Vicky Sheer questions competitions.

"I don't like competitions," says Vicky Sheer, executive director of Dance Educators of America (DEA), "but we must have them or we can't survive at this time in our dance history. It disturbs me to see parents enter their child in competitions week after week. It takes time away from learning technique which, at this time, is more important than going from place to place for competitions."

Sheer, a longtime DEA officer, continues: "On the other hand, when our judges and I see a competitor who dances well, who is musical, and has potential, there is nothing more rewarding.

"Education is in our title; it's our mission--our joy; our purpose," Sheer exclaims, with her customary verve and outspoken honesty. I'm not knocking the groups that give competitions--even those that give competitions solely. What I feel is ruinous is that an emphasis on competing will make parents and students consider taking class to be less important. What has started to creep into the competition craze is the implication by some groups that they can promote or advance the career of a young winner. This is totally misleading. An agent or promoter can advance the career of a professional, or even an unknown, but, except for providing a showcase in a small way, the competition organizers cannot guarantee anyone a job."

Frequent competing can increase a youngster's confidence and ease anxieties about performing, but these qualities are not a substitute for technique, no matter how well a step is faked or performed with youthful exuberance. Parents are mainly the culprits here in perceiving competitions as glamorous, exciting, and "showbiz." But it's still the performance of an amateur until someone else is paying for that performance.

"Don't misunderstand me," continues Sheer. "I think performances are very important. The yearly recital and shows at hospitals or elsewhere provide worthwhile opportunities. But the continuous high expenditure for routines, costumes, travel, and all that a competition entails should not be an end in themselves or an investment at the cost of classwork. Nor does it mean anything except that a contestant was awarded by certain judges to be at a certain level, at a certain time, in competition with others who may not be on a high standard at all. The school performance informs the teacher and staff how well a student is doing so that they may better evaluate what that student needs in the classroom, not at another competition in another city.

"I'm not saying that this is all wrong, but I want to reaffirm that DEA membership requires passing two difficult tests chosen from five dance forms. Certification requires attending the training school for six days and passing each subject."

Sheer, like other teachers, despairs at the lack of discipline that should begin at home: "I tell my teachers that if a student is rude in class by talking, acting foolish, or being disrespectful in any way, they may ask that student to leave the class immediately. It's not fair to ask the teacher to become a disciplinarian, but for the good of the class and its purpose, it has to be done.

"Another sad change that I have observed," Sheer continues, "is in the age of the teachers. Our classes used to be full of teachers in their thirties and forties who wanted to continually improve. Now those teachers send us teenagers because they are probably too lazy to come themselves. Good times have led them to pay others for the study they need to do themselves. I remember going to learn jazz in my sixties! I suppose there are promising teachers among the teenagers, but teaching a child during his or her first few years of dance takes skill and experience."

Convention history is recalled by current president Gertrude Hallenbeck of Albany, New York, whose father, Oscar J. Hallenbeck Jr., was a member of Dance Masters of America in the late 1920s. "Dance organizations were for teachers only," Hallenbeck says, "not juniors, teens, or senior students as in present-day competitions and workshops." She remembers, at the 1927 convention, two colleagues who became famous--film star Rita Hayworth and Louis DaPron, who choreographed the pioneer television program, Your Show of Shows. "In 1932," Hallenbeck continues, "my father took me to New York City for a Sunday meeting of the Dance Teachers' Business Association, now called Dance Educators of America. Only teachers were present. The minutes of that meeting stated its purpose: To stop fake advertising, false claims, pay pupils, and to protect school owners and assistant teachers."

At that meeting, Bud Murray of Los Angeles urged that an organization similar to his be formed under New York State laws to eliminate schools operating without a license. He reported that within four months police had closed 140 unlicensed schools, leaving only ten schools in the Los Angeles area. He told of a bunco squad investigating false advertisements and of ballroom lessons being given in private.

Another statement at that meeting, Hallenbeck adds, was that radio stations were another menace to legitimate teachers. The New York association was also interested in permitting youngsters to perform on radio and screen at any age and in a sixteen-years-of-age limit for a teacher's license.

Hallenbeck, whose involvement in conventions stretches back seventy years, says, "While the many competitions organized by individuals and not by certified dance teacher organizations have their place in the dance world, I feel that they are not putting the emphasis on educational standards, which are necessary to maintain the highest teaching and technical levels of our profession."

Want to speak out on a teacher topic? Write Marian Horosko, Education Editor, Dance Magazine, 33 West 60th, New York, NY 10023.