Each contest will be judged by two professional judges and the audience. One round constitutes two dancers competing one-on-one against each other. Each member of the audience may cast one vote per round for their favorite routine. The audience's total votes count as one. This is not a popularity contest, but if the two professional judges can't agree on which routine is best, the audience might as well be the tie breaker. The ruling of the judges is final. In all divisions, judging will be based on the following criteria allowing 20 points in each category:

Creativity and Dynamics of Choreography - How the choreography showcases the talent of the dancer. How the piece is diverse or creative. How the piece uses transitions. How the piece progresses, moves and changes from start to finish.

Technique and Placement - The dancer’s technique will be judged based on the genre they are performing. Dancer’s may be judged on extension, balance, mobility, use of core, upper and lower body placement in moves and transitions, and overall ability to execute steps.

Rhythm and Relation with Accompanying Sound - How the dancer uses their accompaniment to benefit the overall piece. How the dancer uses different rhythms in coincidence or opposition with the accompaniment.

Choice and Use of Costume and Music - How the costume choice and music choice benefit and/or coincide with the dance genre and idea behind the piece and how much effort in appearance and production is taken.

Stage Presence and Overall Delivery of Piece - How much the dancer portrays devotion to steps and feeling or idea of the piece. How the dancer displays confidence. How the dancer shows emotion in relation to what’s going on in the piece. Personality and attitude.

Each dancer will receive their scoring sheet as well as any comments and/or critiques from the judges after their performance. This encourages learning, improvement and development. Each dancer gains knowledge and help with their craft even if they are not winners of the competition.

Audience and Fans: One of the goals of the competition is to give contestants experience with performing in front of an audience. For this reason the encouragement and support of friends and family is needed and greatly appreciated. Each dancer is asked to bring out at least 8 fans when they perform.

Ticket Pre-Sales: To help each dancers meet their requirement of bringing out at least 8 fans per competition, we are offering Big Prize Money to the contestants that pre-sell the most V.I.P. discount tickets throughout the contest.

Dance Showdown Rules:

1. To register, each dancer must fill out and submit the entry form electronically over the internet. After notification of acceptance, all entry fees will be due and payable over the internet through PayPal.

2. All qualifying dancers will be posted on our web page under the division style of dance they will be performing.

3. Each dance contestant will be required to attend a mandatory meeting to be held prior to the contest to discuss rules and procedures and draw for bracket positioning, to determine who competes against who in the first round, and the dates and times each dancer competes.

4. All dancers are required to check in 60 minutes before their competition.

5. Each dancer must come prepared to perform a self-choreographed solo not to exceed 8 minutes in length and will be allowed no more than 2 minutes for set-up if necessary for routine. Petite and Junior category solos do not have to be self-choreographed but the child is highly encouraged to be involved in the creative process.

6. Costumes are allowed and encouraged.

7. Each dancer must bring their music accompaniment on a one track CD.

8. House will furnish sound system and the sound and lighting technician.

9. Dance moves, costumes, and music lyrics must not be suggestive or revealing and must be appropriate for the family-type audience usually in attendance. Non-adherence to this policy will be grounds for point docking or disqualification from the competition.

10. This contest will last approximately 3 months. Champions will be crowned in each of the 6 division styles of dance and then will move on to compete against each other for Grand Champion. Winners may compete in as many as 6 rounds throughout the contest before one will be crowned Grand Champion.

Prize money will be awarded to the 6 Division Champions, the Grand Champion and the Highest Pre-Sale Ticket Champion as follows:

Round Champions: 1. $250 2. $250 3. $250 4. $250 5. $250 6. $250

Grand Champion: $1,000     Highest Pre-Sale Ticket Champion: 1st Place $ 500 2nd Place $ 300 3rd Place $ 200