Latest / Anything But Routine / 235. Finding Your Place in the Dance Industry

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235. Finding Your Place in the Dance Industry · Anything But Routine

0:00
SPEAKER_03: We don't we for the rhythm do we make the rhythm we call we create the rhythm Hylise Parker one of our guest instructors and you asked me what one of my favorite summers of camp is and I kind of would say this year has been really it has been really fun remarkable yeah it I feel like we've had the most engagement from coaches and exciting classes and exciting staff so that's been really fun.
0:33
SPEAKER_05: Really awesome.
0:34
SPEAKER_03: So tell let's go on a little bit of your background.
0:37
SPEAKER_03: I remember you as a kid.
0:40
SPEAKER_03: Now you're out in Vegas and you're a big deal.
0:44
SPEAKER_03: Well, whoa, but Yes, you're at Cirque des Soleil, and what else are you in?
0:49
SPEAKER_03: You've been in so many things.
0:51
SPEAKER_02: Well my background, where am I from?
0:54
SPEAKER_02: I'm from here.
0:54
SPEAKER_02: I'm from Minnesota.
0:56
SPEAKER_02: Uh I grew up in St.
0:57
SPEAKER_02: Cloud, actually, like not even St.
0:58
SPEAKER_02: Cloud, I'm from like Luxembourg, Minnesota.
1:00
SPEAKER_02: Okay, which is like by St.
1:01
SPEAKER_02: Augusta, like on your way into St.
1:03
SPEAKER_02: Cloud, exactly.
1:05
SPEAKER_02: Um, but I actually have a lot of family that reside in Nisswa and Pequot Lakes.
1:10
SPEAKER_02: That's where my mom is from.
1:12
SPEAKER_04: But you didn't know this?
1:13
SPEAKER_04: No.
1:13
SPEAKER_04: Oh yeah.
1:13
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I think his grandpa lives up there.
1:15
SPEAKER_02: It's on Clark Lake.
1:16
SPEAKER_02: You get it.
1:16
SPEAKER_02: In Nisswa.
1:17
SPEAKER_02: Not even kidding.
1:18
SPEAKER_03: My former assistant coach lives on that lake.
1:20
SPEAKER_02: Really?
1:20
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
1:21
SPEAKER_02: That's that's insane.
1:23
SPEAKER_04: So for those of you that don't know Minnesota, yeah.
1:25
SPEAKER_04: It's like in the town that we live in, basically.
1:27
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, like I um even on the way here, this is my first uh JFK camp.
1:31
SPEAKER_02: I've known about it for years, but even on my way here, I I knew exactly where I was going.
1:36
SPEAKER_02: Um because I've taken we've been on this highway for years, my whole childhood.
1:40
SPEAKER_02: There wasn't a Christmas that we missed, you know?
1:42
SPEAKER_02: Um this was our summer cabin.
1:44
SPEAKER_02: This is so this like area and this whole thing is like super familiar to me.
1:48
SPEAKER_02: Um but this is where I grew up, this is what I know.
1:50
SPEAKER_02: Um my both my mom and my older sister were dancers.
1:54
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
1:55
SPEAKER_02: And um my dad is uh an artist at art.
1:58
SPEAKER_02: He is a uh dormant film director.
2:01
SPEAKER_02: Um so I come from like a super artistic family, even though our their profession isn't necessarily in the arts.
2:08
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
2:08
SPEAKER_02: Uh my older sister was a part of the St.
2:10
SPEAKER_02: Cloud Tech dance team, um, where she's like your age, so she would have competed against you, um, which is really where I got my first introduction to y'all, even if it wasn't like a proper I was a little kid, but that was the first time I oh, I remember everything.
2:24
SPEAKER_03: I really remember the boing boing.
2:25
SPEAKER_04: Of course, he literally remembers every instance of like that team did this dance in this year, and I'm like, wow, that's how I always was.
2:33
SPEAKER_04: I remembered everyone.
2:34
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I've I think I've always been like that since uh since I was a young kid.
2:37
SPEAKER_02: I started dancing really in a studio at St.
2:40
SPEAKER_02: Cloud's School Dance.
2:41
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, which is you guys know Sue on, of course.
2:43
SPEAKER_02: Um I started properly dancing at the age of six, but I grew up watching Carissa compete at state.
2:49
SPEAKER_02: I watched her at um do studio stuff.
2:52
SPEAKER_02: She was in theater too.
2:53
SPEAKER_02: So it was like I was really exposed to dance and kind of already at that point different avenues because she was in theater a lot.
3:01
SPEAKER_02: Um but yeah, that was like dance team was um probably, I would think it's pretty safe to say, like one of my first loves.
3:08
SPEAKER_02: Because in Minnesota we do a lot of high school dance shows.
3:11
SPEAKER_05: Yep.
3:11
SPEAKER_02: So you would go every weekend, right?
3:13
SPEAKER_02: And like teams would debut their kick dances, and I I for some reason really resonated with kick and formations and seeing big pictures and shapes moving on the floor.
3:24
SPEAKER_02: And uh I remember Brainerd has always been, the Kickstars have always been known for that.
3:30
SPEAKER_02: And I think the creativity side of it, uh, y'all have always pushed, and I think at a young age I peeped game, I knew what I liked, and it always resonated with me, uh, which is cool.
3:41
SPEAKER_02: Uh it's cool to be like in this seat now, like talking to you guys because um your your program was like a big part of my blueprint into even what I do now.
3:51
SPEAKER_02: Wow, that's true.
3:51
SPEAKER_02: Especially, you know, like um it's yeah, it's like what you you are a product of what you experience.
3:57
SPEAKER_02: And I was at Dance Team Competitions every weekend.
4:00
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you know what I mean?
4:01
SPEAKER_02: So um that's kind of how I got my start into dance.
4:04
SPEAKER_02: I started uh at the age of six in a proper studio at Cinco School Dance, and I got put into the competition program, and it just kind of bloomed.
4:12
SPEAKER_02: I was painfully shy prior to that.
4:14
SPEAKER_02: Really?
4:15
SPEAKER_02: Which like yeah, like now, like spending a week with one another.
4:19
SPEAKER_02: I'm super charismatic, and um I that wouldn't have happened without dance.
4:24
SPEAKER_02: I cried my first, I think my family said you have to do a month.
4:28
SPEAKER_02: You get like, you know, four classes one day a week.
4:31
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
4:31
SPEAKER_02: And um I cried the first three.
4:33
SPEAKER_02: Oh my god.
4:34
SPEAKER_02: Sobbed.
4:34
SPEAKER_02: Couldn't I couldn't talk to the other the girls that were in the class, the teachers I really struggled with, and for some reason that last um class it just clicked, and I because I'd been dancing at home.
4:45
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
4:46
SPEAKER_02: We we would um, you know, my dad would film Chris at a dance show on the camcorder, right?
4:50
SPEAKER_02: And then I figured out how to do the the red, yellow, and white uh from the camcorder into the the chords into the TV, and I would sit and like rewind it and watch it on the TV, and then I learned how to dance, but I learned it in reverse.
5:04
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
5:05
SPEAKER_02: Because I was young, you know?
5:07
SPEAKER_02: So um by the time that I was actually dancing, I don't know, that last that last class just clicked and I it never stopped.
5:15
SPEAKER_02: I just bloomed and blossomed into this really energetic kid, and dance was my outlet.
5:22
SPEAKER_04: And it's so interesting how like thinking about it now, he was so he ended being like manager of grades.
5:28
SPEAKER_02: Yes, yes, yes.
5:29
SPEAKER_04: So it's interesting because like then boys weren't allowed to be a good one.
5:32
SPEAKER_02: Boys weren't allowed, oh my gosh.
5:34
SPEAKER_04: That has changed.
5:35
SPEAKER_04: Completely.
5:35
SPEAKER_04: It's kind of interesting too.
5:36
SPEAKER_02: We tried.
5:37
SPEAKER_02: We tried.
5:37
SPEAKER_02: When I was in um, I think my freshman year, when I had gone to the high school, um, I danced with all the girls at my school at studio.
5:46
SPEAKER_02: So we knew that I couldn't dance, but they were like, Tyrese should be our manager.
5:50
SPEAKER_02: Um I remember that.
5:52
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and like, and that was kind of unwritten as to what a manager for for Tech's dance team specifically would look like because I don't really remember them having one prior.
6:02
SPEAKER_02: But I was so in tune with the dance scene that I was the one editing the music, I was the one choreographing the dances, I was the one helping out with formations.
6:10
SPEAKER_02: I got to be a part of the team in the way that they could provide for me.
6:16
SPEAKER_02: Right, like at a very young age, like my I think my eighth grade year, 2013.
6:21
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, like I vividly remember you, so it's funny.
6:24
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, with my little like drawstring bag, and I was just kind of there, but it was like it was my way of living that dream.
6:31
SPEAKER_03: This episode is sponsored by Jesper Kick's teacher program, your ultimate destination for all your dancewear needs.
6:38
SPEAKER_03: Studio owners and teachers enjoy special discounts on dancewear essentials, including shoes, palms, leadards, themed bike tarts, dance dresses, costumes, and more.
6:49
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7:06
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7:08
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7:18
SPEAKER_02: We tried my freshman year of high school.
7:20
SPEAKER_02: You know, we we met with an athletic director just to see what was going on with Title IX and everything at the time, and the answer was no.
7:26
SPEAKER_02: You couldn't do it.
7:27
SPEAKER_02: So at that point, I took um my dance career, I needed to level up.
7:32
SPEAKER_02: I needed to get more exposure.
7:34
SPEAKER_02: Um, St.
7:35
SPEAKER_02: Cloud is a city, but it's not the biggest.
7:37
SPEAKER_02: So that's where my dance journey made a really big pivot.
7:41
SPEAKER_02: My junior year of high school, I moved down to Summit Dance Shop in Plymouth under the direction of Stephanie Wise Olson Elm and Luke Olson Elm.
7:50
SPEAKER_02: Um they took me under and taught me and trained me hard.
7:56
SPEAKER_02: They were like, you need this, this, and this, and this, but we've got you, we believe in you.
8:01
SPEAKER_02: And I mean, to be quite frank, now I get to do stuff like this.
8:06
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so who knows if um I think I would have found my way in the arts somehow.
8:10
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
8:10
SPEAKER_02: But just going down to Summit exposed me to different dance teams.
8:15
SPEAKER_02: Now I'm dancing with YZ, E Dina, Minnetonka, yeah, like these bigger schools, um, versus uh our CLC kind of um circle.
8:27
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, we were kind of up here, so now I was getting exposed to different things, different studios, different conventions, competitions, and so on and so forth, and that kind of set me up for post-high school.
8:36
SPEAKER_02: And it was such a oh, I was torn.
8:39
SPEAKER_02: I had this dream of being on the University of Minnesota dance team.
8:42
SPEAKER_04: Oh, yeah.
8:43
SPEAKER_04: You know, and what did you do right after high school then?
8:45
SPEAKER_02: Right.
8:45
SPEAKER_02: So, um, right after high school, I that summer prior, I had gone to a convention nationals where there was like a big college audition.
8:54
SPEAKER_02: And bless the owner of that convention because he got me into the room.
9:00
SPEAKER_02: It was like something you had to apply for, and I I was late, I missed it.
9:03
SPEAKER_02: I didn't I didn't know if I wanted to go to college, I didn't know really what was for me.
9:08
SPEAKER_02: I was really my senior year of high school, I was not doing well in schooling.
9:12
SPEAKER_02: Um, I was really committed to dance.
9:14
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I was living an hour, sometimes an hour and twenty minutes away, depending on traffic.
9:19
SPEAKER_02: And my mom and dad were sacrificing so much time to get me to and from school, leaving school early um to get to dance, and uh So You Think You Can Dance was happening at that time my senior year of high school.
9:30
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and I applied for that, so then I was missing school.
9:33
SPEAKER_02: And um did you do that?
9:36
SPEAKER_02: I did.
9:36
SPEAKER_02: I had a wonderful experience on Say You Think You Dance.
9:39
SPEAKER_02: It was what uh told me I wanted to be in the industry, really, you know, being in front of a camera like that on a big set.
9:44
SPEAKER_02: Um but I just lost interest in school.
9:47
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and college was really daunting for me, and I didn't I didn't have enough knowledge uh that I do now on what college dance team programs can look like, what college um like getting your BFA in dance could look like, different programs.
10:03
SPEAKER_02: Um I was under the impression that if I wanted a BFA, I needed to be a ballet boy, a modern contemporary boy, which is true, but also there's commercial dance programs that I didn't really know about at the time.
10:14
SPEAKER_02: So I um I ended up getting a scholarship uh or two from a couple of places, and it was a really big honor, and I had not done uh well in school so badly that I wasn't gonna go that first semester.
10:28
SPEAKER_02: I was gonna join um like second semester, second half of the freshman year.
10:33
SPEAKER_02: And I started teaching at Summit, like part-time, and Stefan Luke trusted me to do my own dances and I was leading classes, and I fell even deeper in love with the experience that I had with dance team, choreographing, directing, that kind of thing.
10:49
SPEAKER_02: Now I was doing at a uh pretty big studio where people really go to train hard, and I loved that end of it, and I spent a good majority of my time there, and that's when I got a call from Royal Caribbean.
11:01
SPEAKER_04: Okay, yeah, and then yeah.
11:02
SPEAKER_02: I immediately went after like maybe six months, I think it was that following like winter, I got my first cruise ship contract from like uh somebody seeing me at like a convention.
11:10
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and um that was that was it, that was my foot into the industry, and then I was on uh Royal Caribbean's like entertainment company for uh three contracts.
11:20
SPEAKER_02: Um the pandemic happened in the middle of that.
11:22
SPEAKER_02: Oh, but that was my exposure to theater.
11:24
SPEAKER_02: That was my first real big job to learn.
11:27
SPEAKER_03: And did you feel like you learned a lot on it?
11:29
SPEAKER_02: I learned everything.
11:30
SPEAKER_02: I learned theater etiquette, I learned what upstage and downstage meant.
11:34
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
11:34
SPEAKER_02: I learned, you know, thank you five, I learned blocking, I learned I watched my dance captain who ended up becoming a casting um person for Royal Caribbean.
11:44
SPEAKER_02: I watched him who had done it for years, and he was just so efficient and spoke to us so kindly.
11:49
SPEAKER_02: Like I had I'm really blessed for the examples I've had in my life um at such a young age, and it was a great way to save money too, right?
11:56
SPEAKER_02: You're not paying rent on that boat.
11:58
SPEAKER_05: Yeah, you're just living there.
11:59
SPEAKER_02: You know, you're living there, you're paying for food if you want a nice meal or what have you, or if you want a nice experience off in port, but uh to set up for the bigger career move, whether it's LA, New York, Europe, anywhere.
12:10
SPEAKER_02: I didn't know Vegas was in the cards.
12:12
SPEAKER_02: Um, but whatever that was, I was saving money to make that happen.
12:16
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and um on a cruise ship contract, post-pandemic, things looked really different.
12:22
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, cruising was wild at that time, like scary?
12:27
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, like it's it it it felt strange because normally you'd get off in every port, like even like crew members had the option to, and now because of COVID restrictions, we didn't have that.
12:37
SPEAKER_02: We weren't allowed to leave.
12:39
SPEAKER_02: Um not completely literally on the ship so much time.
12:42
SPEAKER_02: So I was dancing, I was choreographing comp dances via video, uploading to YouTube, trying to get crappy ship Wi-Fi to get it to upload.
12:53
SPEAKER_02: Like I was I was dancing probably the most I ever had at that point, and um this random email showed up in another cast member's inbox, somebody who had lived in Las Vegas, and there was this mysterious show being built.
13:07
SPEAKER_02: There was no title, there was no nothing, it just said produced, not it didn't say that it was a circuit production, it just said produced by Cirque du Soleil.
13:15
SPEAKER_02: So that could kind of mean anything, right?
13:18
SPEAKER_02: And uh a good amount of us applied because we were bored.
13:21
SPEAKER_02: We were like, let's just send a video and you know you never know.
13:24
SPEAKER_02: And I ended up getting um not only did I get uh like pass the call back, like I got an an interview immediately.
13:32
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and all of a sudden they were like, hey, we're gonna send all your information over to Cirque du Soleil.
13:37
SPEAKER_02: And I said, What for?
13:39
SPEAKER_02: What do you mean?
13:40
SPEAKER_02: And they were like, Oh, this is a new Cirque show in Las Vegas.
13:43
SPEAKER_02: And I was like, what do you mean?
13:46
SPEAKER_02: That's like Cirque's um audition process prior is like renowned extensive and it's like hard.
13:53
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
13:53
SPEAKER_02: At least I mean it's hard now, but then at the time it was like such a process, and people go back to the book.
13:59
SPEAKER_04: Everybody knows about Cirque.
14:01
SPEAKER_04: Like it's not an unknown, like especially in the dance world.
14:03
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
14:03
SPEAKER_02: If you don't know what it is, it's like rockettes, you have to go.
14:07
SPEAKER_02: So I ended up um booking Mad Apple uh first.
14:10
SPEAKER_04: I remember when you first posted about that.
14:12
SPEAKER_02: Like it's funny to think about it.
14:13
SPEAKER_02: The little apple thing, yeah.
14:14
SPEAKER_04: Because I've always followed like what you're doing, and so that's funny to think about.
14:17
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I remember you posting that about the new show, and I was like, I want to write that in.
14:20
SPEAKER_02: What that is, yeah.
14:21
SPEAKER_02: And I mean, such a I mean, if you think about my upbringing, I was not exposed to circus at all.
14:25
SPEAKER_02: I was exposed to dance team, something that's super structured in dance, and studio, which I was kind of in that like transitional phase into like convention dance where things became um more abstract.
14:36
SPEAKER_02: So circus was like kind of daunting to me, and I was like, how do how do I fit in as a dancer into this thing?
14:43
SPEAKER_02: Exactly.
14:44
SPEAKER_02: So um it's a love letter to New York City.
14:46
SPEAKER_02: It's like it's called Mad Apple, it's in the New York, New York Hotel and Casino on the strip, and it's uh it's a campified version of New York.
14:54
SPEAKER_02: I, you know, we're this ensemble of six dancers are um kind of this like cool, I think of us as like a this cool friend group that just like kind of runs around the city and have a good time, and we support all these crazy acrobatic acts in the show that all um each scene is like a different portion of New York City.
15:13
SPEAKER_02: So we've got like the opening is Times Square, the second scene is a bunch of taxis, um, and a taxi tumbler scene, which I won't spoil in case y'all go see it.
15:22
SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna go see it.
15:23
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, there's like a fashion moment in Vogue, and then there's um like a basketball, you know, pickup game on the street corner kind of thing.
15:30
SPEAKER_02: There's that whole scene too.
15:31
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it's really, really, really cool show.
15:32
SPEAKER_02: Um, and I became the dance captain of that.
15:34
SPEAKER_02: That was my first like uh leadership role, uh true leadership role in a professional setting, um, where I learned so much.
15:42
SPEAKER_02: I was a part of the show full time for three years.
15:45
SPEAKER_02: Um, and in that time.
15:47
SPEAKER_04: How many shows a week was that?
15:48
unknown: Ten.
15:48
SPEAKER_04: Oh my gosh.
15:49
SPEAKER_04: Oh my gosh.
15:50
SPEAKER_02: Ten.
15:51
SPEAKER_02: That's wild.
15:51
SPEAKER_02: So how's your body feeling?
15:54
SPEAKER_02: Like ten shows a week for three years.
15:56
SPEAKER_02: You know, we're blessed at Circta have um, you know, a PMED department and people to take care of us, but that workload is not a joke.
16:04
SPEAKER_02: It's two shows a night, five nights a week.
16:06
SPEAKER_02: So we do get two days off, but it's recovery.
16:09
SPEAKER_02: And if you know, in the arts community and the in a in the dance pocket of Las Vegas, you do other things.
16:15
SPEAKER_02: Right.
16:15
SPEAKER_02: You do passion projects, you session with other artists in town, you know.
16:19
SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
16:20
SPEAKER_02: I'm still dancing, I'm still choreographing, I teach.
16:22
SPEAKER_02: I uh teach at a studio out there called the Rock Center for Dance.
16:25
SPEAKER_02: Um, so that was like that first, I would say two years was my adjustment to Vegas, and it was hard.
16:32
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you know, trying to build up the endurance to do that.
16:34
SPEAKER_02: Uh burnout, trying to avoid burnout, trying to um find creativity and the sandbox of it all in something that you do 10 times a week, while also taking responsibility for the thing was challenging, and then I I got a really cool opportunity to get taken off stage and learn how to artistically direct.
16:54
SPEAKER_02: So to see the project at large, talk about how does that light change, how does that sound in that part of the theater affect that audience?
17:03
SPEAKER_02: Why does this entrance make a difference to hear how to enter the stuff?
17:08
SPEAKER_02: No, no, the behind the scenes of it is it's a whole production back there too.
17:11
SPEAKER_02: Even if it's in an office, let alone back backstage, but even in the offices, that you know it's a pretty big production that goes on.
17:17
SPEAKER_03: That's what I feel like people never live.
17:20
SPEAKER_03: Really?
17:20
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
17:20
SPEAKER_03: In Vegas or like two or saw one in Orlando.
17:23
SPEAKER_02: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
17:24
SPEAKER_02: Lanuba, probably.
17:25
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
17:26
SPEAKER_05: At Disney?
17:26
SPEAKER_05: Lanuba?
17:27
SPEAKER_05: We didn't.
17:27
SPEAKER_02: And it's now drawn to life, but at that time maybe.
17:31
SPEAKER_02: Oh, that's in Vegas.
17:32
SPEAKER_02: Beatles Love.
17:33
SPEAKER_02: Love.
17:33
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, we went to that in Vegas.
17:35
SPEAKER_04: Okay.
17:35
SPEAKER_04: Oh yeah.
17:36
SPEAKER_02: Oh, rest in peace.
17:37
SPEAKER_02: That show closed recently.
17:38
SPEAKER_03: I don't know.
17:39
SPEAKER_03: I went to one in Orlando and one in Vegas.
17:41
SPEAKER_03: I can't remember.
17:42
SPEAKER_03: I loved it.
17:42
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it's they're great productions.
17:44
SPEAKER_02: So like imagine I was 24.
17:47
SPEAKER_05: Oh, that's so neat.
17:48
SPEAKER_02: At the time?
17:49
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
17:49
SPEAKER_02: 24, 25?
17:51
SPEAKER_02: And then being taught like how to put that on.
17:54
SPEAKER_02: How to how to direct adults, people who had been in circ for years.
17:58
SPEAKER_02: And like and how to how to communicate that properly.
18:01
SPEAKER_02: And yeah, like, and I I think, yeah, the the charisma side of it, I think I'm like really lucked out with, but I'm down to play always creatively and find what is going to work.
18:14
SPEAKER_02: And I think because I had been a part of the creation of the show, I had known the cast, I had a really good uh relationship with them.
18:19
SPEAKER_02: It was it was the perfect learning experience.
18:22
SPEAKER_05: For sure.
18:23
SPEAKER_02: And then uh post that I uh got asked to fill in for there's a big injury triangle.
18:30
SPEAKER_02: Um they moved me over to Mysterio.
18:31
SPEAKER_02: So not only was I a part of the newest show in Las Vegas, I got moved to the original residency.
18:38
SPEAKER_02: Myster opened up in 1993.
18:40
SPEAKER_02: It was modern ballet and contemporary, where we play creatures, where I've got big headpieces and face paint and costumes that are wild, you know what I mean?
18:51
SPEAKER_02: Like all of a sudden I was doing the most modern day version of Cirque, and now I get to experience where not necessarily where it started, but like but some pivotal foundational pieces of that company.
19:02
SPEAKER_02: So the range of what I've experienced in that is um amazing, and I think it is a testament as to like how I view theater, the arts, and dance, like, and then add in dance team to it too.
19:17
SPEAKER_02: Add in like the convention side of it.
19:20
SPEAKER_02: I feel like my exposure to dance is continuously growing, which is so cool.
19:25
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, it's awesome.
19:25
SPEAKER_04: We were just talking earlier that I think is such a cool thing, is normally I feel like anybody that comes from the theater side or convention side often don't like or don't understand or absolutely appreciate.
19:36
SPEAKER_05: Yeah, right.
19:37
SPEAKER_04: Where I feel like that's what's so cool about you is you are way into that right now, but you still understand and appreciate dance team.
19:44
SPEAKER_04: Like normally, if we ever bring in guests, people they're like, I don't this is weird.
19:47
SPEAKER_02: Totally.
19:48
SPEAKER_04: I don't get dance team.
19:49
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, it's like I got it.
19:50
SPEAKER_02: I got it.
19:51
SPEAKER_02: I it's strange, and I think I think um that's why I was so excited to be here and to be working with these schools that I've known.
19:59
SPEAKER_02: I used to, I didn't even mention um I used to coach Maple Grove.
20:03
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah, oh yeah, that was a while ago.
20:05
SPEAKER_02: I coached Maple Grove for like three years, yeah.
20:07
SPEAKER_02: And um choreographed for them and I was in it.
20:11
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
20:11
SPEAKER_02: So I understand not only the the difference between the sport of it all versus what I do, industry, but I also know where the this age group is at mentally.
20:24
SPEAKER_05: Right.
20:24
SPEAKER_02: And I think it's given me a really good context of how to bridge the gap in some of those conversations.
20:30
SPEAKER_02: Not to say that every single one of these dancers wants to be in the industry, right?
20:35
SPEAKER_02: But I think there are tokens from industry that can be applied here, and there are things that I actively use as a dance captain that I've taken from dance team.
20:45
SPEAKER_02: Right, right?
20:45
SPEAKER_02: It would be crazy not to.
20:46
SPEAKER_02: Cleanliness is one of them.
20:48
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
20:48
SPEAKER_02: How to clean.
20:49
SPEAKER_03: I often go to a show, sure, and I'm w I'm like, okay, I need to clean that.
20:54
SPEAKER_03: You gotta clean it.
20:55
SPEAKER_03: You gotta clean it because you're gonna be able to do that.
20:56
SPEAKER_03: I'm like, I can't just like relax and watch it because I'm thinking that could be cleaner, that could be cleaner.
21:01
SPEAKER_03: Totally.
21:01
SPEAKER_03: You know, and I think uh a dance team person would help on Broadway for sure.
21:07
SPEAKER_03: Of course.
21:08
SPEAKER_02: Of course.
21:08
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, because you know the the there's an art to cleaning.
21:11
SPEAKER_02: Yes, there's the and the discipline factor alone.
21:14
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
21:15
SPEAKER_03: So you were talking about like right when you were graduating, and so many of the kids that will listen to this are coaches are kids that are just like in that path where they don't know where they're going.
21:24
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
21:25
SPEAKER_03: And it's really it it's really scary the whole college piece or I feel like that has exploded so much like people are forgetting about this.
21:33
SPEAKER_05: Sure.
21:33
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, but I mean, like I think so many kids feel like it's like college or nothing, like college dancing, like that's all they can see right now.
21:41
SPEAKER_03: Where like one of our seniors is going to Broadway Dance Center, Louis.
21:44
SPEAKER_03: I'm I'm so excited for it.
21:46
SPEAKER_02: Two.
21:46
SPEAKER_03: I'm so excited.
21:47
SPEAKER_03: It's gonna open you know, it's gonna open so many doors for us.
21:50
SPEAKER_03: I hope.
21:51
SPEAKER_02: No, it it will.
21:52
SPEAKER_02: And like internally.
22:00
SPEAKER_03: Disney, Bush Guard.
22:01
SPEAKER_02: Yes, yes, yes, yes.
22:02
SPEAKER_03: There's places for performers everywhere.
22:03
SPEAKER_03: Everywhere.
22:04
SPEAKER_03: And it might be a gateway to something else for them.
22:06
SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
22:07
SPEAKER_03: So they can't just close the door if they don't make a college team.
22:11
SPEAKER_02: No, especially if you're and I mean, even if you do make a college team, like who's to say like what timeline you're on?
22:17
SPEAKER_02: Right.
22:18
SPEAKER_02: I think a lot of I think it's really hard for high school students.
22:21
SPEAKER_02: I did too.
22:22
SPEAKER_02: I thought I was on a timeline.
22:24
SPEAKER_02: I thought if I didn't win So You Think You Can Dance, or I didn't win the Dance Awards and start touring, I was screwed.
22:30
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
22:31
SPEAKER_02: I was I I missed my window of opportunity because I don't know what it is about that age, but there's a lot of anticipation of graduating high school and now you are a young adult and you've got to figure it out and know exactly what it is that you want.
22:45
SPEAKER_02: And you don't know.
22:46
SPEAKER_03: You don't know every single person asks you, what are you doing?
22:50
SPEAKER_03: What are you doing?
22:50
SPEAKER_03: Where are you going to school?
22:52
SPEAKER_02: I still don't know what I want.
22:53
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
22:53
SPEAKER_03: Right.
22:54
SPEAKER_02: You know, I I realize what a word I want to, yeah.
22:56
SPEAKER_02: I have no idea.
22:58
SPEAKER_02: We shouldn't know because what life is that to live with in a in such a box, in such a lane that you you prevent yourself from the other opportunities that could arise.
23:08
SPEAKER_02: Right.
23:08
SPEAKER_02: You know what I mean?
23:10
SPEAKER_03: And I turned down a lot of opportunities to stay where I am.
23:13
SPEAKER_03: And sometimes I'm like, Why did I do that?
23:14
SPEAKER_03: Why did I do that?
23:15
SPEAKER_03: Why'd you do that?
23:16
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, but but because you knew probably at that time what you really wanted to do with it.
23:23
SPEAKER_03: Or get our team where I wanted to get them, but it also turned down a lot of different opportunities that I mean what would it have been had I done it?
23:31
SPEAKER_02: But still could.
23:33
SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
23:34
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, just talking about that.
23:36
SPEAKER_02: You never, yeah, there's never a there's never a cutoff point.
23:39
SPEAKER_02: And to to the point of like college dance team, like, you know, I I I would like to think, especially nowadays with how much exposure collegiate dance team has, it's like pretty wild in my opinion.
23:53
SPEAKER_02: It's like I know we joke about it being the dancer super bowl, but it is.
23:57
SPEAKER_02: I mean it really is.
23:58
SPEAKER_02: Like people all over the country, probably the world, are gathering in homes to like watch routines.
24:04
SPEAKER_02: And the exposure from that is now a gateway into the professional industry.
24:10
SPEAKER_02: Right.
24:10
SPEAKER_02: Um, which is wild because I don't feel like that was happening before.
24:14
SPEAKER_04: No, I feel like it's like changed in like the last five years.
24:17
SPEAKER_02: Five years.
24:17
SPEAKER_02: I would I was I would say the exact same thing.
24:19
SPEAKER_02: I'd say five years is probably like the method.
24:21
SPEAKER_03: It's exploded.
24:22
SPEAKER_02: It completely.
24:22
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
24:23
SPEAKER_02: Um, and how cool.
24:24
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
24:24
SPEAKER_02: And I think that is the starting tipping point of dance team being seen in a different light.
24:30
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
24:31
SPEAKER_02: Right?
24:31
SPEAKER_02: We were we were walking over here and we uh I mentioned the LSU hip hop dance when they did the smooth criminal piece, the Michael Jackson piece.
24:39
SPEAKER_03: Like I loved that.
24:40
SPEAKER_02: That looked industry ready.
24:42
SPEAKER_02: You could have put those dancers in the Cirque du Soleil MJ1 show, yeah, and they would have held their own just fine.
24:49
SPEAKER_02: Right.
24:49
SPEAKER_02: You know what I mean?
24:50
SPEAKER_02: And that and now, if those that team knows that that's an opportunity, well now they can make a casting profile, they can go to the audition, and maybe that was not anything that they had in mind.
25:02
SPEAKER_05: Right.
25:03
SPEAKER_02: You know, it's it's really cool.
25:04
SPEAKER_02: I remember that.
25:05
SPEAKER_02: I know that video got passed around in that MJ1 group chat.
25:09
SPEAKER_02: I know it did because people were like, Whoa, what is this?
25:11
SPEAKER_02: This is crazy cool, you know?
25:13
SPEAKER_02: Because so many Cirque artists are not from America.
25:16
SPEAKER_04: Oh.
25:17
SPEAKER_02: Circ is global.
25:18
SPEAKER_02: They take people from everywhere.
25:19
SPEAKER_02: So I call it.
25:20
SPEAKER_02: So some they don't even know what dance team is, let alone call it.
25:23
SPEAKER_02: You know what I mean?
25:24
SPEAKER_02: They don't they don't know how serious uh we take it here uh in in the states, let alone Minnesota.
25:29
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25:32
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25:36
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25:44
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25:50
SPEAKER_01: Check us out at the Tea Hive and move you.
25:55
SPEAKER_03: I've had a lovely thing to camp.
25:57
SPEAKER_02: Thank you for having me.
25:58
SPEAKER_02: I'll come back.
25:59
SPEAKER_02: I will come back.
26:00
SPEAKER_03: I have loved it, and I love the exposure.
26:03
SPEAKER_03: My you know, some people ask me why I keep doing camp, and I'm like seeing these kids that have never been afforded the chance to go anywhere like New York or or Vegas or see a show to be experienced some of these teachers we have coming in.
26:16
SPEAKER_03: Right.
26:16
SPEAKER_03: It's just you see that they look like deer in a headlight, you know, they're just so excited, yeah.
26:20
SPEAKER_03: And that's neat.
26:21
SPEAKER_03: But so inspired.
26:22
SPEAKER_03: So inspired.
26:23
SPEAKER_03: They leave.
26:23
SPEAKER_04: I feel like as a camp staff, that's what I love is I'm like, I still keep getting exposure from different people, different places, and like can learn so much.
26:30
SPEAKER_02: The tokens that you're left with.
26:31
SPEAKER_02: I um on purpose, I'm training right now too, through this experience.
26:35
SPEAKER_02: Right.
26:36
SPEAKER_02: On purpose, I uh one of the groups that I have the privilege of like kind of you know developing a piece for this showcase today.
26:44
SPEAKER_02: Um, I didn't I prepped the main dance break of it, but I also wanted this like elite group of dancers who can pick up choreography quite quick, see what a creation process looks like.
26:56
SPEAKER_04: Right.
26:56
SPEAKER_02: With a choreographer in the room to be like, how does this feel?
26:59
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
26:59
SPEAKER_02: No, let's scratch all of that and let's try this and reverse it and do this.
27:04
SPEAKER_02: And it's good training for them to be kind of light on their feet and adapt quickly, but it's also really great training for me to articulate clearly what is it that I want, what is it that I'm looking for.
27:15
SPEAKER_03: So you're always learning.
27:16
SPEAKER_02: I'm trying to learn from them as well.
27:18
SPEAKER_02: I think I've um yeah, I'm so happy to be here because I've known about it my whole life.
27:23
SPEAKER_02: Right.
27:24
SPEAKER_02: It's so like my whole life I've seen this thing.
27:26
SPEAKER_02: Um never been to it, but just seen it online or whatever, word of mouth.
27:30
SPEAKER_02: Um so it's really cool to be on this end of things and that I get to be this such thing.
27:34
SPEAKER_03: Next year, I think you should be doing one coach's class.
27:38
SPEAKER_02: Oh, I would love that.
27:39
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, for sure.
27:40
SPEAKER_03: I wish I would have thought of it this year.
27:42
SPEAKER_03: I know I wish I'd have thought about it.
27:43
SPEAKER_02: I don't even know what I would do in that.
27:44
SPEAKER_03: I think there'd be so many coaches.
27:46
SPEAKER_03: All you have to do is sit there and answer questions.
27:49
SPEAKER_02: Questions, probably.
27:50
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, just to start the conversation.
27:51
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that would be awesome.
27:53
SPEAKER_03: Well, thank you.
27:53
SPEAKER_03: Thank you.
27:53
SPEAKER_03: We appreciate it.
27:54
SPEAKER_03: Thank you guys.
27:55
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I'm honored to be here.
27:57
SPEAKER_02: We'll do another one.
27:58
SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
27:59
SPEAKER_02: Pete out y'all.
28:00
SPEAKER_00: Make the rhythm.
28:02
SPEAKER_00: We call, we create a lot of things.