Courtney Ortiz and Lesley Mealor have known each other since 2008, when they were lucky enough to book their first professional jobs with Royal Caribbean Cruise Line. They became fast friends, sharing a tiny cabin on the ship and having a blast performing aboard the Vision of the Seas. 

 

Over the past 11 years, their lives have taken them through auditions, tours, teaching, judging, and survival jobs, and through it all, they've remained close, both as friends and colleagues in the dance industry. Impact Dance Adjudicators was developed by Courtney with Lesley's help, and they both work hard to keep each other sane throughout the busy competition season! 

 

The addition of the IDA Blog in 2017 added another element to the IDA brand, and is overseen by Lesley. After several years of producing educational and informative dance blogs, from the perspective of actual competition judges, both Courtney and Lesley wanted an additional way to reach the dance world with the quality content that's found in the blog. 

 

Making the Impact - A Dance Competition Podcast was conceived as a tool for dance educators, dance parents, and dancers to be better informed about what the judges are looking for at competition, as well as helpful training tips, information about competitions that use IDA judges, and advice about any and all things dance!