancers will also get the audition videos only if they are signed up.
  • Videos of the tryout routines will be available via a link that will be sent out May 28, 2023.  Dancers will be able to learn the tryout routines at their own pace during that week.
  • Tuesday, May 30th and Thursday, June 1st – we will have a rehearsal time open for each style of dance. Alumni/teachers/choreographers may be there to help guide the dancers with the dance and/or answer any questions they may have about the videos/specific moves. Dancers are not required to attend – but it would be very helpful if they have questions or want to review with teachers and other dancers.  Times for each group will be determined and sent out via email to those enrolled,
  • Sunday, June 4th – Auditions for all styles will take place during the day – more specific times will be set and sent out.
  • Final decisions will not be sent out until after Nationals.  Dancers who are selected will be given a date that they will need to have accepted or declined their placement by. For certain styles, we want a specific amount of dancers and other styles have a maximum we try to stick with. If a dancer declines their spot, we will then reach out to our first alternates for each routine to offer the spot to them if we would like to uphold a certain number.

If you have any questions – you can contact Miss Jeni ([email protected]) or Miss Denise.