i mean really. not one person said the sport of dance was not prestigious and the teams who make Worlds their goal obviously find winning an accomplishment. but if you go out in to the real dance world (like talk to people on a dance forum perhaps? not cheerleading.) majority have never even heard of the competition. over half the bids are given out at cheerleading competitions for pete's sake. the other half are NDA/UDA, which are sister companies of a giant cheerleading conglomerate and really only hold prestige in the school/pom maybe hip-hop dance world. (and by prestige i do not mean the teams are not talented who win. i mean if you put winning NDA/UDA/Worlds on your dancer resume it doesn't hold much merit)
there are 4 dance studios owned by members of my immediate family. no one in any of those studios have heard of USASF Dance worlds, i've asked. i know, now you're going to tell me that that is a poor sampling of the dance world and i don't know what i'm talking about. but if all of these people around the country are telling you that the true dance world* have never heard of it, shouldn't that say something about the prestige of the competition?
*i am defining "true dance world" as dance taking place outside of/not associated with a cheerleading facility. not because the kids who dance through a cheer gym are not dancers, some of those teams are phenomenal, but because it's just a small niche of the cheerleading industry versus the whole dance industry.
sigh. i don't know why i wasted my fingers' energy typing that, since you're just going to have some exasperated response on how we're just causing drama and hate dancers...
Oh. My. Jesus.
Why do I even bother... But yes! THIS. Agree with all of this.
I'm quite new to the dance world, but the people I work with aren't. I'm nowhere near California, or new Jersey, so maybe since the 3 of us are spread out all over the map it'll count as a "good sampling?"
@Fierce_Elite - one, NO ONE said DANCE wasn't as prestigious. You're just looking for stuff that is not there. They said that the USASF Dance Worlds is not as prestigious IN THE DANCE COMMUNITY as Cheer Worlds is in the cheer community. It's really not hard to understand - or believe.
Two, I work in "the real dance world" - not affiliated with a cheer gym in any way. Our studio is home to many well known professional dancers, as well as a good sized competition team. Our staff is composed 100% of "working" dancers - professional, paid dancers with the Joffrey, Giordano, Cats, The Lion King, Culture Shock, Framework, etc. - many of whom you've probably seen on TV plenty of times. Our competition team travels nationwide to compete (like most - just throwing that in so you stop acting like no one on here has ever met dancers that compete). No one there - literally NO ONE - has heard of Dance Worlds. Trust me - no one I work with thinks dance is not prestigious. :rolleyes: It's their life's work! They just have never heard of the USASF - because they are not the "governing body" for dance.
So, you've got people from California, NJ/NY, and Chicago telling you that no, "real" dancers don't consider USASF Dance Worlds the ultimate in dance, and you're saying we just don't know the right people? No, YOU don't know the right people.
I know you do this on purpose because you think it's funny - but really, you are such a troll. I doubt you've ever met one person involved in cheer or dance.
ETA - when I say I'm new to the dance world, I mean with my job and my kids. But I danced my whole life. I was in ballet for 16 years, but we didn't compete (I don't know if there even were competitions back then). But I'm new to competitive dance. This is only our 2nd year.
