Latest / Making The Impact - A Dance Competition Podcast / Music at Competition

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Music at Competition · Making The Impact - A Dance Competition Podcast

• 0:46
  SPEAKER_03: Hi everyone, this is Courtney Orthease, the host of Making the Impact a Dance Competition Podcast.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_03: And I'm here with my co-host, Leslie Mueller.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_03: Hi guys, I'm back.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_01: Technical difficulties are no longer.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_03: We missed you last week, Leslie.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_03: Oh my gosh.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_01: I know.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_01: I'm excited to be back though and chat about a really cool topic this week.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, we are super excited to be here with two fabulous IDA judges who you may remember from season one.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_03: But before we introduce them, we just want to kick things off with season two and say how excited we are.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_03: We have some really fantastic topics coming your way, as you probably heard in our first two episodes of the season that launched last week.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_03: But just to give you an idea, we have roundtable discussions like last season.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_03: We have new spotlight feature episodes where we're going to be interviewing people and different dancers.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_03: Maybe they're choreographers in the industry, maybe they're professional dancers that used to be competitive dancers, or maybe they're current competitive dancers that are having a really successful career so far.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_03: So we're excited about our new spotlight feature episodes.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_03: We have some great interviews coming your way very soon.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_03: And as well as last season, we're doing our QA with Courtney again, but this time we're gonna take it live.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_03: So that way you can interact with us and ask us questions live on the air.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_03: So we'll be going live on Facebook every other month.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_03: So make sure if you have a question, either tune in to our live broadcast on Facebook Live, then stay tuned for dates, or send us a question on our website and we'll answer it on the air.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_01: We are also relaunching our judges critique service.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_01: So, Courtney, if you want to kind of re-give that information back out to folks if they don't know what that is.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, so coming your way very soon, we are launching our online judges critique service, which has been active for the past few years, and pretty much how it works is you can record your video of a dance, whether it's in studio or from a previous competition or performance, send it our way, and one of our judges will critique your dance for you at any time throughout the year.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_03: So that's what's really cool about it.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_03: You don't have to enter into a specific virtual event, and that's the only time you could get a critique.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_03: You can get a critique from a judge at any point in time that you would like.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_03: So if you have an upcoming performance coming up where you want to get a little bit of feedback, or if you have your first competition of the season coming up, send your video to us and you even have the option now with our new relaunch to select a genre-specific judge.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_03: So you can pick a judge that specializes in your submitted genre and they will give you all the feedback in the world to help take your performance to the next level.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_03: So it's a really, really great service.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_03: It's been a huge hit the past few years.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_03: So if you want to learn more, head over to our website at Impact Dance Adjudicators.com/slash online critiques to learn more about the service.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_03: All right, so we are jumping right into this episode because today we are talking about music at competition.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_03: And this is obviously an extremely hot topic.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_03: So much music to discuss today.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_03: I'm very excited to have two fabulous IDA judges, and like I mentioned before, you might remember them from episodes in season one.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_03: So our very first guest is Jessica Olinick, and she was from episode seven, Age Range Expectations.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_03: Hi, Jessica.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, how are you?
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much for having me today.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_03: Of course.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_03: I'm so excited to have you back on the podcast and here for this great topic.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_03: So please feel free to share with the podcast world a little bit about you and who you are and what you're up to.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_00: So I um am from Concordville, Pennsylvania.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_00: It's right near Lancaster.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_00: I am a regional and national judge, and I have been had the honor of actually judging currently during the pandemic, and I'm so proud to see all of the studios rally together and the competitions and really push through this time.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_00: It's been amazing.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_00: I'm a choreographer, a dance instructor, a costume designer, and I'm a mother, and I've been married for 14 years.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_00: So thanks again for having me today.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_03: And our next guest that is joining us today is Miss Jen Garafa, who was from episode 20 on season one, Pushing Past Performance Anxiety.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_03: Hey, Jen.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_03: Hey, thanks for having me back.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_03: Feel free to share with some of our new listeners who maybe didn't get to hear your beautiful voice last season who you are, where you're from, what you're up to.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_02: Hey, all right.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_02: I am Jen Garafa, and I'm from Orlando, Florida.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_02: I am a performer.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_02: So I'm performing at Walt Disney World.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_02: Not right now because I'm furloughed, but I perform at Walt Disney World.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_02: So we are just waiting for the you get to come back home phone calls.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_02: So in the meantime, I'm teaching all the teaching muscles.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_02: I'm teaching at two different studios, running a competition team, running a tap dance program at another one, and found time during all this downtime to start the Orlando Tap Dance Collective.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_02: So we now have a huge tap scene in Orlando.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_02: We kind of started it and thought a couple people might want to tap dance, and we've got 85 collective members now just here.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah, it like took off, and I am using the time to try to finish up grad school at the University of Denver in arts and culture management.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_02: So dancing a lot and keeping busy and and doing the thing down here.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_03: You go, girl, you're busy.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_03: I love it.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_03: You're doing all the things.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_03: Gotta do something.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_01: Awesome.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_01: Well, ladies, we have these are some boss babes on this podcast today.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_01: So we're so happy to have you here.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_01: And thank you for taking time out of your very clearly busy schedule uh with costume designing and choreography and judging and all the things.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_01: So we are excited to talk about this topic today because it just it comes up constantly in the competitive world is music, music, music.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_01: And it came up back in 2018 when we released a blog on the topic, specifically on the do's and don'ts of competition music.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_01: So if you want to head back and check that out, it's at Impact Dance Adjudicators.comslash blog, and you can check it out there.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_01: And, you know, like I said, it this topic is just so pervasive because so much of what we do at competition has to do with music.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_01: You don't have to dance to music, but you know, music is an integral part to a lot of people's dance experience.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_01: And because competitive dance has become so popular and with the say you think you can dance and the world of dance and everything that we're exposed to now, you know, we do have this sort of inside look as to what is popular.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_01: And then, but that turns into what is incredibly annoying to the people who have to watch it every weekend.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_01: So it's just kind of funny to to think of, you know, years after years after years of this, you know, every year somebody has had this complaint since the dawn of competition dance of like, oh, we heard that song again.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_01: And so I'm just really interested to hear about these teachers' experiences with guys.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_01: What do you think?
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_01: Like, what's your stereotypical dance competition song?
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_01: What are the parts of it that you can think of?
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_02: Mine is if I have heard it in the airport or on the airplane on the way there, like on a radio station, and then I get there and I'm like, oh, I can't wait.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_02: We're gonna see some great kids.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_02: And then on comes like Megan Trainer.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_02: And I love Megan Trainer, but I'm not trying to sit there and watch more Megan Trainer than I already heard on the way there, right?
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_02: So, like for me, it's if I turn on my car radio and that song is on as a teacher, I won't touch it.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_02: I'll just put it on a playlist, save it for another time.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah, we get those, and it's they just constant because we all love it, right?
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_02: We all love to hear it.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah, that's fine if I hear it on the radio and then I hear it all weekend.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think like those kinds of songs are great for the classroom for the month, and then they don't need to kind of go back on the stage, you know, let them use it in the classroom for sure.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I agree.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_03: I s I say the same thing.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_03: I'm trying to think of like I say this all the time, and I think I've said it on my podcast before as as far as like stereotypical dance competition songs.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_03: It's so weird to me that we know what those are.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_03: If you hear a song when you're out or on the radio or or if you're shopping at the mall and you're like, oh god, I hear this song a competition all the time.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_03: But like, why is that song a competition song?
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_03: What what makes it turn into a song that's used on the regular at dance competitions?
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_03: It's so interesting to me that there's like a whole like a genre of there should be a playlist called dance competition songs on Spotify or Apple Music because that's literally what it is.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_03: And like some of the ones that I I feel like that musical theater songs are just like there's so many musical theater songs that are just like stereotypical competition song when there's so many other musical theater songs out there in the world that we could be using.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_03: It's just kind of interesting how they kind of fall into that pocket of choices that that teachers always kind of gravitate towards, you know.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_02: I think as a teacher, it's so easy to see somebody musical theater, for example, right?
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_02: Like somebody does the song at a competition.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_02: You're like, that was great.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_02: I want to do that.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_02: My this kid would look great doing that song, right?
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_02: And instead of going and listening and familiarizing yourself with the show and like where the song sits and listening to the album, it's easier to just pull that song.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_02: It's like when I'll see a 14-year-old wear like ripped mom jeans, and I'm like, those are so cute.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_02: I can wear those.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_02: I should actually go to that store first and look at all the jeans and find the pair that fits me because the 14-year-old's jeans are not gonna look that cute on me, right?
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_02: Like it's that same, like you love that song, so go listen to the album because there's probably more of that on that album that aren't that same song.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_00: Like choose a different song.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_00: Like if you love that song, go shop a little bit more, go look what's like something similar to that, or something that I can even highlight more that I've already seen the song 10 times today at competition.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I probably shouldn't use this, you know.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_01: And that's, you know, it comes down to, you know, if I have seen it 10 times, I probably don't remember anything about at least nine of them, except for the fact that you use that song.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_01: And that's what always kind of breaks my heart sometimes with, you know, you you see these really talented kids on stage, but they've been given, or they've, you know, weasel their way into choosing it themselves, the one song, but everybody else has that same song.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, you know, I just it was fine, but nothing stood out because nothing was unique about it, because it was like you guys are saying, you didn't go shopping past the one thing that you saw that one time that you just had to have.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_01: And that's such a great analogy, Jen.
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_01: I love that.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_03: I think what's so interesting about this, you know, we kind of started this off with kind of talking about musical theater songs in in specific, which I'm sure we can talk about more.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_03: But that advice that you gave about shopping around can be applied to every style of music.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_03: You know, we can be inspired by one another.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_03: And when we go to competitions, see a dance that we loved, or you just are jamming to this song and you're like, wow, I've never heard this before, I really love it.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_03: That doesn't mean that you grab that song and pluck it out and use it next season.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_03: That means you be inspired by that, like we said.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_03: So feel free to dive through that artist's like whole disography of different music that you can choose from.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_03: I think that that's where we need to go further with it because sometimes, and this may sound I don't mean to come across rude, but sometimes I feel like that when we just hear those one, those single songs from the same artist plucked out.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_03: To me, it kind of comes across as lazy on the choreographer, the teacher's job, because they just didn't do the research to find another song that's similar, if that's the vibe they were trying to go for.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_00: You know, there's plenty in the catalog just have to like go through their playlists.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_00: And YouTube is a great way to do a search through for music.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_00: When you go to that artist, you look up that song, and then all other songs related to that music comes up.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_00: So it's it's very easy.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_00: You just have to do the work.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I think even when you go on that, like I use Spotify for all of my things, but you don't get your music, right?
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_02: So if you can hit, I've had dancers who are like, I will only dance to this person for my solo.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_02: I'm like, that's great.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_02: Like, I'm not gonna choreograph that for you, but I'm happy for you.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_02: Not gonna do it.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_02: But it you can also like Spotify Acoustic Sessions, find that song by someone else in a different genre.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_02: And yeah, you can't download it, but you can voice record it in your car, and then you've got that track, and then you can use that for your dancer, and it's the song they like, but it's different for your judges who are like, I'm sorry, are we singing Simply the Best by James Bay?
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_02: That's amazing.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_02: The cover's amazing, right?
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_02: So why aren't we using that?
• 13:19
  SPEAKER_02: Right, yeah, you have to be sneaky.
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I tend to like when I do search, like if I go on YouTube, I'll type up the song and then look up acoustic or cover or a cappella, and that you'll find so many more varieties of it that you could possibly use.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and also to tap into that musical theater, I in my class last week, I actually was talking to my kids about Amazing Maisie.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_00: I choreographed the show.
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_00: So I know the scene, I know all about it, and I was able to actually give them an understanding of what that scene was about.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_00: Whereas when I see it sometimes a competition, it's nowhere related to the scene in the show.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_00: So as a choreographer that knows do your research, like Jen said, know what you're actually dancing about.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_03: 100%.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_03: I love a good musical theater talk, and we could talk about it all day.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_03: And I think that is extremely important to it specifically for musical theater, and it can absolutely be applied to other genres, but kind of knowing the story or developing your version of the story if it is like a lyrical routine or a contemporary routine, you know, looking at the lyrics I think is a helpful thing when we're working on choreography and selecting songs because and we can kind of start diving in in this direction now, but like I would kind of recommend to look at the lyrics of your music before you decide this is the song that I want.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_03: Not even kind of like do it.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_03: You you have to.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_03: Unfortunately, you have to.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_03: Because uh you might have heard that song at the competition and you might not have caught what the context of the lyrics are actually saying, or maybe that person did a really good job, that that studio did a really good job at editing it in the right way, and you have to make sure that you do that same thing, or you can't you can't use the song because we have to remember that it is a children's dance competition that we are participating in, so we have to make sure the the context of the lyrics and what is being said in the song is appropriate for that Asian-level dancer.
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_01: Or even insinuated.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_01: Like it doesn't even matter to me if like the actual wording is appropriate, but if the insinuation of something is still there, it's like, you know, we there's so many nuanced things with language and music and movement that are all intersected.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_01: And so even if the words aren't this is a dirty sentence, if what's behind it is that, you know, you have to be aware of that as well, which is where I think people get really tripped up and maybe a little sensitive about it.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_01: But I'm definitely one of those judges who who listens to the words, looks at the content, and like creates, you know, I I guess maybe that's my fault.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_01: I'm creating a story that maybe you didn't intend for that story to be there.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_01: But like if the music is telling that story and you didn't do much about it, you know, then we're in for a little bit of a problem.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_02: I think you also have to look at psychologically, that child is listening to that song hundreds of times in that season.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_02: So I often like will have to think for my own students, because there's just music that I love and they you guys, I mean, you guys know they want to dance to Billie Eilish, they want to dance to like these people who are very popular, but you can only do so much with what you hear on repeat.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_02: So if they're hearing something on repeat and they're 10, that like that's formative.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_02: And that becomes, I mean, we did an experiment, I know at our studio maybe two or three years ago, and we only used like positive message music, which first of all, that was a hard task to fulfill.
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_02: But by the end of the season, those kids were different kids.
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_02: The year before we had done a dance about bullying and they were like depressed.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_02: And then by the end of the next season, they were completely changed.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_02: So we have to pay attention to the fact that most of these kids, I don't know about where everybody is, but here in Florida, they're going to school online, they're staring at a screen all day, and they're listening to whatever we pump in their head at night.
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_02: So we have to just be very cognizant of that.
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_00: That is that is such a great point.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, as a parent and a dance mom too, like I know my daughter, she's five years old, and she repeats everything she says.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_00: So I would be hearing it at home and I'd be like, why are you saying that?
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_00: So it you're you're influencing a bigger audience than you think when you're putting music up on the stage for young dancers, especially that don't even know what anything is about and they're repeating it.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_00: I just think it's let them be the rage.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_00: Let them be the rage and let them dance their age.
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_00: They're gonna be able to be older when they get older.
• 17:51
  SPEAKER_00: You know, that's my that's my opinion.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_02: So that's how I feel about like young, like juniors and minis doing songs about like love relationships.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_02: Like dance about your brothers and your sisters and your parents and your family and like loving life and over the rainbow.
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_02: Not that I want to hear somewhere over the rainbow anymore than I already have, but like let's pick that over like your first kiss song.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_02: Like, that's not at an age where they're gonna experience that and we shouldn't be pushing them to experience life before they're ready.
• 18:25
  SPEAKER_01: I saw like a five-year-old lyrical dance once to She's Always a Woman to Me by um Billy Joel.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_01: I and I and I felt terrible because this was in my younger judging days where I was like, these days I probably would like make a comment about it and then continue on with everything else, but I I could not stop.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_01: It just overcame me because I was like, she's five.
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_01: This whole song is about womanhood and she's five and she's five.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_01: She's a beautiful dancer.
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_01: But it was just, it was like one of those things that it was like, I really wanted to get into that teacher's head and understand what she even wanted from that child because that child doesn't understand what it means to be a woman.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_01: She understands what it means to go play with Barbies or Legos or Trucks or, you know, whatever.
• 19:06
  SPEAKER_01: And it was just those kind of things confuse me so much.
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_01: So I I like Jen what you were saying about like for those minis, you know, like, yes, somewhere over the rainbow, and then go down that rabbit hole of somewhere over the rainbow.
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_01: And what else did Judy Garland sing that might have been appropriate for, you know, a child or songs that could be related about rel rainbows or colors.
• 19:27
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_00: Very, you know, like that.
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_00: There is there's a whole big catalog again that you could but yeah, I totally agree.
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_00: Like I actually saw a woman dance to with a young d dancer recently, and I was like, I just don't I can't see past.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_00: I don't see how we're related.
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_00: Um I don't see how I can relate this to the the music with them.
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_00: So it also doesn't connect for me.
• 19:51
  SPEAKER_00: And I just like I said, I would like to see the dancers stay in their age group and dancing to music that's of their age so they can be related to it more.
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_00: You know, falling in love with you by Elvis Presley, all the covers with a junior.
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_00: I just I listen to it, it's a beautiful song, but I can't put that on a junior or a mini for sure.
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_02: And I think we get caught up in that respect of like, well, this was her grandfather's favorite song.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_04: Right.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_02: And that is wonderful.
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_02: And I appreciate the sentiment.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_02: But as a choreographer and as a teacher, you have to remember that the judge doesn't get that story.
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_02: We get three minutes on stage, this is the song, this is the dance.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_02: So unless you're like walking out with a tribute to grandpa, which they're five, so they're not gonna be able to pull that off.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_02: That's a whole nother conversation.
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_02: We don't know.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_02: We just see a child experiencing a lyric that they're not prepared for.
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I I completely agree.
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_03: I think there's there's so many things to be said about what's really appropriate for the younger age division.
• 20:50
  SPEAKER_03: And I think that the hard part about it, especially for teachers, and I'm sure everyone can agree with this, is that in kind of like what you said earlier, Jen, about finding like songs that are very uplifting and happy and positive, the same applies in the sense of finding age-appropriate music for the younger kids.
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_03: There's there's only really so much that you can use, or at least what you know of and gravitate towards.
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_03: And I think the reason that this is part of the reason why we see so frequently on the dance forums online that, hey, I need a music suggestion.
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_03: Hey, do you have a recommendation for an eight-year-old lyrical dance?
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_03: You know, because most lyrical mov uh music, not all of it, but a lot of lyrical music is very heartfelt.
• 21:33
  SPEAKER_03: It's very, you know, life experience music.
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_03: And there's not a lot that's geared towards a young seven year old dancer who, you know, like you said, Leslie, plays with toys and and Barbies and just goes to dance and love and things like that.
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_03: You know, we need to I I it's hard once you find those songs, then you're like, okay, I gotta use them.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_03: And then they become tired every year.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_03: Exactly.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_03: Because like, you know, if you have twenty you until Under 12-year-old dancers that have solos.
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_03: That's 20 songs that you have to find that feel appropriate for that age.
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_03: And then next year's another year.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_03: Next year's another year.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, there's only really so many that we can pull, but I think that the advice that we're kind of trying to find is it's okay to use covers and it's okay to branch out from those songs and be inspired by those songs and then continue to continue to look because it is hard to be unique and innovative in that age range, but make it appropriate at the same time.
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_00: Well, you think like Over the Rainbow, for instance, but there's other things that are in the movie Wizard of Oz, right?
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_00: You could do The Emerald City and everybody could you could look up songs related to that, or it's just a broader spectrum, especially for the young, like with like you said, with the younger guys, just really do your research and see like maybe what are you feeling this year?
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_00: What are you like?
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_00: What what where where are you at in your life?
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_00: Like as a young child, you know, ask them like what's your favorite thing to do?
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe there's a song about bicycles that could they could find on, you know, by just doing research.
• 23:03
  SPEAKER_00: I know that they would and they have to relate to it.
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_00: In order for them to love it, in order for them to do their absolute best on stage, they have to love it.
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_00: They have to want to dance to it.
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_00: You know, if the girl right before them has the same costume and the same song, they're not going to feel really confident about themselves.
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_02: I think also there's an aspect of a like therapeutic lyrical piece, right?
• 23:27
  SPEAKER_02: So I'll always sit with my soloist specifically at the end of the year and say, okay, what are we into this year?
• 23:33
  SPEAKER_02: How do we want to feel when we dance?
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_02: How do we, what are you?
• 23:36
  SPEAKER_02: Do you want something a little more heavy if they're old enough to handle that?
• 23:40
  SPEAKER_02: Or what's going on at school?
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_02: And, you know, if they're dealing with bullying, if they're dealing with other stuff, first I'll ask if they're talking to someone.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_02: So like if they have a therapist, and then I'll ask, you know, what have you talked about?
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_02: Them like, is dance helpful for you in overcoming this situation?
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_02: So can we dance about, like, can we pull up someone your age?
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_02: So let's think like 11, 12, 10, 11, 12.
• 24:06
  SPEAKER_02: You've got Grace Vanderwahl, you've got old Sabrina Carpenter, you've got Kiki Palmer, you've got all of these people who are in the television shows that they watch, dropping albums like crazy.
• 24:17
  SPEAKER_02: Go to those albums because those kids are singing about the things that these kids are going through.
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_02: So let's like give your older kids, if they're in their feelings with Billie Eilish, like, I'm happy for you, do your thing.
• 24:29
  SPEAKER_02: But give your little ones like find some Grace Vanderwall.
• 24:33
  SPEAKER_02: She's got great stuff out there.
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_02: I love it.
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_02: And like let them live in that moment and find the thing that will help them.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_02: Like, we did like a three solo series with a girl over three years that she was being bullied.
• 24:45
  SPEAKER_02: So we overcame it.
• 24:46
  SPEAKER_02: And then we had like a girl power, I'm here for it solo.
• 24:49
  SPEAKER_02: And then a like super, like she we worked with her therapist and built her like a string of solos to get through that.
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_02: And it was so fun.
• 24:57
  SPEAKER_02: Like, and it kept her really connected to us as teachers and able to talk about her issues.
• 25:03
  SPEAKER_02: And like there, we have so much power, I think, as dance teachers to work them through, even if it's not a positive happy bump in solo, like a bebop.
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_02: It doesn't have to be.
• 25:13
  SPEAKER_02: Like, did your parents get divorced this year?
• 25:15
  SPEAKER_02: Let's talk about it.
• 25:16
  SPEAKER_02: I think normalizing their feelings is still okay.
• 25:19
  SPEAKER_02: It just has to be age appropriate.
• 25:21
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 25:21
  SPEAKER_00: And dance is therapy, and and that's what art is, you know, like if you're going through something, get it out on stage.
• 25:27
  SPEAKER_00: You're gonna really, you're gonna, you're gonna feel it.
• 25:29
  SPEAKER_00: The audience is gonna feel it, and it's gonna feel real for you.
• 25:32
  SPEAKER_00: The judges will feed off of that energy because it's coming directly from your heart, and so will the audience, and that's what it's all about, you know, sharing, sharing what you've been through in your life.
• 25:43
  SPEAKER_00: And I think some of the best pieces I've choreographed are the things that I've literally experienced and just put on my my my dance for sure.
• 25:51
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 25:51
  SPEAKER_01: So we've gone kind of into the more like what are the appropriate maybe emotional aspects of bringing maybe too mature things to the stage versus like staying within your age and your experience level.
• 26:03
  SPEAKER_01: But let's talk a little bit more about more of like the jazz, the musical theater, like how do we navigate as dance teachers and dance educators, preparing some of our students who may go to Las Vegas to dance or who may end up in a career in a music video or on tour with an artist where they will be expected to dance in more provocative ways because that is what that artist does.
• 26:28
  SPEAKER_01: How do we bridge that balance of allowing them to express their maturity at 17, 18 years old in order to prepare them for what lies ahead and keeping them safe, keeping them, you know, in a safer environment until we release them to the wild?
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_01: Because like there has to be a balance, you know?
• 26:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I think like, first of all, it's in the classroom.
• 26:50
  SPEAKER_00: You're they're separated by age, doesn't have to necessarily be on stage.
• 26:54
  SPEAKER_00: Bring in guest teachers that kind of uh have that experience and that can share some choreography and background to them.
• 27:01
  SPEAKER_00: You know, heels classes are so much fun, they're so empowering, and they also kind of like help them kind of bring that sassiness for older girls.
• 27:10
  SPEAKER_00: They can, you know, end actually like just working on heels is much different than a jet.
• 27:16
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, just just being able to study and I think it's it's taking class and learning from that and offering it at your school.
• 27:25
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I do like a for my older girls, I do like between Thanksgiving and Christmas, I do four classes.
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_00: And basically it's like a palm class, it's a heels class, it's a like a musical, not a musical theater class, and then also kind of like a a video class.
• 27:42
  SPEAKER_00: And every single week we dive into something a little bit different for them, just the older girls, and they kind of see what avenue they like.
• 27:49
  SPEAKER_00: Um, give them a little taste of something that they're not used to having.
• 27:53
  SPEAKER_00: And some will say, Oh, I really love that palm class.
• 27:56
  SPEAKER_00: I want to be on dance team in college.
• 27:57
  SPEAKER_00: I love heels.
• 27:59
  SPEAKER_00: I'm going to LA.
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_00: I love musical theater.
• 28:01
  SPEAKER_00: I want to go to Broadway, you know.
• 28:03
  SPEAKER_00: So, and we do like a Hubbard Street kind of jazz class where they're learning more of a contemporary, cool jazz combo.
• 28:10
  SPEAKER_00: It's just offering that and letting opening them up their eyes a little bit.
• 28:14
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't have to be on stage because once again, you're making them look a little bit different than they they absolutely shouldn't, they shouldn't have to look like that on stage.
• 28:23
  SPEAKER_02: I love that.
• 28:24
  SPEAKER_02: I my theory with heels class when they come in, they come in, you know, they're a little too young for it.
• 28:29
  SPEAKER_02: Like, I want to take heels class, is I'll always say, when you're old enough to be sold for a goat in a third world country, you can take a heels class.
• 28:36
  SPEAKER_02: That's how I feel about that.
• 28:37
  SPEAKER_02: My friend Ariel said that one time, and I was like, that's brilliant, right?
• 28:41
  SPEAKER_02: So when you get to a certain age, then that is an option for you.
• 28:45
  SPEAKER_02: But that is not an option for you, maybe right now.
• 28:47
  SPEAKER_02: But what is an option for you is to get a good pair of heels and let's start learning fossy.
• 28:53
  SPEAKER_02: Let's start learning basics and learn how to walk in heels and turn in heels.
• 28:59
  SPEAKER_02: And I mean, if you for them, I teach at one studio that's very conservative and one studio that is not like both directions.
• 29:07
  SPEAKER_02: Not that they're not conservative, but one that is very like, huh, one piece is all the time.
• 29:12
  SPEAKER_02: And there's so much value in that.
• 29:14
  SPEAKER_02: And there is value in being able to put on a black leotard and a black pair of fishnets and learn all that jazz and why it was important and why it's still important and how it can inform them to allow them to grow out of it.
• 29:26
  SPEAKER_02: There maybe is not as much value in all that jazz on an eight-year-old, right?
• 29:30
  SPEAKER_02: So that's where we have to kind of play that line.
• 29:33
  SPEAKER_02: But I think you can find ways to nurture those dancers without overdoing it on a stage for sure, whether it's in class or giving them traditional content.
• 29:44
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, once you get through that repertoire of fossa, you get all that jazz, you get crunchy granola, you get these things that can absolutely inform their movement quality as they get into a more older teen adult heels LA, like go for it situation.
• 30:02
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 30:02
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's fun for me.
• 30:03
  SPEAKER_00: I get to dust my heels off every now and then and, you know, dance too in class.
• 30:08
  SPEAKER_00: It's like when they're trying something new and they that they look forward to it, you know.
• 30:13
  SPEAKER_00: It's challenging for the students and the teachers.
• 30:15
  SPEAKER_00: And if teachers, if you're not being challenged in class, you're not working hard enough.
• 30:19
  SPEAKER_00: Because if you're just gonna do the middle of the road, same thing every single week, then your dancers are never gonna grow.
• 30:25
  SPEAKER_00: So try to challenge yourself every single week and them, and they're gonna come in on their toes.
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_00: They want to know what's coming next.
• 30:31
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I think too, like when we talk about competition and music and this style, if you have a junior who's really strong, who's giving you a musical theater solo that would normally be performed in heels, it doesn't have to be provocative.
• 30:46
  SPEAKER_02: Give them Elle Woods and give them little heels and let them start to learn and develop that strength.
• 30:52
  SPEAKER_02: And they're gonna come in the next year and be like, I want heels again.
• 30:55
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, great.
• 30:56
  SPEAKER_02: So let's go to where can we take you in heels?
• 31:00
  SPEAKER_02: Let's give you a Golinda solo.
• 31:03
  SPEAKER_02: She would wear heels.
• 31:04
  SPEAKER_02: We can do that without taking it to a place that they're not ready for.
• 31:09
  SPEAKER_02: They can still learn this skill.
• 31:10
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 31:11
  SPEAKER_00: And seek your sources.
• 31:12
  SPEAKER_00: So, like, for instance, Courtney does a lot of musical theater.
• 31:15
  SPEAKER_00: I could be like, hey, Court, what are some of the roles on in on Broadway that you would suggest that are great for heels for a little girl, like or a different age?
• 31:24
  SPEAKER_00: Like reach out to the people that are in your community that can help you just with those ideas too.
• 31:30
  SPEAKER_03: Absolutely.
• 31:31
  SPEAKER_03: I think I think all of all of this advice is is so important.
• 31:34
  SPEAKER_03: And sometimes, like, just like what you said, Jess, just about reaching out.
• 31:38
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, the dance world is very small, but we we also have so many different networks and you know, community of friends that we've encountered in our dance life outside of our studio that sometimes we can absolutely just reach out and ask questions, you know.
• 31:55
  SPEAKER_03: Even if you're listening right now and you're a teacher and you are prepping for the season listening and trying to figure out music and maybe we're helping inspire you.
• 32:02
  SPEAKER_03: But, you know, I bet you every teacher out there probably knows a judge that judges on the judging circuit.
• 32:10
  SPEAKER_03: Reach out to them and say, Hey, do you think that this song is too overused?
• 32:13
  SPEAKER_03: Have you heard this song a bunch at competition?
• 32:15
  SPEAKER_03: I haven't heard it much, but have you heard it?
• 32:18
  SPEAKER_03: Because I know you judge a lot.
• 32:20
  SPEAKER_03: My best friend who owns the studio actually just asked me about that.
• 32:23
  SPEAKER_03: She's like, Do you think that this song's gonna be really overused this year?
• 32:26
  SPEAKER_03: And it was from Frozen 2.
• 32:27
  SPEAKER_03: And I was like, maybe, but she's like, But it's a six-year-old like duo.
• 32:33
  SPEAKER_03: Is that okay?
• 32:33
  SPEAKER_03: And I'm like, yeah, it's fine.
• 32:34
  SPEAKER_03: Like, don't stress about it, you know?
• 32:36
  SPEAKER_03: And like again, it's hard to find songs for young kids, but like, don't be afraid to use those those resources because I know that I've heard a certain number of songs that I don't want to hear anymore, like we're talking about today.
• 32:49
  SPEAKER_03: But maybe you as a teacher just heard it that one time a competition and you're and you want to use it again, but you also don't want the judges to be sick of it.
• 32:57
  SPEAKER_03: So I think, you know, and and that applies for music and also applies for, like you were saying, Jess, just about doing research about different things, you know.
• 33:04
  SPEAKER_03: If you know, if you're gonna use a song from a musical and you know somebody that has done that show, that you can get a little bit more insight as to what the storyline is or is the song appropriate, ask questions.
• 33:15
  SPEAKER_03: It's totally, totally there for you.
• 33:17
  SPEAKER_03: Leslie, what a question for you.
• 33:21
  SPEAKER_03: So going backwards to what you mentioned, Leslie, before about you know, kind of bringing that maturity to the stage and like mature song styles and movement.
• 33:31
  SPEAKER_03: And I love what all of you said.
• 33:32
  SPEAKER_03: So I I kind of want to go back to that question because I feel like that this is we're we're in the what's what's too mature or what isn't quite mature enough almost.
• 33:41
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, we talked about that a little bit, but regarding like specifically 17 or 18-year-olds at competition and their music style and and choice of movement, I'm okay with seeing things a little more mature.
• 33:55
  SPEAKER_03: They're practically adults, they're they're you know, about to branch off into that professional world.
• 34:00
  SPEAKER_03: So if they are at that specific age and they're doing things that are a little bit like risque or, you know, even like music of video style, I'm okay with it.
• 34:09
  SPEAKER_03: Now, the thing that gets a little bit tricky is when we we drop a little bit lower into those age divisions.
• 34:15
  SPEAKER_03: Below that is when I get a little like I could feel uncomfortable.
• 34:19
  SPEAKER_03: And I think that we as teachers just need to know wha what limit what boundaries we can push and and what feels okay.
• 34:27
  SPEAKER_03: Of course, especially like all dancers, male and female dancers on the stage are gonna want to feel powerful and mature and fabulous going, you know, in their teen years, like we're trying to, you know, we want to feel that.
• 34:39
  SPEAKER_03: We want to feel empowering on stage and confident.
• 34:42
  SPEAKER_03: And as long as the dancers are feeling okay with it, I think that's great.
• 34:45
  SPEAKER_03: But I think that as far as movement style and maybe like types of songs, we have to kind of wait until they're they're in that 17, 18-year-old division, which unfortunately we don't see tons of dancers in that division at competition.
• 34:59
  SPEAKER_03: A lot of kids live into the teen, maybe 16, but 17, 18, you know, it's it some kids might be like, I'm done with comp by that point, and they're focusing on what's next for them.
• 35:09
  SPEAKER_03: Or some maybe have said, I don't really want to dance anymore.
• 35:12
  SPEAKER_03: This isn't really worth it.
• 35:13
  SPEAKER_03: You know, whatever the reason is.
• 35:15
  SPEAKER_03: But I think as far as like mature maturity, it's kind of a fine line for that.
• 35:20
  SPEAKER_02: I feel like when you hit that like almost 15 and up is when as a judge, I'm going, where do you want to work?
• 35:28
  SPEAKER_02: Are you going, like, what direction are we taking you?
• 35:31
  SPEAKER_02: Are you going into like modern company?
• 35:33
  SPEAKER_02: I feel like for that age, like older teens, senior solos, I want to see what your goals are and what you're doing to get there.
• 35:40
  SPEAKER_02: So if you're going music video LA, this is your time to show us that that's where you're headed.
• 35:45
  SPEAKER_02: And that drive and motivation is never gonna make a judge feel uncomfortable.
• 35:49
  SPEAKER_02: We're gonna be there like, yes, get it.
• 35:51
  SPEAKER_02: Oh my gosh, you're amazing, right?
• 35:53
  SPEAKER_02: So it's when we're pushing them, I think, beyond their developmental capacity that it becomes a little bit of an issue.
• 36:02
  SPEAKER_02: But when they're there and like, I mean, at 16, you can work.
• 36:06
  SPEAKER_02: So show us that you can work.
• 36:09
  SPEAKER_01: I think it's really you just brought up a great point that I wanted to also reiterate that, you know, it's really up to the teacher.
• 36:15
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I'm primarily maybe speaking more to solos, but if you have a 15-year-old who is not a mature 15-year-old and doesn't move like a mature 15-year-old and isn't grounded in her body and grounded in her movement and her sense of self.
• 36:31
  SPEAKER_01: I keep saying her, him, could be anybody, that that dancer is not ready to take on some of that more music video style, you know.
• 36:40
  SPEAKER_01: We've all seen those dancers who seem to have just been put on.
• 36:44
  SPEAKER_01: They said, This is your dance, move like this.
• 36:46
  SPEAKER_01: And that it doesn't embody them.
• 36:48
  SPEAKER_01: It doesn't make them feel confident.
• 36:50
  SPEAKER_01: And you can just see it in the way that they move their body, that they're just this is not what I'm ready for.
• 36:55
  SPEAKER_01: And if that's what the music you've chosen influences you to move like, you know, you it has to match the dancer.
• 37:01
  SPEAKER_01: So I I do think that, yes, we have all seen 15, 16, 17-year-olds who are ready to move to LA immediately.
• 37:07
  SPEAKER_01: They move the right way, they understand the the line between sensual and sexual because there's a line, you have to tow the line.
• 37:14
  SPEAKER_01: You cannot cross that line because if you're that young, it's not okay.
• 37:17
  SPEAKER_01: So I think that like, you know, like we said, we are as dance educators, we are so influential to these kids because of what we're pumping into their heads every night of the week, you know.
• 37:26
  SPEAKER_01: So music-wise, movement-wise, body image-wise, empowerment-wise.
• 37:29
  SPEAKER_01: So we've we've got to really take that into consideration, I think, more even so these days than ever before.
• 37:34
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think like when you're when they're when they're dancing to like, you know, like like you said, sensual versus sexual music.
• 37:42
  SPEAKER_00: I think that it's the it's the expressions also that a judge is is are getting that make us uncomfortable.
• 37:50
  SPEAKER_00: It's the tone and how they set the the routine and how they're performing it.
• 37:54
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it it's everything like you said earlier, Leslie, it's kind of everything interlocks and makes it what it is.
• 38:01
  SPEAKER_00: But I just don't like an 11-year-old looking at me in a certain way.
• 38:06
  SPEAKER_00: I feel very uncomfortable or doing certain moves on the stage.
• 38:09
  SPEAKER_00: It's just not appropriate, bottom line.
• 38:12
  SPEAKER_00: I don't, I mean like taking off points.
• 38:14
  SPEAKER_00: I just don't think it's appropriate.
• 38:16
  SPEAKER_00: And I won't reward them for like the overall performance of it.
• 38:20
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I think we also run a line as teachers in helping them develop a healthy sense of self versus them feeling like there's shame.
• 38:31
  SPEAKER_02: So I think that's like that's a whole nother like discussion and conversation and like encouraging them to embrace their sense of self.
• 38:38
  SPEAKER_02: And like, I mean, hey, when I was 14, 13, 14, however old, I sure did have my Britney Spears album on, right?
• 38:46
  SPEAKER_02: So like there is a natural like build of exploration, and that is okay in the classroom, maybe not on a stage.
• 38:55
  SPEAKER_02: That's a good point, Jen.
• 38:56
  SPEAKER_03: And it it it definitely depends too, you know, like what you were saying, Leslie, before about, you know, kind of referencing like, you know, the the heels style or the commercial mature movement quality that a soloist may have that you're kind of you kind of mentioned, like maybe they weren't ready for that, and that's the teacher's mistake, or maybe the teacher was just trying to challenge them to prepare them because again, like like Jen mentioned, we also don't know the the child's backstory.
• 39:22
  SPEAKER_03: So maybe that child came to their teacher and said, I want to move to Los Angeles, and they were only 15.
• 39:27
  SPEAKER_03: So the teacher's like, all right, then I'll give you a mature, like sexy dance, and we're gonna see how you do.
• 39:33
  SPEAKER_03: And the dancer's just not ready for it, and maybe we're trying to push them.
• 39:36
  SPEAKER_03: I think that, you know, in in in situations like that where we're trying to guide them in the right direction, we still as teachers, like you said, Leslie, need to know what is appropriate for that dancer, specifically in solos.
• 39:48
  SPEAKER_03: And what I would recommend in that type of scenario would be to maybe let's do a group dance or a small group dance with the dancers who we feel are mature for this and and but try embodying this new style so we can prepare for it.
• 40:01
  SPEAKER_03: And maybe that dancer who wants to move to LA will get better at doing this group routine and this style and movement, and then next year we can explore the solo choice and see how they've adapted.
• 40:11
  SPEAKER_03: But I also, you know, it it with group routines and like appropriate music, I think that that it gets sticky too because we're all trying to like dance teachers definitely know how to cast routines properly.
• 40:22
  SPEAKER_03: We're we're picking which dancers we feel, you know, work together best.
• 40:26
  SPEAKER_03: I think also sometimes age range comes into play as we're casting dancers so we can put them into which age bracket we want that group to live.
• 40:34
  SPEAKER_03: But we have to remember that just because this is in a 16 and over dance, I I kind of I kind of want majority of those dancers to be in that age or we're going to be doing a mature context style song or movement.
• 40:49
  SPEAKER_03: You know, you might have like a 11, a fierce 11-year-old who like dances with the seniors, but then you're just kind of like, oh gosh, this is a little bit like too mature for that dancer in the group.
• 40:58
  SPEAKER_00: So they're so like the little little sister in the group.
• 41:02
  SPEAKER_00: You're like, wait, where why is that one there?
• 41:04
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 41:05
  SPEAKER_01: Could they not find anybody sitting there?
• 41:08
  SPEAKER_03: You know, it it's really it's really hard to kind of cater to everybody in in the groups.
• 41:14
  SPEAKER_03: We've kind of been talking about solos a lot in this discussion, but like groups definitely apply in like the the the music choices and the storylines and the concepts should apply to everyone in that group as well.
• 41:24
  SPEAKER_03: So that's another another way to look at it.
• 41:27
  SPEAKER_00: I could say this like when you're if you're gonna use an overplayed song, okay, and we all know them, and maybe Courtney or Leslie can share some more songs on that list or whatever.
• 41:37
  SPEAKER_00: Make it the most memorable, clear, awesome vision you could possibly do on stage.
• 41:45
  SPEAKER_00: Like I have seen dances, I'm like, oh boy, here it goes again.
• 41:49
  SPEAKER_00: The same song.
• 41:50
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, dang, I I never even knew.
• 41:53
  SPEAKER_00: Like it was just such a great, awesome like concept choreo.
• 41:58
  SPEAKER_00: They threw it, like, took it outside the box, and it was so inspiring.
• 42:02
  SPEAKER_00: And I was like, this is what I'm talking about.
• 42:04
  SPEAKER_00: If you're gonna use one of those songs, then have a clear vision, sit in the room for like an hour and listen to it over and over again, find something in that song that like it puts you in a different scene that can, you know, really inspire the audience, you know.
• 42:19
  SPEAKER_02: I love and hate those dances because they ruin everything for me.
• 42:23
  SPEAKER_02: And then I can never touch that song because I always think about that dance, and I'm like, oh it's never gonna be that good.
• 42:29
  SPEAKER_02: Now I can't do it.
• 42:31
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I have so many like that.
• 42:32
  SPEAKER_02: The kids are like, I love this song.
• 42:34
  SPEAKER_02: I'm like, nope, can't do it.
• 42:35
  SPEAKER_02: Song done too good.
• 42:37
  SPEAKER_02: Sorry about it.
• 42:38
  SPEAKER_03: I think that's that's like an amazing compliment to that choreographer.
• 42:43
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, you know, that's what we want to do as choreographers and teachers.
• 42:47
  SPEAKER_03: We want people to remember that dance.
• 42:50
  SPEAKER_03: You should be able, as a choreographer, to pick any song in the world if it's overused or not.
• 42:55
  SPEAKER_03: And the goal is to make sure that we're making people remember it when the dance is over.
• 43:00
  SPEAKER_03: So I love I love that, Jen.
• 43:02
  SPEAKER_03: I think that's so true.
• 43:03
  SPEAKER_03: I can definitely think of specific songs that I also have a vivid memory of watching that dance and taking it in.
• 43:10
  SPEAKER_03: Like really so awesome.
• 43:12
  SPEAKER_03: Really?
• 43:14
  SPEAKER_02: Hey, yeah, I have a question for all of you because I know I have strong feelings about tap music.
• 43:18
  SPEAKER_02: And we haven't really touched tap music yet.
• 43:21
  SPEAKER_02: But we can talk about this all day.
• 43:22
  SPEAKER_02: Can we talk about it?
• 43:23
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 43:23
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 43:24
  SPEAKER_02: Um, not to like run, but how do we feel?
• 43:27
  SPEAKER_02: I have strong feelings, so I'll let you guys tell me about tap pieces that drum.
• 43:35
  SPEAKER_02: Like with drumsticks?
• 43:36
  SPEAKER_02: With drums and then.
• 43:38
  SPEAKER_01: The dancers have drums in them.
• 43:40
  SPEAKER_01: The dancers drum.
• 43:41
  SPEAKER_01: No, thank you.
• 43:43
  SPEAKER_02: As like a cappella, like an a cappella drum.
• 43:46
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, so I've seen them drum a cappella, like bucket drums or something, or like stomp style.
• 43:52
  SPEAKER_02: I've also seen them drum with music.
• 43:54
  SPEAKER_02: My thoughts are, and I've always been curious about other people, so this is just selfish.
• 43:59
  SPEAKER_02: My Thoughts are if you're not a drummer, you shouldn't be drumming.
• 44:02
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 44:03
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 44:03
  SPEAKER_02: Because I like I am a drummer, so I can tell that you are not a drummer.
• 44:07
  SPEAKER_02: So like, why are you drumming?
• 44:09
  SPEAKER_02: But I have so many teachers that come to me and they're like, we're gonna do this.
• 44:12
  SPEAKER_02: Great heast and we're gonna do bucket drums.
• 44:14
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm like, don't do the bucket drums.
• 44:17
  SPEAKER_03: Don't do it.
• 44:18
  SPEAKER_03: We've seen the bucket drums a million times.
• 44:22
  SPEAKER_01: When somebody's drumstick always goes flying and it's just it's not right.
• 44:26
  SPEAKER_01: When we try to do a little pass of the sticks or the bucket, and and everybody is concentrating for their life because they can they know how to tap dance, but these kids, like you said, they don't know how to drum.
• 44:38
  SPEAKER_01: I took drum lessons for maybe two months because I was like, oh, this is cool, this is fun.
• 44:42
  SPEAKER_01: I can have a new skill.
• 44:43
  SPEAKER_01: I'm I you know I'm a good tap dancer, I've got good rhythm, I could probably do this.
• 44:46
  SPEAKER_01: That's a whole nother muscle group, friends.
• 44:48
  SPEAKER_01: That is hard.
• 44:49
  SPEAKER_01: That muscle memory that we have as tap dancers is in our feet, you know.
• 44:53
  SPEAKER_01: Like we have that because we've done it for our whole lives.
• 44:55
  SPEAKER_01: Drummers have the same thing.
• 44:57
  SPEAKER_01: It took them just as long to learn as it took us to learn.
• 44:59
  SPEAKER_01: So, like, that was hard.
• 45:01
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 45:01
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's like a maybe a good musicality lesson in class with the drumsticks and stuff like that, because like you said, you are using your arms and your feet, and it's a good coordination exercise, um, but not necessarily like, you know, if unless it's like, whoa, like Broadway number, you know, or something like once again blowing it out out of the ballpark, then yeah, no.
• 45:23
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 45:24
  SPEAKER_02: I'm wondering like when tap dancers stopped dancing to classic music.
• 45:28
  SPEAKER_02: Like, when did we stop going to the Stevie Wonder song catalog for our tap music?
• 45:34
  SPEAKER_02: Because like lyrical tap, I call it Contempo Tap.
• 45:36
  SPEAKER_02: I'm choreographing it this year because my kids will tap to it.
• 45:39
  SPEAKER_02: Like they will sign up to that dance because it's contempo tap, and then we can do other things, you know, like garner the interest, politics, you know, you gotta do your thing.
• 45:47
  SPEAKER_02: But right, like when did we stop going to like the temptations and Stevie Wonder and like Earth Wind and Fire for these great bassy tap pieces that are just fun?
• 45:57
  SPEAKER_02: We're sitting at that table for 14 hours.
• 45:59
  SPEAKER_02: I get one tap dance.
• 46:01
  SPEAKER_02: I want it to be fun, right?
• 46:03
  SPEAKER_02: I'm up, I'm ready, I'm in my microphone.
• 46:05
  SPEAKER_02: Like, oh, we get one, and it's so cool.
• 46:09
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna sit back in my chair.
• 46:11
  SPEAKER_00: I've seen, I've definitely seen dances to see be wonder, you know, tap dances and all the songs you're talking about, and I really enjoy it.
• 46:18
  SPEAKER_00: So maybe it's just the area, maybe it's the region.
• 46:21
  SPEAKER_00: It could potentially be that.
• 46:23
  SPEAKER_00: I see great tap like in all different varieties of songs, um, really creative, you know, ideas too.
• 46:29
  SPEAKER_01: So I I'm not a clogger, but I follow some clogging groups on Facebook and Instagram just to kind of keep my brain fresh for when I have to judge clogging.
• 46:39
  SPEAKER_01: But what I noticed over like the years of being aware of clogging is that like when I was growing up, people clogged to traditional music, or they clogged like traditional Appalachian music, or they clogged to country music.
• 46:52
  SPEAKER_01: And all of a sudden, the past few years that I've been like aware of of the sort of more contemporary clogging groups is that everybody in the clogging community now has moved to, like you said, Jen, a contempo tap, contemporary clogging.
• 47:05
  SPEAKER_01: And I think what it is is that like they needed to grow that fan base back up when the traditional, just like tap, just like anything else that we do, becomes a little passe, and people are like, that's not cool anymore to, you know, wear a skirt and and clog to country music.
• 47:19
  SPEAKER_01: So they're like, well, we'll just use popular music.
• 47:21
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that's what happens with tap is that people are just like, well, this song is in 4-4.
• 47:26
  SPEAKER_01: I hear a drumbeat, surely I can tap to this.
• 47:29
  SPEAKER_01: And I just I don't think that that's really true.
• 47:31
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, like you said, all of all of your 70s funk music is perfect for tap because it's got so many layers of of rhythms.
• 47:39
  SPEAKER_01: But then, you know, you're listening to, like, you said Megan Trainer, it's like, I don't really want to hear Meg and Trainer tap songs because all you can do if you're, you know, even a decent tap teacher is kind of pretty basic stuff.
• 47:49
  SPEAKER_01: It doesn't have anything else for you.
• 47:52
  SPEAKER_02: So Yeah, I think when we look at tap music as tap teachers, we if the kids are wanting that like vibe, which again, I have a Stevie Wonder solo this year, I have a Colby Calais solo this year.
• 48:05
  SPEAKER_02: Like we go, we go all directions.
• 48:07
  SPEAKER_02: We have a Billy Eilish group this year.
• 48:09
  SPEAKER_02: Hey.
• 48:10
  SPEAKER_02: But if I can print out sheet music and give it to them and we can be adding in to that silence, like if we can look at it and say, okay, there's nothing happening here.
• 48:18
  SPEAKER_02: Now I'm a you're a musician.
• 48:20
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that's when that contempo.
• 48:22
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that's when contempo tap, as I call it, becomes great and it's absolutely awesome.
• 48:28
  SPEAKER_02: When you're just hitting 16th and 30 seconds for three minutes, this is no longer awesome, right?
• 48:34
  SPEAKER_02: So I think it's in that music musicianship.
• 48:37
  SPEAKER_03: I agree.
• 48:38
  SPEAKER_03: And I another thing to just mention regarding tap as far as when I'm when I'm sitting and judging and what I don't want to see.
• 48:44
  SPEAKER_03: I've there have been so many times that I've been watching a tap routine, and as we all know, it's very hard to judge a tap routine because we a lot of teachers complain that judges don't talk a lot or that judges don't know what they're doing.
• 48:57
  SPEAKER_03: But you have to remember that we're also trying to listen at the same time.
• 49:01
  SPEAKER_03: You know, it's obviously an an instrument and you are the musician.
• 49:05
  SPEAKER_03: So I'm I'm just sitting here trying to feel the beat, making sure that you're on the downbeat the whole time.
• 49:10
  SPEAKER_03: Like you're not going to be able to do the musicality and timing is essential.
• 49:14
  SPEAKER_03: And something that I've noticed that's that's kind of interesting and and bizarre to me is that there's so many songs that are chosen for for dances, uh tap dances that have varying tempos in them, but the dancers can't can't do that.
• 49:28
  SPEAKER_03: And I'm fast.
• 49:29
  SPEAKER_03: And I'm like yes, or yes, too fast, and they're in the movement is way too fast.
• 49:34
  SPEAKER_03: And I'm like, whoa, whoa, whoa.
• 49:35
  SPEAKER_03: Like, can't you tell that this is not not the right tempo for this this child or the these dancers?
• 49:41
  SPEAKER_00: And the the music was sped up.
• 49:43
  SPEAKER_00: Right, exactly.
• 49:44
  SPEAKER_03: Like maybe we gotta we gotta take it back down a notch, and like I will gladly say that, but they're the weird I can't really think of a specific like song example off the top of my head, but I have seen so many songs where it's like the tempo's creeping up and it's getting faster and it's faster, and like the the kids just can't handle that, they're not at the level of that.
• 50:03
  SPEAKER_03: Like, you have to be a very, very strong musician and have a very strong ear for musicality to be able to adjust to varying tempos within a song in any style of dance.
• 50:13
  SPEAKER_03: So if you aren't at the level for that for a tap dance, to me, uh when I'm watching as a judge, I'm like, teacher, do you even like did you even know that this isn't not is not an appropriate song for this level of dancer?
• 50:26
  SPEAKER_03: Like, we have to be smart about uh those choices.
• 50:29
  SPEAKER_03: Like they're they're intermediate.
• 50:31
  SPEAKER_03: Give them just something easy to count, and that's nice and even, you know, we don't need to like try to blow it out of the water.
• 50:38
  SPEAKER_00: They're students still, they're not professionals, they're learning and they're growing and they're they're trying to understand it all too.
• 50:44
  SPEAKER_00: Like, teach them right, you know.
• 50:46
  SPEAKER_01: I think of this.
• 50:47
  SPEAKER_01: Do you guys know the song Electric Feel by MGMT?
• 50:50
  SPEAKER_01: So that song changes time signatures multiple times in the song.
• 50:55
  SPEAKER_01: And I have wanted to dance to it and tap to it because it's just it's so groovy and it has that very like 70s feel.
• 51:01
  SPEAKER_01: And every time I listen to it, I'm like, this is impossible.
• 51:03
  SPEAKER_01: Like, even for me, and I'm I'm considering myself a good tap dancer, a good teacher, a good musician, and I'm like, nope, this goes from like 6'4 to 7'4.
• 51:11
  SPEAKER_01: I just I don't even want to touch it.
• 51:13
  SPEAKER_01: And I think people, if you don't have that that knowledge of time signatures, which mine's even just basic from like thank you, OCU college music theory class.
• 51:22
  SPEAKER_01: But you know, some people just don't even have that at all.
• 51:24
  SPEAKER_01: So it's like I can tell sometimes when people use music that they don't understand the time signatures with taps specifically, it's like, oh, you don't even know what's happening because I I can't find you anymore.
• 51:35
  SPEAKER_01: And if I can't find where you are, you don't know where you are, and it's very sad.
• 51:39
  SPEAKER_02: The same thing I've seen a lot of kids try to dance to Heia, the outcast song, right?
• 51:44
  SPEAKER_02: Which is nines and elevens, and you're like, oh, you're not counting this at all.
• 51:48
  SPEAKER_02: Like we just abandoned all right.
• 51:52
  SPEAKER_02: Whereas if you have like a tap group that is counting sixes, and you're just like, oh, oh, this is great.
• 51:59
  SPEAKER_02: Like you missed that wing, but you're counting sixes, so I don't even care because that was awesome, right?
• 52:04
  SPEAKER_02: So like we can tell, I think is the is the deal.
• 52:08
  SPEAKER_02: So and and that for me goes into cutting music.
• 52:11
  SPEAKER_02: Like if you cut music on a three, I can tell.
• 52:15
  SPEAKER_02: And now we're not on the four-four anymore.
• 52:17
  SPEAKER_02: So like we have to pay attention to cutting our music within the time signature that it's set in, or else really we're negating that whole entire artist's being because they didn't write the music like that.
• 52:28
  SPEAKER_00: Or going from when it's like really small and silent to like all of a sudden cut to the end, big crescendo gap.
• 52:34
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, yeah, like we're just gonna ignore the musical builds because we don't need that part.
• 52:39
  SPEAKER_02: You do, you need it, it needs to be that.
• 52:41
  SPEAKER_03: I'm so glad that you transitioned into this because I know that we we need to wrap up soon, but I think that this is very important to talk about because I feel like that I have been witnessing specifically in the last few years, and I'm not really sure why, but the lack of music editing or lack of finessing and perfecting the musical cuts in songs.
• 53:04
  SPEAKER_03: We all know that there are time limits for dances, which by the way, I'm going to straight up say from a judge, and I'm sure we can all agree, all the judges across the world and all the competitions will thank thank me for saying this.
• 53:15
  SPEAKER_03: But please, studios, make sure that you are committing to those time limits and not going over.
• 53:21
  SPEAKER_03: I can't tell you how many times that I've literally looked at my watch as I'm watching a dance that's supposed to only be three minutes and it's been four minutes.
• 53:28
  SPEAKER_03: And I'm like, what's going on?
• 53:30
  SPEAKER_03: Why didn't you follow the rules?
• 53:32
  SPEAKER_03: You know, so I'm a stickler for the rules, make sure you're following them.
• 53:35
  SPEAKER_03: I will notice, and I've actually said on the tape before this dance is too long, you need to make it shorter, which we've probably said in regards to mini solos and solos that feel too long.
• 53:45
  SPEAKER_03: They should not be three minutes long, FYI.
• 53:47
  SPEAKER_02: If you're repeating scales, just make it shorter.
• 53:50
  SPEAKER_03: Exactly.
• 53:50
  SPEAKER_03: But yes, like in regards to cutting your music, you have to make sure that you are cutting them properly.
• 53:56
  SPEAKER_03: If you don't know how to music edit, go find somebody on Fiverr and it'll cost you five dollars, give them timestamps, and they will cut you a song for five dollars.
• 54:03
  SPEAKER_03: I know that feels like that can become a big fee uh across the board, or take some time to learn how to cut on GarageBand, which is free on your Mac, or another program that you can download for free.
• 54:13
  SPEAKER_03: There's really no excuse.
• 54:14
  SPEAKER_03: The other thing that I hate is just a random fade out of the song because the teacher was lazy to cut the song and make it a cohesive song.
• 54:22
  SPEAKER_03: You know, it's like an abrupt ending.
• 54:23
  SPEAKER_03: I'm like, whoa, whoa, whoa, is the dance over?
• 54:26
  SPEAKER_03: Where are you going?
• 54:26
  SPEAKER_03: Bye.
• 54:27
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 54:27
  SPEAKER_03: And and then they also just walk off.
• 54:30
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 54:31
  SPEAKER_03: Like no, no resolution, no ending.
• 54:34
  SPEAKER_03: Like, we need to make sure that the song fits in the time limits and and feels like a cohesive song.
• 54:39
  SPEAKER_03: I think that's the most important to make the dance.
• 54:41
  SPEAKER_03: It shouldn't feel like you just kind of slapped it together.
• 54:43
  SPEAKER_00: And listen to it loud.
• 54:45
  SPEAKER_00: Listen to it loud.
• 54:46
  SPEAKER_00: If it sounds choppy, then it is choppy.
• 54:48
  SPEAKER_00: And we're gonna hear that and we're gonna go, oh, like as a judge, I'll say, Oh, we need to fix that.
• 54:52
  SPEAKER_00: Like, yes, we need to fix that editing.
• 54:54
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you can skip around that song too.
• 54:57
  SPEAKER_02: So, like, if you don't want the whole build, take part of the build, jump to the end after the bridge where it has to rebuild and connect it in.
• 55:06
  SPEAKER_02: Like, you can jump to the end and put the end of the song where you want the song to end.
• 55:11
  SPEAKER_02: Typically, it's just a repeater, right?
• 55:13
  SPEAKER_02: So, I think that we live in the age of YouTube, like YouTube yourself a tutorial.
• 55:18
  SPEAKER_02: You can do this.
• 55:19
  SPEAKER_02: Teachers, I'm telling you, I believe in you.
• 55:22
  SPEAKER_02: You can blend music together, just count.
• 55:25
  SPEAKER_02: Find the eight, find the one, put them together, blend it in.
• 55:28
  SPEAKER_02: I believe in you, you can do it.
• 55:30
  SPEAKER_02: I'm just gonna throw this out there somehow.
• 55:32
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so there's a Jason Raz song that is called You Did It.
• 55:37
  SPEAKER_02: So you can actually edit that song to be clean because there's a whole chorus where he doesn't say the word.
• 55:44
  SPEAKER_02: So if you just take that chorus and paste it into every single chorus, it's the same things without the without the word.
• 55:51
  SPEAKER_02: You can dance to this amazing piece of music and you don't have to bleep a word.
• 55:55
  SPEAKER_02: Just take a different part of the song and put it in.
• 55:58
  SPEAKER_02: Also, that song's super fun to tap dance to, just saying.
• 56:01
  SPEAKER_02: But neither here nor there.
• 56:03
  SPEAKER_02: But like, it's possible.
• 56:04
  SPEAKER_02: You just have to get creative and you've got to write down your notes and find where you can take a word from a different like it gets tedious, but it is doable.
• 56:13
  SPEAKER_02: If that song is that important to you, edit out the parts that should not be in it.
• 56:17
  SPEAKER_01: You can do it.
• 56:17
  SPEAKER_01: Or you got you can pay someone.
• 56:20
  SPEAKER_01: Like, that's what I always come cut it comes down to it.
• 56:23
  SPEAKER_01: Like, some somebody knows how to do this.
• 56:24
  SPEAKER_01: Somebody that you know knows how to do this, and either they're your friend and they will do it for free, or they are somebody who will not do it for free, but will let you pay them to do it.
• 56:33
  SPEAKER_01: Like, it's just like you said, Courtney, there's no excuse anymore.
• 56:35
  SPEAKER_01: And gone are the days of like cassette tapes where you physically had to cut the actual tape.
• 56:41
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 56:41
  SPEAKER_01: Like my mother had and and people, you don't have to do that anymore.
• 56:45
  SPEAKER_01: Like it's 2020.
• 56:46
  SPEAKER_01: Come on, like, let's do it.
• 56:49
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 56:49
  SPEAKER_02: My favorite thing to do is to find a friend who is not a performer or a musician and say, Hey, will you listen to the song?
• 56:55
  SPEAKER_02: Tell me if it sounds weird.
• 56:56
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 56:56
  SPEAKER_02: And they will listen to it.
• 56:58
  SPEAKER_02: If it actually is a bad cut, they'll be like, Oh, that was weird.
• 57:01
  SPEAKER_02: Like they instinctively will kind of recoil.
• 57:04
  SPEAKER_02: And if it's not a bad cut, they're like, What was supposed to sound weird?
• 57:07
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 57:07
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, never mind.
• 57:08
  SPEAKER_02: That was great.
• 57:08
  SPEAKER_02: Thanks.
• 57:09
  SPEAKER_04: Bye.
• 57:09
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 57:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 57:10
  SPEAKER_00: Um it's a product of you.
• 57:12
  SPEAKER_00: So, like, whatever you're putting out there, whether there's curse words in it, whether it's a bad edit, it's a product of who you are and your students.
• 57:20
  SPEAKER_00: So just kind of think about that vision and make sure that you're really putting out what you really want people to see of you and your students, you know.
• 57:28
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I think that, you know, I'm sure that like the discussion of hip-hop music and c finding clean hip-hop music is a is a hard one to bring to the stage that's family friendly and appropriate.
• 57:37
  SPEAKER_03: And I'm sure, you know, especially because what we hear on the radio these days is not appropriate most of the time.
• 57:42
  SPEAKER_03: So it is hard, you you know, you're kind of walking that line of, well, it's on the radio and all the kids listen to it anyway.
• 57:48
  SPEAKER_03: So I can probably just put it on stage of competition, which in in a way could be true, but we still want to try to make it a little cleaner.
• 57:55
  SPEAKER_03: So a t another tip as far as music editing that one of my hip hop teacher friends actually suggested to me was if there's a bad word, and let's say there's just one like curse word in the song, you can go in and grab that curse word, splice it, and then reverse it right there.
• 58:11
  SPEAKER_03: So it just sounds like a little reverse, da da da da da da da, whatever the lyrics are.
• 58:16
  SPEAKER_03: A la Missy Elliot.
• 58:18
  SPEAKER_03: Exactly, like a Missy Elliot reverse, which I which you know could sound a little wonky depending on how long it is.
• 58:23
  SPEAKER_03: It can't be like a full sentence, but if it's like a quick little little word right there, then just like reverse it out.
• 58:28
  SPEAKER_03: And and again, so many people can do this on the internet.
• 58:32
  SPEAKER_03: If we know how to zoom teach these days, then we can edit a song.
• 58:36
  SPEAKER_03: So I I think that that's what I would love to see and hear moving into the season this year is making sure that our songs are really appropriate and and properly produced for the stage.
• 58:47
  SPEAKER_03: So yeah, we we have talked about so many things.
• 58:51
  SPEAKER_03: It's been such a good discussion.
• 58:52
  SPEAKER_03: I feel like we need to do a music at competition part two, like later or next season.
• 58:58
  SPEAKER_03: Maybe once a year we do this episode.
• 59:02
  SPEAKER_02: It's like a keep that running list of music no one should be using.
• 59:05
  SPEAKER_03: Yep.
• 59:06
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, we should we should definitely do that.
• 59:09
  SPEAKER_03: Maybe we'll have a little poll to launch with this episode release of the songs that are overused.
• 59:14
  SPEAKER_03: The blacklist, yeah.
• 59:15
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, the blacklist.
• 59:16
  SPEAKER_01: And they can only like resurface in another 10 years.
• 59:19
  SPEAKER_01: Like in 10 years, I will hear Dear Future Husband and it'll be fine, but now, no, it will still be too soon.
• 59:25
  SPEAKER_01: It will still be too soon.
• 59:27
  SPEAKER_01: 10 years.
• 59:28
  SPEAKER_00: Actually, no, like I heard Wild, I heard Wild Horses, and I was like, oh, I haven't heard this song like in a while.
• 59:33
  SPEAKER_00: It's pretty again.
• 59:34
  SPEAKER_00: I like it.
• 59:34
  SPEAKER_00: It's been 10 years.
• 59:35
  SPEAKER_03: It's been 10 years since that one.
• 59:37
  SPEAKER_03: We'll take it.
• 59:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 59:39
  SPEAKER_03: Well, it was so great chatting with both of you ladies, and I would love to just kind of lead us out if you have any final thoughts or final words of advice to all of the teachers out there who are currently hunting music hunting, looking for music, and getting ready to start choreographing for the upcoming season.
• 59:57
  SPEAKER_02: My final thought to leave you with is pick whatever music you want that you feel led to choreograph to.
• 1:00:03
  SPEAKER_02: If you're super inspired to it, but teach the longest day that you teach in the week, like do your day job, teach, make it like a good 13, 15-hour day, put your headphones on and blast that song as loud as you can.
• 1:00:16
  SPEAKER_02: And if you don't want to hear it, then we don't want to hear it at competition.
• 1:00:19
  SPEAKER_02: So if you're like, oh, this is soothing and and lovely and I love this, go for it.
• 1:00:24
  SPEAKER_02: If you're sitting there, you start bopping, you're like, yeah, I love this.
• 1:00:26
  SPEAKER_02: This is great, go for it.
• 1:00:28
  SPEAKER_02: If you're sitting there and you're like, I want to punch myself in the face, please don't use it.
• 1:00:32
  SPEAKER_02: That's all I'm saying.
• 1:00:32
  SPEAKER_02: That's all I'm saying.
• 1:00:34
  SPEAKER_00: I say, you know, challenge yourself to look out outside the box, um, really do some more research.
• 1:00:39
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, look for some concepts that are inspiring and inspire the kids in the class that they want to keep coming back and doing more and learning more with their friends and performing.
• 1:00:49
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, try to be original.
• 1:00:53
  SPEAKER_00: Try to do something that's that you've never done before.
• 1:00:56
  SPEAKER_00: Use it and if it opens your heart and inspires you, then go for it.
• 1:01:01
  SPEAKER_00: But really don't try to use something different than what everybody else is doing and and do something for yourself that's brand new and unique.
• 1:01:12
  SPEAKER_03: Thanks so much for joining us for episode 29 of season two of Music and Competition.
• 1:01:17
  SPEAKER_03: If you want to follow our guests on social media, you can find Jen at Jen Garalfa and Jessica at KWO.com.
• 1:01:25
  SPEAKER_01: Make sure you subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, and Twitter so you don't miss out on our upcoming episodes releasing every Thursday throughout the dance season.
• 1:01:35
  SPEAKER_03: Are you enjoying Season 2 so far?
• 1:01:37
  SPEAKER_03: If so, we would really love to hear from you.
• 1:01:40
  SPEAKER_03: Head over to Apple Podcasts now to rate us and leave us a fabulous review, or shoot us a message on Instagram to say hi.
• 1:01:46
  SPEAKER_03: You can find us at Impact Dance Communicators across all social media platforms.
• 1:01:50
  SPEAKER_03: And don't forget, head to our website or link in the show notes to send us a question you'd like to hear answered on an upcoming QA recording episode.
• 1:01:59
  SPEAKER_01: Coming up in the next few weeks, topics include our first spotlight episode, how to take class at convention and in studio, and correctly categorizing your dancers.
• 1:02:08
  SPEAKER_03: As always, thanks so much for tuning in to this week's episode of Making the Impact.
• 1:02:13
  SPEAKER_03: Till next time, keep dancing.