About Us
Donna Schnarr and Nancy MacSporran, the directors of Rhythm Dance, established the competition in 1990 where the festival ran for one full week at the Humanities Theatre in Waterloo. After using this format for several years, in 1993 we expanded to four Ontario locations and one Calgary location, operating as often as possible on weekends to try to avoid school conflicts. We are currently entering our 29th season of running professional, enjoyable dance competitions where our main focus is a positive environment and strong organization that shows respect for your time. We believe that a professionally run dance competition provides the best opportunity for performers of all ages to display their talents in a healthy and exciting atmosphere and use this experience to improve their skills and confidence.
Rhythm Dance shows commitment to excellence by the staging of our events. We believe that an essential part of the dance competition experience is performing in a theatre on a professional stage with professional lighting and sound. We use only professional theatres for our competitions, never a ballroom or arena. Furthermore, we never plan more than one city per weekend in our schedule. We are a 'hands-on' competition and feel that our personal touch every weekend is important to meet our goals.
Rhythm Dance has always taken pride and care in selecting judges based on professional training and experience, broad background, and fairness. Rhythm Dance judges are also selected for their compassion and experience with children and their desire to provide useful, positive critiques to dancers and teachers.
We believe that healthy competition can enrich the lives of our children by teaching them about their own strengths and weaknesses and how to set realistic goals, cope with disappointment, and find acceptable ways to react to the adversities they will encounter throughout their lives.
With 29 years of competition experience, we strive to be innovative, organized, fair, and friendly. Your Rhythm experience is important to us!
Rhythm Dance shows commitment to excellence by the staging of our events. We believe that an essential part of the dance competition experience is performing in a theatre on a professional stage with professional lighting and sound. We use only professional theatres for our competitions, never a ballroom or arena. Furthermore, we never plan more than one city per weekend in our schedule. We are a 'hands-on' competition and feel that our personal touch every weekend is important to meet our goals.
Rhythm Dance has always taken pride and care in selecting judges based on professional training and experience, broad background, and fairness. Rhythm Dance judges are also selected for their compassion and experience with children and their desire to provide useful, positive critiques to dancers and teachers.
We believe that healthy competition can enrich the lives of our children by teaching them about their own strengths and weaknesses and how to set realistic goals, cope with disappointment, and find acceptable ways to react to the adversities they will encounter throughout their lives.
With 29 years of competition experience, we strive to be innovative, organized, fair, and friendly. Your Rhythm experience is important to us!
Testimonials
“Great to see such a well organized and delightful positive experience for all dancers and teachers attending Rhythm Dance Competition this past weekend in Richmond Hill. Keep up the tremendous job!”
Sandra Gray
Director Sandra Gray School of Dancing Ltd.
"I'm a dance mom and I was just reviewing your web site for the competition we are attending in Brantford. Wow, your new award system is excellent!! Giving out gift cards is a terrific idea!! After a while the trophys and ribbons lose their appeal. Rhythm has always been one of my favourites to attend and your new system has made it that much better. Congratulations for always looking for ways to improve the experience of not only the dancers, but the whole family!"
Maryann Vieira
Strathroy, ON
"We just wanted to write a short note to express our gratitude for a very well run and enjoyable competition. It was on time, well organized and a lot of fun! There were a lot of really great numbers from a lot of different studios and so the entertainment was wonderful. Thank you for a job well done! We look forward to returning another year!"
Cathy and Ellie Sabourin
Greta Leeming Studio of Dance
Ottawa, ON
"Rhythm Dance has become a tradition for our studio. In having the 'Performance' category, it has allowed our students, who dance less than 3-4 hours a week, to achieve a sense of accomplishment and to be recognized for their efforts within their dance division. We can always rely on a well run, well timed and friendly dance competition."
Jo-Ann Adams
Director, Jo-Ann Adams School of Dance
Simcoe, ON
"I have been attending Rhythm dance competition as a dancer, teacher and now a studio owner. This will be my 16th year attending Rhythm and each year it gets better and better. Nancy, Donna and their staff do an amazing job of all things competition. The atmosphere, the judges, and the love and support that they show each and every dancer and studio is remarkable. They are unique unto their own and we are so lucky to be a part of it! Thank you Nancy, Donna and your staff for continuing an amazing job year after year. We look forward to many more to come."
Aly Niznik
Sandra Gray
Director Sandra Gray School of Dancing Ltd.
"I'm a dance mom and I was just reviewing your web site for the competition we are attending in Brantford. Wow, your new award system is excellent!! Giving out gift cards is a terrific idea!! After a while the trophys and ribbons lose their appeal. Rhythm has always been one of my favourites to attend and your new system has made it that much better. Congratulations for always looking for ways to improve the experience of not only the dancers, but the whole family!"
Maryann Vieira
Strathroy, ON
"We just wanted to write a short note to express our gratitude for a very well run and enjoyable competition. It was on time, well organized and a lot of fun! There were a lot of really great numbers from a lot of different studios and so the entertainment was wonderful. Thank you for a job well done! We look forward to returning another year!"
Cathy and Ellie Sabourin
Greta Leeming Studio of Dance
Ottawa, ON
"Rhythm Dance has become a tradition for our studio. In having the 'Performance' category, it has allowed our students, who dance less than 3-4 hours a week, to achieve a sense of accomplishment and to be recognized for their efforts within their dance division. We can always rely on a well run, well timed and friendly dance competition."
Jo-Ann Adams
Director, Jo-Ann Adams School of Dance
Simcoe, ON
"I have been attending Rhythm dance competition as a dancer, teacher and now a studio owner. This will be my 16th year attending Rhythm and each year it gets better and better. Nancy, Donna and their staff do an amazing job of all things competition. The atmosphere, the judges, and the love and support that they show each and every dancer and studio is remarkable. They are unique unto their own and we are so lucky to be a part of it! Thank you Nancy, Donna and your staff for continuing an amazing job year after year. We look forward to many more to come."
Aly Niznik