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The 2025 Competition Season - Takeaways From Your Judges · Making The Impact - A Dance Competition Podcast

• 0:07
  SPEAKER_17: Have you ever wondered what goes on behind the table at a dance competition?
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_17: Exactly what are the judges looking for anyway?
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_17: This is Making the Impact, a dance competition podcast.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_17: Each week we'll cover a different topic related to the world of competitive dance from the perspective of the judges behind the table.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_17: The 2025 competition season is almost over and we're sad to see it go.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_17: Today on Making the Impact, we're taking a look back at this wonderful season with some of our IDA judges to reflect on all the things we loved, didn't love, and want to see more of in 2026.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_03: Hello everyone.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_03: Welcome to our final episode of season six on Making the Impact.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_03: I'm your host, Courtney Ortiz, and I'm here with my co-host Leslie Miller.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_17: Hello, everyone.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_17: We are here, and man, I'm excited to do this episode with you and to share our takeaways from this season because there was a lot going on in 2020.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, there is always a lot going on in every competition season, and we have loved bringing these takeaway episodes to you all.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_03: They've been fan favorites and highly requested every year that we've done these.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_03: So we want to make sure that we tackle it for 2025.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_03: And we have a lot to cover in a little bit of time.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_03: And so sad to see the season already over in podcast, competition season, regional season, and podcast season already over.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_03: But I'm we will be back in action very sh very soon.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_03: Before you know it, before we all know it.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_03: And to all of our listeners out there, while this is our final episode of season six, we do have a season six wrap-up episode as well for you to enjoy.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_03: So go give a listen immediately following this one.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_03: And before we jump into our final episode, like you've been hearing all season long, we have our Making the Impact Judge's Choice winners.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_03: And these are our final few that came through towards the end of the regional season that we want to share with you.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_03: These are distributed at IDA affiliated competition events with at least one IDA judge on the panel.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_03: And your judge gets to select that one dance that they just cannot stop thinking about by the end of the weekend.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_03: We want to recognize you through your technique, execution, choreography, theme, artistry.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_03: There was something about this dance that stood out to your judges, and you were the winner of our Making the Impact Judges Choice Award.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_03: And one of the perks of winning this award is you get a live shout-out on the podcast.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_03: So let's hear some of our recent winners.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_17: From Starbound's event in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, congrats to Lucky Star Dance Company from State College, Pennsylvania for their small group, HERT.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_03: From Starbound's event in Rochester, New York, congrats to Studio 19 Dance Company from Rochester, New York for their duo trio, Time of Our Lives.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_17: From Onstage America's event in Altoona, Pennsylvania, congrats to Holiday Dance Studio and Impact Dance Company from Dunkinsville, Pennsylvania for their large group, 99 Red Balloons.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_03: From Streets Dance Conventions event in Mobile, Alabama, congrats to Verve Dance Company from Fort Walton Beach, Florida for their production on Top of the World.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_17: And from High Demand Dance Competitions event in Worcester, Massachusetts, congrats to Step by Step Dance Studio from Waltham, Massachusetts for their large group, No More Drama.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_03: If you were a recent recipient of our Making the Impact Award and did not hear your shout-out on the pod, then give a listen to season six wrap-up episode immediately following this, because you might hear your shout-out over there.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_17: And listeners, one more thing before we jump into this episode.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_17: As usual, we have some amazing sponsors to tell you about.
• 3:43
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• 3:51
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• 4:27
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• 4:30
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• 4:38
  SPEAKER_03: Join us for an unforgettable experience at the Dance Teacher Web Conference and Expo, taking place this summer at the Paris Hotel in Las Vegas from July 22nd to the 25th, where dance enthusiasts gather to elevate their teaching skills.
• 4:52
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• 5:10
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• 5:18
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• 5:24
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• 5:33
  SPEAKER_03: I'll even be attending and teaching this year at the Dance Teacher Web Conference and would love to see you there.
• 5:39
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• 5:46
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• 5:56
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• 6:21
  SPEAKER_03: So we're here to talk about the takeaways from the 2025 competition season.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_03: Things we loved, things we hope we won't see again for 2026.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_03: And this is coming straight from your IDA judges who are out traveling around the country all season long watching your dancers hit the stage.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_17: We also have some feedback from our wonderful listeners from our Facebook group.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_17: So we'll have you guys chime in a little bit later in the episode.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, and we have a lot to get through with pre-submitted audio clips from our IDA judges.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_03: And we want to kick off some of the takeaways with the things that we loved seeing as judges on stage this season in 2025.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_03: So let's hear from our very first judge.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_15: Hey everyone, this is IDA Judge Amy from North Carolina, and here are my takeaways from the 2025 competition season.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_15: One of the most exciting shifts I noticed in group dances this year is the movement away from unnecessary tricks, acro heavy sequences, and predictable technical patterns.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_15: Instead, we saw a renewed focus on artistry, creativity, style, and authentic dancing with thoughtful transitions that really enhances storytelling and expression.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_15: As we look ahead to next season, my hope is that this trend continues to influence solo performances as well.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_15: Right now, there still seems to be a tendency to rely on expected technical elements, things like headstands or an Alisakan turn sequence, sometimes at the expense of true individuality and creativity.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_15: While technical excellence is important, it shouldn't overshadow a dancer's unique voice.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_15: So here's my encouragement to choreographers and soloists alike.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_15: Don't be afraid to think out of the box.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_15: Challenge your dancers not just with tricks, but with musicality, contrast, and movement textures.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_15: Let's celebrate the individuality of each performer and the creativity we bring as artists.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_15: Because at the heart of it all, dance is not just about what you can do.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_15: It's about how you make people feel.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_15: Thanks, and I hope everyone has a great summer.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_03: Great first clip from Amy Gibson, who is coming to us from North Carolina.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_03: And I think this is a really great observation from the season because she's kind of saying that in group choreography, there might not be as much emphasis on those tricks that we love to see.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_03: But in solos, it is all about the tricks in the solos.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_03: Have you noticed the same?
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_17: I don't know that I've noticed the same, but what I appreciate is that if somebody's noticing it, then it's happening somewhere.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_17: You know, and I think in this kind of episode, it's really refreshing and just interesting to hear and sort of like backs up a lot of what we say just about being judges in general is that like not everything is going to be happening in every region of the country.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_17: You know, some things that we see on the East Coast are not happening on the West Coast, or they don't happen until a year or two later.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_17: But what's refreshing about this that she's noticing is that some somebody out there is doing it.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_17: Somebody out there is giving interesting choreography that's not focused on the tricks, that's not focused on these, you know, crazy, insane technical elements.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_17: Um, and that makes me really happy because that means that there's somebody out there listening.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_17: There's some some choreographers out there, you know, who are driving more art artistic elements into their students and allowing that to be the focus.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_17: So I'm, you know, not that I've not seen that from a few, you know, events that I've been at, but I'm just glad to see that it is happening.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_03: And, you know, I I do appreciate the artistry and the thought that's going into a lot of the choreography that's hitting the stage, specifically in group routines.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_03: But I agree with Amy in the sense that I feel like that the solos are just so jam-packed these days that it's overwhelming.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_03: I can't even I don't even see actual dancing happening in solos because there's just no transitional steps, zero connection to the music, just running through it trick after trick after trick.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_17: And I like checking things off a list of like, okay, I've done the turn sequence, I've done the leg hold, I've done the trick, I've done the other turn sequence on the same leg.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_17: It's actually the same turn sequence.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_17: I did it twice.
• 10:29
  unknown: Yes.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I I don't know.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_03: I just find it interesting that like there's a different approach to solo choreography than group.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_03: And yes, there is a different approach in the sense that you have more bodies to work with, you have more visuals that you need to create, you have more opportunity for levels and layers and peel-offs and timing and things like that.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_03: But when it comes to the thought that's going into the story and the arc and the creation of a group, I feel like the same should be given to a solo and it shouldn't just be let's do all of our tricks and every every trick in the kitchen sink we're gonna throw into this solo, and that's what the judges care about.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_03: It's like, no, we still want to see movement in solo dances.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_17: Yeah.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_17: And I'm curious I would be curious to know like whatever the thought process is when like if Amy is seeing group dances present more artistry, less tricky, you know, are are are those just smarter choreographers now?
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_17: And they're being able to think about who who are these individuals in my group?
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_17: How can I make each individual stand out, you know, for their level and their actual ability level, as opposed to just sort of only showcasing the people who can do all the tricks and somehow leaving everybody else, you know, to do a pose in the back.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_17: Like to me, when I see dances that have more artistry like that um in a group setting, it makes me feel like, okay, this choreographer is very intelligent in being able to utilize everybody to their fullest potential.
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_17: And so that's that's what I would wonder is that if is that what's happening?
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_17: Which is great.
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_17: Because that means that you know, people are are showcasing the individuality in a group setting.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_17: Whereas with the solos, like you said, sometimes you do see just like checking off boxes of I've done all these tricks, I've done all these things, as opposed to allowing the individuality to come through.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_03: So I think that's a great one to kick off this episode.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_03: So thank you, Amy, for that submission.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_03: Let's hear some uh two other clips from our judges on some genres that they've seen hit the stage this season.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_14: This is IDA Judge Mary from Alabama, and one of my favorite takeaways this season was getting to see more ballet, and not just ballet being performed by the most elite advanced dancers, but seeing ballet being performed at the recreational level, the novice level, the intermediate level, and just seeing these students that are having the opportunity to learn ballet at their local studios, being given the opportunity to showcase where they're at in the process of their technique on the competition stage.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_14: I think it's really important for this development because there's been so much fear in the past of uh recreational level dancers performing ballet at competition and being worried about being criticized.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_14: But I think that there's this growing trend of just offering positivity and support for dancers at every level.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_04: Hello, this is IDA Judge Karen from Lake Zurich, Illinois, and one of my biggest takeaways from this season was bringing back the tap.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_04: It was awesome to see so many tap entries at a competition from the mini level to the senior level, from novice to advanced, just thriving.
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_04: It was so fun to watch the musicality, to really see that choreography come to life to complement the musicality, to see the tap pieces that were done so nicely, so smoothly.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_04: And sometimes they were done a cappella.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_04: It was awesome.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_04: It was so great to see this style of dance make a comeback this year, and I hope we're on an upward trajectory for it.
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_04: Thank you so much for a great dance season, and we hope to see you next year.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_17: Love it.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_17: Wow, this positivity from Mary and Karen.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_17: Like, I'm obsessed.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_17: That's so great to hear.
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, we love seeing these genres hit the stage.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_03: I'm all here for ballet.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_03: I get so excited every time I see ballet hit the stage.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_03: And I always say on my critique, thank you so much for bringing ballet to the competitive stage.
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_03: Because I think Mary is right.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_03: I think that a lot of studios are afraid to bring ballet.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_03: And for me, when I'm getting to watch a full picture of the studio as a judge throughout the entire weekend, I feel like that that's typically the genre that is missing.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_03: But then we always say how important it is.
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_03: It's like, why are we afraid to bring it to the competitive stage?
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_03: It's because it's judged very hard.
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_03: It's because it's a right or a wrong, it's very black and white.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_03: And I think that intimidates studios.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_03: And, you know, it's it's it is feels a little bit tough to present ballet, but it's so refreshing.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_03: And it really shows me your where, you know, all of that foundational technical training that you're working so hard on at the ballet bar, it gives me an it actually helps me as a judge to be able to see, oh, that's where that habit's coming from.
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_03: Because in ballet, you're doing it like this and it's translating into your contemporary because you showed me that in your ballet dance.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_03: But if I never saw your ballet dance, I wouldn't be able to give you better feedback on certain little habits that might be existing in your technique that you don't even know about.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_17: Right.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_17: Well, and I think she made a really good point of like, you know, at this point in like the competitive dance industry, I think a lot of judges have come to the realization finally that like we're not expecting perfection.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_17: We can't expect perfection.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_17: We expect to see you doing something that you're working on that you're doing well, right?
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_17: Like I don't want to see you, I want to see you in class do all the things that are really hard, that you're still really, you know, progressing in.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_17: But once you come to the stage, show me where you are right now.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_17: And if that means you're at the intermediate level and you're still working on some things and nothing's perfect yet, then that's what I want to see because that informs me, like you said, as to where you are in your training.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_17: Um, and and I think so many more judges now recognize that that is our job is to help reinforce what is happening at your studio.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_17: You know, I can't come in and diagnose and fix everything in your three-minute ballet dance.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_17: Right.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_17: But what I can do is reinforce what your teachers are probably already telling you.
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_17: And so, yes, does that mean like your ballet dance might get judged harder because, like you said, it is black and white?
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_17: Yes, but that's not a bad thing.
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_17: Right.
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_17: It is not a bad thing to receive a lower score for your ballet dance because I'm judging you harder on those skills that are technically that must be technically sound.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_17: Right.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_17: Right.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_17: That just means hopefully again, hopefully, I am reinforcing what you're already telling them.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_17: There's another voice saying, beautiful job, you know, on your retere, but could you raise your releve just a little bit more to allow you to finish that rotation more smoothly?
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_17: That shouldn't be anything new to you.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_17: That's not a new piece of information, hopefully.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_17: You know, so I'm but I agree with uh Mary actually.
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_17: I have also seen a lot more ballet this season at every single event I was at.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_17: There was legitimate ballet dances from every level, from every age, at every event.
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_17: It was wild and it was really wonderful.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_17: And like you, I I thank the choreographers and the teachers for bringing it because we need to know that you're actually doing that in your studio.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and I also want to encourage studios to bring group ballet dances because I feel like a lot of the ballet that I've seen, I have seen a handful of groups, and to be honest, I remember giving a few of those groups very high scores.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, yeah, shockingly high scores for me, as being that ballet is a hard genre to succeed at.
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_03: But be either they knew it and they brought it because they knew they were great at ballet and they knew it would score well, and they take ballet three days a week, four days a week, and they're they know it's a strength of theirs as a studio.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_03: I love seeing that.
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_03: I'm like, absolutely.
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_03: Every studio is gonna have their strength.
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_03: Some people are top dancers, some are uh more into the hip hop scene, like that's your strength.
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_03: But then there are ballet studios out there that are like, you know what?
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_03: I'm gonna bring ballet to the stage and I'm gonna wow these judges.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_03: And I applaud that.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_03: But a lot of times I see majority variations of soloists on stage because a lot of people might be doing YAGP or UBC and ballet competitions, so they have a contemporary and they want to just, you know, throw their variation up there to get more performance experience as well.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_03: But I encourage studios, if you have a contemporary dance, you have a lyrical dance, if you have a jazz dance group, where's the ballet group?
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_03: I want to see that too.
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_03: Why not?
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_03: And it gives us something to work towards because, like you said, it might be scored harder, but wouldn't you want to know like what's missing in your in your technique and your training as far as like, okay, are contemporary scoring really high, but our ballet scoring really low?
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_03: And yes, ballet's gonna be scored harder no matter what, but how do we push ourselves next season?
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_03: We're gonna hit ballet harder, we're gonna, we're gonna add an extra day a week, we're gonna really focus on these details in ballet class because that's what the judges told us.
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_03: But if we never see it, then you are gonna just keep going through the motions of a the ballet class that you think is working.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_03: When really this is a great way for an outside eye to fine-tune those details in your ballet training.
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_17: And I think too, as to your point about like getting more performance experience, you know, there's a different presentation level feeling, you know, there's a different presentation when you come on as a group to do a group ballet dance than a contemporary dance, than a tap dance.
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_17: Like there's a different feeling, there's a different way you hold yourself.
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_17: And you you're not even necessarily getting that kind of experience in a ballet class.
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_17: You know, you're doing your bar, you're doing your center, you're doing your Daggio, your whatever.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_17: But in terms of putting on a classical ballet costume and pink tights and pink ballet shoes or skin tone, whatever we're doing with our tights and our shoes these days for everyone.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_17: But when you put on a tutu, you are a different person.
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_17: You're a different dancer.
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_17: So you don't get that experience just by taking ballet class and saying, well, we did we checked off that box of take ballet three days a week.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_17: Well, do you perform ballet?
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_17: Because that's a different, that's a different way of showing up in the world of competitive dance.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_17: And so, you know, I again like you applaud the folks who bring it as an ensemble because I think that's a very different skill set as well.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_03: And as far as tap is concerned, I love that tap is making a comeback.
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_03: And I think that it is definitely regional.
• 20:39
  SPEAKER_03: I'm not gonna lie, definitely a regional thing because there are some cities that I judged this year out west that there was one tap solo out of the entire competition.
• 20:50
  SPEAKER_03: Wow.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_03: And at convention, I'm with a typically the tap faculty member is sitting on the panel with me.
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_03: And they always, and this is a fun fact, everyone, the tap faculty at convention, when they're judging, they always will scan the program ahead of time to get an idea if taps even gonna, if they're even gonna see a tap dance.
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_03: And sometimes they they scan through and they're like, oh my gosh, I'm so excited.
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_03: There's like 10 tap tap dances in this session.
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_03: And then other times they're like, I don't even know what why they need a tap judge on this panel because there's not a single tap dance that I'm about to watch right now.
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_03: And it's discouraging and it's uh unfortunate because it really sets the tone of the event off the bat before this tap teacher has even had a chance to work with them in a convention.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_03: But also, you know, it just shows that maybe tap isn't really prioritized in a lot of studio training these days if we're also not bringing that to the stage.
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_17: Right.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_17: Oh, and you know, my my one perfect score of the season went to a tap dance.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_17: Yes.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_17: And, you know, it's it's very similar to ballet.
• 21:54
  SPEAKER_17: It's either like it's either you made the sounds or you didn't.
• 21:59
  SPEAKER_09: Like
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_17: And this person made all the sounds.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_17: And then on top of that was like performance quality, musicality, artistry, like choreography, like you know, everything happened.
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_17: And so, you know, I I too am very excited when I see the tap.
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_09: Mm-hmm.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_17: And, you know, being and being somebody who like I enjoy tap.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_17: I don't feel I'm not a tap judge per se, but like I do, I do the same thing.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_17: I like to scan to see like, well, am I gonna be hit with 700 contemporary dances today?
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_17: Or is there gonna be some variety?
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_17: And, you know, it is kind of disappointing when you when you see the in the program that there's not a lot of tap.
• 22:29
  SPEAKER_09: Right.
• 22:29
  SPEAKER_17: What I what I did see a lot this season, to piggyback off of Karen, was you know, there were some studios that showed up with ballet tap and jazz, you know, your whole your whole um world of dance there.
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_17: And were they the best at tap?
• 22:44
  SPEAKER_17: No.
• 22:44
  SPEAKER_17: But they they were teaching it.
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_17: It was all correct.
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_17: There was enough vocabulary and the routines that I had something to talk about.
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_17: You know, it is always disappointing to me when I when I see something entered as tap and they're not really tapping.
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_17: Right.
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_17: Because then I'm like, well, I appreciate the attempt, but like, what are you doing in class if I can't pick out the steps that you're actually showing me on stage?
• 23:07
  SPEAKER_17: So it kind of goes both ways.
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_17: Like, yes, we want to see tap, but we want to see tap.
• 23:11
  SPEAKER_17: Exactly.
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_17: I don't want you to say it's tap and then sit there and shake your hip for five counts, you know, five, eight counts, and then march over here and then do a cute little ditty and then not do a shuffle step.
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_03: The amount of like times that I've had to say on critiques this season, I would really love to see more tap vocabulary in this tap dance.
• 23:30
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and it that goes across the board for every age.
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_03: Like there's some really fantastic tap dancing happening on stage, but then there's like maybe like the petite or the junior tap dances where it's really cute and it almost feels like a jazz dance.
• 23:46
  SPEAKER_03: And they're doing a transitional step with their hands on their hips and they're doing like booty flick jazz runs to transition flap shoes.
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_17: Those could also be running flaps, and I don't understand toe heels, flap heels, flapp ball changes, blowbacks, you know, full any literally anything like there's a lot of steps for you.
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_03: The emphasis on like prioritizing the top steps, even in something as simple as a transitional step.
• 24:10
  SPEAKER_03: It's like that should be the priority because this is the top dance, not a jazz dance.
• 24:13
  SPEAKER_03: Do that in the jazz, but where is it?
• 24:15
  SPEAKER_03: I want to hear sounds probably majority of the time, and I'm all here for a mar a march on the beat and everybody on the same foot.
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_17: If we have a one one count sound, that's fine.
• 24:26
  SPEAKER_17: Like, but I'd rather hear like there's a lot more sounds we can make with more rhythms, like you said, uh as opposed to step, step, step, step, flicker butt, cute walk.
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_17: Right.
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 24:36
  SPEAKER_03: So I I uh completely agree with you.
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_03: If we're gonna do tap, make sure it's actually tap with tap vocabulary and and tap training being shown and displayed, and not just another cute jazz dance with tap shoes on.
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_03: All right, we have two more judges who are going to chime in, but first let's hear from IDA Judge Tara.
• 24:59
  SPEAKER_16: Hi, this is IDA Judge Taray Yakabuchi from Rhode Island.
• 25:04
  SPEAKER_16: And as the regional judging season has come to a close, I must shed light on what I have absolutely loved seeing.
• 25:14
  SPEAKER_16: And this is that mature piece, that mature dancer, something that was brought to the stage that is different from everything else that I have seen that whole weekend.
• 25:29
  SPEAKER_16: I think it would be so much more rewarding as a whole to stop to uh dive into the type of performances and dancing and maturity that especially some of our older dancers in the competitive circuit will be uh coming up against and being given to dance if they continue to move on and make it a career.
• 25:59
  SPEAKER_16: So those type of pieces that I just sat there and watched and said, wow, you are beyond your years.
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_16: This would be something that I would go and pay a ticket to see.
• 26:12
  SPEAKER_16: That was definitely a highlight for me this season.
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_16: So bravo.
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_17: Yeah, that's really nice to hear.
• 26:18
  SPEAKER_17: And like, how great would it be to be that dancer on that end of the critique, you know, hearing Tara just like love what you're doing.
• 26:25
  SPEAKER_17: How amazing.
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_03: I think that's what you what every single studio wants every judge to say and feel when they are watching your art on stage.
• 26:34
  SPEAKER_03: You know, that is the goal, is to wow the judges so much that they're just sitting back enjoying this art performance, uh, beautiful storytelling, uh, maturity, uh, refinement in your dance.
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_03: And I actually have said that multiple times on critiques this season.
• 26:52
  SPEAKER_03: I completely agree, especially in the senior division and at convention competitions, which feel a little bit more of like the advanced level at many competitions.
• 27:02
  SPEAKER_03: It I truly said I felt like I was watching a show.
• 27:06
  SPEAKER_03: Like I would pay money to watch you dance.
• 27:09
  SPEAKER_03: Like this, I can't believe I'm getting paid to watch you right now, and you deserve to be getting paid to do this performance because it was truly that remarkable and so memorable and so beyond the years of 15, 16, 17-year-olds.
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_03: Now, I've also said the beyond your years to younger dancers too.
• 27:28
  SPEAKER_03: And I have like mixed feelings on is, you know, we have talked about that many times on the podcast on are they maturing too fast?
• 27:36
  SPEAKER_03: Are they beyond their years?
• 27:37
  SPEAKER_03: And like, where do we go from here?
• 27:38
  SPEAKER_03: But I think there's a fine line of that in the training where we're still producing and displaying and showcasing a dance that's age appropriate, but just in the approach, maybe the maturity level is there.
• 27:51
  SPEAKER_03: You can tell the dancer has this maturity about them.
• 27:54
  SPEAKER_03: Um, maybe it's not going over their head and they really grasp what they're dancing about.
• 27:58
  SPEAKER_03: And I really respect that type of maturity, even from the younger dancers, um, because you can tell like the very strong, focused, like amazing work ethic dancers that hit the stage.
• 28:10
  SPEAKER_03: You can tell even just based on how they walk on stage and their performance quality that they're that type of student.
• 28:15
  SPEAKER_03: And I always respect seeing that as a judge as well.
• 28:19
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 28:19
  SPEAKER_03: And yeah, I mean, you said it.
• 28:22
  SPEAKER_03: That's that's it.
• 28:23
  SPEAKER_03: That's it, y'all.
• 28:24
  SPEAKER_03: We love we love the maturity.
• 28:26
  SPEAKER_03: But when we say maturity, that doesn't mean that we should be doing things that are too mature for young dancers, themes, costumes, movement.
• 28:35
  SPEAKER_03: That's not the maturity that I think Tara's talking about here.
• 28:39
  SPEAKER_17: No.
• 28:39
  SPEAKER_17: And you know, there in and what it's one of those things that it's like it can be a fine line sometimes.
• 28:44
  SPEAKER_17: And when when you see the routines like she's talking about, like you're talking about, that we've all seen, it's it's almost one of those things that you you can't teach it.
• 28:54
  SPEAKER_17: There is not a formula to produce dancers like this.
• 28:57
  SPEAKER_17: A lot of times, this is one of those, it's not necessarily a prodigy level situation.
• 29:03
  SPEAKER_17: It is an individual, like you said, work ethic.
• 29:06
  SPEAKER_17: It's the combination of the right kid, the right teacher, the right parental support, the right training, the right time in people's lives.
• 29:14
  SPEAKER_17: I mean, there's so many things that go into getting to that point, which is why you don't see it as often, you know.
• 29:20
  SPEAKER_17: And like, like that's where people have that question of, you know, why is my dancer who dances X amount of hours a week at a great studio with great choreography?
• 29:29
  SPEAKER_17: I pay all this money, she works really hard.
• 29:31
  SPEAKER_17: Why is she not winning?
• 29:33
  SPEAKER_17: Why are they not winning first place?
• 29:35
  SPEAKER_17: And and that's one of those things, like, I just you're gonna know it when you see it.
• 29:39
  SPEAKER_17: And it's an ethereal quality, it's an innate quality that just happens with some people.
• 29:44
  SPEAKER_17: And, you know, and and it does.
• 29:46
  SPEAKER_17: It feels unfair sometimes that like, you know, dancer A puts in all the same work and the same seems seems to have the same attention to detail in X, Y, and Z, but dancer B just has that quality.
• 29:57
  SPEAKER_17: I don't think you could teach the quality.
• 29:59
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 29:59
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 30:00
  SPEAKER_03: It's it is very hard to teach, but I completely agree with you.
• 30:04
  SPEAKER_03: And I am loving what I'm seeing from a lot of these dancers that hit the stage this season, and it's been really refreshing and eye-opening to see some beautiful art taking place.
• 30:15
  SPEAKER_03: So shout out to especially all the senior level dancers who are pushing those boundaries and who are bringing performance art to competition.
• 30:23
  SPEAKER_03: It's really stunning to witness as a judge.
• 30:25
  SPEAKER_03: All right, we have two more judges chiming in here, and I think everyone's really gonna like this one.
• 30:32
  SPEAKER_03: So let's hear what they have to say.
• 30:34
  SPEAKER_11: Hi, this is IDA Judge Matthew Donnell from North Carolina.
• 30:37
  SPEAKER_11: I am so thrilled with all the beautiful dancing that I saw this year on the comp circuit.
• 30:44
  SPEAKER_11: The energy was really beautiful.
• 30:46
  SPEAKER_11: I saw a lot of focus on really honing in on technique, which is very encouraging, and I just think that everything is moving in a really positive direction.
• 30:56
  SPEAKER_11: And I didn't happen to see one dancer that was only wearing one shoe.
• 31:03
  SPEAKER_11: I saw two shoes, appropriate footwear or no shoes, but I didn't see any one shoes, which made me very, very happy.
• 31:10
  SPEAKER_11: Keep it up, folks.
• 31:11
  SPEAKER_14: This is IDA Judge Mary from Alabama, and one of my most positive takeaways this competition season was not seeing very many one shoe dances come on stage.
• 31:25
  SPEAKER_14: This was definitely the season that I gave that note the least.
• 31:30
  SPEAKER_14: And so I know the message is getting out there, and one of the things that I love about not having to give that note so much is that I am seeing dancers truly being given the opportunity to develop the full package and think about the professionalization of themselves as a dancer in the field, and that comes from the ground up.
• 31:57
  SPEAKER_14: Not having to give that comment very much this season was just a yes kind of moment for me.
• 32:05
  SPEAKER_17: I mean, as she as they were both saying this, I literally in my head was like, yes.
• 32:10
  SPEAKER_17: So the fact that she ended this with a yes is like that just sums it all up.
• 32:14
  SPEAKER_17: Like that, we are so happy.
• 32:16
  SPEAKER_17: That is so exciting.
• 32:17
  SPEAKER_17: That is amazing.
• 32:18
  SPEAKER_17: Thank you.
• 32:19
  SPEAKER_03: I'm thrilled to hear it.
• 32:20
  SPEAKER_03: I am relieved to hear it.
• 32:22
  SPEAKER_03: I think people are listening.
• 32:23
  SPEAKER_03: I think that honestly, I'm gonna give a pat on the back to us, Leslie, because we did an episode this season about two shoes, no shoes, one shoe.
• 32:33
  SPEAKER_03: And you know, I'm I think it was well received.
• 32:36
  SPEAKER_03: I a lot of people thanked us.
• 32:38
  SPEAKER_03: I'm sure a lot of people might have not chose to listen to that one, maybe because they disagree with it.
• 32:44
  SPEAKER_03: But they just said no, we're not listening to that.
• 32:45
  SPEAKER_03: We're gonna skip over that one.
• 32:46
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, oh, I don't agree with that one to skip it.
• 32:49
  SPEAKER_03: But I I do think that because there's so much conversation now about it, yeah, and that we're actually giving opinions about it and not just saying we don't like this.
• 33:00
  SPEAKER_03: We're we're exploring.
• 33:02
  SPEAKER_17: Well, it's backed up with with truth and with fact and with, you know, and we could we again we talk about this all the time.
• 33:08
  SPEAKER_17: We've been talking about it since season one, we've been talking about it since pre-podcast.
• 33:11
  SPEAKER_17: Right.
• 33:12
  SPEAKER_17: So this is a conversation that is not going away, but that at least we've gotten to the point where there doesn't seem to be any good argument on the contrary.
• 33:23
  SPEAKER_17: So if by saying, Well, we're just gonna dance with one shoe, is now just admitting to being contrary, just for contrariness's sake, because there's so much backup to it's unprofessional, it's unsafe, it's unkempt, it doesn't look right, it all the things, you know, and and I, like you said, pat on our back, but also pat on everybody else's back who has decided, you know what, this probably is for the best.
• 33:49
  SPEAKER_17: Here are two shoes, we're gonna figure this out.
• 33:51
  SPEAKER_17: How do we make this safer for our dancers?
• 33:53
  SPEAKER_17: If we think that one shoe is somehow safer, well, there's gotta be a way to make two shoes safe because people did that for years and nobody was getting hurt, nobody was breaking ankles, nobody was slip sliding around, you know, people turned on both legs with two shoes on, and we can do that again.
• 34:08
  SPEAKER_03: So let's do it again.
• 34:10
  SPEAKER_03: I hope that next season on our takeaways that we have judges saying the same thing and that we see this progress happening for our industry.
• 34:19
  SPEAKER_03: And something as Mary was speaking that I thought was interesting is that she said she didn't have to say it as frequently on her critique or ever on her critique.
• 34:28
  SPEAKER_03: And you know, that is an interesting perspective because think about it, from a judge's point of view, and even from the teachers, why would you want to immediately have that be said on your critique?
• 34:40
  SPEAKER_03: That's that's taking time out of my critique to say that when I could have been giving you other feedback.
• 34:46
  SPEAKER_03: But I have to say this because this is what I believe in as far as one shoe or no shoes or whatever.
• 34:51
  SPEAKER_03: So that could have been a different critique that you just never got to hear because I had to talk about the whole shoe debacle for 10 seconds.
• 34:59
  SPEAKER_03: You know, so if you think about it like that, you've actually lost feedback that you could have received.
• 35:05
  SPEAKER_03: And most of the time people will say, Well, you shouldn't even be commenting on it at all, and blah, blah, blah.
• 35:10
  SPEAKER_03: But either way, that was what came to mind when Mary was saying that.
• 35:13
  SPEAKER_03: I'm glad I didn't have to say that on my critique.
• 35:15
  SPEAKER_03: I'm like, wow, that's a really good point.
• 35:18
  SPEAKER_03: Because you could you probably were complimenting their costume instead, or complimenting how fabulous their hair is instead of having to say, Oh, I wish you were wearing two shoes on stage.
• 35:28
  SPEAKER_17: Right, right.
• 35:29
  SPEAKER_17: So, yeah, let us let us help you.
• 35:30
  SPEAKER_17: Help us help you by wearing two shoes.
• 35:34
  SPEAKER_03: We love two shoes or no shoes over here on making the impact.
• 35:37
  SPEAKER_03: And our judges have loved seeing that on stage this season as well.
• 35:41
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, we have a lot more judges that want to chime in, and we have some technical feedback and takeaways that the judges have seen as a collective from different regions in this in wherever they were judging the season.
• 35:56
  SPEAKER_03: So let's hear from our first judge, and this is another Mary.
• 36:02
  SPEAKER_03: Not Mary Roberts, but Mary Marone from Florida.
• 36:05
  SPEAKER_18: Hey, it's IDA Judge Mary from Florida.
• 36:08
  SPEAKER_18: This past season I had the privilege of watching some of the fiercest mini and junior dancers I have ever seen.
• 36:14
  SPEAKER_18: But with that being said, please, please, please take the time to teach these young dancers not only strength training, but proper foundation how to prepare and most importantly how to land these advanced and mature tricks that they are doing.
• 36:28
  SPEAKER_18: I feel like I repeated so much some of the same feedback this season about proper landings and alignment, because we truly need to make sure our young dancers are saving their knees and their joints, not only for the longevity in the industry, but just for their overall well-being.
• 36:42
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I think that this kind of goes hand in hand with what Amy was talking about earlier when it comes to how jam-packed these tricks are in solos in particular.
• 36:53
  SPEAKER_03: And because a lot of choreographers feel that there needs to be an emphasis on tricks and solos, then the ins and outs of those skills are oftentimes being forgotten about in the execution from the dancers, because there's oftentimes choreographically a lack of transitional steps to allow the dancers to land, prepare safely or land safely.
• 37:18
  SPEAKER_03: And that's sometimes at fault to the choreographer, sometimes at fault to the training in general.
• 37:23
  SPEAKER_03: Because if to me, when I see any skill on stage at competition, there is a beginning, there is a middle, and there is an end.
• 37:30
  SPEAKER_03: Just because you did the turn, just because you did the jump, doesn't mean that the landing isn't needed.
• 37:36
  SPEAKER_03: It is part of the the actual completion of the skill.
• 37:41
  SPEAKER_03: So we can't be just throwing it out the window and just landing however we want, especially if it's not safe.
• 37:48
  SPEAKER_17: Right.
• 37:48
  SPEAKER_17: And I mean, I think I definitely agree there's been a lot of, even just looking around online and, you know, social media, a lot of super duper fierce minis.
• 37:57
  SPEAKER_17: Like it's so true.
• 37:58
  SPEAKER_17: With it, we did our mini Mania episode, and you know, there's just a lot of talent out there for the youngest dancers.
• 38:04
  SPEAKER_17: Um, and they're fearless.
• 38:05
  SPEAKER_17: So they're gonna try the tricks, they're gonna try the skill.
• 38:08
  SPEAKER_17: And a lot of times they're gonna execute it really well.
• 38:10
  SPEAKER_17: But then I'm sorry, I look deeper and you watch the routine itself, and there's like like she said, there's not a lot of ins and outs, there's not a lot of transitional steps that I'm like, okay, well, so yes, this one miss mini whoever competition, but did that dance have a balance A in it?
• 38:26
  SPEAKER_17: Did it have a waltz turn?
• 38:27
  SPEAKER_17: Did it have a triplet?
• 38:28
  SPEAKER_17: Did it have a Tampe Pas de bureau?
• 38:29
  SPEAKER_17: Did it have anything to connect this skill to that skill where I could say, here's the foundational technique that I see in your dance?
• 38:38
  SPEAKER_17: No, it's just here's the firebird, here's the back walkover, here's the front aerial.
• 38:43
  SPEAKER_17: And those, I mean, those are cool skills.
• 38:45
  SPEAKER_17: And if you're doing them correctly, then I'm gonna applaud you, obviously.
• 38:48
  SPEAKER_17: And like we've said, I have to award what I'm seeing.
• 38:50
  SPEAKER_17: But I can also comment on the fact that there wasn't a single dance step in this lyrical routine.
• 38:55
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 38:56
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 38:56
  SPEAKER_03: And those in-between steps are important, and that's what I feel is missing a lot.
• 39:01
  SPEAKER_03: And then there have been many times where I express all my critique, like, that's beautiful, but also how how the choreographer has given this dancer the out of the transition out of this skill is making it harder for them to finish properly because you're expecting them to walk right into the next skill instead of giving something in between that sets them up for more success and also in prioritizes the safety of a landing or the safety of a finish.
• 39:36
  SPEAKER_03: And making dancers understand that too.
• 39:39
  SPEAKER_03: Like, you know, if if we're just stringing along a bunch of steps, then dancers not only are gonna miss out on those transitional steps and learning how to do them, but they're gonna think they're not important because they weren't choreographed into their solo.
• 39:51
  SPEAKER_17: So I think it is like we only do that in ballet class.
• 39:55
  SPEAKER_17: Right.
• 39:55
  SPEAKER_17: Well, no, like all literally all those steps I just named should be in your dance.
• 39:59
  SPEAKER_17: Like at some point, like it's not just a thing we do across the floor for posterity.
• 40:03
  SPEAKER_17: Like, no, this is a step that you should utilize in choreography to link the two big things that you want to showcase, you know.
• 40:10
  SPEAKER_17: And multiple genres.
• 40:11
  SPEAKER_17: And that's right, exactly.
• 40:13
  SPEAKER_17: Um, so I definitely agree with Mary.
• 40:14
  SPEAKER_17: A lot of fierce minis, but lacking in transitions.
• 40:17
  SPEAKER_17: Yeah, yep.
• 40:18
  SPEAKER_03: Beginning, middle, and end y'all, I say it all the time.
• 40:22
  SPEAKER_03: So let's focus on that next season as we head into 2026.
• 40:26
  SPEAKER_03: All right, we have some turning technique that some of our judges noticed this season as a takeaway.
• 40:32
  SPEAKER_03: So let's hear from our next two judges.
• 40:35
  SPEAKER_02: Hi y'all, this is IDA judge Megan Jenkins from Redlands, California.
• 40:39
  SPEAKER_02: I want to say this is the season of put your heel down in your turn preps.
• 40:44
  SPEAKER_02: It overwhelmingly across so many competitions that I judge this season, I saw so many young dancers not placing, like planting their heel and activating their posterior chain as they would go into a turn, not activating their hamstrings, their calves, their glutes, even their back muscles to really allow themselves to tap into their best possible turn technique.
• 41:02
  SPEAKER_02: So, teachers, choreographers out there, I want you to make that a priority as we move into next season, getting our dancers to understand that they have to plant their heel, place their weight over the top of that front foot and push up into the turn to make it about the balance.
• 41:17
  SPEAKER_16: Thank you.
• 41:18
  SPEAKER_16: Hi, this is IDA judge Tara Yakabuchi from Rhode Island.
• 41:22
  SPEAKER_16: Uh and as the regional judging season has come to a close, uh my biggest takeaway would be keeping the heels up and the weight forward in your pirouettes and your turns.
• 41:35
  SPEAKER_16: As soon as that heel drops, or as soon as that weight shifts in a la secone turns or forte turns, it shows uh the lack of strength in the ability to stay on that one leg and that supporting leg.
• 41:53
  SPEAKER_16: And then that starts to jeopardize your performance.
• 41:56
  SPEAKER_16: It takes us out of enjoying you and it brings us into we gotta work on this, and then it brings us into that critique.
• 42:05
  SPEAKER_16: You can do it.
• 42:06
  SPEAKER_16: Find that strength, find that pull-up, and find that control.
• 42:11
  SPEAKER_16: Best of luck.
• 42:17
  SPEAKER_03: Ready to take your competition dance to the next level?
• 42:21
  SPEAKER_03: Looking for a fresh set of eyes to critique your solo?
• 42:24
  SPEAKER_03: Then say hello to IDA's online judges critiques.
• 42:27
  SPEAKER_03: Simply send us a video of your dance, whether it's from an in-studio rehearsal or an on-stage performance, and our judges will take it from there.
• 42:35
  SPEAKER_03: You'll receive a standard video critique just like you get a competition, but we take it one step further with our best-selling feature: 10 to 15 minutes of post-critique additional feedback.
• 42:46
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• 42:57
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• 43:03
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• 43:12
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• 43:17
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• 43:24
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• 43:29
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• 43:43
  SPEAKER_17: On both ends, on the prep and on the sustain.
• 43:46
  SPEAKER_17: Right.
• 43:47
  SPEAKER_17: Right?
• 43:47
  SPEAKER_17: I mean, your heels are are either involved or not involved.
• 43:50
  SPEAKER_17: Like they have to be involved in the prep and they have to be not involved in your sustainability.
• 43:54
  SPEAKER_17: Exactly.
• 43:56
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it's it's it's interesting that they both caught different aspects.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_03: Of a pirouette.
• 44:01
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 44:02
  SPEAKER_03: And that might sound confusing to people.
• 44:04
  SPEAKER_03: Well, you just told me to put my heel down.
• 44:06
  SPEAKER_03: But what do you mean?
• 44:07
  SPEAKER_03: And now my heel needs to be up?
• 44:09
  SPEAKER_03: Like, yes, yes.
• 44:10
  SPEAKER_03: Your heel needs to be.
• 44:11
  SPEAKER_03: That's how you relevate, actually.
• 44:13
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, exactly.
• 44:14
  SPEAKER_03: Your heel has to start down.
• 44:15
  SPEAKER_03: You have to have your heel down when you step into a prep.
• 44:18
  SPEAKER_03: And that goes for that front leg in a turn down or a jazz parallel pirouette preparation.
• 44:25
  SPEAKER_17: Right.
• 44:26
  SPEAKER_03: An inside turn or an outside turn.
• 44:28
  SPEAKER_03: Yep.
• 44:28
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 44:28
  SPEAKER_03: Every the heel is down in the preparation.
• 44:31
  SPEAKER_03: The strength and control of pressing up into the releve onto the ball of the foot with the weight forward, like Tara was talking about, is what we see during the actual pirouette.
• 44:42
  SPEAKER_03: So I do want dancers to understand.
• 44:45
  SPEAKER_03: And I I have seen the little pop, it's like a popped foot.
• 44:48
  SPEAKER_03: It's like you're anticipating your releve when you prop into your pirouette.
• 44:53
  SPEAKER_17: And I think that's what it is.
• 44:55
  SPEAKER_17: That is literally just it's your body trying to move faster than you need to.
• 45:00
  SPEAKER_17: Right.
• 45:00
  SPEAKER_17: Right?
• 45:00
  SPEAKER_17: It's an anticipation of, well, I have to get this up here somehow.
• 45:04
  SPEAKER_17: Right.
• 45:04
  SPEAKER_17: Some way soon.
• 45:06
  SPEAKER_17: Maybe I'll just do it now.
• 45:07
  SPEAKER_17: You know, that's probably like that's what's going on in your in your brain.
• 45:10
  SPEAKER_17: But that's not right.
• 45:11
  SPEAKER_17: You gotta put the heel down.
• 45:12
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and it and it kind of immediately shows me as a judge that the preparation is a me is already wrong because the weight distribution of where your uh weight should be in your pirouette prep is off or not focused on enough.
• 45:26
  SPEAKER_03: So I already know that if you pop, if you're popping that heel, your prep is the weight is off.
• 45:32
  SPEAKER_03: So this pirouette's probably not even going to be successful.
• 45:35
  SPEAKER_03: And most of the time it isn't.
• 45:36
  SPEAKER_03: You fall out of it, you can't find your center because you didn't actually activate your core, engage your arms, make sure weight was distributed properly, a little bit in the front, a little bit in the back, whatever your teachers tell you everyone's different with the weight distribution.
• 45:50
  SPEAKER_17: Give yourself enough time to do all of those things.
• 45:53
  SPEAKER_17: And I think that was my my main thing with both of those critiques and both of the things that Megan and Tara noticed is like, yes, I see both of those things happen.
• 46:01
  SPEAKER_17: Your heel is up on your prep and your heel drops when you are in your turn.
• 46:05
  SPEAKER_17: It drops prematurely.
• 46:06
  SPEAKER_17: But the problem with all of it, I think, is the fact that it's either not the dancer themselves are rushing and they're not allowing themselves the full count, the full half account, whatever they're being given to do that preparation properly.
• 46:20
  SPEAKER_17: Either it's either the count wasn't even given, you know, either the the choreography is actually rushed in that there is physically no time to get a good prep, or the dancer is anticipating and they're wanting to move quicker, you know, than to give themselves that time.
• 46:34
  SPEAKER_17: So I think that would be my key takeaway for this, that whole, this whole pirouette conversation is give yourself the time.
• 46:42
  SPEAKER_17: Like, no, you don't want to live in your preparation because then you're you that creates a whole host of other issues.
• 46:48
  SPEAKER_17: You can't live there for too long, but you also have to give yourself the time to do that plie properly.
• 46:53
  SPEAKER_17: Yep.
• 46:54
  SPEAKER_03: Absolutely.
• 46:54
  SPEAKER_03: The prep is so important.
• 46:57
  SPEAKER_03: And when I see heels going down during rotations, that just shows me honestly lack of strength and an emphasis on ballet.
• 47:05
  SPEAKER_03: And then we go, we can go back to, well, why aren't you showing me ballet on stage of competition?
• 47:10
  SPEAKER_03: Are you even training in ballet enough related to support your jazz training with this turn sequence that you think you need in your dance that your technique level isn't supporting yet?
• 47:20
  SPEAKER_03: You have to just because we're spinning around and you have a good spot and maybe you have a good center, but how we articulate through our feet and our legs and our ankles, that strength really comes from repetition at the ballet bar.
• 47:34
  SPEAKER_03: And if every time you do a plie releve and you're sickling to your pinky toes, or you're not pushing all the way to your highest releve and it's just that like a 50%, that's gonna translate into your turns for jazz because you're not putting the emphasis on quality repetition and detailed repetition at the ballet bar.
• 47:54
  SPEAKER_03: And maybe I could have seen that in your ballet dance if you would have presented it and we could have fixed that for you to focus on for your jazz training.
• 48:03
  SPEAKER_17: And it is wild, like having you know been out of class for a while, like even going back into certain things like heel raises at PT, you know, it's like your muscle memory as a dancer, I can do a lot of things without even thinking about them because my body's just like, yes, this is a releve.
• 48:20
  SPEAKER_17: But when when the PT is looking at me and she's like, you're not engaging literally anything.
• 48:24
  SPEAKER_17: Yeah.
• 48:25
  SPEAKER_17: Nothing, none of your muscles are firing when you do this.
• 48:28
  SPEAKER_17: And that's like you said, concentrated, deliberate effort in these repetitions.
• 48:33
  SPEAKER_17: Like, and I think all dancers can be guilty of this because you're it's just habit.
• 48:37
  SPEAKER_17: Right.
• 48:38
  SPEAKER_17: I just releve in a in standing in a line, you know, at the store, but I'm not engaging my muscles.
• 48:43
  SPEAKER_17: I'm not engaging my glutes.
• 48:44
  SPEAKER_17: Um I'm not actually activating the proper muscles to support any future work.
• 48:49
  SPEAKER_09: Right.
• 48:49
  SPEAKER_17: Like, yeah, I could probably do 25, 27 releves right now and not tire out, but could I hold that releve for three counts of a of a pirouette turn?
• 48:59
  SPEAKER_17: Could I actually plie releve into my fouettes and not tire out?
• 49:03
  SPEAKER_17: No, because I'm not activating anything.
• 49:06
  SPEAKER_17: And I think that's, you know, that really goes into it as well is not just relying on the fact that your body can do it, is can it do it properly and sustainably?
• 49:16
  SPEAKER_03: Great points.
• 49:17
  SPEAKER_03: Yep, completely agree.
• 49:19
  SPEAKER_03: All right, more to come from our IDA judges.
• 49:22
  SPEAKER_03: And now we're gonna talk a little bit about choreography trends that we've seen and takeaways from the 2025 season when it comes to choreography on stage.
• 49:31
  SPEAKER_03: Let's hear from our very first judge.
• 49:34
  SPEAKER_00: Hi, I'm IDA judge Debranani, and I'm out of Chicago.
• 49:38
  SPEAKER_00: I really just want to encourage studio owners and choreographers to please, please, please pick age-appropriate music for this beautiful young generation of ours.
• 49:48
  SPEAKER_00: There's a world of music out there to explore.
• 49:51
  SPEAKER_00: So please.
• 49:52
  SPEAKER_00: And just, you know, gestures also come along with that.
• 49:55
  SPEAKER_00: So, but um, you know, I am just so impressed with the growth and the creativity and the talent of our our dance community.
• 50:03
  SPEAKER_00: It's was just amazing to see this year.
• 50:05
  SPEAKER_00: So But um again, just as adults, as mentors, please just be mindful of the innocence.
• 50:13
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 50:14
  SPEAKER_00: Peace, love, and have a wonderful summer.
• 50:16
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 50:16
  SPEAKER_03: So earlier we were talking about maturity in our dances, but now Deborah is saying that she would prefer to see more age-appropriate music in particular.
• 50:27
  SPEAKER_03: And like like mentioned, moves go along with that within whichever music you're choosing.
• 50:34
  SPEAKER_03: But have do you feel like that you saw inappropriate songs on stage this season?
• 50:40
  SPEAKER_17: This season, actually, I did not.
• 50:41
  SPEAKER_17: And I was I I remember commenting on that to to somebody just in passing, you know, one of my judge friends, that I was a little bit surprised and and very unpleasantly surprised, obviously, that I felt like there was a lot of very age-appropriate selections in terms of music movement and costumes for me this season.
• 50:59
  SPEAKER_17: But, you know, this just goes to show again, regionally you're gonna see different things.
• 51:03
  SPEAKER_17: And but the fact that this conversation continues to come up means we continue to have to talk about it and plead with the next generation of choreographers to please choose appropriate music.
• 51:13
  SPEAKER_17: Yeah.
• 51:14
  SPEAKER_17: Just please, please.
• 51:15
  SPEAKER_17: Like she said, there's a wealth of music out there.
• 51:17
  SPEAKER_17: We talk about this all the time.
• 51:19
  SPEAKER_17: You know, it is out there.
• 51:20
  SPEAKER_17: You can find it.
• 51:21
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 51:22
  SPEAKER_17: You just have to.
• 51:23
  SPEAKER_03: You just have to to research more.
• 51:25
  SPEAKER_03: You have to spend more time digging for appropriate songs that also inspire you.
• 51:30
  SPEAKER_03: And don't just pick the song that you heard a million times at competition.
• 51:34
  SPEAKER_03: It's not about like what's overused or what's or not, because there might be songs that you heard at competition that weren't appropriate.
• 51:42
  SPEAKER_03: Just because you heard it at comp doesn't mean that it's fair game.
• 51:45
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, we are not submitting competitions, aren't providing a list of here's songs that we recommend that are appropriate for our venue.
• 51:53
  SPEAKER_03: Like that's not happening.
• 51:55
  SPEAKER_03: Maybe one day that could happen.
• 51:57
  SPEAKER_03: Like, here's a list of great songs that we highly recommend.
• 52:00
  SPEAKER_03: Then everyone will have the same song.
• 52:01
  SPEAKER_03: We don't want that.
• 52:02
  SPEAKER_03: So we want the individuality of different music.
• 52:04
  SPEAKER_03: But I feel like we hear the same songs over and over again.
• 52:08
  SPEAKER_03: And I think that when it comes to inappropriate music, people saw someone else do it and thought, well, they did it.
• 52:14
  SPEAKER_03: So that means I can do it.
• 52:16
  SPEAKER_03: If they got away with it and they won first place, then I guess I can do it too.
• 52:19
  SPEAKER_03: And it's like, well, again, our hands are tied often as judges, where maybe they maybe they did get a penalty, but they still technically scored high.
• 52:28
  SPEAKER_03: And whatever the case may be, you don't know how the scores played out.
• 52:31
  SPEAKER_03: You don't know what where they were deducted or not deducted based on the rules of the competition.
• 52:36
  SPEAKER_03: But no matter what, when you're creating as a choreographer and as a studio, you want to make sure that you are presenting your dancers in the best light.
• 52:45
  SPEAKER_03: And why even take the risk of putting something on stage that feels a little bit too mature for the age and level of the dancer?
• 52:50
  SPEAKER_03: It's just not worth the risk at this point.
• 52:52
  SPEAKER_03: It's a family-friendly event.
• 52:54
  SPEAKER_03: There's tons of songs.
• 52:55
  SPEAKER_17: Well, and it's always interesting to look at sort of the dance teacher Facebook pages and people will ask the question, like, Well, do you think this is appropriate?
• 53:01
  SPEAKER_17: And overwhelmingly, it's like if you've had to ask, you know in your gut that it's not.
• 53:06
  SPEAKER_17: Right.
• 53:07
  SPEAKER_17: So if you are feeling any iota of uncomfortable about using this piece of music, then don't.
• 53:12
  SPEAKER_17: That is your answer.
• 53:13
  SPEAKER_17: Like you shouldn't even have to ask anybody because if you have that feeling in your gut, then you know your gut is telling you the truth.
• 53:18
  SPEAKER_17: Yep.
• 53:19
  SPEAKER_17: You know, why even take the risk, like you said?
• 53:21
  SPEAKER_03: There are a lot of songs that are too mature for a dance competition.
• 53:25
  SPEAKER_03: Period.
• 53:25
  SPEAKER_03: I don't care what age you're in.
• 53:27
  SPEAKER_03: And then there's a lot of songs that are kind of towing that line where they're not adult themed, but they're they're more mature.
• 53:35
  SPEAKER_03: They're maybe the seniors can do it.
• 53:38
  SPEAKER_03: But then we see it on petites and juniors.
• 53:41
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 53:41
  SPEAKER_17: And it's like, well, and then you know the petites and the juniors are in the audience anyway.
• 53:45
  SPEAKER_17: So it's like, no, you're not saving anybody from experiencing this by just saying, Well, I'm gonna put it on my seniors.
• 53:51
  SPEAKER_17: Well, you know, four, five, seven, six, seven-year-olds are there.
• 53:54
  SPEAKER_17: Right.
• 53:54
  SPEAKER_17: So it doesn't really to me, it's just kind of like, let's leave that alone.
• 53:58
  SPEAKER_17: There's so many other again, that we have centuries of music to choose from.
• 54:03
  SPEAKER_03: And there it's very we just have to look at to get creative, to uh to achieve the same goal with that dance.
• 54:10
  SPEAKER_03: If you want it to have a specific style to it, and that's why we're we picked this song because it's quote unquote mature, you can still create mature style with music that is appropriate for everyone to hear.
• 54:24
  SPEAKER_03: And maybe the movement is a little more toned down than what you would have done with that inappropriate song, because that's just the vibe that that song needs.
• 54:32
  SPEAKER_03: But you also then have to rewind and remember these are kids and this isn't a family event.
• 54:37
  SPEAKER_03: And how would you feel if grandpa was watching these dancers do this in that costume, put the whole package together and it becomes inappropriate, not just the song at that point.
• 54:46
  SPEAKER_03: You know, so a lot of factors go into it.
• 54:48
  SPEAKER_03: So age appropriate across the board, music theme, costume, movement.
• 54:53
  SPEAKER_17: Well, and what's also, you know, this is another conversation, but like there are music editors out there who could tear a song apart and make it clean.
• 55:02
  SPEAKER_17: Yeah.
• 55:02
  SPEAKER_17: They can do it, it's possible.
• 55:04
  SPEAKER_17: So, like, I don't like the excuse anymore of like, well, I it was really hard to edit this song.
• 55:08
  SPEAKER_17: Well, somebody could have done it for you because I've heard it.
• 55:10
  SPEAKER_17: I've heard good edits.
• 55:11
  SPEAKER_17: I've heard edits where they pull completely pull the lyrics out and all you're left with is the instrumental.
• 55:16
  SPEAKER_17: And if you're just desperate for this song, like then you have to really evaluate, well, what is it about it that I like?
• 55:22
  SPEAKER_17: Do I like the lyrics?
• 55:24
  SPEAKER_17: Do I like the beat?
• 55:25
  SPEAKER_17: Do I like the melody?
• 55:26
  SPEAKER_17: Because if what you like is the beat and the melody, then we can fix the lyrics.
• 55:30
  SPEAKER_17: We can shop them out, we can pull them out.
• 55:32
  SPEAKER_09: Right.
• 55:32
  SPEAKER_17: But what if what you like is the lyrics and you think the lyrics are what's appropriate, but they're actually not, like, then we have a whole nother conversation.
• 55:40
  SPEAKER_17: But like, you know, there's ways to get around it if you really, if, if you really want to, I feel like.
• 55:45
  SPEAKER_17: There's ways to make things clean.
• 55:47
  SPEAKER_17: You just have to invest in that opportunity.
• 55:49
  SPEAKER_17: And if you're not willing to invest in it, then you need to have other other options.
• 55:53
  SPEAKER_03: And that being said, before you even start choreographing anything, before you pick out your solo song, before anything, Google the lyrics.
• 56:01
  SPEAKER_03: Google the lyrics, everybody.
• 56:02
  SPEAKER_03: I I I beg of you, please, before you start the creation process, so you don't have to say, oh no, I've already created to this song.
• 56:09
  SPEAKER_03: Do it before.
• 56:10
  SPEAKER_17: And that way probably go on Urban Dictionary.
• 56:13
  SPEAKER_17: I mean, listen, we have all these tools at our disposal.
• 56:15
  SPEAKER_17: And, you know, the unfortunate thing is, even the coolest of us at in our age group, as as the adults in the room, are still not as up to date on the lingo and the slang and the hidden meaning as the kids these days.
• 56:29
  SPEAKER_17: So, like, don't rely on the fact that you think you know what the slang means or doesn't mean.
• 56:33
  SPEAKER_17: I guarantee you we don't.
• 56:35
  SPEAKER_17: And I say we because I certainly do not.
• 56:37
  SPEAKER_17: So you gotta go to the urban dictionary, you have to do all your research, you have to make sure that, oh, is this song being used on TikTok in some completely inappropriate capacity that I don't know about, but that the kids do know about?
• 56:50
  SPEAKER_17: Like, unfortunately, it's just gotten to that point where it's like, you know, no, it's not just a song anymore.
• 56:54
  SPEAKER_17: It's a song that's behind a movement, that's behind a trend, that's behind all kinds of ways that people have co-opted music that we may not know about.
• 57:03
  SPEAKER_09: Yeah.
• 57:03
  SPEAKER_17: So there's more work to it than there ever has been before.
• 57:06
  SPEAKER_17: And that is our job as educators is to again make sure that we are doing the best job we can for the kids in our care.
• 57:15
  SPEAKER_03: Bingo.
• 57:16
  SPEAKER_03: Absolutely correct.
• 57:17
  SPEAKER_03: Mic drop.
• 57:18
  SPEAKER_03: Mic drop.
• 57:19
  SPEAKER_03: All right, some more clips from our judges.
• 57:22
  SPEAKER_18: Hi, this is IDA Judge Mary from Florida.
• 57:25
  SPEAKER_18: And I have to say, one of the most common steps I saw in dance routines for the 2025 season was the use of the headstand.
• 57:32
  SPEAKER_18: Headstand freezes, headstand stretches, sliding headstands, headstand kipups, turning headstands, move that went down into headstands, moves that came out of headstands.
• 57:42
  SPEAKER_18: Dancers definitely spent a lot of time upside down this season.
• 57:45
  SPEAKER_17: Whoo, she is right about the headstand.
• 57:48
  SPEAKER_17: I mean, never have I ever seen so many headstands in my life as this season.
• 57:53
  SPEAKER_03: I I feel like this is taking me back to like maybe a takeaways episode from a few years ago where the reverse worm Yes, yes, you know what I mean?
• 58:03
  SPEAKER_03: Like that was Yes, and this is the reverse worm of 2025.
• 58:08
  SPEAKER_03: I do not care to ever see a headstand ever again.
• 58:10
  SPEAKER_17: No, I Nor do I care to see the reverse worm if you really want to get down to it.
• 58:14
  SPEAKER_17: Neither one of those do I care to see.
• 58:16
  SPEAKER_03: No, I mean I just real I know that headsprings are really popular in dance team and and it's a cool new trick and everyone wants to do a headspring.
• 58:25
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 58:26
  SPEAKER_03: I will actually accept a headspring more than all the other head upside down, who knows.
• 58:33
  SPEAKER_17: Upside down head involved make things.
• 58:35
  SPEAKER_17: Yes.
• 58:36
  SPEAKER_17: Unless you are in a breakdancing routine, because then yes, okay, do it do a head spin.
• 58:41
  SPEAKER_17: Do a stall in which you flip up onto your head, and cool, that's that is part of your genre.
• 58:46
  SPEAKER_17: But the other thing that I keep seeing, it's headstand adjacent.
• 58:50
  SPEAKER_17: They're in some kind of bridge backbend situation and their head, the top of their head is on the floor and they're looking at me.
• 58:57
  SPEAKER_17: And they shift shift.
• 58:58
  SPEAKER_17: Oh.
• 58:59
  SPEAKER_03: Have you seen that?
• 59:00
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah.
• 59:00
  SPEAKER_17: They do the little shift into the dive roll thing, and then there's the shift shift, and it's supposed to look cool, and all I can think of is how much that must hurt your neck.
• 59:09
  SPEAKER_03: And I I'm also thinking about how much you're destroying your beautiful hair that you just glued down to your head and whatever.
• 59:16
  SPEAKER_03: And then there's the ones that like you arch back and then they they they touch their hands, but then they plant their head and then they flip upside down with like a straddle and dismount.
• 59:27
  SPEAKER_03: The ones that really concern me are when we go into our head and spin on our head like we're breakdancers and let go halfway arms and yes, and like it's like a literal pirouette.
• 59:39
  SPEAKER_17: It's like putting a pirouette literally on their head.
• 59:41
  SPEAKER_17: I don't understand.
• 59:42
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, I understand if it's trendy and cool, and it is kind of like, in a way, a fusion of breakdow elements that are now being incorporated into contemporary movement, but mo and and I have seen it done very well, but I think it needs to be that wow moment.
• 59:58
  SPEAKER_17: Like, unless Well, and it doesn't need to be from everyone.
• 1:00:01
  SPEAKER_17: No.
• 1:00:01
  SPEAKER_17: Because then I'm bored.
• 1:00:03
  SPEAKER_17: Yes.
• 1:00:03
  SPEAKER_17: And unfortunately, that is the way it goes with these like very trendy reverse worms, headspring, headstand, anything, is that it loses the element of wow when everybody's doing it.
• 1:00:15
  SPEAKER_17: So, like, like you said, yes, in dance team, if you've got 25 girls who all did the head spring at one time at the Disney classic ESPN, whatever, like, okay, that is that impressive?
• 1:00:25
  SPEAKER_17: Yes, it is.
• 1:00:26
  SPEAKER_17: But but then when it's soloist after soloist after soloist who does it for effect, and I'm like, I'm not affected anymore.
• 1:00:32
  SPEAKER_03: And the amount of headsprings that I see dangerously wrong, yeah, again, like back to safety.
• 1:00:38
  SPEAKER_03: We have if we're gonna be doing what's trendy and cool, you gotta make sure it's safe.
• 1:00:42
  SPEAKER_03: Balancing your entire body weight on your neck is not safe.
• 1:00:46
  SPEAKER_03: I'm sorry.
• 1:00:47
  SPEAKER_17: One and only neck.
• 1:00:49
  SPEAKER_03: Like you you you take one wrong twist, one wrong turn, you're you've completely messed your neck up.
• 1:00:55
  SPEAKER_03: You probably are, you know, me injuring your spine and your discs in your neck.
• 1:01:01
  SPEAKER_03: Like, why is this worth it?
• 1:01:03
  SPEAKER_03: And the only time that I'm impressed by it is when it, when I can tell that the foundational technical training of this dancer and the athleticism of this dancer is so, so, so advanced that I know they're gonna know how to get in and out of this safely.
• 1:01:17
  SPEAKER_03: But there are dancers who aren't training at that high of a level that are attempting to do these skills, that now it's becoming a safety hazard.
• 1:01:26
  SPEAKER_03: Now it's dangerous.
• 1:01:27
  SPEAKER_03: Especially when even how they're landing their head springs, like their pelvis is like booty bouncing off the floor.
• 1:01:33
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 1:01:34
  SPEAKER_03: Instead of using their lower abdominals and and bringing their pelvis up right and using their quads and their legs to help catch them.
• 1:01:40
  SPEAKER_17: Well, and half the time they're like on one knee, and then you're thinking about okay, well, so then you have now propelled your whole body all the way up and over to getting back onto your one knee.
• 1:01:51
  SPEAKER_17: And are you slamming again?
• 1:01:53
  SPEAKER_17: I said just like a knee drop.
• 1:01:55
  SPEAKER_17: Yeah.
• 1:01:55
  SPEAKER_17: Are you slamming into that knee?
• 1:01:57
  SPEAKER_17: Your entire body weight is now slamming into the floor, and your whole front of your foot, your whole ankle is now getting the impact of that body weight.
• 1:02:06
  SPEAKER_17: So all of it, you know, I I and I think we we err on the side of like wanting people to be more safe than anything else here at making the impact.
• 1:02:15
  SPEAKER_17: Um, and that is one of those things where I'm like, I'm more often than not, I am more nervous than impressed.
• 1:02:21
  SPEAKER_03: Honestly, me too.
• 1:02:22
  SPEAKER_17: When I see steps like that.
• 1:02:24
  SPEAKER_17: And similar to the one shoe conversation of like, don't let me, don't make me have to spend half my critique reprimanding you for doing something that looks really unsafe.
• 1:02:33
  SPEAKER_17: Right.
• 1:02:34
  SPEAKER_17: Allow me to give you feedback on something that you could actually improve on because I don't know sometimes with headsprings, headstands, things like that, where it's like, I don't even I can't even imagine the process to getting you to do that safely.
• 1:02:47
  SPEAKER_17: Like, you know, I understand the progression of getting you to a certain level of certain skills, you know, even though I'm not an acro person, like I can I can visualize what you can do to get to that highest level.
• 1:02:58
  SPEAKER_17: But for this, I can't even vig visualize the exercises that you would do.
• 1:03:02
  SPEAKER_17: I think people are just being told, do this thing.
• 1:03:05
  SPEAKER_03: No, truly.
• 1:03:06
  SPEAKER_03: You know, or kids are teaching themselves.
• 1:03:08
  SPEAKER_03: I think.
• 1:03:08
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 1:03:09
  SPEAKER_03: And then it's again safety.
• 1:03:10
  SPEAKER_03: So heads headstands, headsprings, they were the step of 2025, and I hope we see less of them in 2026.
• 1:03:19
  SPEAKER_03: And it doesn't need to be every other move.
• 1:03:21
  SPEAKER_03: Let's do more dancing on our feet and less dancing on our head.
• 1:03:24
  SPEAKER_03: Amen.
• 1:03:25
  SPEAKER_03: All right, let's hear from our next judges.
• 1:03:28
  SPEAKER_06: Hi everyone.
• 1:03:29
  SPEAKER_06: This is IDA Judge Rachel Roberts, and one of my biggest takeaways from this season is choreographers and teachers, please watch your angles.
• 1:03:38
  SPEAKER_06: Remember where most of your judges sit and please think about what we see and how we see it.
• 1:03:42
  SPEAKER_06: This includes lifts, leaps, acro, and extensions.
• 1:03:46
  SPEAKER_06: We want to see the movement at an angle that we can appreciate it at its fullest, and not angles that are distasteful or distracting.
• 1:03:54
  SPEAKER_06: Thank you so much for a great season.
• 1:03:56
  SPEAKER_06: Good luck next year.
• 1:03:57
  SPEAKER_13: Hi, this is IDA Judge Carey from New Hampshire.
• 1:04:01
  SPEAKER_13: I saw so many amazing dances this year, some really fun 80s dances, some really cool takes on Hamilton.
• 1:04:09
  SPEAKER_13: Just I would say keep being creative and keep having fun with those things.
• 1:04:13
  SPEAKER_13: They're the memories that stand out.
• 1:04:16
  SPEAKER_13: One thing that I would love to see less of at competitions are fewer Allissa Cone turns.
• 1:04:23
  SPEAKER_13: I love them.
• 1:04:24
  SPEAKER_13: They're great.
• 1:04:24
  SPEAKER_13: Um, but I saw some dances that had three, four sets of Alissa Cone turns.
• 1:04:29
  SPEAKER_13: I want to see what else you're good at.
• 1:04:30
  SPEAKER_13: All of these dancers were amazingly beautiful and had great technique.
• 1:04:34
  SPEAKER_13: Let's try to be keep being as creative as we can be uh with our choreography to continue to challenge our dancers outside of just their turning technique.
• 1:04:44
  SPEAKER_13: Keep up the great work.
• 1:04:45
  SPEAKER_13: Thanks.
• 1:04:46
  SPEAKER_03: We love to turn.
• 1:04:47
  SPEAKER_03: Everyone loves a turn.
• 1:04:48
  SPEAKER_17: Yes.
• 1:04:49
  SPEAKER_17: I mean turning's fun.
• 1:04:50
  SPEAKER_17: Listen, who doesn't children love to spin.
• 1:04:52
  SPEAKER_17: Human beings love to spin.
• 1:04:53
  SPEAKER_17: It's very fun.
• 1:04:54
  SPEAKER_17: We get it.
• 1:04:55
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 1:04:56
  SPEAKER_03: I I have to say, I don't feel like that I I see a lot of turn sequences happening on stage, and I think it really depends on what type of event you're going to.
• 1:05:03
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, for sure.
• 1:05:05
  SPEAKER_03: Certain competitions, drawls, certain studios that love a turn sequence, and that's just part of their formula of choreographing or a skill that they're really proud of and work on and want to display.
• 1:05:15
  SPEAKER_03: But I agree no matter what, if you are going to do a turn sequence, I think there only needs to be one turn sequence in your dance.
• 1:05:21
  SPEAKER_03: And granted, I'm speaking of like this.
• 1:05:23
  SPEAKER_03: I was a turner and my teacher all she highlighted that strength of mine in every solo that I did.
• 1:05:29
  SPEAKER_03: I was always doing some type of turn sequence, but every single one was very different and challenged me in different ways.
• 1:05:36
  SPEAKER_03: And I would love to see if we're gonna do turns, which I'm I'm all here for a turn.
• 1:05:42
  SPEAKER_03: We're gonna do a turn sequence.
• 1:05:43
  SPEAKER_03: I would love to see fuete turns again hit the stage because I don't see them at all because they're hard.
• 1:05:50
  SPEAKER_17: No, but no one does a fuete turn, it gets so you see a fuete into something, right?
• 1:05:54
  SPEAKER_17: But that's it.
• 1:05:54
  SPEAKER_03: I want to see a fuete turn sequence with predominantly fuetes and not all a
• 1:06:00
  unknown: Right.
• 1:06:01
  SPEAKER_17: Well, and what I would love to see is there's so many other ways to turn rather than a static staying in one place all a second or fuete sequence.
• 1:06:09
  SPEAKER_17: I want to see turns in a menage.
• 1:06:11
  SPEAKER_17: I want to see you go all the way around the stage, PK turn, double PK turn, Arabas turn, Cheney turn, you know, all the turns, literally so many turns.
• 1:06:18
  SPEAKER_17: I love Arabass turns.
• 1:06:19
  SPEAKER_17: And you can like that's another choreographic element that I don't see enough of is a group of people traveling in a circle doing turns.
• 1:06:27
  SPEAKER_17: Because that's another skill entirely that I think so many people don't take advantage of, you know, not only choreographically, but to allow the dancers to learn how to do that sequential turn, you know, not on one spot.
• 1:06:40
  SPEAKER_03: Yep.
• 1:06:40
  SPEAKER_17: So that's what I would love to see.
• 1:06:42
  SPEAKER_17: But going to Rachel's point about angles, I totally agree.
• 1:06:46
  SPEAKER_17: Yep.
• 1:06:46
  SPEAKER_17: The one thing that I continue to notice, and this feels like it's straight out of dance team world, which is definitely a a takeaway that I've had this season, is that there's so much more influence of dance team structure at dance competitions that we see.
• 1:06:59
  SPEAKER_17: Yeah.
• 1:07:00
  SPEAKER_17: I keep seeing, and it's not even, I can't even really tell you what it is.
• 1:07:04
  SPEAKER_17: Because it's not a firebird.
• 1:07:06
  SPEAKER_17: It's it's an assemble into a giant season that they they assemble facing the back, but then they fouete around and do that giant ceison to the corner facing the Well, I don't know where they're actually trying, I don't know what they're trying to show me because I never see the full picture because the angle doesn't seem to be structured in a way that it wants me to see the full picture of what their legs are doing.
• 1:07:28
  SPEAKER_17: So I can't, I never know what to say about it aside from like, good job getting high on your jump, because I don't know what it is because I'm not seeing the proper placement.
• 1:07:37
  SPEAKER_17: So that would be something angle-wise that I'm looking for is like if you're gonna show me this giant jump, please do, but like angle yourself in a way that I see the shape you're creating in the air, because half the time I just see you, you ended up in the air somehow.
• 1:07:51
  SPEAKER_03: And with that jump, and something that I correct all the time is hip and leg alignment in the actual execution.
• 1:07:57
  SPEAKER_03: So my gosh, yeah.
• 1:07:58
  SPEAKER_03: Before we even like start adding a rotation or fute in the air, we have to understand how to execute that jump when we just plie and season and jump straight up.
• 1:08:08
  SPEAKER_03: Is your leg going to the proper position?
• 1:08:10
  SPEAKER_03: Is it devant?
• 1:08:11
  SPEAKER_03: Is it turned out?
• 1:08:12
  SPEAKER_03: Is it squared off?
• 1:08:13
  SPEAKER_03: Is it is it an attitude?
• 1:08:14
  SPEAKER_17: Yeah.
• 1:08:15
  SPEAKER_17: Well, I think it's the front leg too, like you're mentioning, like half the time that front leg, it's not turned out.
• 1:08:20
  SPEAKER_17: Oh, no, it's barely parallel.
• 1:08:22
  SPEAKER_17: It's never turned out.
• 1:08:23
  SPEAKER_17: Right.
• 1:08:24
  SPEAKER_17: And I'm like, how did we get here?
• 1:08:25
  SPEAKER_17: But you know, same thing.
• 1:08:26
  SPEAKER_17: It's like, I guess that's really just a a grande scisson.
• 1:08:29
  SPEAKER_03: But like where is sometimes there's a fouette involved.
• 1:08:32
  SPEAKER_03: Is it supposed to be in front in Devant and squared in front?
• 1:08:35
  SPEAKER_03: I think.
• 1:08:36
  SPEAKER_03: Hard to say.
• 1:08:36
  SPEAKER_03: So like if the leg isn't in the proper position, and then you're adding this rotation where then I don't know where's front.
• 1:08:43
  SPEAKER_03: Do you know where front is?
• 1:08:44
  SPEAKER_03: Where is front?
• 1:08:44
  SPEAKER_03: Exactly.
• 1:08:45
  SPEAKER_03: Who is getting the picture?
• 1:08:46
  SPEAKER_03: And that's across the board in every skill.
• 1:08:49
  SPEAKER_03: Like every single are we thinking about the audience's point of view?
• 1:08:54
  SPEAKER_03: Because this isn't we're not in the round here.
• 1:08:57
  SPEAKER_03: We're not we're not watching from the side, we're watching from the front.
• 1:09:00
  SPEAKER_03: So everything needs to be executed and delivered to the audience.
• 1:09:04
  SPEAKER_03: And does that angle read not just appropriately, but technically correct?
• 1:09:10
  SPEAKER_17: Right.
• 1:09:10
  SPEAKER_17: And well, and imagine, like, you know, because I just keep thinking of imagine that somebody's taking your picture and hopefully the competition photographer is taking your picture.
• 1:09:19
  SPEAKER_17: And wouldn't that be an amazing picture to get you at the height of that jump if you were facing the right direction for them to capture whatever that apex of that jump is?
• 1:09:28
  SPEAKER_17: But then that's my point to that angle.
• 1:09:30
  SPEAKER_17: It's like, I don't know what you want me to see because I'm not seeing it.
• 1:09:33
  SPEAKER_09: Right.
• 1:09:34
  SPEAKER_17: Like, re-reevaluate these angles for all of all of your work because the the audience is in the front.
• 1:09:40
  SPEAKER_03: And obviously, the we continue to talk about this, and this is something that I really, really encourage people to re-evaluate and reconsider when they're creating extension angles in any dance because I still see crotch shots to the audience, and I can I I straight out call it out.
• 1:09:59
  SPEAKER_03: Like if crotch shot is uncomfortable for you to hear, I say it on the critique.
• 1:10:03
  SPEAKER_03: So because it's uncomfortable for us to see.
• 1:10:05
  SPEAKER_03: It is.
• 1:10:06
  SPEAKER_03: It's uncomfortable when we don't have tights on.
• 1:10:08
  SPEAKER_03: It might look great in the studio when they have leggings on and tights or whatever they're wearing.
• 1:10:12
  SPEAKER_03: But when you put on a leotard and no tights, and I always say, especially for lyrical, I'm like, you're in a dress.
• 1:10:18
  SPEAKER_03: Like, do you realize you're in a dress?
• 1:10:20
  SPEAKER_03: I know that we're this is dance wear, but like the same rule should apply where we're trying to cover everything up and make sure the angles we wouldn't be like opening our legs if we were wearing a dress in regular life, you know, we wouldn't be showing our undergarments if we were wearing a dress in regular life and walking around like that.
• 1:10:37
  SPEAKER_03: So we have to think, even though yes, it's dance, but like how can we modify this angle and just turn it, flatten it out, or we're gonna turn it to the opposite corner to disguise what's under the skirt because the audience doesn't really want to see that angle of things.
• 1:10:53
  SPEAKER_03: And for some reason, everyone thinks they do because it highlights the leg line.
• 1:10:59
  SPEAKER_03: I can still see your technique if you're on the opposite angle without the crotch to the audience.
• 1:11:03
  SPEAKER_03: Like, unfortunately, like I just don't I don't understand where people truly watch that and think, wow, I love that is better than this.
• 1:11:12
  SPEAKER_17: Right somehow.
• 1:11:13
  SPEAKER_17: Right.
• 1:11:13
  SPEAKER_17: Like it's not better if you have just angled your crotch at me.
• 1:11:16
  SPEAKER_17: Right.
• 1:11:16
  SPEAKER_17: It's actually better if you angle your crotch away from me because then I truly do see the line you're creating.
• 1:11:21
  SPEAKER_17: And that's, you know, I'm I'm looking for your lines.
• 1:11:23
  SPEAKER_17: That's half of what we're judging, is like the pictures and the shapes you're creating.
• 1:11:27
  SPEAKER_17: And if you're not doing that properly, then I I don't know.
• 1:11:32
  SPEAKER_17: It is interesting.
• 1:11:33
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and it's it's uh it's a choreographer that go falls on the choreographer because obviously the choreographer is telling the dancer to do it on this angle, but then it also comes back down to training too, because I think a lot of choreographers are like, well, I'd rather put it on this angle because it makes your leg line look better and it could it disguises that your hip is up in your extension.
• 1:11:50
  SPEAKER_03: Well, sorry about it.
• 1:11:52
  SPEAKER_03: This isn't disguising anything, really, because instead of me looking at your hip, I'm I have to see your crotch to the audience.
• 1:11:58
  SPEAKER_03: And that's not a good look either.
• 1:12:00
  SPEAKER_03: So I would rather see your hip up and no crotch to the audience, and then we go back to training and we learn how to do our extension without our hip lifted.
• 1:12:08
  unknown: Boom.
• 1:12:10
  SPEAKER_03: Woo! Angles.
• 1:12:12
  SPEAKER_03: Let's fix them next year.
• 1:12:13
  SPEAKER_03: Angles.
• 1:12:14
  SPEAKER_03: They matter.
• 1:12:15
  SPEAKER_03: They matter.
• 1:12:16
  SPEAKER_03: All right, we're getting down towards the end of some of our submissions from our judges, but costuming is always a big takeaway, and we have a few costume notes that our judges noticed this season.
• 1:12:27
  SPEAKER_03: So let's hear from both of our judges on this one.
• 1:12:30
  SPEAKER_02: Hi all, this is IDA Judge Megan Jenkins from Redlands, California.
• 1:12:35
  SPEAKER_02: My takeaway for this season is catalog costumes.
• 1:12:39
  SPEAKER_02: I love them.
• 1:12:40
  SPEAKER_02: They're fantastic, and there's so many wonderful ones out there these days when you do the work to find them.
• 1:12:45
  SPEAKER_02: I want to challenge everyone out there to think outside the box.
• 1:12:47
  SPEAKER_02: Like, how can we add to catalog costumes?
• 1:12:50
  SPEAKER_02: How can we piece together things in order to create something that's really truly unique?
• 1:12:54
  SPEAKER_02: Etsy, Amazon, individual like outside sources all have these really wonderful appliques that we can purchase and then we can add to them.
• 1:13:01
  SPEAKER_02: You can have a same thing just add them, you can easily them to your costume.
• 1:13:04
  SPEAKER_02: Adding layers and depth to the costume that really allows it to be super unique to the story that you're trying to tell, to the dancer that you have on stage.
• 1:13:11
  SPEAKER_02: The beauty of catalog costumes is that they are easy to get, they work within our budget and they fit most of our dancers.
• 1:13:17
  SPEAKER_02: But how do we work outside the box to create something that's totally unique for our dancers?
• 1:13:22
  SPEAKER_02: Looking forward to another great season next year.
• 1:13:23
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you.
• 1:13:24
  SPEAKER_14: This is IDA Judge Mary from Alabama.
• 1:13:27
  SPEAKER_14: And one of the costume trends that I really noticed this season was the use of a lot more nude mesh cutouts.
• 1:13:38
  SPEAKER_14: So while I saw dancers in more one piece costumes, so much of the costume was nude mesh that some of these dancers were still barely covered.
• 1:13:51
  SPEAKER_14: And especially after having listened to the Making the Impact podcast episode on the oversexualization of dancers and things that we need to do to reverse some of these trends.
• 1:14:04
  SPEAKER_14: I feel like this particular trend in costuming needs to be let go.
• 1:14:10
  SPEAKER_14: And we need to go back to fully covering these young dancers.
• 1:14:14
  SPEAKER_03: Completely agree.
• 1:14:15
  SPEAKER_03: And you know how I feel about the nude mesh.
• 1:14:18
  SPEAKER_17: Oh, the nude mesh is Courtney's biggest nemesis.
• 1:14:21
  SPEAKER_17: Didn't I talk about this time last year on the takeaways from last year?
• 1:14:25
  SPEAKER_17: Maybe.
• 1:14:26
  SPEAKER_17: I mean, it's been it's been on your mind for a while.
• 1:14:29
  SPEAKER_17: So I definitely, um, I definitely agree.
• 1:14:31
  SPEAKER_17: And this is a long-standing it but I agree with Mary too that it has cropped up more and more.
• 1:14:37
  SPEAKER_17: And I think it's in sort of a bid to, you know, we we've asked for people to be more covered, you know, no more two-piece costumes, no more skimpy costumes.
• 1:14:46
  SPEAKER_17: So people are trying to still sort of skirt that by look, well, it's it's a full leotard.
• 1:14:50
  SPEAKER_17: Well, yes, but if half of it's mesh, then how are we really doing that job, you know?
• 1:14:55
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, I I don't hate nude.
• 1:14:57
  SPEAKER_03: I just want everyone to know that I don't hate nude mesh.
• 1:15:00
  SPEAKER_03: And I do think that there's value in nude mesh.
• 1:15:03
  SPEAKER_03: I think it's kind of what Mary described.
• 1:15:05
  SPEAKER_03: It's when it gets to a point where it is there's more nude mesh than actual color on the costume, that's the problem.
• 1:15:12
  SPEAKER_03: You know, I I think that we can utilize nude mesh more, honestly, because for certain costumes, like sometimes I feel like that there's cleavage that is like the cut of the costume is way too low.
• 1:15:23
  SPEAKER_03: That's when nude mesh can come and work in our favor here.
• 1:15:27
  SPEAKER_03: And we can add nude mesh along the neckline to really cover the dancer and make them feel like they're secure and not pouring out of their costume.
• 1:15:34
  SPEAKER_03: That's the last thing that we would want.
• 1:15:35
  SPEAKER_03: We don't want anyone to feel uncomfortable or feel like they're gonna fall out of their costume.
• 1:15:39
  SPEAKER_03: So I think nude mesh can work in those scenarios, but do we need a nude mesh panel on the side of a brief to make it look like we're not wearing underwear?
• 1:15:47
  SPEAKER_03: Do we need a nude mesh to go all the way down to your tailbone where your underwear line would start?
• 1:15:53
  SPEAKER_03: Like things like that that I feel like we're just towing, we're pushing that boundary a little bit too much.
• 1:15:58
  SPEAKER_03: I even saw on social media I didn't witness this in person.
• 1:16:01
  SPEAKER_03: This was posted by a competition.
• 1:16:03
  SPEAKER_03: There was a dance that was going viral, and the one of the costumes had a dancer in a nude top that had just stars over their chest.
• 1:16:11
  SPEAKER_03: Oh yeah.
• 1:16:12
  SPEAKER_03: Yep, I saw that.
• 1:16:13
  SPEAKER_03: And I was like, what?
• 1:16:14
  SPEAKER_03: Like that is just literally, it looked like they had no shirt on and stars over their chest.
• 1:16:20
  SPEAKER_03: Small stars over their chest.
• 1:16:22
  SPEAKER_03: And it was just very shocking to see that a competition was supporting this costuming as well, and a studio and parents, and granted, I think they were teens or seniors, but it doesn't matter because that is insinuating that you don't have a shirt on.
• 1:16:36
  SPEAKER_03: Like this is a family-friendly event.
• 1:16:38
  SPEAKER_03: You're still a child.
• 1:16:38
  SPEAKER_03: Like, would you walk out of the house wearing that?
• 1:16:41
  SPEAKER_03: And mom would be dad would be okay with it.
• 1:16:43
  SPEAKER_03: Like it's just crazy to me that some of these things are we're making an exception for the stage.
• 1:16:49
  SPEAKER_03: I don't know.
• 1:16:50
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 1:16:50
  SPEAKER_17: Yeah, it's it is an interesting phenomenon.
• 1:16:53
  SPEAKER_17: Um, and it just it does make you just sort of question like everyone's intention.
• 1:16:58
  SPEAKER_17: Right.
• 1:16:59
  SPEAKER_17: Like, what is the intention behind putting children in a costume that looks like that?
• 1:17:03
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 1:17:04
  SPEAKER_17: And and then, you know, I I don't know what the answer is.
• 1:17:07
  SPEAKER_17: Is the answer well, we thought it was beautiful?
• 1:17:09
  SPEAKER_17: Is the answer well, we we wanted to make it look like she had nothing on?
• 1:17:12
  SPEAKER_17: Like, is that the answer?
• 1:17:13
  SPEAKER_17: I guess so.
• 1:17:14
  SPEAKER_17: That's the only thing I can think of.
• 1:17:15
  SPEAKER_17: I feel like that's it's it's either we thought it was really beautiful, because again, let's be real.
• 1:17:20
  SPEAKER_17: Sometimes these costumes, they're not, they are not the book costumes.
• 1:17:22
  SPEAKER_17: Right.
• 1:17:23
  SPEAKER_17: You know, like uh Rachel was saying, these are these are handmade specialty custom costumes.
• 1:17:28
  SPEAKER_17: And of course they're beautiful.
• 1:17:29
  SPEAKER_17: There's beautiful appliques, there's beautiful, you know, seamstress work that goes into making a costume out of nude mesh and then some other things, you know, other pieces of material.
• 1:17:39
  SPEAKER_17: So yes, they have the artistry and the craftsmanship behind the work that probably goes into these costumes.
• 1:17:44
  SPEAKER_17: We're not disputing that that is those are lovely, beautiful things.
• 1:17:47
  SPEAKER_17: It's in the venue that we're at with the people that we're putting them in.
• 1:17:52
  SPEAKER_17: Is that appropriate?
• 1:17:53
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 1:17:53
  SPEAKER_17: And that answer is nine times out of ten, no.
• 1:17:56
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 1:17:56
  SPEAKER_03: And going over to Megan's uh costume catalog costuming, I completely agree.
• 1:18:04
  SPEAKER_03: I think costume catalogs have their place in this industry, and I think they're great, especially for group dances.
• 1:18:09
  SPEAKER_03: And I think that there's some really beautiful uh costumes that I've seen hit the stage that are newer designs.
• 1:18:16
  SPEAKER_03: But I do think there's ways to like put a little spit on it and make it yours.
• 1:18:20
  SPEAKER_03: That way you're not walking out with an identical costume as another studio, but even something as down to the accessories, like the yes to the appliques, yes to the stoning, yes to the painting the costumes or something fun just to kind of change it up.
• 1:18:35
  SPEAKER_03: But maybe we don't use what accessories were provided.
• 1:18:38
  SPEAKER_03: Maybe we create our own accessories.
• 1:18:40
  SPEAKER_03: Go get a new hair piece, go get a hat, go get some gloves, go get a different a necklace for this, like whatever it is.
• 1:18:46
  SPEAKER_03: Spice it up in different ways to make it feel unique to your vision, like Megan mentioned, because there is a way to utilize costume catalog costumes and still be unique.
• 1:18:57
  SPEAKER_17: Yes.
• 1:18:58
  SPEAKER_17: And, you know, and it's funny because the kids don't know necessarily where their costume came from or that a book costume is even a thing that somebody else at that competition might have their costume.
• 1:19:08
  SPEAKER_17: Right.
• 1:19:08
  SPEAKER_17: And I've heard, you know, just and they're not horror stories, they're just like, you know, just kind of sad, like, oh, the kids didn't know.
• 1:19:14
  SPEAKER_17: They're like, they have our costume.
• 1:19:15
  SPEAKER_17: Right.
• 1:19:16
  SPEAKER_17: And it's just this big deal the day of because they they just had no idea that the book costume is a thing.
• 1:19:21
  SPEAKER_17: Right.
• 1:19:21
  SPEAKER_17: You know, that other people probably might have your costume.
• 1:19:23
  SPEAKER_17: And, you know, it's like you said, I think it's a very easy, fun, creative hack to add something to it, to take something from it, just to like be creative in that way, you know, to give your kids something a little special.
• 1:19:36
  SPEAKER_17: Completely agree.
• 1:19:38
  SPEAKER_03: All right, we're moving into our final few clips from our judges.
• 1:19:42
  SPEAKER_03: And this is just about the competition industry in general.
• 1:19:45
  SPEAKER_03: So let's hear from our very first judge.
• 1:19:48
  SPEAKER_03: This is a new judge that you haven't heard from yet.
• 1:19:50
  SPEAKER_07: Hi, Dance Fam.
• 1:19:51
  SPEAKER_07: It's your IDA judge, Jess Beach from Baltimore, Maryland.
• 1:19:55
  SPEAKER_07: And one trend I would love to see left behind in 2025 is the trashing of the venues.
• 1:20:00
  SPEAKER_07: Oh my goodness.
• 1:20:02
  SPEAKER_07: I think we could all do a little bit better with how we take pride in the space that we have the privilege to perform in, making sure that we leave the space better than we found it.
• 1:20:12
  SPEAKER_07: So moving to 2026, I'm thinking let's try to be a little less trashy, a lot more classy, and take care of the spaces that we are privileged to dance in.
• 1:20:20
  SPEAKER_07: My two cents.
• 1:20:26
  SPEAKER_03: Squirrel Trench Audio offers stage-ready music mixes and edits for choreographers.
• 1:20:31
  SPEAKER_03: They also provide welcome soundtracks to include in your end-of-year performances.
• 1:20:36
  SPEAKER_03: Let's hear what they have to offer.
• 1:20:40
  SPEAKER_10: In addition to creating clean stage-ready song edits and mixes, Squirrel Trench Audio creates fabulous recital welcome soundtracks.
• 1:20:50
  SPEAKER_10: Each welcome is customized for your studio, theme, and theater rules.
• 1:20:55
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome to Studios on Maine's 14th Annual Dance Showcase.
• 1:21:01
  SPEAKER_10: And a calling welcome.
• 1:21:03
  SPEAKER_14: Step right up to the greatest show.
• 1:21:07
  SPEAKER_10: Welcome to Dance A Live.
• 1:21:08
  SPEAKER_14: Welcome to Dance A Little Storm.
• 1:21:10
  SPEAKER_14: Welcome everyone.
• 1:21:11
  SPEAKER_10: Welcome, welcome, welcome.
• 1:21:13
  SPEAKER_10: Your annual showcase deserves to start off right.
• 1:21:17
  SPEAKER_10: Preserve your 2025 welcome today.
• 1:21:23
  SPEAKER_03: Visit their website to learn more and grab your welcome soundtrack now at squirreltrench.com or click the link in our show notes.
• 1:21:31
  SPEAKER_03: Set the stage for your most amazing show yet with the welcome soundtrack from Squirrel Trench Audio.
• 1:21:43
  SPEAKER_03: This goes back to our competition etiquette and dressing room etiquette episode, which obviously more people need to listen to.
• 1:21:52
  SPEAKER_17: Absolutely.
• 1:21:53
  SPEAKER_17: I mean, you know, it's interesting being a judge, you don't see that part of things very often.
• 1:22:00
  SPEAKER_17: Um, you know, you come sometimes you come in and you do your job and you you take care of your space, but you're not really seeing the space that everybody is general generally in.
• 1:22:08
  SPEAKER_17: But you know, from my time as a director, really it's just amazing how human beings can just not respect the space that they were basically that they're paying for.
• 1:22:20
  SPEAKER_17: You know what I mean?
• 1:22:21
  SPEAKER_17: Because like your entry fees are paying for this space.
• 1:22:24
  SPEAKER_17: That's how business works, that's how that's how competitions work.
• 1:22:27
  SPEAKER_17: So the fact that people were just are so willing to leave things so unkempt is amazing to me and was always really shocking to just walk around at the end of an event and say, like, wow, these people did not respect this space in the slightest, which is really sad.
• 1:22:40
  SPEAKER_03: It is.
• 1:22:41
  SPEAKER_03: And something on my end, you're right, we don't see what's going on behind the scenes as judges or as staff uh faculty at these events.
• 1:22:49
  SPEAKER_03: But something that I just thought about right now is the fact that when I'm at convention, a lot of our convention ballrooms are the dressing rooms.
• 1:22:58
  SPEAKER_03: So they on Friday, if it's competition, the next day, Saturday during the day, we're teaching classes in those spaces.
• 1:23:06
  SPEAKER_03: And hopefully, maybe if we're lucky, the venue might vacuum before the day starts.
• 1:23:12
  SPEAKER_03: But you can't guarantee that because some of these events go on, you know, to the wee hours and we're starting super early.
• 1:23:19
  SPEAKER_03: The amount of times on in some of my classes where kids are bringing up gifts to me, like open safety pins and like oh my gosh, you know, food on the floor and different little things that are just littered on the floor.
• 1:23:33
  SPEAKER_03: And then I start thinking, like, why is this here?
• 1:23:35
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, it's because this was a dressing room last night.
• 1:23:38
  SPEAKER_03: So, yes, things fall out of our bags, yes, whatever, but we shouldn't be leaving crumbs, trash.
• 1:23:45
  SPEAKER_03: We shouldn't be littering the floor.
• 1:23:46
  SPEAKER_03: We should be trying to pick up our mess as much as possible and making sure we respect the space because then those elements, if they're not taken care of by the hotel staff or the competition staff, which do not expect them to do it, because they shouldn't have to in the first place.
• 1:24:02
  SPEAKER_03: They shouldn't have to do it.
• 1:24:03
  SPEAKER_03: You should have left the space looking clean like you walked into it.
• 1:24:07
  SPEAKER_03: But then it becomes a safety hazard the next day if dancers are dancing on that.
• 1:24:11
  SPEAKER_17: Right.
• 1:24:11
  SPEAKER_17: I mean, open safety pens, coke spilled everywhere.
• 1:24:14
  SPEAKER_17: Like yeah.
• 1:24:15
  SPEAKER_17: And it then it's funny that you mentioned like the kids bringing you gifts because like, yeah, they'll the little bitties are gonna pick up the rhinestone and look what I got you, you know.
• 1:24:23
  SPEAKER_17: But then it's like, okay, well, if it's rhinestones, that's one thing.
• 1:24:25
  SPEAKER_17: But if it's safety pens, if it's candy, if it's you know, trash, literally, then that's that's not a gift anybody wants to receive.
• 1:24:31
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, no.
• 1:24:32
  SPEAKER_03: So make sure everyone goes and gives a listen to that episode.
• 1:24:35
  SPEAKER_03: And if you know of certain parents or certain studios that need to listen to this, and hopefully maybe there's even teachers that are like, I need to share this with my parents.
• 1:24:44
  SPEAKER_03: They they need a lesson in what is what the expectations are when it comes to etiquette backstage a competition, then please share the link with them because we're doing this for you, y'all.
• 1:24:54
  SPEAKER_03: We're trying to spread the education to our dance world.
• 1:24:57
  SPEAKER_03: So that way we can all walk into the season nice and prepared.
• 1:25:00
  SPEAKER_03: All right, next up is from another new IDA judge chiming in for the first time on this episode.
• 1:25:06
  SPEAKER_03: Let's hear what they have to say.
• 1:25:07
  SPEAKER_12: Hi, this is IDA Judge Macy Strumple from Atlanta, Georgia.
• 1:25:11
  SPEAKER_12: Something that I saw a lot of this season was the overuse of dancers throughout the weekend.
• 1:25:17
  SPEAKER_12: So dancers being in multiple numbers, not just like two or three solos and a couple of group dances, but in 15 to 20 dances over the course of a weekend.
• 1:25:27
  SPEAKER_12: And that is just too much for some of these dancers to do, especially even your especially your older dancers.
• 1:25:34
  SPEAKER_12: And then also the over-choreographing for those dancers where they're in every trick section, they're in the beginning, the middle, the end.
• 1:25:43
  SPEAKER_12: They never get a chance to leave stage when you've got all these other transitions happening.
• 1:25:47
  SPEAKER_12: And the fact that you're starting at 100% from the get and then building, building, building, and now you're finishing at 150, 175, 200%.
• 1:25:58
  SPEAKER_12: These dancers can't sustain that without injury, without illness, without you know, things going on in their bodies.
• 1:26:05
  SPEAKER_12: They weren't built for that.
• 1:26:06
  SPEAKER_12: So I would encourage you to not over-chore graph your dances and also don't overuse your dancers.
• 1:26:12
  SPEAKER_12: Thank you.
• 1:26:12
  SPEAKER_17: Yeah.
• 1:26:13
  SPEAKER_17: I you know what I noticed this even more at the end of the season, because you know, at the beginning of the season, most of the time, everybody's for the most part, you know, they're healthy, they're well, they're rehearsed, they're fresh, they're ready to go.
• 1:26:25
  SPEAKER_17: But the longer you dance in the season, if you have situations like this where you're in 17, 18, 19 dances and they're over choreographed, that's when we start hearing, oh, number 492 is down a dancer, number 493 scratched because of injury.
• 1:26:40
  SPEAKER_17: Yeah.
• 1:26:40
  SPEAKER_17: You know what I mean?
• 1:26:41
  SPEAKER_17: The scratches don't happen in January and February.
• 1:26:43
  SPEAKER_17: The scratches happen in May and June because people are just exhausted and tired.
• 1:26:48
  SPEAKER_17: So yeah, I mean, and not to mention, and we'll go into this a little bit later, we had some of our comments from our dance uh parents and listeners about trends that they've seen.
• 1:26:56
  SPEAKER_17: It's like, yeah, there's a lot of dancers out there who are in a million bazillion numbers, and it's it seems to be like beginning to be recognized as unsustainable as opposed to something to be rewarded or excited about.
• 1:27:09
  SPEAKER_17: Like, you know, is 18 dances really even necessary?
• 1:27:13
  SPEAKER_17: I don't know.
• 1:27:13
  SPEAKER_17: How can you afford it?
• 1:27:14
  SPEAKER_03: Honestly, like fewer than 18.
• 1:27:17
  SPEAKER_17: You know, back when we were on the cruise ship, like those shows that we were in, obviously, there were different parts of the show.
• 1:27:22
  SPEAKER_17: It was review shows.
• 1:27:23
  SPEAKER_17: There were different routines essentially that we were learning.
• 1:27:26
  SPEAKER_17: I don't even think there were 18 or 20 in any of those shows.
• 1:27:29
  SPEAKER_17: You know what I mean?
• 1:27:30
  SPEAKER_17: It's just not that many dances.
• 1:27:32
  SPEAKER_17: So I don't know in what capacity anybody anywhere is gonna need to be in that many routines.
• 1:27:38
  SPEAKER_17: Like even in a contemporary company or in a music video, or not a music video, I'm uh when you're on tour with an artist, you know, nobody's doing 25 different songs.
• 1:27:47
  SPEAKER_17: The Beyonce concert's not 25 different songs, and half the time, none of those dancers are they're not in every number anyway.
• 1:27:53
  SPEAKER_17: Right.
• 1:27:53
  SPEAKER_17: So this is a very weird world we live in of the competitive dance world where dancers are expected to learn that many routines to just do.
• 1:28:00
  SPEAKER_17: It for a year.
• 1:28:01
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 1:28:01
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 1:28:02
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 1:28:02
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, I I do think it's quality over quantity for sure, and we say that often.
• 1:28:08
  SPEAKER_03: I don't necessarily think that dancers need to be in 20 dances.
• 1:28:13
  SPEAKER_03: And if you are, there's no way in the world that your novice or intermediate.
• 1:28:18
  SPEAKER_03: So let's just get that out the way right away.
• 1:28:21
  SPEAKER_03: Because you are an advanced dancer.
• 1:28:24
  SPEAKER_03: If you are listening to this and your dancer has more than 10 dances, that's advanced to me.
• 1:28:30
  SPEAKER_03: I have seen advanced level, pre-professional given perfect score studios bring three dances to an event.
• 1:28:40
  SPEAKER_03: And boy did they perform their heart out.
• 1:28:43
  SPEAKER_03: The dance was so clicked in and in tune with one another.
• 1:28:48
  SPEAKER_03: They were able to focus on the details and won it all.
• 1:28:53
  SPEAKER_03: Because it was exciting to see a of only a handful of dances from the studio that were every checked every box.
• 1:29:02
  SPEAKER_03: And that's when the quality over quantity comes into play.
• 1:29:06
  SPEAKER_03: There's a lot of studios out there that have, you know, huge entry fees and hundred plus dances being entered into these comp.
• 1:29:14
  SPEAKER_03: And every time they come to stage, I'm like, this needs more rehearsal.
• 1:29:17
  SPEAKER_03: Why not cut that in half and bring higher quality dances to the stage?
• 1:29:23
  SPEAKER_03: Wha why do we need so many dances?
• 1:29:25
  SPEAKER_03: There's ways to make this work where everyone's included and everyone feels special and all the things in in the business side.
• 1:29:32
  SPEAKER_03: But even for the parents who might have the funds to be able to afford 20 dances for their dancer, like you said, it a lot of dancers become burnt out and it's it's hard to sustain.
• 1:29:43
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, they're going to be in an amazing shape and very athletic, but even for the viewer, we see the same dances over and over again.
• 1:29:50
  SPEAKER_03: It almost becomes predictable, to be completely honest.
• 1:29:53
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 1:29:53
  SPEAKER_17: Well, and especially if it's from a studio that doesn't, you know, have a large faculty or doesn't bring in outside choreographers, you know, and that and that's to be expected.
• 1:30:03
  SPEAKER_17: I'm not even saying that I'm upset about that because you should hire outside choreographers.
• 1:30:08
  SPEAKER_17: No.
• 1:30:08
  SPEAKER_17: Right.
• 1:30:09
  SPEAKER_17: It's just that like that's just math.
• 1:30:11
  SPEAKER_17: And y'all all know I hate math, but like the math ain't mathing.
• 1:30:14
  SPEAKER_17: If if you've given me 20 numbers and the same two people have choreographed them, certainly your artistic well is not overflowing with that many ideas to be that interesting, that unique, that, you know, attributed and attainable by all these dancers, you know.
• 1:30:31
  SPEAKER_17: And so again, quant quantity, quality over quantity, I would rather see your studio with your amazing choreographers and your amazing in-house people give me five to seven dances with the same group of kids because that I think is gonna your best work is gonna be showcased in that light.
• 1:30:48
  SPEAKER_17: Like you cannot, you cannot tell me that the one choreographer at your studio, the two choreographers at your studio are able to put together 20 numbers that are of equal artistic merit, you know, that are doing great things on stage.
• 1:31:00
  SPEAKER_17: And I don't know that I would want to do that to myself either as a choreographer.
• 1:31:04
  SPEAKER_17: That's a tall order.
• 1:31:05
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 1:31:05
  SPEAKER_03: And that's when we see people, the the choreographers are burnt out.
• 1:31:11
  SPEAKER_03: So then they start going onto the internet to get inspiration.
• 1:31:14
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, yeah.
• 1:31:15
  SPEAKER_03: And then we start seeing them steal choreography because they can't come up with more work because their job is I have to choreograph 50 routines because this is what's expected of me.
• 1:31:25
  SPEAKER_03: And then again, let's let's bring it back down, let's scale it down so we can be producing quality work on stage across the board for the dancer's execution, it to display the dancer's technique properly, and to also the artistic vision of a choreographer so they can shine, like you said.
• 1:31:42
  SPEAKER_03: It all it all comes into play.
• 1:31:44
  SPEAKER_17: It does.
• 1:31:44
  SPEAKER_17: And I mean, the last thing I'll say about this is, you know, not only what happens when the choreographers are burnt out and they go to the internet and perhaps they are, you know, taking a little too much inspiration that it maybe ends up turns into plagiarism.
• 1:31:58
  SPEAKER_17: The other thing that happens is that that that they're not getting, because we as judges are not oftentimes allowed to comment on the choreography, you know, they feel like they're not getting any feed, any valuable feedback when what I would like to say to you is that dance looked the same as the dance we saw five minutes ago, as the dance we saw yesterday, as the dance we saw the day before, because you are clearly burnt out and don't have the artistic uh, you know, information to create this many dances.
• 1:32:24
  SPEAKER_17: But I can't tell you that.
• 1:32:26
  SPEAKER_17: I can't tell you that your dances look all the same because that's not what I'm allowed to do based on the competition I'm working for.
• 1:32:31
  SPEAKER_17: So then we get Monday afternoon rolls around, choreographer gets on Dance Teacher Network and says, Well, I can't get anybody to tell me why I'm not winning.
• 1:32:40
  SPEAKER_17: No, I'm not winning and I put all this work in and when really it is that there's 17 dances that look the same because you haven't been, you've been ex exploited, basically, you know, for your artistic work and you just don't have it in you.
• 1:32:53
  SPEAKER_17: And I'm sure that happens more often than not.
• 1:32:55
  SPEAKER_17: And it and it's sad and it sucks.
• 1:32:57
  SPEAKER_17: You know, I hate I hate that for our industry because we're people are trying to squeeze water out of a stone at some point.
• 1:33:05
  SPEAKER_03: Great point.
• 1:33:06
  SPEAKER_03: Completely agree.
• 1:33:07
  SPEAKER_03: All right, our final clip from our IDA judge, and this is one that we have to talk about.
• 1:33:13
  SPEAKER_03: So let's talk about it.
• 1:33:15
  SPEAKER_03: And let's hear what they have to say.
• 1:33:17
  SPEAKER_05: Hello, this is IDA Judge Jessica Olnick from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
• 1:33:21
  SPEAKER_05: Hey everyone, let's talk about something that's really picking up steam this season.
• 1:33:26
  SPEAKER_05: More dancers, parents, and even teachers are taking to social media to voice their frustrations about competitions.
• 1:33:33
  SPEAKER_05: And it's getting pretty intense.
• 1:33:35
  SPEAKER_05: Judges tape critiques meant to be private and constructive, are being posted publicly and causing quite a stir.
• 1:33:42
  SPEAKER_05: But how far are we willing to take this?
• 1:33:45
  SPEAKER_05: These are real people with real jobs and livelihood.
• 1:33:49
  SPEAKER_05: If there's a concern, the best thing to do is take it up with a competition director and not air it out online.
• 1:33:55
  SPEAKER_05: Let's lead with professionalism and remember competition should be about growth and not blame.
• 1:34:01
  SPEAKER_05: What are we really teaching our next generation?
• 1:34:04
  SPEAKER_03: Well, Court, you want to take this one?
• 1:34:07
  SPEAKER_03: I have so many thoughts.
• 1:34:08
  SPEAKER_03: I'm so glad someone said it, and not just me, because I have already expressed my concern about this in our Facebook community, on social media, actively, and I'm going to continue to talk about it because it is a huge issue in our industry right now.
• 1:34:23
  SPEAKER_03: We do not post judge critiques on the internet.
• 1:34:28
  SPEAKER_03: I don't care what y'all think it's yours all of a sudden.
• 1:34:31
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, this is my, I paid for it, whatever you want to say.
• 1:34:34
  SPEAKER_03: I get that.
• 1:34:35
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, you did.
• 1:34:36
  SPEAKER_03: But I, as the judge, did not consent to have my voice online being used in a bash session.
• 1:34:46
  SPEAKER_03: That is not what I signed up for.
• 1:34:48
  SPEAKER_03: Whatever purpose.
• 1:34:48
  SPEAKER_17: For whatever purpose.
• 1:34:49
  SPEAKER_17: Like you, even if it's good, like you know, that's and that's the thing.
• 1:34:52
  SPEAKER_17: It's like if if it's one way, it's gotta be the other.
• 1:34:55
  SPEAKER_17: Yes.
• 1:34:55
  SPEAKER_17: So I think, you know, the and this is a very new phenomenon.
• 1:34:59
  SPEAKER_17: Like, you nobody was somehow airing out everybody's critiques on a on a physical tape in the 90s.
• 1:35:06
  SPEAKER_17: Like, this is a very new phenomenon that's been happening very recently.
• 1:35:10
  SPEAKER_17: Like, I don't remember even hearing people's critiques online a year ago.
• 1:35:14
  SPEAKER_17: Exactly.
• 1:35:14
  SPEAKER_03: It's strictly been this year where it's a TikTok craze and everyone's posting their judge critiques on TikTok, which then makes people think that because it's on TikTok that we're allowed to do it on every platform and then bash the judges without the full picture and without all the context.
• 1:35:34
  SPEAKER_03: And there's just so many issues.
• 1:35:36
  SPEAKER_03: And to me, I feel like that when I sign up to be a judge for a dance competition, I am giving a pro I am providing a private critique to this studio.
• 1:35:45
  SPEAKER_03: This is my job to give you my constructive criticism and compliments in a in hopefully a constructive tone and manner to you to take back into your studio privately, share with your students if you want, share with the parents if you want.
• 1:36:01
  SPEAKER_03: But I never agreed to have this go to the universe.
• 1:36:05
  SPEAKER_03: And if I knew that this was going to the universe as a judge, I probably wouldn't have said half the things that I said.
• 1:36:11
  SPEAKER_03: So if you want an honest and real critique from me, then you need to promise me that you're not going to post it on the internet.
• 1:36:18
  SPEAKER_03: If you if it's a free-for-all where everyone's just gonna start posting things online because you paid for it and it's yours now, you are jeopardizing the my job in the industry.
• 1:36:29
  SPEAKER_03: You're jeopardizing your your reputation as a studio because that's not a good look either.
• 1:36:35
  SPEAKER_03: And you're also hurting the business of the competition that you're choosing to give them money to.
• 1:36:39
  SPEAKER_03: And this could be resolved offline.
• 1:36:42
  SPEAKER_17: Well, and you're hurting the entire industry as a whole.
• 1:36:45
  SPEAKER_17: Yes, yes.
• 1:36:45
  SPEAKER_17: You know what I mean?
• 1:36:46
  SPEAKER_17: Like, and and we can have this argument on another podcast, but you know, I think when dance moms came around and the way that that show made our entire industry look to outsiders hurt our industry.
• 1:37:00
  SPEAKER_17: And something like this, where again, regular people go on TikTok, not just dance people.
• 1:37:06
  SPEAKER_17: So, like, yes, in some context, dance people hearing a critique out out in the middle of the world, out in the open, might actually be beneficial, but it might not.
• 1:37:15
  SPEAKER_17: We just, it's it's too risky to have this happen.
• 1:37:18
  SPEAKER_17: And like you said, taken out of context, taken a snippet of a piece of material is not the greater whole, you know.
• 1:37:26
  SPEAKER_17: And I think I'm just really curious whether some contracts are going to change in the future because of this, because never have we ever either, you know, yeah, we signed up to judge.
• 1:37:36
  SPEAKER_17: I work for a company X, Y, and Z.
• 1:37:38
  SPEAKER_17: And probably in our contract, and this is on me for probably not reading my contract, but it's probably in there that my likeness can be used to promote their business.
• 1:37:47
  SPEAKER_17: Sure, that's fine.
• 1:37:48
  SPEAKER_17: But is it in there that my voice and my actual work, my critique can be used to promote your business?
• 1:37:53
  SPEAKER_17: I've never seen a competition advertise.
• 1:37:56
  SPEAKER_17: Here are judges' critiques, here is an actual critique.
• 1:38:00
  SPEAKER_17: I've never ever seen that.
• 1:38:01
  SPEAKER_17: Now, could that be something that they could probably do legally?
• 1:38:04
  SPEAKER_17: Yes.
• 1:38:05
  SPEAKER_17: But then if I knew that, then again, like you said, am I gonna doctor what I'm saying?
• 1:38:10
  SPEAKER_17: Am I gonna change my presentation because I know that now it's being used for another purpose?
• 1:38:15
  SPEAKER_17: Maybe.
• 1:38:16
  SPEAKER_17: So, I mean, I'm just very curious to see what if this trend is gonna continue or if there's gonna be some sort of regulation put on it in some way.
• 1:38:23
  SPEAKER_17: 100%.
• 1:38:23
  SPEAKER_17: Because I do think it's gonna be it, it has been detrimental to people's livelihoods.
• 1:38:28
  SPEAKER_17: It has been detrimental to companies' business.
• 1:38:30
  SPEAKER_17: And I don't think there's any good that can come of it, honestly.
• 1:38:33
  SPEAKER_03: No, it it's something that needs to stop immediately.
• 1:38:36
  SPEAKER_03: And it is something that is in our contracts for this season, actually, at IDA, because I noticed that there actually was a competition company that was posting their judge critiques, using it as advertisement, saying how great their judges were and look at the positivity in their judges.
• 1:38:52
  SPEAKER_03: And I questioned them and said, Did you get consent from the judges to post their private critiques?
• 1:38:58
  SPEAKER_03: And did you get consent from the studios whose critiques you're also sharing on the internet for the world to see?
• 1:39:03
  SPEAKER_03: Because to me, it is a very private conversation and not intended for the public eye.
• 1:39:09
  SPEAKER_03: And let's be real, the same thing applies to these judges out there.
• 1:39:13
  SPEAKER_03: Y'all know who you are who are popping up your phones and recording you yourself at the judge's table.
• 1:39:18
  SPEAKER_03: Again, inappropriate.
• 1:39:19
  SPEAKER_03: This is a private critique for the studio.
• 1:39:22
  SPEAKER_03: Half the time there's people who are posting videos of themselves critiquing a dance before before to the world, before the actual studio even got a chance to listen to it post-event.
• 1:39:34
  SPEAKER_03: So many issues with that.
• 1:39:35
  SPEAKER_03: And to the competitions that are supporting judges to do this, I don't I don't really see eye to eye.
• 1:39:40
  SPEAKER_03: I don't really see the benefit of that perspective.
• 1:39:43
  SPEAKER_03: And people love it.
• 1:39:44
  SPEAKER_03: People are like, oh, that's so cool.
• 1:39:45
  SPEAKER_03: I'm so flattered that you posted me.
• 1:39:47
  SPEAKER_03: But again, I think there's a better way to do this.
• 1:39:50
  SPEAKER_03: And people complain left and right about our judge critiques not being thorough enough, not being detailed enough, not being constructive enough, whatever the case may be.
• 1:39:58
  SPEAKER_03: Not being positive enough.
• 1:39:59
  SPEAKER_03: Not being positive enough.
• 1:40:01
  SPEAKER_03: But do you now see why we are getting more limited with what we're choosing to say?
• 1:40:05
  SPEAKER_03: Because we have no idea where that's gonna go.
• 1:40:08
  SPEAKER_03: And that's a scary thought for judges right now in the industry.
• 1:40:11
  SPEAKER_17: It is, yeah.
• 1:40:12
  SPEAKER_17: And like, like you said, I'm really glad Jess brought this up because you know, it it's almost a niche, like it's a niche concern, but it is a big concern.
• 1:40:22
  SPEAKER_17: And it's something you wouldn't know if you were just a casual observer of dance competitions.
• 1:40:27
  SPEAKER_17: You know, half the time, there's been times in in my judging career where I've heard parents or attendees at competitions truly not understand what we were doing as judges.
• 1:40:38
  SPEAKER_17: They would walk by and be like, why are these people talking?
• 1:40:40
  SPEAKER_17: Like they just they have not a clue what this is.
• 1:40:42
  SPEAKER_17: And so, for yeah, your casual observer, they have not a not an idea of the repercussions that uh something like this, you know, could have for people's for people's livelihoods.
• 1:40:53
  SPEAKER_17: But once you dig a little bit deeper and once you're on the receiving end of something, you know, even if you had full um transparency and you were your your critique maybe was the really positive one that got posted and got a lot of likes, and that could turn on you in a heartbeat, you know?
• 1:41:07
  SPEAKER_17: And not every we're all human.
• 1:41:09
  SPEAKER_03: Exactly.
• 1:41:09
  SPEAKER_03: And you know what's really hard for me to wrap my head around with this whole posting thing?
• 1:41:14
  SPEAKER_03: When and I'm sure you feel this too.
• 1:41:16
  SPEAKER_03: And everyone knows this.
• 1:41:17
  SPEAKER_03: Judges have a very hard job.
• 1:41:18
  SPEAKER_03: We are oftentimes sitting at a table talking for 14 hours straight.
• 1:41:23
  SPEAKER_03: Your brain is on overdrive.
• 1:41:24
  SPEAKER_03: Half the time, I don't even know what I just said moments ago.
• 1:41:28
  SPEAKER_03: It goes literally in and out of my mouth, and that is it.
• 1:41:30
  SPEAKER_03: And I'm I don't even have time to think about what I just said.
• 1:41:33
  SPEAKER_03: So then with that, I as a judge have never heard a critique I've provided.
• 1:41:40
  SPEAKER_03: Never in my life have I heard.
• 1:41:42
  SPEAKER_17: No, nobody sends me.
• 1:41:43
  SPEAKER_03: We don't get to review our critiques before they go out to the to the studio.
• 1:41:46
  SPEAKER_03: We don't get to listen back and make sure we sounded okay and our tone was okay.
• 1:41:50
  SPEAKER_03: None of that is reviewed.
• 1:41:52
  SPEAKER_03: They're live.
• 1:41:52
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 1:41:53
  SPEAKER_17: I mean, that's the thing.
• 1:41:54
  SPEAKER_17: It's like you are lovely, beautiful, amazing listeners out there, you're listening to us right now.
• 1:41:58
  SPEAKER_17: This has been edited because live anything is risky because everybody is human.
• 1:42:05
  SPEAKER_17: And so, you know, and we say that with full transparency that like this is edited so that we are able to give you thoughts that are actually fully formed and actually well considered, you know, because it's risky to do otherwise.
• 1:42:18
  SPEAKER_17: And so that is the risk that you take as an adjudicator in a live setting, not to not to even talk about the actual live adjudication events that are out there where somebody is literally on the mic in the moment speaking to the entire audience.
• 1:42:31
  SPEAKER_17: Right.
• 1:42:32
  SPEAKER_17: You know, those are live events.
• 1:42:33
  SPEAKER_17: And great point.
• 1:42:34
  SPEAKER_17: That's like you said, we it's, you know, and I say risky and it sounds like, oh, it's risky.
• 1:42:39
  SPEAKER_17: And it's not, you know, nobody's out here trying to like say anybody is a bad actor in any of this.
• 1:42:45
  SPEAKER_17: But what we are trying to say is we're humans and humans are tired and have to pee and are hungry and have outside forces that are contributing to how we are showing up in that 14-hour day for the 14th weekend in a row where my flight was delayed and my husband is having, you know, a hard time with the kids at home, and my grandmother is, you know, all the things that go on in human beings' lives.
• 1:43:08
  SPEAKER_17: And then you throw on, okay, be on for 14 hours, judge this tap dance, judge this clogging dance that you've never seen clogging before.
• 1:43:16
  SPEAKER_03: Judge the same dance that you've seen 500 times, judge another head spring.
• 1:43:20
  SPEAKER_03: Like, you know, it goes on and on.
• 1:43:22
  SPEAKER_03: So, yes, there's more context to this.
• 1:43:24
  SPEAKER_03: There's a bigger picture here.
• 1:43:27
  SPEAKER_03: And at the end of the day, my request for 2026 is your judge's critiques are private.
• 1:43:35
  SPEAKER_03: They do not get shared with anyone outside of your studio, they do not get posted on any social media platform, and they are a gift to you from us as judges to take and learn from.
• 1:43:46
  SPEAKER_03: But please do not post them on the internet.
• 1:43:49
  SPEAKER_03: All right, so that is a wrap on all of our pre-submitted clips from our IDA judges, and thank you to all of the IDA judges who helped contribute to this episode.
• 1:43:58
  SPEAKER_03: We love you all and really value the takeaways that you shared with us for the 2025 season.
• 1:44:03
  SPEAKER_03: But we have a few more takeaways, and this is coming straight from our Facebook community.
• 1:44:08
  SPEAKER_03: So if you're not in the community, make sure you join.
• 1:44:11
  SPEAKER_03: It's Making the Impact a Dance Competition Podcast community on Facebook.
• 1:44:14
  SPEAKER_03: We have a lot of great discussions happening over there, and any dance lover is accepted.
• 1:44:19
  SPEAKER_03: If you are a fan of the podcast and you are a part of this dance world, come and join us over there.
• 1:44:24
  SPEAKER_03: We have dance moms, dance parents, dance teachers, studio owners, businesses, dance professionals, you name it, lots of variety of people in our group.
• 1:44:34
  SPEAKER_03: So let's hear some of their thoughts and takeaways from 2025.
• 1:44:38
  SPEAKER_17: We have um a dance mom said that they feel like artistry is making a comeback over tricks.
• 1:44:43
  SPEAKER_17: And I love that.
• 1:44:44
  SPEAKER_17: I think I think from it's so interesting to hear perspectives that are not judges because we are obviously doing a job.
• 1:44:52
  SPEAKER_17: We're seeing one sort of aspect of this, and we have, you know, a our judge lens on.
• 1:44:58
  SPEAKER_17: But to hear what participants and attendees are here are seeing, I think is really cool.
• 1:45:03
  SPEAKER_17: So I think that's really great that this dance mom feels like artistry is coming back.
• 1:45:06
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and we meant and our judges have noticed that too, which is how we started off the episode.
• 1:45:10
  SPEAKER_03: Love it.
• 1:45:11
  SPEAKER_03: A dance mom says, we have seen a lot of words of encouragement via clipping kids, like cheer.
• 1:45:17
  SPEAKER_03: So if you haven't heard about this whole clipping phenomenon that I've experienced at competition this season, it is so cute.
• 1:45:24
  SPEAKER_03: I didn't know it came from the cheer community, but this is something that the cheer community does where they get clothespins and they write words of encouragement on these clothespins and then clip them to dancers that inspire them throughout the weekend.
• 1:45:37
  SPEAKER_17: Yes, I got a clip once as a judge.
• 1:45:40
  SPEAKER_17: Um just it was very cute and it was rhinestone.
• 1:45:43
  SPEAKER_17: Um, so that was really fun.
• 1:45:44
  SPEAKER_17: And then I've also, I don't know if this is from I know the clipping thing is from cheer, but um, somebody put a tiny duck in my bag.
• 1:45:52
  SPEAKER_17: A teeny tiny duck, and I got a duck, and like that's amazing.
• 1:45:55
  SPEAKER_17: I just think it's you know, just a fun little way for kids to be more engaged with each other at competition, as opposed to just sort of being, you know, obviously, yes, we want to be with our team and we want to have teamwork in our studio, but I think to extend that goodwill to other people is I think a really great way to bring up the next generation.
• 1:46:15
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, I think we'll see more clipping happening in 2026.
• 1:46:19
  SPEAKER_17: And feel free to clip your judges.
• 1:46:20
  SPEAKER_17: Like if somebody did it and like put it on my jacket or something um when I wasn't at the table.
• 1:46:24
  SPEAKER_17: So, like, you know, obviously take your um do things that are allowed.
• 1:46:29
  SPEAKER_17: Like maybe if you're not supposed to be up in the judges section, you know, if it's roped off, don't climb over the rope to give me a clip.
• 1:46:34
  SPEAKER_17: But like the judges like that too.
• 1:46:36
  SPEAKER_17: It does you don't have to, you know, it's not gonna influence anybody's scores because it's anonymous and it's just kind of a fun way to just bring everybody together.
• 1:46:43
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, I love that.
• 1:46:45
  SPEAKER_03: All right, how about this one?
• 1:46:47
  SPEAKER_03: From a dance teacher.
• 1:46:48
  SPEAKER_03: We need a new category again.
• 1:46:51
  SPEAKER_03: Floor work.
• 1:46:52
  SPEAKER_03: Any piece that spends 95% of their solo on the floor, this is very, very, very popular.
• 1:47:01
  SPEAKER_17: I love the three verries because agreed.
• 1:47:04
  SPEAKER_17: Yeah.
• 1:47:05
  SPEAKER_17: I mean, I wonder, you know, this would be an interesting to talk to somebody who's historically been involved in competitions for a very, very long time, like longer than us.
• 1:47:12
  SPEAKER_17: Like, when what was what was the newest category at your general, you know, dance competition?
• 1:47:17
  SPEAKER_17: Like, was it open?
• 1:47:18
  SPEAKER_17: Like when did open come along?
• 1:47:20
  SPEAKER_17: Because I feel like obviously ballet, tap, jazz, lyrical, you know, those have been categories for a long time.
• 1:47:26
  SPEAKER_17: But floor work as a category, I'm here for it.
• 1:47:29
  SPEAKER_03: It's interesting.
• 1:47:30
  SPEAKER_03: And we need some type of category because I'm seeing dancers dance on the floor more than they are dancing on their feet.
• 1:47:37
  SPEAKER_03: So I guess there needs to be a floor work category.
• 1:47:40
  SPEAKER_17: Who knew?
• 1:47:41
  SPEAKER_17: I agree.
• 1:47:41
  SPEAKER_17: I mean, and why not?
• 1:47:42
  SPEAKER_17: Like it's it's definitely something I didn't grow up doing a lot of floor work.
• 1:47:46
  SPEAKER_17: I and it's it's you know, definitely comes more from modern and contemporary, I feel like.
• 1:47:51
  SPEAKER_17: And there's certainly has to be that you can tell when people do it well versus when people do not do it well.
• 1:47:57
  SPEAKER_17: And there's gotta be a technique to it.
• 1:47:59
  SPEAKER_17: There's gotta be a way to teach that properly, and to be able to have somebody to give good feedback about generally your floor work would be really helpful, I think.
• 1:48:07
  SPEAKER_03: This one is from a dance mom, and they said, the advanced division is literally non-existent compared to intermediate.
• 1:48:16
  SPEAKER_03: My kids are enjoying competing at conventions more than they are at standard competitions.
• 1:48:21
  SPEAKER_17: Yes, dance mom.
• 1:48:23
  SPEAKER_03: You're not wrong, dance mom.
• 1:48:25
  SPEAKER_17: You're not wrong.
• 1:48:25
  SPEAKER_17: Yeah, your your perspective, very valid.
• 1:48:28
  SPEAKER_17: Uh, what else do we have?
• 1:48:29
  SPEAKER_17: Let's see.
• 1:48:30
  SPEAKER_17: Oh goodness.
• 1:48:30
  SPEAKER_17: Okay, so from a dance mom and teacher, big studios taking over the competition.
• 1:48:34
  SPEAKER_17: Our dance team consists of 21 dancers ranging from five to sixteen years of age.
• 1:48:38
  SPEAKER_17: We are literally getting lost in the mix of studios with a hundred plus dancers dominating every single category.
• 1:48:43
  SPEAKER_17: I noticed this more this year, uh, that it seems like favoritism and money are playing a role more than dance talent.
• 1:48:48
  SPEAKER_17: Interesting.
• 1:48:49
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, and someone else also said that is a huge one.
• 1:48:52
  SPEAKER_03: We have gone to a couple of really good comps, but our comp team is tiny, only eight girls, and we have often gotten lost with the massive teams.
• 1:49:00
  SPEAKER_03: I wish there were comps for small studios only.
• 1:49:03
  SPEAKER_03: It's tough because you don't know who's registering for these events.
• 1:49:06
  SPEAKER_03: And competitions need entries to fill an event or they can't run an event.
• 1:49:10
  SPEAKER_03: So if a big studio comes over and says we have 150 routines that we would like to enter, then that's already a almost a day's worth of entries right there.
• 1:49:20
  SPEAKER_03: So at least you already know, okay, well, this is gonna be a minimum a one to two day event when we get other studios involved and hopefully a three-day.
• 1:49:27
  SPEAKER_03: But, you know, what is the cutoff?
• 1:49:29
  SPEAKER_03: How do we how do we regulate this?
• 1:49:31
  SPEAKER_03: And do we regulate this based on size of the studios?
• 1:49:35
  SPEAKER_03: If you have X amount of students, then you can have this amount of dances.
• 1:49:39
  SPEAKER_03: And maybe there should be.
• 1:49:41
  SPEAKER_03: I think that maybe that's what we need for our industry is a little bit of a bigger push for trying to keep the playing, keep it a little bit more fair across the board and less about the business side, because it's a business for the studios and it's a business for the competition.
• 1:49:57
  SPEAKER_03: But at the same time, like we talked about earlier.
• 1:50:00
  SPEAKER_03: Quality over quantity.
• 1:50:01
  SPEAKER_03: Does every studio, like, even if you are a large studio, do you need 150 dances?
• 1:50:05
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 1:50:06
  SPEAKER_17: I don't know.
• 1:50:07
  SPEAKER_17: Right.
• 1:50:07
  SPEAKER_17: Well, and you know, I wonder, like, I I I would tend to agree with you, but like knowing some of those big studios, you know, if the if you were limiting the amount of routines, even if they just did have a reasonable number of routines per group, they just have that many groups.
• 1:50:23
  SPEAKER_17: They have their A team, they have their B team, they have their rec team.
• 1:50:27
  SPEAKER_17: You know, I I think the draw for a lot of those studios is that I don't have to separate my teams.
• 1:50:33
  SPEAKER_17: I, you know, I they don't have enough people to go to three competitions on one weekend if they had a limit.
• 1:50:38
  SPEAKER_17: You know, so like I can see like the headache it would be to try to regulate it in some way like that, where you might lose business because of it.
• 1:50:46
  SPEAKER_17: You might, you know, run into a situation where, okay, well, this event's not going to be very long because the big studio that was going to come, if we limited their entries, they're not coming anymore.
• 1:50:55
  SPEAKER_17: Then we're left with three small studios and now it's a one-day event.
• 1:50:58
  SPEAKER_17: Like it's I I can see how this would be r is already really challenging.
• 1:51:02
  SPEAKER_17: And I don't know what the solution is, uh, dance mom and teacher with the big studios taking over competition.
• 1:51:07
  SPEAKER_17: I would love to, you know, I would love to hear see this, you know, somehow resolved that made it okay for everyone.
• 1:51:15
  SPEAKER_03: It's tough, y'all.
• 1:51:16
  SPEAKER_03: It is uh it is tough to navigate so many aspects and layers to this industry, and it's a very oversaturated industry right now as well.
• 1:51:24
  SPEAKER_03: So, yes, while there are the big studios that are taking over, there's some events that can't even run because they don't have enough entries.
• 1:51:31
  SPEAKER_03: You know, so it is it is interesting to see all sides of this.
• 1:51:34
  SPEAKER_03: Maybe some of the bigger, more established competitions who have been around who have a million cities and regional dates are still thriving.
• 1:51:42
  SPEAKER_03: And then there's some of the smaller, newer competitions who are struggling to keep afloat because there's just such an oversaturation of events throughout the regional season.
• 1:51:51
  SPEAKER_03: So yeah, I don't know, I don't know what the answer is there either.
• 1:51:54
  SPEAKER_03: I don't know how to make it fair for everyone, but I do think it's a numbers game sometimes.
• 1:51:59
  SPEAKER_03: And if there's more entries, that means you're probably gonna have more chances to win, you know.
• 1:52:04
  SPEAKER_03: That's just like how right racial like that works.
• 1:52:07
  SPEAKER_03: The the odds work out.
• 1:52:09
  SPEAKER_03: Is that fair?
• 1:52:10
  SPEAKER_03: I I don't know.
• 1:52:11
  SPEAKER_03: I don't I guess not.
• 1:52:12
  SPEAKER_17: Um, but right.
• 1:52:14
  SPEAKER_17: I mean, there's and there's always just like, you know, you can't win if you don't play, like with the lottery.
• 1:52:20
  SPEAKER_17: Like and it's it's the same thing here.
• 1:52:21
  SPEAKER_17: Like you could you could be the studio that has three routines and sweep the whole thing.
• 1:52:26
  SPEAKER_17: Exactly.
• 1:52:27
  SPEAKER_17: But there's just more opportunity if you have more entries.
• 1:52:31
  SPEAKER_17: So, you know, it's not to say that it's not possible, but I can definitely feel like I think the competitions could probably do a better job, some competitions could do a better job of making everyone feel welcome because I can see the challenge of being a smaller studio coming to an event where it only seems like the big studio is getting everything just because it's a numbers game, and they also feel left out because nobody has said hello to you.
• 1:52:57
  SPEAKER_17: Nobody has recognized your kid's talent, nobody has recognized that you showed up, you know, on time to your call time every single time.
• 1:53:04
  SPEAKER_17: You were early, you know, you didn't cause any problems.
• 1:53:06
  SPEAKER_17: Like there's always things to recognize, you know, that's not based on a score.
• 1:53:11
  SPEAKER_17: And that's why I really value working for the competitions that allow us to give those kinds of awards or that kind of recognition.
• 1:53:17
  SPEAKER_17: Because yeah, you know, if you're a smaller studio, I don't doubt that you work just as hard.
• 1:53:22
  SPEAKER_17: You just have fewer kids, you have fewer routines, and there's no reason for me not to want to award that if I can, you know.
• 1:53:28
  SPEAKER_03: On our end, that's a wrap for our takeaways episode, but I feel like I'm gonna just throw this at you, Leslie.
• 1:53:34
  SPEAKER_03: What's your takeaway from the 2025 season?
• 1:53:37
  SPEAKER_03: Hmm.
• 1:53:38
  SPEAKER_17: Well, my takeaway was I judged more events this season than I have in a while, just because of my personal schedule.
• 1:53:46
  SPEAKER_17: And it was really refreshing to be back on the road, to see some new studios.
• 1:53:51
  SPEAKER_17: You know, I judge fairly regionally, so a lot of times I do see studios that I've seen before.
• 1:53:56
  SPEAKER_17: But lucky for me this season I judge for a few new events.
• 1:53:58
  SPEAKER_17: Um, to me, new new to me events, which means sometimes the studios are going to be new to that event as well or new to me.
• 1:54:04
  SPEAKER_17: And it was just lovely to see I saw a lot of those things that a lot of these people were talking about, you know, the good, bad, and the ugly.
• 1:54:11
  SPEAKER_17: And but what I really enjoyed was seeing the camaraderie, seeing, you know, kids at awards, being nice to each other, supporting each other, clapping for each other.
• 1:54:20
  SPEAKER_17: You know, I I like to sort of be very observant when I'm on stage giving an award, or if I'm working, you know, with IDA affiliated competition HD, I do their specials.
• 1:54:30
  SPEAKER_17: So I get to really observe more than speak, which is really, really nice and allows me to take in the full event rather than just being so focused on one thing.
• 1:54:41
  SPEAKER_17: Um, so that was my takeaway this season was that I feel like people have generally gotten a little kinder over the past year, which has been really nice.
• 1:54:49
  SPEAKER_03: I love that.
• 1:54:51
  SPEAKER_03: And I'd say my takeaway from the 2025 season, I've been immersed in the convention circuit this entire season, judging and teaching at Streets Dance Convention for my second season.
• 1:55:04
  SPEAKER_03: And one of the things that I just love about that is being able to see dancers in class and also see dancers in their element on stage in their solos and in their group routines with their studios.
• 1:55:16
  SPEAKER_03: And just the focus and dedication that dancers are bringing to a convention event blows my mind because it is a full out with feeling non-stop for three days straight.
• 1:55:29
  SPEAKER_03: I don't know how they do it.
• 1:55:30
  SPEAKER_03: I'm so impressed when I see dancers up at 7 a.m.
• 1:55:33
  SPEAKER_03: on Saturday after they did their solos and duos on Friday, and they dance for six hours straight and then go right into group competition until 10 o'clock at night.
• 1:55:44
  SPEAKER_03: And they are turning around so fast with those costume changes and bringing variety to the stage and storytelling.
• 1:55:51
  SPEAKER_03: It is just really impressive to see.
• 1:55:53
  SPEAKER_03: So I applaud all of the dancers who are coming to convention and still being present and focused in class, even though they know that they have competition coming later that night and not letting that get in the way of them experiencing new training opportunities with new teachers at dance conventions.
• 1:56:10
  SPEAKER_03: I can see that as a teacher.
• 1:56:12
  SPEAKER_03: It is really rewarding to see the focus and the work ethic from a lot of dancers.
• 1:56:16
  SPEAKER_03: And then I just love watching you on stage and blowing my mind in all of these group routines.
• 1:56:22
  SPEAKER_03: So shout out to all the studios out there who are doing great work, beautiful pieces, total packages.
• 1:56:29
  SPEAKER_03: Like we talked about, I've given a lot of perfect scores this season, and that's wild and crazy.
• 1:56:34
  SPEAKER_03: I love where uh where the artistry and choreography is going for our industry, and I'm just so excited for next season.
• 1:56:42
  SPEAKER_03: So I'm I'm sad our podcast uh is already over for season six, but I'm already counting down the days until nationals and the 2026 competition season.
• 1:56:53
  SPEAKER_17: Oh, yeah, it'll come, it'll be here before we know it.
• 1:56:56
  SPEAKER_17: So for now, Dance Spam, check out our wrap-up episode coming right to you right after this.
• 1:57:01
  SPEAKER_17: Um, and have a great summer.
• 1:57:02
  SPEAKER_17: Have a great summer.
• 1:57:03
  SPEAKER_03: See y'all at Nationals.
• 1:57:07
  SPEAKER_03: We hope you enjoyed our final episode of season six on Making the Impact with our takeaways from the 2025 judging season.
• 1:57:16
  SPEAKER_03: Special shout out to all of the IDA judges who contributed to this episode, as well as our fans from the Making the Impact Podcast community group.
• 1:57:24
  SPEAKER_17: Don't forget to follow Making the Impact on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Podcasts, and pretty much everywhere you listen to podcasts.
• 1:57:31
  SPEAKER_17: And if you want more exclusive episodes, support our podcast by joining our Platinum Premium membership for only$5 a month.
• 1:57:37
  SPEAKER_17: Subscribers receive free Making the Impact stickers, shout-outs live on the air, ad-free listening, and exclusive access to our QA episodes for members only.
• 1:57:45
  SPEAKER_17: Join now at ImpactGance Adjudicators.com slash Platinum Premium or click the link in our show notes.
• 1:57:51
  SPEAKER_17: Thanks for tuning in to Making the Impact Season 6.
• 1:57:54
  SPEAKER_17: We have one more episode, so stay tuned.
• 1:57:57
  SPEAKER_03: Season 7 launches on Thursday, September 4th, 2025.
• 1:58:02
  SPEAKER_03: Have a great summer, everyone.