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LIVE Q&A with Courtney and Lesley - May Edition · Making The Impact - A Dance Competition Podcast

0:08
SPEAKER_00: Welcome, all of our viewers.
0:10
SPEAKER_00: We're having a dance party today.
0:14
SPEAKER_00: And like I said, this is called Making the Impact of Dance Competition Podcast.
0:18
SPEAKER_00: This is the celebration episode of the end of our very first season of Making the Impact.
0:24
SPEAKER_00: We launched this podcast as a fun project back in October.
0:29
SPEAKER_00: And it is a part of Impact Dance Adjudicators, which, if you're not familiar with who IDA is and what impact is, we will tell you a little bit about that soon.
0:39
SPEAKER_00: But the podcast was just something we brainstormed about and said how cool would it be to create a way for the judges to give some inside scoop as to how dance competitions work and what we look for behind the table as a judge at a dance competition and things like that.
0:57
SPEAKER_00: So we've had such a successful first season so far.
1:01
SPEAKER_00: We've had over 20,000 downloads of our episodes, and we've had around 20, a little over 25 episodes uh throughout the first season.
1:10
SPEAKER_00: And one of those episodes that we do every month is called QA with Courtney, which hello, I'm Courtney or Tees.
1:18
SPEAKER_00: And we have sometimes we have guests on it, and if not, sometimes it's just me flying solo.
1:23
SPEAKER_00: And I sit down and I answer questions that all of the listeners submit to me.
1:28
SPEAKER_00: So it can be about really anything in the competitive dance world.
1:32
SPEAKER_00: It can be about the professional dance world and transitioning from a competitive dancer to the professional, really anything about dance.
1:38
SPEAKER_00: People have sent in so many questions from all over the world.
1:41
SPEAKER_00: And it's been really exciting to answer those on the podcast.
1:44
SPEAKER_00: And this time we've decided to go live with this episode.
1:46
SPEAKER_00: So now I have Leslie helping me.
1:48
SPEAKER_00: Since she's my co-host in all episodes, and uh we're going to be tackling questions as we go.
1:53
SPEAKER_00: So really excited to see everybody that's joining.
1:57
SPEAKER_00: I'm reading comments right now.
1:58
SPEAKER_00: Oh, so cute.
1:59
SPEAKER_00: Hi, Alexa.
2:00
SPEAKER_00: Hi, hi, Leslie's mom.
2:02
SPEAKER_00: So sweet.
2:03
SPEAKER_00: So the great news is that as a viewer today, on whether you're on Facebook or if you're on YouTube or if you're on our website, you can log in to your social platform and you can type in your questions in the comments feed and we can see them and answer them directly.
2:18
SPEAKER_00: So if you have a question that you've been dying to ask one of us personally, or if you have a question that you're just curious about when it comes to judging or dance competitions in general, feel free to send them our way and we will, we would love to answer these questions.
2:34
SPEAKER_00: That's what this is all about.
2:35
SPEAKER_00: So before we continue on, just some of our most popular episodes, if you're new to the podcast, that people have loved to listen to so far this season.
2:45
SPEAKER_00: Our hottest topic and our most popular episode has been Lyrical versus Contemporary, which launched back in the fall and was one of our first episodes, and it was a huge hit.
2:56
SPEAKER_00: People were just so curious to know what really is the difference between lyrical versus contemporary.
3:00
SPEAKER_00: That is a huge question that everyone asks.
3:03
SPEAKER_00: So we answered that in full detail.
3:04
SPEAKER_00: So go check that out.
3:06
SPEAKER_00: Some other ones that were really popular this season were age range expectations, what the judges look for in each age range at competition, the do's and don'ts of costuming, which we all love a good costume, and the evolution of acro.
3:19
SPEAKER_00: So those are some of our most successful, most downloaded episodes.
3:24
SPEAKER_00: So feel free to go check those out now on Apple Podcasts.
3:28
SPEAKER_00: And yeah, let's move on.
3:33
SPEAKER_01: Let's move on.
3:34
SPEAKER_01: So speaking of all of our episodes, if you are new to our podcast and who we are, we would love it if you would head over to Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher.
3:44
SPEAKER_01: Anywhere you get your podcasts, you can get our podcast.
3:46
SPEAKER_01: If you subscribe, you will automatically get downloads of all of our new episodes, which as Courtney said, we will be having a few kind of pop-in episodes over the summer.
3:56
SPEAKER_01: Since we are all sitting around with nothing to do, we will have some episodes for you.
4:00
SPEAKER_01: So if you subscribe, you'll go ahead and get those automatically downloaded.
4:04
SPEAKER_01: But you will also be able to go ahead and then manually download our previous episodes.
4:08
SPEAKER_01: So if you have something you're just dying to listen to, click, boom, there you go.
4:12
SPEAKER_01: Like that lyrical versus contemporary podcast, which yeah, that one, that one was uh was a good one.
4:19
SPEAKER_01: I enjoyed doing that.
4:20
SPEAKER_01: It was a great one.
4:21
SPEAKER_00: It was such a good discussion.
4:23
SPEAKER_01: Oh, so good.
4:24
SPEAKER_01: And everybody, I mean, I think people are still talking about it.
4:27
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
4:29
SPEAKER_01: Um, and speaking of talking about things, when you hear something you like, just like kind of in life, if you see something you like, compliment a person.
4:37
SPEAKER_01: If you hear something you like on our podcast, compliment us, leave us a review.
4:41
SPEAKER_01: Um, the best place to do that is on Apple Podcasts if you are um subscribed that way.
4:46
SPEAKER_01: Um, the more positive reviews we get, the more we get bumped up into ratings.
4:51
SPEAKER_01: Therefore, we are able to, you know, share our views and everything with more people.
4:55
SPEAKER_01: So we really appreciate everybody who's gone ahead and done that so far.
4:58
SPEAKER_01: We've, I mean, I still can't believe it every time I log in.
5:01
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, oh, there's a new review.
5:03
SPEAKER_01: There's a new review.
5:04
SPEAKER_01: It's like a highlight of my week.
5:07
SPEAKER_00: I know.
5:08
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I think we have close to like 80 reviews on on Apple Podcasts.
5:13
SPEAKER_00: So people seem to love what we're doing, and we couldn't have done it without all of you, obviously, and everyone's support.
5:21
SPEAKER_00: So keep listening, keep subscribing.
5:24
SPEAKER_01: Keep listening, subscribe, follow us on social media.
5:27
SPEAKER_01: We are everywhere at Impact Dance Adjudicators.
5:30
SPEAKER_01: Our website is www.impactdanceadjudicators.com.
5:34
SPEAKER_01: So everything is consistent.
5:35
SPEAKER_01: We post a lot of content on the website in terms of our blog.
5:39
SPEAKER_01: We also have a blog that's been around for about three years that I'm a part of that I serve as the editor for.
5:45
SPEAKER_01: And most recently we've been dedicating the blog to our judges, and they're coming in doing guest writing and guest articles.
5:52
SPEAKER_01: We just had a really great one uh this past week from one of our judges, Ashley Marinelli, who wrote this super cute blog about her and her puppy, which then transforms into a dance-related topic, but it's very cute because there's some great pictures of her and her dog.
6:07
SPEAKER_00: And she's such a good writer.
6:08
SPEAKER_00: So shout out to Ashley and all of the judges on the roster who have contributed to our blog this season.
6:15
SPEAKER_00: Another great thing that's happened since the launch of our podcast is this beautiful collaboration with our podcast sponsor, which is Level Up Dance Supplies.
6:25
SPEAKER_00: We are so grateful for this partnership with Level Up Dance Supplies.
6:29
SPEAKER_00: And they have not only sponsored the podcast for us this entire season as our season sponsor, but they've also been a sponsor for our IDA virtual dance competition, which you'll hear more about very soon.
6:40
SPEAKER_00: But to give you all a little update as to who is Level Up Dance Supplies, Level Up is trusted by Dance Moms since 2010 and is a dance mom-owned and operated small business that has the largest selection in the United States of dance gear and core strength training tools.
6:56
SPEAKER_00: They carry the top name brands, including Glamour Gear, Rack and Roll, KK Miami, Yofi, Harlequin, and so many more.
7:02
SPEAKER_00: Level Up specializes in dance bags with racks and carries up to 13 different styles and brands at the lowest prices.
7:08
SPEAKER_00: You are sure to find a dance bag that suits your needs and your budget.
7:12
SPEAKER_00: They carry a wide variety of practice gear too.
7:15
SPEAKER_00: So if you are in need of a tap art, ballot bars, dance stats and specialized training tools, feel free to check them out.
7:23
SPEAKER_00: Especially if you're creating a home studio right now.
7:26
SPEAKER_00: They would definitely be helpful.
7:27
SPEAKER_00: So if you're looking for quality equipment at prices you love, there's only one place to go.
7:31
SPEAKER_00: Head over to Level Up The Answerprise at LevelUp The Answerprise.com and use the coupon code Bravo5 for$5 off your first order.
7:40
SPEAKER_00: We're very, very grateful for Level Up.
7:43
SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much.
7:44
SPEAKER_00: And let's briefly chat about the virtual comp.
7:49
SPEAKER_01: Yes, we so Courtney and I both got back from being out of town on March 15th, which was kind of the beginning of when everything uh in the US started shutting down.
8:02
SPEAKER_01: And she reached out to me and she said, I have this idea for a virtual competition.
8:06
SPEAKER_01: So that was the last time Courtney and I have physically seen each other.
8:10
SPEAKER_01: We sat down and brainstormed all day that day to figure out how to bring dance competition world into people's homes, into people's video libraries.
8:21
SPEAKER_01: We knew that things were gonna start to get canceled.
8:23
SPEAKER_01: So we are now in our third event.
8:26
SPEAKER_01: We've got another solo competition.
8:29
SPEAKER_01: We had one awesome solo competition back in March.
8:32
SPEAKER_01: Um we did a wonderful group competition in April that just finished up.
8:35
SPEAKER_01: And now we are about halfway through registration for our second virtual solo competition.
8:41
SPEAKER_01: We have some really awesome prizes sponsored by Level Up and a few other people that you can win.
8:47
SPEAKER_01: We also knew for this competition, we've heard a lot of complaints over the years from competitors that you know they're entering a specific genre and they're not getting solid critiques from all of the judges because maybe one judge doesn't have a tap background, one judge doesn't have a ballet background, and they're just not happy with the quality of the critiques.
9:06
SPEAKER_01: So what we've offered for the second event is customized genre-specific judging panels.
9:12
SPEAKER_01: So if you have a tap dance and you suggest or you want to reach out to us and say, I want a genre-specific panel, we're gonna give you three professional judges within that genre to give you your critiques.
9:24
SPEAKER_01: So you're guaranteed to get usable, informative, educational critiques that matter to your genre.
9:30
SPEAKER_01: So we're really excited to offer that.
9:32
SPEAKER_01: Our entries are$30 a piece.
9:34
SPEAKER_01: Registration ends May 30th, and our live stream of our top 20 in each age category is on June 5th.
9:41
SPEAKER_01: So we're super excited to have this opportunity for everybody.
9:44
SPEAKER_01: We've been getting wonderful feedback.
9:46
SPEAKER_01: So we hope you'll join us.
9:48
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
9:49
SPEAKER_00: Please, please join us.
9:50
SPEAKER_00: It's been a blast watching dancers from across the world send in their videos, and it's also helping employ our roster of judges, which is really exciting in this difficult time.
10:00
SPEAKER_00: Our judges are all working remotely from home for the virtual competition.
10:05
SPEAKER_00: They're doing their critiques, their scoring.
10:08
SPEAKER_00: It's just been really awesome to be able to make this happen for not only the dancers around the world that are missing the competition life, but also to help employ others in the industry since our entire industry is kind of on hold right now, which is really unfortunate.
10:24
SPEAKER_00: But yes, please feel free to go ahead over to our website at impactdanceedjudicators.com slash virtual competition to learn more and register now.
10:34
SPEAKER_00: Cool.
10:35
SPEAKER_00: So everybody, we have our viewers here.
10:38
SPEAKER_00: We haven't had any questions come through yet.
10:41
SPEAKER_00: So if you have a question, that's what this is all about.
10:45
SPEAKER_00: You can send in your questions.
10:47
SPEAKER_00: We actually have a question from my mom, of course.
10:51
SPEAKER_00: Hi, mom.
10:52
SPEAKER_00: And she wants to know a little bit more about IDA, even though mom, I'm sure you probably know a lot about IDA, but she wants to know where the judges are from.
11:01
SPEAKER_00: So let's talk a little bit about IDA briefly before we start answering some questions.
11:06
SPEAKER_00: Hopefully, we'll get some more questions coming in.
11:08
SPEAKER_00: So, you know, type some questions out.
11:11
SPEAKER_00: We love to hear them.
11:13
SPEAKER_00: But let's talk about IDA really quick.
11:16
SPEAKER_00: We started IDA back in 2014.
11:19
SPEAKER_00: I'm the owner of IDA.
11:20
SPEAKER_00: Leslie works on the back end with me along with a few others too.
11:24
SPEAKER_00: Um, and it's just been a wonderful thing that we created.
11:27
SPEAKER_00: We really kind of wanted to create a way to find the quality judges in the industry.
11:33
SPEAKER_00: I've worked as a judge probably close to 10 years now in New York and surrounding areas, nationally, across the country.
11:42
SPEAKER_00: And I feel like that we all have felt that frustration of having a judging panel that just isn't up to par or what the expectations are, and they're not providing the quality feedback or critiques that we, you know, deserve because you spent so much money on entry fees, you've worked so hard.
11:57
SPEAKER_00: Now it's time to get your critiques, and the judges didn't really say anything.
12:00
SPEAKER_00: So, what I wanted to do was kind of bring in the good and weed out the bad and create an opportunity for us to pre-screen judges who submit.
12:09
SPEAKER_00: So every single judge on our roster, which we have 150 judges on the IDA roster from all over the country in the United States, we have a few Canadians.
12:17
SPEAKER_00: We're working our way on branching up to Canada, but we have a roster of judges on the IDA roster who have all been pre-screened.
12:24
SPEAKER_00: They've all been vetted by us.
12:26
SPEAKER_00: They had to submit tons of credentials and go through a pretty elaborate pre-screening process, which we evaluated their critiques and how they score.
12:33
SPEAKER_00: And if we feel like that they were at the caliber and level of expectation that we have as far as what we feel a quality critique is.
12:40
SPEAKER_00: And all of the judges on our roster have to be versatile.
12:42
SPEAKER_00: They have to know how to critique and judge all styles of dance, at least from beginner.
12:47
SPEAKER_00: So, you know, like Leslie said, for our virtual competition, we have the genre-specific option for panels where we can hand select judges that specialize in that genre that you have and you are submitting.
12:58
SPEAKER_00: At regular competitions, we don't have that luxury, which is okay.
13:01
SPEAKER_00: But the hard part is it's finding judges who have knowledge in all styles of dance.
13:06
SPEAKER_00: And we are trying to make that happen.
13:09
SPEAKER_00: So all of our judges have basic knowledge in tap, they have basic knowledge in hip hop.
13:14
SPEAKER_00: And of course, there might be some that have more knowledge than others, but it just depends on how the panels are staffed.
13:18
SPEAKER_00: So we have a nice variety of judges on our roster from all over.
13:22
SPEAKER_00: We have experienced judges, we have new judges that are breaking into the industry, we have professional dancers on the roster, we have Radio City Roquette, we have Broadway performers, commercial dancers, concert dancers, dance educators, convention teachers.
13:34
SPEAKER_00: We really have tons of judges.
13:37
SPEAKER_00: So that's kind of where IDA started, and we staff judges to dance competitions nationwide.
13:42
SPEAKER_00: So it's been really, really great to continue to expand the company in other forms, just like this, the podcast, where we can kind of sit back and talk and we do round table discussions with our judges.
13:54
SPEAKER_00: So that's been really fun.
13:55
SPEAKER_00: And we have the virtual comp now and we do online judges' critiques, and there's just a lot of a lot of opportunities through our company.
14:04
SPEAKER_00: So we've been really grateful to watch it evolve through the past few years.
14:07
SPEAKER_00: And I couldn't do it without Leslie, and I couldn't do it without my back team.
14:10
SPEAKER_00: So hey to all my my back team that's watching, my team on the other side.
14:14
SPEAKER_00: Love you all, Marissa, Maddie, Jesse, everybody back there.
14:18
SPEAKER_00: So that's a little bit about IDA.
14:20
SPEAKER_00: We have some questions coming in that is exciting.
14:25
SPEAKER_00: I'm just gonna like go through and see a few of them right now.
14:30
SPEAKER_00: Here's a question that Tiffany reached out, and it's actually about the competition, which Tiffany asked, is it better to submit a video from practice in studio without audience noise or a comp performance for the virtual comp, I'm assuming is what she's asking about.
14:47
SPEAKER_00: And um I mean, I would I would say honestly, any any video is great.
14:53
SPEAKER_00: Um, it doesn't matter which which type of video.
14:56
SPEAKER_00: If I think something that I've kind of recommended for people that have asked this question before is I think that it really comes down to your dancer and which performance your dancer feels better with as far as which is on video.
15:08
SPEAKER_00: Some people have said things like, oh, well, a lot of virtual comps are only favoring to the competition videos and they're not they're not giving the same scores to dancers who didn't have a competition video.
15:20
SPEAKER_00: And I don't think that's true at all.
15:21
SPEAKER_00: It it's they don't think it's true.
15:24
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's really not true.
15:25
SPEAKER_00: So, you know, if you do a great performance in studio and you're satisfied with that and you don't feel like that was as strong as your competition video performance, then submit your in-studio rehearsal video.
15:34
SPEAKER_00: Something else that's important to remember for the virtual comp that we're hosting and many of the other companies that are hosting is that costumes do not go into your score for this because we are all understanding that not everybody had a chance to go to stage this year.
15:48
SPEAKER_00: So you might not have your costume on in an in-studio rehearsal, but that's the only video that you have.
15:53
SPEAKER_00: And that's totally okay.
15:54
SPEAKER_00: So, Tiffany, if you're interested in submitting, you can submit any video that you want to send as long as your dancer feels comfortable and happy with whatever performance you're submitting.
16:04
SPEAKER_00: Hope that's helpful.
16:05
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I definitely agree with that.
16:07
SPEAKER_01: And, you know, I remember we were reading, you know, comments on a lot of the internet forums about that exact question.
16:13
SPEAKER_01: Like, are they even giving scores fairly based on competition versus rehearsal videos?
16:19
SPEAKER_01: In our top 20, there were at least five or six that first virtual competition in our top 20 of each age that were in studio rehearsals.
16:30
SPEAKER_01: They were rehearsal performances that weren't even recorded to send anywhere.
16:35
SPEAKER_01: So that just goes to show if your dancer is doing their best every time, hello teachers, we know we're saying this all the time to their, you know, to everybody, you never know.
16:45
SPEAKER_01: You never know when that one rehearsal video may need to now be sent for something that matters.
16:50
SPEAKER_01: So, you know, dancers out there, if if we have dancers watching and dancers listening once we uh produce this, you know, giving a hundred percent all the time, it matters because you never know when it's gonna come back, you know, and you're gonna need that.
17:04
SPEAKER_00: Right.
17:05
SPEAKER_00: Such a good point.
17:06
SPEAKER_00: We have a few other questions coming, but I do want to share this lovely shout out from Kimberly, which is so sweet.
17:15
SPEAKER_00: If you can see it, it says, No question, just a shout-out.
17:19
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for welcoming the different differently able community to your competitions and for the incredible feedback.
17:25
SPEAKER_00: Love that they that they treat our dancers no differently and truly give helpful feedback.
17:29
SPEAKER_00: We love IDA.
17:30
SPEAKER_00: Oh my gosh, thank you, Kimberly.
17:33
SPEAKER_00: You're so sweet.
17:33
SPEAKER_00: It's if you're unfamiliar, Kimberly submitted into our virtual competition.
17:38
SPEAKER_00: And if you were a part of our group competition, then you maybe were able to see some of her dancers perform on a live stream.
17:44
SPEAKER_00: But they she also has some dancers who are special needs who have joined us in our event.
17:48
SPEAKER_00: And it's just been a pleasure watching your dancers on stage.
17:52
SPEAKER_00: And it's I've been so inspired watching them, and it's just like for the love of dance, seriously, it was beautiful.
17:58
SPEAKER_00: So I hope that we get to watch them so much more.
18:01
SPEAKER_00: And we love your support, Kimberly.
18:03
SPEAKER_00: So thanks for the beautiful shout out and for tuning in.
18:06
SPEAKER_00: Oh, I just love all of them, they're just so sweet.
18:08
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, the the joy on stage from all of your dancers, Kimberly, is it's just palpable.
18:13
SPEAKER_01: And again, that's from a video.
18:15
SPEAKER_01: Like, I can't imagine you know, being there live and getting to teach them and be a part of their growth over the years.
18:22
SPEAKER_01: That's that's just amazing.
18:24
SPEAKER_01: So, congratulations, you guys have done a really, really great job um with all your kids.
18:28
SPEAKER_00: We have a really great question from Brenda, if you're up for it, Leslie.
18:33
SPEAKER_00: And we're actually gonna go there with this one.
18:36
SPEAKER_00: So I hope everybody's ready.
18:38
SPEAKER_00: We're about to go into one of the heated, top, most heated topics in podcast land and competition land.
18:46
SPEAKER_00: So here we go from Brenda, which it's covering our face because it's a long one, but as a studio owner who has been going to competitions for the last 20 plus years, it seems more and more in the past five to seven that the studio owners are no longer following the rules and placing their children in the appropriate levels.
19:04
SPEAKER_00: I have seen so many outstanding dancers that obviously take more than three hours a week place their kids in recreational levels.
19:11
SPEAKER_00: How do the judges truly feel about this?
19:14
SPEAKER_01: Most hottest topic ever.
19:18
SPEAKER_01: Levels at competition.
19:19
SPEAKER_01: We did a full podcast on this.
19:22
SPEAKER_00: Oh man, yes, we did do a full podcast on this episode.
19:26
SPEAKER_00: We talked all about levels and what they mean to us as judges and if we love them or if we hate them.
19:32
SPEAKER_00: So if you want to find out the truth from four different judges in the industry about our thoughts on the level system, feel free to check out that podcast episode.
19:42
SPEAKER_00: But for right now to answer this question, Leslie, do you have any initial thoughts to that question?
19:48
SPEAKER_01: I feel like that's just the the turn that a lot of our society has taken lately is, you know, well, they're not gonna know anyway, so let me just do this.
19:56
SPEAKER_01: Or how would they ever know?
19:58
SPEAKER_01: And that's really frustrating, you know, when businesses are trying to conduct themselves, you know, in an honest, ethically fair way.
20:06
SPEAKER_01: And as judges, as outsourced employees, you know, we can only say so much about it.
20:11
SPEAKER_01: My personal feelings, you know, if I see a dancer who's achieving a certain level of perfection, which we've all seen in a level where you wouldn't expect that, I do usually say something to somebody, to the tabulator, to the event director.
20:28
SPEAKER_01: And just to bring it up, like I know that maybe I'm not gonna be able to make a change because that's above my pay grade.
20:35
SPEAKER_01: But but for me personally as a judge, it's it's just disheartening.
20:39
SPEAKER_01: And usually what I'll say on a critique is something like, you know, wow, I'm just really impressed that this dancer is only, you know, is competing at this high of a level within this ability level category.
20:51
SPEAKER_01: You know, it definitely next season, I really would encourage you to place this dancer in the next highest level because that's where she'll be competitive.
20:58
SPEAKER_01: There's no competition if you're placing somebody below their actual ability level.
21:04
SPEAKER_01: And, you know, it's nice to have a trophy, but isn't it also better to like work harder to achieve something more than just sweeping?
21:12
SPEAKER_01: And you know, it can get really frustrating for me.
21:15
SPEAKER_01: So of course your thoughts.
21:17
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean, I have a lot of thoughts about the levels, to be completely honest.
21:22
SPEAKER_00: And I've I got very into it in our podcast episode on this topic, and I said all of my thoughts, but I don't love the levels.
21:31
SPEAKER_00: I just think that it just feels like three separate competitions instead of one giant competition.
21:36
SPEAKER_00: So if there's 500 entries at an event, you also can't really monitor how many are going into each level.
21:43
SPEAKER_00: So I feel for those studios, especially, and you know, I'm I'm feeling that if there are three levels at a competition and that's the what the competition company chooses, I feel for some of the advanced dancers because I feel like a lot of people are going into that middle level, and then sometimes it might be.
22:00
SPEAKER_00: A sold-out weekend, and 20 of the 30 studios are in the middle level, and nine of the other studios are in the recreational level.
22:10
SPEAKER_00: And then there's the one or two studios that are just in the advance competing against themselves.
22:14
SPEAKER_00: And I don't think that's fair for really anybody because it should be a competition against everyone.
22:19
SPEAKER_00: And yes, I understand that there are dancers who are training less hours.
22:23
SPEAKER_00: So why should they compete against the dancers who are training 20 plus hours or whatever it is?
22:28
SPEAKER_00: But I think maybe if we get rid of that middle level, it'll just kind of fix the problem in the industry because I think a lot of people are abusing it.
22:34
SPEAKER_00: And it's an honor system, like we said, we're we're trusting you to place your dancers in the right place.
22:40
SPEAKER_00: And we don't know, we are not going to come to your studio and watch how many hours they're training.
22:45
SPEAKER_00: So it's hard to enforce it.
22:46
SPEAKER_00: And we don't want to say that you're lying either because that's not cool.
22:50
SPEAKER_00: So I just always say everybody just follow the rules.
22:53
SPEAKER_00: And, you know, if I personally feel that if you walk into the studio and leave the studio, that counts as training, regardless if it's a rehearsal, if it's a group rehearsal, a studio, a solo rehearsal, or if you're going to ballet class.
23:07
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't matter what type of class it is, if it's, well, that's not my technique class.
23:12
SPEAKER_00: I only take technique class for three hours a week.
23:14
SPEAKER_00: So I'm going to be a recreational dancer.
23:17
SPEAKER_00: No, that's not fair because you're in five dances, which means that each dance has an hour of rehearsal, which means that you're at the studio now for at least eight hours.
23:25
SPEAKER_00: That's how I look at it.
23:26
SPEAKER_00: So I think that people need to be a little bit more understanding when it comes to what the guidelines are for each competition to really follow those rules because it makes our job harder as judges to be able to provide the actual, you know, appropriate score and appropriate critiques if you don't put yourself in the correct level.
23:44
SPEAKER_00: It makes it a little bit difficult.
23:45
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
23:46
SPEAKER_00: We could talk about this all day.
23:48
SPEAKER_00: This is kind of interesting.
23:49
SPEAKER_00: Thank you, Brenda, for that question.
23:50
SPEAKER_00: If anybody else has more level questions, bring bring them on because we're ready for them.
23:54
SPEAKER_00: We're here.
23:56
SPEAKER_00: But I actually think this is interesting because we have two new questions now that I'm going to share.
24:02
SPEAKER_00: And they're actually the exact same question, but coming from two different people in the industry, which is really exciting.
24:08
SPEAKER_00: So, first, let's see our first question, which I'm pretty familiar with this person because they entered into our virtual competition.
24:15
SPEAKER_00: They entered their daughter.
24:16
SPEAKER_00: So this is a dance mom, Lottie.
24:18
SPEAKER_00: Hello, Lottie.
24:18
SPEAKER_00: How you doing?
24:19
SPEAKER_00: From Canada.
24:20
SPEAKER_00: Hi, Lottie.
24:21
SPEAKER_00: So she says, How do you, as choreographers for competitions, feel about dancers' parents tweaking or changing parts of their solo choreography to suit them better as the practicing and as the year progresses?
24:33
SPEAKER_00: So that's Lottie's question.
24:36
SPEAKER_00: And let's look at the next question that came in, which is very similar.
24:41
SPEAKER_00: This is from my girl Casey.
24:42
SPEAKER_00: And if you don't know Casey, Casey Tiny Go Show.
24:46
SPEAKER_00: She asked, she's a professional dancer and choreographer in the industry.
24:49
SPEAKER_00: She's one of my closest friends.
24:50
SPEAKER_00: And she asked, How do you, as judges, teachers, feel about moms re-choreographing dances that their teachers have choreographed for them?
24:57
SPEAKER_00: I've had this happen to me personally, and I want to know your thoughts on this issue.
25:01
SPEAKER_00: So kind of crazy.
25:02
SPEAKER_00: I'm I'm pretty sure that you all can obviously see the comments on your end, like as you're submitting.
25:07
SPEAKER_00: So it's cool that, you know, we have a mom asking that question in relation to her daughter's choreography, and we have a choreographer on the other side saying, How do you feel about this?
25:19
SPEAKER_00: Do you have any initial thoughts on either of those things, Leslie?
25:23
SPEAKER_01: I really do.
25:24
SPEAKER_01: So if your mom is like my mom and she's a dance teacher, fine.
25:30
SPEAKER_01: Um not not that fine, but like more fine if it's just your mom who may or may not be a dancer.
25:37
SPEAKER_01: As a choreographer, and especially a choreographer who knows her dancers, I don't choreograph for people I don't know.
25:43
SPEAKER_01: A lot of people do, and that's to me a whole nother ballgame.
25:46
SPEAKER_01: So, Courtney, maybe you can speak to that because you do that more than I do.
25:49
SPEAKER_01: Um when I choreograph solos and duos and trios, I'm aware of what their strengths are.
25:55
SPEAKER_01: I'm aware of what their weaknesses are.
25:57
SPEAKER_01: Who was it?
25:58
SPEAKER_01: We had a podcast guest the other day that wasn't referencing a weakness, it was like an opportunity for betterment or something.
26:03
SPEAKER_01: Oh, it's Kelsey Nelson.
26:05
SPEAKER_01: Kelsey Nelson, hey girl.
26:07
SPEAKER_01: Hey girl.
26:08
SPEAKER_01: So I yeah, I know I know their strengths and I know their opportunities to work harder.
26:12
SPEAKER_01: I don't put things in dances people can't do.
26:15
SPEAKER_01: That's irresponsible as for me as a choreographer to do that because my job is to make you look good.
26:21
SPEAKER_01: So if I have a dancer who cannot leap off of the floor because she doesn't have that power, you don't get any leaps in your dance.
26:29
SPEAKER_01: Or at least you're not getting anything that's gonna make a judge take points off because I know I would take points off.
26:34
SPEAKER_01: Right if you were throwing skills that you can't do, well, I have to take points off for that.
26:39
SPEAKER_01: So I don't like it when somebody changes my work without consulting me because I know that I did what I did for a reason.
26:47
SPEAKER_01: Right.
26:48
SPEAKER_01: Typically, when I work with students, I come in, I work on a dance for a couple weeks, I go away, and then I come back maybe around Christmas time and look at it again.
26:57
SPEAKER_01: And I usually give that dancer sort of the choice.
27:00
SPEAKER_01: If there's a section of a choreography that's not working, I come up with a plan B.
27:05
SPEAKER_01: Because if you don't have it by December and your competition's in February, and I'm not there to drill it every week, we're gonna need to come up with a plan B.
27:13
SPEAKER_01: So I always give options to have something changed, but there have definitely been times when I've come back at recital or I see the competition video and I'm like, that's not my dance.
27:24
SPEAKER_01: Right.
27:24
SPEAKER_01: I did not do that.
27:25
SPEAKER_01: I would never have done that.
27:27
SPEAKER_01: Who did that?
27:28
SPEAKER_01: Right.
27:28
SPEAKER_01: And it's really frustrating.
27:29
SPEAKER_01: Yep.
27:30
SPEAKER_01: So those are my initial thoughts.
27:33
SPEAKER_00: I think this is a great, great topic discussion that we we did a choreography podcast earlier in the season, and we did briefly talk about guest choreography, and I think we also talked about guest choreography on another episode, too.
27:46
SPEAKER_00: I can't remember which one, but I think that should be a topic in general that we maybe tackle next season that we should put on our list because it is a new thing.
27:55
SPEAKER_00: Uh, a lot of dancers do get their solos sourced out, or studios bring in guest choreographers to do group routines.
28:03
SPEAKER_00: And I think that the difficult part with any sort of guest choreography is that you only have a limited amount of time to work with that choreographer.
28:12
SPEAKER_00: And I think that dancers need to choose wisely as to who they select and not just pick somebody that's super famous or popular or that they just like stalk on Instagram because you might have never done their style before.
28:23
SPEAKER_00: And is that going to really highlight your strengths at competition?
28:27
SPEAKER_00: You know, I have mixed feelings about guest choreography and like I'm a guest choreographer myself.
28:31
SPEAKER_00: Leslie's a guest choreographer, but I feel like that unless it's something very specific, I why couldn't your own teacher do it for you?
28:41
SPEAKER_00: Your teacher knows your strengths the best.
28:43
SPEAKER_00: Like they know you better than that guest choreographer does.
28:46
SPEAKER_00: And unless it's a very unique style that your teacher doesn't do that you excel at, then I think that makes sense.
28:52
SPEAKER_00: And if you're trying to, you know, step outside your boundaries and try something new and challenge yourself, great.
28:57
SPEAKER_00: But I think that it's it's just as I don't know, it just really depends.
29:00
SPEAKER_00: And I think you have to be an advanced dancer.
29:02
SPEAKER_00: I don't think that like young dancers need guest choreographers because I think they should be working with their actual studio teacher, and that's very important to train directly with them and grow with them.
29:11
SPEAKER_00: So you have a limited time frame with a guest choreographer.
29:15
SPEAKER_00: You might have a day, you might have two, they may or may not film the video for you to reference after the fact.
29:20
SPEAKER_00: They may or may not give you video feedback throughout the season and touch base with you.
29:25
SPEAKER_00: They may do it once and say, bye, see ya, I'm done.
29:28
SPEAKER_00: Good luck with your solo.
29:29
SPEAKER_00: I hope it goes well.
29:30
SPEAKER_00: Can't wait to figure out what costume you pick out.
29:32
SPEAKER_00: Like, you know, it just really depends on each guest choreographer.
29:36
SPEAKER_00: So I have done the same thing, Leslie.
29:38
SPEAKER_00: I've done choreography where I have like high expectations for the dancer, and I know that this is August and they're not competing until February.
29:47
SPEAKER_00: So they can, you know, if you can't get this section, by the time this hits the stage, you gotta you gotta change it.
29:52
SPEAKER_00: And I go to the teacher and I tell them, hey, you're allowed to tweak this as you need to.
29:56
SPEAKER_00: That is totally fine with me.
29:58
SPEAKER_00: You want to show the best of you on stage.
30:01
SPEAKER_00: And I think that, especially coming from the judge's seat, which we are judges, I choreograph completely different.
30:09
SPEAKER_00: And I kind of change how I'm choreographing because I'm like, oh, would the judges like this?
30:14
SPEAKER_00: Okay, well, I have to make sure that the judges will like this.
30:16
SPEAKER_00: Did I use all the space of the stage?
30:18
SPEAKER_00: So they can't knock me for this, and they can't say that I did this wrong, and they can't say that I did this wrong because you are getting judged as a choreographer too.
30:26
SPEAKER_00: That is part of your score.
30:27
SPEAKER_00: That is another thing that a lot of teachers feel offended by.
30:32
SPEAKER_00: Oh, why did the judge, you know, say this about my choreography?
30:35
SPEAKER_00: Honestly, they shouldn't re-choreograph your routine, but at the same time, like what you're presenting is getting judged as well.
30:43
SPEAKER_00: And it is, like you said, Leslie, it is our job as smart choreographers to present the best of that dancer or the group on stage.
30:50
SPEAKER_00: So, do I think that the whole dance should be re-choreographed?
30:54
SPEAKER_00: No, because why did you spend all that money for a guest choreographer if you're just gonna change the dance?
30:59
SPEAKER_00: Like, absolutely not.
31:00
SPEAKER_00: You shouldn't change the dance.
31:02
SPEAKER_00: If you're a dance parent and you think that you know what you're doing, you probably don't.
31:06
SPEAKER_00: So don't change the dance.
31:07
SPEAKER_00: Take it to your teacher and your studio owner and say, hey, I'm not sure about this section.
31:13
SPEAKER_00: She's struggling with this, she doesn't feel good about this.
31:15
SPEAKER_00: What can we do to kind of tweak this, but still make it cohesive in the choreography and figure out a way to do that?
31:22
SPEAKER_00: And then, like Casey, I mean, I totally respect and understand your understand your question.
31:26
SPEAKER_00: I've sat on the back end and like watched my dance that wasn't my dance before.
31:30
SPEAKER_00: Like I've been there and it's a horrible feeling.
31:33
SPEAKER_00: And I think that we as choreographers just have to lay the law down a little bit more and say, listen, this is what it is.
31:39
SPEAKER_00: You have to make sure that they get this.
31:40
SPEAKER_00: You have to rehearse them, video it, send it to me.
31:43
SPEAKER_00: I'll give you feedback.
31:44
SPEAKER_00: Like we can, we have this opportunity of this virtual world now where we can be a little bit more involved from a distance.
31:51
SPEAKER_00: So I think that we need to take advantage of that and just kind of let them know, yes, you may change this section only, or you are not allowed to change any bit of the dance.
32:00
SPEAKER_00: And I will find out if you do, because it is a small dance world and we will see it.
32:05
SPEAKER_00: And or if that's the case, we don't want our name attached to it either, if it's not our dance in the end.
32:11
SPEAKER_01: You know, that's the thing that bothers me the most about it is that you know, if you changed it from a triple to a double, fine.
32:19
SPEAKER_01: Don't consult me about that, it doesn't matter.
32:21
SPEAKER_01: But if you've taken a whole phrase and completely redone it, then that's not my work anymore.
32:27
SPEAKER_01: That's like taking a chapter out of a book and rewriting it.
32:30
SPEAKER_01: Like it's not my work.
32:31
SPEAKER_01: I don't want my name on it.
32:33
SPEAKER_01: And again, and I think people don't recognize how small this world is.
32:37
SPEAKER_01: You know, we have 150 judges on your roster alone.
32:41
SPEAKER_01: Both of us have judged for other competitions for almost a decade.
32:45
SPEAKER_01: And then there are other people out there who have been judging for 20 plus years.
32:49
SPEAKER_01: We know a lot of those people.
32:52
SPEAKER_01: So, and the name of the choreographer is printed in most of the programs.
32:55
SPEAKER_01: You're gonna see it.
32:57
SPEAKER_01: So, you know, if my dear friend Michelle Tolson looks at a program, looks at a hot mess dance and sees my name on it, she's gonna be like, Right, Leslie, what was that?
33:07
SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, that's my dance.
33:09
SPEAKER_01: She somebody changed it.
33:10
SPEAKER_01: You know, it's reputations.
33:12
SPEAKER_01: So, again, like Courtney said, I think if you are a parent who is a dancer, that's probably more fine.
33:19
SPEAKER_01: But I still think consult your choreographer again.
33:22
SPEAKER_01: Hello, virtual world.
33:24
SPEAKER_01: We want to do this, we want to give you the feedback.
33:27
SPEAKER_01: We invested time on thinking about your dance, on choreographing your dance, on picking the music, on doing it for you.
33:33
SPEAKER_01: Why wouldn't you reach out to us if you were having a problem?
33:36
SPEAKER_01: Like, that's the I think we discussed that on whichever episode.
33:39
SPEAKER_01: I think it was the choreography episode.
33:40
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
33:41
SPEAKER_01: You know, the amount of times people just like take the choreography and never ever show their face again.
33:47
SPEAKER_01: Like I'm here.
33:49
SPEAKER_01: I can help you with that if you would just let me know you needed help, but they don't.
33:52
SPEAKER_01: So I think that would be one of the biggest takeaways for um Lindy's mom.
33:56
SPEAKER_01: I'm sorry I didn't catch your first name, but as a dance parent, you know, who may be outsourcing choreography for your daughter, reach out to us, reach out to your choreographer because they will.
34:07
SPEAKER_01: And if they won't, then rethink your choreographer choice.
34:10
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
34:11
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
34:11
SPEAKER_00: I mean, there have been times where someone sent me a video and uh there's some things going on where I need to kind of give feedback on it.
34:19
SPEAKER_00: And prior to the virtual comp, I've done online judges' critiques where I give my feedback just like this, like through a video chat.
34:26
SPEAKER_00: And I say, Hey, watch your musicality right there.
34:28
SPEAKER_00: You're you're missing the musicality, and like that sequence doesn't work unless that musicality is really strong.
34:33
SPEAKER_00: So, you know, you can have like virtual sessions with your choreographers, and I think that's important to touch base with them.
34:40
SPEAKER_00: You know, if you're spending the money to have a guest choreographer, I think that you need to continue to have that relationship with them throughout the season to just touch base.
34:48
SPEAKER_00: They want to talk to you, they want, you're not bothering them.
34:52
SPEAKER_00: We care about our craft and we care about the choreography that's that you are doing and that's being presented under our name.
34:58
SPEAKER_00: So we want to make you the best that you can be, even though we are from a distance.
35:02
SPEAKER_00: So I think that wasn't very interesting to you know answer this question from both sides, from a dance mom and from a professional in the industry.
35:10
SPEAKER_00: So thank you both for sending in that question.
35:13
SPEAKER_00: Hope that was helpful.
35:14
SPEAKER_00: Lottie said it was helpful, so great.
35:16
SPEAKER_00: Um Lottie, oh Alexa, hey girl.
35:21
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna show it.
35:22
SPEAKER_00: And this says about inappropriateness at competition.
35:26
SPEAKER_00: I often see the argument that the inappropriate the best techniques are that that is why they won.
35:32
SPEAKER_00: I would love to see the inappropriateness trump the technique score and get the disqualification that is needed to keep the competition family friendly.
35:40
SPEAKER_00: Thoughts.
35:41
SPEAKER_00: All right, here's another hot one.
35:43
SPEAKER_00: Let's go.
35:45
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna let you take the lead on this one.
35:46
SPEAKER_01: Uh gosh.
35:51
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
35:52
SPEAKER_00: Appropriateness at competition.
35:54
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna let all of y'all know that this is a topic we are going to tackle next season on the podcast because we didn't get to it this time and this needs to be discussed.
36:04
SPEAKER_00: I'm not gonna, I I mean, I might go, well, while right now, hopefully not, won't take up too much of your time, but we have all seen inappropriate dances at the competition, and sometimes nothing's done about it, which is really unfortunate.
36:17
SPEAKER_00: And to be completely honest, on our end as judges, we don't have a lot of options as far as what we can and can't do.
36:27
SPEAKER_00: I mean, we can absolutely say we think this needs to be disqualified.
36:31
SPEAKER_00: But again, we are just judges for a dance competition.
36:35
SPEAKER_00: We are employed for just that weekend.
36:37
SPEAKER_00: We come in, we go out.
36:38
SPEAKER_00: We may have worked for this event once, we've may never work for them again, who knows?
36:42
SPEAKER_00: But, you know, it's ultimately comes down to the competition.
36:46
SPEAKER_00: And I think that everybody has different rules as far as appropriateness at events.
36:49
SPEAKER_00: I think that people just need to make sure that they follow those rules.
36:53
SPEAKER_00: Again, it's the same thing as levels.
36:55
SPEAKER_00: Why are we abusing the levels?
36:56
SPEAKER_00: Why are we not following rules?
36:58
SPEAKER_00: The same needs to go to appropriateness.
36:59
SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's I feel like it's getting worse lately.
37:02
SPEAKER_00: And something that really boils my blood is something as simple as like a music edit with a getting a cuss word out of the music.
37:08
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I don't understand.
37:10
SPEAKER_00: It's year 2020.
37:11
SPEAKER_00: We know how to video edit, music edit now.
37:13
SPEAKER_00: There's no excuse as to why there's any sort of cuss words in a competition song that who knows who's sitting in the audience.
37:20
SPEAKER_00: There's three-year-olds, five-year-olds who are there, you know.
37:23
SPEAKER_00: And regardless if it goes over their head or not, that's not the point.
37:27
SPEAKER_00: And regardless if you're in the senior category and you think that this is a, you know, this is mature and this is okay for the seniors.
37:33
SPEAKER_00: That's not the point.
37:34
SPEAKER_00: It's the point that this is a family-friendly environment and that we need to make sure we're following the rules.
37:38
SPEAKER_00: And we're, you know, our job as judges is extremely hard.
37:42
SPEAKER_00: We've mentioned this before.
37:44
SPEAKER_00: We are asked to do a lot of things in a very short amount of time and make you, as a customer who is attending the competitions, happy.
37:51
SPEAKER_00: We have to talk the whole time, know what we're talking about, score appropriately, give special awards, nominate for other things, and then move on to the next entry before we can even get a sip of water.
38:02
SPEAKER_00: We also don't have time in that short three minutes to police dances on stage if they are breaking rules.
38:09
SPEAKER_00: And that is really, I don't know whose job that should be.
38:12
SPEAKER_00: I know if someone's breaking rules, I mean, we can also talk about like the acro trick limit thing, what is considered an acro trick limit and what's not, and who polices that.
38:21
SPEAKER_00: That's a whole nother discussion.
38:23
SPEAKER_00: But my job as a judge is I should be judging what is presented in front of me, and someone else can police the rules and enforce those rules if they choose to.
38:33
SPEAKER_00: And I think that the competitions, I personally think should get a little bit stricter with policing that because a lot of abusing is happening, like we've discussed, and appropriateness is one of them.
38:42
SPEAKER_00: And I think that as a judge, we've said this before on the podcast, not all that we can do.
38:47
SPEAKER_00: You know, we can definitely put our foot down and say, we think that this needs to be disqualified.
38:51
SPEAKER_00: And again, who knows if that'll happen.
38:54
SPEAKER_00: But we have a voice and we can say on the critiques, I do not feel that this song is an appropriate choice.
39:01
SPEAKER_00: I don't feel like this costume is an appropriate choice.
39:03
SPEAKER_00: And I don't feel like that that choreography section right there is appropriate for this age of dancer.
39:08
SPEAKER_00: I would recommend my professional opinion for the teacher to adjust this or whatever it may be.
39:14
SPEAKER_00: And if there is an option for choreography in our score, we can, you know, deduct a few points to kind of get the point across, like, hey, we didn't really love this choreography for these dancers.
39:24
SPEAKER_00: It's just, it just made me uncomfortable.
39:26
SPEAKER_00: And, you know, I think that's really the only way that things are gonna change is if we actually do deduct points because of it.
39:33
SPEAKER_00: So I have more thoughts on this, but any other thoughts, Leslie, from you about this in general?
39:38
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I mean, I have a couple of thoughts.
39:40
SPEAKER_01: And you know, we've you and I personally have talked about this ad nauseum, I feel like, because it's just we know it's a topic we're gonna have to tackle, and we know this could be a four-hour podcast.
39:50
SPEAKER_01: So it kind of shrink it down into a digestible, reasonable answer.
39:55
SPEAKER_01: But number one, I am the judge who is listening for your inappropriate content.
40:00
SPEAKER_01: My ear is tuned in to everything that comes out of that speaker because we can all name the songs that nobody bothers to edit or that people are still using.
40:09
SPEAKER_01: That you're like, why are we still using Candyman?
40:11
SPEAKER_01: Why haven't you edited Candyman?
40:13
SPEAKER_01: Why haven't you edited Fireball?
40:15
SPEAKER_01: Like, can we not find another song?
40:17
SPEAKER_01: And so I think number one is there's a lack of creativity and there's a lack of wanting to do the extra work to search for a whole nother song.
40:28
SPEAKER_01: There's plenty of music out there like Candyman that is not Candyman.
40:32
SPEAKER_01: So get on Spotify, get on Google, get on somewhere else and find another song.
40:37
SPEAKER_01: That's number one.
40:39
SPEAKER_01: But number two is the sort of prevalence of, well, it's not the kids' fault.
40:43
SPEAKER_01: Don't penalize the kids for somebody else's bad choice.
40:47
SPEAKER_01: Right.
40:48
SPEAKER_01: What else are we supposed to do?
40:49
SPEAKER_01: I can't do anything else, you know, unless, again, we've talked about before the option of a competition giving one judge the authority to do a teacher-only critique and have that critique be about the teacher, be about the choreography that the teacher did, be about all the choices that the teacher made.
41:07
SPEAKER_01: Because no, it is not fair to take points off poor seven-year-old Sally's dance because she was made to bump and grind to Candyman.
41:15
SPEAKER_01: It's not her fault.
41:17
SPEAKER_01: But somebody has to be analyzed somewhere.
41:20
SPEAKER_01: And the only way we can do that is if some of the competition gives us an avenue to do that.
41:26
SPEAKER_01: I'm a huge advocate for that happening because, like you said, Courtney, people are just they just keep doing it.
41:33
SPEAKER_01: And I just keep sitting back sometimes and wondering, like, where what is the rationale behind some of these choices?
41:41
SPEAKER_01: Because I, you know, yes, of course, regionally there's going to be lines that are crossed.
41:46
SPEAKER_01: You know, they bother people in one state and they don't bother people in the other state, and I understand that.
41:51
SPEAKER_01: But it is very frustrating, like we've said, as a judge, to come in, be a contracted, you know, once-a-weekend person who's tasked with doing all these things, and we don't really have the authority to do really what we want to do.
42:06
SPEAKER_00: I completely agree.
42:07
SPEAKER_00: And like she said, you know, why do they win?
42:10
SPEAKER_00: Like you said, and it's like that's it's exactly that.
42:12
SPEAKER_00: I originally stepped into the judging world from being a competitive dancer my entire life, and there was a few-year gap in between my transition from being on the stage to behind the table as a judge.
42:26
SPEAKER_00: But I know that my experience growing up was that our teachers really didn't play our judges' tapes.
42:32
SPEAKER_00: It was like cassette tapes back then, not like these beautiful video critiques that we get these days.
42:37
SPEAKER_00: My studio didn't sit down and play those with me.
42:40
SPEAKER_00: And if they did, it was maybe only in my solo.
42:42
SPEAKER_00: So I really wasn't hearing what the judges were saying.
42:45
SPEAKER_00: And from what I understood, the reason for that was because the judges were speaking directly to the teacher, not to the dancers.
42:52
SPEAKER_00: And now they're you know, now there was a shift in the competition world, which is totally okay.
42:58
SPEAKER_00: But I think that maybe a lot of teachers might have expressed that they don't they want to be able to just press play in the studio, they don't want the judges to be talking directly to them, and that they don't want to have to screen the critiques, and that they also don't want the dancers penalized for what the teacher is doing and what the teacher has presented, and it's not the kids' fault.
43:18
SPEAKER_00: That's what the excuse, honestly, is all the time.
43:21
SPEAKER_00: It's not their fault, and that is true, but we as dance educators and we as dance teachers and choreographers need to know what is appropriate.
43:29
SPEAKER_00: And like Leslie mentioned, some things might be appropriate in a different region than it is in another region, and that's fine.
43:37
SPEAKER_00: But at the same time, you're also getting judges who might not be from your region, who might be from a completely different place.
43:43
SPEAKER_00: And you have to make sure that you're presenting something that you feel is family friendly for anyone to watch at any age.
43:50
SPEAKER_00: If there is a dad in the audience that feels uncomfortable, it is inappropriate.
43:55
SPEAKER_00: Honestly, that's where I always think like, oh my gosh, would my dad be like okay?
44:00
SPEAKER_00: If I was doing that on stage right now, you know, like I think that people need to kind of step back a moment and look at it from that perspective and say, what is this okay for my five-year-old to watch?
44:11
SPEAKER_00: The same goes for like, you know, inappropriate moves and inappropriate songs, so like inappropriate themes, which is a whole nother topic as well.
44:18
SPEAKER_00: Themes that are not, oh my gosh, we could talk about this all day.
44:22
SPEAKER_00: So many topics for next season.
44:25
SPEAKER_00: But I think that that goes to it well.
44:28
SPEAKER_00: So I feel like that it just really depends on how much we can do as a judge and how much we want to actually penalize the dancers for the teacher's poor decision.
44:37
SPEAKER_00: And I think that's why they win, honestly.
44:40
SPEAKER_00: Like they don't always win.
44:42
SPEAKER_00: And we will mention on the critique, but if they're doing good technique, they're doing good performance, and they're checking off all the other boxes on the list, and choreography is just a small chunk of that, that total, then their score is still gonna be high and they still might win over a dance that was appropriate.
44:59
SPEAKER_00: So that's the unfortunate thing about how it is, unless rules are, you know, unless we have a little bit more freedom with, you know, enforcing those rules.
45:07
SPEAKER_01: So and I think the kind of the main takeaway for choreographers is know your audience.
45:13
SPEAKER_01: Just like Courtney, you were saying, with you know, it's not only inappropriate music, lyrics, and movement, but the theme.
45:20
SPEAKER_01: You know, is dance competition for five to eighteen year olds really the place to present certain kinds of material?
45:28
SPEAKER_01: Probably not.
45:29
SPEAKER_01: Doesn't mean that it's not valid.
45:31
SPEAKER_01: Like, you know, whatever your, you know, very controversial topic may be that you want to present on stage, maybe don't present it for seven to eight year olds to watch.
45:41
SPEAKER_00: Right.
45:41
SPEAKER_01: There's other places to do that.
45:43
SPEAKER_01: You know, that's why we have concert dance, that's why we have college dance, that's why we have contemporary dance companies.
45:49
SPEAKER_01: We have many other, you know, venues to to showcase art and work that we want to make a statement, you know.
45:57
SPEAKER_01: But I do think that over the years I've, you know, had to judge pieces that I'm like, this doesn't feel this doesn't feel okay for seven-year-olds to watch.
46:06
SPEAKER_01: It has nothing to do with dirty lyrics or you know, inappropriate movement.
46:11
SPEAKER_01: And I think that's also a big piece of what makes our job difficult.
46:14
SPEAKER_01: So it's not all just we don't have this very glamorous job where it's all just fun and rainbows and yay dancing.
46:21
SPEAKER_01: Um it can be like that a lot, but sometimes it really does take, you know, some some doing to do our job.
46:28
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
46:29
SPEAKER_00: Agreed.
46:30
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna go back up to Marlowe, had a quick question, which was in relation to the choreography discussion about guest choreographers, and I just want to briefly answer that really quick.
46:40
SPEAKER_00: And she said, We are at this point with choreography right now, torn between going with what we know works and is successful her teacher, or finding someone else to challenge Chloe.
46:50
SPEAKER_00: And I know Chloe very well virtually on the internet.
46:54
SPEAKER_00: I've never gotten a chance to meet Chloe or Marlo, but they are one of my like first and most, they come to my online critique uh service every single year.
47:04
SPEAKER_00: I've watched Chloe grow up on the internet pretty much by critiquing her solos.
47:08
SPEAKER_00: And she also was the winner of our teen uh virtual competition for our our March and April event.
47:14
SPEAKER_00: So just to answer your question quickly, Marlo, I feel like that your situation is specific in the sense that I know where Chloe is as a dancer and how advanced she is at this point in time.
47:26
SPEAKER_00: And I think that because I know her and what her level is, I think that I'm in agreement with you that she goes to a lot of conventions, she trains with a lot of different teachers, she works on a lot of variety of styles.
47:37
SPEAKER_00: I think that, you know, moving into the like higher the high school years as she gets there, I think that she can, you know, take some risks and have a challenge with a new style to push her boundaries a little bit.
47:48
SPEAKER_00: Do I recommend this for every dancer?
47:50
SPEAKER_00: No.
47:51
SPEAKER_00: I just am saying this directly to you, Marlo and Chloe, because I know you as a dancer and I know that she is capable of that.
47:57
SPEAKER_00: There are many other 13-year-olds or 14-year-olds who might not be ready for that yet and might want to stick with their teacher at their studio.
48:03
SPEAKER_00: And I think that that would be my advice.
48:05
SPEAKER_00: But I think that Chloe specifically, I think that you really adapt well to different styles.
48:10
SPEAKER_00: And, you know, I think that that could definitely be a nice stepping stone for you and a nice challenge.
48:15
SPEAKER_00: So I'm totally for it.
48:16
SPEAKER_00: And then, of course, your regular teacher would obviously clean it and tweet and you know, make it perfect for the stage once the guest is gone.
48:24
SPEAKER_00: But yeah, that's my little bit of advice.
48:27
SPEAKER_00: I hope that helps Marlowe.
48:29
SPEAKER_00: Final few questions.
48:30
SPEAKER_00: We're rounding out.
48:31
SPEAKER_00: We had another good one, and I don't want to say the name, so my thing doesn't go off again.
48:35
SPEAKER_00: But what are some of the differences you see across the country when it comes to choreography, technique, costumes, etc.
48:41
SPEAKER_00: as a judge, which I love this question.
48:44
SPEAKER_00: Anything that comes to your mind, Leslie?
48:46
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so I most of my judging career has either been in the Midwest or in the Northeast.
48:54
SPEAKER_01: The Midwest and like your Texas sort of, I consider Texas the Midwest, not the South.
48:59
SPEAKER_01: But like Texas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, like Iowa, that kind of world, there's they have kind of a really great mix of innovative choreography and a lot of just really, really good basics when it comes to technique.
49:13
SPEAKER_01: I feel like a lot of people from like the bigger cities over the years have kind of moved back either to their hometowns and open studios or gained, you know, had their experience coming from bigger places and brought it back to a small town.
49:26
SPEAKER_01: So over the years, I really have seen kind of just this growth in the Midwest, which I really appreciate.
49:33
SPEAKER_01: The Northeast is just full of some just technicians.
49:37
SPEAKER_01: Man, some of these kids up here, I don't know what they're doing or who their teachers are, but just the amount of control and strength and flexibility.
49:47
SPEAKER_01: I mean, I think that's just all of those things rolled into one.
49:51
SPEAKER_01: Just your Connecticut, your Massachusetts.
49:54
SPEAKER_01: Kids in those states work really, really, really hard at their technique.
49:58
SPEAKER_01: It's really cool.
49:59
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
49:59
SPEAKER_00: I'm trying to think of any specific trends that I notice when I judge around.
50:04
SPEAKER_00: Something that I that just came into my head with this question that I specifically will always remember is I was judging in the South.
50:11
SPEAKER_00: I feel like it was in Tennessee somewhere.
50:13
SPEAKER_00: And in Tennessee, something that was kind of like a trend that a lot of studios did was they had outro music, like after their dance was finished, then the song would still keep going for their exit, which I was like, that is I've never seen this in my life.
50:28
SPEAKER_00: And I thought it was maybe just like one studio thing, but it was actually like I kept looking at my sheet and I'm like, that's a different studio.
50:34
SPEAKER_00: Like, this is a trend for this area.
50:36
SPEAKER_00: Like, that is so different.
50:38
SPEAKER_00: I've never seen anything like that.
50:40
SPEAKER_00: I feel like that judging out west, I see a lot more jazz, which in I'm not gonna say like I don't see classic jazz out west, but I definitely see more like high energy, that kind of jazz, very sharp, dynamic, in your face kind of jazz, which I I love because I feel like that jazz is slowly fading away, unfortunately.
51:00
SPEAKER_00: So I love when I see any sort of jazz, but I feel like out west I see a lot of that style of jazz.
51:04
SPEAKER_00: On the East Coast, I see a little bit more variety when it comes to jazz.
51:08
SPEAKER_00: If I do see it a little bit more classic Broadway cleaner technique, I feel like out west it's it's all about a trick, which that's great.
51:14
SPEAKER_00: As long as the the tricks are done well and with proper technique, I'll take a trick.
51:20
SPEAKER_00: And I feel like that when it comes to costuming varies all over some things I've judged in some areas that I feel like are a little bit more conservative and their costumes aren't, and I'm shocked by that, which is kind of interesting.
51:34
SPEAKER_00: And it just really just depends on you know the market and what's the norm there.
51:38
SPEAKER_00: Everywhere's different as far as as some of those.
51:41
SPEAKER_00: And again, I like this question because I've been wanting to do a topic on this because it is very interesting as judges who we all are from so many different places.
51:49
SPEAKER_00: We grew up in different competitive worlds, if that's the route we took when we were younger, and now we're on this flip side and we are judging all over the place and seeing all these different trends around the the country.
52:00
SPEAKER_00: So it's really interesting.
52:01
SPEAKER_00: I hope we do a topic on that.
52:03
SPEAKER_01: That would be a fun one.
52:04
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
52:05
SPEAKER_00: All right, so I'm reading something on my end.
52:10
SPEAKER_00: So Wanda, from uh a competition owner, actually, she chimed in and kind of gave her perspective, which is really, really awesome about our appropriateness conversation.
52:21
SPEAKER_00: So thanks, Wanda.
52:22
SPEAKER_00: We love you at Spirit of Dance.
52:24
SPEAKER_00: And she said, as a competition owner, we often walk a thin line as to what is appropriate and what is not.
52:29
SPEAKER_00: Our goal is to present a family-friendly event.
52:31
SPEAKER_00: Of course, we have found that appropriateness often varies from person to person, teacher to teacher, judge to judge, location to location, and age versus age.
52:39
SPEAKER_00: We also risk losing customers based on differences in opinion over appropriateness.
52:43
SPEAKER_00: And that is so fair and so honest.
52:47
SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much, Juan, for chiming a voice of the competition themselves, because it is, you know, we're speaking from our judge's perspective, and it is extremely helpful to hear from the other side.
52:59
SPEAKER_00: All of those points are extremely valid.
53:00
SPEAKER_00: And I think that that is something that a lot of studio owners and a lot of teachers need to put into consideration is that one person might think this is appropriate, and another person might not think it's inappropriate.
53:11
SPEAKER_00: And, you know, it puts the competitions in a sticky situation.
53:15
SPEAKER_00: So I think at the end, what we all just wish is that we need to remember that this is a family-friendly event.
53:22
SPEAKER_00: And if you are having any hesitations whatsoever on if you feel like this song isn't appropriate, or if this theme isn't appropriate, or if this costume isn't appropriate, then don't do it.
53:32
SPEAKER_00: Because I think that's I think that's really what it comes down to is making sure people actually uh go with their gut and know when something is appropriate or not.
53:41
SPEAKER_00: But yes, I agree, Wanda, it is a very big issue.
53:44
SPEAKER_00: It is a huge issue in the industry.
53:46
SPEAKER_00: So thank you for chiming in and speaking as the voice of the competition.
53:51
SPEAKER_00: At this point, it seems like that we're sadly done with our QA because it's been a little bit over our hour, which goes by so fast.
54:02
SPEAKER_01: It's always so fast.
54:03
SPEAKER_00: We could sit here and talk all day.
54:05
SPEAKER_00: So thank you all who have tuned in throughout this hour.
54:09
SPEAKER_00: If you stayed from since one o'clock Eastern Standard and you're still here at two o'clock, thanks for being here.
54:17
SPEAKER_00: If you joined in in the middle, thanks so much.
54:20
SPEAKER_00: If you sent in a question, thanks so much.
54:23
SPEAKER_00: This is actually something that we hope to do on the regular moving into our season two.
54:28
SPEAKER_00: This was a little surprise celebration.
54:31
SPEAKER_00: So this is something that we hope to do uh more regularly next season.
54:34
SPEAKER_00: In season two, we're going to probably do a monthly live episode where we can have viewers come in and ask us questions.
54:42
SPEAKER_00: And you know, we're all hoping and crossing our fingers that the dance competition season gets back in action in a live version very, very soon.
54:50
SPEAKER_00: I know there's lots of fun virtual things out there, but let's be real, that is not the same thing as a live dance competition.
54:57
SPEAKER_00: And we all can't wait until all of the dance competitions can come back in action.
55:02
SPEAKER_00: So please keep doing your social distancing and all of the things during this pandemic so we can, you know, move forward in our industry sooner than later, and we can all get back onto the competition stage.
55:13
SPEAKER_00: We obviously miss all of you dancers and seeing you all and judging you and teaching you.
55:17
SPEAKER_00: So I'm just sending my love from New York and to all of the competitions out there.
55:22
SPEAKER_00: Uh, I hope that we can all begin working together again sooner than later.
55:26
SPEAKER_00: That's pretty much it, you guys.
55:28
SPEAKER_00: Just to do a little bit of some outros, just so you have an idea of what's coming up.
55:32
SPEAKER_00: Our season's ending.
55:33
SPEAKER_00: This episode is actually going to be launching on May 25th.
55:36
SPEAKER_00: So we're going to actually produce this into a live podcast episode.
55:40
SPEAKER_00: So if you were a participant and chimed in with any questions, you'll be able to re-listen to this in Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, wherever you love listening to podcasts.
55:51
SPEAKER_00: So definitely make sure that you are subscribing to us if you haven't yet.
55:55
SPEAKER_00: And if you're new to the podcast, welcome.
55:57
SPEAKER_00: Like I said, we're hoping to do this again next season.
55:59
SPEAKER_00: So our season is ending at the end of May, and we will kind of be on a hiatus over the summer, but we'll be back and forth a little bit for a few episodes.
56:08
SPEAKER_00: And season two is going to kick off at the top of September with the start of the dance season.
56:12
SPEAKER_00: And we're excited to tackle so many more topics.
56:15
SPEAKER_00: So if you have any other topics that you want us to answer on the podcast in full detail, like an hour-long round table discussion with other judges to hear different perspectives and opinions, feel free to shoot us an email and let us know.
56:28
SPEAKER_00: You can email us at podcast at impactdanceators.com.
56:32
SPEAKER_00: And that's kind of it.
56:35
SPEAKER_00: I anything else?
56:38
SPEAKER_01: Thanks.
56:38
SPEAKER_01: My friend.
56:40
SPEAKER_00: Covered it all.
56:41
SPEAKER_00: Thanks everybody for tuning in.
56:43
SPEAKER_00: Love you all.
56:44
SPEAKER_00: Sending love from New York City.
56:45
SPEAKER_00: I hope everybody's staying safe.
56:47
SPEAKER_00: Thanks for joining us.