The setup:

• 🚗 On the ride to school we got to talking about how fast the year flew, and how he can’t wait to be a senior and launch into adult life — cue me doing the classic dad bit: “Don’t hurry it away! Enjoy the no-mortgage, no-car-payment years!”

• 🤔 Meanwhile his brain is already living in the fall - “Which teachers are coming back? How will we move on without our seniors? Will we recruit any awesome freshmen?”

• 🗓️ First things first, though: a stacked summer (more on that below)

The gripe of the week:

• 💃 Around here, most studios cluster their fall auditions into the same two-week window — smart, because kids can try out a bunch of places, weigh their options, and then pick one

• ⏰ But ONE organization runs their auditions way early, then hands you a tight “commit or quit” deadline

• 🧐 Business-hat me (I run a cybersecurity company) totally sees the play — it’s a stickiness move (even if it’s icky IMHO)

• 👧 Parent me thinks it’s kinda slimy when we’re talking about little tots to teenagers. When a studio is also your kid’s core social circle, the “decision” basically gets made for you: stay put, or risk not landing anywhere for the season

• 📝 I’m not saying run for the hills — just file this in the “con” column as a data point if you’re studio-shopping this fall

What’s next:

• 🩰 Three weeks in Phoenix at Master Ballet Academy

• 🏛️ Then off to Massachusetts for a week at CLI Conservatory

• 🎙️ Plus twice-a-week training with his consultant all summer long

👉 Visit dadofadancer.com to drop me a DM or comment — and catch Dad of a Dancer on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and anywhere you find podcasts. Have a wonderful week!

The lead-up:

• 🎶 Atticus choreographed his own solo with help from his dance consultant — my wife and I mostly just got out of the way and let them cook

• 🎧 I got to be on the audio production side — he had a 5-minute orchestral piece he wanted cut down to ~2 minutes, so we spent hours in GarageBand surgically stitching transitions until they blended like butter

• ✨ One of my favorite things about this school: kids get hands-on with all of it — choreography, music edits, costume choices, lighting palettes, even backdrops. Makes for way more versatile dancers

Show night:

• ✈️ I caught the red-eye home from a work trip Saturday morning to make it

• 🪑 Front-row seat — my toes were literally butting up against the marley floor

• 📱 Photo/video was discouraged, so I may or may not have filmed it ninja-style by holding my program up as a decoy with my phone tucked behind it. (Sorry, not sorry.)

• 👀 I did a terrible videography job because I kept forgetting to follow him with the camera — too busy watching with my actual eyes

The moments that got me:

• 🤸 A giant sideways scissor-kick leap and a set of turns that seemed to last forever — the crowd around me was audibly losing it (”Oh I see you! You brought it tonight!”)

• 👏 Hearing strangers — moms, dads, grandparents — react in real time to his solo is a special kind of proud-papa treat

What’s next:

• 🩰 Three weeks in Phoenix at Master Ballet Academy

• 🏛️ Then off to Massachusetts for the CLI Conservatory

• 🎙️ Lots more to share with you soon

👉 Visit dadofadancer.com and subscribe so you never miss an episode — new ones drop every Wednesday!

A fellow dance parent sent me a clip from The Jason Show where the host, Jason Matheson, shared some feedback from staff at Disney World where the theme was essentially “Dance and cheer parents are the worst.”

I’ve clocked many hours at dance conventions and competitions, and after seeing and interacting with many dance parents…in some cases I agree with Jason 100%.

Check out today’s episode and then let me know…what do you think?

How we ended up there:

• 🎟️ Atticus has been begging for a big concert (Bruno Mars is the dream, but those tickets are $250–$300 a seat — yikes!)

• 👀 My wife spotted Calum Scott at the Fillmore for $60. Sold! Only bad news is the tickets were for standing room only — cue lots of pre-show knee bends and stretches from me and my wife

• 🏰 We scored a tucked-away corner spot with a support beam to lean on (genius move on my wife’s behalf)

The moment that got me:

• 💛 Mid-set, Calum came out into the crowd to sing I Love You No Matter What — a song about family loving you no matter who you are or what you’ve done. I got misty-eyed — because that’s exactly the parent I want to be for Atticus in a dance world that doesn’t always make space for boys who dance.

• 🩰 Bonus: he played one of the songs Atticus has a solo to — extra goosebumps for me

• 🙌 (Yes, my wife grabbed his shoulder. Yes, I got a consensual fist bump. We’re not proud. Okay, a little proud.)

What stuck with me:

• 🎶 Calum is sincere, appreciative, and an incredible entertainer

• 👯 He closed with a Whitney Houston duet of I Wanna Dance with Somebody — reportedly the first artist in years approved by her estate to use her voice (don’t quote me, but wow)

• 💌 We’re officially on the Fillmore mailing list (but next time we’re springing for a balcony seat!)

👉 Visit dadofadancer.com and subscribe so you never miss an episode — new ones drop every Wednesday!

• Did Atti get accepted into the Master Ballet Academy?

• He competed at REVEL Phoenix and had, well…a little “wrinkle” in his choreography

The competition — aka the night his music cut out mid-solo:

• 🎭 Atticus hadn’t competed in two years — and he came back with a solo he choreographed himself

• 😬 Before he even got on stage, they called the wrong number and sent another dancer out first

• 🔇 About 15 seconds in, the music cut out and the whole room went completely silent

• 💪 He didn’t stop, didn’t look at the sound booth, didn’t apologize — he just kept going and improvised through it

• 🏆 The judges noticed — several called out his composure in their critiques, and he pulled off a great score!

The Zoom audition for a professional ballet academy:

• 🩰 He auditioned one-on-one over Zoom with the head of Master Ballet Academy in Scottsdale, Arizona

• ⚡ Dealing with mirror delays, glitchy audio, and counting off music in your head — not easy

• 📬 We’re anxiously refreshing our email waiting to hear back if he was accepted to the academy — send those good vibes! If he gets in, he’s headed to Scottsdale this summer for intensive training. Did I mention dance is expensive? 💸

👉 Follow along at dadofadancer.com and subscribe on Spotify or Apple Podcasts — new episodes every Wednesday!

Stage entrances and exits matter more than you think:

• 🎭 Judging starts the second any part of you is visible on that stage — so don’t just shuffle out there!

• 💪 Walk on with confidence and intention — tall chest, proud head — like you came ready to melt some faces

• 🚶 After your piece ends, don’t scramble off like you’re apologizing for what just happened — count to five, take a bow, then walk off like a pro

• ⚖️ It’s all about balance — don’t look cocky, but don’t look sorry either

We’ve also got a big Zoom audition this week:

• 🩰 My son is auditioning for a full-time ballet academy

• 📅 We’ll find out in about 3-4 weeks if he made it (send good vibes!)

• 💸 If he gets in, it means 3+ weeks of intensive summer training (did I mention dance is expensive? Check out this episode in case you forgot :-)

Next episode I’m hoping to bring my son on to recap how both the competition and audition went — stay tuned! 🎙️

👉 Visit dadofadancer.com and subscribe so you never miss an episode — new ones drop every Wednesday!

Physical prep:

• 💧 Hydration is everything — and no, Dr. Pepper does NOT count

• 🤸 Stretch consistently (not just the night before when you suddenly want your needle back)

• 🦴 Chiropractic care made a surprising difference for us — with the right follow-through homework

Mental game:

• Social media is a blessing AND a curse — let it inspire you, not crush you

• I’m encouraging my son to stop competing against every dancer in the room — make some friends out there!

• Focus on how far YOU’VE come, not what some other dancer is doing on TikTok

My big reminder to him: You’re only 15 once. The cutthroat stuff comes later — enjoy it now! 🙌

1. We got to see a phenomenal dance+vocals ensemble that also had a unique stage presence (it made me giggle)

2. I got to take a salsa class in hopes Atti would join me. But did he? Listen to today’s episode to find out!

• Pick strong passwords

• Use a different password for every online account you have (Insta, TikTok, etc.)

• Turn on multi-factor authentication everywhere you can

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Thanks again for listening and be sure to subscribe to our podcast on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.

-Brian and Atti

• What’s NUVO all about, and what parts of the nation can you find this competition/convention?

• What’s it like to attend something like NUVO without representation from a dance studio?

• What dance skills should you have nailed down before attending NUVO?

• Can you still get scholarships/awards when you’re a dance “free agent?”

Next week we’ll talk about Atti’s experience at the National High School Dance Festival.

I’m super happy and super proud of him.

(This is no shade on NUVO because pretty much all conventions/competitions do this, but most of the scholarship awards handed out give you a few hundred dollars off of admission to a future event. It’s a great gesture, however, realistically that’s a few hundred dollars off thousands in expenses when you figure in plane tickets, hotel, rental car, meals, incidentals, etc.)

This week I’ll work on an audio interview with my son about the NUVO experience, tips he picked up over the weekend, etc., and then release that as episode #15 of the Dad of a Dancer podcast.

-Brian

• Challenges applying for dance conventions/competitions as an independent

• The uncomfortable feeling of dropping him off in an environment where he didn’t know anybody

• Assuring him we didn’t care if he came home from the weekend with all of the awards or zero awards

• Finally getting recognition for all his hard work!

Also coming up in future DOAD episodes: my son will share his experiences from the National High School Dance Festival in Washington, which he’s at right now as I type this.

So this week I’m back with another round, only this time the challenge is greater: name six songs in sixty seconds to earn a gross Starbucks drink. Tune into today’s episode to see if he was successful, or if I finally stumped him!

In today’s episode, I share three ways we can help our kids develop a healthy perspective on competition while still keeping a strong competitive spirit.