It's Show Season. It's Time to Refocus.

Every spring, there’s a moment-- usually somewhere between picture day and dress rehearsal-- when the pressure of show season starts to feel heavy. We want everything to be right: the lighting, the transitions, the choreography, the formations. As teachers and studio owners, we’ve worked all year for this. The showcase is our big finish, too.

Lately, in conversations with fellow educators, I keep coming back to this question: whose experience are we centering?

It’s easy to get swept up in what we want to prove-- to ourselves, to families, to our peers. We want to showcase growth, artistry, and effort. Sometimes we want to wow. The deeper purpose behind our work, however, isn’t about tricks or perfection. It’s about something more meaningful: building confidence through achievement. Not achievement for achievement’s sake, but the kind a student earns when they meet a challenge that’s just right for them, and they rise to it.

That means we may need to set aside what we might need from the performance. Our desire to impress, to fulfill a specific vision, to highlight standout dancers. Those impulses are real, but they’re not the point. The real work is in helping each student feel prepared, seen, and proud.

This mindset doesn’t belong only to teachers and directors. It’s something we hope our dance families embrace, too.

When a parent cheers on their child for doing their personal best (not for doing the highest jump or landing the fanciest turn) they reinforce the idea that growth is worth celebrating, not just flash. When families encourage nervous excitement instead of pressure, they help students walk into rehearsals and performances with confidence instead of fear.

This doesn’t mean lowering expectations. It means refining them. We push students just far enough to feel the good kind of nervous. The kind that comes with butterflies, not dread. The kind that ends in applause and a rush of pride.

In these final days, my team and I remind ourselves: this showcase belongs to the students. It’s a celebration of what they’ve accomplished, and when we center their experience-- how they feel onstage, how they walk out afterward, how they carry themselves the next day-- we do more than put on a good show. We build something that lasts.