Welcome to the IODC

Acceptable Dancer Category entries consist of any dance video of you or your group that has been filmed within the last year and 4 months (January 1st, 2021 or later).

DANCE DIVISION ENTRY FEES

Dance Division entry fees are based on $5 USD per person per category, up until the Group category.

($5 USD = approx. £ 3.90 GBP, $6.40 CAD, € 4.65 EUR, $6.90 AUD, 383 INR)

Category	# of dancers	Entry Fee
Solo	1	$5 USD
Duo	2	$10 USD
Trio	3	$15 USD
Group	4 and up	$18 USD

DANCE STUDIO REPRESENTATION

Dance studios may enter their students into the competition in their stead, provided that they have permission to do so by a parent or legal guardian of each student, or from the dancers themselves if they are 18 years of age or older.

Studio logos are allowed in dancers’ videos, as long as they appear in one of the upper corners of the videos. Any student who becomes a First Round Finalist will have their video posted on the Finalist Gallery of the website, along with the studio’s name and website (provided the studio name and website were included when filling out the competition entry form).

FIRST ROUND FINALISTS

All entrants who pass the First Round will have their video published in the Gallery of Finalists on the IODC competition website. The general public will be encouraged to vote for their favorites, and we encourage all entrants to encourage people to vote as well.

The Finalist who receives the highest number of public votes & overall engagement will be taken into consideration by the judges when determining the Contest winners. However, while influencing the overall judging process, receiving the highest number of public votes & overall engagement does not in itself determine the competition winners.

Note that during public voting, there is an option to pay for multiple votes. Ten percent (10%) of all voting proceeds will be donated to Confluence, a non-profit organization that assists serious performing artists with continued training and development of their careers. The rest of the proceeds go towards making this online competition possible.

As mentioned above, company, school, and studio logos are allowed in dancers’ videos, as long as they appear in one of the upper corners of the videos. Any video of Finalists of any particular company, school, or studio will have the organization’s name and website listed with the video as well. (provided the organization’s name and website were included when filling out the competition entry form).

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WINNERS AND PRIZES

The winner of each style, age group, and category will receive a medallion, and a certificate stating the entrant’s names, the name of the dance piece, the choreographer’s name, and the style, age group, and category won (144 possible in all).

Important: if the judges deem the level of entries in any particular category, style family, or age group not at a level sufficient to pass to the Second Round or to be awarded a winning prize, we reserve the right to decide that a particular category will have no Finalist, or no Winner.

Note that all Finalists, regardless of whether or not they are a winner in their Division, also have a chance at winning the $1000 USD Overall Performance Prize (Grand Prix).

OVERALL PERFORMANCE PRIZE (GRAND PRIX)

One Overall Performance Prize of $1000 USD will be granted to the most outstanding overall performance of the entire competition. All finalists across all age groups, categories, dance styles, and divisions will be automatically entered and considered for this prize.

Note that, whereas the winners of each category are determined by the judge of that specific category, the Overall Performance Prize is judged by all of the judges together, and/or by the Director of the Competition. This means that the winner of the Overall Performance Prize will not necessarily be one of the Dance Division or Choreography Division winners.

INFLUENCER PRIZE

An Influencer Certificate will be issued to the Finalist (or in some cases Finalists) who receive the most public votes in the Gallery of Finalists. Note that during public voting, there is an option to pay for multiple votes. Ten percent (10%) of all voting proceeds will be donated to Confluence, a non-profit organization that assists serious performing artists with continued training and development of their careers. The rest of the proceeds go towards making this online competition possible.

SCHOLARSHIPS

L’École Supérieur de Ballet du Québec is offering a partial scholarship to one male or female ballet Finalist on a year's tuition ($500 CAD value) between 13 and 18 years old. Website: https://www.esbq.ca/en/

Barcelona Dance Center is offering up to 4 scholarships (2 scholarships for 3 months of training, and 2 scholarships for 10 months of training), for classical ballet and for contemporary dancers, aged 16-25. The training will include performances with the dance company, BCN City Ballet, as well. Website: http://bcndancenter.com/

Choreography Online/International Performing Arts and Theatre (I-PATH) Diploma in Choreography Programme: Choreography Online and I-PATH is pleased to offer a full scholarship to: I-PATH / Choreography Online Diploma in Choreography Course, Unit 1

*Winners of the TOD Alliance Prize must agree to have their journey through the courses documented on video through regular self-taped interviews.

PRODUCT PRIZES

TIRED Movement has five (5) T-Shirts that it will award to select Finalists. http://www.tiredmovement.com/

DANCE STYLE FAMILIES

Contemporary/Jazz

This style family includes any and all types of jazz dance (including contemporary jazz and anything from musical theater) and contemporary dance (including modern, lyrical, and experimental styles that are not necessarily based on ballet technique). This style family also includes neoclassical and contemporary ballet pieces. It can include dancing on pointe or on flat, as well as ballet-based character pieces.

Tap

This style family includes any and all styles of tap dancing (including Rhythm Tap, Broadway Tap, and experimental styles). Entries may be either with music or a cappella, however, it is important to be able to hear the taps in order to be able to efficiently judge technique.

Ballet

This style family includes any and all ballet classical variations, pas de deux, and group tableaux from the globally established classical repertoire, regardless of method (Vaganova, Cecchetti, Bournonville, RAD, etc.). Any contemporary or modern pieces, even if they are heavily based on classical technique, will be moved to the Contemporary/Jazz style family.

Hip-Hop/Urban (Street Culture)

This style family includes any dance style within the global Hip-Hop, Street, or Urban realm, including but not limited to Hip-Hop, Popping, Locking, House, Krump, Animation, Robotics, Body Percussion, Stepping, Breaking, Jookin’, Waacking, Jazz Funk, Dancehall, or any derivative thereof of these styles. Although not typically included in this category, we will also accept Pantsula as an Urban Style.

Bollywood

Includes any and all styles used in Bollywood, including Bhangra or other similar dances.

Acrobatic Dance

The dance content in this style category may be founded in ballet, jazz, lyrical, hip-hop, modern, contemporary, or any other legitimate dance style. Acro dance movements are not restricted to these dance styles, but the complete absence of any dance will cause an Acrobatic Dance entry to be disqualified. Entries in this style must have a significant percentage of both dance and acrobatics in order for the entry to be admissible as Acrobatic Dance.

Folk/Traditional Dance

Traditional dances (or derivatives thereof) that have origins in a specific country or region, including ethnic dances, ritual dances, or dances of ritual origin. Note that ballroom and dancesport dances do not fall into this category.

Confined Spaces

Dances created and danced specifically for, and danced in, spaces much smaller than a small dance studio size. Examples of eligible "Confined Spaces" would be a room in a house or a small/medium shipping container. Entries will be judged on the creative use of the space and the objects in it, as well as the quality and coherency of the dancing and choreographic sequence themselves.

Urban Spaces

Dances created and danced specifically for, and danced in, outdoor locations of any size or shape within a city or town. Examples of eligible "Urban Spaces" would be a public square, around a city monument or statue, or a concrete park. Entries will be judged on the creative use of the space and the objects in it, as well as the quality and coherency of the dancing and choreographic sequence themselves.

Note on acrobatics or gymnastics: any and all acrobatic elements are allowed, but acrobatic techniques are not a basis used to judge dance technique, and therefore will neither increase nor decrease your chances of winning. The only exception to this is for the Acrobatic Dance category, where acrobatic/gymnastics techniques will influence the judge's score.

The same goes for the use of props. Props are allowed if that is your or your choreographer’s artistic vision, but will neither increase nor decrease your chances of winning.

CATEGORIES

Category	# of dancers	Length
Solo	1	Min. 1 minute, no max.
Duo	2	Min. 1 minute, no max.
Trio	3	Min. 1 minute, no max.
Group	4 and up	Min. 1 minute, no max.

AGE GROUPS

KIDS - 6-7 YEARS

YOUTH – 10 years and younger

JUNIOR – 11 to 13 years

SENIOR – 14 to 17 years

PROFESSIONAL – 18 years and up

Please note that the Age Divisions are set up with the assumption that most dancers’ technical and artistic level are more or less in line with the number of years of training. We are aware that this is not always the case, but we had the choice of using technical level or age bracket as a grouping criterion, and we chose age. It is our sincere hope that the existence of any technical disparities within any given age group will hinder neither the fun nor the learning experience of participating in this competition.

JUDGING CRITERIA

Technique, Artistic Interpretation, Creativity, and Choreography Choice. This competition is about dancers’ skill and ability to perceive artistic structure— therefore, aspects such as costumes, makeup, and music will not be part of the criteria used for judging.

Choreography Division

ELIGIBLE ENTRIES

Acceptable Choreographer Category entries are any video of choreography that has been created within the last 10 years (May 6th, 2012 or later).

CHOREOGRAPHY DIVISION ENTRY FEES

Choreography Division entry fees start at $10 per choreography for a piece of 10 minutes or less.

($10 USD = (approx. £ 7.80 GBP, $12.75 CAD, £ 9.25 EUR, $14 AUD, 765 INR)

Choreography Length	Entry Fee
10 minutes or less	$10 USD
11 to 20 minutes	$15 USD
Over 20 minutes	$18 USD

DANCE COMPANY REPRESENTATION

Company names and logos are allowed in choreographers’ videos. Any choreographer who becomes a First Round Finalist will have their video posted on the Finalist Gallery of the website, along with the company’s name and website (provided the company name and website were included when filling out the competition entry form).

FIRST ROUND FINALISTS

As mentioned, all entrants who pass the First Round will have their video published in the Gallery of Finalists on the IODC competition website. The general public will be encouraged to vote for their favorites, and we encourage all entrants to encourage people to vote as well.

WINNERS AND PRIZES

Three winners will be chosen for the Choreography Division (1st, 2nd, and 3rd Place), and each will receive a medallion with their name and winner placement engraved on it.

On top of the medallions, the following money prizes will be awarded to each of the Choreography Division winners:

1st Place: $1000 USD
2nd Place: $600 USD
3rd Place: $300 USD

Note that all Finalists, regardless of whether or not they are a winner in their Division, also have a chance at winning the Overall Performance Prize (Grand Prix).

OVERALL PERFORMANCE PRIZE (GRAND PRIX)

Note that, whereas the winners of each category are determined by the judge of that specific category, the Overall Performance Prize is judged by all of the judges together and/or the Director of the Competition. This means that the winner of the Overall Performance Prize will not necessarily be one of the Dance Division or Choreography Division winners.

JUDGING CRITERIA

Choreography will be judged on Originality, Structure, Development, Pacing, Musicality, and Coherence, regardless of dance style or cast size.

ADDITIONAL RULES AND PERTINENT INFORMATION

All entries must be paid for and entrants must accept the Terms and Conditions in order to be officially entered into the competition.

Please note that any violation of any of these rules, or violation of any of the clauses in the Terms and Conditions of this competition, will be grounds for disqualification. In the event of disqualification, the entrant(s) will be notified as soon as the disqualification has been determined. No refunds will be given to disqualified entrants.

Dancers (and their parents/legal guardians, if applicable) and organizations must agree that, if they make it past the First Round, their videos, names, and website URLs will be published in the Gallery of Finalists of the IODC website. Note that it may happen that some excerpts of some videos may be used to promote the dancers, choreographers, dance studio/school/company, or the IODC competition itself through e-mail, social media, on websites, or through other electronic means.

Finalists or Winners may be asked to do video interviews for public broadcast through e-mail, social media, on websites, or through other electronic means. This will most likely take the form of self-taping with a smartphone video camera.

There is no limit to how many times you may enter nor is there a limit on the number of styles and categories you may enter. However, you may not submit the same piece with the same dancers in it more than once. You may enter the same dance piece more than once if the dancers in each entry are different, or if the piece is entered by the choreographer in the Choreography Division while the same piece is entered by the dancer in the Dancer Division. In this latter case, two completely different aspects and people are being adjudicated, so it will be allowed.

Any entry in any style or category displaying suggestive and/or inappropriate content will be disqualified.

Judges decisions are final and cannot be contested. In the event of a tie for any Division, Style & Category, our panel of judges together and/or the Director of the Competition will choose a winning entry at their own discretion. In the case of a tie, the number of public votes on each entry may be taken into consideration by the judges in order to make a final decision.

Judges scores will not be made public, nor will they be sent to entrants. However, if specific feedback is desired, please write to us at info@iodc.online, and we will ask the pertinent judge to write a brief feedback paragraph. Unfortunately, we cannot guarantee that the judge will agree to write a feedback paragraph, as it may occur that the volume of requests be too great for this to be possible. We apologize in advance for the inconvenience, and sincerely hope that you understand. If you wish to have a face-to-face video conference with a judge, that may be a possibility, but there is no guarantee that the judge will agree. If the judge does agree to give feedback in a video conference, an extra fee will be charged for this service. Please e-mail info@iodc.online if you wish to have a live video conference with a judge.

Money Prizes: All money prizes will be sent out electronically, through online systems such as PayPal, Interac (within Canada), wire transfer, or some other similar service. Please note that ChoreOnline Inc. is located in Canada, so transfers using Venmo are not possible, as Venmo is only available in the USA. Winners of money prizes will be notified within two weeks of the final determination of winners. If you do not respond to the notification of winning with a satisfactory manner of receiving the prize money electronically within ninety (90) days of the notification, your right to receive the prize money will be null and void.

Welcome to the IODC

RULES AND REGULATIONS, CATEGORIES, PRIZES

Main Divisions

DANCE DIVISION

CHOREOGRAPHY DIVISION

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Dance Division

Choreography Division