As Starbound Nationwide Expertise Competitors celebrates its thirty first season, the group is aware of what retains dance households coming again. “We’ve all the time been one of many leaders on this trade, and thru listening to our purchasers’ suggestions and making modifications, we proceed to set the usual larger,” says Sandra Coyte, founder and director.
With a calendar of greater than 70 Regional competitions and 5 Nationals, Starbound’s occasions mix the glamour and innovation of a large-scale manufacturing and theater expertise with the equity and private consideration you’d anticipate from a family-run firm. Starbound provides the trade experience of a woman-owned enterprise based by a former dance instructor and studio proprietor.
2025 is ready to be a banner yr for Starbound, with new and thrilling alternatives for dancers and lecturers alike. First, they’ll be including much more cities to their intensive roster (together with stops in Omaha, Nebraska, and Jacksonville, Florida). Dancers can stay up for the addition of an improvisation competitors at each Regional occasion, whereas dad and mom and lecturers will admire the brand new assigned-by-studio dressing rooms. Starbound can also be rebranding to maintain up with the instances whereas preserving the integrity of a reputation dancers can belief.
Starbound’s scoring system can also be getting a refresh. A dancer’s rating will probably be damaged down into 4 classes: method, choreography, aesthetics, and efficiency. On the Tuesday following competitors weekend, lecturers can log in to Starbound’s digital Trainer Heart and see rating breakdowns for each routine, in addition to video critiques. Lastly, to deal with the present sizzling matter of competitors leveling, Starbound will even be including particular, skill-based tips that guarantee equity and assist take the guesswork out of registering routines.
Even with all these thrilling options, Coyte stays most pleased with what has remained the identical at Starbound over the previous three many years. “We’ve all the time strived to maintain our pricing easy and inexpensive,” she shares. “Our entry charges are the identical irrespective of once you register, and we had been the primary competitors to introduce rebates to the dance trade for registering early.” Starbound is aware of that affordability issues to its households, and Coyte notes that, though costs didn’t enhance this yr, the competitors produces the identical high-quality occasions that studios have come to anticipate. Moreover, free photographs and movies are a long-standing hallmark of Starbound, and occasions are additionally livestreamed.
The competitors additionally prides itself on the experience of its employees. “All three judges on each panel are versatile consultants in a number of types of dance, and we all the time have no less than one choose who’s educated in faucet,” Coyte says.
Starbound can also be dedicated to elevating cash for the Dancers Care Basis. Since 2002, the corporate has donated greater than $2.6 million in the direction of most cancers remedy and prevention within the dance neighborhood.
Trying forward, the 2025 season is shaping as much as be Starbound’s greatest but. Need in on the enjoyable? Register now for upcoming occasions. Name us for our early incentives, corresponding to the next: When your studio enters dancers at two Regional occasions, you’ll obtain a 20-percent low cost on the price of Nationwide Finals, or make a deposit in your 2025 entries by September 30, 2024, and obtain a 20-percent rebate. Contact us for particulars!
