Common Recruit Video: The Complete Guide

Your Common Recruit Video is an important step in the college dance recruiting process but it shouldn't be your entire recruiting strategy.

While a well-prepared video can introduce you to college coaches and showcase your abilities, recruiting is built on much more than a single submission. Coaches want to see how you perform in different environments, respond to feedback, interact with their team, and whether you're a good fit for their program's culture. That's why attending clinics, recruiting events, campus visits, and creating opportunities to connect with coaches in person remain some of the most valuable parts of the recruiting process.

Your Common Recruit Video should support those efforts, not replace them.

Think of it as another opportunity to tell your story. A strong video can reinforce the impression coaches already have of you or encourage them to learn more about you. When paired with consistent communication and in-person exposure, it becomes a valuable piece of your overall recruiting strategy.

Before we dive into filming tips and common mistakes, let's start with what the Common Recruit Video is and why it exists.

What is the Common Recruit Video?

The Common Recruit Video was created by the National Dance Coaches Association (NDCA) to bring more consistency to the college dance recruiting process.

Rather than asking dancers to create a completely different video for every school, many programs use a standardized format that allows coaches to evaluate the same core skills and movement qualities across recruits. While some colleges may still request additional videos or specific choreography, the Common Recruit Video provides a consistent foundation for the evaluation process.

For dancers, it also allows you to spend more time refining one quality submission instead of recreating multiple versions from scratch.

*Only graduating seniors and older can submit

What Coaches Are Actually Evaluating

One of the biggest misconceptions in recruiting is that coaches are simply looking for the dancer with the hardest tricks.

In reality, they're evaluating much more than individual skills.

Your Common Recruit Video gives coaches insight into your technical foundation, performance quality, musicality, confidence, consistency, and overall movement quality. They're paying attention to how you carry yourself, how you finish movements, whether your performance stays consistent from beginning to end, and if your style aligns with what they're looking for in their program.

They're also asking themselves a bigger question:

Can I picture this dancer representing our team?

Remember, your video is just one piece of the evaluation. Coaches are gathering information through clinics, recruiting events, conversations, auditions, and every other interaction they have with you throughout the recruiting process.

Prepare the Skills Section Like a Competition Routine

One of the biggest mistakes I see dancers make is treating the skills section like a series of individual tricks instead of one continuous performance.

Unlike other portions of the Common Recruit Video, the skills section is filmed in one continuous take. That means every transition, recovery, and connection between skills matters just as much as the skills themselves.

Approach it the same way you would prepare a competition routine. Drill the entire sequence until it feels natural and your body knows exactly where it's going next. When you're still thinking about what skill comes next, your execution, confidence, and performance often suffer.

The skills section also gives you an opportunity to be strategic. While there are required elements, you have flexibility in how you structure portions of the sequence, including the turns and additional skills you choose to showcase. Take advantage of that opportunity. Select skills that highlight your strengths, complement one another, and accurately represent the kind of dancer you are.

Don't wait until filming day to decide what you're including. Plan your sequence ahead of time, practice it consistently, and refine it until it feels polished from beginning to end.

Perform To the Camera

The camera isn't just recording your dancing, it's standing in for the coach who will eventually watch your video.

Many dancers perform around the camera rather than intentionally performing to it.

Eye contact, facial expressions, confidence, and energy all translate differently on camera than they do in the studio. In fact, performance often appears smaller on video than it feels while you're dancing.

One of the most common pieces of advice I give dancers is to perform slightly bigger than feels natural. More often than not, that's what reads most authentically on screen.

Remember, coaches aren't only evaluating your technique. They're also looking at your ability to perform and connect with an audience, something that's an important part of being a college dance team member.

Showcase Range, Not Just Difficulty

It's tempting to choose choreography that feels safe because you know you'll perform it well.

But recruiting isn't about showing coaches only what you're comfortable doing.

It's about giving them enough information to evaluate your versatility.

Choose combinations that allow you to demonstrate different movement qualities, textures, performance styles, and strengths. Avoid making every section feel repetitive. The more complete picture you can give coaches of your abilities, the easier it is for them to imagine where you would fit within their team.

Common Mistakes I See

Through coaching, workshops, and conversations with college dance coaches, several patterns come up year after year.

Spending too much time on the introduction

Keep your introduction concise and answer the prompt. Coaches are excited to watch you dance, and a brief introduction allows you to get to the strongest part of your submission more quickly.

Camera placement

Your full body should remain visible throughout the entire video. If the camera is too close, coaches can't fully evaluate your movement. Too far away, and details like technique and performance become difficult to see. Take a few test videos before filming your final take.

Playing it too safe

Your Common Recruit Video should accurately represent your current abilities. While consistency is important, don't shy away from showcasing the movement qualities and strengths that make you unique as a dancer.

Low performance quality

Strong technique is essential, but so is performance. College dance teams perform for fans, alumni, and their communities. Coaches want dancers who can connect with an audience just as confidently as they execute choreography.

Weak technical foundation

Every coach values clean fundamentals. Strong technique improves every aspect of your dancing and allows your performance to look more polished and consistent.

One Piece of Advice That Stands Out

One comment that has stayed with me came from University of Tennessee choreographer Katie Lane:

"There is a difference between skill and technique."

That distinction is incredibly important.

Landing difficult skills may grab a coach's attention for a moment, but doing it with quality technique is what keeps them watching.

Your placement, control, lines, body awareness, and performance all communicate your level of training. Coaches would much rather see excellent execution than a long list of difficult skills performed incorrectly or inconsistently.

Continue challenging yourself with new skills, but don't let that come at the expense of your technique.

Practice Like a Coach

One of the best habits you can develop throughout the recruiting process is learning how to evaluate yourself objectively.

Film.

Watch it back.

Evaluate it honestly.

Choose one thing to improve.

Then film again.

This process develops self-awareness, which is one of the fastest ways to improve as a dancer. The dancers who make the biggest improvements aren't always the ones with the most natural talent, they're often the ones who consistently review, reflect, and make intentional adjustments.

That's exactly why I created the Practice Activity Worksheet below.

Use it each time you film to compare how your performance felt with how it actually looked, identify specific areas for improvement, and create a plan before your next take.

Your Common Recruit Video is an important part of your recruiting journey, but remember that it is only one piece of the bigger picture.

Continue seeking opportunities to attend clinics, recruiting events, and campus visits. Introduce yourself to coaches, ask thoughtful questions, and allow programs to get to know you beyond what's captured on camera.

Use your video to complement those experiences by presenting a polished, authentic representation of who you are as a dancer.

The strongest recruiting journeys aren't built around one great video. They're built through preparation, consistency, meaningful relationships, and showing up every chance you get.

When you approach recruiting with that mindset, your Common Recruit Video becomes exactly what it's meant to be, a valuable tool that supports the bigger story you're telling throughout your recruiting journey.