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227. Inside the Edina Dance Team · Anything But Routine

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: We don't wait for the rhythm to lead.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_00: We make the rhythm.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_00: We call, we create anything but routine.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_02: Hey everybody, welcome to anything but routine.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_02: And today Allie and I are really excited.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_02: We have a special guest, Kristen Bwan from Edina Dance Team.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_02: And Kristen is the head coach of Edina Dance Team.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_02: And she's entering her 16th year as their coach.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_02: And uh she is grateful and so excited for the 26-27 season.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_02: She was named the MADT AAA Head Coach of the Year in 2015 and also 2017.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_02: Wow, that's amazing.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_02: And B1 formerly, how did you say your maiden name, Luth?
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_02: Luth.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, she's from Shakapee, where she graduated from Shakapee High School.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_02: And she graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2010 with a double major in communication studies and dance.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_02: And well, we have to talk about this.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_02: While she was there, she was a member of the nationally recognized University of Minnesota Dance Team from 07 to 2010.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_02: She was the captain of their team in 910, double national and world University of Minnesota Dance Team.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_02: That had to be a great experience.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_02: We will get to that.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_02: She's been dancing for over 30 years and continues to pursue her passion for dance outside of coaching.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_02: She was a member of the Minneapolis dance company, Crash Dance Production, for nine seasons.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_02: Boy, I'm learning tons of things.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_02: She worked at UDA as an instructor and choreographed for four years.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_02: Kristen was also an instructor in choreography for Carl Munt's company, Innovate Dance, and she worked with dancers across the country.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_02: She's also won five university Maverick.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, let me say this.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_02: Five open jazz divisions at UDA, where she was the choreographer for the Mankato State dance team, the Maverick Dance Team.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_02: And on the side, she also teaches yoga sculpt to dancers and is one of the head instructors of the college prep program called Level Up through the Vibe and Fitness.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_02: She also spends her days as a full-time physician with Adina Public Schools as the Edina Community Ed Marketing and Communication Specialist.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_02: She's married to her husband Tyler and they reside in Minnetonka, Minnesota.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_02: So she's proud to be able to share her knowledge and expertise with the dancers on her team.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_02: Her hope is to help her team grow throughout the season by reaching new heights and to help each dancer on the team achieve their personal goals.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_02: So wow, this is a big resume, and we're excited to have you here.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_02: So, so how many you've been with them 17 years or 16 years now?
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_01: This will be my 16th, yeah.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_02: That's crazy.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_02: It goes so fast.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_02: And you did it fresh out of college, and that's yeah, that's exciting.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_02: So, how did how did you ever think of starting coaching at Edina?
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_02: Did the position just open up?
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_02: Or I'm so curious.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, this is actually a funny story because I'll try to make it quick.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_01: Um, it's not like the typical you apply for a coaching role because that's what you want to do.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_01: I never knew anything about high school dance team in Minnesota because my high school at Shock Copey at the time, they do now, but they didn't when I was growing up.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_01: And I just was a studio kid.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_01: And um, I was just like looking to like continue dance, and it wasn't, you know, we were at that time in 2010 where like jobs were scarce and there wasn't a lot happening.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_01: So I was doing like a sales job at a gym, and I was like just dying without having like consistent dance in my life.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_01: Um, turns out I just got lucky.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_01: I was applying for positions, I was applying to a communications role in Dinah, which is so funny because that's now my current role and what I do every day.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_01: Um and I I was not applying to a dance role.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_01: I had no idea there was even a head coach position.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_01: I didn't know anything about high school dance team in Minnesota.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_01: That is operated.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_01: And then the eight I got a call from the AD and I answered, and they were just like, hey, keyword searched our system, and dance showed up in your in your resume and um on your application in our portal, and we are hiring for our dance coach.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_01: Can you come in tomorrow for an interview?
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_01: And I was just like, sure.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_01: That is so funny.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_01: And it was so funny because I didn't tell my roommates I lived with in the time.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_01: Um, Amanda Gaines is one of my best friends, and she coaches you, but she was um, we were living together and she was a Trojet at YZ back in the day.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_01: So I didn't tell her anything because I was just like, Well, I don't know.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_01: This is I don't know what we'll make of this.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not gonna really make it a thing.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_01: And I come home from the interview and I was like, hey, I just interviewed for Edina Dance team, and she looked at me and she was like, Kristen, do you know anything about this world or what you're getting yourself into?
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_01: And I was like, no, nope.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_01: She's like, Do you know how much they practice?
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, maybe a few hours a week.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_01: She's like, Kristen, every day.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_03: Every guy, literally.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_01: And they called me and were like, we'd love to offer you the position.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_01: And it was just, I just took it on the spot, had no idea.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_02: And here you are.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_02: It was meant to be.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_02: Most dancers think building a career means going it alone, figuring out the business, the choreography, the marketing, all of it.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_02: That's not how we do it at just for kicks.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_02: Our directors run the program in their hometown with full support from our home office and zero startup cost.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_02: You focus on what you love, teach it.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_02: We handle everything else.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_02: Over 200 directors across 14 states have already said yes.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_02: If this sounds like something you would want to do, visit TeamJustforKicks.com or reach out to me directly at Cindy at justforkicks.com.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_02: Dance is your passion.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_02: Let's make it a career.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_02: You're ready.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_02: I've been around a long time, obviously.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_02: And I remember Edina was they really didn't have a big team at all.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_03: It was like five kids or I remember watching them perform and it wasn't, it couldn't have been too long before you took over.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_03: And there was literally, it was a really small team.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_02: So you must have really turned it around.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_01: It was a it, I don't know, a whirlwind kind of those first few years.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_01: Like, um, I really once I figured it out and kind of understood like the ebb and flow of it, I I really found a love for it, obviously.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_01: Like I missed that team aspect of what I had.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_01: And it was just something completely mind-blowing.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_01: I walked into just not a lot of um passion around the team.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_01: It was more kind of like a social club.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_01: They were like continuing from fall, and they just kind of continued, just like competition wasn't really like important to them.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_02: Um I don't remember them as being competitive at all.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_01: No, uh, not really.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_01: And so that was different for me, especially in like that environment when I just came from.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_02: Right, from U of M, yeah.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I was just like, okay, here we go.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_02: So there's a lot of people probably listening that are starting new teams at their school.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_02: And so what do you think that at first, like what did you do to try to build that program?
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, those first few years were a grind.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_01: I I was lucky where one of the assistants stayed on with me for a year from the year part.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it was so nice.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_01: She, Nikki Bale, I I owe her, she was amazing, and she just was really helpful with the admin side of things.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_01: She taught me a lot so that I could just transition that work over.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_01: But yet I still didn't know much.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_01: Like I didn't know what MEDT was.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_01: I had no idea that was a thing until like my like second or third year.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_01: I there was just a lot that I was just learning as I went, and it's just kind of full of my pants kind of thing.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_01: Um, luckily, like there was a goal in the district or in the athletic office that they really want to make dance completely seen as a competitive sport and also just like supported and kind of turn what it was into something like worthwhile.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_01: And um it it took a minute for that mind shift, I will say it was hard.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_01: Like the kids weren't really ready for it yet.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_01: Like I had to kind of pick my battles, but yet stay true to who I was and was like I don't I I understand that maybe you three were picked as captains, but I if if you're gonna be a captain, this is before I even got there, then I had all those conversations of like what I expect from that role.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_01: And I just really took everything that I was coached by and what I loved about it, um, and what the things that resonated with me and that I responded to and tried to use those in my coaching repertoire.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_01: Did I learn a lot?
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_01: 100%.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_01: Like 22-year-old me and me now are very similar in some ways, but very different about how we approach coaching.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_02: Well, for sure.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, for sure.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_02: That's the school of hard knocks, yeah.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_01: 100%.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_01: And we kind of have to live it to learn all the ups and downs.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_01: But I just I just try to stay really true to who I was and just I remember just keep asking those kids like, why are you here?
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_01: Like, if you do not want to be here to have a common goal with everyone else in this room, then there's the door.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_01: And I was really proud of myself for kind of just continuing with that.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_01: And then as my I got through my first year, I learned so much.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_01: The kids cheered when they like didn't take last place.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_01: And I remember that moment at a conference meet.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_01: We did we took fourth and jazz out of five, and that five for five that they did for the last X amount of years, and they cheered like they won state.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_01: Like we're it was just a mind-blowing moment I will never forget.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_01: And that was my first year coaching, and just those little things set the drive and kept celebrating those progress wins are just actually so important if you're starting out.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_02: Sure.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_03: I really think, you know, like after hearing that too, that that I think is really great advice for somebody that's taking over a team in terms of like you have to have standards, and I think that's where so many people are scared to come in and say, This is how I'm doing it.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_03: If you don't agree, like you we're not you can't stay here because I think so many people are worried about making the kids mad and making the parents mad that then you end up not being in control of your own team.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_01: Because those things happened, then that was hard.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I think I was lucky to be a little naive about how intense the parents were.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_01: I just had to learn that on my own, um, walking into it.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, I found those few that really supported me.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_01: And then I I used them as like you know, my shield a little bit, and I use them for help and you know, try to get a pulse of things going on through them.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and then they would really stick by my side and have that support for me.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_03: And same thing with my important too, for sure.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it really is.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, because it's like wildfire, you know, out there you just have to distinguish what you don't want as quickly as you can, as much as you can control, you can't control it all.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_02: So I like that analogy.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_02: It's like wildfire.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and you do have to find those parents that are gonna support you and use them for your sounding board and 100%.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_02: Like what's going on out in the, you know, whatever is everyone saying, because then you can deal with it.
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_01: And if you don't have that in some of it, I was like, it's noise, and I don't know if it's worth my time or energy.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_01: I think back then I would really wanted to please.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_01: Like I I definitely wanted to make sure that this was a good experience for kids, families, that people were excited, and and I cared a lot about what people thought.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and and you kind of let that kind of waver off throughout time because you realize like you're just the upper gonna make everyone happy, but you know in your heart you're doing the best things that you can for these kids, and at the end of the day, that's what it's about, you know?
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_01: And so we made hard decisions.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_01: Like I benched three seniors, one of them, a couple of them captains, like our second sections ever.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_01: And I that was like so you could only imagine the kind of backlash and things we dealt with, but at the same time, those those really hard decisions like kept proving time and time again that they were like worth making, even though they were so hard.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, just the standards are so important, and yeah, well, behind closed doors, there was a lot of tears and breaking down because I just wanted to be successful with this.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_01: I wanted to like sh prove that like this team could be something because I believed in them so much.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_01: And it just it just it takes a a lot of emotion, a lot of care, and we do that as coaches.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_01: So new coaches, like I just stick with it.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_01: Your purpose is there, and I would just like use your resources.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_01: That's what I did.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_01: I started to like get people on board that I knew would want to coach with me the next season who were graduating.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_02: How did you do that?
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_02: You've you've developed quite a force as a coaching staff.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, you know, it started with my friend Courtney, was a couple years younger than me, Courtney Coelich Fry.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and she had graduated from the U of M two years after I did.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_01: And so that would have been like my second year coaching.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_01: And she's like, hey, I I really want to like get into coaching.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_01: And I was like, come on, let's do this together.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_01: So that's how you know I'm grateful that her and I like were such a good partnership for so long in it because I think we really had the same values and wanting to, you know, push these athletes, but like make them better humans too.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_01: And we're so aligned that we were able to do so much together and then find people that were similar to us.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_01: So I think with like building your staff, it's all about finding people that align with who you are and align with your ideas and your vision and people you can see is a good fit with your staff because that's important too.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_01: Personalities need to match and personally, like not match, but they need to mix well together.
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_01: And it's okay to be different and see things differently, but as long as you know that these people could collaborate in the in a shared space and want the same thing for your program, then you know you've got your crew that's gonna be there for you, like thick and thin.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_01: And I have never more needed a staff than this past season.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_01: Like they were there for me when I was going through some things where I had to be taken away a little bit from the season.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_01: And I I have never felt more grateful to have such a like wonderful group of women who are great role models leading the team.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_02: So that's neat to hear.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_02: That's really great.
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and they do have to, you know, you don't always have to agree, but you have to back each other up.
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_03: I guess you're not always gonna agree, and I think being able to be honest and talk it out with each other because I think that because you're not always gonna agree, but it is big decision.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_03: So being able to say, Well, I don't really agree, but then being able to respect each other's views, yeah, yeah, that's so true.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_02: Our assistant, one of our assistant coaches, Julie, of course, is mother-daughter, so sometimes we say what we really think, and she calls herself Switzerland, like she's getting between us, like to help us get that, yeah.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_02: We need a Switzerland in there.
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_01: We need like the strong personalities and the ones that are just like steady too.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_01: And yeah, yeah, it's you need that mix.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_02: And the behind the scenes things, like you were saying, your first year, the one coach that was there before kept because all that is consuming as well.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_01: And back in parents, I say back in the day.
• 15:17
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, like, really it was, but not everything was like online.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_01: We were burning Cs for every competition, you know.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_02: We were right, everything was handwritten and you read it, and every time we're now you just send a thing, yeah.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it didn't work.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_02: And I don't think you know, parents see that oh, you're having to submit your music every time and you're having to or the hotel rooms, buses, all yeah, yeah, all that stuff.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so it's a lot, but um, yeah, one of our former athletes coached with you for a couple of years, Amy Shepard.
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, she was a great kid, so that's neat.
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_01: Amazing.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah, and I think it's neat to pull people in from different places, but um, I like when you had your advice for new coaches to stay true to you, you said, and then also like how do you think you got your admin to support you, your administration?
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_01: And I've been through a few ADs.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_01: I've had my my current AD, Troy Stein, is absolutely wonderful and so supportive of our team and um just dance in general.
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_01: And I think all of our sports at Edina were I'm very lucky, but he wasn't always there.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_01: Um, there was two other prior to him um throughout my time.
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_01: And luckily though, you know, when I especially when I first got hired, like the goal of that AD was like he would he really wanted this space to be more important at Edina.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_01: Um so luckily I felt like I was already walking into a little bit of a supportive environment.
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_01: I think at some of these bigger high schools, you tend to have those ADs that really do, you know, want the best for everyone.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_01: And and I I felt really lucky.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_01: Yet it was it's just different.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_01: You have to find that relationship and you need to, you need to work on that with them.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_01: You have to actively do it.
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_01: They manage so many people that it's important to stay in their corner, it's important to have them, you know, aware what's going on with your program, even if they don't ask, tell them.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, right, right.
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_01: You know, and and just being able to have that dialogue in in through email, through phone calls, like it takes time and effort, but it's it's worth it.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_01: Ask for advice, get help.
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_01: You want them to be on your side and and to understand where you're coming from, if there's some other outside factor that comes to them, you know, and they want to be able to speak to who you are, and so I think that's a really, really good advice for new coaches because I think sometimes you kind of forget like because you're so busy with like what you're doing with your team and stuff that you don't think about that.
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_03: And I know that's something you always say to me, but like get ahead of even problems.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_03: Like if you know a parent's mad about something and going to complain, go to your AD before the parent does, so like you can kind of give them a heads up.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_03: And I think a lot of times people don't do that, and then they feel blindsided.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_02: Well, then you can be on the offense rather than the defense, you can deal with it, yeah, you know, yeah, a hundred percent.
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_02: And I think that with our directors all the time, because you know, because we manage so many programs.
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_02: I'll I'll say if you everybody's gonna screw up, we're all gonna screw up, so don't be embarrassed to say, Oh boy, did I screw up?
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_02: But it'll help me to know it because then I can help have your back.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_01: So and I've been through it, you know, tough times with pay, you know, just like in general with you sports, right?
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_01: We're we're in high school sports.
• 18:25
  SPEAKER_01: There's a the nature of your these things are gonna come up throughout your time.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_01: And there's been some years where it's been really great, and some years where it's been harder challenges, but even just a few years ago, like I've been doing this for a long time and I still I still need my AD support.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_01: He really had it for me.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_01: And that's just so, so important.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_01: Like you need you need them to believe in you and that you're coaching in their district for a reason.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I don't know if I didn't have his prior support like I did, if like that situation would have gone as smoothly as it did, or at least like in a way that felt productive rather than just more waste energy.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, oh that's that's yeah, that's so true.
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_02: It gets hard.
• 19:06
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it gets hard.
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_02: Again, they lately I've heard of a couple coaches that haven't had that support.
• 19:11
  SPEAKER_02: And yeah, I even was reading something last night that it I think Minnesota is uh usually a little more supportive than some other states now that we're in the state high school league, and it wasn't always that way.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_02: But this particular sport, she was having her tryouts and for dance and the cheerleading triouts were at the same time, and he canceled their gym and put them in the same small space to do their tryouts with all these people.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm like, how would you you do need your 80s support, you really do?
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so I'm glad to hear you have that.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so competitive success, you mentioned your first time you weren't last was kind of a tipping point.
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 19:51
  SPEAKER_02: What else would you say was a tipping point to start getting your kids to get it, like what you were trying to do there to how they were before?
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_01: Just like building that culture of if you're here, you're here not only to be a dancer, but you're here to be a teammate and you're here to be, you know, an athlete and you're here to to learn and grow.
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_01: You're not here to just be here.
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_01: Like you gotta make that choice.
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_01: Are you in or out?
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_01: And I don't know if I said it as eloquently back then because you know we're young and we're trying to figure it out.
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_01: But I I think I always had that in the forefront.
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_01: Like these are the standards of our program, and I'm gonna hold you to it.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm just gonna keep asking you why.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_01: Like, if you what's your why?
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, what's your why?
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_01: And a lot of times I remember standing in like a cafeteria at Minatanka at a conference meet and just like turned off the music and we were gonna perform in like you know a little bit.
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_01: And I just turned them and I go, Why are we here?
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, I I can go home or I can stay.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_01: You make the choice, and and I and they did, you know, it just kind of came down to some of those moments that were like tough love, but at the same time, I think they always knew I cared for them because I made sure they knew that too.
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that also helped build that culture of like, we don't want to settle, we want to do more, we want to be more.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_01: We're like those underdogs that you know we can do this.
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_01: So I think having that was the small wins, and then like the first time we heard our name at a conference meet was such a big deal, and that wasn't until like my third or fourth year coaching, which is pretty incredible though, to go from not ever in in three years being able to do that is pretty awesome.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, and truthfully, it was just like getting the right coaches in.
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_01: It was just also making sure that JV and Varsity felt equally as important and and knowing that like your time on one space is important because it impacts like your future of another space, and like it it just was that constant, it was a constant battle, but I just like didn't give up the fight.
• 21:54
  SPEAKER_03: I guess it just always sorry I didn't mean to interrupt you.
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_03: No, but that is something about you, Dinah, that I feel I'm always really impressed with, and this year I've just like vividly remember at your meet watching your B squad.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_03: I was like standing down on the floor and I was like, This is B squad.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_03: I was like so blown away because they were so good, like so good.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_03: And you can tell you have so many kids, and they're all very like all in.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_03: But I think that probably goes to show, like, you know, you're making making all the teams feel equally as important.
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_02: That's a balancing act.
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_02: It is.
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_02: It's a you know, and I can tell, I feel like we kind of have a lot of the same vibes.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_02: It's like culture is an everyday thing.
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_02: Everyday.
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_02: It's not like okay, you read about it at the beginning of the year and let's go.
• 22:39
  SPEAKER_02: It's you know, like when you're saying you kind of had that that meeting at the Minnetonka competition, and we're like, okay, are we?
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_02: I feel like those are moments your kids are gonna remember later that that it's that built them to be strong.
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_02: Said, oh, they they do know I care.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_02: And I think that's so important that they have to know that you care if they're gonna work hard for you.
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_03: And then those moments aren't as important if they don't feel like you care about them and you do that, they're it's not gonna do anything.
• 23:07
  SPEAKER_03: But when they know you care about them and you do that, then it's like, oh my gosh.
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_02: I think one time a kid said something to me, like the hardest thing ever is when one time I said that I had been let down by some behavior, you know, and they go, We felt so bad that we let you down.
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_02: And that was more powerful, you know.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_02: It's kind of like when your parents would say, Oh, yes, you find me.
• 23:30
  SPEAKER_02: That's way worse than they yelled at.
• 23:33
  SPEAKER_01: You know, so yeah, I I do think that is important.
• 23:36
  SPEAKER_01: I I've always been like a wear my heart on my sleeve person.
• 23:39
  SPEAKER_01: I I've been that way as an athlete myself.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_01: I've been that way.
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_01: I I was like on college dancing, I was the crier all the time just because I like was always emotional.
• 23:51
  SPEAKER_01: And that's who I am as a person.
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_01: I've been that way all my whole life.
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_01: I have a hard time.
• 23:55
  SPEAKER_01: Although it's gotten thicker skin and not in a bad way.
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_01: I just like my I cry when I'm happy, I cry when I'm sad.
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I and my team knows that and I hug them hard.
• 24:06
  SPEAKER_01: Like I let them know I care about them because at the yeah, I'm just like probably a very passionate person, but maybe I don't know, I go to extremes sometimes.
• 24:17
  SPEAKER_01: I don't even mean to.
• 24:18
  SPEAKER_01: If you see me at the table, you know, I just get excited.
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_01: I love my kids, and I just want to do anything for them that I can, right?
• 24:24
  SPEAKER_01: That they feel that I'm there with them and and not just there in front of them, if that makes sense.
• 24:29
  SPEAKER_01: Like I don't know.
• 24:30
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, yeah.
• 24:30
  SPEAKER_02: I just everything hug them hard.
• 24:33
  SPEAKER_02: I love that.
• 24:33
  SPEAKER_02: I mean that could be a t-shirt.
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_02: Uh for coaches, it really could because the you've read that thing, they don't care how much you know until they know how much you care.
• 24:42
  SPEAKER_02: And it's so true, it's so true.
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_02: So um, I know that your team read the hard hat book because they talked about it at camp in a captain's class or in one of the classes, and I thought it was neat, they were very proud of it.
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_02: And I think that I I tried to adopt that this year a little bit.
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_02: I'm not very good at following through on everything.
• 25:04
  SPEAKER_02: I bought the hard hat, it just it just sat there, but I did read all the stuff to the kids, you know.
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_02: So I had them take turns reading The Hard Hat, The 21 Ways to Be a Great Teammate, and I thought that was great.
• 25:16
  SPEAKER_02: Who wrote that book?
• 25:17
  SPEAKER_02: I can't remember.
• 25:18
  SPEAKER_02: Um John Gordon.
• 25:19
  SPEAKER_02: John Gordon, oh yeah.
• 25:20
  SPEAKER_02: And so that's a great book to utilize with your teams if you're a new coach.
• 25:25
  SPEAKER_01: It is.
• 25:26
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I it's part of that culture building piece, and we've kind of used that as a thing now for two years.
• 25:31
  SPEAKER_01: And then we did it the first year we did it was back in 2019, 2018, 2019 season, which was such a great season for our team, culture-wise, too.
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and we tried to read a different book the next year, it didn't quite have the same effect, but you know, we hadn't done it for a while, and I was like, what if we bring that back?
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_01: And our case just really resonated with it.
• 25:53
  SPEAKER_01: It there was one captain that came up to me.
• 25:55
  SPEAKER_01: She's like, if we do this, we're gonna do great this year.
• 25:57
  SPEAKER_01: Like she was just so amped about it.
• 25:59
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and if you get one or two kids just like absolutely amped and like excited about actually it not being a cheesy thing, but instead really like using it as a tool, I think that it did make a big difference.
• 26:11
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, we referenced it a lot.
• 26:13
  SPEAKER_01: It wasn't like in a corny way, it was just like, you know, what's that one percent more that you're gonna bring today?
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_01: What's that, you know, come with me teammate mentality?
• 26:23
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, she had a great example of that.
• 26:25
  SPEAKER_01: And we'll just reference it and like acknowledge our teammates when they do show those things so that they know that like we see it, it's it's noticed.
• 26:32
  SPEAKER_01: And then we have our kids vote every week at a competition.
• 26:36
  SPEAKER_01: We try to stick with it weekly.
• 26:37
  SPEAKER_01: It kind of turns into like an invite day or a pre-meet meeting.
• 26:41
  SPEAKER_01: Um, before we get on the bus, we'll do the hard hat.
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_01: And we'll have our team just nominate, we'll say, like three or four people that you feel like it doesn't have to be even on the same team as you, jazz team or kick team.
• 26:53
  SPEAKER_01: It can be anyone that you've noticed that's like shown a teammate quality this week that you're really proud of.
• 26:58
  SPEAKER_01: And it's so fun to see them like jump at the they just they all raise their hand like this.
• 27:03
  SPEAKER_01: It's really hard.
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_01: I always always go with the most confident person first and say, okay, who are you nominating?
• 27:09
  SPEAKER_01: And it's so fun because then they'll talk about their teammates and they're just excited to recognize each other.
• 27:14
  SPEAKER_01: And um then we put them on our Instagram, and I think that just like reminds them that like there's a reason we do it, and then at the end of the year, we award it to one member of the team.
• 27:23
  SPEAKER_01: We have the team vote and like who showed it this year, and the last two last year, the first year we did it, and this year, those two athletes like a hundred percent, like whole hard hat mentality, and that's been really fun to just like see the growth of that and it continue.
• 27:38
  SPEAKER_02: That's really cool.
• 27:40
  SPEAKER_02: So let's talk JV and B teams because you really have a strong J as she mentioned before.
• 27:46
  SPEAKER_02: So, do you move people mid-season or when they make it at the beginning, do they stay, or what is your philosophy?
• 27:53
  SPEAKER_01: We've done different things.
• 27:54
  SPEAKER_01: Um, our B squad, I don't know if you've noticed, but they're younger.
• 27:58
  SPEAKER_01: Um, yeah, we've we've done a little bit different, and mainly because of the Dyna School Day.
• 28:03
  SPEAKER_01: There was really no other reason why it started that way.
• 28:06
  SPEAKER_01: Um, we were just like when we were growing the team, we were like, how in the heck are we gonna get enough kids to have a B squad team?
• 28:14
  SPEAKER_01: And we just kind of thought about it and because we didn't have a B squad for a few my first like few years, and we started out with a middle school team.
• 28:23
  SPEAKER_01: It was actually Coach Victoria um on her on our coaching staff.
• 28:28
  SPEAKER_01: I know she's so she's so great.
• 28:29
  SPEAKER_01: And she had the idea and she wasn't coaching it.
• 28:33
  SPEAKER_01: Her daughter was just on my team.
• 28:35
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and she was like, What if I started a middle school program?
• 28:38
  SPEAKER_01: And I was like, Oh my gosh, what a great idea! Um, just to build interest in the team.
• 28:43
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, I would love to support that.
• 28:44
  SPEAKER_01: Let me know.
• 28:45
  SPEAKER_01: And then we got that going.
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and eventually we turn it into our B squad program.
• 28:50
  SPEAKER_01: But we did that because the Dynah school day is a little funky.
• 28:53
  SPEAKER_01: Our middle school starts so much later than our regular school day.
• 28:57
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's like an hour and a half later.
• 28:59
  SPEAKER_01: Oh my gosh.
• 29:01
  SPEAKER_01: So those kids that are going any Dinah, at least like our group of kids that we, you know, have um in our community start studio right away after school too.
• 29:10
  SPEAKER_01: So those seventh and eighth graders didn't really have that opportunity to participate in school, like anything.
• 29:15
  SPEAKER_01: So middle school programs started happening in the morning.
• 29:19
  SPEAKER_01: So that's the reason why we got those seventh and eighth graders involved.
• 29:23
  SPEAKER_01: And then eventually we were like, oh my gosh, it would be so great if we actually got them competing.
• 29:27
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 29:27
  SPEAKER_01: And I talked to, and we we did have a few seventh graders that really wanted to come out for high school.
• 29:32
  SPEAKER_01: And at the time I was like, yeah, absolutely.
• 29:34
  SPEAKER_01: So we were seven through 12, we still are.
• 29:36
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, I didn't want to encourage anyone that they couldn't try out for like the high school team, meaning like our JD or um varsity level.
• 29:46
  SPEAKER_01: And we've had plenty of seventh and eighth graders on varsity throughout the years, and I just didn't want that to be like you had to choose either.
• 29:54
  SPEAKER_01: We just kind of helped these kids decide like what's a good fit for them.
• 29:57
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so then we turned it into our B squad and got them competing, and so that's why our B squad's a little bit younger.
• 30:02
  SPEAKER_01: And it's truly just because I'm out of gym space or our school day and some other parameters that you know you don't really know unless you're a part of our district or how it works.
• 30:11
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so yeah, that was exciting.
• 30:13
  SPEAKER_01: And our B squad is really strong, and it's because our coach Victoria stays true to who she is, she and her values.
• 30:20
  SPEAKER_01: She's like, she wants to help these kids like get that experience.
• 30:24
  SPEAKER_01: She's like, I want them to work hard, I want them to like understand the E Dinah mentality of like our loving community, but we also work hard here and we have fun while we do it.
• 30:34
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and she's just really true to who she is, and that's helped these kids just like get on the right foot and on the right path of like what our program is.
• 30:41
  SPEAKER_01: And she's just taking, we call them our little bees because they're you know, edina, like a hornet, a bee.
• 30:46
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, little baby bees.
• 30:47
  SPEAKER_01: Our little baby, exactly.
• 30:49
  SPEAKER_01: And like they just are our um our bees are just have become such an important part of our program and like where you start out and where you end.
• 30:58
  SPEAKER_01: A lot of our kids, most 90% of them are like, I started on Victoria's B squad team, like Coach Victoria's.
• 31:03
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's so cool.
• 31:05
  SPEAKER_01: That's cool.
• 31:05
  SPEAKER_01: And then those kids on that JV level too.
• 31:08
  SPEAKER_01: It it's I don't know.
• 31:10
  SPEAKER_01: I've always found that JV is just so important, and I need to find the people who care the most about it, and I have, and they are just amazing coaches.
• 31:18
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, they want those kids to get better.
• 31:21
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I feel we're very lucky that we have one of our JV coaches used to coach varsity with me, but then she took a really long break to have her children, and then she came back, and people were in the varsity role, so now she came back as JV coach, but she cares and she needs to get them better, and they love her, you know.
• 31:41
  SPEAKER_02: So Terry Evinger, but you have Ada and Lauren and Peyton coaching varsity with you.
• 31:47
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I have we're a lot of us, probably like you guys too.
• 31:51
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, there's 11 of us now.
• 31:55
  SPEAKER_02: We only have five, but it's because we just don't have as here's our problem is if we there's more people that would coach with us, but being in our small community, we need them at the studio.
• 32:05
  SPEAKER_02: Sure.
• 32:05
  SPEAKER_02: We can't coach at the studio, so there's been so many other people that are like, oh, we want to coach, and we're like, sorry, you know, we need you at the studio, but that's just the way it is, so they'd be great.
• 32:17
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, there's 11 of us.
• 32:18
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I I've just been lucky to find those people.
• 32:21
  SPEAKER_01: I've had alumni come back and yeah, coach now.
• 32:25
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and people like I've met um Amy and and Sarah and Allie, I all met them through Mankato and working with them from that, and they were all on you know the Mavs.
• 32:37
  SPEAKER_01: So I make great relationships with them, and I was like, oh, she feels like a great fit one day for my team if she's interested.
• 32:44
  SPEAKER_02: So let's talk Mavs a little bit.
• 32:46
  SPEAKER_02: You you do do the choreography for them.
• 32:49
  SPEAKER_02: So how does that how do you handle that during the season?
• 32:53
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's a lot.
• 32:54
  SPEAKER_01: Um, we always try to do choreography before the season starts, um, which you would anyways, just timing of nationals.
• 33:01
  SPEAKER_01: Um, it started way back.
• 33:02
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I've been doing it for almost as long as I've been coaching.
• 33:05
  SPEAKER_01: So I've been their choreographer for a very long time.
• 33:08
  SPEAKER_01: Um I've actually probably been the most like consistent person with the maps versus like you know their coaching staff and everyone else in and out.
• 33:18
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I've just developed really great relationships there and um it's been such a great experience, and though they're so great, they're such a hungry team.
• 33:27
  SPEAKER_02: Um they just want to be anything, don't they?
• 33:30
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 33:30
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, they're so great, and they've come a long way too over the years.
• 33:34
  SPEAKER_01: And so I try to do choreography early and then just stay really connected with them um throughout everything.
• 33:40
  SPEAKER_01: I'm I'm constantly in contact with their coach and we're we're connecting through their band videos and um, you know, making adjustments.
• 33:47
  SPEAKER_01: I usually try to go down during you know winter break at some point and work with them, if not sooner.
• 33:53
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and then I'm just in as we get into nationals, I just try to prioritize a little bit of communication with them.
• 33:59
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah, well, that's really neat.
• 34:01
  SPEAKER_02: That's really neat.
• 34:02
  SPEAKER_02: So I know sometimes we we would like to do things like that, but it's so crazy around here.
• 34:08
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's hard.
• 34:09
  SPEAKER_01: It's I keep being like, Oh, how long am I gonna do this?
• 34:11
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah, right.
• 34:12
  SPEAKER_01: It's also one of those things where it's like I would I just love it so much.
• 34:17
  SPEAKER_01: It's hard to like walk away from that connection and the opportunity to be involved with college dance still.
• 34:23
  SPEAKER_01: Um yeah.
• 34:24
  SPEAKER_02: Now your husband is a coach too, right?
• 34:27
  SPEAKER_02: He coaches basketball.
• 34:29
  SPEAKER_02: That's cool.
• 34:29
  SPEAKER_02: That's kind of neat.
• 34:30
  SPEAKER_02: Um, it make you probably have a lot to talk about.
• 34:33
  SPEAKER_01: We do.
• 34:34
  SPEAKER_01: Our dinner conversations are usually like how is practice?
• 34:37
  SPEAKER_01: How'd it go?
• 34:38
  SPEAKER_01: And um, it's so great though, because we lean on each other a lot and learn a lot from each other.
• 34:44
  SPEAKER_01: He's such a good coach.
• 34:45
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, he's amazing.
• 34:46
  SPEAKER_01: So I just love hearing him like talk to his players and talk to his coaches.
• 34:51
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, he's just so good.
• 34:52
  SPEAKER_01: I I'm always just like oh coach B1, he's just it.
• 34:55
  SPEAKER_02: Like I'm sure you can share things back and forth, you know.
• 34:59
  SPEAKER_02: That is kind of oh a hundred percent.
• 35:00
  SPEAKER_01: Like, how do you deal with this?
• 35:01
  SPEAKER_01: How do you do with that?
• 35:02
  SPEAKER_01: And he's always like, Do you have a document that you use for this?
• 35:05
  SPEAKER_01: Or me too?
• 35:06
  SPEAKER_02: Like, yeah, yeah, that's funny.
• 35:07
  SPEAKER_02: You know, that's fine.
• 35:09
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so I'm just trying to think if I've missed anything else.
• 35:13
  SPEAKER_02: You can't have tryouts anymore in Minnesota.
• 35:15
  SPEAKER_02: That's different for us.
• 35:16
  SPEAKER_02: So, do you do like uh what do you call it?
• 35:20
  SPEAKER_02: Like a team?
• 35:21
  SPEAKER_02: Do you do a summer team and just let anybody be on it?
• 35:23
  SPEAKER_02: That's what we do.
• 35:25
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so that's what we did last year and this year.
• 35:28
  SPEAKER_01: Just if who wants to participate in summer training, you know, they have to fit the criteria, obviously, of being like a knee dynamic student, um, right, right age and such.
• 35:37
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah, yeah, it worked well last year.
• 35:39
  SPEAKER_01: We only brought vets to camp um last year and likely gonna do the same thing this year.
• 35:45
  SPEAKER_01: Still some kinks to work out through all those things, you know, and planning summer.
• 35:49
  SPEAKER_01: But um yeah, I it that was it was hard to be like not everyone come to camp, but at the same time, I wanted to make sure those that were there were really like bought into the experience.
• 36:00
  SPEAKER_01: So and also it's an investment too, yeah.
• 36:03
  SPEAKER_03: A little easier for us because we're there and they don't have the hotel, but yeah, well, yeah, and like bringing some kids that you don't really know for sure, and like what are they gonna stay committed?
• 36:11
  SPEAKER_03: And yeah, it's kind of tricky a little bit.
• 36:14
  SPEAKER_03: You're responsible for them, that's a little harder.
• 36:16
  SPEAKER_02: And luckily, the newer ones have like rookies in the last year at least were all younger, so it's like you still get X amount of years at camp, and you'll but they can be a part of every single summer thing leading up to you know, in that's really neat, and then it makes it more special, and so gosh, you've been just wonderful to have on, and I think a great encouragement to new coaches that you can do it and just dive right in.
• 36:42
  SPEAKER_02: Do it, do it.
• 36:44
  SPEAKER_01: Any two-year-old me would have never guessed.
• 36:46
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know, but yeah, so be doing you wait until you know it all, you're never gonna get there.
• 36:54
  SPEAKER_02: So stay at it so much.
• 36:56
  SPEAKER_01: We appreciate you so well.
• 36:59
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks, you guys.
• 37:00
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks for having me.
• 37:01
  SPEAKER_01: I appreciate it.
• 37:02
  SPEAKER_00: Make the rhythm.
• 37:03
  SPEAKER_00: We call, we create anything but routine.