A guide for dance parents

Apps for Dance Parents: What Each Kind Is For

Updated · Selvi Labs

How we checked: we read each app’s own App Store listing or website on October 4, 2026; every example links to it. We make Ovation, one of the planners on this page. Sources

Most dance families use two kinds of app: their studio’s portal, for registration, billing and studio news, and one place for the whole family’s season, from weekly classes to competition days and results. A competition company’s own app is worth having for the weekend you are at its event. Here is what each kind is for, and how they fit together.

A row of colorful dance bags on a studio’s wooden floor, lined up along the wall.

The four kinds of dance app

Kind What it’s for Who runs it What it covers Examples
Studio portal Registering, paying, and hearing from the studio Your studio, on its studio software One studio: classes, account, payments, messages Jackrabbit, Studio Pro (DanceStudio-Pro) parent portals
Competition-company app That company’s event weekend The competition company or its media partner One company’s events: schedules, live updates, results, photos and video KAR, Showstopper, StarQuest, DanceBUG
Family calendar Everyone’s dates in one shared calendar You and your family The whole household, dance included, as events Cozi, Google Calendar
Dance family planner A dancer’s whole season, built around dance You and your family Every studio and competition: classes, routines, costumes, competition days, awards Ovation, Dancify, Dance Mom HQ

Examples, not a complete list. Each link is the app’s own listing or website, read October 4, 2026.

Studio portals

Your studio chooses its studio-management software, and the parent portal comes with it. It is where you sign up for classes, pay tuition and hear from the front desk. You don’t choose it; you get a login from the studio. What you can do in it depends on what the studio has switched on.

Sources: Jackrabbit Dance, Parents & Families; Studio Pro, Dance Studio Apps; Studio Pro Portal on the App Store (free; updated September 11, 2026); all read October 4, 2026.

A dance studio hallway with wooden cubbies full of ballet shoes, bags and water bottles, a notice board above, and a studio with a barre at the end.
The studio portal is the studio’s notice board, front desk and billing in one.

Competition-company apps

Many competition companies have their own app for their own events, and some use a media partner’s. On the weekend, these are where the company’s own live information is: the running order as it happens, announcements, results, and photos and videos. Outside that company’s events, they don’t hold the rest of your season. From their App Store listings:

Sources, each its App Store listing: KAR; Showstopper; StarQuest Dance; DanceBUG; all read October 4, 2026.

Family calendars

A shared family calendar puts everyone’s plans in one place: work, school, sport and dance. It knows dates and times, and it is good at reminders and sharing. It doesn’t know what an entry number, a call time or a quick change is, so dance goes in as ordinary events.

Sources, each its App Store listing: Cozi Family Organizer; Google Calendar; both read October 4, 2026.

Dance family planners

A dance family planner is built around a dancer’s season: classes at the studio, competition weekends from any company, the routines, costumes and packing, and the results. You run it, so it holds everything that is yours, whichever studio and competitions it comes from. Each puts the weight in a different place:

Sources, each its App Store listing: Dancify: Dance Mom Sidekick; Dance Mom HQ; both read October 4, 2026. Ovation: its help articles, linked below.

How they fit together

A typical competition family’s season, app by app:

  1. Before the season, register and pay for classes in the studio’s portal.
  2. The weekly schedule goes into your planner or family calendar, once, from the studio’s timetable.
  3. Competition season: the studio sends the running order. Your dancer’s routines, call times and costumes go into your planner.
  4. On the weekend, the company’s own app (if it has one) shows its live running order and its photos; your planner keeps your dancer’s day.
  5. After the weekend, the results go into your planner, and the studio portal goes back to tuition and recital tickets.

If schedules are simple and you have one dancer, a family calendar may be all you need beside the portal. The more dancers, studios and competitions you have, the more a planner earns its place.

Where Ovation fits

Ovation is the dance family planner for iPhone that we make. You send it what you already have, as a photo, a PDF or pasted text: the studio’s class timetable, its season calendar with closures, and each competition’s running order. You check what it found before anything is saved.

On a competition day, its Day tab lists your dancer’s routines in order with times, call times and entry numbers, counts the quick changes under 30 minutes, and moves every time when you set a delay. Each routine keeps its look, and a packing checklist gathers them the week before. Afterwards, Ovation reads the results sheet, and the Awards tab adds up the season.

The free plan has one dancer and your first two AI imports. Ovation Pro holds up to four dancers, with no limit on imports, for $49.99 a year or $6.99 a month.

Import a class schedule Import the studio calendar Add a competition schedule Competition day Routines and looks Packing checklist Import results The Awards tab More than one dancer Free and Pro

Ovation’s Home for Sophia and Everly: Sophia’s next class at 5:30 PM, Everly’s pickup at 5:15 PM, and the whole week of classes for both girls, with Saturday’s three classes struck through for the KAR Lawndale weekend.

When Ovation is not the right fit

How we checked

On October 4, 2026 we read each app’s own App Store listing (what it says the app does, who sells it, its price on the store and when it was last updated) or the company’s own website, and quoted it. We didn’t use ratings, review counts or the apps’ own superlatives, and we haven’t ranked anything: the page says what each kind of app is for. Apps change often; check the listing for today’s version. Selvi Labs makes Ovation, and is not affiliated with any other company or app on this page.

All read October 4, 2026.

Common questions

App questions

Do I need a different app for every dance competition?

Only if you want that company’s live features, such as its running order on the day, its live stream or its photos and videos. Many competition companies have their own app for their own events. A dance family planner holds all of your competitions in one place, whichever companies run them.

Is my studio’s app the same as a dance family planner?

No. A studio’s app or parent portal is run by the studio, for registering, paying and studio messages. A planner is yours: it holds your family’s classes, competitions, routines and results, across studios and competition companies.

Can I just use Google Calendar or Cozi?

Yes, many families do. A shared family calendar is good at dates and times for everyone in the house. What it doesn’t know about is dance: entry numbers, call times, quick changes, costumes and awards. That is what a dance family planner adds.

Is Ovation on Android?

No. Ovation is an iPhone app, downloaded from the App Store.