Tomorrow, the new Irish Young Dancer of the Year will be named. It will be a valuable chance to perform, writes Michael Seaver

At the next Olympics, when it becomes an official sport, ballroom dancing will take a logical next step from Come Dancing and Strictly Ballroom. Like Irish dancing, the spirit of participation has been taken over by the spirit of competition. That's why a competition in Longford for classical, contemporary and jazz dance students has quickly evolved into an annual award.

"We wanted to try to avoid any fiercely competitive atmosphere and try to promote a positive experience for everybody taking part," says Anica Louw, the founder of the Irish National Dance Awards, which take place at the Backstage Theatre tomorrow. "I didn't quite think there was the right balance when we started out, three years ago, and that's why the notion of a national dance award fits better with what we are trying to achieve."

Because of its physical nature, dance has always been aligned with competitive sport. When the pioneering educationalist Margaret D'Houbler set up the first graduate course in dance, she paired it with physical education, an alliance that continues to this day. In the 1920s and 1930s, dance marathons thrived in the United States. Well known through Sydney Pollack's 1969 film They Shoot Horses, Don't They?, these events lasted for days and nights, couples dancing non-stop until exhaustion left a winner.

But although dance is ultimately about individual expression, competitions for dancers can play a formative part in gaining experience. "I think that the competitions I did growing up in South Africa have stood to me more than any examination," says Louw. "I still remember the dress I wore when I performed my first competition, at the age of 10, yet all of my exams are just a blur. Even later, when I was studying drama, that early experience of performing stood to me far more than any exam."

It is precisely this performing experience that she felt was missing from Irish students. Although every ballet class gives an end-of-term performance, these are usually within the comfort zone of a familiar studio in front of family and friends. The awards give an opportunity for dancers of all levels to perform publicly. The importance of this can be measured in the doubling of participants from last year.

This will mean a busy time for the three international judges: Eric Carpenter, Paul Bayes-Kitcher and Paul Estabrook. During the day they will judge 10- to 18-year-olds in solo and group pieces in classical, contemporary and jazz dance. The winners will then perform a Riverdance-style piece during the interval of the main competition in the evening, which is for full-time students.

The overall winner will be named Irish Young Dancer of the Year and awarded €2,000 - a welcome financial boost in the prohibitively expensive world of dance training. Although another Arts Council report on dance training is imminent, young dancers will, for the immediate future, have to continue to travel abroad for graduate training.

Siobhán Ashe-Browne's situation is typical for a parent of aspiring dancers. Her daughters, Lindsay and Zoë, won the senior and junior categories in last year's competition, and both would like to study dance. "It will cost about €10,000 a year for Lindsay to study in England," she says. "There is no support from the Department of Education, even though the training is not available in Ireland. There are some foundation courses, but not graduate degree courses. As the education system does not provide her education in her own country, surely the department should financially assist her in getting that education elsewhere.

"Also, because we live in the Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown area, Lindsay is ineligible for the Dublin City Council bursary of €4,000 for dance training. I've contacted Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, and they said they have no similar bursaries, nor have they any plans for any."

Although €2,000 will make only a dent in annual bills of €10,000, it would still make a big difference to any student. So isn't there a danger of participants setting out simply to please the judges with tricks and flashy moves?

"Absolutely not," says Louw. "When I was looking at models for the competition, I was drawn to the French rather than to the English competitions. The French insist on dancers wearing plain leotards, don't allow clapping and so on. We have modified that somewhat and obviously allow applause and costumes, but the underlying principle is that the participant gets judged on how they dance rather than on a nice tiara or audience reaction."

Discrepancies between audience and judges are all part of the attraction of awards ceremonies, where everybody has an opinion and can gauge their own preferences against those of the judges.

And even the French can't avoid controversy when it comes to audience reaction. The stunning crowd-pleaser Emmanuel Thibault could claim only third place in Paris Opera Ballet's annual competition in 2001, in spite of possessing an extraordinary ballon - the ability to appear to hover in the air during a jump - and of being compared to Rudolf Nureyev, Vladimir Vasiliev and Mikhail Baryshnikov rolled into one.

The respected French dance writer Patricia Boccadoro was furious. "There was a time when this competition gave every dancer their chance. Is it now being turned into a beauty competition where only those resembling a stereotyped story-book image of a prince can pass? Or must dancers grovel at the feet of a bunch of civil servants and beg? This wilful and systematic blockage of such a unique artist as Thibault puts not only the whole concept of a 'competition' into question but strikes a blow at the very foundations of the company."

Tomorrow night's event might not contain the same intrigue, but it is an opportunity to see emerging talent. Previous winners have followed a variety of paths: Timothy Matley is in an upcoming boy-band, Dara O'Laoire is dancing freelance in Britain and Karen Williams, last year's winner, is touring with Cats.

"Karen was very strong in her ballet dancing, so I'm surprised she's working in Cats", says Louw, echoing sentiments expressed when Michael Keegan-Dolan took a similar path. He has emerged as a successful choreographer and is about to move back to Ireland, so perhaps it will be much later when the real benefits of this award will be felt.