Convention Info

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Class Levels & Guidelines 

For each event, there are 6 levels of classes that dancers may be registered in. Each level has a designated hotel ballroom that the dancers take classes in during each day of the event.  This includes Launch Program, Minis, Juniors, Teen, Seniors and the Assistant Teachers/Teachers room.   Age guidelines are provided for each level, but dancers final placement is at the teacher’s or independent registrant’s discretion and may be based on both the age and ability of each student.   If you have any questions regarding what level to place your dancer(s) in, please call Dupree Dance and we will gladly assist you in that process.  

The suggested age guideline for each Level is as follows: 

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Class Level          Age Guideline       

Launch Program        age 4-6                  

Mini                       age 7-9                    

Junior                      age 10-12                 

Teen                       age 13-15               

Senior                     age 16-19                 

Assistant Teacher       age 16 and Up                 

Teacher/Owner        age 20 and Up                 

Dancers registered in the Launch Program, Mini, Junior, Teen, or Senior Rooms are only permitted to take classes in their designated ballroom throughout the weekend.  They may not ‘pick and choose’ classes to attend at different levels.  Dancers must remain in their pre-registered ballroom (class level) at the event. At-event level changes are not permitted. Convention registered Assistant Teachers and Teachers are permitted to take classes in both the Teachers ballroom and any of the other classes throughout the weekend.   Only registered Assistant Teachers and Teachers will be permitted to attend classes in the Teachers ballroom. The Teachers ballroom is closed to observers.   

If a Teacher from a registered studio does not want to register to take any classes throughout the weekend and does not plan on attending any Teacher ballroom classes, he/she may opt to observe classes in our Launch Program, Mini, Junior, Teen and Senior rooms only but will still need to secure a paid observer band.  Observer bands DO NOT gain access to our teachers ballroom at any time.  The only thing that will gain access to our teachers ballroom is an Assistant or Teachers convention registration band and/or the Owner/Director badge that will be included in your registration packet (limit of 2 per studio).  The Owner/Director badges are secured during the online registration process. Our "Free Teacher Offer" will be applied to the convention registration fees of any registered Full Time Teacher during the "Discounts and Special Offers" section of our online registration (Our Free Teacher Offer is described in our Special Offers and is for qualified studio registrations only). 

The audition class in each ballroom is closed to observers and registered teachers and is designated only for the dancers who are registered in that ballroom and who are wearing the appropriate colored wristband.  Dancers may not audition in a ballroom in which they are not registered. Registered Assistant Teachers are permitted to audition along with the Senior dancers during the designated Senior ballroom class schedule.   Assistant Teachers are not permitted to observe the Senior room auditions only.  In order for Assistant Teachers to remain in the Senior room audition class, they must plan on taking the audition class.  

Performance/Competitive Dancer Selection 

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During the convention registration process, you will select a general 'level' for each dancer that you register in the Launch Program, Mini, Junior, Teen and Senior rooms. The 'performance' selection will apply to any dancer who trains an average of four hours or less a week. The 'competitive' level will apply to any dancer who trains an average of five or more hours a week. If a dancer falls immediately in-between these two criteria, we ask that the registrant use his/her best discretion when selecting a level for this dancer.

For convention classroom purposes, the performance or competitive level of each dancer is simply gathered, but it will not affect what ballroom you register that dancer in.  As discussed in our "Class Levels and Guidelines", we leave the discretion to the teacher as to where to place each dancer for classes and recommend that both age and ability be considered during this process.

If/when you choose to enter competition entries, the level of each dancer is considered at this time and our system will automatically place each competition entry in the Performance or Competitive division based on the spread of the levels of registrants within each entry. If you do not choose to enter competition entries, it is still required that you select a general level for each dancer you register during the convention registration process. The level of a dancer can be edited from year to year, but CANNOT be altered by Dupree Dance within 3 weeks of our event due to the fact our general schedule is completed at that time. Registrants need to triple check their convention and competition data prior to submission of their registration to ensure that each attendee is correctly registered as either a performance or competitive level dancer.  Please refer to our 'Division & Levels' information to learn how our system defines each routine as either being a Performance or Competitive entry based on the sum total of the assigned level of dancer(s) in that routine. 

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