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Ridiculous Expectations of Competitive Dance · Making The Impact - A Dance Competition Podcast

• 0:07
  SPEAKER_13: Have you ever wondered what goes on behind the table at a dance competition?
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_13: Exactly what are the judges looking for anyway?
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_13: This is Making the Impact, a dance competition podcast.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_13: Each week we'll cover a different topic related to the world of competitive dance from the perspective of the judges behind the table.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_13: The world of competitive dance is full of strange, interesting, and dare we say, ridiculous expectations.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_13: From full faces of makeup to tons of money spent on a three-minute dance, the outside world might not quite get it, but we do.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_13: Today we're taking a look at some of the most ridiculous expectations in competitive dance and hearing from dance parents, judges, and podcast fans.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_15: Hello everyone, and happy holidays from Making the Impact.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_15: I am your host, Courtney Ortiz, and I'm here with my co-host, Leslie Mueller.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_15: Hey Courtney, happy holidays.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_15: Happy holidays! The holiday season has been here for a while, and I cannot wait to celebrate Christmas with my family.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_13: Me too.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_13: I'm doing the first time of trying to split the holidays with my boyfriend's family and my family.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_13: So we have, you know, an over the river and through the woods kind of scenario happening with a flight and a car rental and another flight.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_13: It's a lot, but I'm excited.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_15: Oh my gosh, yeah, that that sounds like a lot.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_15: I'm sure that so many people have to uh do the same exact kind of deal to make sure they get family time with both sides of the family uh all over the country and world.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_15: So that's gonna be a fun one.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_15: You're gonna be quite busy.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_13: So busy, but at least we're going to Florida for part of it and Georgia for the other part.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_13: So we'll at least avoid some snow, maybe, maybe have a little bit of beach time in the Florida part of the world.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_13: So I'm looking forward to it.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_13: What are y'all doing?
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_15: Well, we're heading back to Maryland.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_15: Luckily, my boyfriend and I are both from Maryland.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_15: We actually grew up about 10 minutes away from each other in our small town, but his family has now moved further away.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_15: So it's about a 30-minute drive, which is not bad at all.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_15: And so lucky that we are both able to see our families during the holiday season.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_15: And we will open up tons of presents.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_15: And actually, it's gonna be a little crazy at my parents' house because they just got a new kitten.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_15: What?
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_15: Because it yes, I don't know if I told you.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_15: You didn't.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_15: This is news.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_13: You're hearing I'm hearing this for the first time, along with you listeners.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_15: So if if people follow me, you might know a little bit about my Persian cats.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_15: I'm a cat, a crazy cat lady, but I love the Persian cats.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_15: And my the OG Gatsby started this all, and he's a beautiful orange cat, and everyone has fallen in love in love with Gatsby ever since they they've met him, and people fall in love with Persians after meeting him.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_15: So I've turned people into Persian cat lovers all over the place.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_15: Uh my boyfriend's best friend got a Persian.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_15: Now my parents got a Persian and they just couldn't resist.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_15: They had to get another one.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_15: They said they needed a playmate for Winston.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_15: So they just got a brand new little tiny, like three-month-old kitten.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_15: It's so fluffy and cute.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_15: It's a baby.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_15: What's his name?
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_15: His name is Poncho.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_15: Poncho.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_15: Oh my god.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_15: Poncho.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_15: It's gonna be a cat Christmas for sure.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_15: It's gonna be all four Persian cats.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_13: Your cats travel with you.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_13: So Gatsby and Chico are headed down to grandma's house to meet the Kingston and Poncho.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_13: The feline cousins.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_13: I don't really know if they're cousins, but Yeah, I yeah, I guess siblings are they?
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_15: Yeah.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_15: Anyway, it's gonna be a fun Christmas, y'all.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_15: So I hope that everyone out there listening is having a lovely holiday season and spending it with friends and families, and maybe uh you're you're able to give this episode a listen on your drive or flight to wherever you're heading this holiday season.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_13: Yes, and we've got we've got some fun stuff ahead here in this episode, but before we get into it, let's talk about our sponsors.
• 4:13
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• 6:15
  SPEAKER_13: Our season 5 premiere sponsor, Francisco Gella Danceworks, will be hosting a unique seven-day intensive this summer in Miami, Florida.
• 6:22
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• 7:15
  SPEAKER_15: So today on Making the Impact, we're changing it up a little bit.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_15: And it's just Leslie and I flying solo, but we have a lot of special guests chiming in to help us with this really fun and interesting topic, which is ridiculous expectations for competitive dance.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_15: And what do we mean by that exactly?
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_15: What comes to mind immediately to me are all of those things that only dancers have to do, and only dancers know.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_15: If you are not in the competitive dance world, you probably have no idea that dancers go on stage wearing only leotards and no tights and have to use something called butt glue to keep their costume from writing up.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_15: I forgot about the butt glue.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_15: Yeah.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_15: The butt glue.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_15: I mean, like no normal person, regular person outside of the dance world, if you if you use the term butt glue in front of them, they would be like, what in the world are you talking about?
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_15: But that is just like a common thing.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_15: We all know what that means in the dance world.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_15: So all of those ridiculous expectations that you have to do to be a competitive dancer, we are talking about them today with some really uh fun clips that were sent in from fans around the world.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_13: Yes, this is one of my favorite kinds of episodes that we do.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_13: I love to just hear from so many different people on our audio clips and then discuss.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_13: So let's get started.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_15: Yeah, let's jump in.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_15: We have clips sent in from IDA judges, from dance parents, and so many fans.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_15: So I think the first thing we should kick things off and and talk about is maybe that really insane schedule that you experience at a dance competition event.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_15: The expectation and length of the actual event may be quite shocking for new dance parents that step into the scene.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_15: So let's hear from our very first special guest.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_02: Hi, this is Jess Olnick from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and my crazy comp expectation is the eye-opening weekend warrior competition schedule for studio owners, teachers, parents, and dancers.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_02: You guys, the weekend is jam-packed from beginning to end with levels, age groups, award ceremonies, improv contests, and so much more.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_02: On top of that, we have quick costume changes.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_02: We're making sure that everyone is hydrating, competing, not losing dance parts, getting them all in order, and looking like a million dollars on that stage.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_02: We worked so hard.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_02: I have to say, it's safe to say Mondays feel like we have all ran a marathon together.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_02: Whether we're teachers, judges, dancers, parents, we live for this.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_02: We love our dance families, and we pack it up, we regroup, and we do it again the following weekend.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_02: Gotta love competition season.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, we do, Jess.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_13: That is Jess Olinick from Philadelphia-ish area.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_13: And yeah, the weekends, Courtney.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_13: Why are they so long?
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_15: I mean, it is it is a crazy like Jess said, it's a marathon weekend for these dance competitions.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_15: And obviously it depends on the length of them, but a lot of them, especially when we get into the heat of the season in March and April, they are usually always three days in length, and they sometimes start at like three o'clock on Friday.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_15: Or if you're going to a convention competition, that might it might even start all all day Friday at seven in the morning on Friday.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_15: So that means kids are missing school and or you're taking a half a day, or you're getting in the car, you're driving, parents have to take off of work on Friday.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_15: Like there's just so much that goes into it and the expectation and commitment to be able to make these competitions possible and have some competition.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_15: You know, we all we obviously want to have some competition at it at these types of events, but I mean, they are just very, very long.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_13: It's not that the weekend it's like the weekend, yes, the whole weekend itself is long.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_13: But then the actual days, like that's where I think the marathon feeling comes in, is that, you know, even if you're not the first number of the day, you're still waking up really early.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_13: You're still preparing.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_13: You're still, you know, if you're not staying at the venue at the hotel, you're you're getting there from your home or you're getting there from the other hotel or whatever.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_13: And it's just you're there.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_13: You're stuck.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_13: You're at this venue doing this thing all day long.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_13: It's so long.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_15: Yeah.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_15: It's a full weekend commitment.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_15: I mean, I don't think a lot of people really realize that type of sacrifice that goes into a competition.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_15: You might think, oh, well, I only have three dances, and I'm just gonna pop in and I'm gonna do my dance, and I'm gonna go about my weekend, I'm gonna head over to my friend's birthday party, and I'm gonna go to the mall on Sunday.
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_15: And it's like, right.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_15: It's like you probably won't get to do all those things because you don't know when your dances are gonna be scheduled throughout the three-day event.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_15: Right.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_15: And then the actual word ceremony, which you wanna be at because you want to see how you did, how you placed, what your adjudication is, if you won high score, if you got any special r recognition, that sometimes doesn't happen until 10, 11 o'clock at night on a Saturday.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_13: And it makes me wonder, like, I don't, you know, I I have nephews who don't play travel sports, but like when I think about other kind of kids' activities that require, you know, commitments from your family, from your kids.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_13: I don't think the travel baseball team is playing 15 games in a day, but your dance kid, your dance competition kid could have 15 routines or more.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_13: Yeah.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_13: A really committed like kid who's in multiple dances.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_13: You know, I don't know that any other travel sport or any any other sport really is having that expectation of, okay, well, you're here for the weekend and like you really, you really can't go to your friend's birthday party because you're gonna be doing your lyrical solo.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_15: Right.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_15: I know it's it's a it's a crazy thing, but I'm sure all of our dance parents have figured out the best way to make it possible for you and your family so your dancer can live their dream up on that stage and perform for you.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_15: And it makes it all worth it when you get to see them hit the stage with their teammates or in their solo, and all of that hard work is shown and they are just loving their life because performing is one of the greatest gifts and one of the greatest things about being a dancer.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_15: So when you get to watch your dancer perform on that stage, it makes it all worth it.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_15: No matter how many tears, no matter how many, uh how much sacrifice that you as a family had to make.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_15: It just, I'm sure it's just like the best feeling as a parent watching in the in those moments.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_15: Yeah, for sure.
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_15: All right, let's hear from our next special guest, who is another IDA judge, chiming in and sharing their thoughts on the schedule and commitment expectation for competitive dancers.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_03: Hello, this is Josh Ashley from New York City.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_03: What shocked and surprised me the most about the dance competition world was how quickly dancers are affected to get into performance mode.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_03: Because it's a marathon.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_03: It's not like you're performing a just one time or one evening show.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_03: You have to be on all even 30 plus numbers.
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_03: So the expectation to manage the page, you know, the chaos of it all, and then just get on page, go into performance mode, and turn out these beautiful performances, it still blows my mind.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_03: And it's the norm.
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_03: And people do it, and that's the crazy dance competition world.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_15: That's so true.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_15: I mean, I I really don't know how we do it.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_15: To me, when when we are going back to back to back with so many dances, I mean, when I was growing up, it wasn't as expensive.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_15: Sure.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_15: I mean, it was expensive, but it wasn't as expensive.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_15: And there was a point in time when I was in at least like 15 numbers, like including my solos, but like insane amount of dances and running back and forth and being able to shift gears and shift your mind to completely know what you're doing and get into the zone of this choreography, this new routine that I have to just walk out on stage and sometimes you don't get a moment to think.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_15: Sometimes it's a quick change, so you know, whatever the expectation is of that of the event and the schedule.
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_15: It's so surprising and shocking to me when I'm sitting as a judge watching dancers just come like churning within Yeah, like five numbers later you're back and you're killing it in a whole new style and a whole new vibe and intention and story.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_15: That is just really a really hard skill to learn and do as a dancer.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_13: Well, and I wonder too, if we lose it as we grow up and and become professionals, because you know, when I was performing professionally, you know, you have your your call time at a reasonable time before your show.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_13: It's like an hour, maybe.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_13: You know, some people have a half hour call time.
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_13: I don't find that to be enough time.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_13: I want to have like my full hour where I can warm up, I can do my makeup, I do my hair, get in the zone.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_13: And then you do your show, and you're not in the whole show, probably, you know, like you're in a few numbers.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_13: Right.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_13: And then you go home and you do it again the next day.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_13: And so, but like the kids, they just it's it's over and over and over and over again every weekend.
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_13: And so I do wonder, like, you know, as an adult, I was like, oh yeah, this is how I get into my show mode.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_13: And it it was a calm, practiced method of doing, you know, getting into the zone.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_13: But I did the competition thing too.
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_13: Like, and it was busy and crazy, and I don't know.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_13: Like, I wonder if did do we lose it or did we do we just have these expectations of kids that like it just works for them and you know, I don't know.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_15: No, I know what you're saying, because it's it is way more frantic and crazy in competition world.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_15: Yeah.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_15: Than it is when you are in like a more relaxed show setting.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_15: Even I'm sure, I mean, recitals are probably crazy too.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_15: You feel the panic and everything.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_15: But there is something about that pre-show vibe and and getting into into the zone.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_15: Yeah, that is very different.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_15: Versus, you know, I'm even thinking about in conventions when you take class all day long, you're in your eight, like you you woke up so early to do your hair, get your outfit on, warm up, and then you take class for five hours straight, and then competition starts within an hour after the last class finishes.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_15: Yep.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_15: You don't have time to eat, you don't have time to refresh your makeup.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_15: Maybe you need to take a cat nap before you perform.
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_15: You don't get that sometimes.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_15: It you know, it's it's just go, go, go and a little frantic and crazy sometimes at competition.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_15: Yeah.
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_15: So it's it is a lot to expect from young dancers, but I don't know.
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_15: I mean, they always seem like I mean, I'm sure a lot of them are exhausted and and and like the blanking backstage, and then we see them and they've pulled it together, and you know, you're like, wow, how did you that's amazing.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_13: Yeah, I just saw you five minutes ago and now you're back, you know.
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_13: But yeah, you know, we as judges don't see what happens behind the scenes usually.
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_13: So, you know, good kudos to all of the all the dancers out there for, you know, being able to pull it up and and get on stage and show us your best work, even though you've, you know, had a moment before where you're like, oh my god, what's happening?
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_15: Right.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_15: Right.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_15: And that is a true, the true test of a true professional.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_15: If you can leave all of that uh frustration and baggage and whatever you're going through in the wings and bring your best performance out on stage, and we see it happen all the time where I wouldn't even know that all that drama or whatever was happening before you hit the stage, and that as an audience, we don't want to feel that, all of those things.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_15: Don't bring it onto the stage with you.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_15: So when we do see those professionals that are just leaving it on the dance floor, and then maybe later we find out, oh, this this happened right before and they they you know powered through like a pro.
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_15: I'm like, that is so impressive.
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_15: Like, go us as dancers.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_15: Yeah, love it.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_15: All right, our next clip is coming from one final IDA judge, and let's hear what they have to say.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_10: Hi, everyone.
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_10: This is IDA judge Miranda Spada from Buffalo, New York.
• 19:06
  SPEAKER_10: One thing that I think will really shock non-dancers about our world is the amount of preparation it takes on game day for spending a little bit of stage time.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_10: There is so much preparation work that goes into making sure everything is perfect, from our costuming to our warm-up, to our makeup, to our spray tans, to our hair, and to everything in between.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_15: That's a that's a great, great point from IDA Judge Miranda, who has joined us on many episodes of the podcast.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_15: And yes, the amount of preparation and rehearsal time and sewing time and bedazzling time and all of the things that go into getting stage ready is something that non-dancers probably have no idea.
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_15: I mean, even training, obviously, that's whole but that's a whole separate thing.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_15: I'm talking specifically about getting ready for the stage itself, learning the choreography, getting the choreography cleaned, making sure your costume fits properly, making sure you have all of the extra safety pins and butt glue and all the things.
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_15: I mean, there's a lot of that goes into getting stage ready.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_13: Right.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_13: Well, and I think that's that brings up kind of an interesting point of it makes sense that a lot of studios do a lot of competitions because otherwise, if you only do one or two, you've spent all this time preparing these numbers for, you know, if your jazz dance is three minutes long, okay.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_13: Well, if you do that twice and then at recital, you've been spending all this time for nine minutes.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_13: Like really?
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_13: So I can kind of see why people do a ton of competitions.
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_13: You know, yes, you're spending more money to do that, but you're also getting more experiences, you know, refining that choreography and getting more feedback and being able to perform it more.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_13: So I can kind of see it.
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_15: Yeah, I I think about that all the time too.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_15: It's just like the amount of time that goes into that prep and and is it is the outcome, you know, the final product and the final performance time enough for the amount of the length of time you put into getting this piece ready for the stage.
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_15: Some people start in July, August learning choreography.
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_13: And that means And the amount of money that you might be spending on the choreography itself.
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_13: So, you know, the your your teacher at your studio, you know, may or may not get a choreography fee.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_13: I would venture to say probably not.
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_13: They're just getting paid.
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_13: Whereas if you're bringing an outside choreographer in, you know, that's that's some money when you're when you're doing that.
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_13: So you've paid so much money for this piece of choreography.
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_13: And, you know, I think I think it's it's just an interesting thing to think about when you're considering how how often you're gonna get to perform this.
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_15: Right.
• 21:47
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• 22:02
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• 22:15
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• 22:27
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• 22:33
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• 22:40
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• 22:49
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• 22:54
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• 23:00
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• 23:08
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• 23:23
  SPEAKER_15: And Miranda has a few more things to say about exactly that.
• 23:27
  SPEAKER_10: One of the things that never ceases to amaze me about the competitive dance world today is the length and the expense at which parents will pay for their dancers' costumes and choreography.
• 23:37
  SPEAKER_10: You always think you heard the most incredibly high number, and then you hear one that's even higher, and it just continues to boggle my mind.
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_13: Yep.
• 23:46
  SPEAKER_13: Yes, the mind-boggling uh ness of dance competition life.
• 23:51
  SPEAKER_15: Yeah, I mean, it's so true.
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_15: The amount of money that people pay for choreography is insane to me.
• 24:00
  SPEAKER_15: I mean, I will say though, I will say that being a choreographer as a choreographer and as a guest choreographer, it is an extremely hard job.
• 24:09
  SPEAKER_15: I'm not going to lie.
• 24:10
  SPEAKER_15: It is a very hard job.
• 24:11
  SPEAKER_15: You think that you just come in and you do a little ditty and that's a wrap and you get a huge chunk of change and whatever you go about your life.
• 24:18
  SPEAKER_15: So for some people, sure.
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_15: I think that choreography comes more naturally to some, and other people put blood, sweat, and tears into the creation of it.
• 24:27
  SPEAKER_15: So, and again, you're paying for experience, you're paying for sometimes pr someone's reputation and you know, knownness in the industry, but it it does take a lot of preparation and time and uh planning and research and homework and then also back sometimes, you know, maybe not in person, but watching a video, giving feedback later.
• 24:51
  SPEAKER_13: Mm-hmm.
• 24:51
  SPEAKER_13: You know, doing doing more than just the one day of choreography.
• 24:55
  SPEAKER_13: It's the pre-planning too.
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_13: You know, Courtney, I know you have so much you do so much pre-planning uh before your choreography sessions because it's hard to just go in there and create on the spot with people you don't know.
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_13: You at least have to have some kind of framework for what you're what you're giving them.
• 25:09
  SPEAKER_15: Yeah, I think that's really why sometimes it is so expensive to have a guest choreographer come in because they really it's a hard skill to be able to create magic on dancers you've never really worked with or you don't get to work on the regular.
• 25:26
  SPEAKER_15: You know, every every studio can be like, oh, my dancers are advanced, and oh, here's a video of of my dancer so you can see.
• 25:33
  SPEAKER_15: But like I'm seeing a polished, perfected routine that you're sending me.
• 25:39
  SPEAKER_15: How do they work in rehearsal?
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_15: Are do they pick up choreography quickly?
• 25:43
  SPEAKER_15: Are they focused?
• 25:44
  SPEAKER_15: What are the skills that they can show me on the spot if I'm quote unquote auditioning them?
• 25:49
  SPEAKER_15: Like, how are I mean, there's so many additional things that go into it that you don't really you might not think about as a parent, as a teacher, when you bring in a guest choreographer.
• 25:59
  SPEAKER_15: So I do think that, you know, the cost is expensive, but at the same time, hopefully the final product is worth it and you introduce your students to new material and a new way of learning and new movement quality.
• 26:13
  SPEAKER_15: And maybe it's something that was created that you as a choreographer would have never came up with, and it's so out there and different for your studio and a great experience for your dancers.
• 26:23
  SPEAKER_15: But I will say there are some choreographers out there who are charging astronomical amounts of money to come in and set a three-minute dance.
• 26:32
  SPEAKER_13: And then occasionally you find out that that choreography has already been set on someone else.
• 26:37
  SPEAKER_13: You know, like that happens too, unfortunately.
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_13: And, you know, I think just do your research.
• 26:42
  SPEAKER_13: People who are looking to bring in guest choreographers and guest choreographers, don't be shady.
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_13: Create something new.
• 26:48
  SPEAKER_15: I know if you're gonna be charging that much money for it.
• 26:50
  SPEAKER_15: Come on.
• 26:51
  SPEAKER_15: Please create something new.
• 26:52
  SPEAKER_15: It is not Yeah, exactly.
• 26:55
  SPEAKER_15: If if you We could go on a whole tangent.
• 26:57
  SPEAKER_15: I mean, we have.
• 26:58
  SPEAKER_15: There are episodes where we have Stritz true.
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_15: We have talked about this.
• 27:01
  SPEAKER_15: So I think that the thing to remember for all of the dance parents out there and for the studios is make sure, like you said, do your research.
• 27:10
  SPEAKER_15: If if the rate feels too insane, then try to negotiate it because that's pop that's an option too.
• 27:17
  SPEAKER_15: Don't feel like that's that's the only rate that you have to accept, is what they offer you.
• 27:22
  SPEAKER_15: And don't feel like that you have to spend an astronomical amount of money to quote unquote win a dance.
• 27:28
  SPEAKER_15: There's a lot of great choreographers out there who aren't gonna charge half as much and create something equally as beautiful.
• 27:35
  SPEAKER_15: So make sure that you really do your research.
• 27:37
  SPEAKER_15: And that being said, Miranda hinted at also the cost and expense of costumes.
• 27:43
  SPEAKER_15: So let's jump into some costume uh expectations.
• 27:48
  SPEAKER_15: Here we go.
• 27:49
  SPEAKER_01: Hey guys, I'm a dance mom from Florida, and something that I didn't realize until just recently is how much money people are spending on their solo costumes or even group costumes, but I see it more so with the solo costumes.
• 28:03
  SPEAKER_01: So I've been a dance parent for 12 or so years, but just recently joined all of the dance Facebook groups, and I'm seeing that people are buying costumes for like five or six hundred dollars, and it's gonna be worn a handful of times, and these are for six and seven-year-olds, some of them.
• 28:20
  SPEAKER_01: So I just don't understand why they feel it's necessary to spend that much money, or understand how they have any money left over after all of the other dance fees that we pay.
• 28:31
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, that was just something that was shocking to me when I spend maybe a hundred dollars on a costume.
• 28:38
  SPEAKER_15: Yes.
• 28:39
  SPEAKER_15: Costume fees and the cost of costumes is wild and crazy, y'all.
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_15: And I want to give a shout out to our very first parent submission in our clip.
• 28:52
  SPEAKER_15: So hooray for that.
• 28:53
  SPEAKER_15: Thank you for sending that in and being a Making the Impact fan.
• 28:56
  SPEAKER_15: But yes, you are not wrong, dance parent.
• 28:59
  SPEAKER_15: The cost is insane, and what people will pay is crazy.
• 29:03
  SPEAKER_13: Oh my god.
• 29:04
  SPEAKER_13: And like she said, for a six or seven-year-old, I'm thinking I didn't go to prom, okay?
• 29:08
  SPEAKER_13: I was the person who just didn't care.
• 29:10
  SPEAKER_13: But prom dresses are not even six hundred dollars.
• 29:13
  SPEAKER_13: Like you can probably find a really nice prom dress for not six hundred dollars, and you're and we're talking about a piece of clothing.
• 29:20
  SPEAKER_13: I don't even know sometimes you can call these lovely, very beautifully made, of course, costumes.
• 29:25
  SPEAKER_13: Clothing because it's probably a a two pieces of fabric with a whole lot of rhinestones and an applique.
• 29:32
  SPEAKER_13: And maybe some elastic if you're lucky.
• 29:34
  SPEAKER_13: Like$600.
• 29:35
  SPEAKER_13: I don't I I don't have$600.
• 29:38
  SPEAKER_15: So I mean, I I I I don't want to discredit any of the custom costume designers out there.
• 29:45
  SPEAKER_15: Because I will say that I have seen some exceptional work on the competition stage.
• 29:51
  SPEAKER_15: Costumes that absolutely blow my mind, and I'm not even just talking about like the amount of Ryan Stones.
• 29:56
  SPEAKER_15: I'm talking about the beading and the appliques and the mesh paneling and and and the fitting the body properly and unique designs.
• 30:04
  SPEAKER_15: Like the y'all are artists, and I understand why some of these costumes cost what they cost.
• 30:12
  SPEAKER_15: However, it do you need an expensive costume like that to succeed on the competition stage?
• 30:17
  SPEAKER_15: I'm going to say no.
• 30:18
  SPEAKER_15: And also, I just want to let everybody out there sometimes when I see these amazing costumes hit the stage, which again, I am so here for.
• 30:25
  SPEAKER_15: I love a fierce costume.
• 30:27
  SPEAKER_15: I'm like sometimes jealous because when you become a professional dancer, there I I've never worn a costume at like at that caliber, unless it was like a Broadway show when and the costume was handed down through multiple, multiple people.
• 30:44
  SPEAKER_13: But like that depends on the style of the show too.
• 30:47
  SPEAKER_13: Like, you know, if anything goes, you're wearing tap shorts and a cute top.
• 30:52
  SPEAKER_13: Like it probably it came from Macy's.
• 30:54
  SPEAKER_13: You know, like if you're in Radio City, for example, uh yes, that's gonna have some some crystals and some, you know, beauty, beauty to it.
• 31:01
  SPEAKER_13: But like for a lot of professional shows, you know, Courtney, I think our costumes from the Vision of the Seas 1,000 years ago are the same costumes they're still using now on that phone.
• 31:12
  SPEAKER_15: And like I will say they probably spent a nice amount of money on the original design of those costumes so they would last over time.
• 31:19
  SPEAKER_15: But that's the that's like my point I'm trying to get across is like you are spending the same amount of money as professional shows are to create pieces of costumes that are supposed to last for years, and you're paying the same amount of money for your dancer to grow out of it in one year and wear it once.
• 31:37
  SPEAKER_15: So that's insane to me.
• 31:39
  SPEAKER_15: Like, if you have that type of fun the type of funds to support that, and yes, we know dance is expensive in general, but great, good for you.
• 31:48
  SPEAKER_15: But do you need to spend that kind of money to be successful?
• 31:52
  SPEAKER_15: No, you do not.
• 31:53
  SPEAKER_15: Like you can blow me away with your ex amazing dancing and wear a black liotard and with nothing on it.
• 32:00
  SPEAKER_15: And if your dancing is beautiful, I will, you know, your your costume score isn't gonna change based on how many rhinestones you have and how much money you spent on your costume.
• 32:11
  SPEAKER_13: The one thing I would spend some money on is something custom that fits your body properly.
• 32:17
  SPEAKER_13: Because I mean, we all have seen the lack of options in the books.
• 32:21
  SPEAKER_13: We've seen the lack of sizing and inclusive sizing in the books.
• 32:25
  SPEAKER_13: And, you know, I know for for me for years, like I could not find even sometimes leotards that would accommodate the undergarments I needed to wear.
• 32:34
  SPEAKER_13: And even on the, you know, in professional shows, it was like they had to constantly alter stuff for me because my body type wasn't just your standard, you know, size small, size medium, whatever.
• 32:44
  SPEAKER_13: And so I will say that, you know, like you said, Courtney, sometimes you see a custom costume that fits somebody like a glove, and you're like, oh, I see why you paid that money.
• 32:52
  SPEAKER_13: Because that never would have happened had you got it from a book.
• 32:55
  SPEAKER_13: So yeah.
• 32:56
  SPEAKER_15: And that is a a really great point that sometimes you might want to invest a little bit more in the costume so your dancer feels confident and comfortable.
• 33:06
  SPEAKER_15: And I I will say, like, I don't think we need to go as high as$600,$700,$800 on a costume.
• 33:11
  SPEAKER_15: That's insane.
• 33:12
  SPEAKER_15: But like if you do want to go custom, I think the perk in that is it will fit you properly.
• 33:17
  SPEAKER_15: It is designed for you, it is custom for you, and you know that you're gonna be the only dancer wearing that costume, which is also another really great feeling in in solo world if you want to stand out and be memorable.
• 33:27
  SPEAKER_15: But yeah, I the costumes, I mean, it's crazy.
• 33:31
  SPEAKER_13: Yeah.
• 33:31
  SPEAKER_13: Let's hear let's hear some more costume talk.
• 33:34
  SPEAKER_11: Hey, this is IDA Judge Maddie from Tampa, Florida.
• 33:37
  SPEAKER_11: And one of the things that I absolutely love is a good rhinestone.
• 33:42
  SPEAKER_11: I am never gonna be mad about a beautiful rhineston costume.
• 33:47
  SPEAKER_11: However, I think that the expectations have gotten a little bit out of hand.
• 33:52
  SPEAKER_11: All dancers expect to have their costumes rhinestoned by their moms or the studio or whomever is responsible, and it just isn't necessary.
• 34:01
  SPEAKER_11: Like I said, I'm not gonna ever be mad about it, but you don't need it to win.
• 34:05
  SPEAKER_11: In fact, it's probably not going to affect your score that much.
• 34:10
  SPEAKER_11: The only thing about your costume that would affect your score is if your costume is completely inappropriate or really doesn't match your dance.
• 34:17
  SPEAKER_11: So, with that said, maybe even consider that in your hip-hop routine or your tap routine, you don't even need the rhinestones.
• 34:25
  SPEAKER_15: Ooh, rhinestone talk from Maddie Kurtz.
• 34:28
  SPEAKER_13: Maddie sounds very vehement about this.
• 34:31
  SPEAKER_13: I mean, I love it.
• 34:33
  SPEAKER_13: Maddie loves a lyrical, a a Selene Beyond lyrical, which must be dripping in rhinestones.
• 34:37
  SPEAKER_13: So we know she does love them.
• 34:40
  SPEAKER_15: Yeah, and I'm I'm like, it's pretty much exactly what I just said.
• 34:44
  SPEAKER_15: I am here for a rhinestone.
• 34:46
  SPEAKER_15: I love a rhinestone.
• 34:48
  SPEAKER_15: Do you I mean, the amount of money even just rhinestones are, like, you might have already gotten created a custom costume that cost X amount of dollars, and now you're gonna add another$200 worth of rhinestones onto it, and then also the time spent putting those rhinestones onto the costume, who's doing that?
• 35:02
  SPEAKER_15: Is your dance teacher's probably not doing it?
• 35:05
  SPEAKER_15: Is mom just taking on a new project while she's sitting in the lobby at the dance studio to bedazzle your costume?
• 35:11
  SPEAKER_15: I mean, and then again, like it's gonna look gorgeous and you're gonna feel special and love it.
• 35:17
  SPEAKER_15: But is the financial you know, cost worth it in the end?
• 35:22
  SPEAKER_13: Right.
• 35:23
  SPEAKER_13: Agreed.
• 35:23
  SPEAKER_13: I mean, yeah, I mean, uh nobody, I don't think anybody dislikes the feeling of wearing rhinestones.
• 35:28
  SPEAKER_13: Like it's like you're right.
• 35:29
  SPEAKER_13: It feels really special and you feel very pretty and shiny and like of course, they're they're there to make you feel good and look good.
• 35:36
  SPEAKER_13: But yeah, I just I can't get over the cost aspect of it, especially like you like you can't take them off.
• 35:41
  SPEAKER_13: You're gonna ruin your costume if you take them off to reuse them.
• 35:43
  SPEAKER_13: So you know, it's it's they're not very, what do you call it, like sustainable.
• 35:48
  SPEAKER_13: Yeah.
• 35:48
  SPEAKER_13: If you're talking about sustainable, sustainability in dance, not rhinestones.
• 35:53
  SPEAKER_15: And I will say that I I think what's really awesome about how the dance world has evolved when it comes to sustainability is the resale groups of real things.
• 36:06
  SPEAKER_15: I love, love, love that.
• 36:07
  SPEAKER_15: I mean, there are so many times where I'm sure so many of us still have some of our costumes that we had uh from the comp years, way back when I my parents have them down in the basement and they're just hanging up on a shelf and uh, you know, serving no purpose.
• 36:23
  SPEAKER_15: And some of them are even like dry rotted at this point, where it's like, Oh yeah, the elastic is shot.
• 36:28
  SPEAKER_15: Yeah.
• 36:28
  SPEAKER_15: And it's like it could have let someone use this because you spend so much money, it's a pretty costume.
• 36:33
  SPEAKER_15: It was designed, the designer put so much time into it, it's bedazzled, all of that.
• 36:37
  SPEAKER_15: You could have five years down the road, a new little mini's coming up, and it's exactly your size, and boom, that costume fits their dance perfectly.
• 36:44
  SPEAKER_15: I mean, I think we can definitely think about that, even creating some type of uh recycle costume in within your studio of dancers who had solos before and want to recycle down, and then also all the resale groups, it's just such a great idea and it's so smart to get custom for discounted.
• 37:04
  SPEAKER_15: So sure you're still spending a little bit of more money than$100, most likely.
• 37:09
  SPEAKER_15: You never know, you might get a deal.
• 37:11
  SPEAKER_15: But I love that that exists because then you can still get all of the glitz and the glam that you're looking for, but not spend like a mortgage payment on a costume.
• 37:22
  SPEAKER_15: Legit, yes.
• 37:23
  SPEAKER_15: All right, and let's hear from another dance parent in regards to costuming for competition.
• 37:32
  SPEAKER_09: This is Jenny.
• 37:33
  SPEAKER_09: Uh, I'm from Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
• 37:34
  SPEAKER_09: Uh and I'm a parent of two competitive dancers.
• 37:38
  SPEAKER_09: Uh, probably one of the biggest, I guess it was my expectation that the kids would have on clothes.
• 37:45
  SPEAKER_09: So it was a little bit uh blew my mind um at the lack of clothing that I saw on stage at competitions.
• 37:52
  SPEAKER_09: Um, in fact, so much so that my husband didn't come to the competitions because I was kind of worried he'd make them stop.
• 37:59
  SPEAKER_09: So that's mine.
• 38:01
  SPEAKER_13: Oh my god.
• 38:02
  SPEAKER_13: Oh my goodness.
• 38:03
  SPEAKER_15: That's Jenny, you just cracked us up.
• 38:07
  SPEAKER_15: Jenny, you are not wrong.
• 38:08
  SPEAKER_15: That is true.
• 38:09
  SPEAKER_15: The I literally started off the episode saying how dancers are expected to go on stage wearing less, sometimes like less than a a bikini, depending.
• 38:21
  SPEAKER_15: I mean bikini.
• 38:22
  SPEAKER_15: In front of people.
• 38:23
  SPEAKER_15: Yes, on stage, under lights.
• 38:27
  SPEAKER_15: Like doing line stretches.
• 38:30
  SPEAKER_15: I mean I mean it's just like yeah, it's absolutely mind-blowing that and I will say again that that this is a new thing for competition dance.
• 38:40
  SPEAKER_13: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 38:41
  SPEAKER_15: So like no tights, yeah, the lack of clothing.
• 38:44
  SPEAKER_15: The la Yeah, I I there is no way in the world growing up that I would go to a convention class in a two-piece anything.
• 38:52
  SPEAKER_15: Right.
• 38:52
  SPEAKER_15: Oh no, no, no, never.
• 38:54
  SPEAKER_15: Ever.
• 38:54
  SPEAKER_13: Like I mean, there were definitely some like cutouts and two-piece costumes back in the 90s.
• 38:59
  SPEAKER_13: In the 80s, I mean, there's been a two-piece costume since people were on stage.
• 39:02
  SPEAKER_13: Like that's all that's definitely a thing.
• 39:04
  SPEAKER_13: But the difference is the lack of amount of fabric, like the it keeps getting less and less, and then the no tights.
• 39:11
  SPEAKER_13: Like that is the evolution of the past 15 years, I think, on mass.
• 39:16
  SPEAKER_13: Like you would see it here and there back when we were competing, no tights or like an itsy bitsy top, and you're like, oh, oh, that's like, oh no.
• 39:24
  SPEAKER_13: But now it's just sort of understood.
• 39:26
  SPEAKER_13: Right.
• 39:26
  SPEAKER_13: I don't know, understood's not the right word.
• 39:28
  SPEAKER_13: It's and not even expected.
• 39:29
  SPEAKER_13: It's just it it is.
• 39:30
  SPEAKER_13: Yeah.
• 39:30
  SPEAKER_13: It just is.
• 39:31
  SPEAKER_13: It's just accepted.
• 39:32
  SPEAKER_15: That's just I don't understand it.
• 39:34
  SPEAKER_15: Part of the gig, I guess, these days is you have to know that you're gonna be wearing possibly very little amount of clothing.
• 39:42
  SPEAKER_15: The weird thing for me is just looking back, I mean, I have two thoughts.
• 39:47
  SPEAKER_15: First thought is I find it odd that dancers don't necessarily take class without tights on or pants on, but then feel like it's appropriate and acceptable and and and they're comfort, they're comfortable enough to go on stage without pants on and without tights on and in just a leotard.
• 40:07
  SPEAKER_15: I'm like, if you don't train that way, why do you think stage isn't like is gonna make you feel any better?
• 40:12
  SPEAKER_15: It's actually gonna heighten it.
• 40:13
  SPEAKER_15: It's good, you know, like we said, under the lights, you have an audience now.
• 40:16
  SPEAKER_13: Like there's so many more factors that things could go wrong or slip out or whatever that Well, and it still like always blows my mind because I'm thinking of like every professional job, ones that I've done and not done, you have on tights.
• 40:31
  SPEAKER_13: Yeah.
• 40:31
  SPEAKER_13: Maybe you have on fishnets, which sometimes give the it gives the illusion that you don't have on tights.
• 40:35
  SPEAKER_13: Yeah.
• 40:36
  SPEAKER_13: But like unless you're dancing contemporary.
• 40:38
  SPEAKER_13: Okay, yeah, I'm I'm thinking more of like, you know, the Rockettes, a showgirl job, like the you know, even Vegas showgirls have on tights.
• 40:46
  SPEAKER_15: Yeah.
• 40:46
  SPEAKER_13: Even the women at the Moulin Rouge have on tights.
• 40:49
  SPEAKER_13: Like it's just it is a very strange, like I wonder who uh started to trend.
• 40:55
  SPEAKER_13: Wonder who decided that was a thing at competition dance.
• 40:57
  SPEAKER_15: I think once the and and yes, in the theatrical world, you're gonna always have a tight on.
• 41:02
  SPEAKER_15: In the concert contemporary world, you probably won't have a tight on unless you're doing ballet, um, contemporary ballet or a ballet company.
• 41:11
  SPEAKER_15: Most of the time you are gonna have on a bare leg.
• 41:14
  SPEAKER_15: So I do because you're dancing barefoot.
• 41:17
  SPEAKER_15: Right.
• 41:17
  SPEAKER_15: Exactly.
• 41:18
  SPEAKER_13: No shoes on, none, not one, just two, just one, none.
• 41:21
  SPEAKER_15: And like very rarely, I mean, yeah, absolutely.
• 41:24
  SPEAKER_15: You could be in a brief and you could be in, you know, like a high-cut leg and and without any tights on in the professional world.
• 41:32
  SPEAKER_15: Like that does exist, but it's across the board in every genre at dance competitions.
• 41:38
  SPEAKER_15: You see it at lyrical, you see it in contemporary, you see it in jazz, you see it in musical theater, you see it in everything.
• 41:43
  SPEAKER_15: It's like, can't we put on a pant?
• 41:45
  SPEAKER_15: Can't we put on something?
• 41:46
  SPEAKER_15: Like, there's no way you couldn't pay me enough money as a child who is growing, going through puberty, your body's changing, well, you know, it's just like awkward and weird.
• 41:55
  SPEAKER_15: And then you're gonna put on a like a little tiny bikini and go out on stage.
• 41:59
  SPEAKER_15: Like, no way.
• 42:00
  SPEAKER_15: Even convention classes, like kids are wearing less and less clothes.
• 42:03
  SPEAKER_15: I'm like, put some warmups on, stop worrying about always getting seen, take class for class.
• 42:09
  SPEAKER_15: Like you, but it is funny because then you see it's like a shift.
• 42:13
  SPEAKER_15: The moment you turn into teens, then they want to wear nothing but like baggy clothes and like oversized everything.
• 42:19
  SPEAKER_15: Yeah, for for class too.
• 42:21
  SPEAKER_15: For class, yeah.
• 42:22
  SPEAKER_15: Which great.
• 42:23
  SPEAKER_15: I'm here for it.
• 42:24
  SPEAKER_15: That's fine.
• 42:24
  SPEAKER_15: Wear that in class.
• 42:25
  SPEAKER_15: If yeah, stay warm.
• 42:26
  SPEAKER_15: If that's what makes you dance your best, then wear it.
• 42:29
  SPEAKER_15: I am here for it.
• 42:30
  SPEAKER_15: But yeah, I I don't I don't love that either.
• 42:33
  SPEAKER_15: And I can see how a dad or someone's husband might be like, absolutely not, my child is not not doing that.
• 42:40
  SPEAKER_13: Yeah.
• 42:40
  SPEAKER_13: And and just maybe feel uncomfortable with with every child around you.
• 42:44
  SPEAKER_13: Yes, you know, wearing those that kind of clothing and running around like it's nothing.
• 42:48
  SPEAKER_13: Right.
• 42:48
  SPEAKER_13: Well, and that it always kind of blows my mind too.
• 42:50
  SPEAKER_13: Like when we would be, you know, at dance class growing up, we had um like a little convenience store that was just down the the shopping center.
• 42:58
  SPEAKER_13: And we were we you started to be allowed to go once you were like in middle school.
• 43:01
  SPEAKER_13: You could walk down there and get a drink or whatever, but you had to put on something over your dance clothes.
• 43:06
  SPEAKER_13: And back in the 90s, we were wearing tights and a leotard and some shorts.
• 43:09
  SPEAKER_13: Like that was the thing you were wearing, but you had to put a shirt on over it.
• 43:13
  SPEAKER_13: And now you're looking at I'm looking at kids just like in the parking lot, like here I am in my basically bathing suit in my crops.
• 43:20
  SPEAKER_13: And all seasons.
• 43:20
  SPEAKER_13: Like, and then walking into the grocery store, you're like, clothing, put some clothing on.
• 43:25
  SPEAKER_13: Yes.
• 43:26
  SPEAKER_13: I don't I don't understand.
• 43:27
  SPEAKER_13: So yeah, I feel you, Jenny.
• 43:29
  SPEAKER_13: I I don't know.
• 43:30
  SPEAKER_15: Yeah.
• 43:30
  SPEAKER_15: And another uh crazy expectation is makeup for competitive dancers.
• 43:36
  SPEAKER_15: So let's hear from our next dance parent.
• 43:39
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's ridiculous that teeny tiny humans as young as four or five are expected to have a full face of makeup and especially false eyelashes for competitions.
• 43:48
  SPEAKER_15: Yep.
• 43:49
  SPEAKER_15: Tell it like it is, ma'am.
• 43:50
  SPEAKER_15: She just she just said it.
• 43:52
  SPEAKER_15: And and yeah, that is that is the expectation.
• 43:55
  SPEAKER_15: I and you know, four or five false eyelashes, that's a little young.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_13: Yeah, that's those are tiny eyes too.
• 44:02
  SPEAKER_13: Like you'd have to cut those lashes in half.
• 44:05
  SPEAKER_15: Yeah, there's no I mean, lashes don't even fit me.
• 44:07
  SPEAKER_15: So I I can't imagine that they probably don't even make eyelashes.
• 44:12
  SPEAKER_15: I mean, hey, you save money, you cut them in half and you can use them two more times.
• 44:16
  SPEAKER_15: But yeah, I I I agree uh in in a way.
• 44:21
  SPEAKER_15: And I will and I will say that when it comes to eyelashes in particular, I don't necessarily think that dancers eight and under need to have eyelashes on.
• 44:30
  SPEAKER_15: Number one, it's gonna be impossible to get them all on that child.
• 44:33
  SPEAKER_15: And number two, it's mascara will work equally as fine for stage.
• 44:38
  SPEAKER_15: But I do think that after eight, eight and older, I think that you should start putting uh fake eyelashes on.
• 44:45
  SPEAKER_15: And why is because it really enhances your eyes for stage.
• 44:49
  SPEAKER_15: It really makes your eyes pop for stage when you are washed out under those stage lights.
• 44:54
  SPEAKER_15: I mean, you really don't you have for people that have never been on a stage, like dance parents who have never actually been on a stage before, you might not feel that when you're on the stage, but when you're the viewer watching, if you don't have the right makeup on, and if you want your face to stand out and you want your performance to be enhanced and show your expression, then adding the fake eyelashes and even the blush and the red lipstick, I mean, it really does help make that possible.
• 45:21
  SPEAKER_13: Yeah.
• 45:22
  SPEAKER_13: And I mean, especially for not only adults, young adults, teenagers, but for your, for your, for your children, you know, like you said, age eight and up, if you're a blonde or a redhead or somebody with very light features, mascara is not gonna cut it.
• 45:36
  SPEAKER_13: It doesn't cut it for me.
• 45:37
  SPEAKER_13: I I on stage, I have to have some lashes.
• 45:40
  SPEAKER_13: And I you have to look a little garish in person to be on a stage and look normal.
• 45:46
  SPEAKER_13: Because if you have nothing on, or if you have very little, you know, like very light makeup, you're not gonna look like you've put any effort into it.
• 45:53
  SPEAKER_13: And you're gonna get on stage and you're gonna be possibly next to, you know, Sally over here, whose mother like went full out with feeling.
• 45:59
  SPEAKER_13: And Sally looks great on stage.
• 46:01
  SPEAKER_13: She might look a little, a little crazy in person.
• 46:03
  SPEAKER_13: Like we all, we all know how that is.
• 46:04
  SPEAKER_13: Like it's just stage makeup.
• 46:06
  SPEAKER_13: You look a little crazy.
• 46:07
  SPEAKER_13: But yeah, I think you really need it, especially like I said, for the the light, the lighter, fair, fair-skinned, fair um complexed folks, because I just I fade into the background without some lashes.
• 46:18
  SPEAKER_15: Right.
• 46:24
  SPEAKER_15: Hey parents, do you have a tiny dancer between the ages of seven to ten?
• 46:28
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• 46:32
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• 46:39
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• 46:47
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• 46:57
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• 47:07
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• 47:11
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• 47:18
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• 47:24
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• 47:30
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• 47:33
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• 47:37
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• 47:48
  SPEAKER_15: Yeah, and it is important for uh especially the parents who are new to this to understand the difference between how to do your makeup for stage versus how to do your makeup in life.
• 47:57
  SPEAKER_13: So that's a very big difference.
• 47:59
  SPEAKER_15: They're not the same.
• 48:01
  SPEAKER_15: I'm sure there's YouTubes out there, I'm sure there's TikToks out there, and like there have there have been times where I see dancers that actually have too much makeup on for being like tiny, tiny little ones, where mom just went in overdrive with the like bright pink blush, just like packing it on.
• 48:19
  SPEAKER_15: No blending.
• 48:20
  SPEAKER_15: Yeah.
• 48:20
  SPEAKER_15: And it's just like the eyeliner is like all the way across their face.
• 48:24
  SPEAKER_15: And it's just, you know, I it you have to find the perfect balance of the right amount of stage makeup to not overdo it.
• 48:32
  SPEAKER_15: But you know, it's there for a purpose.
• 48:35
  SPEAKER_15: It's there to make you stage ready.
• 48:37
  SPEAKER_15: And as and even for our male identifying dancers, making sure we have some powder on.
• 48:43
  SPEAKER_15: You can add some a little bit of eyeliner if you want to have a little pop of your eyelash, tiny bit of mascara, maybe fill the brows in a little bit.
• 48:51
  SPEAKER_13: Fill the brows in.
• 48:51
  SPEAKER_13: I mean I learned too late to fill the brows in.
• 48:54
  SPEAKER_13: You gotta fill the brows in.
• 48:55
  SPEAKER_13: The brows, frame the face, people.
• 48:57
  SPEAKER_13: Yes, yes.
• 48:58
  SPEAKER_15: So I know it is definitely a little weird and might feel wrong, but to have the makeup on.
• 49:03
  SPEAKER_15: And I I don't necessarily need to see full, full-blown makeup in convention.
• 49:07
  SPEAKER_15: I don't need that.
• 49:08
  SPEAKER_15: I think it feels a little awkward and a lot.
• 49:11
  SPEAKER_15: I understand if you have to go straight into competition and you don't have time to do your makeup in between convention classes and competition, but if you're just taking class, you don't feel like you need a full beat on because it actually, like you said, it is a little weird when you're not on stage seeing a dancer, a young dancer in a full beat face.
• 49:30
  SPEAKER_13: Well, and for for parents of littles who are concerned about the makeup thing, it's it's a special occasion.
• 49:36
  SPEAKER_13: Like, you know, we all do different things when it's a special occasion.
• 49:39
  SPEAKER_13: We do our hair a little better.
• 49:40
  SPEAKER_13: We write, we we have a fancy dress when we go to a fancy party.
• 49:43
  SPEAKER_13: You know, this is just a special occasion.
• 49:45
  SPEAKER_13: We don't wear makeup like this all the time.
• 49:47
  SPEAKER_13: Mommy doesn't wear makeup like this, your big sister doesn't wear makeup like this all the time.
• 49:51
  SPEAKER_13: Like you can, you can have it be a normal thing to put on makeup in a a stage way, but frame it as this is a special thing.
• 49:59
  SPEAKER_13: You're performing.
• 50:00
  SPEAKER_13: And then when we get home, we're taking it off.
• 50:01
  SPEAKER_08: Right.
• 50:02
  SPEAKER_13: And we don't do this every day.
• 50:03
  SPEAKER_13: Like it's it doesn't have to be this big, you know, debacle of, oh gosh, she's gonna look like this every day.
• 50:08
  SPEAKER_13: No, she's not.
• 50:10
  SPEAKER_15: That's a great point.
• 50:11
  SPEAKER_15: Great, great point.
• 50:12
  SPEAKER_15: And we have one more makeup chime in from IDU Judge Ashley.
• 50:18
  SPEAKER_15: She's back.
• 50:18
  SPEAKER_15: Round two.
• 50:19
  SPEAKER_04: Hello, this is Judge Ashley from New York City.
• 50:23
  SPEAKER_04: And I think one of the craziest things about dance competitions is seeing all of these young dancers, especially preteen dancers, in their full makeup, very mature costumes, doing very mature adult choreography that we all have just become accustomed to seeing.
• 50:40
  SPEAKER_04: But I think of like a school teacher or someone just from the general public seeing someone they know in their full competition makeup and costume doing this movement.
• 50:52
  SPEAKER_04: I think it's just very, very bizarre.
• 50:55
  SPEAKER_04: And to us, it's the norm.
• 50:57
  SPEAKER_04: We see it every weekend, we're used to it.
• 51:00
  SPEAKER_04: But show anyone from the outside world and they would just think it's nuts.
• 51:06
  SPEAKER_13: This makes me think of different, different dance world, but sort of similar, the Irish competitive dance world.
• 51:13
  SPEAKER_13: Uh-huh.
• 51:14
  SPEAKER_13: Those girls have on this huge wig.
• 51:17
  SPEAKER_13: They have on all this makeup, they have these, you know, probably just like we were talking earlier about six, seven hundred dollar costumes.
• 51:23
  SPEAKER_13: Those costumes are bedazzled within an inch of their life, and they're really short, and they have no tights on.
• 51:29
  SPEAKER_13: Like, I'm imagining like my elementary school teacher came to my recitals a few times, and I I just wonder what they thought.
• 51:36
  SPEAKER_15: Yeah, I I know I know what you mean.
• 51:38
  SPEAKER_15: I mean, I will say that like with that, the Irish dancing to me feels less sexualized than a lot of the dancers.
• 51:46
  SPEAKER_13: It's definitely less sexualized that we see at competition.
• 51:48
  SPEAKER_13: But it's also it's also just as bizarre though.
• 51:51
  SPEAKER_13: It is.
• 51:51
  SPEAKER_13: Because they typically have on wigs and, you know, it's it's like a whole thing.
• 51:55
  SPEAKER_13: Right.
• 51:56
  SPEAKER_13: So like just the bizarrness of it is what I'm commenting on.
• 51:58
  SPEAKER_13: But the maturity factor, that's, you know, our world for sure.
• 52:01
  SPEAKER_15: Yeah, for sure.
• 52:02
  SPEAKER_15: And I'm I'm really glad that Ashley brought that up.
• 52:04
  SPEAKER_15: Cause as we've already discussed, it is crazy to see kids in stage makeup and see kids wearing practically nothing.
• 52:11
  SPEAKER_15: But then you add that next layer of mature choreography on top of it.
• 52:16
  SPEAKER_15: And it just be that's when it becomes inappropriate.
• 52:19
  SPEAKER_15: And yes, it's already, it's already weird and awkward that we're already there.
• 52:25
  SPEAKER_15: We're already doing the crazy makeup and we're already doing the minimal costume.
• 52:30
  SPEAKER_15: But why do we have to also then add mature movement to just take it to a whole nother level of inappropriateness?
• 52:39
  SPEAKER_13: It's always funny to me when we're sitting at the judge's table, and you know, the judge's table is typically slightly under the stage.
• 52:45
  SPEAKER_13: It's not, we're not sitting at stage level.
• 52:47
  SPEAKER_13: And so we're looking up.
• 52:48
  SPEAKER_13: So everybody looks taller than they are.
• 52:51
  SPEAKER_13: Then you add the 10-year-old with the makeup, then you add her costume, which is very revealing.
• 52:55
  SPEAKER_13: Then you add her doing a lyrical solo about her broken heart and her tragedy of the lost love.
• 53:01
  SPEAKER_13: And then you see this child at awards.
• 53:04
  SPEAKER_13: Yeah, you're not, you're not the same person who did that dance to I Have Nothing by Whitney Houston.
• 53:09
  SPEAKER_13: Right.
• 53:09
  SPEAKER_13: You can't, you can't be, but it's her because she's taken her makeup off, she has on her sweatpants, and she's got her teddy bear and her crocs are on, and she's 10 again.
• 53:17
  SPEAKER_15: Yeah.
• 53:18
  SPEAKER_13: And so it's it's a very um, it is a mind-boggling thing to remember that these children transform into these entities on stage sometimes that are like, like you said, the outside world just has no idea and are is so shocked.
• 53:34
  SPEAKER_15: Yeah, and that's a great point too, because even just the way that dancers are moving on stage, not even about being inappropriate or sexual, even just the way they carry themselves and walk out on stage, some of these very, very advanced dancers who are only 10 and 11, they are beyond their years in so many ways of just n understanding how to carry their themselves, their body, the way they transition and move through things, the move, the style of movement and their movement quality.
• 54:02
  SPEAKER_15: That's just another, you know, thing that will make you as an audience think, wow, I can't believe they're they're not 10.
• 54:09
  SPEAKER_15: There's no way they're only 10.
• 54:10
  SPEAKER_15: It feels very more mature.
• 54:12
  SPEAKER_15: So I know a lot of people all are always saying, like, let's keep kids kids and and all of the things.
• 54:17
  SPEAKER_15: And I think there's a balance.
• 54:18
  SPEAKER_15: I think that, you know, it's okay if if your dancer is that advanced where their movement quality is advanced.
• 54:25
  SPEAKER_15: I think that's right and mature.
• 54:26
  SPEAKER_15: I think that's different than trying to put kids into like movement that feels a little bit too sexualized the immature.
• 54:36
  SPEAKER_13: There's it's a fine line of like you can be a mature 10-year-old.
• 54:39
  SPEAKER_13: That doesn't have to be a bad thing.
• 54:40
  SPEAKER_13: It's not that doesn't have to be an inappropriate thing.
• 54:43
  SPEAKER_13: You know, it's there's there is a line.
• 54:45
  SPEAKER_13: And I think uh we've all seen, like I said, those those 10-year-olds that you're like, oh, it's impossible.
• 54:50
  SPEAKER_13: You're just your your movement quality is so mature and it's amazing.
• 54:53
  SPEAKER_13: And I don't know, I wasn't that 10-year-old.
• 54:55
  SPEAKER_13: I looked 10.
• 54:57
  SPEAKER_15: I looked 10 and I also just received a actually you probably looked eight.
• 55:01
  SPEAKER_15: Yeah.
• 55:02
  SPEAKER_13: Let's be real.
• 55:02
  SPEAKER_15: Yeah.
• 55:03
  SPEAKER_15: I mean, very little.
• 55:05
  SPEAKER_15: My mom just went through home videos and sent me all these crazy improv videos of Courtney dancing in the living room, which uh there's I guess hours and hours of, and that was when I was 10.
• 55:14
  SPEAKER_13: Listener, we'll share one one day.
• 55:16
  SPEAKER_15: I will share one in the Facebook group.
• 55:18
  SPEAKER_15: You have to be in the community only, and it must not it must not leave the group.
• 55:24
  SPEAKER_13: I've seen a few of them.
• 55:25
  SPEAKER_13: They are they're crazy, golden.
• 55:27
  SPEAKER_15: But I was dancing like I was 10.
• 55:28
  SPEAKER_15: Even though I was dancing to Greece, I was dancing like I was 10.
• 55:33
  SPEAKER_13: I can't even I am dying inside thinking about some of your dance moves.
• 55:38
  SPEAKER_13: It's in your living room or your bedroom.
• 55:41
  SPEAKER_13: It's so fun to relive.
• 55:43
  SPEAKER_15: All right, we have some more clips coming in, and we have another dance parent who is chiming in.
• 55:48
  SPEAKER_15: Let's see what they have to say.
• 55:49
  SPEAKER_12: The most, the craziest expectations I think the industry of dance competition has from the parents.
• 55:57
  SPEAKER_12: I am a parent.
• 55:58
  SPEAKER_12: Well, definitely the money expectations of maybe they're thinking that we are super rich, that we can pay almost$200 for a two-minute and 45-second solo.
• 56:09
  SPEAKER_12: But also the expectations of having three to four day long competitions and expecting kids to miss school when we're adults.
• 56:18
  SPEAKER_12: And and we should be keeping, you know, the norm maybe Friday night, Saturday, Sunday um competitions.
• 56:25
  SPEAKER_12: If not, maybe just Saturday and Sunday.
• 56:27
  SPEAKER_12: I think those are the two big ones for me.
• 56:30
  SPEAKER_06: One thing that is crazy, I think, to non-dancers or anybody, and that's not in the competitive dance world, is how much money we pay for this.
• 56:40
  SPEAKER_06: My name's Summer Aiello.
• 56:42
  SPEAKER_06: My daughter Paige is a competitive dancer, has been dancing since she was six years old, and she's 14 now.
• 56:49
  SPEAKER_06: And I honestly, my husband and I sat and added up how much money we think we've spent over these years, and it blew our minds.
• 56:58
  SPEAKER_06: But we see it as an investment in her future, and so when it comes time to pay that money, it's it's a little bit of a stinger, but we do it um gladly because it brings her so much joy.
• 57:10
  SPEAKER_06: So yeah, so that's one thing.
• 57:12
  SPEAKER_06: I'm sure other parents will say this as well, too.
• 57:15
  SPEAKER_06: We're crazy, but we do it.
• 57:17
  SPEAKER_06: Thanks.
• 57:18
  SPEAKER_06: It's so much money.
• 57:20
  SPEAKER_15: Competitive dance is so expensive and it's gotten even more expensive in the past ten years.
• 57:27
  SPEAKER_13: I don't think there's a way to do it without it being expensive.
• 57:30
  SPEAKER_15: I mean, yeah.
• 57:32
  SPEAKER_13: I don't know.
• 57:33
  SPEAKER_15: But I think that there's ways.
• 57:35
  SPEAKER_15: I know what you mean.
• 57:35
  SPEAKER_13: To do it well, I guess.
• 57:37
  SPEAKER_15: Yeah, I the what comes to mind for me when it comes to the expense is I don't feel like that I don't know.
• 57:45
  SPEAKER_15: It's and it's kind of counter it's saying something against what we said earlier about how you're putting all this time and all this energy into just a three-minute dance and you might only get to go to a comp a few times and perform that just a handful of times.
• 58:00
  SPEAKER_15: But at the same time, I think that the money would be better spent on training versus the competitions.
• 58:08
  SPEAKER_15: And I'm saying that, and that sounds like, you know, we have a dance competition podcast over here, and I'm a I'm a dance competition judge, and I love dance competitions.
• 58:16
  SPEAKER_15: But I think there's a nice way to make it work for everyone financially.
• 58:21
  SPEAKER_15: If it has gotten so extremely expensive that it's becoming not possible for families to be able to participate.
• 58:30
  SPEAKER_15: And it's like I think studios have to sit down and say, okay, we want to go to six comps, but our parents can't afford it.
• 58:38
  SPEAKER_15: Maybe we go to three comps instead.
• 58:41
  SPEAKER_15: And does that mean that you do more dances instead?
• 58:44
  SPEAKER_15: Or does that mean that maybe we add in a performance opportunity that's not as expensive?
• 58:49
  SPEAKER_15: Right.
• 58:49
  SPEAKER_15: You know, I think there's ways to still get the training, get the experience, but do do dancers need to go to six, seven, eight competitions a season?
• 59:00
  SPEAKER_15: I don't think that you need to because that's where it's getting really, really expensive.
• 59:05
  SPEAKER_15: And it's already expensive, you know, so then adding more is making it 10 times more expensive.
• 59:09
  SPEAKER_13: Right.
• 59:10
  SPEAKER_13: And like the first dance parent was talking about the expectation of kids having to miss school on the Friday, if the event is is big enough that it needs to start on a Friday, that's that's where I really can't get behind it.
• 59:22
  SPEAKER_15: Yep.
• 59:22
  SPEAKER_13: You know, I'm all for like businesses making money, studios making money, everybody having a great time, everybody having a a a good amount of actual competition at the competition.
• 59:32
  SPEAKER_13: And that's usually the reason an event is gonna start early on a school day, is because there's so many studios.
• 59:39
  SPEAKER_13: You know, you need to be able to accommodate everybody.
• 59:41
  SPEAKER_13: If you couldn't accommodate everybody, it may end up just being the two big studios who are bringing the most numbers.
• 59:46
  SPEAKER_13: So I can understand all of that.
• 59:48
  SPEAKER_13: But like, yeah, I mean, if you're having to take off school, you're having to take off work, you're having to call in sick, you know, whatever it is to get your kid there on a Friday, plus the hotel, plus the everything else that you have to do that weekend.
• 1:00:00
  SPEAKER_13: I don't, I don't love that.
• 1:00:01
  SPEAKER_13: And I think that is, you know, I think that is a hard expectation to put on on people.
• 1:00:07
  SPEAKER_15: I I completely agree.
• 1:00:08
  SPEAKER_15: I think that that has personally that is the one downfall of the industry that's gotten a little out of hand.
• 1:00:13
  SPEAKER_15: And it was slightly introduced when I was younger, where they started creeping up to like half day Fridays, and you'd you'd start at like one or two.
• 1:00:22
  SPEAKER_15: But like no matter what, if competition is starting at one or two, that means you're taking off of school on Friday.
• 1:00:27
  SPEAKER_15: Yeah.
• 1:00:27
  SPEAKER_15: It doesn't matter.
• 1:00:28
  SPEAKER_13: You're not going for three hours, two hours.
• 1:00:30
  SPEAKER_15: You're not going.
• 1:00:31
  SPEAKER_15: And then, you know, that type of sacrifice that parents have to be on board with to support potentially a hobby.
• 1:00:38
  SPEAKER_15: This is just a hobby right now for these kids.
• 1:00:41
  SPEAKER_15: This could be a career.
• 1:00:42
  SPEAKER_15: Like Summer said, it might be an investment for their future.
• 1:00:46
  SPEAKER_15: You might think your kid will go on to do this for a living, but they might not.
• 1:00:50
  SPEAKER_15: So this is an extremely expensive hobby that you're also sacrificing their education, their school education for.
• 1:00:58
  SPEAKER_15: I think that is another big, big thing for me.
• 1:01:02
  SPEAKER_15: And I agree.
• 1:01:02
  SPEAKER_15: I I I I work for dance conventions and we start on Friday.
• 1:01:06
  SPEAKER_15: You know, that's just what the norm is.
• 1:01:09
  SPEAKER_15: But I think there's a there can be, and when it comes to the money expectation, I think there can be that sacrifice once or twice a season.
• 1:01:19
  SPEAKER_15: Maybe once at the top of the new year and maybe one towards the end.
• 1:01:23
  SPEAKER_15: But to expect parents to be okay with pulling their kids out of school every Friday, like once a Friday uh every month to do a competition dance.
• 1:01:33
  SPEAKER_13: Then you're gonna get some pushback from the school, I would think.
• 1:01:36
  SPEAKER_15: Right.
• 1:01:37
  SPEAKER_15: So I think that's a that's a really, really valid point.
• 1:01:40
  SPEAKER_15: And I do I wish there was a better way for the conventions to be able to do that.
• 1:01:44
  SPEAKER_15: I mean, a lot of conventions, there's some that start on Thursdays, and people have said absolutely not, you know, which good.
• 1:01:51
  SPEAKER_15: I'm glad.
• 1:01:52
  SPEAKER_15: But I I I don't think there's a way for conventions to have the amount of competition that they want to have, unless they did Sunday night convention or competition, which no one wants to do.
• 1:02:03
  SPEAKER_15: So instead they put it on Friday.
• 1:02:05
  SPEAKER_13: Well, and it's like you just I I think I've said this before on the podcast and just in my general life, you can't be everything to everyone.
• 1:02:12
  SPEAKER_13: So if you're an event that boasts that we have competition and convention, if you're a convention competition, yes, you can do that.
• 1:02:20
  SPEAKER_13: But you know, you have to, you kind of have to pick what's more important because if you start trying this to serve these people who want more competition, then the people who want more convention aren't gonna come because they don't want your Thursday night event.
• 1:02:33
  SPEAKER_13: They want a Friday, Saturday, Sunday.
• 1:02:35
  SPEAKER_13: Like you can't do it all.
• 1:02:36
  SPEAKER_13: And I think there's just gotta be, there's definitely events out there that have limited, you know, they're they're not.
• 1:02:42
  SPEAKER_13: They've committed to not starting on a Friday before school is out.
• 1:02:46
  SPEAKER_13: Like they they've said that.
• 1:02:47
  SPEAKER_13: That's in their jargon, that's in their advertising, you know.
• 1:02:50
  SPEAKER_13: So I think to seek out events that have timing that you like, studio owners, like that's what you gotta do.
• 1:02:55
  SPEAKER_13: Otherwise, you are at the mercy of what the competition or the convention is saying, you know, what what they value.
• 1:03:01
  SPEAKER_13: Do they value money, business, or do they value like what the customers actually want?
• 1:03:06
  SPEAKER_13: Hard to say.
• 1:03:06
  SPEAKER_15: Yeah.
• 1:03:07
  SPEAKER_15: And then going back onto the money thing, like I was saying before, I do, I really do think that there's a way to make it be a competitive dancer without going into debt in your family to do it.
• 1:03:19
  SPEAKER_15: You know, like this, I mean, training is already expensive, and all the things that we already talked about, costumes are already expensive, but then you have to add on the entry fees of the competition.
• 1:03:29
  SPEAKER_15: And yes, you're getting critiques and yes, you're getting ranked, and you might win a trophy.
• 1:03:33
  SPEAKER_15: But besides that, it's a performance opportunity.
• 1:03:36
  SPEAKER_15: If you I mean, you're gonna grow as a dancer on that stage, but I think there's other ways that you can perform for less money.
• 1:03:45
  SPEAKER_15: So if you want to be a competitive dancer, I think like a happy perfect place is three competitions, maybe a convention or lump a convention into that.
• 1:03:57
  SPEAKER_15: Do we need to go to nationals?
• 1:03:59
  SPEAKER_15: I'm gonna say probably not, to be honest.
• 1:04:01
  SPEAKER_15: Take your family vacation.
• 1:04:03
  SPEAKER_15: Yeah, make it all like alternate it.
• 1:04:05
  SPEAKER_15: Like there are ways for you as a studio to be able to make this financially affordable for all of your parents, and also maybe we limit how many dances we bring.
• 1:04:16
  SPEAKER_15: You know, does ev does every kid need a solo?
• 1:04:19
  SPEAKER_15: Does everybody need to be in 10 plus dances?
• 1:04:22
  SPEAKER_15: I'm gonna say no.
• 1:04:23
  SPEAKER_15: Maybe the studio needs to condense the amount of dances that they're cranking out because it's a business as well for them.
• 1:04:29
  SPEAKER_15: So they're making money on every dance that they're putting out there.
• 1:04:32
  SPEAKER_15: The competition's making money for every dance that's getting entered entered into, and the parents are the ones that are like, I cannot afford another costume fee, another rehearsal, another competition, another hotel.
• 1:04:43
  SPEAKER_15: I mean, it really adds up.
• 1:04:45
  SPEAKER_15: And again, the hard part for me is that I don't know that there's a I mean, I know travel sports are expensive, and there's a lot of other like activities that kids do that are that are pricey, but this one feels like one of the most expensive outlets.
• 1:04:59
  SPEAKER_13: Oh, I would assume so.
• 1:05:00
  SPEAKER_13: I mean, I'd I'd love to get some stats.
• 1:05:02
  SPEAKER_13: I'm sure we have some listeners who have maybe travel ball codes and is more gymnastics, maybe.
• 1:05:08
  SPEAKER_13: I don't think school band is this expensive chorus, like, yeah, you're going on your your regional competition or your, you know, uh solo and ensemble, but like I don't I don't think that's those art kind of things are this expensive.
• 1:05:20
  SPEAKER_13: Yeah.
• 1:05:21
  SPEAKER_15: So just making sure that uh we talk to your studio if there's fundraising opportunities and things like that.
• 1:05:28
  SPEAKER_15: If you feel like that the expectation for the amount of events or the amount of pressure to be in an X amount of dances is too overwhelming, you know, do your research, y'all, because I'm sure you can find find somewhere that's going to be able to work for you and your family's budget.
• 1:05:43
  SPEAKER_15: And that's really important.
• 1:05:44
  SPEAKER_15: Let's hear from one more dance parent when it comes to money expectations in competition dance.
• 1:05:51
  SPEAKER_05: Hi, my name is Stephanie Torres.
• 1:05:53
  SPEAKER_05: I am a dance mom to three amazing girls.
• 1:05:56
  SPEAKER_05: Uh, they all attend core dance in Tawara.
• 1:06:00
  SPEAKER_05: Oregon, huge shout out to our amazing studio.
• 1:06:03
  SPEAKER_05: Um, one of the things that I find kind of ridiculous that seems like an expectation when you first get into dance, especially competitive dance, is the amount of things that you need or supposedly need, like dance wear and bags and all those type of things.
• 1:06:23
  SPEAKER_05: When in reality you don't actually need them to stand out in the crowd.
• 1:06:28
  SPEAKER_05: I was a mom who fell into that trap, bought all these things.
• 1:06:32
  SPEAKER_05: My oldest daughter grew out of it all, and then she still stood out even with um just wearing shorts and a t-shirt or a regular plain leotard.
• 1:06:41
  SPEAKER_05: So it's not really necessary, but it's one of those expectations you think that you need when you first start start out, especially.
• 1:06:49
  SPEAKER_05: I don't do that for my younger two now, because I I lived and I learned.
• 1:06:53
  SPEAKER_05: Another thing is the huge giant dance bags.
• 1:06:56
  SPEAKER_05: I just I don't get the need, especially if you have one costume and makeup.
• 1:07:01
  SPEAKER_05: You can just fit that in a bag, obviously, to each their own, but it's an expectation that just isn't isn't needed.
• 1:07:08
  SPEAKER_05: Oh my gosh, yes.
• 1:07:10
  SPEAKER_15: I think that there's like for for a lot of dance parents, I think that they just want to fit in and do what's right.
• 1:07:17
  SPEAKER_15: And they see all these big, huge dance bags in the dressing room and they're like, wait, am I supposed to have one of those to be a quote unquote dance mom and and for my dancer, you know, you know, type of thing.
• 1:07:28
  SPEAKER_15: So I can see the the pressure.
• 1:07:31
  SPEAKER_13: Well, and also just pressure from the kids of like, well, Sally has this thing and I need it.
• 1:07:36
  SPEAKER_13: Right.
• 1:07:36
  SPEAKER_13: She has this giant dream duffel that cost$400 and I need it.
• 1:07:41
  SPEAKER_13: And you're like, do you?
• 1:07:42
  SPEAKER_13: And I mean the Dream Duffel thing, like that whoever came up with the Dream Duffle, you made some money, ma'am.
• 1:07:48
  SPEAKER_13: Because I'm sure it was a dance mom who figured it out.
• 1:07:51
  SPEAKER_15: I mean, it's it's a smart idea.
• 1:07:54
  SPEAKER_15: I think they're extremely huge.
• 1:07:56
  SPEAKER_15: I mean, I've seen them them go into the back trunk of a car and it takes up the entire trunk.
• 1:08:02
  SPEAKER_15: Like, you can't really fit many other things in there.
• 1:08:05
  SPEAKER_15: But I'm hoping that everything you need fits in the Dream Duffel and it's just like a one-stop shop for your makeup and your clothing rack and all of your costumes and your shoes and the accessories.
• 1:08:16
  SPEAKER_15: Like, I hope that everything fits.
• 1:08:18
  SPEAKER_15: You know, so if people want a giant suitcase with wheels and a clothing rack on it, then great.
• 1:08:25
  SPEAKER_15: But I don't know.
• 1:08:26
  SPEAKER_15: I mean, that if I had that thing, I don't there's nowhere I could even put that in my apartment.
• 1:08:30
  SPEAKER_13: I don't even know where they they're everybody's putting it in their basement or they leave it in the car, maybe.
• 1:08:34
  SPEAKER_13: But no, I mean, I think like like um Stephanie said, to each your to each her own.
• 1:08:40
  SPEAKER_13: If you feel that you need the dream duffel, by all means.
• 1:08:43
  SPEAKER_13: However, there's several generations of us competitive dancers who got by just fine without a dream duffel.
• 1:08:50
  SPEAKER_13: And now I sound like my mother.
• 1:08:51
  SPEAKER_13: You know, well, back in my day, well, yes, back in my day, we didn't need a dream duffel because you had your garment bag.
• 1:08:57
  SPEAKER_13: Even if you had 15 dances, you had two garment bags.
• 1:08:59
  SPEAKER_13: And you stack everything up in the right order and it's right there.
• 1:09:02
  SPEAKER_13: I personally, as competition director, hate the dream duffel because if everybody has a dream duffel, the dream duffel is the size of a human being.
• 1:09:09
  SPEAKER_13: So in your dressing room, not only do you have you, the human being, who is the dancer, you have your mother, who's probably also in the dressing room.
• 1:09:16
  SPEAKER_13: Then you have your dream duffel, who is the size of a human.
• 1:09:18
  SPEAKER_13: So that's three people.
• 1:09:19
  SPEAKER_13: Then the tent.
• 1:09:20
  SPEAKER_13: Don't forget about the tent.
• 1:09:21
  SPEAKER_13: And don't forget about the tent.
• 1:09:22
  SPEAKER_13: Oh god.
• 1:09:23
  SPEAKER_13: Oh god.
• 1:09:24
  SPEAKER_13: So just there's not enough room.
• 1:09:26
  SPEAKER_13: If everybody has a dream duffel, we need double the dressing room space.
• 1:09:29
  SPEAKER_13: And most of the time you don't, you don't have enough anyway.
• 1:09:32
  SPEAKER_13: So my thing is always if you if there's any way you cannot bring that dream duffel, that's that's the way to go.
• 1:09:39
  SPEAKER_13: Just please don't, because it just it creates havoc if you don't have the space.
• 1:09:43
  SPEAKER_15: Yeah, and now that I'm now that I just chimed in about the tent, I think that's a new trend that's started maybe like since the pandemic, because of social distancing and things, and then also just like being comfortable of undressing around other people.
• 1:09:57
  SPEAKER_15: And I will say that like unfortunately, that is an expectation of being a dancer, is quick changes and being comfortable getting changed in front of other people.
• 1:10:09
  SPEAKER_15: And I'm not saying different, you know, genders, like you usually it's always a female identifying d dressing room and a male identifying dressing room, and they also have non-binary dressing rooms now at some competitions where they're unisex and and family dressing rooms if if dad needs to dress the young dancer, types of things.
• 1:10:27
  SPEAKER_15: But like, sorry, I mean, like, you kind you kinda gotta, you're not gonna get a single stall everywhere to change your costume when you only have five minutes to get back out there.
• 1:10:38
  SPEAKER_15: Like, you just have to get a little bit comfortable and and just your job is to change your costume.
• 1:10:43
  SPEAKER_15: No one's looking at you, no one's you know, it just don't think that all eyes are on you.
• 1:10:47
  SPEAKER_15: I know it might feel uncomfortable, but it's no different than how in gym class in school you have to like in the locker room, you have to change into your Well, and I wonder, is that still happening?
• 1:10:59
  SPEAKER_13: I don't know.
• 1:10:59
  SPEAKER_13: I have no idea, but it's like uh maybe, but but I do think that like is is is that a ridiculous expectation or is that just something that it's almost a rite of passage that like, okay, you need to change and you need to do it right here because there's not any other place to do it.
• 1:11:16
  SPEAKER_13: And that's also a big not indicator, but like that's an etiquette thing that you need as studio owners and parents to start to teach your kids.
• 1:11:23
  SPEAKER_13: Okay, we are in here to change our costume.
• 1:11:25
  SPEAKER_13: That's what we're doing in here.
• 1:11:27
  SPEAKER_13: There is you are not looking at anybody else, you are not dilly-dallying around, you are changing your costume and then you're leaving.
• 1:11:33
  SPEAKER_13: Because again, those dressing rooms, half the time, and I know y'all all out there have experienced this, they're not big enough.
• 1:11:39
  SPEAKER_13: Right.
• 1:11:39
  SPEAKER_13: There's not enough room.
• 1:11:40
  SPEAKER_13: Change your costumes and go away.
• 1:11:42
  SPEAKER_13: Right.
• 1:11:42
  SPEAKER_13: Because there's not enough room.
• 1:11:43
  SPEAKER_13: And, you know, so I I think for me, like that part's not necessarily so much an a ridiculous expectation as just an expectation.
• 1:11:52
  SPEAKER_13: Yeah.
• 1:11:52
  SPEAKER_13: This is how we do it here.
• 1:11:53
  SPEAKER_13: There's nowhere else to do it.
• 1:11:55
  SPEAKER_13: If and if you put on tights, that that's half your body already covered.
• 1:11:59
  SPEAKER_13: Right.
• 1:11:59
  SPEAKER_13: You just had your tights on.
• 1:12:00
  SPEAKER_15: Right.
• 1:12:01
  SPEAKER_13: So plug for tights.
• 1:12:03
  SPEAKER_15: Yeah.
• 1:12:03
  SPEAKER_15: Yeah.
• 1:12:04
  SPEAKER_15: Yeah.
• 1:12:04
  SPEAKER_15: Get get comfortable changing in front of each other because it's it's part of the gig.
• 1:12:09
  SPEAKER_15: Again, another another one that's part of the job of being a dancer.
• 1:12:13
  SPEAKER_15: I can't tell you how many times I've had to do quick changes in front of people I don't want to do quick changes in front of.
• 1:12:19
  SPEAKER_15: And I make sure I have the right undergarments on and make sure I'm not exposing the world and get my job done and get back out on stage.
• 1:12:27
  SPEAKER_15: That's that's our job behind the scenes.
• 1:12:29
  SPEAKER_15: All right, final few people to chime in, and we have a lot of judges that have a few things to say when it comes to competition dance in general and the training of being a dancer.
• 1:12:40
  SPEAKER_16: Hi, this is I DA Judge Mary from Florida.
• 1:12:43
  SPEAKER_16: And something that I wish we could kind of get away from in the competition world would be the emphasis on so many tricks within a routine.
• 1:12:50
  SPEAKER_16: I feel like routines now are comprised of just a series of tricks instead of really watching a dancer's technique and performance quality and movement and actually watching them dance and perform choreography.
• 1:13:04
  SPEAKER_16: Often these tricks are taught to dancers that are so young that don't even have the development or the strength training yet within their bodies and their technique to even support such difficult moves.
• 1:13:15
  SPEAKER_16: And I think if we could really go back and concentrate on forming and training dancers safely and really get back to watching their performance, I think I that would be wonderful if we could kind of take the crazy tricks out of all of the performance.
• 1:13:31
  SPEAKER_16: A few is great, but not the entire routine.
• 1:13:34
  SPEAKER_16: And I think that's really changed over the past so many years that the emphasis is back on that.
• 1:13:39
  SPEAKER_11: Hi, this is IDA Judge Maddie from Tampa, Florida.
• 1:13:42
  SPEAKER_11: And one of the most ridiculous expectations that I've seen recently in the competition dance world is the focus on acrobatic elements and gymnastics.
• 1:13:52
  SPEAKER_11: So, what I mean by this is the fact that almost every dancer has their aerial and often has their front aerial as well.
• 1:13:59
  SPEAKER_11: These are not dance vocabulary, and your judges are not expecting to see these tricks executed in your routines, especially not in lyrical pieces, jazz pieces, contemporary pieces.
• 1:14:10
  SPEAKER_11: These movements are not part of those genres and their respective vocabularies.
• 1:14:15
  SPEAKER_11: So I think it's getting a little bit out of hand, and dancers are so obsessed with what they see on social media that they're trying really, really hard to master these skills.
• 1:14:23
  SPEAKER_11: While this can be really, really fun, just remember that it doesn't always add to your dance.
• 1:14:28
  SPEAKER_15: Wow, some really, some really great points from our two IDA judges, Mary and Maddie, in regards to all these tricks that we're seeing on stage.
• 1:14:37
  SPEAKER_13: Yeah, holding it down in Florida, both Mary and Maddie.
• 1:14:40
  SPEAKER_13: I mean, I think if you are a listener to our podcast, you know that Courtney and I agree with those sentiments.
• 1:14:47
  SPEAKER_13: It is now an expectation because, like Maddie said, it feels like every dancer you see has an aerial.
• 1:14:53
  SPEAKER_13: And that's just becoming sort of a rite of passage into being a competitive dancer.
• 1:14:58
  SPEAKER_13: And like like she said, it's not part of the vocabulary of of any dance style.
• 1:15:03
  SPEAKER_13: That's that's a gymnastics, that's for gymnastics.
• 1:15:07
  SPEAKER_13: And while it's really cool and I wish I could have learned an aerial, I probably could have done a really mean aerial.
• 1:15:11
  SPEAKER_13: I didn't, and it didn't hinder me from, you know, becoming suc a successful dancer or a teacher.
• 1:15:17
  SPEAKER_13: But it it does seem like an expectation now for how much we see it.
• 1:15:21
  SPEAKER_15: Yeah, and I I do agree that I think social media is partially to blame for that because I really don't think that we s really saw a lot of accro until social media kind of really launched and took off in the past 10 years.
• 1:15:35
  SPEAKER_15: Because sure, there would be a uh like a little tumbling, this or that, but it wasn't in every dance.
• 1:15:40
  SPEAKER_15: It and it was actually one of those wow things that, oh, that dancer is a beautiful technician, and they can do an aerial.
• 1:15:47
  SPEAKER_15: Oh my gosh, you're probably winning first overall.
• 1:15:50
  SPEAKER_15: Just because it's something that is unexpected, it used to be unexpected.
• 1:15:54
  SPEAKER_13: It was unexpected, right?
• 1:15:55
  SPEAKER_15: Now it's expected, and it's actually just like another bot ma these days and another double pirouette these days is step aerial.
• 1:16:04
  SPEAKER_13: And like Maddie said you're doing it well, you know.
• 1:16:07
  SPEAKER_13: Right.
• 1:16:08
  SPEAKER_13: You know, like when I see a well-done aerial, of course I'm gonna say that was a really nice aerial.
• 1:16:11
  SPEAKER_13: Right.
• 1:16:12
  SPEAKER_13: But more often than not, I see it a not well-done aerial, and then I have to take up time and talk about that.
• 1:16:16
  SPEAKER_13: Right.
• 1:16:17
  SPEAKER_13: I'd really rather see you do a beautiful soda show.
• 1:16:19
  SPEAKER_13: Yes.
• 1:16:20
  SPEAKER_13: Or a really nice double pirouette, but now I'm having to talk about your poorly done aerial and like not don't, you know, I don't want to say don't waste my time, but don't waste my time.
• 1:16:28
  SPEAKER_13: Give me some dance.
• 1:16:29
  SPEAKER_13: Right.
• 1:16:29
  SPEAKER_13: Because then I can tell you about dance.
• 1:16:30
  SPEAKER_13: Not because I don't, you know, there's yes, there's plenty of dance judges out there who could absolutely school you on how to do an aerial or how to do a front aerial, or how to do a step out.
• 1:16:40
  SPEAKER_13: I don't even have the vocabulary for it because I'm not a gymnast.
• 1:16:43
  SPEAKER_13: But there are plenty of judges out there who do have the vocabulary.
• 1:16:46
  SPEAKER_13: But I would venture to say that at least half, I mean, I'm just throwing out a a assumption here, but based on the age range of most judges these days, we did not grow up doing those things.
• 1:16:57
  SPEAKER_13: So I don't have the I don't have a lot of material to talk about it.
• 1:17:02
  SPEAKER_13: You know, I don't have the background to talk about it with with any kind of authority.
• 1:17:06
  SPEAKER_13: So, you know, maybe that's a problem with us.
• 1:17:08
  SPEAKER_13: I don't know.
• 1:17:09
  SPEAKER_15: I mean, yeah, we it is hard because uh the dance world is shifting and changing to a point where it is gonna be expected that we're gonna see that often, but I think it has gotten out of hand.
• 1:17:21
  SPEAKER_15: I think that the tricks and poorly executed tricks has gotten out of hand, or just the expectation on the choreographers and thinking that that needs to be in every single dance to succeed when choreographer and teacher, you might know that your dancers aren't ready for that.
• 1:17:38
  SPEAKER_15: Don't feel pressured to put it in just because you see it on social media, just because you think it's gonna get first place overall.
• 1:17:44
  SPEAKER_15: Again, it's not only about it's a competition we want to win, of course, but we I don't know how many times we need to sit here and preach on the podcast to let everybody know that you don't you're not gonna win with with acro in your dance.
• 1:17:56
  SPEAKER_15: It doesn't automatically mean a win.
• 1:17:58
  SPEAKER_15: There's so many other elements.
• 1:18:00
  SPEAKER_15: And everyone's like, well, that that's the dance that that scored the highest, and they had tons of tricks and flips in it.
• 1:18:07
  SPEAKER_15: And it's like, yeah, but at the same time, that dance had a lot of a lot of other things that made it a first place overall dance, not the tricks.
• 1:18:15
  SPEAKER_15: You're seeing the flash and you're seeing all of that.
• 1:18:18
  SPEAKER_15: That's not the only thing that made that dance succeed.
• 1:18:21
  SPEAKER_15: So it's it's hard for people to get their head wrapped around when they see it on social media and the kids feel the pressure and all of that.
• 1:18:28
  SPEAKER_15: But I couldn't agree more with both of our judges.
• 1:18:31
  SPEAKER_13: Yeah, and so I kind of piggybacking on that, it's a similar uh feeling, but I think for especially for new dance parents and parents who don't have any background in dance, you know, if if if you see social media dance before you see a studio's recital, for example, you're seeing the cream of the crop, the most insane.
• 1:18:52
  SPEAKER_13: The algorithm is showing you exceptional dance.
• 1:18:56
  SPEAKER_13: That's what it's meant to do.
• 1:18:57
  SPEAKER_13: It you if you're on TikTok, if you're on Instagram, you are seeing viral, insane, absurd, amazing dance from seven-year-olds sometimes.
• 1:19:06
  SPEAKER_13: You know, that's those those kids are out there.
• 1:19:08
  SPEAKER_13: And I think for me, if I was somebody who who came into dance not having any background in it and not understanding that that is abnormal, I might have the expectation of, oh gosh, well, my seven-year-old's not doing that.
• 1:19:20
  SPEAKER_13: Should she be doing that?
• 1:19:21
  SPEAKER_13: Do I have to find a new studio so that she can do that?
• 1:19:23
  SPEAKER_13: No, you don't.
• 1:19:24
  SPEAKER_13: Social media is a liar.
• 1:19:26
  SPEAKER_13: Uh be really careful with what you're looking at and what you're seeing because it's not reality.
• 1:19:33
  SPEAKER_13: And I think that goes for all social media, you know, like none of it's reality.
• 1:19:36
  SPEAKER_13: But go to your studios recital, go to the neighboring studios recital.
• 1:19:40
  SPEAKER_13: Go see what everybody else is really actually doing in your town.
• 1:19:44
  SPEAKER_13: Because I I guarantee you, not all the seven-year-olds are doing aerials.
• 1:19:47
  SPEAKER_13: They're not doing front aerials.
• 1:19:48
  SPEAKER_13: They're they're doing their nice, cute little dance and they're developmentally progressing the way they should be for seven years old.
• 1:19:54
  SPEAKER_13: And that's what your kid should be doing.
• 1:19:56
  SPEAKER_15: Yeah, couldn't agree more.
• 1:19:57
  SPEAKER_15: All right.
• 1:19:58
  SPEAKER_15: Ashley is back.
• 1:19:59
  SPEAKER_15: IDA Judge Ashley, she's back, and she has one more thing she wants to tell the world when it comes to competition dance, and it's a fun one.
• 1:20:08
  SPEAKER_04: Hello, this is Judge Ashley from New York City.
• 1:20:11
  SPEAKER_04: And one of the craziest things to me about the dance competition world is how a song can go so viral and become so popular and so used in the dance competition world that if you are a competition dancer or dance mom or teacher or anything like that, you know this song.
• 1:20:28
  SPEAKER_04: But you play it for anyone else, they've never heard it.
• 1:20:31
  SPEAKER_04: And it's always so crazy because it may not be, you know, a top 10 popular song, but in the dance competition world, it is the song.
• 1:20:40
  SPEAKER_13: Ashley, you're like speaking to my heart.
• 1:20:42
  SPEAKER_13: I love it.
• 1:20:43
  SPEAKER_15: Yep.
• 1:20:44
  SPEAKER_15: There are so many times I've said that on the podcast, especially on our music episode, where we talk about the songs that we just don't want to hear ever again that are just the most overused competition songs.
• 1:20:54
  SPEAKER_15: And some of them are songs that people are like, I've never heard that song in my entire life.
• 1:20:59
  SPEAKER_15: How is it overused?
• 1:21:00
  SPEAKER_15: It's like, I don't know.
• 1:21:02
  SPEAKER_15: It's just somehow a standard competition dance song.
• 1:21:05
  SPEAKER_13: Like the one I'm thinking of right now that I don't want to hear again is the Lost Boy song.
• 1:21:09
  SPEAKER_13: Oh, yeah.
• 1:21:10
  SPEAKER_13: I am a Lost Boy.
• 1:21:12
  SPEAKER_13: Peter Pan.
• 1:21:13
  SPEAKER_13: Yeah.
• 1:21:13
  SPEAKER_13: Go away.
• 1:21:14
  SPEAKER_13: I don't want to hear where where did it come from?
• 1:21:17
  SPEAKER_13: That wasn't in a Peter Pan movie.
• 1:21:18
  SPEAKER_13: I don't know where Kids.
• 1:21:20
  SPEAKER_13: It wasn't on Grey's Anatomy, like so many of these songs.
• 1:21:23
  SPEAKER_13: And I love Grey's Anatomy, don't get me wrong, they have great soundtracks, but like you'll hear some of those songs on Grey's Anatomy from the 25 seasons or whatever.
• 1:21:30
  SPEAKER_13: But some of them I just like Lost Boy, I'm like, literally, where?
• 1:21:33
  SPEAKER_13: Yeah.
• 1:21:34
  SPEAKER_13: Where did somebody find this?
• 1:21:35
  SPEAKER_13: And why is it every competition for four times?
• 1:21:38
  SPEAKER_15: Yeah.
• 1:21:39
  SPEAKER_15: And there's there's just so many.
• 1:21:41
  SPEAKER_15: I mean, uh, not about angels comes up in my head that I'm like, is does that play on the radio?
• 1:21:47
  SPEAKER_15: I don't think it does.
• 1:21:49
  SPEAKER_15: Like who delivered it?
• 1:21:51
  SPEAKER_15: Like, who's playing this?
• 1:21:52
  SPEAKER_15: And why does it circulate through?
• 1:21:55
  SPEAKER_15: It's so it's almost like people just are like, I'm supposed to use this song.
• 1:22:01
  SPEAKER_15: I hear it, and I'm supposed to steal the song that I heard.
• 1:22:04
  SPEAKER_15: And then everyone, or does everyone have the same idea at the same time?
• 1:22:07
  SPEAKER_15: Does one studio use a song that's like unique and different?
• 1:22:11
  SPEAKER_15: And then everyone's like, sure, I'll take that next season.
• 1:22:14
  SPEAKER_13: And then is it like a conspiracy?
• 1:22:16
  SPEAKER_13: Like, is does something in the song implant into our brains?
• 1:22:19
  SPEAKER_13: Right.
• 1:22:19
  SPEAKER_13: And it's like it finds the brains of dance teachers, and it's like, it's this one, use this one, they're going to love it.
• 1:22:25
  SPEAKER_15: And it's and like we're not there is a difference between like over like there we're talking about songs that like I like a song that I never get sick of is Orange Colored Sky.
• 1:22:34
  SPEAKER_15: For some reason, I just love that song.
• 1:22:35
  SPEAKER_15: Oh, I love that song.
• 1:22:36
  SPEAKER_15: It's such a great song.
• 1:22:37
  SPEAKER_15: Like, but to me, that feels like an an overused competition song.
• 1:22:41
  SPEAKER_15: But I also think that song, people would know that song if it plays like at a department store or like people know that it's Natalie Cole.
• 1:22:48
  SPEAKER_15: Yeah.
• 1:22:49
  SPEAKER_15: Yeah.
• 1:22:49
  SPEAKER_15: You know, so like that's that's not what I'm talking about.
• 1:22:51
  SPEAKER_15: And that's a song that I'm never sick of.
• 1:22:53
  SPEAKER_15: And there's a handful of those overused competition songs that I love to hear.
• 1:22:57
  SPEAKER_15: Put them on and I will love and listen.
• 1:22:59
  SPEAKER_15: But it's just those really obscure songs that are like one-hit wonders from a random artist that never even made it to radio that have somehow become competition dance songs.
• 1:23:08
  SPEAKER_13: And I don't even know that it was a hit.
• 1:23:10
  SPEAKER_13: It wasn't even a one-hit wonder.
• 1:23:11
  SPEAKER_13: It was a song.
• 1:23:12
  SPEAKER_13: Yeah, you're right.
• 1:23:12
  SPEAKER_13: It was a song.
• 1:23:13
  SPEAKER_13: You're right.
• 1:23:13
  SPEAKER_13: It's just a song.
• 1:23:15
  SPEAKER_13: And somehow it just keeps on playing.
• 1:23:18
  SPEAKER_13: For years.
• 1:23:18
  SPEAKER_13: I mean, so like Lost Boy's been around for years.
• 1:23:22
  SPEAKER_13: And that that Jar of Hearts, I mean, I think Jim's Heart Jars on.
• 1:23:28
  SPEAKER_15: She was popular.
• 1:23:29
  SPEAKER_15: Christina Perry, I think.
• 1:23:31
  SPEAKER_13: Perry, yeah.
• 1:23:31
  SPEAKER_13: And she has other nice music, which I appreciate that she has other music that people do use.
• 1:23:36
  SPEAKER_13: But whoever the heck sings Lost Boy, I don't know who's wrong.
• 1:23:39
  SPEAKER_13: I don't know your album.
• 1:23:41
  SPEAKER_13: Like, do you have more music?
• 1:23:42
  SPEAKER_13: Maybe.
• 1:23:42
  SPEAKER_13: Nobody uses it.
• 1:23:44
  SPEAKER_15: Sorry if you're using it this year, everybody.
• 1:23:46
  SPEAKER_15: Yeah, I'm sorry.
• 1:23:47
  SPEAKER_15: I don't like it.
• 1:23:48
  SPEAKER_15: So I think best advice is that there is a lot of music out there that you could be using.
• 1:23:54
  SPEAKER_15: Do not feel obligated.
• 1:23:56
  SPEAKER_15: If you have heard the song at competition more than three times, we as judges and the rest of your audience probably don't feel like hearing it again.
• 1:24:04
  SPEAKER_15: So we've created it a dozen times.
• 1:24:06
  SPEAKER_13: Yeah.
• 1:24:07
  SPEAKER_13: Yeah.
• 1:24:07
  SPEAKER_13: Like however, we will take Orange Colored Sky.
• 1:24:10
  SPEAKER_13: I will take any Celine Dion song.
• 1:24:12
  SPEAKER_13: And I personally love my philosophy.
• 1:24:14
  SPEAKER_13: I know some people are very against my philosophy from um You're a Good Man Charlie Brown.
• 1:24:19
  SPEAKER_13: Oh.
• 1:24:19
  SPEAKER_13: Musical theater song.
• 1:24:20
  SPEAKER_13: Yeah, I'm sorry.
• 1:24:21
  SPEAKER_13: I love it.
• 1:24:21
  SPEAKER_13: I'm sorry.
• 1:24:21
  SPEAKER_15: I love that song.
• 1:24:22
  SPEAKER_15: No offense.
• 1:24:23
  SPEAKER_15: I'm like, I don't need to hear that.
• 1:24:24
  SPEAKER_15: That's fine.
• 1:24:24
  SPEAKER_15: I don't need to hear any more Wicked.
• 1:24:26
  SPEAKER_15: There's other musicals that exist.
• 1:24:28
  SPEAKER_15: Like we could go on this.
• 1:24:30
  SPEAKER_15: If y'all, if y'all need some music advice, go listen to our music episodes that we've done in the past.
• 1:24:35
  SPEAKER_15: They're really fun.
• 1:24:36
  SPEAKER_15: Yes.
• 1:24:36
  SPEAKER_13: And then go down a YouTube or Spotify rabbit hole and go far, far away from Lost Boy.
• 1:24:41
  SPEAKER_13: Yep.
• 1:24:41
  SPEAKER_13: Yep.
• 1:24:47
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• 1:24:55
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• 1:25:05
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• 1:25:08
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• 1:25:14
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• 1:25:21
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• 1:25:25
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• 1:25:29
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• 1:25:38
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• 1:25:42
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• 1:25:53
  SPEAKER_15: Alright, we have one more clip from a dance parent.
• 1:25:58
  SPEAKER_15: So let's hear what they have to say.
• 1:26:00
  SPEAKER_01: Hey guys, I'm a dance mom from Florida, and something that I think the general public that isn't involved in the dance world doesn't realize is how hard it is to get into college for dance.
• 1:26:11
  SPEAKER_01: I have coworkers and neighbors and family members, and they see that my kid's a good dancer, and they just assume that she can go to any college dance program that she wants.
• 1:26:20
  SPEAKER_01: They have no idea that there's an audition process, and they're just like, oh well, she can just go to Juilliard, right?
• 1:26:25
  SPEAKER_01: They know Juilliard's a good school and my kid's a good dancer, and they just assume you can waltz right in and start taking classes.
• 1:26:32
  SPEAKER_01: So I think maybe why they don't realize how hard it is, is they also don't realize just how many dancers there are in the US and how many want to go to college.
• 1:26:43
  SPEAKER_01: Because if there's enough dancers to sell out competitions that are happening simultaneously in every major city all over the US, like on any given weekend, then how is there enough room for them to all go to college too?
• 1:26:58
  SPEAKER_13: Wow, that is some real tea right there, because that's true.
• 1:27:03
  SPEAKER_13: It's very true.
• 1:27:04
  SPEAKER_15: I mean, everyone says that, oh, aren't you well, are you gonna go to Juilliard?
• 1:27:08
  SPEAKER_15: I mean, we have all heard that because any non-dancer doesn't know dance, doesn't know this world at all.
• 1:27:16
  SPEAKER_15: And the only thing that they have ever heard when it comes to dance is the word Juilliard.
• 1:27:21
  SPEAKER_15: That is the is the word Juilliard in the movie center stage.
• 1:27:24
  SPEAKER_15: Yeah.
• 1:27:24
  SPEAKER_13: Maybe.
• 1:27:25
  SPEAKER_13: I mean, I don't know.
• 1:27:25
  SPEAKER_13: Do we not even watch the other one?
• 1:27:27
  SPEAKER_13: No, not center stage.
• 1:27:28
  SPEAKER_13: Save the last dance.
• 1:27:29
  SPEAKER_13: Julia Styles.
• 1:27:30
  SPEAKER_13: Save the last dance because she goes to Juilliard.
• 1:27:32
  SPEAKER_13: Undeservedly.
• 1:27:33
  SPEAKER_13: Sorry, Julia Styles.
• 1:27:34
  SPEAKER_15: Oh god, it was yeah, no offense, Julia, but all.
• 1:27:36
  SPEAKER_15: I love that movie.
• 1:27:36
  SPEAKER_15: It's so bad.
• 1:27:37
  SPEAKER_15: So bad.
• 1:27:38
  SPEAKER_13: Yeah, but like uh so I don't know the stats on Juilliard, but I know when I was uh auditioning for colleges, I I I didn't audition for Florida State's dance department.
• 1:27:48
  SPEAKER_13: They're a modern based department, but I did audition for their musical theater department, which, you know, lives in the same world as dance college majors.
• 1:27:55
  SPEAKER_13: You know, it's also a very highly selective process.
• 1:27:59
  SPEAKER_13: And at the time FSU took 10 females and 10 males from the entire country to make up their freshman class of musical theater majors.
• 1:28:07
  SPEAKER_13: And I obviously did not get in.
• 1:28:09
  SPEAKER_13: But 10, like this dance parent just said, if there's any number of competitions going on every single weekend from July or January to July in every city in America, and they're sold out because most of them are.
• 1:28:22
  SPEAKER_13: There there's who's who's going to college?
• 1:28:24
  SPEAKER_13: Like four of you.
• 1:28:25
  SPEAKER_13: There's not there's not enough spots.
• 1:28:27
  SPEAKER_15: Yeah.
• 1:28:28
  SPEAKER_15: I mean, for all students, you still have to get accepted in a college.
• 1:28:32
  SPEAKER_15: You're not just like waltzing into a college.
• 1:28:34
  SPEAKER_15: Yeah, you have to get, you know, approved and accepted.
• 1:28:37
  SPEAKER_15: But it's even harder to get into highly competitive dance programs and art programs.
• 1:28:43
  SPEAKER_15: And I think that can probably be said about a lot of different majors, depending.
• 1:28:47
  SPEAKER_15: But, you know, the dance world is is very, very highly competitive and there's not a lot of slots for a lot of a lot of jobs.
• 1:28:54
  SPEAKER_15: So that is a really great point on the parent end.
• 1:28:58
  SPEAKER_15: And for all of the people in the family that have no idea what dance is and what it's about, and if you can actually make a career out of this, you can, but it's going to be tough and it's going to it is a very competitive field.
• 1:29:10
  SPEAKER_13: Well, and it starts, you know, your your taste of the competitive nature of the whole thing starts with competitive dance.
• 1:29:17
  SPEAKER_13: Right.
• 1:29:17
  SPEAKER_13: You know, not every like, yes, everybody's getting a trophy because we've set it up that way.
• 1:29:21
  SPEAKER_13: But not everybody's winning first overall.
• 1:29:23
  SPEAKER_15: Right.
• 1:29:23
  SPEAKER_13: And then not everybody's getting into the college.
• 1:29:26
  SPEAKER_13: And then from those small, that small amount of people who went to Juilliard, not all of them are getting a job.
• 1:29:31
  SPEAKER_13: And then not all of those people are getting a second job.
• 1:29:34
  SPEAKER_08: Mm-hmm.
• 1:29:34
  SPEAKER_13: And then not all like it just keeps on going.
• 1:29:36
  SPEAKER_13: And what I do find a little contradictory though, now, having, you know, seen seen the the industry change from the time I was auditioning for colleges to now, there's a whole lot more dance programs in the country.
• 1:29:52
  SPEAKER_13: Many, many more schools offer a BFA or a BA.
• 1:29:55
  SPEAKER_07: Yeah.
• 1:29:56
  SPEAKER_13: Schools that you wouldn't expect, you know.
• 1:29:57
  SPEAKER_13: And I'm and and not that I know firsthand, but there's plenty of schools out there that aren't Juilliard that give you really good training and that are setting dancers up for success.
• 1:30:05
  SPEAKER_13: But then, like you said, Courtney, then you get to New York, you get to LA, you get to Chicago.
• 1:30:10
  SPEAKER_13: There's not enough jobs.
• 1:30:11
  SPEAKER_13: Yeah.
• 1:30:12
  SPEAKER_13: So what's happening now, I think, is we have, yes, it's challenging to get into a dance school for sure, but there's more of them.
• 1:30:19
  SPEAKER_13: So that makes it slightly easier, which means there's more dance majors who are going into the industry and there's not enough jobs.
• 1:30:25
  SPEAKER_08: Yeah.
• 1:30:25
  SPEAKER_13: And then then, you know, that just is what it is.
• 1:30:28
  SPEAKER_13: And it kind of stinks and makes me, you know, hope for the people who say, you know what?
• 1:30:32
  SPEAKER_13: Wow, this this performing on stage thing isn't for me, but I still really love dance.
• 1:30:36
  SPEAKER_13: So maybe I'm gonna, maybe I'm gonna do an internship backstage and be a stage manager.
• 1:30:41
  SPEAKER_13: Maybe I'm gonna think about starting my own company.
• 1:30:43
  SPEAKER_13: May you know, maybe there's other ways to create more jobs for dancers because right now there just aren't enough to accommodate the amount of people coming into the business.
• 1:30:52
  SPEAKER_15: Yeah, that's true.
• 1:30:53
  SPEAKER_15: Great point.
• 1:30:54
  SPEAKER_15: And we just did our jobs and pay rates episode.
• 1:30:57
  SPEAKER_15: So y'all go give a listen to that if you want to hear more about what it's like in the professional dance world and the jobs that are available out there.
• 1:31:05
  SPEAKER_15: We're wrapping up over here in this episode.
• 1:31:08
  SPEAKER_15: And I know it's a long one, but it's a fun one.
• 1:31:10
  SPEAKER_15: And we always love doing these uh, these clips where all of our guests and our IDA judges, our fans, can chime in and share their thoughts on the ridiculous expectations of the competitive dance world.
• 1:31:22
  SPEAKER_15: I know that I have one more that I want to personally share that wasn't really mentioned, and it's actually a new one that I just recently learned about, and I think this is a extreme.
• 1:31:31
  SPEAKER_15: So get ready, everybody.
• 1:31:32
  SPEAKER_15: It's a little extreme.
• 1:31:33
  SPEAKER_13: Here we go.
• 1:31:34
  SPEAKER_15: With, you know, I talked about the whole costuming thing and how you have to wear leotards on stage, which again couldn't pay me enough money to do with no tights.
• 1:31:43
  SPEAKER_15: I have actually been I've sat in the judge's chair and I've thought, like, when it comes to grooming and making sure that you are not exposing anything out to the audience when you are in a very high-cut leotard.
• 1:31:56
  SPEAKER_15: And I'm sure everyone understands where I'm heading with this with this observation.
• 1:32:01
  SPEAKER_15: I've been told and I've heard that there isn't the expectation to get groomed for stage by getting bikini waxes for your dancers.
• 1:32:11
  SPEAKER_15: And that is extreme to me.
• 1:32:14
  SPEAKER_15: That is out of control to me.
• 1:32:16
  SPEAKER_15: I have so many thoughts on this.
• 1:32:18
  SPEAKER_15: I sure, you know, when you get to a certain age, you have to start shaving your legs, you have to start shaving your armpits.
• 1:32:25
  SPEAKER_15: I don't want to be going out on stage with hairy armpits, but if that's what you want to go out on stage, then great.
• 1:32:31
  SPEAKER_15: But is your teacher going to be okay with you going out on stage with hairy armpits?
• 1:32:36
  SPEAKER_15: And is that a conversation that needs to be had?
• 1:32:39
  SPEAKER_15: I think it might need to be if you don't want to shave, but your teacher expects you to shave.
• 1:32:43
  SPEAKER_15: Because what if the parent doesn't want the kid to shave wherever?
• 1:32:46
  SPEAKER_15: You know, is that a conversation that's being had in the studio spaces when it comes to grooming for stage?
• 1:32:53
  SPEAKER_15: Because everyone the parent and the kid might have two completely different expectations than the studio.
• 1:32:59
  SPEAKER_15: And I don't know, I don't know how I feel about a studio saying you should get a bikini wax to wear your costume on stage.
• 1:33:08
  SPEAKER_15: I don't know if that is fair, and I don't think that that is acceptable, to be quite honest.
• 1:33:13
  SPEAKER_15: I think what needs to be had is a conversation of how are you going to groom yourself for the stage?
• 1:33:18
  SPEAKER_15: Are you prepared for that?
• 1:33:20
  SPEAKER_15: And if you're not, then we don't put you in a bikini on stage with no tights, is what I think needs to be happening.
• 1:33:27
  SPEAKER_15: Thoughts?
• 1:33:28
  unknown: Yeah.
• 1:33:29
  SPEAKER_13: I mean, you said the word extreme.
• 1:33:31
  SPEAKER_13: Like that's I agree.
• 1:33:33
  SPEAKER_13: That's extreme.
• 1:33:34
  SPEAKER_13: I mean, I don't know that you could even take a child.
• 1:33:37
  SPEAKER_13: You could probably buy your bikini wax kit or whatever from the store.
• 1:33:40
  SPEAKER_13: No, people take their kids to the wax to the wax.
• 1:33:44
  SPEAKER_13: What waxing place is gonna wax a child?
• 1:33:46
  SPEAKER_13: Like, that's weird.
• 1:33:47
  SPEAKER_13: It's I don't know, sorry.
• 1:33:48
  SPEAKER_13: I'm trying to be non-judgmental, but like I think that's weird.
• 1:33:51
  SPEAKER_13: I think it would be weird to take a child to a bikini waxing salon and say, please wax these parts of my child.
• 1:33:57
  SPEAKER_13: Like, I don't I agree.
• 1:33:58
  SPEAKER_13: What?
• 1:33:59
  SPEAKER_13: I think the ex the word extreme is the right word.
• 1:34:01
  SPEAKER_15: I think that what I've seen is its teens, but even there's I would not uh I I have to be honest.
• 1:34:07
  SPEAKER_15: I I mean I haven't even started bikini waxing until I was an adult.
• 1:34:11
  SPEAKER_15: Like an adult, a straight up adult.
• 1:34:14
  SPEAKER_15: Because I was um I was like kind of like, I don't want to go do that, and you know, it just feels weird.
• 1:34:19
  SPEAKER_15: Like it just feels weird to me.
• 1:34:20
  SPEAKER_15: And of course, there's other ways of grooming.
• 1:34:23
  SPEAKER_13: We love some Nair.
• 1:34:24
  SPEAKER_13: Nair still smells gross, but it works.
• 1:34:26
  SPEAKER_15: Yes.
• 1:34:26
  SPEAKER_15: There are there are ways to make it work and get stage ready, but I think that it's the expectation that people are just supposed to do it, and I'm not sure if conversations are being had, and then parents might feel pressured to have to put their kid into a situation of getting waxed sooner than they might even want to because they quote unquote have to be ready for competitive dance.
• 1:34:48
  SPEAKER_15: And it's like the same thing applies with spray tans.
• 1:34:50
  SPEAKER_15: Like if studios are telling kids like you have to get a spray tan for stage, it's different if like I think all of this is very different if the parents okay with it and the kid is okay with it, but to feel pressured into doing something like that.
• 1:35:02
  SPEAKER_13: Or having it be a requirement.
• 1:35:04
  SPEAKER_13: Because I can't imagine that's that some that a studio owner is telling the group of 15 kids, if you'd like to get a spray tan, feel free.
• 1:35:11
  SPEAKER_13: Nobody's say I don't think that's gonna happen because the goal of a spray tan is to have everybody be a uniform color.
• 1:35:17
  SPEAKER_15: Right.
• 1:35:17
  SPEAKER_13: Which again is there's that sort of problematic in and of itself.
• 1:35:20
  SPEAKER_15: Uh-huh.
• 1:35:21
  SPEAKER_13: But but so like I don't know.
• 1:35:23
  SPEAKER_13: I don't know what the conversation I would be so curious to hear the conversation.
• 1:35:26
  SPEAKER_13: Like I want to be a fly on the wall in a studio that says you need to go to a waxing place or you need to all get a spray tan, because I I think that if a conversation would and when I say conversation, I mean an an actual back and forth where I can have an opinion that is different than your opinion, and I can voice that and not feel pressured to do what you want me to do, or or feel not even compelled, I guess, but like forced.
• 1:35:51
  SPEAKER_13: Because if it's part of, you know, yes, we have an expectation that you wear your earrings, okay.
• 1:35:55
  SPEAKER_13: Well, the option is pierced or not.
• 1:35:57
  SPEAKER_13: You gave me the option to do the thing you want me to do.
• 1:35:59
  SPEAKER_13: But doesn't sound like in these instances, like you're either getting a bikini wax or you're not, and we want you to get one.
• 1:36:06
  SPEAKER_15: And you're you're definitely you're either getting a bikini wax or you're shaving.
• 1:36:10
  SPEAKER_15: There's no, there's there's really not any in between because I don't think that anyone would want anyone going out on stage revealing hair where we shouldn't be see where I I don't want to see it.
• 1:36:20
  SPEAKER_15: Mom doesn't want to see it, audience members don't want to see it.
• 1:36:23
  SPEAKER_15: So, like those are your two options.
• 1:36:25
  SPEAKER_15: And I also I think that that feels a little extreme at times to request that and expect that from young chingers.
• 1:36:33
  SPEAKER_15: Right, because option is never tights.
• 1:36:35
  SPEAKER_13: We could then great.
• 1:36:36
  SPEAKER_13: Let's have the option be tights, but nobody's gonna say, well, you could in your group dance, you know, if you feel like wearing tights, feel free.
• 1:36:43
  SPEAKER_13: Nobody's saying that.
• 1:36:44
  SPEAKER_13: Right, because of the uniformity to m exactly.
• 1:36:46
  SPEAKER_13: So, like the for me, I I don't know, I'm pro-tights.
• 1:36:50
  SPEAKER_15: That's all I have to say.
• 1:36:51
  SPEAKER_15: I'm I'm pro finding a costume that everyone's comfortable in, is Yes, agreed.
• 1:36:57
  SPEAKER_15: I love a no-tights look, I think it looks fantastic.
• 1:37:00
  SPEAKER_15: But if every single dancer isn't on board with properly grooming, or if you have parent pushback of I don't want my kid having to groom themselves to be able to wear this costume with no tights, then you have to find a new costume.
• 1:37:14
  SPEAKER_15: There isn't to me, like I don't know if those conversations are being are happening because I have seen some costumes that have revealed far too much that I want to see.
• 1:37:24
  SPEAKER_15: And maybe those conversations weren't being had as far as grooming.
• 1:37:28
  SPEAKER_15: And it needs to be talked about if you're gonna put a kid in a costume that's that revealing.
• 1:37:33
  SPEAKER_15: So, you know, it's it's something that I think is a very sticky conversation.
• 1:37:38
  SPEAKER_15: And but one I wanted to mention because this is something new to that's a new, like we said, it's new to the world, but I think more conversations need to be had.
• 1:37:47
  SPEAKER_15: And I also think that dancers need to advocate for themselves if they don't feel comfortable with something, speak up because you're not in a professional paid job right now where you, you know, you shouldn't feel forced to wear something you don't want to wear.
• 1:38:00
  SPEAKER_13: And, you know, listeners, chime in, let us know.
• 1:38:02
  SPEAKER_13: Does your studio do this?
• 1:38:04
  SPEAKER_13: Send us a message because, like, like we said, we're seeing it from an outside perspective of, oh, it seems like perhaps that's what's happening.
• 1:38:11
  SPEAKER_13: Right.
• 1:38:11
  SPEAKER_13: Is that what's happening?
• 1:38:12
  SPEAKER_13: Like, we don't know.
• 1:38:13
  SPEAKER_13: So I I'm really curious.
• 1:38:15
  SPEAKER_13: Like, if you're a studio out there that requires, you know, a grooming, uh, some kind of grooming habit, I'm just I want to know what your conversation sounds like.
• 1:38:22
  SPEAKER_13: I want to know if you had any pushback.
• 1:38:23
  SPEAKER_13: And what do you do when there is pushback?
• 1:38:25
  SPEAKER_13: How do you accommodate everyone with such an extreme ask?
• 1:38:29
  SPEAKER_15: Right.
• 1:38:30
  SPEAKER_15: I think this will be a nice conversation starter for our Facebook group.
• 1:38:34
  SPEAKER_15: So if you are in our Facebook group, head on over to Making the Impact Advance Competition Podcast community to keep this conversation going because it's a it's a hot topic.
• 1:38:45
  SPEAKER_14: We hope you enjoyed this week's episode all about ridiculous expectations for competitive dance.
• 1:38:51
  SPEAKER_14: Thank you to all of the IDA judges and special guests for sending in your clips and helping contribute to this awesome episode.
• 1:38:59
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• 1:40:26
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• 1:40:36
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• 1:40:40
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• 1:40:42
  SPEAKER_14: Until then, keep dancing.