Rules & Regulations

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DIVISIONS

NOVICE: Any dancer with less than 2 full years of dance training in any dance style. In order to enter in the NOVICE division, 100% of the participants must fit this category.

PRE-COMPETITIVE INTERMEDIATE: Any dancer with more than 2 years and less than 5 years of dance training in any dance style, who dances less than 3 hours a week. In order to enter in the PRE-COMPETITIVE INTERMEDIATE division, 100% of the participants must fit this category.

PRE-COMPETITIVE OPEN: Any dancer with 5 or more years of dance training in any dance style, who dances less than 3 hours a week. In order to enter in the PRE-COMPETITIVE OPEN division, 100% of the participants must fit this category.

INTERMEDIATE: Any dancer with more than 2 years and less than 5 years of dance training in any dance style, who dances 3 hours or more, per week. In order to enter in the INTERMEDIATE division, 100% of the participants must fit this category.

OPEN: Any dancer aged 18 or under that has 5 or more years of dance training in any dance style, who dances 3 hours or more, per week.

ADULT: Any dancers aged 19 or over who wish to remain involved in competitive dance festivals. **Dancers in the adult category must not fall under the Professional category**

**Adult dancers (ages 19+) can be in group routines (open, etc) as long as the average age is 18 & under and DO NOT fall under the Professional division.

** If there is one Adult dancer (19+) in a Solo/Duo/Trio routine, the entire routine must dance in either the Adult/Professional/Pro-Am or University Dance Team division.

PROFESSIONAL: Any dancers who are currently studying dance and/or completed studies at a post secondary level, including professional training programs, certificate program and university/college programs OR any dancers who teach more than 8 hours of dance on a weekly basis and/or earn $1500 per year or more from performing/teaching dance.

PRO-AM: A combination of Professional and Amateur dancers who wish to dance together.

UNIVERSITY DANCE TEAM: Any dancers who are currently on a university dance team.

**Dancers in the University Dance Team category must not fall under the Professional category**

**University Dance Team dancers can be in group routines (open, etc) as long as the average age is 18 & under and DO NOT fall under the Professional division.

** If there is one University Dance Team dancer in a Solo/Duo/Trio routine, the entire routine must dance in either the Adult/Professional/Pro-Am or University Dance Team division.

Please Note: Adult, Pro-am, Professional & University Dance Team entries are not eligible for Top Routine of the Day, Top Routine of the Studio or any Finals (Oh Snap! Finals, Millennium Finals, DanceAbition Finals, or Battle of the Beast.)

*MDP reserves the right to make amendments to rules and regulations at their discretion.

NOTE TO STUDIO DIRECTORS

• Open and Intermediate dancers may not dance in a Novice division.

• Open dancers may not dance in an intermediate division.

• Pre-Competitive Dancers may not contain any Intermediate or Open dancers unless they fall under the less than 3 hours/week rule.

• Novice, Intermediate & Pre-Competitive dancers may dance in a higher division.

• If there is one Open dancer in a group the entire group must dance Open.

• If there is one Intermediate dancer in a Novice group, the entire group must dance Intermediate.

• If there is one Adult or University Dance Team dancer (19+) in a Solo/Duo/Trio routine, the entire routine must dance in either the Adult/Professional/Pro-Am or University Dance Team division. It will be at the studio directors discretion to enter these routines correctly. **We will adjust registrations if incorrectly entered for Solo/Duo/Trios.

• Adult and University Dance Team dancers (ages 19+) can be in a group routine (Open etc) as long as the average age is 18 & under and DO NOT fall under the Professional/University Dance Team division.

• If there is one Professional dancer in a routine, the entire routine must dance in either the Professional or Pro-Am division.

MUSIC

ALL MUSIC SHOULD BE SUBMITTED VIA DROPBOX OR GOOGLE DRIVE

• All music for your studio must be submitted no later than 2 WEEKS prior to the start of the competition.

• Please make sure all routines are labelled correctly in your Dropbox folder. Please label all music files exactly as shown below:

ID # - SCHOOL CODE - NAME OF ROUTINE, whether it is an ON STAGE or OFF STAGE start

EXAMPLE: 345 - A - SHAKE IT - ON STAGE

• Backup music on Phone/iPod etc. should be kept with the teachers in case of a technical problem.

• Teachers are responsible to pick up any music left at the music table at the end of the competition.

Dropbox Instructions:

1. Go to Dropbox.com

2. Sign in or create an account.

3. Create a new folder, and name it as your dance school (Blue folder with + sign)

4. Click on the “upload” button (white paper with + sign)

5. Find your music and/or video files and click upload.

6. Once uploaded and labelled properly (example above), select the folder and click “Share Link”

7. Send link either in an email or directly from dropbox to: millenniumproductions@ns.aliantzinc.ca

TIME LIMITS

SOLO/DUO/TRIO - 3 MINUTES

SMALL GROUP - 3 MINUTES

LARGE GROUP/LINE - 4 MINUTES

EXTENDED LINE - 6 MINUTES

EXTENDED LINE PLUS - 10 MINUTES

AGE DETERMINATION

SOLOS - The competitor will be entered in the category determined by their age as of midnight September 1st (The Beast) or January 1st (Snap!, Millennium & Danceabition).

DUOS & TRIOS - The competitors will be entered in the category determined by the average ages of all competitors as of midnight September 1st (The Beast) or January 1st (Snap!, Millennium & Danceabition). Drop the decimal when averaging the ages Ex: 12.7=12

GROUPS - The competitors will be entered in the category determined by the average ages of all competitors as of midnight September 1st (The Beast) or January 1st (Millennium & Danceabition). Drop the decimal when averaging the ages Ex: 12.7=12

AGE DIVISIONS

JUNIOR: 3-4, 5-6, 7-8, 9-10, 11-12,

SENIOR: 13-14, 15-16, 17-18

DANCE CATEGORIES

SOLO - 1 DANCER

DUO - 2 DANCERS

TRIO - 3 DANCERS

SMALL GROUP - 4 to 9 DANCERS

LARGE GROUP - 10 to 15 DANCERS

LINE - 16 to 19 DANCERS

EXTENDED LINE - 20 to 29 DANCERS

EXTENDED LINE PLUS - 30+ DANCERS

STYLES

ACRO - a combination of dance technique and floor acrobatics with aerial challenges.

BALLET - straight ballet category with no acrobatics or tricks. No vocalization allowed. Props permitted but must be integral to the performance.

CONTEMPORARY - modern dance techniques as well as classical and is a free type of movement. Vocalization/Props are permitted but must be integral to the performance.

HIGHLAND DANCE - a traditional dance style. Highland dancing is often performed with the accompaniment of Highland bagpipe music, and dancers wear specialized shoes called ghillies or pumps.

HIP HOP - a routine incorporating jazz & street dance techniques. Vocalization/Props are permitted but must be integral to the performance.

JAZZ - a straight jazz category.

LYRICAL - an interpretation of the lyrics and/or music that combines ballet and jazz techniques. Vocalization/Props are permitted, but must be integral to the performance.

MODERN - natural movement & space combining various elements of other forms of dance. Vocalization/Props are permitted but must be integral to the performance.

MUSICAL THEATRE - a theme based interpretation which includes dance techniques from various styles. The use of vocalization or lip-sync is allowed as long as they are an integral part of the performance.

OPEN - any routine that does not seem appropriate in any of the above categories. Can be a combination of styles.

PRODUCTION - a routine using 10 or more dancers to portray a theme, concept, or story. Production categories have an extended time limit of 4-10 minutes and will be primarily judged on concept, formations, and choreography.

SONG & DANCE - routines which must include singing and dancing in any styles (i.e., jazz, tap, ballet, etc.) by performers. No lip sync or taped vocals allowed except back-up voices are permitted. Props are allowed if integral to the performance. Performers can use a wireless microphone but must be provided by performers and brought to venue to test the day before the event starts. A wireless handheld microphone can be used without needing to be tested etc., which would be supplied by MDP.

STEP DANCE - footwork is the most important part of the dance. A display of steps is more important than gesture or posture. Body & Arm movements and styling are either restricted or considered irrelevant.

TAP - routines where tap shoes are worn. Vocalization/Props are permitted,but must be integral to the performance. NO TAP SOUNDS PERMITTED IN MUSIC.

Please note-the use of acrobatics/tricks is allowed in any category unless noted otherwise above but must be integral to the performance. Also, any prop that dirties the stage resulting in it needed to be swept, wiped, or picked up after the performance is not allowed. As you can appreciate, this causes delays in the schedule and we aim to stay on time.

GENERAL

• Adjudications will be held every 2-2.5 hours if possible.

• Dancers and/or Teacher MUST check in with the backstage manager 5 routines before they are scheduled to perform. Failure to do so could result in the dance not being performed.

• There is a NO Refund Policy for all fees that have been submitted, for any reason.

• NO Photography or videotaping allowed. Violation of this policy will risk your child’s dance school being disqualified from the event and patrons will be asked to leave the facility.

• Millennium Dance Productions will provide each school with an appropriate number of chaperone passes, which will be based on the number of dancers. Only those with a pass will be allowed in the dressing rooms and/or backstage area. There will be absolutely no exceptions to this rule.

• Millennium Dance Productions does not accept independent dancer entries. All entries must be submitted by a registered dance studio.

• Parents/Dancers/Teachers should be informed of all rules as everyone is expected to follow and respect them.

• Millennium Dance Productions reserves the right to disqualify any school/dancer & withdraw their participation in the festival that they deem to be showing disruptive, inappropriate behaviour and/or language. Patrons & family members who are disruptive or displaying unreasonable behaviour will be denied admittance into the event.

• Each competitor must submit a dancer waiver (via our website) once registration has been submitted. In order to compete in any Millennium Productions event each competitor must have a signed Waiver.

• The Millennium Dance Productions Organizers reserve the right to combine or adjust age categories.

• If participants are improperly entered in a category, changes will be made at the discretion of organizers.

• Adjudicator’s decisions are final; any complaints regarding the festival must be submitted in writing and directed to the Millennium Dance Productions AFTER the event.

• Millennium Dance Productions events are open to all amateur and professional dancers providing they are placed in the proper category.

• Adjudication times will be indicated in the program but are only a general guide as we may be running ahead or behind schedule due to unforeseen circumstances. Festival organizers will make every effort to run a timely and efficient event.

• Organizers reserve the right to run the festival ahead of schedule and dancers, teachers and families should be aware that they are asked to be in the building at least 1 hr prior to their scheduled time and check in with backstage staff.

• Teacher/Chaperone must remain with their dancers following their performance and escort them to the change area and their parents.

• Dancers are asked to be available for adjudication 1 hour prior to the designated programmed time to ensure they receive their awards.

• Dancers who miss their performance time without prior arrangement will not be allowed to participate in that category.

• Teachers are not allowed to prompt or coach from the wings. Violation of this rule will lead to disqualification.

• Please assign a dancer to receive medals or trophies for each group to help speed up the presentation ceremonies.

• Proper respect & decorum from all dancers/teachers is expected.

*Millennium Dance Productions will not issue refunds or be held responsible for sudden cancellation or time lost due to extreme weather, or any other extraneous circumstances. Millennium Dance Productions will not be held responsible for injuries, damage and lost of stolen property over the duration of the competition. Millennium Dance Productions will not be held responsible for any additional fees incurred (ie: Parking fees, Parking Tickets, etc.) by dancers, teachers, studio owners or any participants while attending one or more of the events.