The Future of Hybrid Dance Competitions: Nicolas Bégin
This month, we sat down with Nicolas Bégin to explore the Future of Hybrid Dance Competitions. Nicolas is the Founder and Director of Hit The Floor. Since 2010, Nicolas has established this multi-style dance competition as a world-class dance event. In a normal year, Hit The Floor brings together over 45 000 dance lovers and travels across Canada with its unique cultural and artistic programming. Nicolas has taken on many roles during his 15 years in the industry—he is continually involved as an entrepreneur, producer, artistic director, professional dancer, and choreographer. His contributions to the dance community have brought him several recognitions over the years. Nicolas shares what he learned through producing events during the pandemic and the endless possibilities of dance competitions. Be impacted by his words below.
Photo by Echelon Visual
How did the pandemic affect the dance community in Quebec? As a producer in the dance industry, how did you adapt Hit The Floor?
We all know that the past year has been very challenging for the dance community. The arts, culture, and entertainment sector was one of the sectors most affected by the pandemic. In Quebec, the vast majority of our dance schools have been closed for almost a year because of the sanitary measures in place. The Hit The Floor team wanted to be present for the community and its dancers who wanted to practice their art more than ever.
As a producer of dance events, what's important to understand is that to deliver a regular 5-day competition like Hit The Floor Lévis, we need to start pre-production at least 5 months in advance for this large-scale event to run properly. With the ever-changing situation of the pandemic, we couldn't afford to plan this type of event in a near future. Our team did several days of intensive brainstorming to find feasible solutions in a pandemic context and which meet the needs and realities of our dance studios in Quebec and Canada. Despite the very difficult months for the events and dance industries, Hit The Floor has still managed to produce two events since the government's announcement in March 2020. We hosted HTF In Family (HTF En Famille) in September 2020 and our hybrid event HTF In Studio (HTF En Studio) this past May in Lévis, Quebec
Explain the formula of your event HTF In Studio. What was the inspiration behind this hybrid competition format?
Over the past year, several movements emerged in the dance community that highlighted the importance of dance for the mental and physical health of young artists. We understood that even if we weren't able to offer a large-scale event, it was necessary to find a way to have artists dance, whether it was in-person or virtual.
We wanted to create an inclusive, safe, and intimate event that 1) would allow studios and dancers to perform on the Hit The Floor stage in a professional recording studio and that 2) would allow studios and dancers who were not able to travel to us to still be able to participate virtually by sending their routine beforehand. There are two types of competition included in the HTF In Studio formula. The In-Person Competition & Freestyle portion is open only for soloists and is hosted in a professional recording studio. The Virtual Competition is open to all through video submission. Solos, duos, trios, and groups receive real-time evaluation from our judges. During HTF In Studio in May 2021, we had the pleasure of welcoming nearly 1200 virtual and in-person dancers.
Share what you learned as an organizer after experiencing Hit The Floor’s 2021 hybrid competitions. What were the takeaways?
The adaptation of our event to the reality of a pandemic context includes the complete rethinking of the event and the venue, the planning and purchase of sanitary equipment, and the human resources necessary for the development of this new project.
Given our experience with two hybrid events in the past year, I have two main takeaways:
Encourage open-mindedness in your team, brainstorm creatively, and try different things! This is a new situation for everyone, so no one has the answer for everything. You just need to always have the needs of dancers and studios in mind.
I would advise virtual event organizers to surround themselves with an amazing technical team to ensure the quality of their event since few of us were experts in virtual events before the pandemic. HTF is extremely lucky to have the technical and audiovisual partner Satir Productions that has been supporting us in this digital shift. A recording studio and a reliable live stream platform are two key elements of hybrid events!
What advice can you give to dancers as they navigate the dance competition ecosystem in online formats?
Dancers may have some resistance towards virtual competitions since it’s common to believe that dance can be distorted through virtual mediums. What I would say to these dancers is that the important thing is to keep dancing, exploring your art, and training in different ways. Therefore, I advise them to see virtual competitions as new, complementary opportunities to learn.
Where do you see the future of dance competitions?
I believe that the future of dance competitions lies in the flexibility of traditional event formulas as they are offered to dancers. There are tons of options open to dance event producers, so I advise everyone to explore this great playground! For Hit The Floor, we still want to produce the large-scale events we are known for. However, we also want to continue exploring more intimate events through the event formulas for HTF In Studio and HTF In Family. These new methods make it possible to offer a schedule divided by studio rather than category and style, which limits contact between participants while still allowing them to dance. Virtual competitions not only help limit intraregional travel but also allows dancers from all over the world to participate in the competition experience. Hit The Floor will be opening up our two upcoming HTF In Studio events to international dancers. Créations Hit The Floor wants to amplify the positive impact of the art of dance in artistic and cultural communities. We’re committed to creating inspiring experiences for the future of the dance ecosystem.
For more from Nicolas, check out Hit The Floor on their website and Instagram.
