Dance Competitions: What Your Students REALLY Remember

Hello friends. I'm Amanda Barr.

And I'm Rebecca Lou Brennan, and welcome to Dance Principles United, the podcast.

Together, we are passionate about helping studio owners with the business of running their studio.

Join us as we talk everything from marketing systems, studio culture, motherhood, life, and everything in between.

This is the Dance Principles United podcast. Hey, Bec. So it's comp season, right? Are you right in the middle of comps and craziness in your studio?

We just did our first comp.

Oh yeah. How many are you doing this year?

Um, 4.

4?

We only ever do 4.

Plus nationals? 5 if you include nationals. So just kind of depends. Yeah. So 4 big ones. So it's right in the middle of it.

Yeah.

How did your parents go for first comp?

So fun. We had the best, best, best, best day. Everyone had so much fun. We really encourage our parents to dress up for comp, so Wow. Most of our parents have our studio jacket this year, or they're wearing a PAWS supporter t-shirt of some description or a PAWS supporter jumper. So they go all out and they feel a part of it, which I think is very important. What about you? You're the same. You're being the dance mum at the moment at all the comps.

I am full-blown in dance mum mode. We just finished our second comp of the year. Got another one in a fortnight. I think we're doing Maybe 5+ Nationals. I could be wrong because I'm just a dance mum and I just show up where I'm told. But, you know, I wanted to talk about something I found really interesting. And, you know, I have my girls dancing across a lot of age groups because I've got 3 girls, those of you who don't know. And I've got my younger daughter who has some additional needs. You know, she's not going to be the star on stage, like, whatever, that's fine. She's— and she loves, like, dancing is her favorite place to be. She loves comps, she loves dancing, she loves hanging out with her Emeralds friends. And I really want to talk about how some of the most important moments at comps are not actually on the stage.

Mm.

They're not the results. And I always found that as a studio owner, but now seeing it from a mum point of view, I am so on board with it's actually not about what happens on stage. It's all the other things. I wanted to chat a bit about that.

Yeah, for sure. So I think like making it a positive experience for every child is the most important thing. And making sure that parents see that positive experience because look, we just went to the last comp and lucky us, we won most of the sections. We might go to the next comp and not win any of the sections and it needs to feel the same regardless.

Absolutely. Yeah.

And you know how competitive I am.

Absolutely.

But you can't, you can't base it on results. You've got to base it on the experience.

I love that so much. So I wanted to kind of paint this picture, right?

Right.

And I'm sure you, like, I can definitely relate as a studio owner. You know, you're backstage at the comp, you've got the routines all over the place, right? You've got 35 routines in a day. You've got an 8s and your 12s are reporting whilst your 8s are almost on stage and you've got to quickly change them. And then the 14s are rocking up and they're having a in the dressing room, you're like, shit, when am I even going to get time to eat or go to the bathroom between all these routines? And so what happens is, you know, your 8s dance, you're like, thank fuck they're finished for the day. All right, 14s, let's start rehearsing. Let's start rehearsing. Bye, 8s.

See ya.

They finish dancing and you send them on out to the parents and run back to rehearsing your 14s or whatever that is. Been there?

Yeah, it's really hard.

It's really, really hard, right?

Yeah.

And you're also like, I'm exhausted. God, I'm pretty pissed that they didn't place. Like, there's probably that all going on. But to me, the most important part of the comp is what happens after that.

Mm.

You know, as a parent, some of the parents been sitting there in the audience for 2 hours, 3 hours. The most valuable part of the comp is the studio owner, the teacher, someone giving them that love afterwards, building them up, congratulating them, telling them what they did good, taking the team photo, doing the chant, doing all of those things. I think that's so, so valuable. Do you do this at PAWS?

Yeah, so we do. Well, we actually just have one team leader on every age group, which, I mean, it's— I know I have a big team, but we have 4s, 5s, 6s, 8s all there at EBDSN, which was an amazingly run, beautiful comp on the weekend. I have to say it was really great. So 4s had someone, or 2 people actually. 5s had someone, 6s had someone, and I was on 8s.

Yeah.

Right now we have 34 8s, and I was on 8s on my own, and I was fine.

Yeah, yeah.

But what happened then was I took the 8s for their warm-up, which we do with everyone, and then we run their routine. Then I take them out to the stage, we get them on stage, we high-five them and party. As they come off, we take a photo. Then we have people lined up with medals when they come off stage. So every child gets a medal as they come off the stage, whether they win or not is irrelevant. And then they come down and get into their next things. And then I'm— so did I miss some of the Sixes routines? Yes. Does it matter?

Not really.

I don't think parents actually care whether I'm watching the Sixes or not, as long as the Sixes people are watching the Sixes and rah-rah-rah-rah.

And someone's celebrating, as long as there's someone who's celebrating them, right? It doesn't have to be you.

Correct. And we also sit with them in between. We play games with them. Like we have a really fun day for them and we tell them the week before it's going to be the most fun day ever. So that is how we run it. What does your school do?

Look, very similar. You know, my 8-year-old was backstage.

She did—

I think she was in 4 routines, 5 routines. So she was backstage for a decent amount of time. They definitely— they had like an hour and a half break, but they kept them backstage the whole time or in the dressing rooms and had a ball. They were playing games. They were doing all those things. She wanted to tell me all about that when she came out. But to me, the part that made the biggest difference was not the results. And that's what really made me think, right? Like, I was sitting with all the 8s parents. We'd all been there since, you know, way too early in the morning on a Sunday morning up in Mittagong. Uh, we'd all been sitting there. It was now like, we'd been there since 7 AM. It was now like 1 PM. Like, the reality was most people wanted to get home.

Hmm.

Absolutely. Does that mean that even though they wanted to get home, that they don't want to take 5 more minutes to make it special? No. And I think sometimes that's where studio owners get confused. They get confused or teachers get confused. Go, oh, these parents just want to get out of here. Yeah, but we also want to make it worth its while.

Yep.

And so what I loved seeing was my daughter's teachers, you know, instead of them just going, oh cool, go to your parents, they're all outside the dressing room. See you guys. Bye. You know, you know, that kind of thing. They came out, they brought them all out together. The parents all like, you know, they sort of started the clap so that all the parents clapped them as they came out of the dressing rooms. So the teachers kind of instigated that.

That's cute.

You know, and sort of showed the parents what to do. Yeah. Then they were like, oh, come on, parents, who wants to take a photo of us and the team? So the teachers jumped in it. They did a big team photo. After the team photo, they had all the kids in one area. Obviously, the parents were then all sitting there. taking photos, they're like, hey guys, we just wanted to tell you, you were so incredible today. Now I need to tell you that they barely placed, got a couple of places, but, you know, not huge results. You know, normal 8 and under routine. It could have been anyone on the day, you know, that kind of thing. Like, it was fine. Those kids felt like fucking rock stars. Sassy was obsessed with how special she felt. Because her teachers told her she was so incredible. They didn't get medals or anything. I love that you did that, and I want to come back to that. But those teachers made them sure that they felt like they're like, we are so proud of you today. You absolutely nailed that section and that term we've been talking about. Yes, girls, that was awesome. Like, you know, all of that. Parents, aren't you proud of your kids? Let's give them another round of applause. Like almost like a little presentation. Ceremony just out in the garden, you know, in the middle of a school grounds as it is. But that whole handover that only took 5 minutes was the best part of the day.

Yep.

I love it so much.

It's— I think that we as studio owners and teachers get really down when we don't win, and then we think the parents are really down, but they actually don't care.

They do not. I was sat with all these parents. No one cared. No.

And I think they know— well, I feel like people can see that it's quite subjective. So does that really matter? No. But that moment, like you're saying, and how they feel about it afterwards is what really matters.

Absolutely. So I want to jump into you talking about the medal thing, because I think that's so valuable. Obviously, this is something you pay for yourself, and obviously it's covered somewhere along something, you know, like whatever. But that is so special because It's such a shame that comps don't give everyone the ribbon, the medal anymore. Yeah, they used to. Hey.

Yeah.

And it doesn't happen anymore.

A lot of comps used to do that.

Yeah. And I love that. And like, I love that you give them medals. So you just do that on the first comp?

Yeah, we do. But I'm actually thinking about it here, sitting with you going, maybe we could give them a lolly bag or something else.

Even a certificate, right?

Yeah. I feel like they would love that. Like if we get ribbons from a comp, we always give the ribbons, obviously.

Yeah.

But I feel like that doesn't— that's happening less and less and less. So a lolly, they would love a lolly bag.

Absolutely. Like, you know, if we're talking 6s or 8s, like 5s, 4s, 8s, whatever, you know, even buying, say, in bulk from Temu, even, you know, like a little like star squishy. And it's like, hey, these are our team star squishies. Like, do you know what I mean? Like something like that. I'm giving you ideas, aren't I? Do you know, I was on a one-on-one with one of our members. Yeah.

Abby from Darwin. And you know what she's bought from Temu that her parents and kids are obsessed with? They're called Lucky Ducks.

Oh yeah, cute.

And they're like in a little egg, so you don't know which duck's going to come out, but there's like 22 different ducks to collect.

Yeah, so clever.

So there she's giving them out to hardest worker. But I had that moment that I'm like, why don't we just buy those and give Lucky Ducks out?

And they probably imagine they're like 30 cents each. Like, if that's—

Not even.

Yeah. And to me, something like that. And, you know, uh, we were talking about it with our members yesterday and, you know, it's about the marketing and the story. And, you know, if you just give a kid a squishy, a duck, you're like, have a duck.

Woo.

You know, oh my gosh, these are our special Paws Lucky Ducks. You need to try and collect them all. And the hardest working— it's the marketing and the hype behind a duck. Whereas if it's just give them a duck, they're like, whatever. Yeah, but if you tell a whole story and you pump it up, it doesn't actually matter what it is. Like, how special is that for the kids? And they would go home like, I know my daughter who's 8 would be obsessed. She'd hold that the whole way home. She'd want to put it, you know, if it was a certificate, she'd want to put it on the fridge. She'd want to put it next to her bed. She'd want to do that. Most kids are like that as well.

They are. That stuff means so much more to them than whether they won first place or not.

They could not remember. And I think that's the big thing that we need to make sure as studio owners We remember that, you know, especially at some of those comps, as you said, they're subjective. Everyone was great. We were at Carnival last weekend. There wasn't a bad studio there. Everyone was incredible.

Is there really that many bad studios anymore? No, I don't think there is.

Everyone was fantastic.

Standards out of control.

You know, it really could have been any one of those studios that won. Is the— I can't even remember. You know, I think SAS had 5 routines. GG had maybe 5 or 6. Sally had maybe 8. I could not tell you. It was only 3 days ago who placed in what. No idea. I'm never going to remember if they got second place, third place, highly commended. Like, much for muchness, right? If my daughter is so happy about the medal, the duck, that's what I'm going to remember.

Was there a teacher dance-off though, is the big question.

Oh, I do love a good teacher dance-off. I know they do that very well at ABDSN. There was not. However, there was like the Best Choreography. And Ali, my girl studio owner, did step ball changes down with like a little leap down a full catwalk wearing a crown. So like the kids really enjoyed that, like full old school '80s, like step ball change, you know, with the— what are these called? The circle arms? Yeah, yeah.

Love, love, love, love.

You know, just something silly. I know another teacher came on doing the moonwalk or whatever, like silly things like that.

Yeah, kids love it. Yeah, that's the most memorable thing for our kids was that we dressed One of our— well, he's also a student, but one of our student teachers up as a rhino for the teacher dance-off and put like a PAWS shirt and PAWS shorts on the rhino. I mean, we've got this from doing shows years ago and he was, you know, doing dancing and they— we were sitting with all of the little ones at the front watching and they were screaming and going crazy. They thought it was the best thing ever.

Can we just backtrack on that? Let's talk about how next level that is, because I think you feel like it's normal. It is normal. Mascot costume to a comp. A full mascot. We're talking full mascot, full head, full everything.

Yeah.

Yeah. So that the kids would have the best time watching their junior teachers on stage thinking it was hilarious.

Look, also, to be fair, Miss Beck did not want to get up on the stage and I needed to create something.

A diversion. That wasn't you.

It wasn't me.

But how clever is that? Because once again, that's about, you know, it's more than the routine. The kids went home and the thing that they told at news on Monday was not that they got first place. No, it was that— was it Trent that was dancing? Yeah, that Mr. Trent dressed as a rhinoceros and did a worm on stage. That's the story that they're going to remember, right? Yeah. I saw a couple of your parents like post it going, oh my God, I love these teachers.

Yes.

They're the memorable moments, not the first or the second place, not anything else. So it's like, how can we create more of this at comps? Because that makes a— like, I think we forget that. Like, we think that the retention and the students coming back to comps and stuff is about whether they win or not. It's not. No, it's about the feeling.

Absolutely.

It's about the belonging. It's about being part of a team. So it's so much more than the places in the comp. Yeah, it's how they feel.

Absolutely.

Love that. Oh my God, I love that so much. And I think it's so next level and I'd love to see more studio owners embracing that. You know, one thing that we've always done, and I know so many studios do it now, is call kids by their team names.

Yes.

You're very good at this. I'm so big on that. You know, Sassy's in the Emeralds. Yep. And that's all she ever talks about is, I want to see my Emeralds friends. I want to see my Emeralds besties. Can we have an Emerald sleepover? Can we— like, that's how she refers to The mums all go, oh, we're an Emeralds mum. Come on, Emeralds mums unite. Like all of this kind of stuff. That sense of belonging is so important to a team.

Sometimes more important for parents than it is for kids. Like if parents feel like they belong and have friends that they're going to it with, it makes it so much more fun for them as well.

Hey, can I just like add something else to this conversation? One thing I was always big on in comms was we had one teacher, one staff member with the kids, one staff member with the parents. Because you also have to manage the parents at the comp. And I know I've spoken about this before on the podcast, but I think it's really important. I chatted to one of, um, a new SJC member about that. And, you know, he was saying he had never thought about that before. Like, you know, the parent that walks into the comp for the first time and it's like, what the hell's happening?

Yep.

They haven't seen the program.

Yep.

They don't know how, like, am I waiting 10 minutes for my child to come on stage? I've just sent them backstage or an hour and a half. Do I have time to go to the toilet or am I going to miss them? You know, they don't know any of those things. So, you know, putting a staff member, a teacher, or even like, you know, the woo, like rah-rah, woo-woo, rah-rah is what I mean. The rah-rah parent, whatever that is, right, with the parents. And it's like, hey parents, You know, Emerald's parents, 6 and under parents. Hey, let's all have a chat over here. Let's all sit together and cheer. Hey, I just wanted to let you know they should be on in about, oh, about 8 dances. So they're, you know, they're number 234. And what's going to happen is straight after their section, they're going to be awarded. We're going to— and then all the parents are going to meet out the front. The teachers will bring them back out. We're going to chat.

Smart.

Tell them what's going on.

Yep.

Also, you know, your party. I'm a big believer in Your party, you're the host. So what does that mean? The new parent that's just joined the group, it's like, hey, Bec, have you met Susie's mum? You know, your daughter and Susie are like such good little friends. You guys, oh my gosh, you guys should get them together for a playdate. Like making those connections.

You have to. That's so important.

Making those friendships. Don't forget that at a comp.

So important. I think that's important, not just at comp. No, of course. In general.

Yeah.

Like I always say to my staff, if someone's sitting by themselves in the waiting area, introduce them to another parent. Don't just My staff are quite good at that now. But, but we want you guys to think about how can you do comp differently?

I love it.

How can you change your thought process on comp and make it less about the ego of you and more about the kids having a great time?

Love that so, so much. Thanks for joining us on the Dance Principals United podcast. Hey, if you haven't already, can you give us like a little rating on Apple Podcasts or Spotify? Spotify, you know, jump in. It means the world to us whether you give us some stars, a little bit of a review. It's so helpful.

Try to be amazing. Thanks, friends.

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