​
​
The Collective Assistant Program Overview
​
The Collective is an audition-based program that allows our Dupree staff and faculty to mentor advanced dancers who have demonstrated they have the passion, talent, respect, positive attitude and consistency required to assist both in the classroom and behind the scenes during our Dupree Dance regional tour. Dupree Dance Collectives will not only act as demonstrators in the classroom, but they will actively build professional skills through their help backstage as they interact with our team members, studio owners, teachers, parents and attendees of all ages. Collectives will receive valuable feedback from our staff and faculty after each event they assist that will aid in both their personal and professional growth as well as efficacy as a Dupree Assistant. Collective dancers must be versatile in a myriad of dance genres, engaged at all times, adhere to a strict code of conduct and committed to a consistent positive representation of themselves on all social media platforms.
​
Regional Collective Scholarship
Dupree Dance Collective scholarships will be awarded at every regional event to a select number of students registered in our Teen and Senior ballroom who are 19 years of age or younger at the time of their regional audition. They will be determined by our faculty and awarded as a result of a dancer’s performance, attitude and work ethic during both the formal audition and all convention classes throughout the weekend. Collective scholarship winners will be announced at the conclusion of each regional event during the Closing Ceremony.
Collective scholarship winners receive a full convention tuition scholarship that covers all classes during the Summer Intensive portion of our Dupree Dance National Finals. If a dancer who wins a Collective scholarship chooses to attend National Finals, our online registration system will automatically recognize their Collective scholarship award and prompt use of the scholarship at that event only. A Collective scholarship winner is also invited to perform in an exciting Collective National Finals routine that will be debuted during our red carpet Gala at conclusion of our National Finals event and showcased on our social media platforms following our event.
Collective Regional scholarship winners also have the opportunity to compete in our optional Collective National Finals Competition (CNFC) that takes place during our National Finals event. Once a Collective scholarship winner is registered for classes at Nationals through use of their scholarship, our online registration will allow the option of additionally registering that dancer for our CNFC. If a dancer is studio registered when named/awarded a Collective Regional scholarship winner, he/she must register for Nationals under the same studio in order to be eligible to go out for our Dupree Dance Collective National Finals Competition.
​
ONLINE COLLECTIVE PROFILE & NATIONAL FINALS PARTICIPATION DEADLINE
Dupree Dance will obtain a personal email address from each Collective winner at the event that he/she is awarded. Within 1 week following the awarded event, a Collective scholarship winner can expect to receive a direct email from Dupree Dance confirming that we have their Collective scholarship entered in our system under their name and inviting them to access their own personal online Collective profile. If a regional Collective winner does not receive this email within a week after being awarded, please reach out to us directly at dupree@dupreedance.com so that we can update/correct your preferred email address.
The confirmation email that a winner receives will issue them a username as well as a temporary password to their private online Collective profile. The Collective profile is how a winner will accept (attending) or decline (not attending) their Collective scholarship award. It is also how we gather information and communicate important National Finals and CNFC details with attending Collective dancers, but it is not considered as the formal registration for our National Finals event. The deadline in which Dupree Dance requests that a regional Collective winner either accepts or declines their participation in our National Finals event is always by/before May 1 (immediately prior to our National Finals event). Dupree Dance will email all winners in advance of this deadline as a reminder. If a dancer plans on attending our National Finals event (or accepts their award) they will simply log onto their Collective profile and update their status to ‘attending’. If a dancer is unable to attend our National Finals event, we kindly ask that they update their online Collective profile status to ‘not attending’. This step is appreciated so that Dupree Dance can assess the final number of participating Collectives. After the May 1 participation deadline (profile update), Dupree Dance will no longer email regional Collective winners who have not updated their profile to ‘attending’ with National Finals and CNFC event information.
Collective National Finals Competition & Registration
If a dancer is studio registered when named/awarded a Collective Regional scholarship winner, he/she must register for Nationals under the same studio in order to be eligible to go out for our Dupree Dance Collective National Finals Competition.
Once a Collective scholarship is applied during our National Finals online registration process, our system will remove the convention class registration fee and then allow the option of additionally registering that dancer for our Collective National Finals Competition (CNFC). If a dancer opts to participate in our Collective National Finals competition, they must select that option and pay a CNFC fee of $115.
Candidates who choose to compete in our Collective National Finals Competition must
​
· Select the Collective National Finals Contender option during online registration
· Participate in all National Finals classes
· Register to compete a minimum of one solo (up to 2 solos permitted)
· Attend the formal Collective audition class(es) set on schedule
· Participate in the Improv Dance Challenge
· Perform in the National Finals Gala
​
Collective winners will be announced at the conclusion of our National Finals event. They will also receive a year-round regional tuition scholarship and an invitation to assist at all available regional Dupree Dance events outside of their home city (winners will be required to assist at a minimum of two regional events). They will perform in all regional closing ceremonies at events they assist during and receive a custom Dupree Dance Collective jacket.
