The College Dance Recruiting Playbook — Part 2
How to prepare for a recruiting video that actually speaks to the teams you want to join.
By Allie Hopper, Founder, D1Vision Dance Academy & Former University of Kansas Dance Team Coach
Your Recruiting Video Isn't One-Size-Fits-All
If you've read Part 1 of The College Dance Recruiting Playbook, you already know the most important thing I want dancers and families to understand: September 1 is the deadline, not the starting line.
If you’re submitting a college dance team video on September 1, there is a lot that goes into getting it right. The choreography, skills, style, music, filming, editing, and overall presentation all matter, and you want the final product to feel intentional rather than like you threw together a video at the last minute because the deadline was approaching.
This is where I see dancers make a common mistake. They start by asking, “What skills should I put in my video?”
However, you should actually start somewhere else. You should start by understanding the teams you want to reach.
Your recruiting video should be more than a highlight reel of everything you can do. It should give a coach a clear picture of who you are as a dancer and why you could be a fit for their program. That takes some thought before you ever press record.
Know Who You're Trying to Reach
The Common College Dance Team Recruiting Video gives participating programs a standardized starting point for evaluating prospective dancers. The National Dance Coaches Association developed recommended guidelines, and individual college programs decide whether they will use them, what supplemental materials they require, and which deadline they follow. The current common timeline includes an early September 1 submission and a January 1 submission, but dancers should always confirm the requirements directly with each program.
That standardization is helpful, but it doesn't mean every college dance team is looking for the exact same dancer.
And that's where your preparation needs to become more intentional.
Before you film, make a list of the schools you're seriously considering and then you need to research them.
Watch their game-day performances, their competition routines, look at their clinics, review the overall university academics and traditions and pay attention to the dancers they recruit.
There isn't one universal definition of a "college dance team dancer” and your job isn't to become every possible version of one.
Your job is to understand which programs are the right fit for you and what those programs value.
Don't Try to Show Everything
This is probably one of the biggest mistakes I see.
A dancer looks at the recruiting video requirements and thinks: "I need to show them everything I can do."
And that is not necessarily true.
The Common Video already gives participating programs a standardized set of skills to evaluate. Depending on the program, there may also be style combinations, supplemental videos, solos, or additional requirements.
Your job isn't to cram every skill you've ever learned into one video, your job is to show the right things well.
Think about that difference.
If the programs you're targeting emphasize power, athleticism and game-day performance, your supplemental material should help coaches see those qualities.
f you're targeting programs that are heavily competition-focused, your choices may look different.
If a program emphasizes strong ballet technique and lyrical movement, that should influence how you prepare.
The goal isn't to make the most impressive video possible, it's to make the most relevant video possible.
One Dancer. Different Schools. Different Strategy.
I recently had a dancer reach out to me because they were getting ready to film their Common Dance Team Recruiting Video.
They had a question I hear often: "What kind of jazz should I do?"
Traditional jazz?
Lyrical?
Contemporary?
Dance-team jazz?
My answer wasn't based on which combination I personally liked better. Instead, we started with the schools they were targeting.
Their list included programs with very different styles and expectations. Some emphasized big game-day performance, some were looking for power, some were more competition-focused and some leaned heavily into lyrical movement and ballet.
Once we looked at the list as a whole, the answer became much clearer. The goal wasn't to choose the "best" jazz combination.
The goal was to choose the combination that most effectively communicated the qualities those programs were looking for.
That's the difference between filming a video and building a recruiting strategy.
Your School List Should Influence Your Training
This is the part I really want dancers and parents to understand: your recruiting strategy shouldn’t start when you open the camera app. It should shape how you train months, and sometimes years, before you ever film that video.
If the programs you’re interested in value power, you need to spend time building power. If they have strong ballet expectations, ballet needs to be part of your training. If you’re looking at teams that perform in stadiums, you need to know how to perform with that kind of energy and presence. If you’re targeting competition-heavy programs, you need to understand what that style requires. And if you want to be a versatile dancer, you have to actually train across styles.
You can’t manufacture those qualities for a video.
They have to be built long before you hit record.
This Is Why Fundamentals Matter
When dancers ask me what they should be doing to prepare for college dance, they’re often looking for the advanced answer: What’s the hardest skill? How many turns should I have? What tricks will make me stand out?
Those things can matter, but they’re not where I would start.
I’d start with the things that make everything else possible: technique, strength, musicality, performance quality, consistency, versatility, and coachability. You need to be able to walk into a room, learn something, take a correction and actually apply it.
A recruiting video can show a triple pirouette, a big leap or an impressive turn combination, but a coach is still watching the dancer underneath all of that. How do you move? How do you perform? Do you have control? How quickly do you pick up material? Do you look confident? Can they see you growing into their program?
The current common guidelines reflect that too, with a focus on foundational skills like turns, jumps and leaps, flexibility and acro, along with style-specific or specialty skills depending on the program.
The advanced skills can help you stand out, but the foundation is what gives those skills something to stand on.
Don't Wait Until Senior Year to Start Training for the Dancer You Want to Become
This is where the timeline from Part 1 really matters. The goal isn’t to wait until senior year and suddenly start preparing for college dance. What you should be working on changes as you get closer to the recruiting process.
Middle School
You don’t need a recruiting video. You need a foundation. Focus on technique, strength, flexibility, musicality and performance quality, while learning how to take corrections and training in different styles. This is the time to become a well-rounded dancer.
Freshman Year
Start becoming more intentional about your training and your goals. Learn about different college programs, attend clinics when it makes sense and start paying attention to the styles and team environments that appeal to you. You don’t need to have your college list figured out yet, but you should start learning what’s out there.
Sophomore Year
This is a good time to start looking more closely at the teams you’re drawn to. Pay attention to what they do well, what their style looks like and where you may need to grow. If the same types of programs keep coming up, let that influence how you train.
Junior Year
Now things should start getting more specific. Your school list should begin to take shape, your training should have more purpose behind it, and recruiting clinics and conversations with programs become more important. This is also the time to take an honest look at your strengths and gaps and start thinking about what you want a coach to see when they watch you.
Senior Year
Now it’s time to execute. You shouldn’t be trying to completely reinvent yourself right before you submit your video. You’re refining the dancer you’ve spent the last several years building, making smart choices about your video and presenting yourself as clearly as possible.
That’s what makes September 1 feel very different for a prepared senior.
Your Recruiting Video Is a Snapshot
Think about your video as a snapshot of your training, not the entire picture. It doesn’t represent your entire dance career, and it certainly doesn’t determine your worth as a dancer. It’s one piece of the recruiting process.
Depending on the program, coaches may also look at recruiting forms, supplemental materials, clinic participation, communication, interviews, visits, additional videos and other interactions. Some programs using the Common Video may continue evaluating dancers after the September submission and invite selected recruits to additional opportunities.
That’s why I don’t want dancers putting all of their energy into trying to make one video perfect. The video matters, but it’s still just a reflection of the work you’ve already put in.
Spend more time becoming the dancer you want to be, and the video will have something real to show.
So What Should You Be Training Right Now?
Here’s the question I want every dancer to ask:
What do the programs I’m interested in value and am I training those qualities?
If the answer is yes, keep going. If the answer is no, that’s not a reason to panic. It’s information, and information is useful.
Maybe you need more ballet. Maybe you need more strength. Maybe your performance quality needs work. Maybe you need more game-day experience or more practice picking up choreography quickly. Maybe you need to become more versatile.
That’s what your training plan is for.
This Is Where Intentional Training Changes Everything
At D1Vision, I don’t want dancers training for one video. I want them training for the dancer they want to become and, eventually, the teams they want to be a part of.
That’s why our training goes beyond one style or one skill. Technique matters. Ballet matters. Strength and conditioning matter. Performance matters. Competition training matters. Pom matters. Game Day matters. And so does learning how to take everything you’ve trained and actually perform it with confidence.
When it’s time to submit a recruiting video, I don’t want a dancer thinking, “What do I need to learn before I film?”
I want them thinking, “How do I best show the dancer I’ve already become?”
That’s a very different place to be.
Start With Your School List
Before you film anything, take the time to identify the programs you’re interested in. Then look at what those teams actually value.
What are they looking for?
What do I already do well?
Where do I have room to grow?
What should my training focus on next?
Am I training for the teams I actually want to join?
You don’t need to have every answer today. But you do need to start asking the right questions.
Because the recruiting video comes later but the work starts now.
Want Help Figuring Out What Comes Next?
If college dance is part of your dancer’s future, you don’t have to figure out the entire path on your own.
At D1Vision, we’re building training around the actual demands of collegiate dance, not just teaching dancers more choreography and hoping it translates.
The College Dance Roadmap is designed to help dancers and families take a more personalized look at where they are now, where they want to go and what they should be working on next.
We’ll look at the programs you’re interested in, the skills those teams value, your current strengths and the areas where you have room to grow, then use that information to help you make smarter decisions about your training.
Your goal is personal. Your training should be, too.
Ready to Start?
D1Vision enrollment is now open.
Explore our classes and programs and start building the training that supports your dancer’s goals.
Want a more personalized starting point? Ask about the College Dance Roadmap.
Continue The College Dance Recruiting Playbook
Part 1: September 1 Is Coming: What Every College-Bound Dancer Needs to Know
Part 2: Your Recruiting Video Isn't One-Size-Fits-All
Next: How to Actually Execute Your Recruiting Video
Because knowing what to show is only half the battle. Next, we’ll get into how to actually execute the video and make sure the camera captures the dancer you’ve worked so hard to become.
The D1Vision College Dance Recruiting Playbook is an ongoing series from D1Vision Dance Academy designed to help dancers and their families navigate the collegiate recruiting process with confidence.
