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Scary Skills We See On Stage at Competition · Making The Impact - A Dance Competition Podcast

• 0:07
  SPEAKER_01: Have you ever wondered what goes on behind the table at a dance competition?
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly what are the judges looking for anyway?
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_01: This is Making the Impact, a dance competition podcast.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_01: Each week we'll cover a different topic related to the world of competitive dance, from the perspective of the judges behind the table.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_01: On today's Halloween-themed episode of Making the Impact, we're talking about the scary skills that we see on stage, from creepy technique to haunting execution.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_01: Get ready to jump out of your seat or crawl out of your skin as we dive into what it's like behind the table when things go wrong at competition.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_02: Hey everyone, it's Courtney Ortiz.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_02: Welcome to this week's episode of Making the Impact.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_02: I am your host, and I am here with my co-host, Leslie Mueller.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_02: Hello, Courtney.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_02: Happy Halloween.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_02: Happy almost Halloween, everyone.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_02: What a fun time of year it is.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_02: And we have a very spooky, scary episode for you today.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_01: We do.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_01: It's all full of scary skills we see at competition.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_01: And listeners, viewers, we do see a lot of scary skills.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_01: They come at us, give us a jump scare, make us turn away in fright.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so we're gonna discuss those today.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, we are.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_02: And um, to everyone out there listening, I hope that you are enjoying our video component, whether you're listening on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or YouTube.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_02: And we are in preparation for the competition season.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_02: It will be here before we know it.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_02: I am gearing up for some of my fall convention dates this fall, heading out to a few different events with different companies.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_02: So I'm really excited to jazz dance with a lot of dancers around uh North America, actually.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_02: And um, we are hard at work at IDA staffing judges for upcoming competitions.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_02: So be on the lookout.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_02: Hopefully, you'll be attending an IDA affiliated competition this season.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_01: Awesome.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_01: Well, we are gonna jump into this episode very quickly, but before we do, let's talk about our sponsors.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_02: Choreographers and teachers, when was the last time you got a critique?
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_02: You spend all season giving corrections to your dancers, but sometimes your choreography needs a fresh set of eyes too.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_02: That's where we come in.
• 2:23
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• 2:31
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• 2:43
  SPEAKER_02: And every choreography console is automatically matched with a genre-specific IDA judge based on your submitted dance style.
• 2:51
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• 2:57
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• 3:04
  SPEAKER_02: Submit your routine today for an IDA choreography console critique at Impact Dance Adjudicators.com slash online critiques and take your artistry to the next level.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_02: Click the link in our show notes or visit our website now to submit.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_02: Dance world, happy Halloween.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_02: It is time for some spooky, scary stories all about skills that we see at dance competitions.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_02: This is an episode that is going to be a fun one, and we um want you to take it with a grain of salt.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_02: Obviously, we have some fabulous judge opinions that are here today.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and a lot of us do a lot of judging during the competition season, but we figured we'd bring a little fun, spooky episode to you all about some of those tricks and skills that we see at competition that scare us in our seats, literally.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_02: Like we scream in fear when we see them happen.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_02: And maybe it's because of the execution attached to it.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_02: Maybe you didn't even do the jump or the skill or the trick yet.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_02: It's just the preparation leading into it where I already got scared in my seat.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_02: There have been many times where I have literally gone like this and turned my eyes away from the what I'm trying to watch because I was scared for the dancer's safety and many other things that I'm sure we're gonna talk about today.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_02: So, that being said, we have two brand new IDA judges who are joining us on the podcast for the very first time.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_02: I am so excited to introduce them.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_02: The very first guest is a newer judge to our roster.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_02: This is their second season with us on IDA.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_02: And fun fact, actually, exactly a year ago today, I met them in person at a Halloween party in New York City.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_02: So I think this is just so fitting that they are on our Halloween episode.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_02: I'm very excited to welcome Connor Britt Trip to the Pod.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_02: Welcome, Connor.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_00: Bye, guys.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much for having me today.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's so funny that we met a year ago today, and here we are.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_00: I love the way things work out.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_00: So just a little bit about me.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_00: I'm a professional dancer, acrobat, and aerialist on the acrobatic side of things.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_00: Some of the shows I've performed in have had me doing trampoline wall, Chinese poles, Russian swing, high diving, power tumbling, you name it.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_00: I've done it.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_00: I'm kind of more of a generalist, yeah.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_00: So I kind of touch base on a little bit of everything.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_00: And then I've done a couple cruise ships where I have been on the dancer aerialist side of things, doing trapeze, silks, hammock, lira.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_00: I've done a 3D Cube act, um, and that's kind of where my world is, is up in the air.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_00: Um it's uh I like the adrenaline rush that comes with all of these fun things.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_00: And currently I'm playing role as a dance educator most days now.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_00: Um I just started working at a brand new charter school that opened up in the area that has a commercial dance major, and I am getting to teach that program.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_00: And so I'm in the high school setting every single day, and we're learning how to be a professional dancer and like what that entails.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_00: And it's a super exciting brand new program that I got to help build and get to help implement into these dancers' lives.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_02: Wait, where is that?
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_02: And what is the do you want to give the school a shout out?
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_02: Are you allowed?
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_00: So the school is called Myrtle Beach STEM Academy.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it's located in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, where a brand new charter school that's catered towards higher education, career, and college readiness.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_00: So we have dance major, along with we have a pre-law major, we have a pre-med major, pre-engineering major.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_00: So a lot of these kids are gonna graduate and be ready for that workforce or be ready to go and get that audition, um, get the job, as I like to tell my kids, that's what we're working towards.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_00: And specifically in my major, we get to go a little bit more in depth than you may be able to in the studio setting.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_00: Like we get to talk about dance history.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_00: Um, we get to talk a little bit more about the why we do certain things.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_00: Um, we really get to deep dive into, you know, things like quick changes and, you know, what can happen in the professional setting and um to just kind of give them that extra step ahead when it comes to that, you know, career is a super, super exciting thing, and I'm so grateful for the opportunity.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_01: That's awesome.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_00: How lucky.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_00: I wish a school like that existed around me when I was growing up.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_00: It's such a blessing.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_00: And there there are a lot of dance um programs, like high school, middle school wise in South Carolina, but they're all ballet and modern based, whereas mine is more of a commercial setting, and so that's kind of where we you know pull our our our clientele in, is the more than the commercial world.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_00: Nice.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_00: I love it.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that's awesome.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I am thrilled to hear about that, and that's an awesome um school program.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_02: So congrats on that and being a part of it and helping launch it.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_02: And we're so happy to have you here on this episode.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yay, thank you.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_04: Yay.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_02: All right, our very next special guest is another new guest to the podcast and an IDA judge who has been on the roster for the past few years.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_02: They are coming to us from the Washington, D.C.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_02: area.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_02: I am very excited to welcome Kamali Hill to the pod.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_02: Welcome, Kamali.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_05: And thank you for having me on the podcast.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_05: Um, so everyone, my name is Kamali Hill.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_05: Hot Tamali with a K is the best way to remember.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_01: Amazing.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_05: Uh, I'm coming to you all um as a professional dance artist.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_05: Uh right now, I am in the realms of my career working as a producer, director, and choreographer.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_05: Um, having had a background in performance and in education, um, I've now taken all of my experience in that and transferred all those skills into a business called the Creative Space.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_05: And uh the Creative Space, we're a professional dance ecosystem in the Washington, D.C.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_05: area, supporting uh dance artists by helping them build their career portfolios.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_05: So we do that a lot through our workshops and auditions and also through our open calls and performances.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_05: And the preview is an informal showing of works in process where choreographers get live feedback from a live audience for work that is um being presented or developed in the next six to eight months.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_05: So it's a really beautiful um springboard, um, not just for choreographers to present their work, like new ideas, but also to workshop.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_05: We have some choreographers who have who um have been off in their careers and like, you know what, I just need to get back into the studio.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_05: I have some new ideas that I want to churn out and and get to see, um, get the work seen by some people to get some some feedback back.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_05: So yeah, um that's what I'm I'm doing now.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_05: And when I tell you, it is so um satisfying and gratifying um now to be able to take the experience um that I've had and to be able to connect those resources from the past, connect them to the present to help uh artists with their future.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_05: So yes, that's how I'm coming to y'all.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_01: I love that.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_01: You have to, you know, and that's like it's like paying it forward.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_01: The people who we you've learned from and you have this experience now you can give to the next generation and even people, you know, at your same level who just who want to be a part of what you're doing.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_01: So I think that's awesome.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_05: Right.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_05: Absolutely.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_02: Awesome, y'all.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I know that when you aren't working on all of your projects in your creative spaces at your school, you also do a lot of dance competition judging when the season is in, whether that is with IDA or on your own with other competitions.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_02: So um I'm sure you've seen your fair share of scary skills.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_02: Is that true?
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_00: Uh-huh.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_03: Uh-huh.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_01: Well, we're going to talk all about it today.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_01: You talk all about it.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_01: Awesome.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_01: Well, thanks you guys for joining us.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_01: We're excited to have you here.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_01: Um, listeners, viewers, Charlotte's back.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_01: Yay! She doesn't want to be seen on camera, but I must I must show her to the people.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_01: Um she's here.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_01: All right.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_01: Well, so scary skills.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_01: It is Halloween.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_01: It is uh pre-competition season for most people, um, which means maybe we are learning some of these new skills.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe we are trying to refine them before we put them into a routine to be judged.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_01: Um that's what we're hoping you're doing.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_01: We hope we don't see scary skills, but unfortunately we do.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_01: So when we are talking about scary skills today, I would love for you guys to just spitball some uh ideas at me as to what do we mean by scary skills?
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_01: Like what skills are we even talking about?
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_01: Are we talking about a ton do?
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_01: Probably not.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_00: So I think for me, it's anything where, like Courtney had kind of mentioned earlier, like I literally am like, oh my gosh, what just happened?
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_00: Like, is that dancer okay?
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_00: If I am watching a skill and I have questions after it about the dancer's safety and whether or not they are going to be okay when they get off the stage, to me, that is what generates a scary skill.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_00: So it's not necessarily about the necessarily the difficulty of the skill because, you know, I've seen some layout step outs that look really scary.
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_00: I've also seen some cartwheels that look really scary, you know.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_00: So it's not necessarily for me about the difficulty necessarily as it is about the execution and you know, the the safety of it, like the landing, how we're going into it.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it's not necessarily the the picture in the middle, it's how we're going into said skill and how we're coming out of said skill.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_00: And to me, that's where that safety net kind of gets generated.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_00: And that's where the decision of that moment of is this gonna be a scary skill or not, that split second of, you know, am I gonna roll through my feet as I'm coming out of this?
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I'm engaging my abs so I have control through the air, those kind of things.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_00: That that split second decision is where that that you know really, really cool skill can become that super scary skill.
• 12:39
  unknown: Yeah.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_05: I'm gonna springboard off of that too, Connor.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_05: I am someone, I'm a bit of an empath.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_05: And so if I'm seeing something and I have a visceral response, yes, and I'm shaking in my boot, there's a problem.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_05: Um, and I'm someone when I see, when I'm looking at dancers, I see the skeletal structure.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_05: So I'm sometimes when I see those landings, I'm like, ooh, I see everything going wrong from the toes all the way up to your cranium, and that's a problem.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_05: So that to me is like the scary thing.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_05: Yes.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_01: I just I think about like joints, I think about impact.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_01: I'm thinking about the fact that people are on a not a sprung floor doing, you know, sometimes arguably really, really challenging tumbling passes.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_01: At this point in competition life, we see legit like gymnastics on stage sometimes.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_01: And man, that you don't know what's under that floor.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_01: Probably nothing.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_01: Right air.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_00: I think I think that's where a huge thing comes into play is these dancers, they don't realize the risk factor that comes with a lot of these skills.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and you know, that that brings up the conversation, the day-old conversation of training dancers versus training gymnasts.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, the safety that goes into it.
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_00: These gymnasts are tumbling on these rod floors and these sprung floors where you know you don't necessarily need to roll through your feet.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_00: So they're not taught that.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_00: The gymnastics coaches are coming into a studio setting where they're teaching these dancers how to tumble like gymnasts, and there's you know, very specific things that they're missing because they just don't have that training and their understanding of how a dancer executes certain things, and that's kind of where that safety net gets lost, it's just a lack of education.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I am a perfect example of that.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_00: I had a new acro teacher every single year at my studio.
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, and I got to a point where I said, I'm just gonna train myself and I'm gonna do it unsafely in my backyard, and then I had a hip replacement by the time I was 18.
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, right.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, there were a lot of factors that led to that hip replacement, but ultimately a huge part of it was unsafe training, unsafe landed, not putting the puzzle pieces together between dancing and tumbling.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_00: Like, for example, one note I always say is when it comes to things like back walkovers, aerials, front aerials, you should be moving through an arabesque line.
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_00: Like things like that.
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_00: Um, that connecting it to the dance aspects.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_00: Right, right.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_00: And you have to like put those puzzle pieces together for these dancers to understand that, and that's where that kind of gets lost.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_00: And what that's what I noticed.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and so like what I kind of did over the years as an actor teacher was I, you know, as a dancer growing up, it was unfortunate I never got consistent training, but I was kind of able to take all of those different individual trainings and stylings that I was taught, take the good and the bad, and kind of create like my own version of technique that I can now pass on to dancers that I know is safe, that is successful, and that they will comprehend and understand.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_04: Mm-hmm.
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, that's great.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it's safety is an important aspect we talk about all the time on the podcast and as educators and judges and everything.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, it's one of the main things in my critiques, to be honest.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_02: Like, you know, obviously the technique in helps with the safety aspect.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_02: If you have good technique, then the safety's already gonna be there.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_02: But if the technique isn't gonna back it up, then it's gonna be a little more dangerous, and that means it's gonna be a little more scary.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_02: So you know, you have to think about the full picture of of what's being presented on stage.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_02: And Leslie, you kind of hinted earlier that a lot of skills sometimes I see.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_02: I'm not sure if a dancer's even perfected this in the training studio yet.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_02: But yet I'm seeing it on stage in like a final product way, and just seeing how we're going in and out of a of something for preparation or a finish, like you were hinting at Connor.
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_02: Um, it already informs me of if they're ready or not for this.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_02: And I think that that's another layer to what makes it scary is I can tell based on how you're walking on stage, based on how you're holding your posture, based on so many things that you don't think matter, if you're even ready for this skill that you're probably gonna do in your dance at some point.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_02: You know what I mean?
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_00: It's the eyes.
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_00: Like they're the dancers' eyes are very telling.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_00: When they're going into that hurdle, I always look at their eyes, and if they look scared, I'm scared.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_00: Immediately.
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_00: Like that is a very telling thing.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_00: If you're running and you're into that hurdle and you are hurdling scared, I'm I'm scared too.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_00: Like me too, girl.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_00: Me too.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_00: Like we're but we're both praying right now.
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_00: We're both praying.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_01: Kamala, you sound like you agree.
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_05: Like it's in the eyes.
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_05: The eyes are very scared.
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_05: It is.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_05: The eyes and even um like that hesitation before the right, the hesitation is like you gotta commit.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_05: You I will say all the time, I don't care how terrible it is in it, honey, you gotta commit to it from the beginning to the very end.
• 17:51
  SPEAKER_05: If not, then it does become um even more of a safety issue because now you're in your head and apprehensive, and you do not want to be in the air or anywhere where the floor is not, you're not connected to the floor and having these thoughts in your head.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_05: So absolutely.
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_01: My favorite thing that you have to pull this out as like a um a quote is like, well, if you're scared, I'm scared.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_01: Connor, it was so funny.
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, come on.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_01: Like it's real though.
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, like you can see the confidence, and that's that's something that I, you know, I talk to my dancers about all the time is this skill takes a certain amount of confidence or it's not going to get executed.
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_00: And I can tell by the hurdle, the run, the chasse, the high sine, low chine, what the intention and a purpose is behind that prep.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_00: If it had intention and purpose in it at all.
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_00: And you can see that.
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_00: And a lot of times it's those eyes.
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_00: Like if those eyes are looking at the floor, chances are that's where they're headed, truthfully.
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_01: Like or like the little like flintstones run in place, like the especially younger kids who are like that they like don't actually purposefully, intentionally run run, do whatever.
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_01: Like it's these little skitters that have the runs to nowhere.
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_01: Run down to nowhere.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_00: Just like that's not helping more.
• 19:06
  SPEAKER_00: You get more from two runs that are strong and intentional versus like ten stutter runs.
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_00: Always stutter run.
• 19:14
  SPEAKER_00: I like that.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_00: Always.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_00: That's what I find because it feels like a stutter.
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_00: It's like make up your mind.
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_00: Where are you going?
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_02: And like, I mean, I where I'm at, I feel like that you should be able to do this whatever skill you're doing on stage with one step, like in a perfect world.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_02: Like what I mean, depending, it shouldn't be you know, when we see like a full-blown tumbling path that goes from one corner to the other and it takes five runs, even if they are like really powerful, it's like, could you do that with half as many and be as successful?
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_02: And if not, then I don't know if it's necessarily ready yet for stage because based on just seeing how much momentum you need and how many runs you're choosing to do, I'm getting nervous.
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_02: I'm sitting in my seat like with anticipation, kind of scared because I just don't know what's about to happen.
• 20:10
  SPEAKER_02: It doesn't look effortless.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_02: I feel like that it we need we need skills that are a little bit more effortless looking.
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_02: And that also, like you were talking about performance in the eyes, like that pums into it.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_02: If it, if it takes us out of the performance, then there's there's probably a reason why we're feeling scared, you know.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_01: What do we think?
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_01: Um, Kamali, I want to hear your opinion on this in terms of like a a tell of a certain step or a red flag that you can see like this is not going to go well in terms of like does the dancer not have the strength or the flexibility?
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you mentioned you see the skeleton, like so.
• 20:50
  SPEAKER_01: I'm thinking about alignment.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_01: Like, is there something that you often see that you can kind of speak to for that?
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, lower abdominals with the kids, man.
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_05: Like, I don't know what it is.
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_05: And I think it also has um a lot to do with the lack of mobility, just because a lot of what we're doing now is sedimentary, right?
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_05: The kids' hips, like three, four years old, like butterflies all the way up here.
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_05: Sure.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_05: It's like you shouldn't.
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_05: So I think there's a it's a combination of things.
• 21:17
  SPEAKER_05: I think one is just like overall lifestyle of children now, especially, you know, again, sedimentary things are on the phone.
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_05: You can do so much with your thumbs more than you can with your whole body nowadays.
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_05: Um which before, like even you know, 20 years ago was the complete opposite.
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_05: Um, so I think that's one.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_05: Number two, um, understanding that lower abdominals, like I don't think we pay attention to and give enough credit to lower abdominal support and how the lower abdominals literally connect you to the rest of your body.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_05: Like, so prime example, one of the uh movements that I said like shakes me to my core is that uh knee jump, knee drop knee drop situation.
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, right?
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_02: Is it like over the toe one?
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_02: Or is it like the leap?
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_05: It's not even the toe.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_05: The children are coming down from the 13th floor like an anvil crashing.
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_05: Not an anvil.
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_05: It says it is like the trajectory goes.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_01: Oh my God, you're so right.
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_01: It's the flying anvil.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_01: That's what it is.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, right on that floating boat.
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_04: Right on that floating boat.
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_05: Come on.
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_05: And so so much, so, and I remember this is um a couple of years ago where bless this child.
• 22:29
  SPEAKER_05: And I gave a critique, and I was like, I had to give feedback to the choreographer and to whoever's coaching the dancer.
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_05: This child, maybe like 12 or 13 years old, and in I think like the intermediate um division, literally maybe had, I think like six or seven of those knee drops just right, left, right, left.
• 22:49
  SPEAKER_05: And the girl was getting up off the floor, but was also crashing down.
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_05: And I said at one point, I was like, wait a minute, time out.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_05: Hold on.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_05: First of all, who is protecting this child's knees?
• 22:59
  SPEAKER_05: There isn't going to be zero patella by the time she's 14.
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_05: That's number one.
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_05: Number two, lower abdominal support.
• 23:07
  SPEAKER_05: If I hear you crashing down, that means there's zero opposition with you coming down.
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_05: Like in order for you to gracefully land, it's not just oh, foot articulation.
• 23:19
  SPEAKER_05: It's also I have to create tension through opposition.
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_05: I have to create tension through opposition so that I can gradually come down to the floor, not again crash.
• 23:29
  SPEAKER_05: And so much of that is built on the lower abdominals.
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_05: The lower abdominals control, right?
• 23:33
  SPEAKER_05: The front of the pelvis.
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_05: Are my hips pulled up?
• 23:36
  SPEAKER_05: Right?
• 23:37
  SPEAKER_05: Is my is my lower back long?
• 23:39
  SPEAKER_05: And am I actually able to engage the full capacity of my legs?
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_05: Well, you're not able to really engage the full capacity of your legs in certain movements if your pelvis isn't really pulled up.
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_05: And that jump is definitely one of those where it is prime, prime, prime.
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_05: Um, other things, not just with the lower abdominals with these jumps, but even in your turns, your pirouettes, like leg placement, especially in them aliscons.
• 24:01
  SPEAKER_05: Some of the kids be turned in, and that's a little and the lower, that's very scary too.
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_05: She's giving me alisacong turns, but I could see your knee facing me.
• 24:09
  SPEAKER_05: And your pelvis is here.
• 24:11
  SPEAKER_05: The leather is a patella that's still hanging on.
• 24:15
  SPEAKER_05: Come on.
• 24:15
  SPEAKER_05: Your lower back is screaming to the heavens to just please, can you relieve me?
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_05: And you gotta pull that lower abdominal up.
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_05: Yes.
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_05: The lower back is screaming.
• 24:24
  SPEAKER_05: It's it's Halloween.
• 24:26
  SPEAKER_05: It's screaming.
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_05: Retreating.
• 24:31
  SPEAKER_05: Oh no.
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, we're all screaming when we we see it.
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_02: And that goes back to our technique talk.
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_00: And and the knee drop thing, I mean that one baffles me because it's worth it.
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_00: Is it worth it?
• 24:45
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 24:45
  SPEAKER_00: Like is it worth it?
• 24:46
  SPEAKER_00: It's never worth it.
• 24:47
  SPEAKER_01: And can it can it go away?
• 24:49
  SPEAKER_01: Because like back in the day, right, I was from the generation of the like up on your toes, drop to your knees.
• 24:55
  SPEAKER_01: That was the knee drop we were doing, right?
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_01: You're up on your toes, you're down on your knees.
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_01: But also you can control that.
• 25:00
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, but you can control that if you use the right technique and you use the right process.
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_01: My favorite story about that is that I was like going for it in the class once, and it was like an LA style jazz class.
• 25:11
  SPEAKER_01: Came to Atlanta for the first time.
• 25:13
  SPEAKER_01: So cool.
• 25:13
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I like went for it and I landed and I did not control my landing, and I slammed my head into the floor.
• 25:20
  SPEAKER_02: Slammed arch back with us.
• 25:22
  SPEAKER_01: We went bam down, and it was not cute.
• 25:25
  SPEAKER_01: And so from then on, I realized, okay, we don't need that much force.
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_01: Like you do learn.
• 25:29
  SPEAKER_01: But so that thing you don't see very often, but it's just the general why are we still doing that?
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_01: Because that skill has like there's just variations now.
• 25:39
  SPEAKER_01: There are.
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_01: And it's like, gee, ooh, why?
• 25:43
  SPEAKER_00: And it's like created an army of knee drops that I'm like, why?
• 25:46
  SPEAKER_00: What is the purpose?
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_01: Like I don't know.
• 25:49
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_01: Flat like I feel like to be scary.
• 25:54
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, like the louder the drop, the better.
• 25:58
  SPEAKER_02: Like, there have been times where I have literally felt that in the judge's seat.
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_02: Like I'm trying to kind of, you know, in a similar situation, Kamali as as yours, where I've seen multiple knee drops in the same dance, and they are the executed exactly the same every time with slamming to the knees, and it's loud and it's audible.
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_02: I can hear it.
• 26:17
  SPEAKER_02: We're not that far.
• 26:18
  SPEAKER_02: I cringe every time I hear knees slamming to the floor.
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_02: And then I just start trying to figure out my head, like, so are we are we doing this on purpose?
• 26:27
  SPEAKER_02: Like, do you think that is the teacher telling the dancer, hey, make sure that it's really dramatic so they can really hear your knees slam to the floor?
• 26:34
  SPEAKER_02: You know, like that's the only thing I can think of because obviously I'm hoping that the teacher understands that this is dangerous.
• 26:42
  SPEAKER_02: I hope they're not encouraging, but I can't wrap my head around any other reasoning sometimes when it's just like constant and especially like one knee drop poorly executed, I'll give it a pass and I'll give you a correction a correction on how to fix that.
• 26:56
  SPEAKER_02: But when there's like five in the dance and they're all done wrong, then I'm concerned and I'm scared for the dancer's safety and what the teacher is encouraging.
• 27:07
  SPEAKER_02: You know, because then it's like that's the teacher's choice there.
• 27:10
  SPEAKER_02: They put the five in there, you know, and it's like, well, don't you realize that this isn't executed correctly?
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_02: So why did we choose five?
• 27:17
  SPEAKER_02: Why didn't we just do the one, give them the little, you know, try it out, let's keep working on it type of thing.
• 27:22
  SPEAKER_02: But that's when it does come hand in hand with how things are choreographed.
• 27:26
  SPEAKER_02: Um you know, it is it is a collaboration between a dancer and a teacher.
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_00: A teacher judge is so important at these competitions to have because so many of these competitions, even ones that I work for, are like, hey, you're not allowed to say things like that to these dancers.
• 27:41
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 27:41
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 27:41
  SPEAKER_00: And it's like, okay, well, then some somehow this needs to be communicated because the dance safety is an issue.
• 27:48
  SPEAKER_00: And like I'm not going to risk my integrity as a dance educator over something like that.
• 27:54
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely not.
• 27:55
  SPEAKER_00: Like, if I need to tell this kid, hey, look, we're not executing this safely, like, hey, choreographer, this is a note for you, like something along the lines of that at the end of the critique.
• 28:04
  SPEAKER_00: So many of these dance teachers have that, don't have that education, and they're just knee drop.
• 28:09
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, you just literally drop to your knee and you squeeze and hope for the best.
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_00: Squeeze what?
• 28:13
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 28:13
  SPEAKER_00: What do you mean, squeeze?
• 28:14
  SPEAKER_00: Squeeze what?
• 28:15
  SPEAKER_05: Like everything for your life.
• 28:18
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 28:18
  SPEAKER_00: And that's and like the unfortunate thing is is like we joke about that, but that's what's being told.
• 28:23
  SPEAKER_00: You know, they're seeing these these things, and you know, I kind of envy um you guys' generation because unfortunately I come from the generation whereas the dance mom's knee draw.
• 28:32
  SPEAKER_00: Like that was like I was not that kid, but unfortunately, that is my generation, and it just was not a trend that I ever picked up on, thankfully.
• 28:41
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 28:42
  SPEAKER_02: What do you call because like so?
• 28:44
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, I am past that generation of but I'm I'm thinking of a specific skill, and I call it a flying squirrel, but I don't think that's the right name for it.
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_02: But it's when you step and you throw your arms, and then there's one leg bent, one leg straight, and then you roll, but you kind of slam on your knee on the way down.
• 29:04
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 29:04
  SPEAKER_02: Or maybe you're not supposed to.
• 29:06
  SPEAKER_02: But like that was like, I feel like came from the dance mom's era.
• 29:09
  SPEAKER_00: That's exactly that's where it started, and then it just continued on into these variations, like, okay, now we're gonna do it from my head.
• 29:16
  SPEAKER_00: Now I'm gonna do it from a kid.
• 29:17
  SPEAKER_01: Or you're just standing there and you're like, drop onto one knee just all of a sudden.
• 29:22
  SPEAKER_01: Knee drops for why?
• 29:24
  SPEAKER_02: For why?
• 29:24
  SPEAKER_02: What do you what do you call that?
• 29:26
  SPEAKER_00: I'm curious because I also would have I've also called it a flying squirrel.
• 29:30
  SPEAKER_00: I've also I've heard it calling like a flying saucer knee drop.
• 29:33
  SPEAKER_00: Um, because the thing is, is there I haven't ever heard an actual technical term for it because I think it was kind of something random that happened one day that was like, Yeah, let's just drop to our knee.
• 29:45
  SPEAKER_00: Crazy.
• 29:46
  SPEAKER_00: Like let's just yeet ourselves through the air to the left and land on our kneecap and roll out of it and hope for the best.
• 29:54
  SPEAKER_00: Like to me, that's what I felt like happened.
• 29:57
  SPEAKER_02: It's like kind of like a it can be kind of similar to like a butterfly in a way, like in the mechanics of it, except I think a lot of dancers think that because you're bending the knee, you're supposed to land on the knee, but really you should be moving, rotating in the air.
• 30:13
  SPEAKER_02: So you're you're landing more on like the side of your shin or like the side of your thigh.
• 30:18
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 30:18
  SPEAKER_02: And but like never really having to be able to do that.
• 30:20
  SPEAKER_02: The ability to just go down.
• 30:22
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 30:22
  SPEAKER_01: Like the ability to do that comes from having control over your body and knowing your body and know because that's an incremental shift in your position.
• 30:31
  SPEAKER_01: It's not sling yourself over here and it's not drop down, it's somewhere in the middle.
• 30:35
  SPEAKER_01: And that's what I think it's like, yeah, I've definitely seen that skill done well.
• 30:39
  SPEAKER_01: And it's where you're landing at the correct spot in the meaty part of your thigh.
• 30:44
  SPEAKER_01: Sure.
• 30:44
  SPEAKER_01: But more often than not, we see it dropped directly down on the knee.
• 30:48
  SPEAKER_01: And it's like there's no, like Kamali said, there's no oppositional force pulling you up while you fall down.
• 30:54
  SPEAKER_01: And like that's that's another thing that's like it's really hard to teach, especially like in a in a leaping skill, in something that's like up suspended in the air.
• 31:03
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it's that's hard enough to get to get kids to get into the air in the first place, you know.
• 31:08
  SPEAKER_01: And then to think about staying there while you're dropping down, like that's that's a lot.
• 31:13
  SPEAKER_01: That's like an advanced skill, but we see seven, eight, nine-year-olds doing it.
• 31:17
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 31:18
  SPEAKER_04: Wild.
• 31:19
  SPEAKER_01: Wild.
• 31:23
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• 32:48
  SPEAKER_02: You know what one of my my and we're back to the acro thing and we can talk about other things too, besides just acro, because I think that there are scary aspects to other steps in in dance.
• 32:59
  SPEAKER_02: But we I feel like acro has kind of invaded um dance so much lately.
• 33:04
  SPEAKER_02: Um for good and bad, you know, I think like I'm here for it if it's executed safely and has clean transitions and very beautiful to look at.
• 33:15
  SPEAKER_02: But one of the skills that r makes me cringe every time I know it's coming and not cringe, like if it's done well, I'm not cringing.
• 33:24
  SPEAKER_02: But I can tell based on the prep if it's gonna be, and I'm already turning my head, is the front aerial, actually.
• 33:29
  SPEAKER_02: I feel like that they're they're everywhere now, they're the new aerial, but there's so much more power that you need to do a front aerial.
• 33:38
  SPEAKER_02: And if your weight distribution coming out of it, if you're not following through and your back's hanging, if your leg, your knee, I just look at knees snapping.
• 33:46
  SPEAKER_02: That's all I think in my head is knees snapping.
• 33:48
  SPEAKER_00: And that's where I'm gonna change the the um arabesque scenario is because I see these dancers that aren't understanding that I use the teeter totter arabesque thing.
• 33:58
  SPEAKER_00: It's like as one side is coming down, the other side is coming up.
• 34:02
  SPEAKER_00: Because I will see these super flexible dancers that have zero strength in their back, they just have flexibility.
• 34:08
  SPEAKER_00: They will throw this front aerial, land it, and they are like landing and they're completely upside down still.
• 34:14
  SPEAKER_00: Like a haunted house.
• 34:16
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 34:16
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, no, as that like as that first leg is coming down, that chest needs to come up and like you want to stack your spine and like literally feel each vertebrae connecting as you're pulling up through there.
• 34:27
  SPEAKER_00: And then I say to myself, oh my gosh, this sounds like I'm critiquing dance, how crazy.
• 34:31
  SPEAKER_00: Like, why?
• 34:33
  SPEAKER_00: Who would have thought?
• 34:34
  SPEAKER_00: Like, who would have thought?
• 34:36
  SPEAKER_00: And like that's where it comes into, like you were saying, like, yes, technique is pretty, but that's literally just a coincidence.
• 34:43
  SPEAKER_00: Like, technique is there because it's it's safety, and yes, it's great that we point our feet, and that is lovely, but like we point our feet so that way we can roll through our feet as we're coming out of things.
• 34:55
  SPEAKER_00: Like they're that all of those things are there for a purpose and a reason, and dance teachers and acroteachers aren't teaching those purpose or those reasons, they aren't teaching the why behind these things, and so kids don't want to follow these rules because they don't understand why these rules exist, and then they end up with a hip replacement.
• 35:14
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 35:15
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 35:15
  SPEAKER_00: Exhibit A.
• 35:16
  SPEAKER_00: From experience.
• 35:17
  SPEAKER_02: You speaking from experience, y'all.
• 35:18
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 35:19
  SPEAKER_00: Exhibit A.
• 35:20
  SPEAKER_00: Exhibit A.
• 35:21
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and the especially with the front aerial and any front tumbling, you know, and especially because it's a blind landing.
• 35:27
  SPEAKER_00: That's the other thing, too.
• 35:28
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 35:28
  SPEAKER_00: Is front tumbling is the blind landing.
• 35:30
  SPEAKER_00: And so if you aren't what distributing your weight correctly in that front aerial, and you know, there isn't a lot of space between your head and your foot because you're super uber flexible and like you know, have zero control because you have no strength supporting that flexibility, there's a lot that can go wrong with that.
• 35:48
  SPEAKER_00: There's so much room for error.
• 35:50
  SPEAKER_00: Like, yes, you may be do it right that one time, but nine out of ten times, like you have to be able to execute that skill ten times in a row.
• 36:00
  SPEAKER_00: Great, no questions asked, and then we can put it in the dance.
• 36:03
  SPEAKER_00: Then we can put it in the dance.
• 36:04
  SPEAKER_00: Like if you can't do it ten times in a row from standing, we don't need to put it in the dance.
• 36:09
  SPEAKER_00: If you can't do it time then you don't need to do it.
• 36:12
  SPEAKER_02: If you can't do it time, that's about everything, yeah.
• 36:15
  SPEAKER_02: You know, like that double pirouette.
• 36:18
  SPEAKER_02: The whole dance itself.
• 36:19
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 36:19
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 36:20
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 36:21
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 36:21
  SPEAKER_02: I that's a really, really great way to great way to say that.
• 36:25
  SPEAKER_02: And you know, we're not over here saying that you can't have things in your dance that you're working towards.
• 36:32
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 36:32
  SPEAKER_02: But I think there has to be that edit at some point leading up to all the preparation we've done, however long you've been practicing your solo, however long the skill has been in there.
• 36:45
  SPEAKER_02: And if it's not at that I can do it ten times pretty flawlessly before first competition, guess what?
• 36:52
  SPEAKER_02: We gotta probably make an edit here.
• 36:54
  SPEAKER_02: And we gotta, you know, um adjust it a little bit, and that's okay, you know, because everybody thinks about that the solo on stage is all that matters, but the training is a part of the prog the process.
• 37:07
  SPEAKER_02: So if you've worked on that for you know, however long you've known your solo, some kids learn their solos in July.
• 37:13
  SPEAKER_02: You've been working on this since July.
• 37:15
  SPEAKER_02: It's now January, you still aren't getting that skill.
• 37:18
  SPEAKER_02: Like that's that you we've tried it, and that's part of your training.
• 37:22
  SPEAKER_02: You've had private lessons in a solo to get this skill better.
• 37:26
  SPEAKER_02: It's okay if you're not there yet, but we gotta think about the safety element.
• 37:30
  SPEAKER_02: And in a controlled environment in your studio, you have floors that you're used to, you don't have a costume restricting you, you might even be able to practice that skill with a mat if you need to, you know, like when we put ourselves into another equation, like a stage with lights, with uh with adrenaline rushing, with you know, so many other factors are coming into the mix that could hinder a skill going right or wrong if we're not ready.
• 37:58
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 37:59
  SPEAKER_05: Quality over quantity all day.
• 38:01
  SPEAKER_05: Quality over quantity.
• 38:03
  SPEAKER_05: It's like I would even challenge like choreographers or directors, if the child, if the student does not have that skill down pat, as Connor just said, like 10 times, like blindfolded, whatever, right?
• 38:17
  SPEAKER_05: Like it's in, it's there's a there's a very clear kinesthetic understanding of how to execute the skill fully, then let them do it.
• 38:24
  SPEAKER_05: But if not, like level the skill.
• 38:26
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 38:26
  SPEAKER_05: Okay, so we're gonna start out with this year, we're working on our aerial.
• 38:31
  SPEAKER_05: Okay, well, honey, for the first one, you're gonna do a cartwheel.
• 38:34
  SPEAKER_05: And this cartwheel is gonna be in your solo until you could do a one-heads to cartwheel.
• 38:38
  SPEAKER_05: And until you're consistent with that one hands a cartwheel, like we can like that's what that's what, at least from my my uh observation and experience, I was not, I didn't grow up as a competitive dancer, but I had a lot of friends that did competitions.
• 38:50
  SPEAKER_05: And this is the era of, honey, I didn't I didn't see somebody bring the same tab solo three years in a row.
• 38:55
  SPEAKER_05: Yes, and she's getting better with it every year.
• 38:57
  SPEAKER_05: Right.
• 38:57
  SPEAKER_05: And Ashley's Ashley's getting better because she's going to the same competitions with this solo and she's placing better every year.
• 39:06
  SPEAKER_05: But and also the solo grows with her, the skill set grows with her, and she has something to like understanding.
• 39:14
  SPEAKER_05: I think there's there's also a value in understanding what it means to really work for something and then to say, oh yeah, I got this thing.
• 39:23
  SPEAKER_05: Like that is so gratifying, especially now where everything is just so instant.
• 39:27
  SPEAKER_05: It's just what is it, the microwave generation.
• 39:29
  SPEAKER_05: Like, honey, y'all, we got to give kids something to really chew on.
• 39:32
  SPEAKER_05: If they they're hungry, like that kid that's really hungry and is like, I want this thing, let them go for it.
• 39:37
  SPEAKER_05: Just like quality over quantity, guide them through the process and just level the skill every single time.
• 39:44
  SPEAKER_05: And instead of just focusing on the yeah, and instead of because competitions are so different with how they score, instead of focusing on, oh, I plays platinum over here and titanium here, honey, listen to those critiques.
• 39:56
  SPEAKER_05: If those critiques are the same when you first did the solo as uh before you go to nationals, that's a problem.
• 40:04
  SPEAKER_05: And you've probably been paying attention to the wrong thing because you've been looking at these trophies instead of listening to these comments.
• 40:10
  SPEAKER_05: So listen to the comments and see the feedback, apply the feedback, and that's also what makes a professional.
• 40:15
  SPEAKER_05: If you can take the feedback from someone and from if you perform this thing different, 10 different ways at 10 different competitions, that means you got at least 30 to 40 different people giving you feedback.
• 40:26
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, take all of those things, apply it, and see what type of artist you become and see what type of solo like comes out of that from beginning to end.
• 40:34
  SPEAKER_05: Like there's so much in that process.
• 40:36
  SPEAKER_05: And that I just I don't think we give give kids enough to really like we don't give enough credit to really work on and dive into something like that.
• 40:43
  SPEAKER_00: So they don't understand the patience that comes with that.
• 40:46
  SPEAKER_00: They they they wanna they wanna skip the stepping stones, and especially that's something I talk to my acro kids about all the time.
• 40:52
  SPEAKER_00: And it's like you don't learn a granjete before you learn a jet, right?
• 40:58
  SPEAKER_00: You don't learn a exactly it's a stepping stone, right?
• 41:02
  SPEAKER_00: Like there there's there's an order of events that we follow, or operations.
• 41:06
  SPEAKER_00: Well, same thing in acro.
• 41:07
  SPEAKER_00: Like my kids, they'll I'll say, Well, what is your goal for this year?
• 41:10
  SPEAKER_00: It's beginning of the year.
• 41:12
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, some kids will come in and they'll say, you know, I want an aerial, and I'm like, but you you can't do it from a walkov.
• 41:18
  SPEAKER_00: Right, you're afraid to go upside down.
• 41:20
  SPEAKER_00: Like right, like are the two are different, but it's an understanding and a discipline of the process and understanding the strength that goes into it.
• 41:29
  SPEAKER_00: And what like my my older acro kids, what they what they don't understand always right away is that harder skills take more time to learn.
• 41:38
  SPEAKER_00: I will get the the say they'll say to me, Mr.
• 41:40
  SPEAKER_00: Connor, I feel like I'm not progressing.
• 41:41
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, girl, you're learning a layout step out right now.
• 41:44
  SPEAKER_00: You're not gonna learn that in the same time that you learned a front walkover.
• 41:48
  SPEAKER_00: Like that's you, you know, it could take you, you know.
• 41:50
  SPEAKER_00: I've seen kids, it take an entire season to learn an aerial, an entire two seasons, you know, two, three seasons.
• 41:55
  SPEAKER_00: Everybody learns differently.
• 41:57
  SPEAKER_00: And it's like you need to give yourself the time and the patience.
• 42:00
  SPEAKER_00: And like like she just said, they're not doing that, and they're not, they're not they're not taking that.
• 42:05
  SPEAKER_00: They just want to go straight from their plies right into their firebirds and say, we, let's do it.
• 42:09
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 42:10
  SPEAKER_05: I wonder too.
• 42:11
  SPEAKER_05: The firebirds is crazy.
• 42:13
  SPEAKER_05: Oh man.
• 42:14
  SPEAKER_05: That is so true.
• 42:17
  SPEAKER_01: They're not even giving you a good plie.
• 42:20
  SPEAKER_01: That's what I'm saying.
• 42:20
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like so shallow.
• 42:22
  SPEAKER_02: And is it turned out or is it parallel?
• 42:24
  SPEAKER_02: That's my question.
• 42:25
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 42:25
  SPEAKER_00: Literally.
• 42:26
  SPEAKER_00: Like, do you know what an assembly is?
• 42:27
  SPEAKER_00: No, so why are we doing the fire bird?
• 42:29
  SPEAKER_02: Like, what's like are we doing a C sown from fifth position or are we doing a parallel first jump?
• 42:35
  SPEAKER_00: You just did is called.
• 42:37
  SPEAKER_00: Do you know what that jumping just did is called?
• 42:38
  SPEAKER_02: How do you spell it?
• 42:40
  SPEAKER_02: Terminology is impossible.
• 42:43
  SPEAKER_00: My kids have a weekly spelling test every Friday.
• 42:45
  SPEAKER_00: They have they get they are given five that they're given five terminology questions and they have to know how to spell it, and they have to write out the the definition.
• 42:55
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, I love that.
• 42:56
  SPEAKER_00: They're gonna learn.
• 42:57
  SPEAKER_02: I'll embarrass myself a second, but my studio implemented like tests when like towards the end of my time back home if they're listening.
• 43:06
  SPEAKER_02: They they know that I was just a rebel.
• 43:09
  SPEAKER_02: I just like never studied and you know, I had a little ballet dictionary book, but like I didn't read it, didn't prep for the test, couldn't spell a darn word on that ballet exam.
• 43:19
  SPEAKER_02: I completely failed it.
• 43:20
  SPEAKER_02: I even spelt plie wrong.
• 43:22
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, come on, you guys.
• 43:23
  SPEAKER_02: It was just it was bad.
• 43:25
  SPEAKER_02: Young cool.
• 43:25
  SPEAKER_02: We didn't take it serious back then.
• 43:28
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but yeah, I love that.
• 43:30
  SPEAKER_02: It it's important to know all of the names of the steps, even if everybody, you know, around the country and globally calls things different things.
• 43:39
  SPEAKER_02: It doesn't matter.
• 43:40
  SPEAKER_02: As long as you know what this is called, you can say what you're doing.
• 43:43
  SPEAKER_02: That's that's an important aspect.
• 43:45
  SPEAKER_02: And um I I wanna ask about our another favorite skill that I see often on stage.
• 43:52
  SPEAKER_02: I would love to hear y'all's opinions on the scorpions, if you know what I'm talking about.
• 43:58
  SPEAKER_02: The bees.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_02: Well in my favorite what do you got call them?
• 44:03
  SPEAKER_01: That's a scorpion.
• 44:04
  SPEAKER_01: Scorpion.
• 44:05
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 44:05
  SPEAKER_02: Or or like when you pull it into a needle.
• 44:08
  SPEAKER_02: I call that a needle.
• 44:10
  SPEAKER_02: So wait, there's a difference between a scorpion and a needle.
• 44:12
  SPEAKER_02: One straight.
• 44:14
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 44:14
  SPEAKER_00: So like if you think about a scorpion's tail, a scorpion's tail is technically bent, right?
• 44:18
  SPEAKER_00: So like what my understanding is is that the bent one is the scorpion, whereas a needle is straight, so the needle is that's what I was explained one time because I was like, what is the difference here?
• 44:32
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, closed mouths don't get bet.
• 44:33
  SPEAKER_00: So I was like, what's going on here?
• 44:34
  SPEAKER_00: Like what are we doing?
• 44:35
  SPEAKER_01: Well, and I mean, to my knowledge, all of that that is cheerleading.
• 44:38
  SPEAKER_01: Cheerleaders do scorpions.
• 44:40
  SPEAKER_01: Cheerleaders pull into a needle and then do a twisty basket toss.
• 44:42
  SPEAKER_01: And like, so we kind of stole that, is what I what I have have always thought about.
• 44:47
  SPEAKER_00: And it was a cheerleader that explained it to me actually like that.
• 44:50
  SPEAKER_00: That a cheerleader is the one that told me the bent one is a scorpion because if you think of a scorpion's tail, it's bent over like that.
• 44:57
  SPEAKER_00: And I was like, okay, facts.
• 44:59
  unknown: Yeah.
• 44:59
  SPEAKER_02: You know, I call like when you're upside down and you put your hands on the ground and you put your leg up in like Ponche upside down.
• 45:06
  SPEAKER_02: I call that a needle too.
• 45:07
  SPEAKER_02: So that's why I never knew I would call that a six o'clock.
• 45:10
  SPEAKER_02: What they're called.
• 45:11
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, yeah, people do call that a six o'clock.
• 45:14
  SPEAKER_00: I try to call it all of those things because then it's like I can just speak all the languages.
• 45:19
  SPEAKER_00: And it's like, okay, I'll say yeah, I'm gonna say a couple of these different words and you're gonna understand at least one of them.
• 45:25
  SPEAKER_01: Get your leg ups.
• 45:26
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 45:27
  SPEAKER_01: That's what I want to say.
• 45:30
  SPEAKER_01: Only word.
• 45:32
  SPEAKER_02: So is anyone else nervous when you see this?
• 45:35
  SPEAKER_02: Uh I'm thinking more of the needle then, now that we've clarified that.
• 45:39
  SPEAKER_02: Um the scorpions, obviously, you know, they look oftentimes really sh like we struggle through them.
• 45:45
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 45:45
  SPEAKER_04: Like we're like, ugh.
• 45:47
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like it's like it looks painful.
• 45:49
  SPEAKER_01: I'm less worried.
• 45:50
  SPEAKER_01: I'm more like, why?
• 45:52
  SPEAKER_01: Cause sometimes I see people like hike their leg up to like a side attitude, grab it, somehow rotate it back up, and then it's in a scorpion.
• 46:00
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, I'd rather see you like do an encloche, like a brush front, swing it back and then catch it, but that's not possible for a lot of people, which is why they do this like contortion-y round rondajam situation, but like it doesn't look nice, it looks like a struggle.
• 46:14
  SPEAKER_01: So for me, I'm not worried.
• 46:17
  SPEAKER_01: I'm just like, that's not a nice way to get into that.
• 46:20
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 46:20
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think it goes into like what I was saying earlier with the it's not necessarily the skill, it's the going into how we're getting out of the skill.
• 46:27
  SPEAKER_00: And I think sometimes dancers need to be more willing, and dance choreographers and teachers need to be more willing to say, okay, the way we're we might have like the meat of that skill, but the way we're coming in and out of that skill, like you just lit, like you just gave an example, Leslie.
• 46:41
  SPEAKER_00: Like, okay, the best way to get into this skill is this on close swing back grab, right?
• 46:46
  SPEAKER_00: Well, if you don't have the flexibility or the strength for that scenario, then you know what?
• 46:50
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe we don't do it.
• 46:51
  unknown: Yeah.
• 46:52
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe we don't know.
• 46:52
  SPEAKER_00: We can't be cheered scorpion in this damn channel.
• 46:54
  SPEAKER_00: Sorry about it.
• 46:55
  SPEAKER_00: And you know what?
• 46:56
  SPEAKER_00: We will all live to see another day just fine.
• 46:59
  SPEAKER_00: We will.
• 47:01
  SPEAKER_00: We we will sleep just fine tonight.
• 47:04
  SPEAKER_00: I promise you.
• 47:05
  SPEAKER_00: Like, it's all gonna be okay.
• 47:08
  SPEAKER_00: Like, and it's like, okay, we do this random scorpion.
• 47:11
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, okay, I love that journey for you, but are you ever gonna do that in a professional world if you're not like some crazy contortionist?
• 47:17
  SPEAKER_00: Unless you dance up a third, absolutely not.
• 47:20
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 47:20
  SPEAKER_00: Like that.
• 47:21
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, like, and like you said, I'm watching you struggle into this, and it's like that I don't care about the outcome at this point.
• 47:28
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I don't care about it.
• 47:29
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I'm watching you struggle.
• 47:31
  SPEAKER_02: I do feel like that I think that it I could be wrong, but I I feel like that the scorpion obviously is the progression to the needle.
• 47:41
  SPEAKER_02: So it's incorporated into the dance sometimes as a I'm working towards getting this straight eventually.
• 47:48
  SPEAKER_02: So I want to showcase where I'm at right now, and and that gives them more chances to practice and keep working on their back flexibility and strength and all of the things.
• 47:59
  SPEAKER_02: But when there's like also the needles that like are so hyper mobile and their spine is like so compressed and like bent in complete half that I just immediately see that and I'm like, you make that look so easy, but I'm concerned for your future.
• 48:17
  SPEAKER_02: Like I'm scared for your future.
• 48:19
  SPEAKER_02: This looks great right now in this moment.
• 48:21
  SPEAKER_02: That's so beautiful, and I love that line on you.
• 48:24
  SPEAKER_02: But I'm really like, I like there's something in in me that says, Oh, I'm really I really hope that you have a functioning back in 10 years, 15 years, 20 years, because I don't know if it's worth it, is what I always sit and think at the moment.
• 48:39
  SPEAKER_02: You know, it's a split second, but think about how many times you're practicing that same skill over and over and over and over that could lead to damage uh over time, wear and tear.
• 48:49
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 48:50
  SPEAKER_05: The life is all your life is always the priority.
• 48:54
  SPEAKER_05: Quite like period.
• 48:56
  SPEAKER_05: Like not just that moment, no, the entirety of it.
• 48:59
  SPEAKER_05: And also like the responsibility of like again, like adult oversight or just oversight of the development of human bodies.
• 49:09
  SPEAKER_05: That's a whole other conversation in and of itself, especially when we're talking about a body that is hyper mobile, meaning that baby is double jointed and is a little Bambi, a leg, all the things are popping out.
• 49:24
  SPEAKER_05: So you're choreographing to this natural ability, but are you training that ability to be able to just uh display the skills, this skill set again and again and again and again?
• 49:36
  SPEAKER_05: If so, then that child who is hypermobile is just gonna be as equally hypermobile as they are strong, which you don't get that, right?
• 49:43
  SPEAKER_05: You get choreography that plays to the strengths of the physicality of the dancer, but isn't actually like pushing and showing the training of what other things they could be capable of because they're only playing to their strengths, not to challenge them on their weaknesses or areas of improvement.
• 50:00
  SPEAKER_05: So, like when I do see things like the scorpion, which uh to me, you put a scorpion or a needle in choreography, it always ends up, you know, upstage center, like does the thing.
• 50:11
  SPEAKER_05: It's like it has its whole moment.
• 50:13
  SPEAKER_05: Right.
• 50:13
  SPEAKER_05: It takes three whole eight counts.
• 50:15
  SPEAKER_05: Who says that?
• 50:15
  SPEAKER_05: So too much.
• 50:16
  SPEAKER_05: Too much.
• 50:17
  SPEAKER_05: It's like too much.
• 50:18
  SPEAKER_05: Just do something else.
• 50:19
  SPEAKER_05: And also, like, how are we uh protecting those bodies that are able to do maybe more things that are flexible?
• 50:27
  SPEAKER_05: We still have to train them to be just as equally strong.
• 50:29
  SPEAKER_05: So yeah, I I screen too sometimes when I when I see it, because it it it does get real scary.
• 50:35
  SPEAKER_01: Well, and I think you made a really good point of like obviously we do want to play to our students' strengths, and that's you know, we do say that all the time.
• 50:41
  SPEAKER_01: Like, let's show me what you can do.
• 50:43
  SPEAKER_01: But when you're talking about like that strength versus natural flexibility, hypermobility, um, you're totally right.
• 50:49
  SPEAKER_01: I want to see, okay, I I get that your leg goes over here, and I get that your leg goes over here, but how can we control that?
• 50:55
  SPEAKER_01: I want to see the control and the strength for that exact same reason of, you know, your future being the more important thing than this moment.
• 51:02
  SPEAKER_01: I would love to speak.
• 51:03
  SPEAKER_01: This is like slightly off top off topic, but kind of on topic.
• 51:07
  SPEAKER_01: There's kids who are not hypermobile.
• 51:09
  SPEAKER_01: There's kids who are not super flexible and do not have all these tricks and skills, maybe no matter how much they try.
• 51:16
  SPEAKER_01: Like that's not a natural thing for most people as much as we see it out there.
• 51:20
  SPEAKER_01: But, you know, how can we sort of assure those students and those parents who might see all these crazy big tricks happening and big skills happening that like what you're doing is also great and possibly more safe.
• 51:34
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 51:34
  SPEAKER_05: Simone Biles isn't flexible.
• 51:37
  SPEAKER_05: Samole Biles is not hyper flexible.
• 51:39
  SPEAKER_05: She's a multi, like the one of the most, the most decorated gymnast ever is so she's super strong, but flexible she is not.
• 51:49
  SPEAKER_05: And she's open about that.
• 51:51
  SPEAKER_05: Like there is there's so much to again, like understanding.
• 51:54
  SPEAKER_05: Well, if I'm I might not be great at this thing, but I'm good, I could be good at all these other things.
• 51:59
  SPEAKER_05: And then finding out, all right, well, the things that you and also like the things that you might not be good at, well, what are some things that might be holding you back?
• 52:06
  SPEAKER_05: And then what are some things that you can pull from that to get better, you know, get better with, you know?
• 52:11
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 52:11
  SPEAKER_05: Uh maybe too, it's um like the this idea of what people think a dancer is, which like 2026, right really, but yeah, because it still exists.
• 52:21
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 52:22
  SPEAKER_05: So um I would challenge like what to uh dancers, like whatever you think your idea of a you know a professional dancer is or a a good dancer is, like, honey, just wipe that clean.
• 52:35
  SPEAKER_05: Because when you go into the professional world and you look at the various bodies, like the various trainings and experiences, people are coming from all over the place from so many different backgrounds, so many different experiences, so many different body types.
• 52:50
  SPEAKER_05: So it's like you can win, you just gotta figure out what your formula is to winning.
• 52:55
  SPEAKER_05: And it's not just about being hyper flexible and it's not about just being super strong either.
• 53:02
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I I'm glad that you mentioned like the control, Leslie, a minute ago, because like I feel like people are gonna walk away from this.
• 53:10
  SPEAKER_02: And again, I want to just continue to say like we are we are totally here and and in support of seeing you try new things on stage.
• 53:20
  SPEAKER_02: We're not saying do not push yourself and challenge yourself, but there's a way that you can do it without scaring us, you know, like there is a way that you can display new skills that you're working on and and doing it in a controlled, strong fashion and execution.
• 53:38
  SPEAKER_02: And if it looks strong and it is clean and it's showing us the basics and it's showing us the building blocks for you to get to that next place, then I'm here for it.
• 53:48
  SPEAKER_02: I think that's when those new skills can be introduced onto the competition stage.
• 53:54
  SPEAKER_02: But if they're, you know, and let's be real, parents, y'all know when something feels a little scary or unsafe when you're watching it.
• 54:01
  SPEAKER_02: Don't don't try to act like you don't, you know, like, oh, were they supposed to fall like that?
• 54:06
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, are they supposed to land like that?
• 54:08
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, are they supposed to face that way?
• 54:10
  SPEAKER_02: Like parents catch on too.
• 54:12
  SPEAKER_02: So, like if you if you feel something, there might be most likely there could be something there that isn't necessarily executed to its best of its ability or in the safest way.
• 54:24
  SPEAKER_02: Um, the last thing we we always say we want eyes on on the stage.
• 54:29
  SPEAKER_02: As a judge, I don't want to have to take my eyes off of you.
• 54:32
  SPEAKER_02: You know, I'm I'm getting paid to sit there and watch you.
• 54:36
  SPEAKER_02: But if you give me a reason to turn my eyes away, I feel like that's a problem, right?
• 54:42
  SPEAKER_02: And we gotta investigate why did Courtney just go whoop and look away.
• 54:46
  SPEAKER_02: Because I have been there and I don't even mean to make it dramatic.
• 54:49
  SPEAKER_02: So if people see me turn my head, it's because I truly don't want to watch someone's knee get blown out.
• 54:54
  SPEAKER_02: That's because that I I don't want to put myself in that position.
• 54:58
  SPEAKER_02: So, you know, it it's it's something to think about when uh when we're sitting there for this many hours, you know, create something that we can't stop watching you for the good and not have to turn away for the scary, right?
• 55:11
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 55:12
  SPEAKER_01: I want to bring up one thing we haven't covered yet, and that is partnering and partnering scary skills.
• 55:19
  SPEAKER_01: And when it happens where, you know, and that's when I typically am more scared and have to turn away is when something is clearly not working and it's it's not because this is just a fluke, and obviously flukes happen and things drop, and like we don't want that to happen, but you know, oftentimes when that does happen, I can tell who's been trained to figure out how to fix it in the moment, whether that's safely guiding somebody to the floor or safely putting yourself between the person who's falling.
• 55:46
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, there's ways to fix that.
• 55:48
  SPEAKER_01: But what what do we think is behind like the partnering skills that go awry?
• 55:54
  SPEAKER_00: For me, truthfully, what I think I think is missing, and this is a a term I like to use very often when I'm judging, or like teaching whether I'm teaching beginners um acro partnering skills or like the advanced partner acro skills, but um a symmetrical energy needs to be between both of them.
• 56:12
  SPEAKER_00: And by that I mean is, you know, we all know symmetry, like an even amount.
• 56:16
  SPEAKER_00: And oftentimes when something goes wrong, it's we're not understanding that weight, give how much resistance, that opposition, you know, and we need to kind of be on the same page of how much energy we're giving and how much energy we're releasing, that push and pull, that yin and yang, so to speak, um, of that dynamic.
• 56:34
  SPEAKER_00: And the thing is, is consistency and um continuation is so important in partner acro.
• 56:42
  SPEAKER_00: Like the way you would practice something on your own, you need to almost triple that when you're adding another body into it, truthfully.
• 56:49
  SPEAKER_00: Um, especially if it's a body you're still getting to know, honestly, as as depending on how hard the skill is, because there's a lot of trust that goes into a lot of these skills and that risk factor of, you know, do you really want to put your life on the line with somebody that you know you may not trust all the way yet?
• 57:05
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 57:06
  SPEAKER_00: And it goes back to, okay, we, you know, we said we need to do this skill 10 times, maybe we need to do it 20 times correctly.
• 57:12
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 57:13
  SPEAKER_00: You know, and have that symmetrical energy between us and that understanding.
• 57:17
  SPEAKER_00: So that way when, you know, one of us does bobble, because that's always bound to happen, it's live theater, things are going to take place, right?
• 57:26
  SPEAKER_00: Someone might bobble, someone might have a little like twitch, someone might have a hiccup, like little things, real life things can happen to where that that a big adjustment can be made, and you can come crashing down in that instant, but with that symmetrical energy and that understanding between each other, that is just kind of there from working together so long.
• 57:45
  SPEAKER_00: It it saves it it it's the biggest deal.
• 57:48
  SPEAKER_00: Symmetrical energy.
• 57:49
  SPEAKER_00: Write it down, friends.
• 57:50
  SPEAKER_01: Like I saw Kamali writing it down.
• 57:52
  SPEAKER_01: She was like, Let me take some notes.
• 57:53
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah, I've got my notes.
• 57:55
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 57:56
  SPEAKER_04: Energy.
• 57:56
  SPEAKER_00: Like that that what I find is that verbiage really clicks with dancers is they they understand that.
• 58:04
  SPEAKER_00: It's like, okay, you were giving too much, you were not pulling too much, like those kinds of things.
• 58:10
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 58:11
  SPEAKER_05: I'll I'll even um expounding on your point too about symmetrical energy, um rolling point of contact.
• 58:19
  SPEAKER_05: So like understanding how to come in contact with the body and how to continue the movement on the body.
• 58:27
  SPEAKER_05: Like that, that is a whole, because that's a whole I mean that's like years worth of master class.
• 58:34
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 58:34
  SPEAKER_05: It's like because you gotta learn, you have to understand breath.
• 58:36
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 58:37
  SPEAKER_05: You have to understand how to like actually how to use your breath to move, not just exhaling at the end of your choreography because you're tired.
• 58:45
  SPEAKER_05: So it's understanding how do I use my breath as weight, so that then I can give my weight to my partner to find the rolling point of contact and then to then lean in and allow for the partnering to happen effortlessly.
• 59:00
  SPEAKER_05: I mean, that's that's one of the things.
• 59:03
  SPEAKER_05: And then um, I think another things that go hand in hand um is a no-go zone.
• 59:08
  SPEAKER_05: So, like, do you know where to place your hands and where not to place your hands on your partner?
• 59:14
  SPEAKER_05: Do you know where to step?
• 59:16
  SPEAKER_05: Scary, I can't stand seeing they got the child laying on the floor and or kneeling, and then somebody stepped on them.
• 59:24
  SPEAKER_01: On the middle of their body the spine.
• 59:28
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, with the shoe.
• 59:29
  SPEAKER_01: With a shoe.
• 59:30
  SPEAKER_01: Well, at least they had a shoe on.
• 59:32
  SPEAKER_00: For some reason, they're so grounded, they're more grounded when they do that than they were when they were doing anything else in that dance.
• 59:38
  SPEAKER_00: They just decide to feel so in that moment as they're stepping on their friend.
• 59:43
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, now I'm gonna be grounded.
• 59:44
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 59:44
  SPEAKER_05: Middle of the spine.
• 59:45
  SPEAKER_00: I'm just like so you see the spine like the step on it.
• 59:50
  SPEAKER_05: What are we doing?
• 59:51
  SPEAKER_05: So the no-go zones, but I think that also goes into trust.
• 59:54
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 59:54
  SPEAKER_05: You're trusting your partner, right?
• 59:56
  SPEAKER_05: Now, when it we talk about children and trust, that's very different.
• 1:00:00
  SPEAKER_05: Sure.
• 1:00:00
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 1:00:01
  SPEAKER_05: It's a very different.
• 1:00:02
  SPEAKER_05: It's a, it's a, it's a, it's a blissful trust.
• 1:00:05
  SPEAKER_05: It comes with experience, but also some children are so willing to trust the adults in the room, they'll do whatever, which is why we got kids doing knee drops side to side, not question nobody.
• 1:00:15
  SPEAKER_05: I digress.
• 1:00:17
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, honestly, the partnering is a I'm glad you asked this, Leslie, because it is a big thing.
• 1:00:23
  SPEAKER_02: And I think we're seeing more partnering on stage because it's cool.
• 1:00:26
  SPEAKER_02: And like I love partnering, and I think it's really great that we are introducing our dancers to it, but there there is, there almost does need to be a masterclass in how to partner with one singular person, uh, a lift of with a group.
• 1:00:40
  SPEAKER_02: And I think like the thing that I see the most is that everyone thinks that it's done after without the landing.
• 1:00:47
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 1:00:47
  SPEAKER_02: They're like, okay, we're finished.
• 1:00:49
  SPEAKER_02: We did the we did the toss and oops, okay, good luck, and we move on to what comes next.
• 1:00:54
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it's making sure that everybody is safely back to where they started on the ground, not slamming to the ground, controlled to the ground, like not rushing one another to the back.
• 1:01:04
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, that's what I see a lot with like the younger groups where it's like, okay, we're we're the you know, seven to nine-year-old lyrical group and we're gonna put this lift in, and we've there's 18 of us and we've all figured out how to do this.
• 1:01:15
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, got the one girl in the back whose like fingertips are just up there because that's what she, you know, but she's done before the whole thing is done.
• 1:01:22
  SPEAKER_01: And so and like maybe she's fine.
• 1:01:24
  SPEAKER_01: She wasn't helping really, she was just back there.
• 1:01:26
  SPEAKER_01: But but a lot of kids just want to rush to the next thing.
• 1:01:29
  SPEAKER_01: And that's where I get scared.
• 1:01:30
  SPEAKER_01: When it's like, okay, we've got how many times did you practice this?
• 1:01:34
  SPEAKER_01: And is Sally back there really confident?
• 1:01:36
  SPEAKER_01: Is Susie up there at all confident in her friends, or are they in a fight today because somebody's plushy?
• 1:01:42
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
• 1:01:43
  SPEAKER_01: You know kids.
• 1:01:44
  SPEAKER_01: But like that's that's where you said, you know, kamale, like these are children.
• 1:01:50
  SPEAKER_01: So you have to do even more, I think, vetting of everybody's emotions that day and everybody's friendship level and everybody's trust level of each other for this big moment because you know, it is very special to be able to do this big lift.
• 1:02:04
  SPEAKER_01: That's a very cool thing that they look forward to, but everybody has to be on the same page and in the same headspace for that to be as safe as we can make it.
• 1:02:12
  SPEAKER_05: Absolutely.
• 1:02:13
  SPEAKER_05: When you say the the seven to nine lyrical, I just saw the tea.
• 1:02:20
  SPEAKER_01: And then somebody's coming under the wall to grab the left with so much conviction.
• 1:02:26
  SPEAKER_01: And then nobody presses down.
• 1:02:27
  SPEAKER_01: So she's up here like this, like in her tea, just like help me.
• 1:02:30
  SPEAKER_00: The girl, the poor girl up there doesn't breathe the whole time.
• 1:02:33
  SPEAKER_00: She's holding her breath.
• 1:02:35
  SPEAKER_00: She does not inhale or exhale for nothing.
• 1:02:38
  SPEAKER_00: You ain't gonna get new.
• 1:02:39
  SPEAKER_00: Uh-huh.
• 1:02:39
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 1:02:40
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 1:02:41
  SPEAKER_02: Man.
• 1:02:41
  SPEAKER_02: And and oftentimes it's done with one person that's really tall and another person that's really short.
• 1:02:46
  SPEAKER_02: So they're like this in the in the air.
• 1:02:48
  SPEAKER_02: It's a whole situation.
• 1:02:50
  SPEAKER_02: I love when it's a little bit more.
• 1:02:50
  SPEAKER_00: We've seen it all, folks.
• 1:02:52
  SPEAKER_00: I love when I I've heard like even like I've been in the room just as you know, someone else's choreographic, and I've heard a teacher say to know the little friend on the side that's too short, yeah, well, make it look like you're doing something.
• 1:03:02
  SPEAKER_00: Well, yeah.
• 1:03:02
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I bet if we tried hard enough, we could find her something to do to be helpful in this moment.
• 1:03:07
  SPEAKER_01: Anything.
• 1:03:08
  SPEAKER_01: She runs.
• 1:03:08
  SPEAKER_01: Can she run?
• 1:03:09
  SPEAKER_01: She could do a bunch of things.
• 1:03:11
  SPEAKER_00: If we really just tried even a little bit that we could find her something to do, rather than telling the poor child, make it look like you're doing something, that's crazy.
• 1:03:20
  SPEAKER_00: That's crazy behavior.
• 1:03:22
  SPEAKER_00: It's not her fault she's short.
• 1:03:24
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 1:03:25
  SPEAKER_00: Like, okay, you're just gonna make it look like you're doing something.
• 1:03:31
  SPEAKER_01: It's tough out there, y'all.
• 1:03:33
  SPEAKER_01: It is.
• 1:03:34
  SPEAKER_01: I can I commend all of you choreographing for the seven to nine-year-old lyrical dance because it's it's a lot.
• 1:03:39
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 1:03:40
  SPEAKER_02: Y'all, we could probably talk about scary skills all darn day.
• 1:03:44
  SPEAKER_02: And I wish we had more time, but sadly, we have to wrap up this amazing chat.
• 1:03:50
  SPEAKER_02: And um, and it was a spooky one for sure.
• 1:03:53
  SPEAKER_02: So Connor and Kamali, thank you for joining us on the podcast.
• 1:03:58
  SPEAKER_02: So fun.
• 1:03:59
  SPEAKER_04: Thank you for uh of course.
• 1:04:02
  SPEAKER_02: And if you've listened to the pod, we always have our guests lead us out with just one more final thought on the topic, anything that we haven't discussed, anything you want to leave choreographers, teachers, studios, competition dancers, parents with before we head into the competition season and off to go trick-or-treating.
• 1:04:22
  SPEAKER_05: Sure, yeah, I'll go.
• 1:04:23
  SPEAKER_05: Um, I'm just gonna reiterate just two points that I said prior.
• 1:04:27
  SPEAKER_05: Uh, number one, quality over quantity.
• 1:04:31
  SPEAKER_05: Quality over quantity every single time.
• 1:04:34
  SPEAKER_05: That's gonna take you much further than you trying to not do quality over quantity.
• 1:04:40
  SPEAKER_05: And the second thing is your life is the priority.
• 1:04:44
  SPEAKER_05: I don't care what it is, if someone is asking you to do something that you are uncomfortable, or if you're something scared, like use your voice to speak up and say something.
• 1:04:55
  SPEAKER_05: Your voice is the most powerful thing that you have.
• 1:04:58
  SPEAKER_05: Use it to your advantage to advocate for yourself at any point in time.
• 1:05:01
  SPEAKER_05: This goes to parents and it goes to students as well.
• 1:05:04
  SPEAKER_00: Love that.
• 1:05:04
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, definitely.
• 1:05:06
  SPEAKER_00: Um, for me, it kind of piggybacks off of what she just said.
• 1:05:10
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, definitely advocate for yourself, but be able to recognize when said skills are just not working.
• 1:05:18
  SPEAKER_00: Be able to be able to say and be ready to pivot.
• 1:05:20
  SPEAKER_00: That's something that happens all the time.
• 1:05:22
  SPEAKER_00: You know, you may be working on that skill, and that was the goal for six months, but hey, we're going to competition in, you know, a week and a half.
• 1:05:28
  SPEAKER_00: It's time to pivot.
• 1:05:30
  SPEAKER_00: It's time to recognize it.
• 1:05:31
  SPEAKER_00: And like she just said, your life is not worth it.
• 1:05:34
  SPEAKER_00: And be ready, be ready for those moments because just because a front walkov took you two weeks to learn doesn't mean that side aerial is gonna not take you, you know, maybe a couple months to learn.
• 1:05:44
  SPEAKER_00: Be open and vulnerable because every acro skill is gonna be different on every single dancer's body, and try not to compare yourself and give yourself the time and the grace and the patience because you're gonna kill it eventually.
• 1:05:59
  SPEAKER_02: We hope you enjoyed our Halloween episode all about scary skills that we see on stage.
• 1:06:05
  SPEAKER_02: Huge shout out to our fabulous IDA judges and guests for joining us on this chat.
• 1:06:11
  SPEAKER_02: Be sure to follow them on Instagram.
• 1:06:13
  SPEAKER_02: You can find Connor at Connors Corey 01 and Kamali at Kamali Hill.
• 1:06:20
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• 1:06:24
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• 1:06:26
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• 1:06:30
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• 1:06:37
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• 1:06:45
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• 1:06:53
  SPEAKER_02: Be sure to check out IDA affiliated competition Streets Dance Convention.
• 1:06:58
  SPEAKER_02: Looking for a dance event that leaves you feeling inspired, connected, and ready to grow?
• 1:07:02
  SPEAKER_02: Come experience Streets Dance Convention in competition.
• 1:07:06
  SPEAKER_02: At Streets, it's not just about pushing your technique.
• 1:07:09
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• 1:07:16
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• 1:07:23
  SPEAKER_02: So you'll leave each class feeling more confident and motivated.
• 1:07:27
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• 1:07:29
  SPEAKER_02: Streets deeply cares about the dance teachers and studio owners too.
• 1:07:33
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• 1:07:42
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• 1:07:48
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• 1:07:52
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• 1:08:00
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• 1:08:06
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• 1:08:09
  SPEAKER_01: Coming up on Making the Impact?
• 1:08:10
  SPEAKER_01: Look forward to a throwback episode, a musical theater episode focusing on lip syncing, and another throwback.
• 1:08:16
  SPEAKER_02: See you next week for another great episode on Making the Impact.