Dance Principals United: Dance Studio Growth & Marketing Podcast · Amanda Barr & Rebecca Liu-Brennan: Dance Studio Coaches & Growth Experts

Comp Hangovers & Trophies in the Bin: Real Talk About Dance Comps For Studio Owners

·1 hr 1 min·3 clips

Bec says she brings “a fuck ton of money” to a comp and still got no greeting.

1. Dance Principles United turns comp season into a studio-operations discussion about exhaustion, service, and awards. 2. Amanda Barr and Rebecca Lou Brennan host the episode, and both speak as studio owners and dance parents who manage competition weekends. 3. They ask what comps should actually do for studios, parents, and children when season ends with a “comp hangover.” 4. Amanda describes a last comp day that started at 7:30 a.m. and finished at 8:00 p.m., then required unloading a truck full of props. 5. Bec says she usually does four comps a year, but ADF and an added elite-company stream push the total higher. 6. They compare that with studio owners who do 20 comps a year, which Bec calls too much for one business and one family. 7. They talk about solo comps and when a studio owner should attend them, especially when a family schedule changes the answer. 8. Bec says she would rather go to nationals and see the standard than attend every solo comp across a crowded season. 9. Amanda argues that once a studio owner starts attending every solo comp, it becomes hard to pull back when the number of students grows. 10. They say the real question is whether the practice is scalable when there are 20 soloists versus 50. 11. The awards discussion starts with immediate results versus big end-of-session ceremonies. 12. Bec says she likes immediate awards from a teaching perspective because she can remember the other routines. 13. She also likes immediate voice critique at solo comps because Bebe can listen back before the next routine. 14. Both hosts question big awards ceremonies that only read section numbers without any celebration or value for the wait. 15. Amanda says kids at those ceremonies often cannot follow what is being announced. 16. They praise Showcase for having the studio owner collect trophies and for making the moment feel like a dance-off. 17. The episode's tone is conversational, practical, and openly blunt, with both hosts interrupting each other and laughing at industry habits. 18. The format is a host-to-host discussion with examples from the same weekend, plus specific stories from current and past comps. 19. Studio owners who manage comp logistics, parent communication, and awards would get the most from this episode. 20. Listeners who want performance analysis without business logistics may skip it.

As heard by us

A candid comp-season debrief that turns chaos into studio operations questions.

This episode stays close to the part of comp season that usually gets left out: the fatigue, the gear pile, and the little systems that start carrying more weight when everyone is running on fumes.

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Why you'd press play

If comp weekend leaves you fried, this one will feel painfully familiar.

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