We get questions about when competitors can or should stop their performances. Let’s talk about when you should or shouldn’t keep on dancing.

Here’s some situations in which you SHOULD keep going

You have a minor costume malfunction.

Whether that’s a nip slip, strap breaking, beads falling off or other minor issue, don’t worry about it and just keep going. Things happen! You’re not going to be allowed to start over and the judges will score you lower if you let little things visibly phase you.

You miss your big move.

Part of the professionalism of performing is learning to mess up your tricks, routine or choreography, and being able to recover quickly and gracefully. If you miss your biggest trick, keep going! Freestyle a little at the base of the pole to catch your breath, roll around on the floor to recover or pick right up where you left off. Get right back into your character or routine as quickly as possible. There’s been plenty of ties where others have messed up and you aren’t able to tell because they hide it so well!

Here’s some situations where you SHOULDN’T keep going

Stop for safety

If something happens that poses a safety concern, don’t even think about it, just STOP! Whether that is the pole clicking off of static mode, your child climbing onto the stage (yes, that happened once), or feeling like you might have injured yourself, go ahead and stop dancing. Exit the stage and we’ll come see what’s going on. Safety comes first!

If it’s an equipment issue or something event related, we are more than happy to fix it and you can start over.

If you’re injured, we can get you to an urgent care or hospital to get checked out.

Stop if your music is wrong

We do our best, but every once in awhile we mess up. We’re super sorry! Please exit the stage, and let the stage manager know what’s going on. She’ll call up to the music manager and get you sorted out. This is the time where that USB stick that we make you put your music on will come in handy.

You’ll be able to restart once it is sorted out. Sometimes that means you’ll go right away, or sometimes we may let another performer go first so that we have time to make sure we’ve got the right track for you.