Tag Archives: judging

How to score better at dance competitions

Cathy Roe dance awards 2010_1Have you ever wondered what it takes to do better at a dance competition? Well wonder no more because Cathy Roe, the founder of Cathy Roe Ultimate Dance competitions has spelled it out for you. Here is the link to her recent Facebook post on this topic, How to Stand Out at Competition. Here are the most important things as Cathy has listed them:

  1. Technique
  2. Rehearsal
  3. Stage Presence
  4. Originality (including unique music!)
  5. Dance within your abilities
  6. Be classy and age appropriate
  7. Show Good Will
  8. Innovative choreography (including using music that connects with you!)

Out of the eight most important things to score well and stand out at a dance competition, TWO of the items include the musical aspect. Reprinted here is the full text of Ms. Roe’s comments on these two aspects, musical aspects emphasized in bold:

4. Our motto “Dare to Be Different” means BE UNIQUE, BE ORIGINAL! I used to tell my students that if we heard a song at a competition, that was a guarantee that we would NEVER dance to that song. There is no dearth of exquisite, exciting, original, emotional, clever, mesmerizing music. If you haven’t checked out Spotify, it’s fantastic for finding music! And as for dance themes…. we see a lot of “love gone wrong” themes, especially from our soloist. The soloist that stands out has a unique and interesting message or song that makes the judges sit up and pay attention because they haven’t seen/heard it before.

8. Bring innovate choreography. How? Be yourself. Think about your life, what you love, your experiences. Listen to music until you find that song that hits you right between the eyes and you say YES! I GET THAT! I FEEL LIKE THAT! Tell a story that matters to you. Forget about imitating anyone and especially because you think what they do what “wins”. Be in it to love it; to be an artist; to be a leader. Be an original thinker, a path finder! My judges are people (that it took me years to find) that will appreciate you for it. But just remember, with all the innovation in the world, we can’t see your vision without technical dancers that can execute it. So I must go back to #1 because it is the technique of your dancers that will display your vision like fine paint on and expensive canvas.

Squirrel Trench Audio is in the business of delivering UNIQUE, original music and remixes to competitive dancers. There are two different ways we can help you in this regard. If you have a music idea, or songs you’d like remixed together, you can use this Request Form to get a price quote from us. In addition, we have a library of unique music remixes for you to choose from on Legitmix. Just take a listen, and if you find one that connects with you, you can purchase it immediately, no waiting! Here’s our catalog of unique remixes:

Get more remixes at Legitmix

What is possible in music editing for dance?

I realize that there are many people coming to this site who may not be aware of what can be done to music to get it into shape for a dance routine. So here are just a few of the things that can be changed or re-shaped in getting a song ready for choreography. If you have any questions about it, don’t hesitate to send me an email with your questions!

  • Edit the song for smoothness – Many amateur music editors will cut a song in a spot that doesn’t make sense for a smooth flow. We have an in-depth understanding of music structure that enables us to deliver a polished edit that flows best for choreography. Just let us know how long the routine will be, and we will deliver your song at that length. Email me for more info; pricing is $39 per song.
  • Speed up a song – Advances in digital music processing enable us to speed a song up (or slow a song down) by a little bit or a whole lot. Tempo is usually measured in Beats Per Minute (or BPM). Many dance songs have a tempo in the ballpark of 120-126 BPM. Faster songs that are danceable are 132-140 BPM, and there are other songs that work at 90-100 BPM. It’s all about the groove. Since most dancers don’t know the BPM of a song, it’s okay to tell us that you want a song sped up by 5% or slowed down by 10%.
  • Slow down a song – see above. Any music can be sped up or slowed down. We can even deliver several versions for you at different speeds, for rehearsal purposes.
  • Create a unique remix – Given the right parameters, we can come up with a unique remix of a song or combination of songs. This takes some collaboration, so if you are interested in something like this, this or this, then send me an email, and we can talk further on the phone or via email. Usually this process starts with a concept for the dance, and continues from there.
  • Make a song louder – Dancers often want their music to sound as loud as every other song that is being played on a sound system. If you are using a song from a movie soundtrack, or an older song from many years ago, and it’s not loud enough compared to other songs being used, send it my way and we’ll get it just right for you. Sometimes older songs could use more bass, and we can increase the bass as well. (more on Mastering for Loudness here).
  • Remove swear words or other objectionable lyrics – Many songs have a clean version available, but many do not. Some songs have objectionable lyrics throughout, and should not be used for family-oriented dance. Sometimes a song will be perfect, but have one or two objectionable words or phrases. I have successfully removed such words from many songs, even ones where it seemed impossible. I am proud to have helped one dance group improve their score because competition judges were deducting points because of the objectionable lyrics in a Christina Aguilera Burlesque song. I removed the offending lyrics that were repeated six times throughout the song, and the routine no longer received deductions due to the content of the music.

That covers the basics. Happy dancing!

Dance Competition Survey

There are more dance competitions to choose from these days than ever before. If you are a dance studio owner, how do you pick which ones to attend? Which ones are well-run and have the most fair scoring?

Squirrel Trench Audio is jumping into the void by presenting a survey of your satisfaction with dance competitions you’ve attended. This 10-page survey asks you to report your satisfaction level overall, and then breaks it down by asking your satisfaction with several aspects, such as judging fairness, dressing room accommodations, quality of photos and videos, etc.

Take the survey and find out how your results stack up with others’ experiences!

Squirrel Trench Audio’s Dance Competition Survey

The first question must be answered for at least one competition; all the rest are optional.

The competitions represented in the survey are:
West Coast Dance Explosion • Nexstar • OnStageNY • Starquest • Dancers Inc • Hall of Fame • Showstopper • Starpower • KAR • Legacy • Star Systems • Candance • Elite Dance Challenge • Headliners • USTD • Bravo • Groove • Power of Dance • Starbound • Turn It Up • Encore Dance • On Stage America • Step Up 2 Dance • Ticket to Broadway • I Love Dance • Spirit of Dance • Sophisticated Productions • Dance America • Access Broadway • NYCDA • Jump/Nuvo • Creation • Tremaine • Dance Makers Inc. • Dance Educators of America • Countdown • Dynamite • Revolution • Showbiz • Primetime • Masquerade • Beyond the Stars • ADA • Dance Machine Productions • Star Talent Productions • Encore DCS • Applause Talent • International Dance Challenge • Platinum Dance • Legacy Dance Championship • Odyssey • VIP • Talent on Parade (TOP) • Thunderstruck • Spotlight

Competition season is upon us!

Competition season is just about to get underway! (or maybe it already has for you!). Now’s a great time to listen to your songs with a fresh perspective and see if there are any squirrel trenches in there that could take the judges out of the moment from fully appreciating your dance routine. If you have one or two in your song, send it to us at Squirrel Trench Audio. In most cases we can create a smooth and seamless song without changing the timing of your originally edited version. We know that now is NOT the time to be messing with re-choreographing….. your dance is your dance at this stage of the year. Just know that it’s not too late to fix it!

And knowing that budgets are tight and entry fees need to be paid… we’re running a special discount… the next three songs we receive to fix up and make perfect for competition will only be $30 for the editing! (Songs delivered online; CDs extra)