What’s the beef with DWC?

I don’t go one day without someone moaning about Dance World Cup, it’s like some weird flex that dancers, dance studio owners and dance parents have. It’s like if they don’t moan about the thing they do every year they’re not properly in the dance world.

It’s like people that moan ASDA is busy on Saturday, there’s no parking at Wembley when an FA cup match is on, or that’s there’s too much sand on the beach when they go to Greece.

This article isn’t specially about DWC, or any other large dance competition for that matter it’s about bringing some awareness to the toxicity that it seems to create and to remind people to check themselves as the conversation steers that way. I’ve also not been told to write this one but I just feel damn sorry for people when anonymous keyboard warriors take to the forums (which people who work at these comps are on btw.)

I have absolutely no personal problem with any dance competition, because I don’t let other large businesses choices effect me. That being said I specifically choose certain competitions for my students that suit their needs, and our ethos. Our dance families trust that, and if they want something else they go somewhere else.

What I can’t seem to get my head around are some of the complaints. (Some of them about employing people who have safeguarding misconduct - I can totally get behind - the argument that it’s ruining people’s livelihoods is crazy, what about the victims? But I just don’t find myself able to articulate this in an article, although I have been asked).

Let’s take some recent problems I’ve seen pop up about large comps.

‘Not agreeing with who placed’ - I just don’t get how you can have a problem with this. Competitions and Dance are subjective. If someone different placed to usual, great, what’s to say there’s not a different school entering? Or without being too comp specitic depending on the region you attended, what’s to say there’s just a different cohort of dancers. The usual algorithm of who places in your area could easily be shook up. Roll with it.

‘Not getting schedules super far in advance’ - this one has come up a lot. I also just don’t get the issue. If I sign up to something, let say the opportunity to work with a business specialist who’s in London between the 10th- 25th April, and I know from the start of signing up I’ll only get 1 hour at some point during that time and then there may be the possibility of an additional special event that 10 people will be invited to but I won’t know that until I’ve done my hour. I either keep the 10th-25th April free or I don’t. That’s the parameters of of signing up. It’s a commitment, but they you have to decide the value of the commitment.

‘International competitions are expensive’. Yep. International travel is expensive, thanks Trump.

And the worst one by far. Is one that will come up in the next few weeks. ‘they’re not first in the world because the whole world isn’t there’ - how are you ever going to get every dancer in the whole world there? What an absolutely wild comment. And comparing them to the Olympics makes me chuckle too, something that’s been around 3000 years. Whilst whichever 8 year old winning whatever section may not be the ‘first in the world’ in that specific moment that child is first. Let them enjoy that moment, revel in their glory, use that massive but also pretty pointless accolade to build them up, let their confidence rise, just let that happen.

I hear dance schools moan these big competitions are ruling their yearly calendars, dance parents say how much expensive they are, dancers say they don’t want to go then end up there posting on socials.

Why, oh why are you still applying into them if these are your gripes?? No one is pinning you down and forcing you, and for every moan about them there’s 100 dancers who’d give their eye teeth to be part of it.

If you’re a business owner doing something that doesn’t make you happy because someone’s pressurising you, you’re not a business owner you’re a push over.

If you’re a parent, taking out credit card to fund something that you’re going to moan about, you’re not setting great values to your offspring.

And if your a dancer moaning, step back and consider how amazing it is that companies have created such events that allow you to celebrate the thing that you love.