Latest / Making The Impact - A Dance Competition Podcast / Studio Spotlight - In Motion Dance Project

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Studio Spotlight - In Motion Dance Project · Making The Impact - A Dance Competition Podcast

• 0:07
  SPEAKER_00: Have you ever wondered what goes on behind the table at a dance competition?
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly what are the judges looking for anyway?
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_00: This is Making the Impact, a dance competition podcast.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_00: Each week we'll cover a different topic related to the world of competitive dance, from the perspective of the judges behind the table.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_00: The dance studio industry is always evolving, and no one knows that better than Amanda Please, owner of In Motion Dance Project in Orlando, Florida.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_00: From humble beginnings to a thriving business of nearly 20 years, Inmotion Dance Project offers dance education for all types of dance families with an emphasis on creating good people first.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_00: We're excited to feature In Motion Dance Project as our second studio spotlight episode of season four.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_03: Hello everyone, welcome to this week's episode of Making the Impact.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_03: I'm your host, Courtney Ortiz, and I'm here with my co-host Leslie Miller.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_03: Bonjour, Courtney.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, are you coming to us from Paris, Leslie?
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: Not really, but really, yes.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_00: As of we are recording this, we are not in I am not in Paris, but as of the release of this episode, I'm in Paris.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm gonna practice my French and we'll see how that goes.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_00: It's been uh over a decade.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_03: Oh my gosh, yes.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_03: I you you did you take it in high school?
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: Middle school, high school, and college.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: But if you if you don't use it, you lose it.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: So we'll see how it goes.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_00: I uh I was better at reading, not speaking.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_00: You can't really like live your life reading without speaking in in a different country.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, but I'm gonna gonna have a nice little vacation before the holidays and just excited to uh see another part of the world.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: It's been a long time since I've traveled internationally.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, and it's Paris is so beautiful at Christmas.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_03: So you're gonna see all the lights and you're gonna have the best time ever.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_03: I know you are.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: Yay! And if we have any listeners in if we have any listeners in Paris, bonjour.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna bring some making the impact pins in case I see you around town.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_03: Just bring some stickers and slap them all over Paris.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_03: Somewhere.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_03: I love it.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_03: Well, I'm so excited for your adventure.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_03: And to all of our listeners out there, it's almost the holiday season, and I am totally in the spirit.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_03: I've been enjoying and jamming to all the Christmas music.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_03: I'm sure a lot of your dancers have been having some holiday-themed classes throughout these past couple weeks leading into the holiday break.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_03: And I hope that you're getting your shopping done, everyone, because it's coming up quick.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_03: It is here.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_00: It is.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_00: And if you have, you know, if you're struggling for something to buy your dancer, we do have online critiques available.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_00: That is a wonderful gift that you can give your dancers to be able to brush up before the holiday or before the uh competition season.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_00: So think about us in your holiday shopping.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, why not?
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_03: I love that.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_03: Or maybe joining our platinum premium as a stocking stuffer.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_03: That could be a great one too.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_03: And speaking of more stocking stuffers, we want to share with you our sponsor for this week's episode, and that is Apollo Performance.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_00: Are you looking for the perfect gift for your dancer this season?
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_00: I have a recommendation from my feet.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_00: Get them Apollo Shocks.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_00: They're not only amazing footwear that protect and support your feet, but they're an all-female-owned, 100% made in the USA, and a company that truly cares to help dancers dance longer and stronger.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_00: These compression socks make your feet feel amazing and are from a company you can trust.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: Give the gift of happy feet this holiday season.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_00: Visit ApolloPerformance.com to learn more and use our exclusive podcast promo code Impact10 at checkout to receive ten percent off your order.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_00: Dance longer, dance stronger with Apollo Performance.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_03: And to all of our listeners out there, if you have not had a chance to leave us a review on Apple Podcasts, we would love to hear from you.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_03: Click the five-star rating and share your thoughts with us on the review platform.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_03: We have over a hundred are I think we're getting close to 150 reviews on Apple Podcasts, which is so exciting.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_03: And each review and rating that you leave for us helps us get higher in the rankings in Podcast LAN, which is wonderful.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_03: So if you want to help show your support, head on over to Apple Podcasts, click the star rating, and leave us a review.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_03: And we would love to share some of our recent reviews from our fabulous fans.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_03: And first up, this is coming from Mountaineer 10 on Apple Podcasts.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_03: And they said, thanks so much.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_03: I love the podcast.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_03: This is such a good one for a comp student like me.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_03: I learned so much and would recommend this to any type of dancer.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you, Courtney and Leslie.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_03: Love this one.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, that's so sweet.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_03: So it's a dancer listening.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks, Mountaineer.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_00: I love hearing that Mountaineer.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_03: And another recent review is coming from Summizel on Apple Podcasts.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_03: And it says, Every mom needs to listen.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_03: It says, Hi, my name is Summer.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_03: You might have heard me on last season's Dance Mom episode.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_03: And I'm here to let every dance mom or dad know that this is required listening for your child in the dance competition world.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_03: Or even someone who just wants to pursue a career in dance.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_03: I grew up dancing and I would have loved to if there had been this resource available to me and my mom as I navigated the dance world and the ups and downs to becoming a professional.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_03: The information Courtney and Leslie give in each episode is so important, from having professionals on to discuss their experiences to judges explaining what they look for on stage.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_03: There is truly something for every dance mom to take away.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_03: My daughter Paige and I listen in the car every week, and it's been beneficial for her to hear these things straight from the people she is working to aspire to be.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_03: I can't thank you enough for providing this resource that's so needed in the dance community.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_03: Wow, what a review.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_00: Awesome.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you, Summer.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_03: That is just so sweet, Summer.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_03: And we loved having you as a guest on our podcast.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_03: And that was a dance mom episode.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_03: I think it was How to Not Be a Stage Mom was the title of that episode in season three.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_03: And it was a very popular one.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_03: I think the title is very catchy, obviously.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_00: Oh yeah, for sure.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_00: Well, and and don't worry, Dance Dads, we have an episode for you this season too, so stay tuned.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, we have some great episodes coming your way.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_03: So thank you to all of our fans who have left us reviews and showed your support.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_03: We are so grateful for you all.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_03: Alright, listeners, it's time for this week's episode, and this is our next studio spotlight feature of season four.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_03: We love doing these studio spotlights, and I know that all of our fans have enjoyed listening to of different studios around the country who are making an impact in our industry.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_03: And this episode is a studio that is joining us from Florida, Orlando, Florida, and um they are doing great things in the industry.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_03: They have awesome, well-rounded training.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_03: They uh have dancers that have gone on to work on Broadway in national tours for Radio City at Walt Disney World, in cruise lines.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_03: Um, they also have currently the NYCDA Mini Outstanding Dancer of the Year, which is a beautiful achievement.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_03: And uh they have been one of the top studios and choreography, they've won awards in top studio and choreography for 19 years.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_03: I'm really excited to learn so much more about this studio.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_03: And the studio is In Motion Dance Project from Orlando, Florida.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_03: I'm excited to welcome the owner, Amanda Pleasa, to the podcast.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_03: Welcome, Amanda.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_03: Leslie and Courtney.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_04: It's so exciting to be here with you both.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_04: You were just giving that bio, and I started to well up.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_04: I I when you think about it and think about 19 years of being in this industry as a studio owner, you you tend to forget because you're going through the day-to-day just how how unbelievable it is to be able to work with so many young, aspiring dancers and performers.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_04: And it's just it's such a true gift.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_04: So th thank thank you for for lifting me up and making me remember in this moment, you know, why why I love to continue to do this and to be able to give back to the to the dance community.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_04: I'm so excited to be here.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_03: Yay! We're excited to have you and thank you for doing everything that you've been doing for our beautiful dance world and inspiring so many of your students.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_03: And I think it's always just so great for your to hear studios who have students that are able to continue on past the studio into college dance, into the professional world.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_03: I think a lot of studio owners have that goal.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_03: Not every studio, but a lot of them do.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_03: And it sounds to me, and I'm sure we're gonna hear all about it, but that you're setting them up for those opportunities throughout your training training at the studio, which is really great.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_04: We certainly, we certainly do try to do that.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_04: I our our main goal and focus for the past 19 years at our studio has always been good people first, dance second.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_04: So it's just always setting them up, whether again they choose to go into have a professional career in dance or go and attend a university program for dance here.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_04: It also we understand, I know we understand as a staff in the studio that not everybody is gonna is going to have that path in the end once they graduate from high school.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_04: So it's just setting them up for success with whatever they choose to do or whatever path they choose to go on.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_04: I know a lot of our students, you know, dance, our studio is home for them.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_04: It is a second home.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_04: It is, it is where they come each and every afternoon after school.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_04: We spend more time with the with the dancers than typically they spend with their parents.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_04: So we have a huge responsibility and as a staff and as a faculty at to be that bridge for them between, you know, adolescent, pre-professional career, whether it's in dance or school or whatever they choose to do, and bridging that gap to to help make it a smoother transition for them once they do go into the professional world or the collegiate, you know, continuing their education.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_04: So it's it's so, so important to all of us.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_04: And that's that starts at age three at the studio, all the way up through our high school graduating students.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_00: So that's great.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_00: Well, and that's I mean, talking about the transition between high school and whatever else you choose to do, I mean, it's huge.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_00: And so to at least know that you have that support from the beginning, people that are gonna be in your corner, you know, throughout your career, whatever that might be, dance or not, is you know, I think I don't think everybody really has that.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I think some some studios are just like, you're here and then you're gone.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it's just you know, it is but it is a revolving door at a dance studio.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_04: You really you never have control over who is gonna come in and who's gonna stay and who's going to leave because again, you're a an extension of their family.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_04: So, but parents are the ones who who who are driving a dance, they're they're taking care of the dance education, they're paying for dance, they're you know, they're putting in their iCalendars and their Google calendars, all of the, you know, the school activities, the dance activities.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_04: So for us, we just feel that our time is so very, very precious anytime we're at the studio with our students, just because we know that it might last 15 years, or it might be one year, or it might just be for a month.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_04: But in that time, whether it's a month or 15 years, you can make a huge, huge impact in in someone, in in in a human being.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_04: And it it's so, so important for all of us at the studio that we continue to do that.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_04: And and I always tell my students that I will be in your life for however long you want to keep me in your life.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_04: If you need me and it's been 10 years, you pick up the phone and you call me.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_04: Because again, I know that they they don't typically have a lot of control over how long their dance career lasts with us at the studio because there's always so many outside factors that go into how long they can stay and how long, you know, or or if their their time is long with us or if their time is short with us.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_03: So Yeah.
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_03: I love I love hearing that.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_03: That's so that's so wonderful to hear and so inspiring.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_03: I'm sure that your students are so grateful to have that from you and feeling like they can come back to you.
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_03: And I'm sure your alumni probably pop in all the time whenever they're home for holiday breaks and things like that.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_03: So I'm just really excited to learn more about your studio.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_03: And I'd love for you to just kick things off and just share more about you, actually, like what your background is, how you got started in dance and kind of the evolution into your studio owner life.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_04: I love that word evolution.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_04: The word we live by in our house and at our studio.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_04: Uh so for me, it's so, so cliche.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_04: I actually I'm not from Florida.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_04: I grew up in North New Jersey in a small town called Sparta, New Jersey.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_04: Oh, yeah.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_04: It is tiny, tiny, tiny little lake town.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_04: Uh, my parents actually uh they resided in uh central, central New Jersey and they moved to Sparta back in the 70s.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_04: So when I was about three years old, again, it's so cliche, just dancing around the living room, listening to records.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_04: My my mother had a a neighbor whose daughter was dancing at the local dance studio, and it was okay, Amanda, Amanda seems like she wants to dance.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_04: She has rhythm, she's constantly moving.
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_04: Let's enroll her in a studio.
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_04: So that's when I started dancing, was at age three.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_04: I was in that creative combo, what you know, tiny tots class with the, you know, the the the pink bows on the tap shoes and the you know the two big tights that that was that was me.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_04: That was me.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_04: And I honestly have not danced stopped dancing for over 40 years.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_04: It's always been a part of my life.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_04: You know, I danced in, I danced in New Jersey.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_04: It started at that small, small studio.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_04: And like most middle school age dancers, sometimes they do go through burnout.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_04: And that's what happened to me.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_04: I was that 12-year-old young adolescent coming home from a rehearsal one night and just so overwhelmed by school and by, you know, the schedule of the studio.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_04: And and back then, there really wasn't, there really wasn't much discussion about the mental, the mental, you know, capacity it takes to be able to hold that type of schedule and that type of pressure at at in like seventh and eighth grade.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_04: So I'm so grateful to see that there's there's been so many, um, so much progress in that now that uh that I can actually get back to our students.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_04: But you know, that's where that's where I started out.
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_04: I started out just in a local dance studio.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_04: Um I did change studios come freshman year because I I just I I wanted more.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_04: For myself, I wanted more.
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_04: The local dance studio was amazing.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_04: It was such a beautiful community.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_04: But my parents, once I started to get burnt out, I took some time off.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_04: It took a good six months off just to kind of reassess.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_04: I even played softball, which was complete and utter disaster.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_04: This should never, ever, ever be playing softball.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_04: But again, you know, being a my dad was a big, he was an umpire, he was a softball coach.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_04: I just figured, okay, well, if I'm not dancing, this is the philosophy of my family.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_04: This is the next, this is the next thing that I should be trying to do.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_04: And it was it it was an an absolute no-go.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_04: I so you know, dance kind of got catapulted right back in after that six months hiatus.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_04: And again, I have not, I have not stopped dancing since.
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_04: I have not stopped having dance be a part of my life.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_04: But, you know, once I I I transitioned studios and I found some of my, oh my God, some some amazing, amazing teachers to help guide me into the next, the next step of my my my career and my journey.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_04: You know, I was there with Don Laviella Shab and George Lawn and Chris Lee, and they, you know, they really took me under their wing.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_04: And it was it was such a a different, a different aspect of what I had grown up with in my my tiny small town recreational studio to then now transitioning into this competitive studio where you had, you know, guest teachers coming in from New York City weekly, and you I was exposed to so much more than I ever was before in regards to the competitive world, in regards to auditions, in regards to conventions and and being a part of so many different, different communities outside that small little knit family.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_04: So, you know, once I graduated from high school, I then went and I auditioned around the country uh to go to to university.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_04: I wanted to be able to continue my dance education.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_04: I felt that it was so important.
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_04: I felt I got such a great jump start that freshman year that it's it's really started to gain momentum that I wanted more of that.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_04: I wanted more of the education, I wanted more of the learning.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_04: I I wanted to continue to be a student.
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_04: And, you know, even though growing up in New Jersey, it didn't make sense for me to just move straight to New York and and and live there and and try to struggle.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_04: So I made the choice to attend Pourk College.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_04: Well, now it's Point Park University, but Point Park College back in the day, and again, had amazing professors.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_04: And it was just, it was fantastic to be able to immerse myself in a program where I was dancing all day long.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_04: And you were with so many like-minded people because being in high school, being in it in a being a dancer, knowing that it's your passion, knowing that it's something that you're meant to do, you almost have, pardon me saying this, but this higher power.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_04: You have this intuition that this is this is where where you you feel like you fit in the world and how you're going to give back to the world, whatever, whatever that's going to end up being.
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_04: But you know, going through high school, not everybody is on that same, that same page and that same path.
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_04: So it it becomes, again, a challenge to be able to balance schedule, to be able to balance life, to be able to balance your needs as a person.
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_04: So to go to Point Park and to be there and to be completely immersed in dance and and make some of some lifelong friends that I know will will be, will be friends till the day we leave this earth, that it was such a an eye-opening experience for me going, okay, there are people that like me.
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_04: There are people who think like me.
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_04: This is this is this is such a great, this is the community I want to continue to be in, you know, for for however long it will have me.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_04: And with Point Park, it's such an interesting, um, it was such an interesting time there because we were having so many different companies coming in to audition, whether it was national tours, whether it was uh Disney at the time was always there, uh Royal Caribbean, all of those big, those big, massive companies, entertainment companies would come in and they would do these auditions.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_04: And, you know, you would just go in there as a freshman and just go, okay, I'm just practicing my audition skills.
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_04: And lo and behold, I went in there my freshman year and I actually got an equity contract at Walt Disney World.
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_04: And we had traveled down to Disney as my my grandparents actually had a winter home because it's not a summer home, it's a winter home because we're there's snowbirds, and we would come down here to Florida for our our winter break all the time as kids and through high school.
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_04: So Disney, we were, I was always here.
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_04: I always wanted to be a world dancer.
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_04: I wanted to dance on Cinderella's Castle.
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_04: That was such a that was always a goal of mine.
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_04: It was a goal of mine since I was a little, little kid, nine, 10 years old, to be on Broadway and to dance on Cinderella's Castle.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_04: Uh so you know, to be able to have those opportunities to audition and the possibility being there was unbelievable.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_04: And once they called for that contract, I I I I couldn't believe that my dreams were uh actually becoming a reality.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_04: So I ended up pausing my my college education at Point Park.
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_04: Um and and they've always they back back when I was there, it was always supported to go out and work.
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_04: So my my philosophy, and thank goodness I had supportive parents that I mean who are still completely unbelievably supportive.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_04: Uh, they always have been, that they said to me, okay, Amanda, you know what, you're gonna pause school.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_04: This is great.
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_04: You're gonna go, you're gonna do your year contract at Disney, you'll get your equity card, you'll go back to school, you'll finish up.
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_04: I guess I've always been an overachiever and I've always wanted to get things done quicker than the timeline that's been laid out for me.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_04: So when I was at Point Park, I was actually a year ahead in my college credits because I was just, I would stay there in the summer, I would just try to, you know.
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_04: So at the end of my, you know, sophomore year, here I now I have this amazing one-year contract opportunity with with actors equity, with Walt Disney World.
• 20:33
  SPEAKER_04: You know, it was it was amazing.
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_04: So I said, okay, we'll take, we'll take a break.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_04: We'll take a break for a year and then I'll go back.
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_04: So did you go back?
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_04: I did not go back, but honestly, I did not go back.
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_04: But the funny thing is, is that I'm actually putting in college applications right now as we speak to go back to school and to finish up.
• 20:53
  SPEAKER_04: Uh-huh.
• 20:53
  SPEAKER_04: Absolutely.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_04: Yep.
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_04: Oh my god, it's always been a goal of mine.
• 20:57
  SPEAKER_04: It's always been something that I've wanted to finish up.
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_04: So, you know, here in Florida, we have some great programs, and since the pandemic, you know, everything is online.
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_04: So I can actually sit in in my home office and I don't have to, I can do it on my own time in my own schedule.
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_04: So yeah, uh, I know it's it's wild.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_04: My kids are like, You're really going back to school, mom?
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_04: Why would you do that to yourself?
• 21:17
  SPEAKER_04: But I mean, you know, I want to do it.
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_04: I want to do it.
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_04: I want to do it.
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_00: They always say that like, you know, your prime dancing years are while you're in college.
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_00: College will always be there.
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_00: Your body's not always going to be able to dance at the castle, you know, four or five shows a day or whatever it is in the heat of the Orlando summer.
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_00: But like college is now online.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_00: So it is.
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_04: It is.
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_04: And I mean, we can talk more and more about that, you know, later, but it it it it's amazing.
• 21:45
  SPEAKER_04: You can have you can have it all if you know how to budget and manage your time and and find and create balance in your life.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_04: So, you know, long story short, I came down here.
• 21:54
  SPEAKER_04: I started working at Disney.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_04: I I I did a summer contract with them.
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_04: I then I went back.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_04: Myself up.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_04: I actually did a summer contract with them where I came down for three months.
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_04: I did, I one goal, bucket list, checked off, Cinderella's Castle, Kid of the Kingdom.
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_04: Yes, amazing.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_04: You know, again, amazing people, amazing leader, leadership, you know, to be able to learn from and to still be a student and be able to grow.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_04: Went back to school for my sophomore year, got the the year contract with equity, went back again.
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_04: And I was actually cast and doing a show called The Festival of the Lion King over at Disney's Animal Kingdom.
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_04: And it is one of the most magnificent, magnificent shows that I've ever seen at a theme park.
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_04: And it was, it was so innovative for um when it was uh created by by the amazing Reed Jones, who is an inspiration as it is, you know, just as a creative thinker and a creative doer and director worldwide with entertainment.
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_04: So to be able to be in one of his shows and to be able to go there and learn something new, I was learning how to fly through the air.
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_04: I was going to continue to to do a dodge work and partnering.
• 23:07
  SPEAKER_04: And I I came in for my first day.
• 23:09
  SPEAKER_04: This is such a crazy story.
• 23:11
  SPEAKER_04: I came in for my first day of work.
• 23:13
  SPEAKER_04: And you know, you walk in, you have your you have your interview, you you meet everybody, you meet the cast.
• 23:19
  SPEAKER_04: And I met who's now my husband of 20 years on my first day of work at um at the Lion King show.
• 23:27
  SPEAKER_04: And at the time, you know, he my husband is a trained gymnast and a stunt person.
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_04: So he was he was coming off of a show in Las Vegas, and he had he had moved to Orlando and just like me, was only planning on being there for 12 months and doing one contract.
• 23:43
  SPEAKER_04: And sure enough, here we are 25 years later.
• 23:46
  SPEAKER_04: We're still we're still here doing it.
• 23:48
  SPEAKER_04: But he was he was the first person that I met.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_04: And, you know, we just we just hit it off.
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_04: He was such a great friend that after my contract was finished, after that first year, it was a decision of okay, am I gonna stay at Disney?
• 24:01
  SPEAKER_04: Am I gonna go back to school?
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_04: I was I was in that 10-month, like 10-month making a decision.
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_04: Am I gonna stay at Disney?
• 24:06
  SPEAKER_04: Am I gonna stay with him?
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_04: Am I gonna stay at school?
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_04: Or am I gonna go, am I gonna go back to school?
• 24:10
  SPEAKER_04: What what choice am I gonna make?
• 24:12
  SPEAKER_04: And at the time, the production team of the show that my husband was doing in Las Vegas, EFX, they were the production team for Saturday Night Fever on Broadway.
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_04: So he said, Oh, they're coming to Orlando.
• 24:25
  SPEAKER_04: It would be really great to go see all of my friends because they were holding the audition.
• 24:30
  SPEAKER_04: And I said, Oh, that's fun.
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_04: I'll go audition for this show.
• 24:34
  SPEAKER_04: Why not?
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_04: You know, it's again, every time you audition, it's taking a free class.
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_04: It is learning, it is learning that skill.
• 24:42
  SPEAKER_04: You can't learn how to become a better, better at auditioning unless you go out there and you audition.
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_04: Right.
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_04: So I showed up, I went to the audition, I, you know, he got to say hi to the dance captain who was a very close friend of his.
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_04: We I auditioned, forgot about it, went back the next day, sang a little bit, they said thank you very much.
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_04: We went, had lunch, that was it, completely, you know, didn't even think about it, just went back to work.
• 25:08
  SPEAKER_04: And within about a month later, Saturday Fever was calling me to see to offer me a contract as a swing for opening cast of Saturday Fever on Broadway.
• 25:17
  SPEAKER_04: Oh wow.
• 25:18
  SPEAKER_04: And I was not even 21 yet.
• 25:21
  SPEAKER_04: So that was just such a uh it was such a whirlwind.
• 25:25
  SPEAKER_04: It truly, it was a humbling whirlwind.
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_04: So I again, decision, stay at Disney, Broadway, you know, want to check that off the bucket list too, or go back to school.
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_03: So the timing might have been impeccable in your story though, like how how's how Saturday Night Fever just happened to come right at this other crucial decision-making point in the timeline of everything.
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, what are the odds it was meant to, I think it was meant to be.
• 25:51
  SPEAKER_04: Well, I always say the universe responds when you need it.
• 25:54
  SPEAKER_04: You just have to put it out there.
• 25:55
  SPEAKER_04: You have to put it out there.
• 25:56
  SPEAKER_04: If you if you're not dreaming out loud and you're you're not putting putting the work out there, putting the you know, the effort out there, it's it's not going to happen.
• 26:05
  SPEAKER_04: And again, it's it's putting the work in, taking making the effort, but not being so serious about it that you allow it to absorb every single moment of your life.
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_04: You just have to keep on living.
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_04: And if it's supposed to happen, it's going to happen.
• 26:19
  SPEAKER_04: So, and it did, and it was so, it was, it was kind of a crazy experience because there I am finishing up my contract at Disney.
• 26:27
  SPEAKER_04: I'm now packing up my apartment, I'm getting on the auto train, I'm, you know, leaving the love of my life, going up to New York, moving into uh, you know, one like a single studio, tiny little apartment up there on the upper west side.
• 26:41
  SPEAKER_04: And just thought that I had the whole world in front of me and was just so excited to be up there in New York.
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_04: And, you know, there's always a twist.
• 26:48
  SPEAKER_04: And I believe, you know, yes, my dreams did come true, but it it really told it that this experience showed me how unbelievably resilient I am.
• 26:56
  SPEAKER_04: And I I refer back to this story quite a bit as a studio owner, as a mom, as a teacher, as a choreographer.
• 27:03
  SPEAKER_04: Uh when I got to New York and I was in my third day of rehearsal, I went up in a lift.
• 27:08
  SPEAKER_04: And being a swing, you're dancing with so many different partners.
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_04: You're dancing, you have you're learning choreography.
• 27:14
  SPEAKER_04: It's a fast process.
• 27:16
  SPEAKER_04: Anytime you're workshopping anything, it's fast.
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_04: You are at the mercy of the production.
• 27:20
  SPEAKER_04: It is, it is, you have to be able to learn quick, pick up quick.
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_04: And you know, and in my class cast, I was in in the cast with Andy Blinkenbuller and Michael Baldurama and you know, all of these amazing, like amazing creative people.
• 27:36
  SPEAKER_04: And they have such an unbelievable work ethic to be able to, again, be in the room at 21 years old to experience that and absorb all of that.
• 27:46
  SPEAKER_04: That was just unbelievable.
• 27:48
  SPEAKER_04: So, third day of rehearsal, I'm dancing with a new partner, and I went up and he was six foot four, and I'm five foot four, and he brought me down a little too short, caught my foot on his ankle, broke my foot.
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_04: Third day of rehearsal.
• 28:02
  SPEAKER_04: Uh-huh.
• 28:03
  SPEAKER_04: And again, it's that moment of okay, I just left Disney.
• 28:07
  SPEAKER_04: I just left the love of my life.
• 28:09
  SPEAKER_04: I'm now here in New York.
• 28:10
  SPEAKER_04: How am I supposed how am I supposed to get through this?
• 28:14
  SPEAKER_04: And I, you know, of course, called my parents.
• 28:16
  SPEAKER_04: Thank goodness they were still living in New Jersey.
• 28:18
  SPEAKER_04: So, you know, they come to the rescue as they always have.
• 28:22
  SPEAKER_04: And the best Christmas present I ever got in 1999 was I made my Broadway debut.
• 28:29
  SPEAKER_04: And that was unbelievable.
• 28:31
  SPEAKER_04: Like it was such an unbelievable feeling.
• 28:33
  SPEAKER_04: And again, it was that that moment of you can do anything.
• 28:36
  SPEAKER_04: You just learned 15 different roles sitting in a chair, you know, talking in a tape recorder, looking at your little grid box and your blocking book, and you know, and and believing enough in yourself and making the choice to put those shoes on and get on stage and like get backstage and learn.
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_04: And then we would have um intermission.
• 28:57
  SPEAKER_04: And, you know, Michael was always so great.
• 28:59
  SPEAKER_04: All the all the guys were great.
• 29:00
  SPEAKER_04: Would you do these lifts with me?
• 29:01
  SPEAKER_04: Can we practice this, this hustle?
• 29:03
  SPEAKER_04: Can can I walk through it?
• 29:05
  SPEAKER_04: So, and again, it's just it's you taking the initiative.
• 29:08
  SPEAKER_04: And that's something that my parents instilled in me.
• 29:10
  SPEAKER_04: And that was you have to take the initiative.
• 29:13
  SPEAKER_04: It's up to you.
• 29:13
  SPEAKER_04: If you want this, you have to do it.
• 29:16
  SPEAKER_04: You can't wait for somebody to tell you to do it, or you can't wait for them to give you the opportunity.
• 29:21
  SPEAKER_04: You create the opportunity for yourself.
• 29:24
  SPEAKER_04: So even though the foot was broken, it was just a matter of you, if you want this, you have to, you have to do it.
• 29:30
  SPEAKER_04: So, you know, then I mean it is kind of a crazy story.
• 29:34
  SPEAKER_04: But for me being here in Florida, I love I I I love New Jersey and I love seasons, but I love the heat.
• 29:41
  SPEAKER_04: I love it being warm.
• 29:42
  SPEAKER_04: I love being able to be outside every day.
• 29:45
  SPEAKER_04: So it was May, and I decided, okay, we're gonna, we're gonna leave New York.
• 29:49
  SPEAKER_04: And I called Disney Casting.
• 29:51
  SPEAKER_04: I said, Do you have anything?
• 29:52
  SPEAKER_04: And they said yes.
• 29:53
  SPEAKER_04: And I went back down to Florida.
• 29:55
  SPEAKER_04: I did another contract there with an another show on property.
• 30:00
  SPEAKER_04: I then from that point, Disney Tokyo Disney C was opening up and they needed somebody who knew how to fly in the air and be able to be the Disney brand because it is a brand, it is a corporation, it is a company.
• 30:12
  SPEAKER_04: And you know, there's a there's a certain there's a certain aesthetic that you need that you needed to have back in the day.
• 30:19
  SPEAKER_04: And I got hired to go open up Tit Tokyo Disney C in one of their shows, Their Under the Sea show over there.
• 30:25
  SPEAKER_04: And I was flying, and now I'm living in Japan.
• 30:27
  SPEAKER_04: And again, I've left left my husband, my my now husband, but my my the love of my life then.
• 30:32
  SPEAKER_04: Now I once again I he had me back for a year to do a contract, and I'm like, see ya, off, off again I go.
• 30:38
  SPEAKER_04: And then I, you know, it was just living in Japan and just immersing myself in that culture and the Disney culture, and again, just having so many wonderful friends.
• 30:46
  SPEAKER_04: My husband was born in Bangkok, Thailand.
• 30:49
  SPEAKER_04: So he would have his two weeks of vacation and he would fly to Thailand and go visit his family for a week, and then he would come and see me for a week.
• 30:57
  SPEAKER_04: So the the in um again, December must be a good month for me.
• 31:01
  SPEAKER_04: So December of that, that my of the end of my contract, he came over, and that's when he asked me to marry him.
• 31:07
  SPEAKER_04: And I got engaged in in in Tokyo on a big, huge Ferris wheel, which was amazing.
• 31:14
  SPEAKER_04: Came home, and I've never I've never left Florida since.
• 31:19
  SPEAKER_04: So yeah, I've I've been here for so long, and and a lot of it is my husband and I we came back, we came home, we came, I came home, I came back to Florida.
• 31:26
  SPEAKER_04: Uh, he was here still doing doing the Lion King show at Disney.
• 31:30
  SPEAKER_04: And from that point, we kind of had to make a decision because are we still gonna keep traveling?
• 31:36
  SPEAKER_04: Are we gonna stay here in Florida?
• 31:38
  SPEAKER_04: You know, and here in Orlando, it was it was the uh conversation that he and I both had was we could start a business for when we want to stop performing and we can still continue to perform.
• 31:50
  SPEAKER_04: And because there is, there is that amazing opportunity here in Orlando, that there are so many, people don't realize that there are so many production companies that come based out of Orlando, that they're you know, you do have Disney and Universal and SeaWorld.
• 32:04
  SPEAKER_04: And, you know, with with Disney for young performers to come and get your equity card at 18.
• 32:09
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, that's unheard of.
• 32:10
  SPEAKER_04: And it it is something where I've always believed in what they do as an entertainment company with with their live shows on property.
• 32:18
  SPEAKER_04: And I think that's why I've stayed for 20 plus years, is because I do believe in it is a great jump start for so many young performers to be able to work with casts who have seasoned and and be in a corporate setting also, and be able to perform, and to be able to get your equity card and health insurance and all of those great things that come with being a working dancer, that it just it was what worked for me.
• 32:46
  SPEAKER_04: But my husband and I always knew, again, that our career wasn't gonna last forever as a performer.
• 32:51
  SPEAKER_04: So we we like Orlando, we loved living here, we had just bought a house, and it just made sense for us to start start a dance studio.
• 32:59
  SPEAKER_04: And and that's kind of how we we rolled into to opening up In Motion Dance Project 19 years ago.
• 33:06
  SPEAKER_04: And I if you if you remember, I've only been married, I mean, I've only been married, I've been married 20 years.
• 33:11
  SPEAKER_04: So literally about right away, as soon as after we got married, we opened the studio up.
• 33:18
  SPEAKER_04: And and a lot of it was there was a need for there was a need for a culture that anybody could come dance, that you didn't have to be in a ballet company, that you didn't have to be a competitive dancer, that you didn't have to be at a gym to become a gymnast, but that there was a place for anybody, anybody, any ethnicity, any social status to be able to come and just dance.
• 33:42
  SPEAKER_04: And, you know, for Appy and I, we were so lucky at the at the time when we first opened the studio because we were still, we still had full-time jobs.
• 33:50
  SPEAKER_04: We had full-time jobs.
• 33:52
  SPEAKER_04: We would come in and we would work at night.
• 33:54
  SPEAKER_04: So we would come in at five o'clock.
• 33:56
  SPEAKER_04: I think our first year of the studio, we had something like 18, 20, 18 to 20 students and our end-of-the-year recital that we had in the studio, which is so, so crazy because you're just you're just trying to get something started.
• 34:09
  SPEAKER_04: And you know, we had to take that time to be able to allow it to to grow and expand and and and be what it is now 19 years later.
• 34:19
  SPEAKER_04: But I'm telling you right now, it it was not what it is now 19 years ago.
• 34:24
  SPEAKER_04: I I mean I remember doing shifts at doing shows, doing five shows a day.
• 34:29
  SPEAKER_04: Okay, go do my five shows a day, you know, washing my face quick, getting in the car, hopping, driving my 45 minutes to the studio, opening the door, and at 4 30, right on the dot, you have three-year-olds ready to come in and and they want your attention, full attention, full, full attention.
• 34:46
  SPEAKER_04: So you know again, it's that that whole resilience knowing that you can do that.
• 34:50
  SPEAKER_04: So for you know, for Appy and I, we just we opened our business, we did a lot of it on our own.
• 34:56
  SPEAKER_04: We did a lot of it by ourselves with the generosity of friends, with the generosity of, we had a friend who had a space and he just said, Come, I want you to start your business here.
• 35:05
  SPEAKER_04: It'll, it'll be great for Orlando.
• 35:08
  SPEAKER_04: And that's that's kind of how we got started with In Motion.
• 35:11
  SPEAKER_04: But again, as as the studio has been going, you know, Appy was still performing, I was still performing.
• 35:18
  SPEAKER_04: I started to uh do more choreography for Disney Live Entertainment.
• 35:23
  SPEAKER_04: Uh, you know, it just there were so many different things happening and different production companies here in town that I just feel that having the studio, it was just so important for myself, my husband, and for our staff to still be current in the industry and teaching too as well, because that just makes a world, a world of difference because you're you're able to show them that this is not just about dance, there's so many other things that you can also be doing in this industry too, whether you're a director, a producer, a choreographer, whether you're a sound technician, a lighting technician, all of that and again, by by my staff still being current in in the industry, we're able to give that that gift back to our students too as well.
• 36:06
  SPEAKER_04: So it's just it's all about knowledge.
• 36:08
  SPEAKER_04: And and and here we are.
• 36:10
  SPEAKER_04: So here I am 19 years later, you know, dance.
• 36:13
  SPEAKER_04: I I'm still dancing.
• 36:14
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, I I don't know if I'm allowed to say this, but I just shot a national commercial here in Orlando.
• 36:19
  SPEAKER_04: Wow.
• 36:19
  SPEAKER_04: I haven't performed in 12 years since my so you know, since my son has been born.
• 36:24
  SPEAKER_04: And no, that's a lie.
• 36:26
  SPEAKER_04: 10 years since my daughter's been born.
• 36:27
  SPEAKER_04: So to have to kind of switch my brain from choreographer mode, studio director mode to go back into performer mode, that was absolutely wild for me.
• 36:35
  SPEAKER_04: That was completely wild.
• 36:36
  SPEAKER_03: But you don't say no to a national commercial.
• 36:39
  SPEAKER_04: You do not say no to a national commercial.
• 36:41
  SPEAKER_03: So you're like, I'm I'm changing gears.
• 36:55
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 36:55
  SPEAKER_04: Constantly.
• 36:56
  SPEAKER_04: And and I don't call it multitasking, I call it task switching.
• 37:00
  SPEAKER_04: Like you constantly have to be task switching throughout the day because again, you'll you'll have your office manager calling, asking a question about the accounting.
• 37:10
  SPEAKER_04: And then you'll have an Instagram post that needs to be approved by whoever's doing social media.
• 37:15
  SPEAKER_04: And then you're going in to teach a beginner technique class at five o'clock.
• 37:19
  SPEAKER_04: So now you're prepping for your your evening that night.
• 37:22
  SPEAKER_04: And then you're doing a Zoom call about you know whatever, whatever new project you're on over here.
• 37:28
  SPEAKER_04: So it's constantly being able to task switch throughout the day, but it is you, you have, you have to do, you have to.
• 37:35
  SPEAKER_04: It's it's such a vital, vital resource.
• 37:37
  SPEAKER_04: And I hope, I hope that myself and my staff that we're teaching that to our students too as well, that it you don't have to burn yourself out, do it smartly, but just know that you're you're nothing is ever going to be the same.
• 37:50
  SPEAKER_04: It's always going to be evolving throughout the day because that's what it's like to have this human experience that we all have.
• 37:57
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 37:57
  SPEAKER_00: And to have the experience of, you know, not necessarily being a freelancer, but like similar, you know, if you're working for multiple businesses and doing we're wearing multiple hats yourself in your own business, you really do.
• 38:08
  SPEAKER_00: You there's there's you're not sitting at a at a desk for eight hours a day doing a spreadsheet.
• 38:13
  SPEAKER_00: Like that's just not really, you know, you pay somebody else to do that.
• 38:16
  SPEAKER_04: Yes.
• 38:17
  SPEAKER_04: Well, and but I'll still do the spreadsheet because for me sometimes it's it's peaceful to do the spreadsheet, but it's peaceful and and it's just a different way to use my creativity.
• 38:26
  SPEAKER_04: I feel that, you know, again, just it it you can use your creativity in anything that you do from from making breakfast in the morning to how you make your eggs or how you make your coffee to creating a piece of choreography, to creating um an Instagram post, to creating a spreadsheet.
• 38:44
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, you really can use your creativity and in every single moment of your day if you will if you allow yourself to.
• 38:51
  SPEAKER_04: So, you know, sometimes I'm just like, all right, I'm no moving today.
• 38:54
  SPEAKER_04: We're gonna do, we're gonna, we're gonna map out from January all the way through June, and we're gonna color code it in that spreadsheet and and keep keep ourselves on track.
• 39:03
  SPEAKER_04: So yeah.
• 39:09
  SPEAKER_03: Hey Dance World.
• 39:10
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• 40:30
  SPEAKER_03: I think that what is really inspiring after hearing your beautiful professional dance journey is the fact that you have that experience to then appro how you approach the studio from your experience as a professional.
• 40:48
  SPEAKER_03: There's uh I'm sure there are a lot of studio owners who had the opportunity to perform professionally, but not everyone.
• 40:56
  SPEAKER_03: So I think that it's a different perspective on how you how you want to structure your training.
• 41:01
  SPEAKER_03: And almost, I mean, like you said, accessibility for everyone to come and dance, but also I'm sure for you as a performer, it was really rewarding for you to go out and get these jobs fairly quickly, you know, at a young age, which really shows that your training that you received at your studio and at point park y was great and set you set you up for success.
• 41:26
  SPEAKER_03: So I'm sure that as a studio owner, you're I n if it was me in your position, I would have been feeling like I want to be able to give that same type of training and set my dancers up and use these experiences that I've gained from my professional performing career to my dancers, you know, for their up-and-coming professional performing career.
• 41:46
  SPEAKER_03: So and it seems like at least I haven't heard about your training program, which we're about to get into, but like I'm sure that's where it's how it kind of feels because you're a lot of your dancers, like we mentioned in your opening, have gone on to have careers.
• 42:01
  SPEAKER_03: So I'm curious to hear more about that.
• 42:04
  SPEAKER_04: Very lucky to to have the success I did performing and booking a job so early on.
• 42:11
  SPEAKER_04: And I I know that that is that is not the norm.
• 42:14
  SPEAKER_04: And I explained that to my my students.
• 42:17
  SPEAKER_04: That is not the norm.
• 42:18
  SPEAKER_04: And and but I believe it all comes in whatever your timeline is.
• 42:22
  SPEAKER_04: So for some, it might happen really, really quickly, right off the bat.
• 42:26
  SPEAKER_04: And then you're gonna have that pause or that hiatus.
• 42:29
  SPEAKER_04: And and it's okay, it's okay to have those moments because you're you're working towards something else.
• 42:35
  SPEAKER_04: And then it will come again.
• 42:37
  SPEAKER_04: So, you know, for me, it happened very, very quickly.
• 42:40
  SPEAKER_04: For others, sometimes it takes 15, 20 years, and then that's when their big moment happens.
• 42:46
  SPEAKER_04: So I think it's just a matter of always remembering that it's your timeline, it's nobody else's.
• 42:52
  SPEAKER_04: This is this is your journey.
• 42:53
  SPEAKER_04: This is your what what you're supposed to be fulfilling for yourself during your time here, you know, and and and again, not performing for 10 years and then all of a sudden this opportunity hits.
• 43:06
  SPEAKER_04: It's it was just kind of comical that you just never know when it's gonna come back around.
• 43:10
  SPEAKER_04: You just always always keep working towards when it when it's gonna happen again or or if it's gonna happen again.
• 43:16
  SPEAKER_00: So Yeah, that's that's very true.
• 43:18
  SPEAKER_00: It's good life lessons.
• 43:20
  SPEAKER_04: So many life lessons.
• 43:22
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 43:22
  SPEAKER_00: Well, tell us a little bit about the current the current way your studio operates.
• 43:28
  SPEAKER_00: So do you have separate programs for your because you mentioned that you your kind of vision for your studio was that anybody can come dance.
• 43:35
  SPEAKER_00: Anybody can come learn to be a gymnast, no matter what the barriers.
• 43:39
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm interested to hear about kind of your different like tracks, I guess, in your studio, and also that you offer gymnastics, like legitimate real gymnastics.
• 43:48
  SPEAKER_04: I wish I wish we had bars in beam, but we do we have a pretty strong tumbling program and we have an aerial program at the studio.
• 43:55
  SPEAKER_04: So we teach Lyra and silks and tumbling.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_04: It's it's and partnering, we do we do all of it there, which is super, super great.
• 44:05
  SPEAKER_04: Cause again, I for me, I feel that you need to be well-rounded.
• 44:08
  SPEAKER_04: You need to be a very well-rounded.
• 44:10
  SPEAKER_04: So, in regards to our program, we started off, I'm going to be very honest, more on a very recreational program 19 years ago.
• 44:20
  SPEAKER_04: Again, it was just young, young dancers, very young dancers starting with us at age four or five years old.
• 44:27
  SPEAKER_04: So it it was a very, very, very beginner program back when we first started.
• 44:33
  SPEAKER_04: Um, how it's evolved and it's shifted now 19 years later is I don't necessarily call our recreational program a recreational program.
• 44:42
  SPEAKER_04: We call it a studio program.
• 44:44
  SPEAKER_04: And why I call it a studio program is because I feel that when you call something recreational, it doesn't allow somebody to have the want and the need and the drive to continue to come weekly and daily unless it's within them.
• 44:59
  SPEAKER_04: So within a studio program, we're treating it like you're going, you're going and getting this education for an entire year, for the entire year, for the for the 10, 10 and a half months that you're you're with us, you're here for our full program.
• 45:13
  SPEAKER_04: So that's our studio program, which most studios they would continue consider it to be a recreational program.
• 45:18
  SPEAKER_04: Now, within that studio program, we have what we call our first steps program, which is our tiny tots, our mighty minis, and our kinder combo.
• 45:27
  SPEAKER_04: So that's from ages three to five.
• 45:29
  SPEAKER_04: And we have the same teacher who teaches all three of those levels.
• 45:34
  SPEAKER_04: And the reason why we do that is so that she can she can be with them while they're growing.
• 45:40
  SPEAKER_04: Where I I we where we where I, my husband and I, where we take this from is both of our children go to a Montessori school.
• 45:47
  SPEAKER_04: So we were seeing that our our own children having the same educator in at a very young age for three years to help continue their growth was such, it was it was mind-blowing for us.
• 46:00
  SPEAKER_04: We saw such a change in our our own children's in their confidence and their growth.
• 46:05
  SPEAKER_04: Um, it was allowing them to continue to have that teacher go back and touch upon things that maybe that they were struggling throughout the school year.
• 46:14
  SPEAKER_04: So we had a discussion right after the pandemic saying, okay, let's let's try, let's try this and see, see how this works.
• 46:20
  SPEAKER_04: And for about three, actually, I'm gonna, I'm gonna go, I'm gonna retract on that.
• 46:25
  SPEAKER_04: It was it was this the start of this season right before the pandemic.
• 46:28
  SPEAKER_04: What was that, 2019, it feels like.
• 46:30
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 46:31
  SPEAKER_04: Years ago.
• 46:32
  SPEAKER_04: 2019, we decided, okay, let's let's start our first steps program and see how this is going to work.
• 46:37
  SPEAKER_04: And anytime you start something new at the studio, you have to at least give it five, five full seasons to see if it's going to, if it's going to make a difference and make a change.
• 46:47
  SPEAKER_04: And we're in now season three, and we see such we see such a huge difference in the sense where there is more the kids want to come back.
• 46:56
  SPEAKER_04: They want to, they want to be with Miss Emily.
• 46:59
  SPEAKER_04: Oh my god, Miss Emily, she's a baby whisperer.
• 47:01
  SPEAKER_04: She's the most amazing, amazing human being.
• 47:03
  SPEAKER_04: They are so excited to see Miss Emily.
• 47:05
  SPEAKER_04: They're so excited to be with Miss Emily, they're excited to come back the next year to be with her.
• 47:10
  SPEAKER_04: And then once they then go into our primary one and two program, they're set up, they're ready, they're ready for that syllabus.
• 47:16
  SPEAKER_04: So, you know, and and again, it's allowing them to have something to grow towards and to keep moving towards.
• 47:22
  SPEAKER_04: So our studio program starts at age three and it goes all the way up to, I'm gonna say, an intermediate high school dancer.
• 47:29
  SPEAKER_04: Once they're past an intermediate dancer, they should automatically be filtering into our company program.
• 47:34
  SPEAKER_04: So we have our studio program, which is is, I'm gonna say, more of a, it is it is a beginner program.
• 47:40
  SPEAKER_04: It's a beginner, beginner intermediate program.
• 47:43
  SPEAKER_04: It's for those dancers who want to just come, they want to dance, they want to learn, they want to be with friends.
• 47:48
  SPEAKER_04: Maybe they don't want the commitment of being a in a company or being in a competitive dancer.
• 47:54
  SPEAKER_04: It sometimes it's just too much for parents to to look at that scope, especially when they're so young, be between the ages of three and nine, parents, they don't, they're just they're just trying to figure out what their child is interested in.
• 48:07
  SPEAKER_04: And it changes.
• 48:08
  SPEAKER_04: It changes so, so often and so so continuously.
• 48:12
  SPEAKER_04: So with our studio program, but we do offer with the studio program, we have our our first steps program, we have a primary one, primary two, and intermediate program, and that does cover ballet, tap, jazz, lyrical, contemporary, hip hop.
• 48:25
  SPEAKER_04: So all of your basics and dancers can come and take.
• 48:28
  SPEAKER_04: They can take one class a week or they can take all of them.
• 48:31
  SPEAKER_04: And again, it's just it's dependent on what works best for their schedule and their family.
• 48:36
  SPEAKER_04: So now we dive into the the company program, which is very much a labor, labor of love.
• 48:42
  SPEAKER_04: Our company program, we do start doing auditions at age four, and it goes all the way up through through uh graduating seniors.
• 48:49
  SPEAKER_04: So it's it's that big of a range.
• 48:51
  SPEAKER_04: Um, right now we have each and each year it changes because it all depends on who is in the room.
• 48:58
  SPEAKER_04: So I've been asked so many times, why do you change the why do you change your company levels every year?
• 49:04
  SPEAKER_04: And I say, well, it all depends on who's in the room and how we're all growing together.
• 49:08
  SPEAKER_04: So sometimes it's it's constantly been a switch up with who is dancing with who, uh, who, you know, if somebody loves tap, I don't want to hold them back from taking three tap classes a week.
• 49:21
  SPEAKER_04: They should be taking three tap classes a week.
• 49:23
  SPEAKER_04: Of course, they're still getting their ballet classes, but they should be able to take more classes and have more opportunities in the places that they want to focus and grow.
• 49:33
  SPEAKER_04: Or on the flip side, if if you ballet is home for you, and tap necessarily might not be home for you, that you have the ability to take five ballet classes a week, and then you can you jump into your one tap class a week.
• 49:48
  SPEAKER_04: So as you can see, I'm I'm not saying that they just do tap or they just do ballet.
• 49:52
  SPEAKER_04: They still have to learn and understand everything, but it just gives us a little bit more ability to be able to shift things around throughout the year.
• 50:02
  SPEAKER_04: Our company program, it starts off at age four and it goes all the way up till graduating seniors, our company dancers, which it's it's different from our studio program.
• 50:11
  SPEAKER_04: Our company dancers, they have to, they must audition.
• 50:15
  SPEAKER_04: Now, with our company program at the studio, everybody does not have to compete.
• 50:19
  SPEAKER_04: You can come and take our company program and take the company classes, but you do not have to be a competitive dancer.
• 50:26
  SPEAKER_04: And again, why I'm saying this is because a lot of times with the studio program, you have dancers who just come once a week because they just love to dance and they just want to move and it just makes them feel great and they love the end-of-the-year recital.
• 50:39
  SPEAKER_04: That's what they that's what their end of the year goal is.
• 50:41
  SPEAKER_04: And then you have other dancers that being a competitive dancer isn't the right fit for them.
• 50:46
  SPEAKER_04: They might be in a school musical theater program and they want to just continue their dance education.
• 50:52
  SPEAKER_04: Maybe they've done competition for years and they're burnt out by it.
• 50:56
  SPEAKER_04: Or even some of our own our own students and our own families, it might be a financial obligation that they just can't commit to that year.
• 51:03
  SPEAKER_04: So for me as an educator, I don't want to take that opportunity away from them having the dance education and being at their home just because they can't physically get to competition five or six times a year, you know.
• 51:16
  SPEAKER_04: It just it allows them to still continue to train, to still continue to grow, and they still have the support from their teachers and from me and the directors and our office managers and our families.
• 51:26
  SPEAKER_04: So, but in order for them to still do the program, whether you're competing or you're just coming in to do the educational classes, you still have to audition.
• 51:35
  SPEAKER_04: And so an audition is required.
• 51:36
  SPEAKER_04: Audition.
• 51:37
  SPEAKER_04: Can I ask about that?
• 51:38
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, sure.
• 51:39
  SPEAKER_04: Go ahead.
• 51:40
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm a kid who wants is at the level I auditioned, I've made it, but I don't want to go to competition.
• 51:46
  SPEAKER_00: Are you offering solely technique classes for those kids and they're not learning any sort of routine?
• 51:52
  SPEAKER_00: Or are they learning a routine and they're on the sides and they can be easily shifted out for competition?
• 51:57
  SPEAKER_04: No, not at all.
• 51:58
  SPEAKER_04: So we they're coming in our weekdays, Monday, Monday through Thursday, are solely for classes.
• 52:05
  SPEAKER_04: We don't do any choreography.
• 52:06
  SPEAKER_04: We do no choreography.
• 52:08
  SPEAKER_04: We come in and we are training, we are growing together, we are taking class, we are working on our techniques and all of the genres ballet, tap, jazz, lyrical, contemporary, conditioning, technique, uh, hip-hop.
• 52:22
  SPEAKER_04: Love hearing acrobatics.
• 52:24
  unknown: Yeah.
• 52:24
  SPEAKER_04: So I mean it's it's it's all of it.
• 52:27
  SPEAKER_04: And it it allows us to then come in on the weekends to to set choreography and have guest choreographer opportunities.
• 52:34
  SPEAKER_04: The other thing that we have shifted and changed over the years that I saw was again, the financial obligation to be a competitive dancer is out of this world.
• 52:44
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 52:45
  SPEAKER_01: Nowadays.
• 52:46
  SPEAKER_04: It is it is it is again, my I remember my mother paying$8 a group number back in the 80s, and that just seemed like so much.
• 52:56
  SPEAKER_04: And you know, as as an owner and a director, you know that it is a wonderful opportunity.
• 53:02
  SPEAKER_04: It is a performance education, it is exposure, and but it it is it comes with a cost.
• 53:09
  SPEAKER_04: And for some families, they just they're unable to do 10 competition numbers because again, you have to factor in choreography time, costume time, rehearsals, travel, entry fees.
• 53:22
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, it becomes astronomical.
• 53:24
  SPEAKER_04: So, with that, what I do is I before we cast any pieces, the audition happens.
• 53:30
  SPEAKER_04: We have our parents fill out an information form, and it just says, I will commit to one to two group numbers.
• 53:37
  SPEAKER_04: I can commit to three to four group numbers.
• 53:40
  SPEAKER_04: So I can uh commit to unlimited numbers.
• 53:42
  SPEAKER_04: So it's allowing that family to not have to take the opportunity of performance and competitive dance away from their student, be able to sort of dictate it.
• 53:52
  SPEAKER_04: And then on the back end, we can we're we're the casting directors.
• 53:55
  SPEAKER_04: So you go, okay.
• 53:56
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, and and that's how it is in real life.
• 53:58
  SPEAKER_04: You have somebody who leaves, leaves tour, you have all of these dancers who have auditioned, you have to see who fits the costume, who can be there, you know, the next day.
• 54:07
  SPEAKER_04: So again, for us, we're looking at it or this is these are what our parameters are.
• 54:11
  SPEAKER_04: This is what we have working with.
• 54:12
  SPEAKER_04: Let's all sit down as a team and and go from there.
• 54:16
  SPEAKER_04: Because in the end, it's not about me.
• 54:18
  SPEAKER_04: It's not about my company being successful, it's not about winning a trophy, it's not about being high score, choreographer of the year.
• 54:26
  SPEAKER_04: It's about allowing kids to have opportunity.
• 54:30
  SPEAKER_04: And if that's what I have to do to allow that to happen, whether it's they just come and take company classes so that they can continue to train, so that they can go and get a college scholarship and then have this amazing career from that, then that's that is that is my service to the dance community.
• 54:46
  SPEAKER_04: If it's something where a dancer loves to perform, but unfortunately, you know, financial situation has possibly changed within a household and they can only, they can only afford to do one company number.
• 54:56
  SPEAKER_04: Well, we're gonna be, we're gonna do a company number and we're gonna be a competitive dancer.
• 55:00
  SPEAKER_04: We're gonna go have a great time, and everybody is included and everybody's working together.
• 55:04
  SPEAKER_04: So that's how we typically separate it.
• 55:07
  SPEAKER_04: Now, we are there on the weekends.
• 55:09
  SPEAKER_04: It is what it is.
• 55:10
  SPEAKER_04: You know, we we come in Friday nights after school, we're there on Saturday, but the kids, some of them, there's no other place they would rather be.
• 55:18
  SPEAKER_04: And the ones, you know, who who only can commit to an hour, again, they're still part of the team, they're still part of the group, they're still part of the family.
• 55:26
  SPEAKER_04: We're we're still all inclusive together.
• 55:29
  SPEAKER_04: So that's just a brief synopsis of how we do the company, the company year from start to finish.
• 55:36
  SPEAKER_04: The dancers who do, who take the company program classes, they have the opportunity to be part of our opening number and closing number at our end of the year recital.
• 55:46
  SPEAKER_04: We put on three fantastic shows.
• 55:48
  SPEAKER_04: So they still have that performance opportunity.
• 55:50
  SPEAKER_04: We do community performances too as well.
• 55:53
  SPEAKER_04: So, you know, there it's just we we just kind of keep working, working together, working as a staff, working with our families, working with our students to try to make the most well-rounded program that we can to give opportunity.
• 56:05
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and it sounds very um I just I like the mindset of sort of treating it like you were talking about sort of like the national tour, lose as a dancer, you have to put somebody in.
• 56:14
  SPEAKER_00: Like in the way that you're structuring it, you kind of have to operate on a more like quote unquote professional dance job basis rather than your traditional studio setting where it's like, nope, sorry, everybody does everything.
• 56:24
  SPEAKER_00: But, you know, as as time changes and life changes and expectations change, you know, I think the businesses that are evolving to serve the needs of the customer more than the needs of the business are the ones that are a little more successful and able to really thrive because everybody gets what they want.
• 56:41
  SPEAKER_00: You know, you you still own a dance studio, you're still able to teach these classes and put on shows and everything, and the students get what they need and it allows them to stay, like you said, a part of the community, a part of the family.
• 56:52
  SPEAKER_00: And and it is so it's so important.
• 56:54
  SPEAKER_04: And you hit the topic of you have to be able to adjust.
• 56:58
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, my goodness, I know every single person in the dance community, March of 2020, we all took a step back and went, what is going to happen?
• 57:08
  SPEAKER_04: Where where what's what's gonna happen from this point?
• 57:10
  SPEAKER_04: And within five days, my husband and I, we were pivoting and on Zoom, and you know, we had to make some very, very, very difficult decisions, very difficult decisions with staff, with what we could handle as a company, what we could have, I mean, more as a business, not as a company, but what what we could do.
• 57:30
  SPEAKER_04: And it was, we literally had we had a a staff of 17 at the start of the pandemic, and we had to let go everybody within five days, and then we had to just bring back eight because that was really all that we could handle as a business and as and to be able to get past the time that we were gonna be put on pause.
• 57:51
  SPEAKER_04: I said, and everybody had to turn their living rooms around into, you know, dance studios.
• 57:56
  SPEAKER_04: But, you know, with with doing that, again, it's that resilience that I learned back, back during Saturday fever, back in like, you know, the the turn of the century, which is so wild to say that too at the turn of the century, back when I was, you know, broken foot sitting there looking at myself in the mirror, trying to figure out how how how I'm gonna get through this.
• 58:17
  SPEAKER_04: How are we gonna still be able to come through on the other side?
• 58:21
  SPEAKER_04: You know, learning those lessons so early on, I had to apply them with my husband and with our team to be able to um, you know, get get through that.
• 58:29
  SPEAKER_04: So, but with with the pandemic, with the shutdown, it did teach us some really great things.
• 58:36
  SPEAKER_04: So uh a thing that we've instilled in our studio is it's a place of education.
• 58:41
  SPEAKER_04: So we do not have visitors come into our studio and sit in this space any longer.
• 58:47
  SPEAKER_04: And our parents are well well aware of that, that that we have a drop-off area.
• 58:51
  SPEAKER_04: They drop their dancer off, they pick them up.
• 58:54
  SPEAKER_04: We have we use the band app, which I love.
• 58:58
  SPEAKER_04: All of our teachers, they each every single class has its own band.
• 59:02
  SPEAKER_04: What is what is it called?
• 59:04
  SPEAKER_04: The like a band group.
• 59:06
  SPEAKER_04: That's what it's oh my god, the word the word group just completely left my head.
• 59:10
  SPEAKER_04: But every single class at the studio, every group member, everything has its own band group.
• 59:16
  SPEAKER_04: So that teacher teaching the class is responsible for that band group, and weekly we post videos because that is that you that is what they do in public school, and that their kids are thriving.
• 59:28
  SPEAKER_04: And we've again I've seen such growth in all of the dancers from the studio program to the company program because their kids are coming in and they're just able to dance.
• 59:38
  SPEAKER_04: They're able to dance.
• 59:40
  SPEAKER_04: I see my staff members too, they're able to just solely focus on you know their class time and their choreography time with their dancers.
• 59:48
  SPEAKER_04: And I love parents.
• 59:49
  SPEAKER_04: I love parents, I'm a parent myself.
• 59:50
  SPEAKER_04: But even being a parent yourself, you're so hyper focused on your own child that sometimes we forget about the bigger picture as a parent.
• 59:59
  SPEAKER_04: So, you know, stopping a teacher in the middle of a class time, it doesn't seem like a big deal, but that teacher's already focused on where they're going next or what they're going to be teaching next or what piece of choreography they're going to be doing.
• 1:00:11
  SPEAKER_04: So that was one big change that we made in our studio.
• 1:00:14
  SPEAKER_04: And our parents have, they've respected it and they actually enjoy it because their free time has increased.
• 1:00:20
  SPEAKER_04: Their free time has increased so very much.
• 1:00:23
  SPEAKER_04: And, you know, they're the it's I have some of their like, yeah, I now go take a cooking class or I go and I meet up with a certain friend that I I see once a week.
• 1:00:31
  SPEAKER_04: You know, my daughter's here for two hours and we meet and we have dinner.
• 1:00:34
  SPEAKER_04: So, you know, it's it's expanded their free time too as well.
• 1:00:37
  SPEAKER_04: You know, in addition to the pandemic, when it comes to our company, we actually, because now in the professional world, how many times do you have to learn your audition material from a video?
• 1:00:48
  SPEAKER_03: These days, yes, I'm about to go do that immediately following this.
• 1:00:51
  SPEAKER_04: Oh, yes, immediately following, right?
• 1:00:53
  SPEAKER_04: We're all like, oh my God, set up the Zoom camera, have your ring light, you know, the whole the whole nine yards.
• 1:00:58
  SPEAKER_04: But what ended up happening was we made the choice to do our auditions online.
• 1:01:03
  SPEAKER_04: So we video the audition combination.
• 1:01:06
  SPEAKER_04: The dancers have to learn it at home, and then they come in and they show us that audition combination, and then we still give them a full ballet class, and then we teach them a progression across the floor to see how they are.
• 1:01:18
  SPEAKER_04: And again, because you just can't be one-sided.
• 1:01:21
  SPEAKER_04: You have to be able to embrace everything that's happening in our industry.
• 1:01:27
  SPEAKER_04: You know, you go to New York, you have an actor's equity card, you can walk into that audition room.
• 1:01:32
  SPEAKER_04: But if it's an open call, you might have to video submit.
• 1:01:35
  SPEAKER_04: So you have to learn how to how to do both.
• 1:01:39
  SPEAKER_04: You know, same thing in Los Angeles.
• 1:01:40
  SPEAKER_04: I'm not gonna fly out to Los Angeles to go audition from Florida.
• 1:01:44
  SPEAKER_04: That's a long way.
• 1:01:45
  SPEAKER_04: So I'm gonna have to learn that material from watching, watching a YouTube video and then submitting on YouTube or however it's going through, and and that's that's how you're you know you're gonna be booking jobs.
• 1:01:57
  SPEAKER_04: So it's just so, so important to be able to do that.
• 1:02:03
  SPEAKER_03: I really love that you uh made that choice.
• 1:02:06
  SPEAKER_03: I again, it's just like a lot of people wouldn't even think to put that into the training aspect of hey, uh, this is part of the reality of the dance world these days.
• 1:02:16
  SPEAKER_03: And you're gonna have this is a skill that you're gonna have to learn is learning material from a video.
• 1:02:21
  SPEAKER_03: And did they did they mirror are they mirroring it?
• 1:02:24
  SPEAKER_03: Are they facing away?
• 1:02:26
  SPEAKER_03: It w what is the right direction, yeah, directions and like the auditory, visual, how are they learning?
• 1:02:31
  SPEAKER_03: And like I guess like, you know, if we really think about it, all the kids are learning TikTok dances from their cam, you know, videos.
• 1:02:38
  SPEAKER_03: Now that's where our world has evolved to, and they should be pros then.
• 1:02:43
  SPEAKER_03: If that's the case, if you can learn a TikTok dance, then you should be able to learn choreography for an audition.
• 1:02:49
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, you know what I mean?
• 1:02:50
  SPEAKER_03: And then like it's you're gonna see their true colors when they come to the audition, and you're gonna see who actually learned it in the reverse the whole time.
• 1:02:57
  SPEAKER_03: There's always there's always those few people that like learned it to a T, but they're doing the absolute reverse of everything because it that's just how they you know their brain interpreted learning it from video.
• 1:03:08
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 1:03:08
  SPEAKER_03: And those details matter.
• 1:03:10
  SPEAKER_03: So it's that's a really unique way to approach your auditions with still giving them, you can still see their technique in the ballet class.
• 1:03:16
  SPEAKER_03: Let's see how they pick up a progression, which is so important.
• 1:03:19
  SPEAKER_03: And then let's see how they retained choreography from learning it themselves without being spoon-fed every single detail in in a room.
• 1:03:28
  SPEAKER_03: I think you're covering all the bases because especially as a professional dancer and as how the industry has evolved into the self-tape world, a lot of people are complaining that like if you get a video ahead of time to learn the audition combo and then you still go end up doing the combo in the room, you have a one-up because you've already learned it.
• 1:03:45
  SPEAKER_03: Whereas like in regular audition world, like back in the Saturday Night Fever days, you learn the material in the room.
• 1:03:50
  SPEAKER_03: And it was more about like who can pick it up fast versus how long did you spend drilling this routine before you step even step foot in some mud in front of someone that matters.
• 1:04:00
  SPEAKER_03: So it's important to know the skill, but I also think that how you have made that choice in setting up the audition is still covering the basis of let's, you know, put put the pressure on when it comes to learning a quick progression.
• 1:04:12
  SPEAKER_04: Yes.
• 1:04:12
  SPEAKER_04: Well, you know, and it's it's all about being prepared.
• 1:04:15
  SPEAKER_04: So again, whether you're learning something, whether you're learning choreography from a video and practicing, practicing, practicing and coming in prepared for the audition, it's teaching you a lesson of being prepared when you show up.
• 1:04:29
  SPEAKER_04: Now, back in the day, Saturday Night Fever days, you were being prepared by doing your classes and showing up and doing the training and doing the hard work.
• 1:04:38
  SPEAKER_04: And it doesn't change now just because we're doing it on video and you're having to, you know, watch a video and learn choreography.
• 1:04:46
  SPEAKER_04: You're still having to use your discipline, your time management, you know, your your training that you had prior to coming into learning that piece of choreography.
• 1:04:57
  SPEAKER_04: And then you're stepping into the audition, which is a whole different feeling other than just dancing in your room.
• 1:05:02
  SPEAKER_04: So it's a whole different set of pressure and different set of an environment that you have to acclimate yourself to once you're doing that.
• 1:05:11
  SPEAKER_04: So I don't know if it's necessarily a one-up, it's just being prepared.
• 1:05:15
  SPEAKER_04: And how are you preparing yourself?
• 1:05:18
  SPEAKER_04: If somebody knows the audition combination prior to going in, okay, great.
• 1:05:22
  SPEAKER_04: That's how, that's how they're prepared.
• 1:05:24
  SPEAKER_04: How did you prepare yourself to be in the room with somebody who does have a one-up on you?
• 1:05:29
  SPEAKER_04: Right.
• 1:05:29
  SPEAKER_04: And I mean, I I, you know, and you can just keep going round and round with it.
• 1:05:34
  SPEAKER_04: And I I just I just feel too, just from like a production standpoint, end of it, time is always so short.
• 1:05:40
  SPEAKER_04: So this is probably going to start happening more and more lately, where instead of having creative workshops, the creative team will be building these shows and and these these moments, these dance moments, and then sending the video out to their performers to learn to be able to come in prepare that first day of rehearsal.
• 1:05:59
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, we're Working towards that, you can you can see that happening now in in the industry.
• 1:06:04
  SPEAKER_04: That again, time of being in a brick and mortar space is is not as much as it used to be in the past.
• 1:06:11
  SPEAKER_04: So the future, the future is ever evolving and changing.
• 1:06:14
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, totally.
• 1:06:15
  SPEAKER_03: So quickly before we wrap up, just to kind of get an I know, oh my gosh.
• 1:06:19
  SPEAKER_03: I know it goes by so fast.
• 1:06:21
  unknown: So fast.
• 1:06:22
  SPEAKER_03: Just to kind of get an idea, especially for your company dancers who are doing the competitive track.
• 1:06:28
  SPEAKER_03: What type of competitions do you go to?
• 1:06:30
  SPEAKER_03: What's their competition level commitment?
• 1:06:32
  SPEAKER_03: How many competitions do you go to?
• 1:06:33
  SPEAKER_03: Do you do convention competitions?
• 1:06:35
  SPEAKER_03: Are they do they have to do required nationals?
• 1:06:37
  SPEAKER_03: Like what's your comp schedule each year looking like?
• 1:06:40
  SPEAKER_04: Absolutely.
• 1:06:41
  SPEAKER_04: So our competition schedule, we we start, because we're here in Florida, we start our season August.
• 1:06:47
  SPEAKER_04: August 1st, we begin.
• 1:06:49
  SPEAKER_04: So if you're thinking about a competition season, most most nationals are in July.
• 1:06:53
  SPEAKER_04: That's that's almost a full year commitment.
• 1:06:56
  SPEAKER_04: So for the dancers who are doing the company program and the competitive track within the company program, they are committed to to be with us for from August 1st until July 31st.
• 1:07:09
  SPEAKER_04: That's how long, that's how long our contract contract is typically.
• 1:07:14
  SPEAKER_04: We start learning choreography right then and there at our summer intensive with our guest choreographers that come in at the beginning of August.
• 1:07:21
  SPEAKER_04: And then we'll be learning choreography all the way up until this weekend.
• 1:07:26
  SPEAKER_04: Our first, our first competition actually is it is the the second week of January is when we start.
• 1:07:33
  SPEAKER_04: So we'll go January, February, March, and then we'll take a brief pause from competing because again, being in Florida, schools get out middle of May.
• 1:07:42
  SPEAKER_04: So our recital is always very early.
• 1:07:44
  SPEAKER_04: Our recital is typically the second weekend in June.
• 1:07:48
  SPEAKER_04: So for my staff and for myself, we we found that by doing an earlier competitive season, taking that time off for from competing, but still training, still still practicing, still doing our routines, because all of the routines that we compete with are obviously they go into the recital show at the end of the year, that it just allows us time to focus on the recital and focus on our studio program dancers and and allow them to have that same experience.
• 1:08:15
  SPEAKER_04: So again, it's it's finding that balance.
• 1:08:17
  SPEAKER_04: But for us, we do it all.
• 1:08:18
  SPEAKER_04: We do the competition, comp straight competition, just go and sit there for three days and watch 10,000 numbers and be inspired by so many and the quick changes and all.
• 1:08:29
  SPEAKER_04: We do the uh competition conventions where you know the the dancers will be taking classes Friday night, Saturday, all day, compete Saturday night, you know, and back again on Sunday to to take more classes because I I I love that because again, they're getting the performance opportunity, they're getting the educational performance opportunity, and they're getting the education in the classroom, always from fantastic industry professionals.
• 1:08:53
  SPEAKER_04: And then sometimes we'll just do optional conventions where we'll have dancers sign up throughout the season.
• 1:08:59
  SPEAKER_04: I would like to go to this convention, and a staff member will go and take them and they'll just go and take class, which we actually had a bunch of dancers go and do that this weekend.
• 1:09:08
  SPEAKER_04: So this past weekend.
• 1:09:10
  SPEAKER_04: So again, it just allows those there, there are certain families and certain dancers, they just want to do competition.
• 1:09:15
  SPEAKER_04: They just want to get on stage, they just want to compete.
• 1:09:18
  SPEAKER_04: There's some that would just prefer just to do convention, and then there's ones who want to do it both.
• 1:09:23
  SPEAKER_04: So I feel that we cover all of our basis.
• 1:09:25
  SPEAKER_04: When it comes to nationals, I do with my staff, we sit down, we assess the year in February.
• 1:09:31
  SPEAKER_04: Uh we always give our company families uh this isn't this is a tentative date for our nationals.
• 1:09:36
  SPEAKER_04: We do pick one in August, we do make them aware of the date.
• 1:09:40
  SPEAKER_04: But again, sometimes some years things happen.
• 1:09:43
  SPEAKER_04: Things, things, things do happen.
• 1:09:44
  SPEAKER_04: Like for instance, last season, I had seven graduating seniors.
• 1:09:48
  SPEAKER_04: I had seven graduating seniors, and all of them were starting school the week after a recital.
• 1:09:53
  SPEAKER_04: So they were they because they all went to state schools.
• 1:09:56
  SPEAKER_04: So state schools down here in Florida to be able to, you know, start the summer session, it started the middle of June.
• 1:10:01
  SPEAKER_04: So for us to even toy with the idea of going to a nationals, it just didn't make sense.
• 1:10:07
  SPEAKER_04: So once their college acceptance letter started coming in, February, March, we made the decision as a staff, okay, the recital will be our last and final performance together.
• 1:10:16
  SPEAKER_04: And then we would, we just we allowed nationals.
• 1:10:19
  SPEAKER_04: We we sent out three nationals and we said, okay, these are optional.
• 1:10:22
  SPEAKER_04: Let's see who wants to sign up and go.
• 1:10:24
  SPEAKER_04: And if we could build group numbers from there, we did.
• 1:10:27
  SPEAKER_04: And, you know, some we did and some we didn't.
• 1:10:29
  SPEAKER_04: And it it just, it just kept, you know, they still had the opportunity for those who wanted to take summer off this past season, they did.
• 1:10:36
  SPEAKER_04: For those who wanted to keep, you know, continue to perform, compete, and educate themselves, they did that too as well.
• 1:10:42
  SPEAKER_04: And then for this season, we have a nationals set, but again, we won't make our final decision until February.
• 1:10:48
  SPEAKER_04: That's how, that's how we we roll.
• 1:10:52
  SPEAKER_03: That's definitely different for sure.
• 1:10:53
  SPEAKER_04: Because I think it's very, it's very, very different.
• 1:10:55
  SPEAKER_04: Like I said, we're we're very unorthodox.
• 1:10:58
  SPEAKER_04: I believe that you know you need to find balance.
• 1:11:01
  SPEAKER_04: And sometimes that is the best way to find balance.
• 1:11:04
  SPEAKER_04: Because again, it's not about, it's not necessarily about me.
• 1:11:06
  SPEAKER_04: It it is I'm providing the space for these these families to come and these dancers to come and learn and educate.
• 1:11:14
  SPEAKER_04: But I have to look at what their life is like too, and be able to pivot, even if it's just a small little pivot, to be able to accommodate, but still be able to offer to those who who want that opportunity.
• 1:11:26
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 1:11:26
  SPEAKER_03: That's awesome.
• 1:11:27
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and I love I love hearing that, you know, you do still give them the opportunity if it's not a studio-wide, you know, choice that we're all going together.
• 1:11:36
  SPEAKER_03: Here, you can still go to these other great competitions if that's what you want to do.
• 1:11:40
  SPEAKER_03: And I think a lot of studios are moving in that direction as well.
• 1:11:42
  SPEAKER_03: Like I've seen a lot of studios shift out of the mandatory nationals and go into the optional nationals where soloists can go and they can go train and take classes, and they can go to multiple nationals if they want, instead of just putting all their money into one with all the group routines and things like that.
• 1:11:59
  SPEAKER_03: And or maybe not go to any and go to summer intensives instead.
• 1:12:03
  SPEAKER_03: Like, you know, there's so many there's so many opportunities for dance in the summer that I think that and at least now.
• 1:12:08
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, back in the day, there was really only nationals to go to.
• 1:12:12
  SPEAKER_04: Well, and that and and that's the thing too, Courtney, is it's just along the way, 19 years of doing this, you're right, about maybe eight years ago, all of these summer programs really became at everybody's to everybody's fingertips, what what wherever you wanted to go in the country.
• 1:12:27
  SPEAKER_04: And you and again, you can still even train online from the comfort of your own home, but you have to be logged in for eight hours, you know, to be able to do some of these programs.
• 1:12:36
  SPEAKER_04: So when we first started, Nationals was always mandatory.
• 1:12:39
  SPEAKER_04: And then it just started, it started to change.
• 1:12:41
  SPEAKER_04: And a lot of it changed too, is once Appy and I had our family, you know, Tay and Malie, we we had to make a decision of where is the balance?
• 1:12:50
  SPEAKER_04: Where is the balance between what we love to do and our family that we love to be with?
• 1:12:56
  SPEAKER_04: And if we're feeling this way, our our studio families are probably feeling this the same way.
• 1:13:02
  SPEAKER_04: Like where is the balance?
• 1:13:04
  SPEAKER_04: Where is where is the exhale?
• 1:13:05
  SPEAKER_04: Where is the breath?
• 1:13:06
  SPEAKER_04: Where is the chance to be able to go to the beach and turn everything off for a week?
• 1:13:12
  SPEAKER_04: Where where is that opportunity?
• 1:13:14
  SPEAKER_04: So and again, that's where we we really keep our eyes and our ears open about what the culture is yearly at the studio because it does change.
• 1:13:22
  SPEAKER_04: It changes yearly.
• 1:13:24
  SPEAKER_04: If you're if you're gonna say that it's the same every year, it absolutely is not.
• 1:13:28
  SPEAKER_04: It's fully changing with whatever's going on in our world and whatever's going on in our families, our personal family's world, and ever and our studio families, their world too.
• 1:13:37
  SPEAKER_04: So to make something mandatory and then make it make the dancers especially feel bad if they can't be there because of something else that's going on.
• 1:13:47
  SPEAKER_04: I don't know if that's the best way to continue to approach it for us as a studio moving forward.
• 1:13:54
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 1:13:54
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 1:13:55
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 1:13:55
  SPEAKER_03: Makes sense.
• 1:13:56
  SPEAKER_03: And it's been really it's been really interesting to hear uh your studio philosophy and the goals for the studio and a lot of these fun, you know, different choices you're making when it comes to that audition scenario and it comes to the the nationals and things like that.
• 1:14:11
  SPEAKER_03: But I know what you're doing is obviously working in really great and just admiring your dancers on social media.
• 1:14:18
  SPEAKER_03: And I know, Leslie, you mentioned that you've had the opportunity to judge some of the dancers at a nationals previously.
• 1:14:24
  SPEAKER_00: I think I might have judged your daughter at ADA this summer.
• 1:14:28
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:14:28
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my gosh.
• 1:14:30
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, Malie! Yeah.
• 1:14:32
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my gosh.
• 1:14:33
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, I know, I know the studio.
• 1:14:36
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my god.
• 1:14:36
  SPEAKER_00: I'm pretty sure that was like my favorite number ever.
• 1:14:38
  SPEAKER_04: I didn't say that, but Oh Malie and Levi.
• 1:14:42
  SPEAKER_04: Oh, the two little the two little nuggies.
• 1:14:44
  SPEAKER_04: Well, and it's so it's so fun because they're both ODs together.
• 1:14:48
  SPEAKER_04: So they're and I've known Levi's mom since my first Disney contract.
• 1:14:52
  SPEAKER_04: So that this is like it is it is such a cool thing to now be moms and step back and see how the two of them are navigating it so differently, but also so distinct.
• 1:15:02
  SPEAKER_04: But you know, and again, it's just it it's one of those things where I, as a mom, not to have to go to a mandatory nationals and be able to go to nationals and just be Malie's mom and not be Miss Amanda is sometimes a really, really cool, a cool thing on this end.
• 1:15:18
  SPEAKER_04: But you know, I said ADA, they do they do great things.
• 1:15:21
  SPEAKER_04: They do great things.
• 1:15:22
  SPEAKER_04: I've yeah, I've they do wonderful, wonderful things.
• 1:15:25
  SPEAKER_04: And yeah, I'm so happy you got to see her dance.
• 1:15:27
  SPEAKER_04: Oh my gosh.
• 1:15:28
  SPEAKER_00: It was great, and pleasure.
• 1:15:30
  SPEAKER_00: And one of our judges, I think, was a former faculty member of yours, Jen Garafa, was the choreographer of that piece.
• 1:15:35
  SPEAKER_00: And we love Jen, so it's like this is all so good.
• 1:15:38
  SPEAKER_04: Oh my gosh.
• 1:15:38
  SPEAKER_04: Well, you know, and Jen was working for us, but then she has this amazing SeaWorld opportunity right now where she's a director over there.
• 1:15:45
  SPEAKER_04: I so funny.
• 1:15:46
  SPEAKER_04: I actually just finally sent her a voice memo today going, hey girl, I'm so sorry.
• 1:15:51
  SPEAKER_04: November just kind of like dropped off the calendar and every week it was something else.
• 1:15:55
  SPEAKER_04: But you know, just think about her you, but she's such a great, great, great human being.
• 1:15:59
  SPEAKER_04: Great human being.
• 1:16:00
  SPEAKER_04: I love her.
• 1:16:01
  SPEAKER_04: Love her.
• 1:16:01
  SPEAKER_04: Shout out Jen Garaffa.
• 1:16:02
  SPEAKER_04: We love you at IDA.
• 1:16:04
  SPEAKER_04: Yes.
• 1:16:05
  SPEAKER_03: Well, I'm so sad that this goes by so quickly because I'm sure we could talk for so much longer and hear even more about your amazing studio.
• 1:16:13
  SPEAKER_03: But I am so inspired by what you're doing and thank you for everything that you're giving to your dancers and and for the Florida dance community and the dance community as a whole.
• 1:16:22
  SPEAKER_03: It's just really exciting and we're grateful that you wanted to share on the podcast and be here with us today.
• 1:16:28
  SPEAKER_03: It was so lovely hearing all about your journey.
• 1:16:30
  SPEAKER_04: Oh, I'm so happy to be here.
• 1:16:32
  SPEAKER_04: Thank you so much.
• 1:16:33
  SPEAKER_04: It's rare that I get to go back into the past and open up those archives and and relive it.
• 1:16:40
  SPEAKER_04: So it was really fun to do that.
• 1:16:42
  SPEAKER_04: And, you know, I'm just I'm really appreciative for you having this platform too, just for us as studio owners to be able to hear other other studio owners or other dancers their insights and the and their philosophies and the way that they approach things because it might just it it might click a light on in in our mind about, oh, okay, I had that idea and it does work and let me try it my own way and and start to work that way.
• 1:17:06
  SPEAKER_04: But you know, it's just been it's been truly, I'm so grateful that we we have been here in the Central Florida dance community and the national dance community for for all of these years.
• 1:17:17
  SPEAKER_04: And, you know, to be able to have In Motion Dance Project and have In Motion Arts Alliance, our nonprofit, that we also use to help support dancers throughout the studio with scholarships.
• 1:17:27
  SPEAKER_04: We've, I mean, to be able to have that opportunity too to help make a difference for somebody, it is it's huge.
• 1:17:35
  SPEAKER_03: We hope you enjoyed our latest studio spotlight featuring In Motion Dance Project.
• 1:17:39
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you to the studio owner Amanda Fleesa for joining us.
• 1:17:43
  SPEAKER_03: Be sure to follow In Motion Dance Project on Instagram at In Motion Dance Project.
• 1:17:48
  SPEAKER_03: And to learn more about their program and studio, you can visit their website at InmotionDanceproject.com.
• 1:17:55
  SPEAKER_00: Don't forget to follow Making the Impact on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Podcasts, Google Podcasts, and pretty much everywhere you listen to podcasts.
• 1:18:03
  SPEAKER_00: And if you want more exclusive episodes, support our podcast by joining our Platinum Premium membership for only$5 a month.
• 1:18:09
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• 1:18:17
  SPEAKER_00: Join now at Impact Danceadjudicators.com/slash Platinum Premium or click the link in our show notes.
• 1:18:24
  SPEAKER_03: Be sure to check out IDA affiliated competition, Dive Dance Competition.
• 1:18:29
  SPEAKER_03: Dive produces top quality events for all levels of performers with brand new skill-based platforms.
• 1:18:35
  SPEAKER_03: Dive's regional dance competitions are held in North and South Carolina and offer an inspirational and positive atmosphere for dancers to grow and express themselves.
• 1:18:43
  SPEAKER_03: The Dive Vision challenges all dancers to be the best competitor, performer, student, and artist they can be.
• 1:18:49
  SPEAKER_03: All of their events are fully stacked with panels of Impact Dance Adjudicator judges.
• 1:18:54
  SPEAKER_03: All soloists are automatically entered into the title competition at no additional charge.
• 1:18:58
  SPEAKER_03: One studio will be awarded the Studio of the Year at the conclusion of each regional season, and they also hold an ambassador search event each summer that offers exciting dance networking opportunities.
• 1:19:09
  SPEAKER_03: To learn more about their upcoming events and view their 2023 tour dates, check them out online at Divedance.com and follow them on Instagram at Divedance Comp.
• 1:19:20
  SPEAKER_00: We are excited to bring you more great episodes in season four, including modern dance in the competitive world, the title division, and of competition trends over the years.