DANCE LIKE THERE’S NO TOMORROW.
As one of our most attended and watched events, the fursuit dance competition is a cornerstone of Anthro New England! Talented individuals don their fursuits and strut their stuff – to music! Those who pass prelims are invited to perform live in our ballroom before our attendees and our panel of judges for feedback and criticism.
If you think you’ve got what it takes and want to put your choreography to the test, we welcome anyone to try out for prelims! Read the information below to apply!
Preliminaries are being held virtually AND in person this year!
When you sign up for the dance competition, you have the option to send in a video of your complete act. Video edits for this must be minimal, as using ANY special effects will disqualify you from consideration. We prefer that video files are shared via Google Drive. You may also send a link to a video on YouTube, Dropbox, or another video hosting service. Please remember to submit your music file as well!
If you are not entering virtually, you will be trying out in person at the convention prior to the finals. Trying out in person is simple — Fill out the form below and submit your music as instructed in the form. Arrive at preliminaries at the scheduled time and place, with your fursuit on or at least ready to go. There is more information about in person preliminaries below.
Both solo and group performances are welcome in the Anthro New England dance competition. Be aware — if there are 3 or more group performances in the dance competition finals, we will make a separate category just for groups.
Anthro New England’s fursuit dance competition requires a fursuit that consists of a fursuit head, at least two hand paws, and a tail (unless your species has no tail). You are welcome to wear a partial fursuit, a full fursuit (plantigrade or digigrade), or even a quadsuit. Please wear appropriate attire, preferably with no skin showing, as this is a fursuit dance competition. Do not wear clothes with inappropriate language or 18+ attire, as this is an all ages event. If you have any questions or concerns, there will be a comment section at the end of the signup form.
APROPRIATE CONTENT.
Your song needs to be appropriate for a PG audience. Please, no swears, no inappropriate language or themes, no slurs, and no excessive sexual undertones. People of all ages love coming to watch the dance competition, and they should be in an environment that is comfortable.
LENGTH.
Are you performing by yourself? Solo entrants can compete with music less than 2 minutes in length and a minimum of 1 minute 30 seconds. You can cut your music yourself, or the DJ will fade it out at the 2 minute mark.
Groups can compete with longer music — an additional 30 seconds for each member of the group beyond the first person. For a 2 person group, the dance can go up to 2 minutes and 30 seconds: 2 minutes initially, plus 30 seconds because of the second group member. For a 3 person group, this would be 3 minutes (2 minutes + 30 seconds + 30 seconds), and so on.
SUBMITTING MUSIC.
We are gathering music for routines in advance to prevent any issues on the day of finals. We will also screen music to make sure it is the right sound quality for our speakers and is appropriate for the audience. Please note, your music must be submitted via email, as mentioned in the signup form, prior to the convention – no exceptions.
Please be sure to title your song file entry in the following format:
FURSUITNAME_FURRYNAME.mp3
Example: CopleyTheDancingDeer_Copley.mp3
THE BASICS.
If you enter the dance competition, your first performance will be in the preliminaries, unless you are submitting by video. If you do submit by video, you are still welcome to attend preliminaries.
There will be two preliminary times this year – Friday evening and Saturday morning, with limited slots on Friday! The preliminaries will take place in the Harbor ballroom. We will announce the exact times for both days as we draw closer to the date. Keep an eye out for the schedule!
You’ll need time to warm up, so we suggest coming in 15 minutes early!
THE PRELIMARY COMPETITION.
We want you to be comfortable performing your first time around, so the preliminaries will be closed to the public. If you are able to, ask your handler or assistant to wait outside unless you require their help. Don’t sweat it, we will have water and staff to help you stay cool and calm.
Preliminary judges will observe each act. Don’t worry, these judges aren’t the same as the judges in the finals — so your big hits and fancy footwork won’t be spoiled. They will then use a pre-set scoring system to rank each person trying out. The top entries in the rankings will move on to the dance competition finals.
THE BASICS.
If you move on to the finals, you must meet in the Main Ballroom 30 minutes before the start of the event. Late performers will not be allowed in the finals. We will announce an exact time for the dance competition soon.
THE FINAL COMPETITION.
The order of competitors will be announced when you arrive (don’t worry, we’ll post the order of performers backstage for your reference).
When it is your turn, you will perform your act, remain on stage for the judges, and exit the stage. When all acts are finished, all finalists will be welcomed back to the stage for a fun group freestyle dance while judges finalize scores.
SCORING.
Judges will consider every dancer’s musicality, originality, technicality, crowd appeal and overall performance. They will rank each dancer until they have a list of the top ranked performers. Prizes will then be rewarded to 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place dancers.