I think it depends on what level and type of "competitive" they're talking about in the article. When my daughter was in dance, they had a show every 2-3 months and the costumes for each show were $100, plus the dance lesson costs, travel costs (hotel, flights, etc in some cases). No problem for us, but there were other parents who really struggled and it didn't surprise me that it was unaffordable for a lot of people, but it did surprise me that they did it anyway.