Commune with Jeff Krasno

The Inferno: Dante Never Had to Sit Through a Dance Comp (Dispatch 13)

September 8, 2026 · 36 min

Why listen

A dance competition dad rewrites Dante's Inferno from the folding chair where he has been sitting since 5:30 a.m.

Commune with Jeff Krasno · Ready to play

The Inferno: Dante Never Had to Sit Through a Dance Comp (Dispatch 13)

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In this episode

Why the ninth circle of hell is a dance comp waiting room
What a full day of backstage snack runs and 90-second routines actually costs
How four minutes on stage can make every miserable hour worth it
A honest look at the unglamorous middle stretch of being a present parent

About this episode

Dante reserved his ninth circle for traitors, frozen for eternity. Jeff reserves it for competition dads who risk a bathroom break and miss their daughter's 90-second routine.

In this episode, Jeff catalogs the special purgatory of the competition dance dad — the 5:30 a.m. wake-ups, the backstage snack runs, the UTI he'd rather get than miss a lyrical solo — until his daughters take the stage and, for four minutes, all of it makes sense.

This is the thirteenth episode of Diaries of a Dance Dad, an audio memoir series in Jeff's own words. It spans the full arc of parenthood: the inhale of birth and early chaos, the grind of no sleep and travel with kids, the gut-punches of failure, and the slow exhale of letting go.

Order Diaries of a Dance Dad audiobook & hear the tales that bookend my paternal journey from cradle to empty nestdom at ⁠⁠⁠onecommune.com/dancedad.⁠⁠⁠

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