Competitive dance

Dancers must continuously train to maintain and improve their technique, balance skills, strength and flexibility.

Dance studios typically advise their students to avoid activities that put them at risk for injury or illness, especially while attending competitions.

[1] The music used in competitive dance routines is typically adapted from commercially available songs created by professional recording artists.

By touring in this manner, these companies are able to generate profits while at the same time enabling significant numbers of dancers to attend local competitions.

Most companies conduct regional tours from approximately January through May, while National competitions generally run from June through August.

These categories are not standardized, and may vary significantly from one competition to another: These divisions are intended to ensure that dancers will compete against others of the same age and experience, and similarly sized groups, and thus avoid unfair comparisons (e.g., beginner vs. advanced).

[6] Consequently, video recording is often prohibited at dance competitions in order to steer clear of copyright infringement issues.

Virtually all competitions prohibit flash photography, however, both for the safety of performers and to prevent undesirable distractions.

In such cases, photography by audience members is typically prohibited so as to provide an exclusive market for the official photographers.