Latest / Making The Impact - A Dance Competition Podcast / LIVE! From Dance Teacher Web Vegas 2026

Transcript

LIVE! From Dance Teacher Web Vegas 2026 · Making The Impact - A Dance Competition Podcast

0:07
SPEAKER_04: Have you ever wondered what goes on behind the table at a dance competition?
0:10
SPEAKER_04: Exactly what are the judges looking for anyway?
0:13
SPEAKER_04: This is Making the Impact, a dance competition podcast.
0:15
SPEAKER_04: Each week we'll cover a different topic related to the world of competitive dance from the perspective of the judges behind the table.
0:28
SPEAKER_04: Making the Impact was back at Dance Teacher Web this summer with a live QA podcast recording.
0:33
SPEAKER_04: Thank you to all of the dance educators who attended and asked so many great questions.
0:37
SPEAKER_04: Here's that episode from August 8th, 2026.
0:43
SPEAKER_12: Welcome to Making the Impact Live at Dance Teacher Web 2026.
0:48
SPEAKER_12: Woo! My name is Courtney Ortiz.
0:53
SPEAKER_12: I'm one of the hosts on Making the Impact, and I'm here with Leslie Miller, co-host.
0:57
SPEAKER_04: So excited to be here, you guys.
0:59
SPEAKER_04: Thank you for joining us and spending your next hour with us.
1:02
SPEAKER_12: Yes, it's gonna be a great time.
1:05
SPEAKER_12: Um, did anybody come to Dance Teacher Web last year and come to our podcast bigger than last year?
1:12
SPEAKER_12: Welcome back, yes.
1:14
SPEAKER_12: Thanks for coming again.
1:15
SPEAKER_12: Yes, we love it.
1:16
SPEAKER_12: And then curious to know if anyone is a fan of Making the Impact.
1:20
SPEAKER_12: If you didn't come last year, but you have listened to the podcast before or are avid listeners.
1:25
SPEAKER_12: Fans!
1:26
SPEAKER_05: Love it.
1:27
SPEAKER_05: Love it.
1:28
SPEAKER_04: We've been doing this.
1:28
SPEAKER_04: This will be our eighth season coming up in August, or now, actually this month, very soon.
1:33
SPEAKER_04: So we're grateful for your continued support and for our new friends.
1:36
SPEAKER_04: Thank you for joining us and hearing what we're all about.
1:41
SPEAKER_11: Young Arts is the only national organization that champions artists through their lifetime and across all art forms, feeling the ongoing vitality of the arts nationwide.
1:52
SPEAKER_11: Their national arts competition is open to artists ages 15 to 18 who are currently in grades 10 through 12.
1:58
SPEAKER_12: Selected winners can receive cash awards, mentorship from leaders in the industry, a lifetime of professional support, and the prestigious honor of being a young arts winner.
2:09
SPEAKER_12: As a previous young arts winner myself, I highly recommend that you check out this fantastic program and opportunity for your dancers.
2:16
SPEAKER_12: It truly is life-changing.
2:18
SPEAKER_12: The deadline to apply for their 2027 National Arts Competition is Tuesday, October 6th, 2026 at 8 p.m.
2:25
SPEAKER_12: Eastern Time.
2:26
SPEAKER_12: Learn more about Young Arts and start your application today by clicking the link in our show notes and visiting youngarts.org slash apply.
2:37
SPEAKER_12: How we typically do our live, our live podcasts is we kind of just make it an open forum QA.
2:44
SPEAKER_12: Now, this is about choreography at competition because we are at a dance teachers event.
2:49
SPEAKER_12: So you all are the choreographers that are presenting things to this stage, and we would love to help answer any of those questions, especially from the judge's eyes and the judge's point of view, since we've been doing this for so long through IDA and many other affiliated comps.
3:03
SPEAKER_12: We would love to just kind of take it away with any questions that you may have.
3:08
SPEAKER_12: And I'm sure that the conversation will go where it needs to go.
3:11
SPEAKER_12: What's gonna happen is if you want to ask a question, we're gonna come run over to you and you're gonna say it into our microphone.
3:18
SPEAKER_12: And I would love for you to say your name, where you're from, and you can give your studio a shout out as well.
3:24
SPEAKER_12: And that obviously will go live onto the podcast.
3:27
SPEAKER_04: Does anybody have a question to start us off with?
3:29
SPEAKER_12: Choreography at competition.
3:31
SPEAKER_12: Anything to kick it off with.
3:33
SPEAKER_04: Ooh.
3:34
SPEAKER_04: We have the first brave person.
3:37
SPEAKER_04: Hello, what is your name?
3:38
SPEAKER_09: Thank you.
3:39
SPEAKER_09: My name is Heather Klose.
3:40
SPEAKER_09: I'm from Utah at Valley Dance Studios.
3:42
SPEAKER_09: My question, we notice we notice a lot of the weird, kind of sometimes messier comp choreography seems to be winning a lot, and we're we don't want to replicate that because we are a very pure.
3:56
SPEAKER_09: Is that fair?
3:57
SPEAKER_09: Uh-huh.
3:57
SPEAKER_09: So like we can't go there.
3:59
SPEAKER_09: But we want to make sure we're using whatever you guys are looking for, right?
4:04
SPEAKER_04: Makes total sense.
4:05
SPEAKER_09: So the sloppy dances are doing sloppy but weird.
4:08
SPEAKER_12: Well, weird, creepy, creepy.
4:13
SPEAKER_12: Wait, really?
4:14
SPEAKER_12: Do we all agree with with that?
4:16
SPEAKER_12: Sloppy, creepy dances are doing well at competition.
4:21
SPEAKER_12: Your area, not in her area.
4:23
SPEAKER_12: Is it like abstract and obscure and it's like out of the box a bit, and that's why?
4:29
SPEAKER_04: But then you add a sloppiness to it and I can see in different areas where if the industry in your area has been inundated with precision dance, and I'm thinking about, you know, just clean, clean, clean, clean, clean, all we're thinking about is our lines and our turns and our precision, then yes, something different that might not be as precise and might be interesting in a different way than just looking at formations being super clean.
4:55
SPEAKER_04: I can see that if you were inundated with that day in and day out, and then you got something that was a little bit messy but a little bit interesting, and made you think like, okay, that might bump up a little.
5:04
SPEAKER_04: But it I think it really depends on what your part of the country is steeped in.
5:10
SPEAKER_04: That's my you were in Utah, you said?
5:13
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
5:13
SPEAKER_04: And I would I would assume, I haven't judged in Utah in a very long time, but I would assume based on what I know about the industry at large, Utah has a lot of dance team right now.
5:21
SPEAKER_04: A lot of precision, a lot of people who just care.
5:23
SPEAKER_04: Their focus is very precision-based.
5:26
SPEAKER_04: Artistry maybe is taking a back seat because we want those turns together, we want those, you know, those powerful leaps and jumps, and maybe the avant-garde isn't getting a lot of attention.
5:36
SPEAKER_04: So if that does pop out, that is exciting and different and new.
5:40
SPEAKER_04: That's my take.
5:41
SPEAKER_12: I would need to see an example of what we're talking about to really give a full understanding of like, oh, okay, I can see why that wins.
5:50
SPEAKER_12: I would need to what'd you say?
5:51
unknown: Creepy doll.
5:52
SPEAKER_12: Creepy doll?
5:53
SPEAKER_12: Oh no, I don't really love a creepy doll.
5:56
SPEAKER_12: No offense.
5:57
SPEAKER_12: I don't I I don't know.
5:58
SPEAKER_12: I think sometimes the creepy ones, like, if it's it's not if it's not in my face, I'm not like a creepy horror movie type of person.
6:06
SPEAKER_12: So you have to kind of cater to your audience.
6:08
SPEAKER_12: You're kind of taking a risk if you're doing a creepy doll dance, and what if the judges are creeped out by it or like a scary clown dance or something, you know?
6:14
SPEAKER_12: You just never know, like how people are gonna react.
6:17
SPEAKER_12: And I guess that's the point.
6:18
SPEAKER_12: Well, right, that's why we're creating this because we want a reaction out of people and we want to see what they're gonna feel and if they're gonna like it or they're gonna hate it.
6:26
SPEAKER_12: I mean, you never know, but uh I'm I'm all about clean dancing.
6:30
SPEAKER_12: I think cleanliness is key for competitive dance.
6:33
SPEAKER_12: Obviously, things can almost be over-rehearsed to a point where they're too clean.
6:37
SPEAKER_12: So then I'm like, okay, well, I want you to fall off your center and I want you to take more risks.
6:41
SPEAKER_12: So if there are dances that are kind of a little more artistic, maybe the judges are seeing the potential of like the artistry behind it, even if it's not executed as as clean and crisp as it could be, but there was something different about it that made them go, oh, I'm I'm into this.
6:57
SPEAKER_12: Uh it's it's not what I expected, or it's not what I see all the time.
7:01
SPEAKER_12: I'm curious.
7:01
SPEAKER_12: I'd love to see this, these creepy dances that are hitting the stage.
7:05
SPEAKER_12: I want to know more about them.
7:07
SPEAKER_04: I think too, when it comes to like choosing a theme like that, you know, we've been doing this a while.
7:12
SPEAKER_04: Like a lot of themes, I'm like, okay, I've seen that.
7:15
SPEAKER_04: And then what?
7:16
SPEAKER_04: Like, what is your take on that theme?
7:18
SPEAKER_04: So if the if the creepy theme is what you're going for, find a twist, find something, and maybe that's what it is.
7:24
SPEAKER_04: Maybe there's some little twist in this dance that's really surprising or unique.
7:28
SPEAKER_04: I've never seen that before, because creepy dead girl coming out from under the bed, we've all seen that.
7:33
SPEAKER_04: We've all seen the creepy doll that comes to life, you know.
7:36
SPEAKER_04: So what else could you twist that into to make it one step above?
7:41
SPEAKER_04: And again, like she said, if if it's a little bit on the messy side in terms of like risk taking, I feel like I can see that.
7:48
SPEAKER_04: Like when you're taking a risk, it's not messy.
7:51
SPEAKER_04: It's I tried really, really hard and it didn't quite land today, but I can see based on everything else you're doing, it landed last week.
7:58
SPEAKER_04: There's just moments where you can tell that.
8:00
SPEAKER_04: So I would say if you're a studio that lives in that precision, being very clean, that is something you value.
8:05
SPEAKER_04: I would say keep doing that, but don't be afraid to take a little risk.
8:09
SPEAKER_04: Have your kids take a little risk and know that it's not the end of the world if they fall out of something.
8:14
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
8:14
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
8:15
SPEAKER_12: Great.
8:15
SPEAKER_12: First question.
8:16
SPEAKER_12: So good.
8:16
SPEAKER_12: Thank you so much.
8:18
SPEAKER_12: Any other questions on the floor?
8:20
SPEAKER_12: I'm gonna go all the way to the back of the room.
8:22
SPEAKER_12: Amazing.
8:23
SPEAKER_08: All right.
8:24
SPEAKER_08: What's your name?
8:25
SPEAKER_08: Where are you from?
8:25
SPEAKER_08: Hi, I'm Anna.
8:26
SPEAKER_08: I'm from Dreamers Dance Company in Dunedin, Florida.
8:29
SPEAKER_08: And my question is actually for not for myself, for my hip-hop teacher and sp specifically.
8:34
SPEAKER_08: And it's kind of almost building off the last question.
8:38
SPEAKER_08: What are judges really looking for in a hip-hop number in competition?
8:42
SPEAKER_08: Because sometimes she teaches very true hip-hop.
8:46
SPEAKER_08: She's very down-to-earth.
8:47
SPEAKER_08: She keeps the kids dressed in the style rather than some of the twerk hop that you kind of get in competitions, if you know what I mean.
8:55
SPEAKER_08: And I find that there's such a variation in the feedback that we're getting.
8:59
SPEAKER_08: And I kind of would love to hear what y'all's thoughts are so that I can give her some thoughts because it's just so varied.
9:06
SPEAKER_08: Yes.
9:07
SPEAKER_04: You're not wrong.
9:09
SPEAKER_04: You are not wrong.
9:09
SPEAKER_04: It really is.
9:11
SPEAKER_12: I'm gonna start off by saying that Leslie and I are not hip-hop specialty judges, but they do exist.
9:18
SPEAKER_04: They do exist.
9:19
SPEAKER_04: And I would say you're getting a variety of responses to pure hip-hop, like what you're calling sort of pure traditional hip-hop, from either younger people who did not grow up with that, younger judges whose experience with hip-hop has either been like a palm sort of hip-hop, which is a very different than Bronx-based, you know, 1970s hip-hop was born-based movement.
9:40
SPEAKER_04: So I think that is my advice for you.
9:43
SPEAKER_04: This goes for everybody if you have some sort of specialty at your studio that you really care about getting good feedback.
9:49
SPEAKER_04: If you're choosing a competition, reach out to them, say, hey, I'm bringing these hip-hop dances, I'm bringing these hula dances, I'm bringing these whatever they are dances.
9:56
SPEAKER_04: Do you have a judge on this panel who is well versed in this style?
10:00
SPEAKER_04: Because sometimes there's not.
10:02
SPEAKER_04: And if you can bring that up to them, they at least know that you've asked for something, and then it's a little bit on them.
10:08
SPEAKER_04: If you're not getting good feedback, you can then call back and say, hey, we really loved your event, except for the hip-hop judge said absolutely nothing about the style or the isolations or the groundedness or whatever it is.
10:19
SPEAKER_04: Can you explain that?
10:21
SPEAKER_04: That would be my first piece of advice.
10:23
SPEAKER_04: And to your teacher, stay true to what they do.
10:26
SPEAKER_04: Because if if they believe in what they're doing and they were taught by somebody that they believe in, go with it.
10:32
SPEAKER_04: The feedback is the feedback, and we all know we can take it or leave it.
10:35
SPEAKER_04: Some of it is grounded in truth, some of it is grounded in opinion, some of it is grounded in history.
10:40
SPEAKER_04: In situations like that, it feels like that might be an opinion or just a lack of knowledge.
10:45
SPEAKER_04: So knowing that that's sometimes where it comes from.
10:48
SPEAKER_12: Yeah, it's it's definitely hard with what we almost consider more specialty genres now that exist on stage.
10:54
SPEAKER_12: Hip hop's always been a part of dance competitions.
10:57
SPEAKER_12: But we, if you were at my seminar yesterday, uh we talked about the different genres and what is dominating on the stage versus not.
11:06
SPEAKER_12: And the weaker links and the ones we don't see much of are ballet, which is crazy to me since we always preach about how important it is.
11:13
SPEAKER_12: Tap and hip-hop.
11:15
SPEAKER_12: Hip-hop's getting more popular, I think, post-pandemic TikTok craze.
11:19
SPEAKER_12: But then is it actually hip-hop?
11:21
SPEAKER_12: And I think that's the the bigger issue that a lot of people are concerned about because it's typically a jazz dance in sneakers, and we're doing aerials and we're doing kip-ups, and then we do a little bit of precision and maybe one or two grooves, and now we call that hip-hop.
11:37
SPEAKER_12: But it's not really hip-hop.
11:39
SPEAKER_12: And unfortunately, the the studios that are doing real hip-hop are like, well, how did that dance beat mine when I'm actually giving the proper foundations of the style?
11:48
SPEAKER_12: And now my teachers are questioning if what they're doing is actually legitimate and correct, right?
11:54
SPEAKER_12: But then you also have to remember that unfortunately, most likely, there's not a hip-hop specialty judge on a panel.
12:01
SPEAKER_12: Let's be real.
12:02
SPEAKER_12: Like, all of us have our own specialties as a judge.
12:05
SPEAKER_12: I can judge everything, but my specialty is jazz and musical theater and lyrical and those styles.
12:12
SPEAKER_12: So can I judge a hip hop routine and tell what's good and what's not?
12:16
SPEAKER_12: Yes.
12:16
SPEAKER_12: But am I gonna be able to give you like really clear critique on how to make this better and why it scored how it did?
12:24
SPEAKER_12: I'm gonna be able to do my job, but I think that's what a specialty hip hop judge is meant to do, you know?
12:29
SPEAKER_12: And that's one thing that's nice about conventions because conventions have oftentimes a faculty judging.
12:35
SPEAKER_12: So hopefully there's a hip hop judge on the panel, but sometimes they don't put the hip-hop judge on the panel because they don't know enough about the classical technical styles like ballet or lyrical to judge that well enough.
12:46
SPEAKER_12: So they're trying to decide, like, oh, well, what's more who's more valuable in the seat, you know, to because what I'm primarily gonna watch is jazz and lyrical and contemporary.
12:55
SPEAKER_12: So can you score that?
12:56
SPEAKER_12: It's a bonus if you can score hip hop, you know.
12:59
SPEAKER_12: That's it's like a separate thing.
13:01
SPEAKER_12: So, like Leslie said, I think that's great advice to ask because if you are a hip-hop studio that has authentic hip-hop and you care about that, then the least that they can do is make sure that there's someone that can judge it at a higher caliber than the people that are sitting next to them, and then ask them which judge was the hip-hop specialty.
13:19
SPEAKER_12: Oh, judge three, great.
13:20
SPEAKER_12: I know I'm gonna listen to judge three's critique from my hip-hop routines.
13:24
SPEAKER_04: Yes, you're welcome.
13:26
SPEAKER_04: Who's next?
13:28
SPEAKER_04: Hello, hello.
13:29
SPEAKER_04: What's your name?
13:30
SPEAKER_04: Where are you from?
13:30
SPEAKER_00: My name is Lindsay.
13:32
SPEAKER_00: I'm from New Bronville, Texas, with Standout Dance Center.
13:35
SPEAKER_00: I have a kind of maybe an obvious one, but I would like some clarification.
13:41
SPEAKER_00: So we are very like technical and precision based, but we also take contemporary dances to competition.
13:51
SPEAKER_00: I'm wondering from a judge's point of view, in the contemporary category, if y'all, that was my text is coming out.
14:00
SPEAKER_00: If y'all prefer to, if there's a dance that's got the tricks and has the leg moments or more technical elements, so put them in the lyrical category, even if there is the contemporary style choreography, or if you're putting that directly up against just a movement-based concept contemporary piece, just kind of like how y'all think that should be.
14:24
SPEAKER_00: Because I feel like the line's very blurred nowadays.
14:27
SPEAKER_00: We take contemporary dances, but they always have technical tricks and skills in them.
14:33
SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, should we be putting them in lyrical instead?
14:37
SPEAKER_00: But they feel very contemporary.
14:39
SPEAKER_12: Yes.
14:40
SPEAKER_00: The blurring of the lines.
14:41
SPEAKER_12: Well, you know.
14:42
SPEAKER_04: Thank you for that question.
14:43
SPEAKER_04: That's wonderful.
14:44
SPEAKER_12: Yes, thank you for the question.
14:45
SPEAKER_12: If you've been a listener of Making the Impact, we have two different lyrical versus contemporary episodes.
14:52
SPEAKER_12: So give those a listen and maybe it'll help you determine where things should be placed.
14:56
SPEAKER_12: This is actually a really interesting question because I feel like this is the first time I've ever heard someone try to distinguish where something should go based on the the elements within it.
15:07
SPEAKER_12: Because to me, yes and no, because I I think that lyrical is is about the elements that should be very ballet-based movement in that that has a jazzy spin to it.
15:19
SPEAKER_12: That's what I look at for lyrical.
15:22
SPEAKER_12: So I am looking for Arabus turns and turned out positions and drags and things like that that I think belong in lyrical.
15:30
SPEAKER_12: But you're saying, like, oh, well, if it's if it's a contemporary dance, but I put a jump in it or I put a leg in it that feels technical or tricky, maybe it's better fit for lyrical.
15:43
SPEAKER_12: And I think that's interesting, an interesting way to look at it because I I just think it's how it's choreographed.
15:48
SPEAKER_12: I mean, you can obviously have tricks in a contemporary dance.
15:53
SPEAKER_12: Absolutely.
15:54
SPEAKER_12: It's more about the the overall picture, song, and movement vocabulary that's within the contemporary routine to make it contemporary.
16:03
SPEAKER_12: But if it's leaning more towards a very breathy area and it's reaches and emotion and controlled and turned out, and but if it's angular and abstract and grounded, then maybe it is more contemporary.
16:16
SPEAKER_12: But like the fluid, breathy one probably is more lyrical.
16:19
SPEAKER_12: But then I'm expecting performance quality and telling the story in lyrical.
16:23
SPEAKER_12: So like there's different checkboxes that I have for each category, but just because there's tricks in what you consider contemporary doesn't mean that it's lyrical.
16:32
SPEAKER_12: It's still contemporary, but you're comparing it to a dance that is just giving movement and things and they but you know what?
16:42
SPEAKER_12: I love when I see dancers that can captivate me and they didn't do it one darn trick.
16:47
SPEAKER_12: Do you know what I mean?
16:48
SPEAKER_12: If they are beautiful movers and that's what they're bringing in the contemporary category, I think that those two dances can be head-to-head.
16:56
SPEAKER_12: I think they can be.
16:57
SPEAKER_12: And it the dances that have more technical elements in it actually have it a little bit harder because those are sometimes harder skills that could go wrong or versus someone that's just moving.
17:09
SPEAKER_12: And we see that all the time when we see contemporary soloists that just do legs the whole time and just stand there and do poses and they have a pretty line, but they didn't take up space, they didn't move.
17:18
SPEAKER_12: The choreography wasn't as difficult compared to one that's more difficult.
17:22
SPEAKER_12: So are we as judges putting into consideration the level of difficulty of a routine and how it's choreographed?
17:28
SPEAKER_12: Sometimes.
17:29
SPEAKER_12: Sometimes we can't.
17:30
SPEAKER_12: Sometimes we have to judge what was on the stage.
17:33
SPEAKER_12: Because if it was a teacher critique and we could score the teacher, that would have been something that I'd say the level of difficulty here isn't where it needs to be.
17:42
SPEAKER_12: You didn't do anything, you just stood in a post.
17:44
SPEAKER_12: This other studio's traveling, doing all over, doing so much stuff, to me, that deserves a higher level of difficulty.
17:51
SPEAKER_12: So then it's it becomes kind of a preference on the judge's end.
17:55
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, and I think thinking about skills versus overall mood and feel.
17:59
SPEAKER_04: So like when I think of contemporary dance, I'm looking more for like a conceptual thing.
18:04
SPEAKER_04: So therefore, all of your kind of undulated groundedness, reaching to things, but not having the meaning behind it, that to me is in lives more in the contemporary world, even if there is a leg, right?
18:17
SPEAKER_04: But in the lyrical world, I am primarily looking for ballet based technique and storytelling.
18:22
SPEAKER_04: I want to know who are you talking to, what happened right before this to make this dance happen, that you couldn't express yourself via words.
18:30
SPEAKER_04: I have to dance, I have to reach Celine Dion made me do this.
18:33
SPEAKER_04: So that's, I guess I think about it more as an overall picture, mood, and vibe with the skills and the elements, not secondary, but less important than the story you're telling or the feeling you want me to have.
18:46
SPEAKER_04: So if your contemporary dance is more conceptual or how do you want the audience to feel with this movement, I think that is just as important as a technical dance that's telling me a story.
18:58
SPEAKER_04: But I'm kind of, I was born into the sort of purist Doug Caldwell lyrical land.
19:03
SPEAKER_04: So like that is that's still what I'm looking for.
19:06
SPEAKER_04: And like I think you can evolve here and there, but that's why contemporary and lyrical get such a muddy description because they complement each other.
19:14
SPEAKER_04: So I think you know, you're doing the right thing by questioning where to put things.
19:18
SPEAKER_04: And I think that we all have to do that instead of just relying on, well, we've always this is the contemporary class.
19:24
SPEAKER_04: We always put this dance in the contemporary category.
19:27
SPEAKER_04: Well, maybe, maybe this feels more lyrical, and it it is kind of one of those like the more you do it and the more you watch, the more you kind of understand what it is you want out of that moment.
19:40
SPEAKER_04: These are such good questions.
19:41
SPEAKER_12: I know, you guys are killing it.
19:43
SPEAKER_12: Alright, next up.
19:47
SPEAKER_01: Hi, my name is Angelette and I'm from Maryland.
19:50
SPEAKER_01: And actually, I just have a I just have a comment.
19:53
SPEAKER_01: I think the whole lyrical contemporary issue is because uh the modern has all but died.
20:00
SPEAKER_01: That's it.
20:01
SPEAKER_01: That's right, still teaching modern and uh giving true modern the foundations, then we wouldn't have these issues, and I think that's kind of black contemporaries taking over the world because there's no more modern anymore.
20:17
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
20:19
SPEAKER_12: Who teaches modern?
20:20
SPEAKER_04: Oh, somebody right behind you, could people over here?
20:22
SPEAKER_12: Amazing, at your studio.
20:24
SPEAKER_12: You offer.
20:26
SPEAKER_12: Got it.
20:26
SPEAKER_12: Your studio offers modern.
20:28
SPEAKER_12: Amazing.
20:32
SPEAKER_12: And you know what's so sad to like I completely agree.
20:35
SPEAKER_12: Thank you, thank you for that statement.
20:37
SPEAKER_12: I agree because how many of you went to college for dance?
20:43
SPEAKER_12: Did you do modern in that program?
20:47
SPEAKER_12: Exactly.
20:48
SPEAKER_12: It's like four years of a modern thinking about what a disservice we are offering to our students if we are setting them up to go into these BFA programs and they've never once touched that subject, right?
20:59
SPEAKER_12: They've never once touched that genre.
21:01
SPEAKER_12: And granted, maybe you're like, well, I've only trained in it for four years, so like maybe I'm not as comfortable teaching it.
21:08
SPEAKER_12: But hey, you have four years of training in that style.
21:11
SPEAKER_12: You got your degree in this style, right?
21:14
SPEAKER_12: You can teach the fundamentals of modern dance and pick whichever method you want to teach, whether it's Horton, Graham, Taylor, who, whoever, and just introduce them to what a hinge looks like, what a can an S curve looks like, a lateral, a contraction, things like that, because that's gonna make their contemporary dance even stronger.
21:33
SPEAKER_12: And maybe once a month instead of contemporary, we're doing modern today, you know, like just sit introduce it to them.
21:40
SPEAKER_12: Because I agree, even though we feel like that it's a contemporary world, I feel like contemporary is very heavily rooted in modern dance.
21:48
SPEAKER_12: And it and we always talk about going back to basics.
21:51
SPEAKER_12: And for me, it's like if you don't know how to do lyrical ballet and modern and jazz, you kind of can't do contemporary.
22:00
SPEAKER_12: Feels like a mixture of all of those put together.
22:02
SPEAKER_12: So that's where you can get abstract and break the rules and bend the rules a little bit.
22:07
SPEAKER_12: But you have to know at minimum the basics of all of those styles to be able to like authentically execute it.
22:13
SPEAKER_04: Shout out to Judge IDA Judge Maddie Marcatus.
22:16
SPEAKER_04: Yes.
22:17
SPEAKER_04: You have to know the rules to break the rules.
22:18
SPEAKER_12: We love her.
22:19
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I agree with you on the modern take as well.
22:21
SPEAKER_12: You know, there's modern in Maryland because my best friend has a studio in Maryland and she teaches modern.
22:26
SPEAKER_12: She went to Towson University.
22:29
SPEAKER_12: She does, yeah.
22:29
SPEAKER_12: Yeah, she does modern at competition.
22:31
SPEAKER_12: And something that actually people have told me is that there is not even a modern category sometimes at certain competitions, which again, like open, right?
22:39
SPEAKER_12: No, no, no.
22:40
SPEAKER_12: Open is different.
22:41
SPEAKER_12: That's not modern.
22:44
SPEAKER_12: Exactly right.
22:45
SPEAKER_12: And again, like if if you are a modern studio, I would be like, hey, hey, competition, I was gonna come to your event, but you don't have a modern category for me.
22:55
SPEAKER_12: So unfortunately, I'm not coming until you create a modern category.
22:59
SPEAKER_12: Because what's the point of genres if we can't actually like go into the genres that we need to be in?
23:04
SPEAKER_12: You know, because in the open category as a judge, and we have an open episode, we're doing episode go give a lesson.
23:12
SPEAKER_12: But like I as a judge for the first 30 seconds, I'm just trying to figure out so what are you doing?
23:17
SPEAKER_12: Yeah, because that's what the open category is, right?
23:19
SPEAKER_12: It's like a catch-all category, but I don't think it should be a catch-all.
23:23
SPEAKER_12: It shouldn't be where this one dance that should be modern is going.
23:28
SPEAKER_12: It should be a fusion of styles that truly doesn't have a place.
23:33
SPEAKER_12: That's how I look at open, but you know, not everybody has the ability because then there's rules that I don't know about, or it's like, well, this is modern, but there's nowhere to put it.
23:41
SPEAKER_12: Yeah.
23:42
SPEAKER_12: What else?
23:43
SPEAKER_12: There was one right behind.
23:44
SPEAKER_12: Oh, yes, yeah, yeah.
23:45
SPEAKER_12: Yes.
23:46
SPEAKER_06: I'm coming for you.
23:50
SPEAKER_06: My name is Erica, and we are dancers at the studios in Utah.
23:55
SPEAKER_06: How do we get past the acro in all categories?
24:02
SPEAKER_06: We're teens that are 80% acro, 20% dance, and also stemming off of that, I'm sure everybody's experienced this where we're doing full team aerials and back tucks in the novice category.
24:20
SPEAKER_06: How do we overcome these hugely based acro routines that are competing?
24:26
SPEAKER_06: And you see it in contemporary, you see it in lyrical, you see it in jazz, you see it in hip-hop.
24:32
SPEAKER_06: How do we get past this?
24:34
SPEAKER_06: Like, how can we move around from acro-based routines?
24:39
SPEAKER_06: Thank you for this question.
24:42
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, we're both over here like, oh dear, it's this question.
24:47
SPEAKER_12: I have a lot of thoughts on this one.
24:48
SPEAKER_04: I mean, I will start out with I did not grow up doing acro, so I have a very big respect for people who teach it, people who do it, people who are able to get kids to do things like that early, because I could do a round off and it was very good, and that's all I had.
25:02
SPEAKER_04: Kudos to everybody.
25:03
SPEAKER_04: And and two things can be true at once.
25:07
SPEAKER_04: 80% acro is not a dance.
25:09
SPEAKER_04: 80% acro is an acro routine, and those are beautiful and should be judged accordingly by people who know how to talk about it.
25:16
SPEAKER_12: Right category.
25:16
SPEAKER_04: And in the right category, so that you're equally competing against somebody who is at the same level as you with those skills.
25:22
SPEAKER_04: You might have a novice acro dance and a novice jazz dance, and those are two different kinds of novices.
25:30
SPEAKER_04: And so that's I I hear you, I feel you.
25:33
SPEAKER_04: Somebody over here mentioned no repercussions for things like this.
25:36
SPEAKER_04: And we are, if you've listened to our podcast before, you know that we are bound by our employers who are the dance competitions.
25:43
SPEAKER_04: So if we are not allowed to deduct for something or to move something or to protest something, we are not allowed to do that.
25:49
SPEAKER_04: So that's again another question.
25:51
SPEAKER_04: You as the consumer, you as the customer, can ask, hey, what's the rules on this?
25:56
SPEAKER_04: Can your judges do anything about this?
25:58
SPEAKER_04: If we encounter this, how do you handle it?
26:00
SPEAKER_04: Because we, as much as we would like to make changes, oftentimes we cannot.
26:05
SPEAKER_12: Yeah.
26:06
SPEAKER_12: It's rarely is up to us, unfortunately.
26:09
SPEAKER_12: And it's gotten to a point, and that's why I love talking to teachers, because we're the ones that have the power to make the change, I think, as the customer and also as the creator of the routines, right?
26:20
SPEAKER_12: We always try to fight against the the acro phenomenon because as a judge, I want to see the genre again that you are entering in.
26:30
SPEAKER_12: And it all comes down to that ratio for me.
26:33
SPEAKER_12: You, as the creator, needs to look at your dance and say, Am I seeing enough jazz vocabulary to put this in the jazz category?
26:41
SPEAKER_12: Is there more acro than jazz?
26:43
SPEAKER_12: What's the ratio?
26:44
SPEAKER_12: Is it 20% jazz, 80% acro?
26:47
SPEAKER_12: Then that's not a jazz dance.
26:49
SPEAKER_12: Even if we take it to 50-50, it's still not enough for me.
26:52
SPEAKER_12: The genre that you're entering needs to be the higher percentage of that ratio to make it make sense.
26:59
SPEAKER_12: Acro should be a little flourish, a little sprinkle into your routines.
27:03
SPEAKER_12: It shouldn't be dominating the routine.
27:06
SPEAKER_12: If everybody can do a standing back tuck, cool.
27:09
SPEAKER_04: Let's like truly amazing.
27:11
SPEAKER_12: But like I'm always amazed.
27:12
SPEAKER_12: Remember when there were rules when there was only a certain amount of acro, and then I remember judging once, and I'm always that judge that's trying to monitor the rules, but also is that my job?
27:23
SPEAKER_12: But I don't know, so because no one else is doing it.
27:26
SPEAKER_12: So I'm like, hey, I saw there was like five, five flips in that.
27:30
SPEAKER_12: Am I allowed to deduct, or what are we doing about that?
27:32
SPEAKER_12: And they were like, oh no, no, we don't have any acro limits.
27:35
SPEAKER_04: Or or it's just sort of like a it's just a little bit of a brushed off.
27:39
SPEAKER_04: Nobody wants to make anybody angry, nobody wants to demean anybody's work.
27:43
SPEAKER_04: And they exactly, and everything's a business.
27:45
SPEAKER_04: And so it is a rock in a hard place kind of a situation.
27:49
SPEAKER_04: However, I know that there are categories, and again, with the reading of the categories and making sure you're being very specific about where you're placing things, some competitions, and I feel like this might be a little more Canadian, it's the category is called acro dance.
28:02
SPEAKER_04: Now that is a very different beast than acro.
28:05
SPEAKER_04: We need that or jazz.
28:06
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
28:07
SPEAKER_04: Because I think you can do, and I've seen a lot of beautiful videos of acro dance.
28:11
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
28:11
SPEAKER_04: And it's the way it's choreographed.
28:13
SPEAKER_04: It's not all of a sudden we've busted into a round off back handspring in the middle of my dance.
28:16
SPEAKER_04: It's all flowed and choreographed into the piece in such a way that it does feel like dance.
28:22
SPEAKER_04: And when it's done that way, I'm less mad about it, even if you're not in the acro dance category.
28:26
SPEAKER_04: But I'm still very much like Courtney.
28:28
SPEAKER_04: The category is the category and read the rules.
28:30
SPEAKER_04: And if you're teaching jazz, if you're choreographing jazz, it should be jazz.
28:35
SPEAKER_04: With a round off back handspring, perhaps.
28:37
SPEAKER_12: I will say on the critique, hey, I've watched you do five aerials, we gotta take a few out.
28:43
SPEAKER_12: I will straight up say that because I don't, I think that's the only way that maybe there will be progress if someone hears it and says, you know what, she's right.
28:51
SPEAKER_12: I mean, I don't know, maybe I'm not right.
28:53
SPEAKER_12: Or maybe they're gonna be like, I don't care, it's still one.
28:56
SPEAKER_12: That's how people are gonna look at that until deductions get onto a score sheet.
29:01
SPEAKER_12: And I I've said this many times.
29:03
SPEAKER_12: I think I I mentioned it yesterday.
29:05
SPEAKER_12: I also don't believe that it's the judge's responsibility to have to monitor and police these things.
29:09
SPEAKER_12: We are doing so much behind the table.
29:11
SPEAKER_12: If any of you judge, you know how much is being asked of us for very little money.
29:15
SPEAKER_12: So I think that to also have us to be like, oh, hey, we need to stop the show because there was five flips in that routine.
29:22
SPEAKER_12: There's no time for that.
29:23
SPEAKER_12: You know how fast things are moving on an event.
29:25
SPEAKER_12: So I also think that we are at a place where if we aren't able to enforce the rules, the competitions need to invest in some type of auditor, specialty judge that monitors rules, that deducts accordingly.
29:36
SPEAKER_12: There's a few comps out there that are starting to implement that, and I really respect them for taking that risk because everybody else is too afraid.
29:44
SPEAKER_12: Everyone is so afraid to lose the business.
29:49
SPEAKER_12: Um DECA Dance Competition, who works with ID, they have an actual separate fourth judge that is strictly watching the routines and monitoring the level, the amount of acro in the routines, if it's miscategorized and will bump it through the correct category.
30:07
SPEAKER_12: And they kind of will check in with the judges but have final say in that, which I think is really awesome.
30:12
SPEAKER_12: And they'll just bump things around and move things around and just catering to the rules, which I think is really awesome.
30:18
SPEAKER_12: They also have specialty judges on all of their panels, they cover every every genre on their panel, which is really great.
30:24
SPEAKER_13: DECA.
30:24
SPEAKER_12: DECA.
30:25
SPEAKER_12: They're based out of New Jersey, so they're kind of on the East Coast, unfortunately, for you.
30:29
SPEAKER_12: So I apologize.
30:30
SPEAKER_12: And I think there's a few others that do it.
30:32
SPEAKER_12: That's just off the top of my head since we work with them.
30:35
SPEAKER_12: But yeah, I would say just continue to talk to your competitions that you go to and say, Hey, are you guys gonna actually enforce your rules this year?
30:44
SPEAKER_12: That's what I'm really looking for.
30:46
SPEAKER_12: And if so, how?
30:47
SPEAKER_12: Because the how is the key, not just the yes.
30:50
SPEAKER_12: They're gonna say yes about everything they want your business.
30:52
SPEAKER_12: But if they say actionable ways on how they're going to, because sometimes also things happen in the background and that you don't even know about it, or if a bump happens from level, it just like happens in the background.
31:04
SPEAKER_12: You watch that dance, and then all of a sudden you're like, oh, okay, it looks like maybe they're in the advanced category.
31:09
SPEAKER_12: No, I think transparency is key.
31:11
SPEAKER_12: It shouldn't all be hidden and secretive, right?
31:14
SPEAKER_12: It's like we can all learn from each other if we're open about what's happening in front of us on stage.
31:20
SPEAKER_12: So yeah.
31:21
SPEAKER_04: Great question.
31:22
SPEAKER_04: I'm coming down for another one back here.
31:25
SPEAKER_04: All the way in the back.
31:26
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
31:28
SPEAKER_04: Of course.
31:30
SPEAKER_04: As if Vegas didn't do that to you already.
31:32
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, me.
31:32
SPEAKER_13: Hello with my stats.
31:34
SPEAKER_13: I'm here as a community partner, but asking a question as a parent.
31:37
SPEAKER_13: High releve double or triple versus what I'm hearing is now called UDA style.
31:44
SPEAKER_13: Here'll barely off the ground the ground in like a 32-count turn sequence.
31:49
SPEAKER_13: I know camp by falling, but but what do you all think?
31:52
SPEAKER_13: And is this being discussed with among judges these days?
31:56
SPEAKER_13: Because obviously there's lots of impressive turn sequences with not and yeah, UDA especially is a perfect place to see it, but then there are dancers doing very high releve doubles feeling like that's not enough.
32:10
SPEAKER_13: Yeah.
32:11
SPEAKER_13: Oh, Patty, I love this question so much.
32:13
SPEAKER_12: This is a great, great question.
32:16
SPEAKER_12: Somebody recently wanted us to talk about high releve.
32:20
SPEAKER_12: Hey, yeah, it's uh not how I trained.
32:24
SPEAKER_12: That's for sure.
32:25
SPEAKER_04: Low low releve is not how you trained.
32:26
SPEAKER_12: Yeah, low releve is not.
32:28
SPEAKER_12: No, sorry, yeah, no.
32:29
SPEAKER_12: No, yeah, the low releve is not how I trained.
32:32
SPEAKER_12: I am never a fan of a low releve.
32:35
SPEAKER_12: I it I don't care how many turns you do.
32:38
SPEAKER_12: I want to see a sustained suspension at the top of your pirouette.
32:42
SPEAKER_12: In any type of pirouette, you should finish up and suspended.
32:47
SPEAKER_12: But a low releve, there's no way you can even do that.
32:50
SPEAKER_12: What you're gonna push to a higher releve at the end of it, that doesn't count either.
32:54
SPEAKER_12: You gotta be at your peak releve from the start of that pirouette.
32:58
SPEAKER_12: Where to me, it's not a pirouette, it's a spin.
33:00
SPEAKER_04: It's a spin.
33:01
SPEAKER_04: And I I say that a lot on my critiques when especially to dancers who should know better.
33:06
SPEAKER_04: If you are seven and you're on a low releve, okay, we're working on this, right?
33:11
SPEAKER_04: If you are 17 and you should know better, you can do better.
33:16
SPEAKER_04: And that did not count to me.
33:18
SPEAKER_04: That's some rotations.
33:19
SPEAKER_04: You rotated, that's different than doing a pirouette.
33:22
SPEAKER_05: Yes.
33:23
SPEAKER_04: And now there's plenty of artistic, interesting ways to do a pirouette, sure, but a low releve is not one for me.
33:28
SPEAKER_04: Because I think that's also doing a disservice to whatever you might want to do in the future.
33:31
SPEAKER_04: Because if this is all you've done, if this is how you've trained, and somebody somewhere asks you, oh God, you've got to lift up that releve.
33:38
SPEAKER_04: What's happening here?
33:38
SPEAKER_04: A professional job, nobody wants to be told, lift up that heel.
33:43
SPEAKER_04: Oh God, I should have known.
33:44
SPEAKER_04: That's a thing we should be learning.
33:46
SPEAKER_04: And yes, we the reason the UDA groups do that is because they are choosing one quality over another.
33:57
SPEAKER_04: They really, really want precision.
33:58
SPEAKER_04: They want everybody doing these turns.
34:00
SPEAKER_04: That is the thing they value the most.
34:02
SPEAKER_04: And that is how they can achieve that.
34:04
SPEAKER_04: That's a choice, right?
34:06
SPEAKER_04: So I would, again, similarly to Courtney, like I wouldn't train like that.
34:09
SPEAKER_04: I want your high relevant.
34:10
SPEAKER_04: And if that means two turns, I love your two turns.
34:13
SPEAKER_04: That's the most you're gonna do in a professional show anyway, for the majority of shows out there in the world.
34:18
SPEAKER_04: You know, the Baxter Street Boys last night didn't do a pirouette.
34:20
SPEAKER_04: They did a lot of pot de bureaues, though.
34:22
SPEAKER_04: They sure did.
34:23
SPEAKER_04: You know.
34:24
SPEAKER_04: Yes, they did.
34:24
SPEAKER_04: So pot de bureau.
34:26
SPEAKER_12: Yeah.
34:27
SPEAKER_12: Thank you for the low releve question.
34:29
SPEAKER_12: It's so I hope to see very high releves from all of y'all studios this year at competition.
34:39
SPEAKER_11: Hey dancers, it's Courtney.
34:41
SPEAKER_11: And if you're 15 to 18 or in grades 10 through 12, you need to know about a life-changing organization called Young Arts.
34:49
SPEAKER_11: It's one of the only programs in the United States that supports young artists across 10 disciplines, including dance.
34:56
SPEAKER_11: From ballet, jazz, contemporary, hip-hop, tap, and even world dance, all genres are welcome and encouraged to enter into their national arts competition.
35:06
SPEAKER_11: When I was awarded as a young arts winner of distinction back in 2007, it completely changed my life.
35:12
SPEAKER_11: I received mentorship from Dance Legends at Young Arts Week Miami, made lifelong friends and connections, and the scholarship prize helped launch and fund my dance career in New York City.
35:23
SPEAKER_11: And to this day, Young Arts continues to support its alumni with grants, funding, and even podcast sponsorships.
35:30
SPEAKER_11: So now it's your turn to experience all that Young Arts has to offer.
35:35
SPEAKER_11: Apply today to enter into their 2027 National Arts Competition before the deadline on October 6th, 2026, at 8 p.m.
35:43
SPEAKER_11: Eastern Time.
35:44
SPEAKER_11: Click the link in our show notes to learn more or visit their website at youngarts.org slash apply.
35:56
SPEAKER_03: Any other questions?
35:58
SPEAKER_03: Yes.
35:59
SPEAKER_03: Amory from Dance Express in Easton, Massachusetts.
36:02
SPEAKER_03: I actually just going along with what she was saying about the levels.
36:05
SPEAKER_03: Like, what do you feel about the levels for competitions?
36:08
SPEAKER_03: Because I know why they do it, but I don't know.
36:11
SPEAKER_03: I just feel like I guess just being a kid that grew up with no levels, gold, silver bronze, whatever, it they're just all blended.
36:17
SPEAKER_03: Because I mean, obviously people are putting kids in a level that they shouldn't be in.
36:21
SPEAKER_03: And my kids are like not at they end up in the advanced based on the hours, but I wouldn't say they're like super competitive kids, but I always put them in that level because I don't think I want my kids to learn and know that you know what I mean.
36:34
SPEAKER_03: There's gonna be other dancers that are better than you, and that's part of the learning process.
36:38
SPEAKER_03: So I don't know.
36:39
SPEAKER_03: I mean, I know that's probably not anything that's ever gonna change, yeah, but do you feel the levels are good as judges?
36:46
SPEAKER_03: Do you like the levels or what do you think about?
36:49
SPEAKER_04: Man, you guys are throwing them at us.
36:51
SPEAKER_09: If you've listened to the podcast, then you know how I feel about it.
36:54
SPEAKER_04: There's also a levels podcast if you'd like to go back in time and listen to that.
36:58
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
36:58
SPEAKER_04: Well, and this is the this is the reason we do this, and I've told this story before, so if anybody has heard this, don't stop me.
37:04
SPEAKER_04: The what we first started this podcast in 2019, we were coming up with ideas, we had this whole list of ideas for topics, and I said, Courtney, gosh, don't you think we're just gonna run out of stuff to talk about?
37:15
SPEAKER_04: We are never gonna run out of stuff to talk about.
37:17
SPEAKER_04: We just we brainstormed for season eight a few weeks ago, and there's still so much to talk about.
37:21
SPEAKER_04: But what is interesting is that the same conversations keep happening because we're not done yet.
37:27
SPEAKER_04: This levels conversation has not stopped since, I don't know, 1998 or whenever somebody decided that there needs to be levels.
37:34
SPEAKER_12: Once I became a judge, which was like dance mom's era, 2010, maybe 08, maybe 09.
37:41
SPEAKER_04: I think that was more like when there were three levels because I competed my senior year of high school.
37:46
SPEAKER_04: Hello, everyone.
37:47
SPEAKER_04: There were two levels.
37:48
SPEAKER_04: And I we always danced in the regular normal folks level, and then there was the advanced.
37:53
SPEAKER_04: That was the new thing.
37:54
SPEAKER_04: And I competed as advanced for the first time as a soloist because I was like, I just want to see.
37:58
SPEAKER_04: I want to see what's gonna happen to me.
37:59
SPEAKER_04: Tenth place out of 11th, but I was very proud.
38:02
SPEAKER_04: I graduated with honors from Oklahoma City University, went on to a professional career.
38:06
SPEAKER_04: So I think levels are important to inclusivity, to make everybody feel like they have something they can achieve, because it is discouraging if you are somebody who works really hard for your two hours a week, and then you're up against somebody who dances for 12 hours a week.
38:22
SPEAKER_04: Well, that's just not fair.
38:24
SPEAKER_04: It doesn't compare apples to apples.
38:26
SPEAKER_04: And so I appreciate them for that reason to give everybody a chance to like feel like they've accomplished something because you have accomplished something at two hours a week, 12 hours a week, 20 hours a week.
38:35
SPEAKER_04: What I don't appreciate about them is the fact that nobody enforces them.
38:40
SPEAKER_04: It makes it very difficult for us to do our job because I have to rely on the studio owners and teachers who register to be honest and transparent.
38:47
SPEAKER_04: And the other thing is too, just humanity, there's differences.
38:51
SPEAKER_04: There's a 10-year-old who's only danced for a year who's out dancing the kid who's been dancing for seven years.
38:57
SPEAKER_04: That's just humanity.
38:58
SPEAKER_04: That's just how people are and individuals.
39:00
SPEAKER_04: So that stuff we can't really help.
39:03
SPEAKER_04: And so it's not fair to anybody to mislevel any of those kids, whether you've been dancing a year and you're a hyper-talented kid, or you've been dancing seven years and you're just a kid who loves to dance, even if you're dancing 12 hours a week.
39:14
SPEAKER_04: So it's it is a conversation that's ongoing.
39:17
SPEAKER_04: I do think that there's room for change, and I just think it takes a whole industry to keep having these conversations to refine it and make it better for everyone.
39:27
SPEAKER_12: I'm curious to know who attends leveled competitions and levels their dancers.
39:32
SPEAKER_12: Oh, that's a lot of people.
39:33
SPEAKER_12: That's almost everyone.
39:34
SPEAKER_12: Okay.
39:34
SPEAKER_12: And then who does anyone attend conventions that have no levels?
39:39
SPEAKER_04: Quite a few, yeah.
39:40
SPEAKER_12: Now, are those the same teams that you're taking to the leveled competitions?
39:44
SPEAKER_12: And when you enter into the leveled competitions, where are you entering your dancers?
39:55
SPEAKER_12: I think like what's shifted in the industry with the levels is now the advanced dancers are seeking, they don't want levels, the advanced dancers in the studios.
40:02
SPEAKER_12: They want to compete against everybody.
40:04
SPEAKER_12: But then there's also people who might compete in intermediate that are okay with going to a convention that has no levels.
40:11
SPEAKER_12: And no one's complaining about that, right?
40:14
SPEAKER_12: You know what you're signing up for, no one's complaining.
40:16
SPEAKER_12: Everyone complains when it's the leveled competitions because no one's enforcing the rules and everyone's abusing and all of the things.
40:21
SPEAKER_12: So maybe it's okay if there's no levels sometimes.
40:25
SPEAKER_12: Or maybe challenge your dancers and take them to a convention where you think it might be these high stakes, but see how they do.
40:33
SPEAKER_12: Because why not?
40:34
SPEAKER_12: That's the only way that we're ever going to have an idea as to where we fall is if you're up against everybody.
40:39
SPEAKER_12: And what's ending up happening, and I say this all the time, is that when we've broken it down into three different levels of competition, yes, it offers so many opportunities for new dancers to get onto the stage at different ability levels and training hours and all of those things, but we've created three miniature competitions inside of one big competition, which what it should be.
40:58
SPEAKER_12: And we've all been to the events that say they're sold out, but really it's you up against one other studio inside of your level, or you're an advanced studio and you get there and you're the only people in the advanced category.
41:09
SPEAKER_12: So wouldn't you rather just compete against everybody?
41:12
SPEAKER_12: And isn't that okay?
41:13
SPEAKER_12: I know that the recreational or the beginner levels would be upset with that, right?
41:17
SPEAKER_12: They're the ones that would be upset because they're like, well, we can't compete against the advanced.
41:21
SPEAKER_12: But what if your beginner dancers are so clean, way cleaner than the intermediate dancers, and maybe that's what those judges are going to score higher because you came polished and ready for the stage.
41:32
SPEAKER_12: Maybe you can hang against intermediate, but you just don't know it because you're too afraid to try it, right?
41:37
SPEAKER_12: I think that there's nothing wrong with competition.
41:39
SPEAKER_12: It's called a competition at the end of the day.
41:42
SPEAKER_12: And you don't know how many entries are signed up for what levels before you enter.
41:46
SPEAKER_12: So I think that it would be beneficial for our industry to potentially eliminate that middle level.
41:53
SPEAKER_12: I think that's the problem, child.
41:54
SPEAKER_12: The middle level should probably be bye-bye, see you next year or never again.
41:59
SPEAKER_12: And I think a beginner and an advanced or however you want to classify it, recreational competitive or intermediate advanced, I don't know, whatever you want to call it.
42:08
SPEAKER_12: I think two would be perfect.
42:10
SPEAKER_12: And maybe we make those ranges of how many hours a little bit wider because some people complain about the advanced saying, like, oh, well, there's studios that train 20 hours a week, and I'm advanced, I train eight hours a week, but I can't touch a 20-hour per week studio, and that's not fair.
42:25
SPEAKER_12: It's like we're never gonna find something that's fair.
42:27
SPEAKER_12: There's so many competitions.
42:28
SPEAKER_12: Find ones that align with you, find ones that you feel like is bringing the level of competition that you think is what your studio needs, and then go to a non-level competition and see how you hold your own against others.
42:40
SPEAKER_12: I think that's important to challenge our dancers in that way too.
42:44
SPEAKER_12: Level talk.
42:46
SPEAKER_12: We love it.
42:46
SPEAKER_12: Go for it.
42:49
SPEAKER_04: Hello, welcome.
42:50
SPEAKER_04: Tell us who you are and where you're from.
42:51
SPEAKER_07: Hi, I'm Kate.
42:52
SPEAKER_07: I'm from Tri-City Dance Center, and we're from British Columbia, Canada.
42:55
SPEAKER_07: So a little bit of a different comp scene for sure.
42:58
SPEAKER_07: But I grew up competing at conventions in the US, so we're familiar with it a little bit.
43:02
SPEAKER_07: We preach always, we're training them for a BFA program for dance upon the studio.
43:08
SPEAKER_07: And so our highly competitive kids, we go to comp and they're doing a beautiful sustained double pirouette like we were just talking about, and then they get beat by another kid who's on a super low releve who did three turns multiple times in their solo, and we can preach till we're blue in the face.
43:23
SPEAKER_07: You're never gonna do that in your professional career, so it doesn't matter.
43:26
SPEAKER_07: Your technique was beautiful, your transitions, you went through your feet.
43:29
SPEAKER_07: But it kind of coming from us constantly just sounds like, okay, and they're saying this again, but we still lost.
43:35
SPEAKER_07: So, how do we bridge that?
43:37
SPEAKER_07: This is our philosophy, and we know it works, and it's gonna get you a job one day.
43:41
SPEAKER_07: To we are going to competition and we're competitive and we want to stay competitive, but what we're saying is not getting you to where you want to place because we are entering a comp.
43:50
SPEAKER_07: Oh man, that's a great question.
43:52
SPEAKER_04: I love it.
43:53
SPEAKER_04: I love it.
43:53
SPEAKER_12: I have a lot of thoughts right off the bat, and this could be like a little controversial, but I feel like that sometimes It's kind of a lot what I talked about yesterday at my seminar, which was called the full studio package.
44:06
SPEAKER_12: You're zoning in on this releve.
44:08
SPEAKER_12: Our dancers have high releves and sustain and did a double, but these dancers that win did a low releve with a triple.
44:14
SPEAKER_12: But sometimes that's not all that matters in a dance.
44:19
SPEAKER_12: The full picture of that dance.
44:21
SPEAKER_12: How is it choreographed?
44:22
SPEAKER_12: Was the staging really exciting?
44:24
SPEAKER_12: Was the concept really unique?
44:26
SPEAKER_12: What else about that dance made that win?
44:30
SPEAKER_12: It I promise you, most likely it wasn't the releve that made that dance be your dance, unfortunately.
44:36
SPEAKER_12: Because there's more to a dance than just the technique, right?
44:40
SPEAKER_12: There's performance, there's execution, there's difficulty, there's costuming, there's presentation, there's all storytelling, all the things we talk about all the time.
44:47
SPEAKER_12: So I think sometimes we put blinders on because we start seeing there's no way our technique is so much better.
44:54
SPEAKER_12: I just don't understand.
44:55
SPEAKER_12: But maybe it's not the technique, maybe it's the artistry, maybe it's the choreography, maybe it's the transitions or whatever it may be.
45:03
SPEAKER_12: It's so hard to do a comparison without doing an audit on both, pretty much.
45:08
SPEAKER_12: But sometimes that's where our mind goes.
45:10
SPEAKER_12: And then the kids see that too.
45:13
SPEAKER_12: But again, it's three people's opinions, and those two same studios could go to another competition next week, and you could they love the sustained relevaes and the technique, and you're scoring higher.
45:23
SPEAKER_12: It truly is just sometimes a preference thing, but I think that it could be more, there's more to that than just the technical elements, unfortunately.
45:32
SPEAKER_12: When we're in a three-minute moment with you on stage and we don't know anything else about your dancers, right?
45:37
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, that three-minute moment is hard, and which is why plug for our online critique service.
45:41
SPEAKER_04: That's why we love to offer this service to give you just a little bit more because sometimes I want to recognize that, but I have to keep going.
45:47
SPEAKER_04: Amazing releve, but this part, you have to keep going.
45:50
SPEAKER_04: It's only three minutes, right?
45:51
SPEAKER_04: But the online critique service allows 15 to 20 minutes of focused stop and start critique.
45:57
SPEAKER_04: So I can learn a little bit more about you.
45:58
SPEAKER_04: There's a dancer, I've been doing her online critique for six years.
46:01
SPEAKER_04: They send their solo every year, and it's so awesome to be able to see the growth.
46:06
SPEAKER_04: And you do that because you're in the studio every day.
46:07
SPEAKER_04: I'm not in the studio every day.
46:09
SPEAKER_04: So, like, it's so special to be able to have those little moments with one dancer who trusts you to take a look at something over time.
46:16
SPEAKER_04: So you have that with all of your students.
46:18
SPEAKER_04: My question for you guys, though, is your philosophy is to train for BFA program professional level dancing, yeah?
46:25
SPEAKER_04: Is everybody at your studio wanting to do that, or do you have kids who don't?
46:29
unknown: More competitive kids.
46:32
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
46:32
SPEAKER_12: Oh, just lots of face, yeah.
46:34
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
46:35
unknown: Yeah.
46:36
SPEAKER_12: Stereotypical dance competition routine.
46:38
SPEAKER_12: We all know what they are.
46:39
SPEAKER_12: Yes.
46:44
SPEAKER_12: I think that sometimes you have to look at the growth of your studio.
46:47
SPEAKER_12: Use your most advanced oldest dancers as the pinnacle.
46:51
SPEAKER_12: They should be like the celebrities at your studio.
46:54
SPEAKER_12: They should be the ones that the little ones are looking up to, right?
46:57
SPEAKER_12: It's not all the noise everywhere else.
46:59
SPEAKER_04: Oh, it's such noise.
47:00
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, it's really.
47:00
SPEAKER_12: So you have to stay in your studio world and say, look, this is where you're gonna be one day.
47:05
SPEAKER_12: You're gonna be dancing just like your favorite star dancer at the studio, whoever it is that they all look up to, and maybe even creating more of a buddy system or something for them.
47:14
SPEAKER_12: That way they can be along for the ride as as they go through their dance journey, so they can really idolize them.
47:20
SPEAKER_12: Because having dancers that you can look up to at your studio is really important, and it's gonna motivate the younger dancers to be like, I wanna be like them one day, not just who you see on social media, right?
47:30
SPEAKER_12: I think that's a whole nother issue that we see just we can see everything on our phone.
47:35
SPEAKER_12: When I was growing up, no social media, so I just idolized the people ahead of me.
47:40
SPEAKER_12: And I'm like, oh my gosh, I can't wait to and that fueled me.
47:43
SPEAKER_12: And then when I got into a classroom with them, I felt so honored and lucky to be going across a floor with those dancers.
47:50
SPEAKER_12: So creating that and trying to just stay in the studio zone.
47:54
SPEAKER_12: Then of course you want to watch everyone that's around you.
47:57
SPEAKER_12: I think that's special too, but be like, yeah, well, you know what?
48:00
SPEAKER_12: Go watch the go watch our senior dancers.
48:02
SPEAKER_12: Isn't that beautiful?
48:03
SPEAKER_12: That's gonna be you one day.
48:08
SPEAKER_10: Um Erin, I'm from All An Arts Complex in New York.
48:11
SPEAKER_10: This may be a controversial question.
48:13
SPEAKER_10: Okay, but what are your thoughts on, since we talked about levels, most competitions have uh the top score for the novice.
48:20
SPEAKER_10: So if it's out of 300, they can only get whatever 295.
48:24
SPEAKER_10: What are your thoughts on regulating how high they can score, not necessarily point-wise, but the ultimate platinum, high platinum, high gold, things like that?
48:34
SPEAKER_10: Because if you have these younger novice dancers who are getting the top award, and then they move up an age bracket or move up a level, and then they're getting a lower, but they're scoring similarly, if that makes sense.
48:48
SPEAKER_10: So, what are your thoughts on like maybe we bring back the high silver and the gold for younger, for younger or the novice kids, and then as they work their way up, then they can work their way up to the higher awards.
49:04
SPEAKER_12: I kind of like that idea.
49:06
SPEAKER_12: Bring back the high silver.
49:07
SPEAKER_04: I love a high silver.
49:08
SPEAKER_04: I got a high silver.
49:10
SPEAKER_04: Um you want to go on this one?
49:14
SPEAKER_04: I have to formulate some thoughts.
49:15
SPEAKER_12: Yeah.
49:16
SPEAKER_12: Yeah, I mean, every competition again is different.
49:19
SPEAKER_12: There's no universal scoring bracket.
49:21
SPEAKER_12: Everybody's different.
49:22
SPEAKER_12: I honestly wish there was because it's so darn confusing.
49:25
SPEAKER_12: I can't keep it straight.
49:26
SPEAKER_12: But I think that there's some competitions that have a an extra, like once you get into like intermediate and advanced, there's like another like step up in an adjudication range.
49:38
SPEAKER_12: Ultimate unicorn.
49:39
SPEAKER_12: So like I think that that is a nice perk.
49:42
SPEAKER_12: I think that's nice.
49:43
SPEAKER_12: And like obviously the beginners can't get there, like you were describing.
49:46
SPEAKER_12: But then, like, there's also some do like curves, which is just way too confusing.
49:53
SPEAKER_12: I think we gotta get rid of that.
49:54
SPEAKER_12: We just gotta get rid of the curves.
49:56
SPEAKER_12: It doesn't make sense.
49:57
SPEAKER_12: So, yeah, I think that maybe it should be that they're living in the lower range because oftentimes as judges, we are told to utilize the range, right?
50:06
SPEAKER_12: You as a customer, you're sitting at awards, you're hearing the same darn two adjudications the whole time, and then there's like a sprinkle of the one or a sprinkle of the other.
50:13
SPEAKER_12: So, like we're trying to use the full range.
50:16
SPEAKER_12: But again, if you think about that, all three people have to kind of unanimously give the same award for it to fall into the average point-wise in that range.
50:27
SPEAKER_12: If we all don't align, then if people are on the cusp, it's gonna bump up to that one that you've been hearing 24-7.
50:33
SPEAKER_12: And that's why they all kind of merge into that middle ground very often, unless it's very distinctly we know that you're a top scorer or it's we have a lot of work to do, right?
50:43
SPEAKER_12: So that's why you only hear those three ranges.
50:46
SPEAKER_12: But I like the idea of maybe creating like more different types of ranges to incentivize the upgrades to going to intermediate or advanced.
50:56
SPEAKER_12: I think that could be something there.
50:57
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, they all everybody does it so differently.
50:59
SPEAKER_04: So I'm trying to think back to like which it stops at 295 if you're a novice, it goes up to 298 if you're an intermediate, and then you can get a 300.
51:08
SPEAKER_04: But I think also what are those numbers or what are those distinctions even, what do they even mean when you're posting it on social media or the parent is posting on social media and they say, my kid got top high point in her division?
51:22
SPEAKER_04: Well, that only means for her division, and nobody out there knows what that even means.
51:26
SPEAKER_04: So everybody's conception is just she won.
51:28
SPEAKER_04: Well, she did win, but all these other people won higher things because she wasn't competing against them.
51:34
SPEAKER_04: So I personally appreciate when competitions allow you to give a novice a diamond or whatever, because for a novice, for what we're judging you on, you are a diamond.
51:44
SPEAKER_04: You excelled.
51:45
SPEAKER_04: And I think that's unfair to bump them down to something that's not excellent just because they're in a different level.
51:50
SPEAKER_04: But I understand what you're saying too.
51:52
SPEAKER_04: Well, then if I got a diamond here, I might as well just stay here.
51:54
SPEAKER_04: I don't want to get a high platinum if I go up, and that really is and that's a hard thing, just as again with individuals and children, and you have to get it through their head that like this actually is a higher placement.
52:05
SPEAKER_04: It just doesn't feel like it because it's named something different.
52:08
SPEAKER_04: It's so complicated.
52:09
SPEAKER_04: Why do they make it so complicated?
52:10
SPEAKER_12: Right.
52:10
SPEAKER_12: That's why it just needs to be one and done level, and it'll make our job way easier too.
52:16
SPEAKER_12: You'll actually hear all those ranges that you're looking for once we eliminate those levels because we will actually be able to utilize it if you think about it.
52:26
SPEAKER_12: Because there would be ranges of dancers, right?
52:28
SPEAKER_12: And that is okay if they're all competing against each other, because maybe there are some intermediate dancers that are getting those lower ranges.
52:36
SPEAKER_12: Just because they're in that level doesn't mean that they're automatically gonna get this award range.
52:40
SPEAKER_12: It's such a fine line.
52:41
SPEAKER_12: Yeah, it's just more to the level, the level issues, I think.
52:45
SPEAKER_12: Final question.
52:46
SPEAKER_02: I'm Shannon from Tri-City Dance Center in Vancouver, British Columbia.
52:50
SPEAKER_02: And uh I have an interesting question from an organization.
52:55
SPEAKER_02: She is Canadian-based, but it's international, and she certifies judges or adjudicators, okay.
53:03
SPEAKER_02: And she posted an annual trend report with feedback from judges.
53:08
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
53:09
SPEAKER_02: And so 76% complained about long hours, 56 complained about time management, and 56% of the judges complained about score manipulation by the competition.
53:23
SPEAKER_02: I was shocked, and I've been in this industry for oh my gosh, 36 years, owned a studio for 28.
53:30
SPEAKER_02: I have never thought that happened.
53:33
SPEAKER_02: So I'm I don't know where I'm living.
53:35
SPEAKER_02: We're in Canada, remember, so it is a little different.
53:39
SPEAKER_02: But can you talk about that as a judge?
53:44
SPEAKER_02: Because that to me was so shocking and upsetting, but it actually explains a lot of things.
53:50
SPEAKER_12: We just released two a two-parter episodes at end season seven, and it was called Judging Horror Stories.
53:57
SPEAKER_12: So give a listen to that one.
53:59
SPEAKER_04: Also, I would love to hear afterwards who this industry professional is because that's very interesting.
54:03
SPEAKER_12: I I have been on panels where I know my score is manipulated.
54:09
SPEAKER_12: And I know why, because I wrote down my score on my paper, and then when my studio owner friend got my score, it wasn't that score.
54:21
SPEAKER_12: That is how I learned.
54:23
SPEAKER_12: There are many times where if a score comes in and it's on the cusp based on how all three fell, they'll ask us, hey, this could be bumped.
54:34
SPEAKER_12: Would you like to adjust your score to get it to that award range?
54:37
SPEAKER_12: Or are you guys okay with leaving it there?
54:39
SPEAKER_12: I respect that when they ask, because then I can just do it.
54:43
SPEAKER_12: I'm in control, right?
54:44
SPEAKER_12: But there's some that might not want to have that extra conversation.
54:48
SPEAKER_12: You gotta keep the show moving when it's like, okay, well, I'm just gonna go toot, toot, toot, and I'm gonna adjust this just a little bit, where you won't really tell, but it does what it needs to do because we're living in a platinum world and we gotta make sure we hit a high gold.
55:03
SPEAKER_04: In my experience, it's typically been that where it's this group score is within 0.2, 0.02 of being the next education level, and that is what happens.
55:14
SPEAKER_04: And most of the time, the the tabulator doing this is also watching, so has a sense of like this this could be a platinum.
55:20
SPEAKER_04: You know, this was on the cusp.
55:22
SPEAKER_04: We could give that person that little edge.
55:24
SPEAKER_04: I too have been in situations where it has been communicated to me that they want to do that.
55:28
SPEAKER_04: Can I do this for you?
55:29
SPEAKER_04: Yes.
55:29
SPEAKER_04: And then I've been in situations where, again, I know for a fact because I write my scores down, I always have.
55:34
SPEAKER_04: That's how I was trained.
55:35
SPEAKER_04: Thank you, Gene Wenzel, out there, trained by the best.
55:38
SPEAKER_04: So write your scores down.
55:39
SPEAKER_04: If you guys judge, write your scores down because it matters to be able to go back.
55:43
SPEAKER_04: It is a thing that happens.
55:45
SPEAKER_04: It makes it very difficult to do our job and want to keep doing the job because you being the competitions have hired us for a reason.
55:52
SPEAKER_04: You looked at my resume, you looked at my background, you have looked at my LinkedIn to see is this person qualified to do this job?
55:58
SPEAKER_04: And by changing my score, you have negated all those qualifications.
56:02
SPEAKER_04: It makes me question myself after having done this for so long.
56:05
SPEAKER_04: So just know that if that is happening, either we do not know about it because it's being done without our knowledge, and at least in my experience, I have said yes, that is okay with me.
56:16
SPEAKER_04: And it is only because you asked me and I believe in it.
56:20
SPEAKER_04: And sometimes I say no.
56:21
SPEAKER_04: Sometimes I, you know, and especially if my critique said a lot of things that made you live in that high gold land.
56:27
SPEAKER_04: I can't give you a higher score because what I said is not going to be backed up by that score.
56:31
SPEAKER_04: So my integrity is on the line as well.
56:33
SPEAKER_04: You know, if people are really listening to all these critiques and then they come back and say, Well, she she went off about whatever it was, and the score was this, those things don't match up.
56:42
SPEAKER_04: Well, then that makes me look bad.
56:44
SPEAKER_12: So oftentimes things are getting put onto us.
56:48
SPEAKER_12: Things are being said, oh, the judges final say, and the judges picked that, and the judges do that.
56:53
SPEAKER_04: Some of the software lets you click on things.
56:55
SPEAKER_04: So it was like, if you thought this was the best entertainment, click on it, and then it collaborates it or collates it at the end, and then the most people, most votes win.
57:02
SPEAKER_04: So that that does happen a lot of times.
57:04
SPEAKER_04: And honestly, it's like I I chose it as an option and I did not know it won because that is handled without us.
57:11
SPEAKER_12: There are some comps that actually give a report really quick and just let the judges check in and say, okay, are we cool with who's in first overall?
57:18
SPEAKER_12: Because it was a tight, close one.
57:19
SPEAKER_12: Is that who we want to win?
57:21
SPEAKER_12: This is how it fell with the scores.
57:22
SPEAKER_12: And then they give the the sign off on it.
57:24
SPEAKER_12: Or here's what's winning that, and we're like, yes, yes, yes.
57:27
SPEAKER_12: I think that needs to happen a little bit more instead of just rolling out to the next award ceremony because again, our integrity is on the line.
57:34
SPEAKER_12: Our bios are out there, our names are out there, people are gonna be like, the judges don't know what they're talking about.
57:39
SPEAKER_12: How would you pick that for best technique?
57:40
SPEAKER_12: They had low relevance, whatever it may be.
57:43
SPEAKER_12: So yeah, I'd say ask questions.
57:45
SPEAKER_12: If you haven't registered yet for competitions, even though I know a lot of them have already started, ask and are already sold out somehow.
57:53
SPEAKER_12: Ask the questions, you know, ask those questions uh to the competitions and let that determine where you choose to give your business.
58:01
SPEAKER_12: Not just about this is perfect in our schedule, but how how are we vetting our judges?
58:05
SPEAKER_12: How are you upholding your rule standards?
58:07
SPEAKER_12: Are you actually going to enforce things?
58:09
SPEAKER_12: Are you going to bump things?
58:10
SPEAKER_12: You know, whatever is the most important to you as a studio, ask those questions before you give them that$30,000 check.
58:18
SPEAKER_12: It's important.
58:19
SPEAKER_12: And you have the power to make the change.
58:24
SPEAKER_11: We hope you enjoyed our episode at Dance Teacher Web 2026 in Las Vegas.
58:31
SPEAKER_11: Shout out to all of the participants who joined us on this live seminar and session at the web.
58:37
SPEAKER_11: We loved meeting with you and interacting with all of our fans.
58:41
SPEAKER_11: If you're interested in having Making the Impact Podcast host a live podcast recording at a future event, let us know by emailing us at podcast at Impact Dance Adjudicators.com.
58:53
SPEAKER_04: Don't forget to follow Making the Impact anywhere you listen to podcasts.
58:57
SPEAKER_04: And new for season eight, we're on video.
58:59
SPEAKER_04: Check us out on YouTube by searching for Impact Dance Adjudicators.
59:03
SPEAKER_04: And if you want more exclusive episodes, support our podcast by joining Platinum Premium membership for only$5 a month.
59:09
SPEAKER_04: Subscribers receive free Making the Impact stickers, shout-outs live on the air, ad-free listening, and exclusive access to our QA episodes for members only.
59:18
SPEAKER_04: Join now at Impact Dance Adjudicators.com slash Platinum Premium or click the link in our show notes.
59:24
SPEAKER_11: Dance Teachers, studio owners, and choreographers, this one's for you.
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SPEAKER_12: Imagine four incredible days of inspiration, innovation, and movement at the Dance Teacher Web Conference and Expo.
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SPEAKER_12: They are back in Vegas for their 2027 event from July 27th through the 30th at the Caesars Forum.
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SPEAKER_12: And you do not want to miss it.
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SPEAKER_12: With over 140 masterclasses, you'll gain fresh choreography, cutting-edge business strategies, and proven techniques to elevate your teaching and grow your studio.
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SPEAKER_12: So what's in store?
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SPEAKER_12: Exclusive sessions with industry icons on retention, marketing, and injury prevention.
1:00:00
SPEAKER_12: Live movement classes to bring new energy to your lessons, networking events and parties to connect with dance educators from around the world, full access to the Expo Hall to discover the latest in costumes, dancewear, and studio must-haves.
1:00:13
SPEAKER_12: And$20,000 in giveaways.
1:00:16
SPEAKER_12: Head on over to their website at Dance Teacher Conference.com to grab your spot or click the link in our show notes to register now.
1:00:24
SPEAKER_11: Mark your calendars, and I hope to see you in Vegas next year at the biggest dance teacher event of the summer.
1:00:31
SPEAKER_04: Coming up in the next few weeks, we're excited to bring you an episode honoring some of our teachers, a throwback episode, and a chat about college dance programs.