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Happy Mother's Day! Featuring Our Dance Moms! · Making The Impact - A Dance Competition Podcast

0:07
SPEAKER_04: Have you ever wondered what goes on behind the table at a dance competition?
0:10
SPEAKER_04: Exactly what are the judges looking for anyway?
0:13
SPEAKER_04: This is Making the Impact, a dance competition podcast.
0:15
SPEAKER_04: Each week we'll cover a different topic related to the world of competitive dance from the perspective of the judges behind the table.
0:23
SPEAKER_04: This week on Making the Impact, we have some very special guests with us to celebrate Mother's Day.
0:28
SPEAKER_04: Our mom.
0:29
SPEAKER_04: Robin Ortiz and Brenda Mueller have seen it all.
0:32
SPEAKER_04: From the early days of dance competitions to watching their daughters tackle the professional dance industry.
0:36
SPEAKER_04: So stay tuned for the inside scoop on what Courtney and Leslie were really like growing up in the competition world.
0:44
SPEAKER_00: Hello, dance world.
0:45
SPEAKER_00: Welcome to this week's episode of Making the Impact.
0:48
SPEAKER_00: I'm your host, Courtney Ortiz, and I am here with my co-host, Leslie Mueller.
0:53
SPEAKER_00: Hey Courtney, what's up?
0:54
SPEAKER_00: Not too much.
0:55
SPEAKER_00: Uh, what's up with you?
0:57
SPEAKER_04: Oh, nothing.
0:58
SPEAKER_04: Just lamenting the end of competition season since it's May now.
1:02
SPEAKER_00: I know it's finally May, and it's it's crazy to think that it's May.
1:07
SPEAKER_00: And also, I'd love to give a huge shout out to all of the moms out there because Mother's Day is coming up this Sunday, everyone.
1:16
SPEAKER_00: So shout out to all of the spectacular dance moms around the world who may be at a competition with your dancer this weekend and watching them do what they love, or maybe you're off this weekend and the family gets to celebrate you today.
1:32
SPEAKER_00: But Leslie, we have a special episode.
1:36
SPEAKER_04: We do.
1:36
SPEAKER_04: We've been wanting to do this one for a while and just, you know, kind of I think wanted to get rolling with the whole uh show before we did this.
1:45
SPEAKER_04: But it is now our very first Mother's Day episode featuring my mom and Courtney's mom.
1:51
SPEAKER_00: Whoa my God! Our moms are here, everyone.
1:55
SPEAKER_00: I'm nervous, I'm scared.
1:57
SPEAKER_00: Who knows what they're gonna say.
2:01
SPEAKER_00: It's gonna be, it's gonna be a fun episode.
2:05
SPEAKER_00: We've never had the moms on.
2:07
SPEAKER_00: We've had other dance moms, but not our moms.
2:10
SPEAKER_04: Correct.
2:11
SPEAKER_04: And I think that, you know, I think our listeners will appreciate hearing, you know, our moms' perspectives of as being dance, dance moms and competition moms from back in the day.
2:20
SPEAKER_04: And anybody who uh is our age and has, you know, has had that experience themselves too, might hear a little bit of familiar, familiar memories from back in the 90s.
2:29
SPEAKER_00: Oh yeah.
2:30
SPEAKER_00: Growing up in the 90s and the early 2000s as a dance kid, and the moms had to do it all back then.
2:36
SPEAKER_00: And well, I can't wait to hear about their experience as well.
2:40
SPEAKER_00: So we will introduce you to our moms very shortly, but before we do, we want to tell you a little bit more about our sponsors for this episode.
2:49
SPEAKER_04: Back for another season sponsoring Making the Impact is Dance Costumes by Urzua and Urzua Dancewear.
2:54
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3:03
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3:08
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3:14
SPEAKER_04: Stand out on stage and in class with a custom piece from Dance Costumes by Urzua and Urzua Dancewear.
3:20
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3:26
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3:34
SPEAKER_00: Alright, everyone, the costume is pinned, your eyelashes are on, your lipstick is set, except now you have to transform your little dancer's hairstyle into its next hairstyle for your next routine.
3:45
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3:54
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4:00
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4:08
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4:11
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4:16
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4:20
SPEAKER_00: We have an exclusive promo code to offer to our podcast listeners to try out Fave4 yourself.
4:25
SPEAKER_00: Use the code Impact15 in all caps at checkout to receive 15% off your very first order.
4:31
SPEAKER_00: I know you're going to love their products and I cannot wait for you to try them out at your next competition.
4:36
SPEAKER_00: Thank you to Fave 4 for sponsoring us in season three.
4:39
SPEAKER_00: I can't wait to say thanks to Fave 4 for sponsoring us in season four next year.
4:43
SPEAKER_00: All right, and before we jump into this episode, I'm excited to share with you our latest Making the Impact Award winners that have been receiving this award at IDA affiliated competition events.
4:53
SPEAKER_00: So this year, the podcast and IDA are sponsoring physical awards at IDA affiliated competitions with IDA judges on the panel, and it is called Your Making the Impact Judges Choice Award.
5:03
SPEAKER_00: This is a dance that your IDA judges select, and it can go from a solo through a production.
5:08
SPEAKER_00: And it's just one of those dances that the judges cannot stop thinking about and we want to recognize as making the impact.
5:14
SPEAKER_00: We've loved seeing everyone register their awards and tagging us in photos and sharing the love.
5:19
SPEAKER_00: So we want to give a shout out to our recent award winners.
5:22
SPEAKER_00: First up, this is from Diva Dance Competitions event in Taunton, Massachusetts.
5:27
SPEAKER_00: This is going to Makaia Lewis for her solo, It's All Coming Back to Me from the Dance Extreme in New Bedford, Massachusetts.
5:34
SPEAKER_00: And our next award was one at Spirit of Dance Awards in Boxboro, Massachusetts.
5:39
SPEAKER_00: This is going to Janessa Gomes for her solo Sparrow from TDS Dance Company from Sauton, Massachusetts.
5:46
SPEAKER_04: And coming from Star Talent Productions at their Carolton, Georgia event, Tootie Fruity, a large group from Parker Dance Company, won their Carrollton, Georgia event.
5:55
SPEAKER_04: And from High Demand Dance Competition in West Hartford, Connecticut, Great Balls of Fire, which was a small group from Dance Revolution Inc., coming from Slate Hill, New York, won at that event.
6:05
SPEAKER_04: So congratulations to everybody winning our Making the Impact Awards.
6:08
SPEAKER_04: I know our IDA judges are loving being able to give out just another special award and recognize everybody's hard work.
6:15
SPEAKER_00: All right, listeners, it's time to jump into our very special Mother's Day episode.
6:20
SPEAKER_00: And that's right, you get to hear from our moms.
6:23
SPEAKER_00: Can't wait to introduce them to you.
6:25
SPEAKER_00: First up, I guess I'll introduce my own mother who is here joining us from Maryland.
6:32
SPEAKER_00: This is Miss Robin Ortiz.
6:34
SPEAKER_00: Hi, mom.
6:35
SPEAKER_00: Hi, Corey.
6:36
SPEAKER_00: How are you doing?
6:38
SPEAKER_00: I'm good.
6:38
SPEAKER_00: Are you excited to be on the podcast finally?
6:40
SPEAKER_00: I know you listen to every single episode every week.
6:43
SPEAKER_02: I have, but am I excited?
6:45
SPEAKER_02: No, not really, to be honest.
6:51
SPEAKER_02: Our generation, we're not, you know.
6:54
SPEAKER_02: I'll do it, of course, but no, I'm not excited.
6:57
SPEAKER_02: No.
6:59
SPEAKER_00: Nothing while you're here and you're doing an orties.
7:01
SPEAKER_00: I got it.
7:02
SPEAKER_00: She'll always give you the honest answer.
7:06
SPEAKER_02: I'm excited.
7:06
SPEAKER_02: You I'm excited you asked me.
7:08
SPEAKER_02: That much I will say.
7:10
SPEAKER_02: I I think scared for the technology aspect of it.
7:13
SPEAKER_02: Yes.
7:14
SPEAKER_02: And just putting yourself out there, you know.
7:16
SPEAKER_02: But other than that, I'm glad you asked me.
7:19
SPEAKER_02: I think it's an honor.
7:20
SPEAKER_02: I appreciate it.
7:21
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
7:21
SPEAKER_02: So thank you.
7:22
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
7:23
SPEAKER_00: Well, I know I know you have once we get into the discussion, Mom, I know you're gonna have a lot of things to say.
7:28
SPEAKER_03: Absolutely.
7:29
SPEAKER_00: You always have a lot, a lot of things to say.
7:32
SPEAKER_00: So I'm excited to have you on the pod.
7:34
SPEAKER_00: And thanks for waking up early and spending your retired morning with us.
7:43
SPEAKER_00: Leslie, you want to do the next introduction?
7:45
SPEAKER_04: Of course.
7:46
SPEAKER_04: Uh, welcome to the pod, Miss Brenda.
7:48
SPEAKER_04: I think I had to call her Miss Brenda for more of my life than I called her mom because she would respond to Miss Brenda.
7:55
SPEAKER_01: Oh my gosh.
7:56
SPEAKER_04: Welcome to the pod, mom.
7:57
SPEAKER_01: Good morning.
7:57
SPEAKER_01: Good morning, sweet girl.
7:59
SPEAKER_04: How are y'all?
8:00
SPEAKER_04: Y'all look great this morning on feed here.
8:03
SPEAKER_04: Yes, on Zoom.
8:04
SPEAKER_04: We're Courtney's always has on makeup somehow, but I'm over here just fresh faced.
8:08
SPEAKER_00: Oh, okay.
8:10
SPEAKER_00: Honestly, this is leftover makeup.
8:11
SPEAKER_00: I'm not gonna lie.
8:13
SPEAKER_04: So all right.
8:15
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
8:16
SPEAKER_04: Yes, I think Miss Brendo was a little nervous about the tech as well, but I have to tell us, tell the listeners, we often have technical difficulties getting into our recording sessions.
8:25
SPEAKER_04: And it's I don't know why, because like we try to do it the same way every time, and somehow it just never works.
8:30
SPEAKER_04: But it actually, we we were on like five minutes before we were supposed to start.
8:34
SPEAKER_04: Like all of us got it together.
8:35
SPEAKER_04: So pretty much.
8:36
SPEAKER_00: We could hear each other, we could see each other.
8:39
SPEAKER_00: Microphones worked, everyone has headphones.
8:41
SPEAKER_00: I mean, this was very seamless.
8:44
SPEAKER_00: I'm shocked.
8:45
SPEAKER_00: Thank you, Zoom, for making this happen.
8:47
SPEAKER_04: I think it's because dance moms.
8:49
SPEAKER_04: Yes, dance moms make the world go round.
8:51
SPEAKER_04: And I think that's nothing has changed, at least since our day.
8:55
SPEAKER_04: You know, it's always the dance moms.
8:56
SPEAKER_04: The dance moms are driving the car and buying the costumes and putting the makeup on and you know, just figuring it all out.
9:02
SPEAKER_00: Oh yeah.
9:04
SPEAKER_00: Well, it's time, y'all.
9:05
SPEAKER_00: Let's jump in.
9:06
SPEAKER_00: Let's get started.
9:08
SPEAKER_00: Leslie, you want to kick things off?
9:09
SPEAKER_04: I guess so.
9:10
SPEAKER_04: Let's see where we're gonna go first.
9:14
SPEAKER_04: All right, so uh let's let's start with Robin then.
9:16
SPEAKER_04: Robin, it's nice to see you and not in person.
9:19
SPEAKER_04: I saw you in person a couple years ago, but what what made you put Courtney in dance uh back in the day, back in probably what, 1990, something like that?
9:28
SPEAKER_02: Good to see you, Leslie and everybody, Brenda and Court.
9:32
SPEAKER_02: I guess I'm ready to go with these questions.
9:35
SPEAKER_02: Um, let's see.
9:37
SPEAKER_02: Basically, and Courtney, I think I've told Courtney this story many times.
9:41
SPEAKER_02: We were country people living out here in the country, and at a young age, Courtney was doing everything the country girls do.
9:47
SPEAKER_02: And we had a boat, she was fishing and crabbing at three years old.
9:51
SPEAKER_02: She was with her dad learning softball.
9:54
SPEAKER_02: Uh, and my job took me away from a lot of that.
9:59
SPEAKER_02: Her dad got off earlier.
10:00
SPEAKER_02: He spent a lot of time with her, and she was learning a lot of the outdoorsy things.
10:04
SPEAKER_02: He's him being a hunter, a fisher.
10:07
SPEAKER_02: She was just learning a lot of things.
10:09
SPEAKER_02: And unfortunately, I wasn't giving her enough of my time because of my job.
10:13
SPEAKER_02: So one day my father dropped by and said, you know, you really need to try to find some time and put her in, you know, a different variety of things.
10:21
SPEAKER_02: And she's kind of getting too consumed with the farmland kind of environment.
10:26
SPEAKER_02: So I decided, okay, my father's right.
10:29
SPEAKER_02: And I felt horrible that I my work hours were so long.
10:32
SPEAKER_02: So I signed her up for rec council.
10:34
SPEAKER_02: And then I also didn't want her to just dance.
10:36
SPEAKER_02: I wanted her to be very well-rounded.
10:38
SPEAKER_02: So whatever rec council offered and it fit into my schedule, she did.
10:43
SPEAKER_02: She did softball, she did dance, she did gymnastics.
10:46
SPEAKER_02: And um, make a long story short, what took her on the bigger journey with like a competitive team was, and I think Courtney mentioned this story, which is completely true.
10:54
SPEAKER_02: I signed her up in her third year at Rec Council.
10:57
SPEAKER_02: There was a new teacher there, and I signed her up for the jazz, tat ballet combo class.
11:02
SPEAKER_02: And I didn't know it five years old.
11:05
SPEAKER_02: She was um too young for that class.
11:07
SPEAKER_02: So I asked the teacher, she said, it's usually seven to nine-year-olds are in that class.
11:11
SPEAKER_02: And I said, Well, can we try it?
11:13
SPEAKER_02: Because it meets my work schedule.
11:15
SPEAKER_02: Can we just give it a try?
11:16
SPEAKER_02: And the teacher said, Okay, but I'll let you know if she's too young and it doesn't work out.
11:21
SPEAKER_02: So I took her there to break council, it's only an hour a week or whatever.
11:25
SPEAKER_02: And after about a month, the teacher said, Um, can you stay after class?
11:29
SPEAKER_02: I need to talk to you.
11:30
SPEAKER_02: And I thought, here we go.
11:31
SPEAKER_02: She's gonna tell me she's too young.
11:33
SPEAKER_02: It didn't work out.
11:35
SPEAKER_02: And actually, what she told me was, is she has a gift that I see and she doesn't really belong here, and there's not much I can do.
11:44
SPEAKER_02: She has so much potential, and I didn't know because you know, she was playing softball and everything else.
11:49
SPEAKER_02: And I said, Well, what do you suggest?
11:51
SPEAKER_02: She said, I'm being honest, there's not much that we can do for her here.
11:55
SPEAKER_02: And I would recommend you go find uh some training for her because she's just got too much potential to let it go.
12:01
SPEAKER_02: And I was shocked because she was only five.
12:03
SPEAKER_02: And so to this day, I kind of thank that teacher for pointing that out to me.
12:07
SPEAKER_02: And then she ended up going to MCPA, and from there, that lasted many, many years.
12:12
SPEAKER_02: She went straight into a regional competition team, and then the next year she was full into all that hot shot national team.
12:19
SPEAKER_02: And yeah, but it really started with my dad mentioning that I needed to get more involved, which made me feel horrible.
12:26
SPEAKER_02: So I'm like, okay, well, I'll put her in dance.
12:28
SPEAKER_04: But Courtney's in dance because you felt guilty.
12:30
SPEAKER_04: I see.
12:31
SPEAKER_04: Yes, pretty much.
12:34
SPEAKER_00: You didn't have dreams of me being a dancer when you got a little girl.
12:38
SPEAKER_02: Oh, heck no, I didn't want you to do it, really, to be honest.
12:41
SPEAKER_02: Uh, but I I wanted you to do what you liked, and I wanted to let you experience as many different things as I could possibly do.
12:49
SPEAKER_02: But my job had very little flexibility.
12:52
SPEAKER_02: I I did not have flexibility like some of the working moms have today.
12:56
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, thank God for dad getting off of work early so he could drive me to dance class.
13:00
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it was a lot of back and forth.
13:02
SPEAKER_00: All right, let's flip it over to Miss Brenda.
13:06
SPEAKER_00: Miss Brenda, so I know that just for all the listeners out there, you are a studio owner as well as a dance mom.
13:15
SPEAKER_01: Yes, I am.
13:16
SPEAKER_01: Uh this is year 33, owning my own dance studio.
13:19
SPEAKER_01: And I taught for another studio for 12 years prior to that, and then six months at my old studio uh where I grew up.
13:28
SPEAKER_01: Right before I got married, I did six months there.
13:30
SPEAKER_00: Oh my gosh, that's so cool.
13:32
SPEAKER_00: I love that.
13:33
SPEAKER_00: So 33 years doing this.
13:36
SPEAKER_00: That's so you opened the studio before Leslie was born.
13:40
SPEAKER_01: No wait, after right after she was born.
13:44
SPEAKER_01: I mean right after Yeah, right after, about a year or two after.
13:48
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
13:49
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
13:49
SPEAKER_00: Cool.
13:50
SPEAKER_00: So did you always plan to put your daughters in dance?
13:55
SPEAKER_01: Um, I guess so.
13:57
SPEAKER_00: You're like they have to.
13:59
SPEAKER_01: They have to.
14:00
SPEAKER_01: I mean, you know, I kind of think it was it was a given that they would they they would dance now, and it was probably a given that they would dance all the way through their senior year in high school.
14:09
SPEAKER_01: After that, I don't know that, you know, until especially until Leslie reached her junior year, that this looked like it was going to be a career path for her.
14:19
SPEAKER_01: The funny story uh that the career path was not going to be uh my younger daughter, Laura's pathway, was the year Leslie went to her first year at college at Oklahoma City University.
14:34
SPEAKER_01: She, you know, it was time to start the dance year.
14:36
SPEAKER_01: It was her senior year in high school.
14:38
SPEAKER_01: And she looked at me and said, Mom, it would look really bad if the owner's daughter didn't dance her senior year.
14:45
SPEAKER_01: And that's the only reason I'm going to dance this year.
14:49
SPEAKER_01: Oh, okay.
14:50
SPEAKER_01: That's that's my sister, friends.
14:52
SPEAKER_01: That's Laura Lynn.
14:54
SPEAKER_01: Uh, you know, she she's very, uh, very outgoing, very outspoken, you know, a different type of dancer than Leslie was.
15:01
SPEAKER_01: Laura was the the one that was like, if you just washed from the waistline up, she could sell you anything on that stage.
15:08
SPEAKER_01: Leslie was my technician.
15:11
SPEAKER_01: She has the lovely face that goes with it, but she was my technician.
15:14
SPEAKER_01: Laura was the the let me sell you this product right now.
15:17
SPEAKER_01: I know you love it.
15:19
SPEAKER_01: So um I knew that that wasn't gonna be her career for sure.
15:24
SPEAKER_01: But Leslie didn't take it.
15:25
SPEAKER_04: The cool thing about Laura is that she went to college and was like, well, let me just be on an award-winning dance team real quick for the Valdasta.
15:32
SPEAKER_04: Um, what are they called?
15:33
SPEAKER_04: The Blazers.
15:33
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, for one season.
15:34
SPEAKER_04: Literally or one or two seasons.
15:36
SPEAKER_01: Uh the uh But like they won like some kind of She was on the Red Hots.
15:39
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
15:40
SPEAKER_01: Cool.
15:40
SPEAKER_01: They were national champions like two or three years in a row.
15:44
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, she was great, very good, but like hers was more of an more on the entertainment side of everything, like just the facials alone would get you going, you know.
15:54
SPEAKER_01: Uh there might be a a little error here or there, but you know, her facials were the thing that you're like, oh my goodness, watch that.
16:00
SPEAKER_01: Uh Leslie was my technician.
16:01
SPEAKER_01: You're going, oh my gosh, look at that.
16:03
SPEAKER_01: That's perfect.
16:05
SPEAKER_01: So yeah, two different two different uh ways to go there.
16:08
SPEAKER_01: But uh, you know, they both managed to make it all the way through their senior year and I couldn't have been more happy about it.
16:14
SPEAKER_00: So, what was it like training your own daughters?
16:17
SPEAKER_00: Did you find that hard or awkward or challenging?
16:21
SPEAKER_00: Or was it just like training all the other kids at your at your studio?
16:26
SPEAKER_01: For my two girls, I felt like it was pretty much like training the rest of the girls.
16:30
SPEAKER_01: They were very easygoing as far as not like lording it over the other students in the class.
16:36
SPEAKER_01: Well, this is my mom and she's gonna put me here and I'm gonna get to do la-da-da-da.
16:41
SPEAKER_01: They were, you know, they were both good, which helped.
16:44
SPEAKER_01: Uh you know, they they did they did get some starting little parts, but you know, not every time.
16:49
SPEAKER_01: Um and our studio has always been small.
16:52
SPEAKER_01: So they're, you know, a big class for us was 12 kids or and is still 11 or 12 kids.
16:58
SPEAKER_01: So, you know, with that small of a number, everybody gets the opportunity to be in the front row and and do something, you know, to have a big ta-da.
17:06
SPEAKER_01: So they were very easygoing as students, not of you know, not difficult to teach in a class at all.
17:12
SPEAKER_01: Um, I didn't feel like I know, like I said, Leslie, as my technician, very much always gave, you know, 100% effort.
17:20
SPEAKER_01: Laura would kind of fudge through on on on some things, not everything, but some things.
17:26
SPEAKER_01: I mean, she had beautiful grantees and soda shaws.
17:30
SPEAKER_01: But her a regular split on the floor just I don't know why, but was not her thing.
17:35
SPEAKER_01: But the leap was always fabulous looking.
17:38
SPEAKER_01: So, you know, everybody had their assets to sell.
17:42
SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
17:43
SPEAKER_00: I love hearing that.
17:44
SPEAKER_00: I know actually that with that question, I I was just curious to ask because we had a question pop up in our QA live episode um from this month, and someone asked that question about, you know, how what's it like to train your, you know, I'm a dance mom and I am a teacher as well, and I have to train my kid, you know, type of thing.
18:04
SPEAKER_00: So I think it's always interesting to hear that uh perspective of being like the studio owner's daughter or the favoritism that might come, you know, with the other dancers and the parents and things like that.
18:17
SPEAKER_04: I think it would be a lot we would have it would be a different story and probably is a different story for for a different people who have the same scenario, kind of and like not to brag, but my mother also just said it, uh like we were good.
18:29
SPEAKER_04: I was good.
18:30
SPEAKER_04: And so if I wasn't good and I still got center stage ever, like then it might have been a different story.
18:36
SPEAKER_04: But like you would look at, you know, you look at the kids and it's very clear who who is the technical one, who is this one, who is that one, and it's like, well, you can't put and also I'm very short.
18:46
SPEAKER_04: Like you cannot put me in the back.
18:50
SPEAKER_00: It's just the truth.
18:52
SPEAKER_01: It is and it's it's it's we've had two staff members uh on at my studio that both uh well one of them danced with us growing up, and the other one danced at the studio that I taught at for 12 years came to work for us, and they both had daughters that dance with us or did and did dance with us.
19:15
SPEAKER_01: They really felt like it was better not to teach their own child, that they they just felt like it was too much pressure for the child to have mom right there in her face, uh, you know, talking and and directing and giving critique.
19:30
SPEAKER_01: And they were both young children as well.
19:32
SPEAKER_01: So I can see if they were if they'd been older children and coming in as a maybe as a new staff member and your child was already 10 or 12, probably a different scenario.
19:42
SPEAKER_01: Because you know, you're you're used to being in class, you're used to getting a critique from anybody and everybody uh, you know, on staff.
19:48
SPEAKER_01: So I could see where it's it would be difficult in a lot of cases.
19:53
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, totally agree.
19:54
SPEAKER_04: Robin, let's start talking a little bit about competitions back in the day because Courtney, uh even though Courtney's younger than me, Courtney competed earlier than I did.
20:02
SPEAKER_04: So like you you started competing when you were what, like six or seven?
20:06
SPEAKER_00: I think like seven or eight.
20:07
unknown: Yeah.
20:07
SPEAKER_00: So you sound right, mom?
20:09
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I think when you were six, you did like the company group that did one regional.
20:13
SPEAKER_02: And by the time you were seven or eight, you were in full swing into it with the hotshot team.
20:18
SPEAKER_04: So, Robin, coming coming from like like your you said the country life into you know, rec dance at like the YMCA kind of and then into hot shots, which like you know, Courtney's talked about hotshots in the studio a lot.
20:31
SPEAKER_04: Like it's a it is a training studio.
20:33
SPEAKER_04: Like that's not a studio you just go take a dance class.
20:35
SPEAKER_04: Like you go and you train at that studio.
20:37
SPEAKER_04: What was that like for you when they said, okay, so she's gonna be on the competition team and she's doing 17 numbers and whatever it was?
20:44
SPEAKER_04: Like, what was that culture shock like?
20:46
SPEAKER_02: I knew a little bit about it because Courtney's cousin Brooke, uh my cousin Kathy, her daughter Brooke, was in that studio.
20:52
SPEAKER_02: That's how I made the connection.
20:53
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
20:54
SPEAKER_02: When the rec council uh teacher said you need to find her a place to go or recommended it to me, I didn't know where to begin.
21:01
SPEAKER_02: So I reached out to my cousin and she said, Well, you might want to bring her here where Brooke goes.
21:05
SPEAKER_02: And so I knew a little bit, but I had no idea that once she made it to that hot shot level, it was going to be like completely your life.
21:14
SPEAKER_02: And at seven or eight years old, it wasn't so bad.
21:17
SPEAKER_02: We could, she could still do that, she could still get involved in other things, but by that next year, it was you were all in or you were out.
21:25
SPEAKER_02: And that's a hard decision on a child to make.
21:28
SPEAKER_02: And I think that Courtney really wanted to do it.
21:32
SPEAKER_02: And by 10 years old, she was doing solos and in those 15, 20 numbers for the rest of her time there, it never stopped.
21:41
SPEAKER_02: And we traveled a lot.
21:43
SPEAKER_02: We did conventions a lot, and uh it was it was a bit of a adjustment for the family.
21:50
SPEAKER_02: I I loved it though, and I have to say that her dad supported it, we all supported it.
21:55
SPEAKER_02: Her grandfather was probably one of her biggest fans, and um, we traveled a We enjoyed it.
22:01
SPEAKER_02: It was a family thing.
22:02
SPEAKER_02: You know, I looked at it more as tapping into her natural potential because it was pretty clear early on that she had some kind of gift.
22:11
SPEAKER_02: And I felt that I would be not a very good mom if I didn't pursue that, but I didn't want to push her.
22:18
SPEAKER_02: I I always had that fine line of her being an only child and not wanting to push her.
22:24
SPEAKER_02: But I also would voice my opinion.
22:25
SPEAKER_02: I was not one of those dance moms that sat back and just said, here's my$500.
22:29
SPEAKER_02: Here you go.
22:30
SPEAKER_02: That that that didn't happen with me.
22:33
SPEAKER_02: That was like, how much you wore for that?
22:36
SPEAKER_02: I don't think so.
22:38
SPEAKER_02: I was that tight.
22:40
SPEAKER_02: And I I was willing to um, you know, do what it took, um, sell pizzas, rhinestone costumes, do whatever I had to do to try to help out with expenses because it was a lot of money.
22:52
SPEAKER_02: I'm I I I don't know how to sugarcoat that in any other way.
22:56
SPEAKER_02: And I often would look at the parents and say, How on earth are they affording this?
23:01
SPEAKER_02: Because I worked a lot.
23:02
SPEAKER_02: My husband and I both had good jobs, and it was very difficult for us to afford how long.
23:09
SPEAKER_02: And I only have one child.
23:10
SPEAKER_02: And there were children there, two and three children.
23:13
SPEAKER_02: I I was like, how are they doing it?
23:14
SPEAKER_02: And I thought, now I something's just not right.
23:17
SPEAKER_02: Like I just, I don't know.
23:19
SPEAKER_02: I just felt that if your child has talent and there's potential, it's maybe worth the investment.
23:24
SPEAKER_02: But if you see early on that it's kind of like, well, it's their hobby.
23:29
SPEAKER_02: I think when you get to this competition level, it's no longer a hobby.
23:33
SPEAKER_02: And if your child doesn't want to pursue it, you have to seriously make some financial decisions for their future because you need to save for college.
23:40
SPEAKER_02: You you can't just throw money at this and then all of a sudden they're like, they're 18 and need to go to college.
23:44
SPEAKER_02: And you're like, uh oh.
23:46
SPEAKER_02: I mean, it's some serious decision making for your child.
23:50
SPEAKER_04: I mean, a custom costume, you know, that that cost is like a semester of tuition.
23:55
SPEAKER_04: It was great.
23:56
SPEAKER_02: And I can remember like going into work and people complaining that, you know, well, they have to buy like a cheerleading outfit.
24:03
SPEAKER_02: And I would be like, What?
24:04
SPEAKER_02: Like, what?
24:05
SPEAKER_02: Do you have any idea what we're talking about?
24:08
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, right.
24:09
SPEAKER_02: No, I'm just saying it's it's nowhere near the amount of financial investment.
24:14
SPEAKER_02: Or people that would say, Well, I'm trying to save her my child's uh or for college, and I would be like, I'm paying for college every single year since the time she's been eight years old.
24:23
SPEAKER_02: I mean, I equated it to that, it was that kind of money.
24:27
SPEAKER_02: So, you know, it was a sacrifice sacrifice.
24:30
SPEAKER_00: That being said, I think it's important, and like I think I'm totally in agreement with you.
24:34
SPEAKER_00: I I think the hard part about it is like where our the competition industry has evolved to now, where there are a lot of dancers who have the hobby to, you know, are just doing dance as a hobby and are investing, like the parents are real are truly investing the same amount of money that you were putting in for me, who was training at a level to become a pro.
24:55
SPEAKER_00: Whereas there's dancers now who are just doing it as a hobby and the parents are spending the same amount of money.
25:00
SPEAKER_00: I think it's hard on the kids and the parents, and because the kids love it, the parents might see their potential or might just love that their the kids are happy and they might have the financial ability to allow them to do this as a hobby.
25:13
SPEAKER_00: Whereas that's not the luxury for everybody, and it's hard to kind of determine like when when do you as a parent decide, I love that you love this, but I can't afford this anymore unless this is going to take you somewhere.
25:28
SPEAKER_00: Right.
25:29
SPEAKER_00: Because kids, I don't think that kids even know if they want to be a dancer when they grow up at age 11 or 8.
25:36
SPEAKER_00: They might say it, but then they become a teen and then they realize how hard this is and realize how competitive the industry is, and they're like, I want to go, you know, be a lawyer or be a doctor or go to school for something else that interests me.
25:47
SPEAKER_00: And then it's like, as a parent, I can't only imagine that you just look back and say, wow, all that money that I just spent at competitions, those entry fees, solos cost uh like how much did solos cost back in the 90s to come?
26:02
SPEAKER_02: I think it was probably around$75.
26:05
SPEAKER_02: I'm guessing.
26:06
SPEAKER_02: I can't really remember.
26:07
SPEAKER_02: And then it was extra for title and stuff like that.
26:09
SPEAKER_02: We usually didn't do that.
26:10
SPEAKER_02: I mean, there will be like once or twice, like at the national level, or like you might say, Hey, I'll enter title as a teen or a senior, but I I don't think we always did that.
26:21
SPEAKER_00: Title's a joke, anyway.
26:23
SPEAKER_00: But I'm her, sorry about it.
26:29
SPEAKER_02: I don't want to sound negative.
26:30
SPEAKER_02: I I loved your dance studio.
26:32
SPEAKER_02: Those kids were talented, the parents.
26:34
SPEAKER_02: I have some of my dearest friends from you competing, and we are friends to this day.
26:39
SPEAKER_02: Uh, we've stayed friends, we'd take vacations together.
26:42
SPEAKER_02: Uh, the funny thing is, is I just felt like with Courtney, she had some natural talent, although they extremely worked and made her even better.
26:52
SPEAKER_02: But she had a lot of natural just she was just had it naturally.
26:55
SPEAKER_02: Um, that was one of my biggest things that I felt is that you have a dance studio and once in a while you get one or two kids that are just kind of beyond what is the norm.
27:05
SPEAKER_02: And then they try to make them fit to that block.
27:07
SPEAKER_02: And is that a good thing?
27:09
SPEAKER_02: Sometimes it teaches them to be humble, you're not always going to win, you're not, you know, but also it kind of held them her back, if that makes any sense.
27:18
SPEAKER_02: Like pair her up or do this with her or whatever.
27:20
SPEAKER_02: And I just felt that, you know, sometimes it holds you back.
27:24
SPEAKER_02: You have to realistically look at each individual child and decide what's best for them.
27:28
SPEAKER_02: The studio was good for Courtney.
27:30
SPEAKER_02: Her friends, still her lifelong friends, right, Court?
27:33
SPEAKER_02: Mm-hmm.
27:33
SPEAKER_02: There's no doubt.
27:35
SPEAKER_00: And I don't, as a as a dancer in that scenario, I don't feel like that I was held back in any capacity at my studio.
27:42
SPEAKER_00: I feel like that I was you picked the best studio you could have picked.
27:45
SPEAKER_00: I don't know how.
27:46
SPEAKER_00: Thank you to our cousin Brooke who's like, it was from Kathy and Brooke.
27:50
SPEAKER_02: It wasn't me.
27:50
SPEAKER_02: I hadn't a clue.
27:52
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I look back to this day, I look back all the time, and even to my friends who are now studio owners that grew up with me or who are now professional dancers.
28:01
SPEAKER_00: And we all are like, how in the world did we get so lucky and and go to a studio like that when our parents, there wasn't the, you know, there weren't there wasn't Yelp and Google reviews back then.
28:12
SPEAKER_00: Like it was truly just word word of mouth, or hey, there's a dance studio down the street.
28:17
SPEAKER_00: I want to enroll my kid.
28:18
SPEAKER_00: And you just, you know, we got lucky that we picked the best one, one of the best studios in Maryland, probably the best studio in Maryland now to this day, but back then, truly one of the like top five competitive studios.
28:31
SPEAKER_00: And like I look back at the training that I got and I'm like, wow, I can't believe that I got that lucky.
28:36
SPEAKER_00: So thanks, Mary.
28:37
SPEAKER_02: And I'm and I all thank you for saying thank you.
28:40
SPEAKER_02: And I I enjoyed it.
28:41
SPEAKER_02: I I I don't want you to think I didn't.
28:43
SPEAKER_02: I loved it.
28:44
SPEAKER_02: I loved watching you dance.
28:45
SPEAKER_02: Any mom loves seeing their their little girl get up there and dance.
28:49
SPEAKER_02: And I loved all your friends and I loved all your teachers, especially Donna Jean.
28:53
SPEAKER_02: She was my favorite, of course.
28:55
SPEAKER_02: And yeah.
28:56
SPEAKER_04: Courtney, you have to bust out your YouTube, that YouTube video that you guys found a couple years ago of you just like improving in your room.
29:03
SPEAKER_04: Oh, yeah, that's a good one.
29:04
SPEAKER_00: Oh, we have some gems.
29:05
SPEAKER_04: Because like Tiny Courtney really did have a gift.
29:07
SPEAKER_04: Like when you look at Tiny Courtney, you're like, oh yeah, that's exactly like you're just older and more technically sound now.
29:13
SPEAKER_04: Like it's just it was amazing to see that video.
29:17
SPEAKER_00: Maybe we can post for all of our listeners, maybe maybe exclusive to the Facebook group.
29:22
SPEAKER_00: Maybe we'll do that.
29:24
SPEAKER_00: An exclusive Facebook group, um, you know, throwbacks of Leslie and I in our youth dancing.
29:30
SPEAKER_02: And Court, I want to bring up one of the things we did that was really funny when you were like eight or nine, I guess, or maybe ten.
29:37
SPEAKER_02: I don't remember the age, but me and your dad competed in a group number.
29:41
SPEAKER_02: That was one of the funniest memories when we did um oh yeah, Monster Medley, and dad was men in black, and I was like a Mike, we did the Michael Jackson thriller thing, and yeah, we had some fun times.
29:51
SPEAKER_02: We really did.
29:52
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that was fun.
29:53
SPEAKER_00: I mean, the studio back then was huge.
29:55
SPEAKER_00: We had like over a hundred students at the studio, so it was like, you know, one of those big production numbers, and then all the parents came on at the end, which was you know, made it really fun for the kids.
30:06
SPEAKER_00: I wish I could find that video.
30:07
SPEAKER_00: It's around.
30:08
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
30:10
SPEAKER_00: So, Brenda, did your studio compete growing up?
30:13
SPEAKER_00: I know Leslie, you said you started competing later in your time at the studio.
30:16
SPEAKER_00: So, what was that transition like um from doing just recitals and performances to then adding the competition element?
30:23
SPEAKER_00: Why did you start doing competitions?
30:26
SPEAKER_00: Was it like, Leslie, were you the one that was like, I see competitions, I want to do them, mom?
30:30
SPEAKER_00: We should do them.
30:31
SPEAKER_04: That's what I remember.
30:32
SPEAKER_04: What do you remember?
30:34
SPEAKER_01: Well, I like say if we're talking middle 1990s, there weren't that many of them around.
30:42
SPEAKER_01: Number one, there were a handful, literally, literally a handful, I mean maybe a dozen that yeah, and they weren't they may not have even been totally national or they were very separated across the country, but they were starting to be a thing.
30:56
SPEAKER_01: And I had a group of girls that were older than Leslie that had were pushing for it.
31:03
SPEAKER_01: That you know, they would we really want to we want to want to put a form, we want to go to a competition.
31:07
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and they they they bugged me for about a year, and then I finally said, you know, okay.
31:13
SPEAKER_01: And I think our first one was I don't know remember which one it was.
31:16
SPEAKER_01: And we won a bronze.
31:18
SPEAKER_04: It was headliners, okay.
31:19
SPEAKER_04: It was headliners, and I want to say it was at the World Congress Center, maybe it was because that's the first time I ever saw a fouette turn.
31:26
SPEAKER_04: And I decided, well, we need to learn how to do those.
31:28
unknown: Okay.
31:29
SPEAKER_04: All right, well, there you go.
31:30
SPEAKER_04: Um, so I said, yeah, and that's probably the only, you know, that might have been the only one we went to then that year's season.
31:37
SPEAKER_04: Because we had a problem.
31:38
SPEAKER_04: Now listen, listeners, listeners, let's let's take you back to 1996.
31:42
SPEAKER_01: Let's go.
31:43
SPEAKER_04: 1996.
31:44
SPEAKER_04: I have glasses and bangs.
31:46
SPEAKER_04: Yes.
31:46
SPEAKER_04: Our company consisted of like 12 people.
31:49
SPEAKER_04: Some of us were nine, some of us were 15, and we we did three dances.
31:55
SPEAKER_04: It was one of those costumes that was a three in one.
31:58
SPEAKER_00: Oh, yes.
31:58
SPEAKER_04: Listeners, I don't think you'd know a three in one.
32:01
SPEAKER_04: They don't know what that is.
32:02
SPEAKER_04: They even make them anymore for little children.
32:05
SPEAKER_04: They do.
32:05
SPEAKER_04: They do for little children, yes.
32:07
SPEAKER_04: So this was a red leotard.
32:10
SPEAKER_04: It was a um a mock neck, a red mock neck, it was a mock neck leotard with a tank.
32:14
SPEAKER_04: It had sequins on the top, and there were three options.
32:17
SPEAKER_04: We had a a butt bow for tap, which is very cute, and I will always stand behind a butt bow.
32:22
SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
32:24
SPEAKER_04: A palazzo pant.
32:25
SPEAKER_04: Yes.
32:26
SPEAKER_04: And a skirt, like a liturgical kind of long.
32:30
SPEAKER_01: Liturgical, but it wasn't that, it was uh knee length.
32:32
SPEAKER_01: It was knee length.
32:33
SPEAKER_01: Okay, and we had we had I had them safety pinned up under to make it look like a empire waist.
32:40
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
32:40
SPEAKER_01: And I think that's what we wore for very budget.
32:44
SPEAKER_01: And that was expensive.
32:45
SPEAKER_01: I mean, probably at that time to get all three of those pieces, yeah.
32:49
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it was probably maybe$75 or$80 total.
32:54
SPEAKER_01: And that was like, oh my goodness, you know, um, that was a lot of money.
32:58
SPEAKER_00: But you got all three costumes going on.
33:00
SPEAKER_01: Three costumes.
33:00
SPEAKER_01: They were all very good.
33:02
SPEAKER_01: And um, it was uh it was an interesting uh, you know, it was very interesting.
33:07
SPEAKER_04: But yeah, that's and I will always I will always say, you know, headliners was the first competition we went to in which we got bronzes because they gave bronzes and we were happy.
33:16
SPEAKER_04: But headliners was the first competition that hired me to judge.
33:19
SPEAKER_04: So full circle.
33:21
SPEAKER_04: Yep.
33:21
SPEAKER_04: So when I met that job and I met um Sherry and Irma for the first time, shout out to Sherry and Irma.
33:26
SPEAKER_04: Um, thank you for my job.
33:27
SPEAKER_04: You know, I told I told them, I said, you know, yeah, I don't think you guys came to Atlanta very often.
33:31
SPEAKER_04: And they, I mean, Irma remembered.
33:33
SPEAKER_04: She was like, no, we we didn't land in a they don't come down.
33:36
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, like they just never took off for some reason.
33:39
SPEAKER_04: But she remembered like the timeline of when they would have been able to be there.
33:42
SPEAKER_04: And I was like, Yeah, that was that was my first competition.
33:44
SPEAKER_04: So it was kind of a neat little little full circle moment.
33:48
SPEAKER_01: Full circle, yeah, absolutely.
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34:43
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, no, mom uh doesn't like competitions.
34:46
SPEAKER_04: We'll just say it.
34:47
SPEAKER_03: Yes.
34:47
SPEAKER_04: To this day.
34:49
SPEAKER_01: To this day.
34:51
SPEAKER_00: So it was the pressure on from the older dancers and Leslie seeing you know, and then experiencing it for the first time, and then everybody probably loved it and wanted to go back.
35:00
SPEAKER_01: Uh it was probably yeah, this is a long time ago, Courtney.
35:03
SPEAKER_01: I know.
35:04
SPEAKER_01: We're going back a lot of going back since then.
35:07
unknown: Yeah.
35:08
SPEAKER_01: It I will probably say I that's probably the first time I'd ever been in the World Congress Center as well, too, and not many trips to downtown Atlanta uh from out in the suburbs.
35:20
SPEAKER_01: So always a an exciting, like, oh my goodness, we're going to downtown Atlanta, you know, special, exciting, a little scary.
35:26
SPEAKER_01: Where do you park?
35:27
SPEAKER_01: How do you get in the building?
35:28
SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, so a lot of a lot of parents are like that when they go downtown to any city.
35:33
SPEAKER_01: To any city, yes.
35:34
SPEAKER_00: We're we're we're just like we're skeptical.
35:37
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
35:38
SPEAKER_00: Oh my God, a city.
35:39
SPEAKER_00: Where there's one-way street.
35:42
SPEAKER_01: I I don't remember it, you know, I don't remember it being an organized.
35:45
SPEAKER_01: I don't remember it being where you didn't have enough room, especially at that particular location, ample room to spread out and do what you needed to do to prepare dressing areas and things like that.
35:55
SPEAKER_01: But um I I think once my girls finished competing, where I didn't have a child to make sure, oh, that she's got her hair in the right pit place and the right costume, right shoes, that it probably became more of a job for me and not an excitement factor because my child, my children are on the stage.
36:16
SPEAKER_01: Uh, and I get to enjoy that factor of it too.
36:18
SPEAKER_01: It's so much work right now, preliminary work that goes into it as far as just the the technical aspects of it, so much that I no longer actually do it myself.
36:31
SPEAKER_01: I have that out.
36:32
SPEAKER_01: I I resource that out to my younger teachers.
36:36
SPEAKER_01: There you go.
36:36
SPEAKER_01: Uh, because it's all it's on the computer.
36:38
SPEAKER_01: It's all, you know, put it in dance bug or put it in, download the music, or you know, make sure you've got all everything everywhere and every child is in every dance and you've got all the birth dates and and you go back and you have to recheck and oops, I forgot one.
36:52
SPEAKER_01: And now I didn't pay that much money.
36:54
SPEAKER_01: And oh my gosh, you got to pay some more money.
36:56
SPEAKER_01: And it's just it's a very long process to get it all going in order for the kids to participate.
37:03
SPEAKER_01: And then it's, you know, for the studio owner especially, we're there from the first dance of ours that goes on the stage until the end of the last day.
37:13
SPEAKER_01: So it's, you know, if it's a three-day competition, you you're in the building just like you two are when y'all judge and direct the competition.
37:21
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
37:21
SPEAKER_01: You're there, you know, from the very beginning until the very end.
37:25
SPEAKER_01: And, you know, I'm not 30 something anymore.
37:30
SPEAKER_01: So it it's just exhausting.
37:33
SPEAKER_01: It's physically exhausting.
37:34
SPEAKER_01: The last one we attended uh was in a very large venue.
37:37
SPEAKER_01: Uh, hotel was on property, and I clocked the number of miles that I walked.
37:43
SPEAKER_00: Wow.
37:44
SPEAKER_01: I walked 10 miles in the two and a half days that I was there.
37:50
SPEAKER_01: Now I'm I feel like I'm fairly physically fit.
37:52
SPEAKER_01: I go, I I don't take dance classes anymore, but I, you know, I still teach, teach some of the advanced ballet classes, all the you know, a lot of the baby classes, and I go to row class, I do weights, I do, you know, I row the rower thing.
38:04
SPEAKER_01: You know, so I'm I'm I'm in in pretty decent shape for you know for this age range.
38:08
SPEAKER_01: But that I you know, I'm always physically and mentally and tone deaf because of and the screaming uh by the end of a competition.
38:19
SPEAKER_01: So it's it's I mean, I hate to say it, my dense parents that are going to be listening to me are going like, mm-hmm.
38:26
SPEAKER_01: Yep, that's why she looks so at the end of the weekend.
38:30
SPEAKER_00: I mean, they all all all studio owners are looking and feeling the same way.
38:34
SPEAKER_01: Yes, I am sure.
38:35
SPEAKER_01: But like I said, yeah, the it seems like the majority of the studio owners now are probably between 35 and 45.
38:41
SPEAKER_01: They're not up in the 60-ish range.
38:44
SPEAKER_01: So, but yeah, I still go.
38:46
SPEAKER_04: Well, and if they are, they're just like you, where you're like, I'm gonna go sit over here and watch you dance, Miss Laura.
38:51
SPEAKER_04: Can you please go run that?
38:53
SPEAKER_04: You know, can you go run do that?
38:54
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
38:54
SPEAKER_01: And yeah, I finally actually have done that this year.
38:57
SPEAKER_01: I sent out an email saying you all know how exactly how old I am.
39:02
SPEAKER_01: I will be there and watch every single dance for every single student in every single group, but I most likely will not be running back and forth behind the stage except for the dances that I actually choreographed.
39:15
SPEAKER_01: That I will be sitting and clapping loudly, uh, possibly screaming a couple of times.
39:20
SPEAKER_01: But but I will not be running back for 32 dances back and forth and still walking that 10 miles back and forth around the building into the hotel and all that.
39:30
SPEAKER_01: So yeah, it's it's it's a long weekend for everybody.
39:34
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I remember like my dance teachers would just sit in the audience the whole time.
39:41
SPEAKER_00: They didn't come back and say good luck, they didn't do anything.
39:45
SPEAKER_00: We they just hoped that we got on stage and did our thing and would sit there, you know, yeah, judging us and right, yeah, have a conversation with us the next day at rehearsal.
39:56
SPEAKER_01: Right, yeah.
39:56
SPEAKER_01: I back in the day that was perfectly acceptable.
40:00
SPEAKER_00: Now it's crazy.
40:02
SPEAKER_01: Now if you don't if you're not there holding the dancer's hand and giving them a a mental boost and running the dance with them five times and and standing there and watching them, then you are not doing your job.
40:20
SPEAKER_01: That's that to me, that's the mindset now of the current generation of parents, you know, that right it's it's a little more challenging for the dance teacher and the dance studio owner to to be the best you comfortable in the environment and doing everything that we need to do, but yet taking care of ourselves so we can last two and a half, three days during the end of the event.
40:44
SPEAKER_00: Totally.
40:45
SPEAKER_00: Wow.
40:45
SPEAKER_00: That sounds like a lot.
40:47
SPEAKER_00: And I'm sure it's been so interesting as a studio owner watching the evolution of dance competitions in the last 30 years.
40:54
SPEAKER_00: I mean, crazy to see.
40:56
SPEAKER_00: And we've witnessed, you know, I haven't been on the studio owner side, but I have what witnessed it as a dancer then going to the other side of the table and now working for the comps.
41:05
SPEAKER_00: It's it's definitely a whole new world.
41:07
SPEAKER_00: Not what I grew up doing for sure.
41:09
SPEAKER_00: Definitely different.
41:11
SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
41:12
SPEAKER_00: So let's jump into like our Leslie and I's later years at the studio.
41:18
SPEAKER_00: So like before we like about to graduate.
41:21
SPEAKER_00: Leslie, when did you decide that you wanted to become a pro?
41:26
SPEAKER_04: I mean, I had I had thoughts about it, like starting in middle school, but I don't think I really decided to pursue it in any real fashion, you know, until probably high school.
41:37
SPEAKER_04: You know, when I wanted to go and take more classes other places and, you know, realized that, oh my gosh, like there's a whole other there's a lot more going on, you know, out there that I think I need to get exposed to.
41:48
SPEAKER_04: And I think probably by like sophomore junior year, you know, I had I had known some people from other studios that went on to major in dance and started doing a little research about schools.
41:59
SPEAKER_04: And by that point, I was doing a lot of theater as well, and like had friends from the performing art school in the town that were, you know, going on to really, really good schools.
42:07
SPEAKER_04: And I was like, okay, well, what do we got to do here?
42:09
SPEAKER_04: Like we gotta, we gotta step up the game in order to do this.
42:12
SPEAKER_04: So it was probably, you know, middle of high school when I was like getting getting it together.
42:17
unknown: Yeah.
42:18
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
42:18
SPEAKER_01: I would say the beginning of your junior year is when you you came to us and said, This is what I want to do.
42:24
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
42:24
SPEAKER_04: And you were like, uh, maybe not.
42:28
SPEAKER_01: Can we double major?
42:30
SPEAKER_01: Which I highly recommend to anybody listening.
42:32
SPEAKER_01: Still, double major in something beside, yeah, in in addition to the case.
42:36
SPEAKER_04: If your if your school will allow it, because that's the thing too, you know, OC if you're going to you you there was not enough time in the four years, even if you took summer classes.
42:45
SPEAKER_04: You just there was not so you know, pick pick you a school that'll that'll give you some options.
42:49
SPEAKER_04: Give you that option.
42:50
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
42:51
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
42:51
SPEAKER_00: I kind of wanted to go there and and ask the moms, what were your reactions initially when Leslie and I both at a point in time said, I think I want to do this.
43:04
SPEAKER_00: I think I can do this.
43:05
SPEAKER_00: Were you excited?
43:07
SPEAKER_00: Were you terrified?
43:08
SPEAKER_00: Were you supportive?
43:09
SPEAKER_00: What were your thoughts?
43:11
SPEAKER_00: And mom, when did I tell you that I wanted to do this?
43:14
SPEAKER_00: Because I don't even really know.
43:15
SPEAKER_02: You told me your entire life.
43:17
SPEAKER_02: And I think that's where um and I think I don't remember.
43:21
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I think that's where it was really hard for me because you always would say to me, Well, this is what I want to do, or I love this, or I would question you and say, you know, you don't have to do this.
43:33
SPEAKER_02: And you would always say, No, I love it.
43:35
SPEAKER_02: This is what I'm gonna do.
43:36
SPEAKER_02: And even with your schoolwork, it was like an afterthought a lot with you.
43:40
SPEAKER_02: You you were very fortunate to get good grades, A's and B's, but it was an afterthought.
43:44
SPEAKER_02: It was, I go to school because I have to, and I'm going to dance class after school, and I'm gonna do my homework when I get home at midnight.
43:51
SPEAKER_02: It was always an afterthought with school.
43:53
SPEAKER_02: You were focused a hundred percent, gosh, probably from the time you were in, you know, 10 or 11 years old.
44:00
SPEAKER_02: Then I think what gave us a culture shock was when you were, I think you were 12.
44:05
SPEAKER_02: And I guess you barely remember, Court.
44:07
SPEAKER_02: You uh you once got an offer to go to Australia for the Bookwheel Games, and that was a big turning point for you.
44:14
SPEAKER_00: That was at Kids Artistic Review.
44:16
SPEAKER_00: Yes, K A Right.
44:17
SPEAKER_00: It's now called K A R.
44:18
SPEAKER_00: K-A-R.
44:19
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
44:19
SPEAKER_00: It was back in the day, it was called Kids Artistic Review.
44:21
SPEAKER_02: I would consider that a huge turning point because that's when we saw a bigger part of the world and the dance industry and what it took to be successful.
44:29
SPEAKER_02: We met, we went with you.
44:31
SPEAKER_02: We got they gave us a press release for you, which got us money.
44:35
SPEAKER_02: We didn't pay for you to go.
44:36
SPEAKER_02: Uh, but dad and I wanted to go to Australia too.
44:38
SPEAKER_02: What the heck?
44:39
SPEAKER_02: So we went with you.
44:41
SPEAKER_02: We had a great time, but I think we met so many people that were there because there were uh older kids there.
44:48
SPEAKER_02: They like took a series of people from the United States.
44:50
SPEAKER_02: And at that time, there were a lot of people that were pursuing dance professionally that dad would talk to their dads because there were dads and moms there traveling, and they would be like, Oh, yeah, my daughter's been in New York for two years and she never got anything.
45:02
SPEAKER_02: And we learned, and that stuck with us.
45:05
SPEAKER_02: I know it stuck with Dad Court, where he would say, You can't make it as a pro, that's never gonna happen.
45:10
SPEAKER_02: You know, there's people out there.
45:11
SPEAKER_02: It kind of stuck in our mind at how hard it was.
45:14
SPEAKER_02: Um, but you always said you wanted to do it.
45:17
SPEAKER_02: And dad and I wanted you to go to college.
45:19
SPEAKER_02: And if dance was the vehicle for you to go to college, we supported that.
45:24
SPEAKER_02: But our goal was always for you to go to a four-year college, no matter what you took.
45:30
SPEAKER_02: You could have taken knitting for all we care.
45:33
SPEAKER_02: We just wanted you to get that degree because it's such a competitive world out there without a degree.
45:39
SPEAKER_02: And um, you know the story, Court.
45:41
SPEAKER_02: I think you've talked about it on your podcast.
45:42
SPEAKER_02: You you made the choice that in order to be a professional dancer, you have a short uh time span and you saw yourself as not wanting to pursue it.
45:53
SPEAKER_02: And just to wrap that kind of up, we you were at Marymount, and um, we had you had only been there one semester, and the ballet, teacher ballet was to me not your fourth day.
46:03
SPEAKER_02: Like that was not your favorite.
46:04
SPEAKER_02: And you were in with the seniors as a freshman.
46:07
SPEAKER_02: And we sat there watching and we were like, oh my God, what are we doing?
46:10
SPEAKER_02: What are we paying for?
46:12
SPEAKER_02: Dad and I were kind of, it was a big shock to us, and we're talking Marymount now.
46:16
SPEAKER_02: And I sat back and thought, oh my gosh, like she's way beyond these seniors.
46:21
SPEAKER_02: So the teacher pulls me over and said, Is this the truth?
46:25
SPEAKER_02: It's really happened.
46:26
SPEAKER_02: The whoever the teacher was, this is true, pulled us aside and said that you were they were just that you were so talented or whatever, but that you were holding back and that they knew that you were holding back.
46:38
SPEAKER_02: She said, Courtney went is holding back.
46:40
SPEAKER_02: And I'm thinking, holding back, she's the best one in the class.
46:42
SPEAKER_02: I could see it.
46:43
SPEAKER_02: And and what it was is I think you were holding back because you were so young and you were didn't want to show about yourself, I guess.
46:50
SPEAKER_00: You I think it was more that I didn't care.
46:53
SPEAKER_00: I think it was that.
46:54
SPEAKER_00: Like I just didn't want to be at school.
46:56
SPEAKER_00: So I was just kind of going through the motions and like doing it, you know, and like that's at least how I enjoyed it.
47:01
SPEAKER_04: And we were still better than them.
47:02
SPEAKER_04: Like that's the favorite.
47:04
SPEAKER_01: And I'm not saying it's 10% is still great, but better than a lot of people, still better than the best one in the room.
47:10
SPEAKER_02: But but it but it it was for me as a parent a culture shock because again, I'm the one that wanted her to go to college.
47:16
SPEAKER_02: I'm sitting here saying, okay, this is going to cost me$40 or$50,000 a year.
47:20
SPEAKER_02: And here I sit at the first semester, and I'm like, oh I got a big shock.
47:24
SPEAKER_02: And I realized Courtney was right.
47:26
SPEAKER_02: If she wanted really to pursue dance professionally, she was giving four years of her young life to someone to train her that she was already trained beyond what they were giving her already.
47:38
SPEAKER_02: That's just the way it was.
47:39
SPEAKER_02: That she was trained so well at her other studio.
47:41
SPEAKER_00: And that's and again, I thank the studio for that.
47:43
SPEAKER_00: But at the same time, I there are so many things that Mary Mount would have taught me if I would have finished through.
47:48
SPEAKER_00: Like, you know, all the time.
47:50
SPEAKER_00: All the academics and all the not even that, but even in dance.
47:53
SPEAKER_00: Like, you know, all the modern, like the codified modern techniques that I never learned at my studio.
47:58
SPEAKER_00: Like, I had a really good foundation coming from my studio, and that can get me through the professional career.
48:04
SPEAKER_00: I it is important to know that like I would have learned a lot, and my technique would have gotten even better if I would have stayed, you know, at Merrymount.
48:12
SPEAKER_00: But at the same time, it was just not in my heart to do.
48:15
SPEAKER_04: Then you never would have met me.
48:16
SPEAKER_04: So that's true.
48:18
SPEAKER_02: And that's what she did.
48:19
SPEAKER_02: And Courtney told the story.
48:21
SPEAKER_02: She came home for Thanksgiving with family, and I think she consulted it with my father.
48:25
SPEAKER_02: I found that out later.
48:26
SPEAKER_00: I that was Poppy aside and I said, I'm quitting school, Poppy.
48:31
SPEAKER_00: What do you think?
48:32
SPEAKER_00: And he was like, I don't know if your parents are gonna be too happy about that.
48:36
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and then she went on the cruise ship, and that was that.
48:40
SPEAKER_02: And Courtney supported herself since she's been 19 years old, so I'm a very happy mom and proud of what she's done.
48:46
SPEAKER_02: There's no doubt.
48:47
SPEAKER_02: I don't know many of my friends, I don't know many people in general, even back then, where their a child left home at 18 and didn't come back and supported themselves.
48:57
SPEAKER_02: That's pretty rare.
48:58
SPEAKER_02: So Leslie did it too.
49:00
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I took a lot, I took four years off to go to college.
49:03
SPEAKER_00: I know, but you still were gone at 18.
49:07
SPEAKER_00: You were still away from home for 18 and that's true.
49:10
SPEAKER_00: Gone ever since.
49:11
SPEAKER_00: In the middle of the never asked, never asking.
49:13
SPEAKER_02: Uh Courtney was not the type that asked for help.
49:17
SPEAKER_02: Uh we would offer, but she she was very independent.
49:20
SPEAKER_00: I think that the hard part for me that I'll always remember, and I think I've shared this on the podcast before, is when I made the decision to first going even further back, I remember sitting down in like a meeting with my teachers at my studio when I was deciding on, you know, college or pro, like the transition.
49:39
SPEAKER_00: And I remember my teacher saying, There are a million Courtney or teases in New York City.
49:44
SPEAKER_00: How are you going to make it?
49:45
SPEAKER_00: I thought that'd be.
50:05
SPEAKER_00: And then my parents want me to go to college.
50:06
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, I guess I have to go to college.
50:08
SPEAKER_00: You know, I didn't really get to make the choice myself.
50:10
SPEAKER_00: I just was kind of trying to please everybody and do the right thing, which I think that a lot of uh young dancers are gonna have to make that hard decision.
50:19
SPEAKER_00: It's a very tough decision when you're making, you know, transitioning from high school to college or a pro.
50:23
SPEAKER_00: But I do remember that when I told you guys that I was not gonna go back to school and I was gonna call Royal Caribbean, and luckily they offered me a job with Leslie.
50:33
SPEAKER_00: But I remember you guys saying, We're not gonna help you move to New York after that.
50:37
SPEAKER_00: Like we're not gonna pay.
50:39
SPEAKER_00: If you're gonna quit school, you have to figure it out.
50:41
SPEAKER_00: We're not gonna pay your rent to audition in New York City.
50:45
SPEAKER_00: Isn't that awful?
50:46
SPEAKER_02: When I when I look at that court, I'm thinking, gosh, that was awful.
50:49
SPEAKER_00: But I think I knew that you were upset that I was, you know, you wanted me to go to school.
50:53
SPEAKER_00: It was kind of like you were giving me an ultimatum in a way and hoping that it would go in your favor, which it didn't.
50:58
SPEAKER_02: Dad and I both thinking, well, we're not gonna, you know, we're not gonna pay for her to go to New York and try to be famous.
51:05
SPEAKER_02: Like we we felt it was kind of like saying, I want to be a movie star and I'm going to California.
51:09
SPEAKER_02: It's unrealistic to parents.
51:10
SPEAKER_02: So we thought as long, and back then, just for uh listeners out there, back then you didn't have medical insurance if you weren't in college back then.
51:18
SPEAKER_02: So we had that, we had to deal with that.
51:20
SPEAKER_02: So, you know, right away I'm I'm seeking out medical insurance for her and all those things.
51:25
SPEAKER_02: And yeah, it was, you know, writing it off when your income tax, all those things that come that people take for granted now.
51:31
SPEAKER_02: We didn't have that back then.
51:33
SPEAKER_02: It was a huge decision not to go to college, very huge.
51:36
SPEAKER_02: And you know, dad and I pushed you.
51:38
SPEAKER_02: Uh looking back, I I wish we would have listened to you more, to be honest, because you're you were right.
51:44
SPEAKER_00: But at the time, it it's hard, you know, and also maybe Marymount wasn't the right school for me.
51:50
SPEAKER_00: Maybe I would have had more fun if I went to a real college and like enjoyed that atmosphere and would have powered through, or if I would have known that one day I'd be a business owner, maybe I could have done the double major and majored in dance and business or something like that.
52:03
SPEAKER_00: I mean, looking back, I've said it on the pod and we've had our college episodes.
52:07
SPEAKER_00: I wish I went to school for something besides dance.
52:09
SPEAKER_00: I knew how to dance.
52:10
SPEAKER_00: I could have done that, you know, for fun and then gotten a degree in something that would actually be useful once I actually, you know, retire from this professional world.
52:18
SPEAKER_02: So And I can tell you at that time, Courtney, that that topic with you personally, every time I would tell you like about my job or tell you you need to prepare yourself, and you would say, I'm never ever gonna do that.
52:29
SPEAKER_02: I do remember telling me that I will never ever have a job like that.
52:32
SPEAKER_02: I will always be a dancer in some respect or in that capacity.
52:35
SPEAKER_02: Like you were headstrong about it from a very young at young age.
52:39
SPEAKER_02: You knew what you wanted to do, which is a which is a blessing because you always knew.
52:43
SPEAKER_02: And I always kept thinking, gosh, I hope she doesn't get injured or something because I knew.
52:47
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that's I knew that you put all your eggs in one basket.
52:50
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
52:51
SPEAKER_00: All right.
52:51
SPEAKER_00: So, Miss Brenda, how were you?
52:53
SPEAKER_00: Were you excited for Leslie to go to OCU?
52:56
SPEAKER_00: Was that like, did you know that was the school for her?
52:59
SPEAKER_01: Good question.
53:00
SPEAKER_01: I think after we made the trip out there to visit, it was very, it was very enlightening because the conversation with her, her maybe her senior year in the middle of the kitchen with me and her dad was very emotional.
53:18
SPEAKER_01: Oh yeah.
53:19
SPEAKER_01: Oh yeah.
53:20
SPEAKER_01: Tears ran all three of us probably were crying uh about it.
53:25
SPEAKER_01: Um, but she was very determined that, you know, the dance career was the path she wanted to take.
53:32
SPEAKER_01: Being a studio owner and seeing, you know, how difficult this path is for anybody, no matter how talented you may be, was a hard thing to accept.
53:43
SPEAKER_01: We definitely wanted her to go to a four-year college.
53:46
SPEAKER_01: Um I'm a person who only went for two and a half years uh to college.
53:51
SPEAKER_01: My husband uh and hit his family, they none of them were had the the luxury of having the college education.
53:58
SPEAKER_01: So it was very important to us that that you know that that happened for her and for our other daughter as well.
54:04
SPEAKER_01: But yeah, Oklahoma was one of the four options.
54:09
SPEAKER_01: What were the other things we looked at?
54:11
SPEAKER_01: And we we drove to two of them because they were close.
54:15
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, we went to I auditioned at FSU for their musical theater department, which was a poor choice looking back because I already knew we uh we knew they only accepted 10 people in the musical theater department.
54:26
SPEAKER_04: In the musical theater department.
54:28
SPEAKER_04: Five girls.
54:28
SPEAKER_04: Wow.
54:28
SPEAKER_04: Uh so it was not me, like 100%.
54:31
SPEAKER_04: I'm sure they looked at me and they were like, that's nice, and just quit watching because it was not right.
54:37
SPEAKER_04: Um Point Park, in which I'm gonna do it.
54:40
SPEAKER_01: Which we did not drive to though.
54:41
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
54:42
SPEAKER_04: Um University of Georgia.
54:45
SPEAKER_01: University of Georgia.
54:46
SPEAKER_04: But like that was the fallback of the all fallbacks because their department is modern, their department has nothing to do with being a professional dancer, it's all education-based and probably still is.
54:55
SPEAKER_04: I mean, I don't think it's a bad school.
54:57
SPEAKER_04: I don't think it ever was.
54:58
SPEAKER_04: One of my teachers went to UGA and missed on.
55:01
SPEAKER_04: But like I had no modern training.
55:03
SPEAKER_04: I wouldn't have, I mean, had I even auditioned, I probably wouldn't have even gotten in because I had no modern training.
55:08
SPEAKER_01: Right.
55:08
SPEAKER_01: To be honest.
55:09
SPEAKER_01: I mean, she got in academically to all four of them.
55:12
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
55:12
SPEAKER_01: Got offered scholarships at two of them, academic and dance.
55:16
SPEAKER_01: But we had at the time, it was okay, we've driven to two of them.
55:21
SPEAKER_01: The other two are way out of Georgia.
55:25
SPEAKER_01: We can only fly to one.
55:27
SPEAKER_01: You're gonna have to pick.
55:28
SPEAKER_01: Which one do you want to go to?
55:30
SPEAKER_01: And I was, um, I I have nothing against Point Park.
55:33
SPEAKER_01: I they several of my dancers that I've had in the past are graduates of Point Park and have done beautifully well uh in the industry.
55:43
SPEAKER_01: But I wasn't thrilled with that one because it was an urban campus uh down in the middle of the city.
55:48
SPEAKER_01: And I I so wanted her to have a true college experience, whether it was a small campus or a large one, but it had a campus that was a dedicated here is here is my life.
55:59
SPEAKER_01: Here it is, right here in one place.
56:00
SPEAKER_01: So we we did fly out to Oklahoma and it was an eye-opener because I didn't go, you know, I didn't, you know, go to college but for two and a half years, and I went to Auburn, so not in the dance pro here.
56:11
SPEAKER_01: They had there was no dance program.
56:13
SPEAKER_01: Uh yeah.
56:14
SPEAKER_01: So there was a lot of of information going and coming that was like, okay, this is this is hard, this is tough, this is real.
56:23
SPEAKER_01: We really did kind of try to push that maybe you could double major, but obviously that you know there wasn't enough time in the day in the four years to to make that happen.
56:34
SPEAKER_01: But um, I think the value in that four-year education, I don't care what you major in, if you're not a dancer or you are a dancer, the value in that four years of being out on your own, learning how to deal with your life, your world with other people, without mom and dad, right there at your beck and call, you know, isn't valuable.
56:58
SPEAKER_01: I hate to see it when my girls stay home, live at home, and go to college.
57:05
SPEAKER_01: They need, I think everybody needs that at least a year of their life.
57:10
SPEAKER_01: Maybe it's in a dorm, you know.
57:12
SPEAKER_01: No, you're not in an apartment, but you're in it, you know, at least in a dorm where you have to, you have to become an adult.
57:18
SPEAKER_01: It is now.
57:19
SPEAKER_01: There's no choice.
57:20
SPEAKER_01: You have to do it.
57:20
SPEAKER_01: Funny story with my not quite an adult child uh at age 18 in the freshman dorm.
57:26
SPEAKER_01: She's calling me long distance one night, screaming and hollering, mama, mama, mama, there's a wasp in my room.
57:34
SPEAKER_01: And I'm going, Yes.
57:38
SPEAKER_01: What can I do for you?
57:40
SPEAKER_01: You know, I don't know what to do.
57:41
SPEAKER_01: I don't know what to do.
57:42
SPEAKER_01: And I'd say, well, you could open the window and see if you'll fly out.
57:48
SPEAKER_01: You know, uh, you could get a shoe and swat him.
57:51
SPEAKER_01: Um you can go downstairs and ask the house mother if she's got any rain or flying insect repellent.
57:59
SPEAKER_01: I said, I can't help you, dear.
58:00
SPEAKER_01: You're 3,000 miles away.
58:02
SPEAKER_01: You know?
58:02
SPEAKER_01: Right.
58:03
unknown: Yeah.
58:03
SPEAKER_01: I'm so sorry.
58:05
SPEAKER_01: Uh so I again, you know, it's your opportunity to grow up, no matter what.
58:09
SPEAKER_01: So um we we we we spent the money and did four years.
58:14
SPEAKER_04: Well, and the resolution to the wasp story um is that I sprayed it with a can of hairspray and I drowned it.
58:23
SPEAKER_00: That's perfect.
58:25
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's what I've got done too.
58:27
SPEAKER_01: Right.
58:27
SPEAKER_01: But we were lucky.
58:28
SPEAKER_01: I mean, she she um, like you, Courtney and Robin, has been a self-sufficient, productive adult on their own.
58:37
SPEAKER_01: And you know, like so we we've asked, do you need help?
58:40
SPEAKER_01: No, mom, I'm fine.
58:41
SPEAKER_01: I can do it, I can take care of it, and has been able to do that.
58:45
SPEAKER_01: So couldn't be prouder.
58:47
SPEAKER_01: Very happy for you, baby.
58:49
SPEAKER_04: Thanks.
58:50
SPEAKER_04: Um yay.
58:52
SPEAKER_04: So I think speaking to current dance parents and maybe especially current dance parents who have kids who do have a gift, who do want to go on to do this professionally.
59:03
SPEAKER_04: What is your advice to those dance parents in looking towards the future and how best to support their child in you know the remainder of their competitive career and on to you know, into the a professional career?
59:16
SPEAKER_04: Anybody.
59:16
SPEAKER_04: I'll let Robin go.
59:17
SPEAKER_04: I just talked.
59:19
SPEAKER_02: Well, I think this is just gonna be my little take comparing just comparing what I've seen just from Leslie, you and Courtney and your judging and the things you talk about on the podcast, because I haven't been to a dance competition in a very long time.
59:35
SPEAKER_02: But the little bit I was in for such a culture shock when I saw the levels, and I know it's a hot topic, but as a dance mom, it really took me back.
59:43
SPEAKER_02: And I I could not understand it, and I still don't understand it.
59:48
SPEAKER_02: And I know that people say, well, you know, it's not fair to have a child that's this uh level of training compete against this kid that's like constantly training.
59:59
SPEAKER_02: And then I say then to myself, then why compete?
1:00:03
SPEAKER_02: Like I and I I'm not trying to say it in a I understand the recreational side where you have recreational and then you have competition, like have two things, because I think it's created a false sense of what what's going to be out there for you in in the future.
1:00:18
SPEAKER_02: And and that's what I'm I'm afraid of for this generation of dancers, because the little bit that I have seen, like watching the online competition when I was trying to help the girls with that and looking at some of it, the kids are a lot of them are super talented, but I think they entered the online competition and I think they knew they were super talented.
1:00:37
SPEAKER_02: And then then the children that are going to the dance competitions for fun, I think that's great.
1:00:42
SPEAKER_02: That's recreational.
1:00:43
SPEAKER_02: You know where you are, you're there for fun, you're also doing other things.
1:00:46
SPEAKER_02: That's wonderful, well-rounded, which is kind of what I wanted for Courtney, to be honest.
1:00:50
SPEAKER_02: And then then you have the kids that are, they want to make this their life.
1:00:54
SPEAKER_02: There's this middle of the road that's going to really, really confuse the kids, where they they are not the, they're not even the best of the best out there.
1:01:03
SPEAKER_02: So if you're if you have this, that's my biggest fear for the next generation.
1:01:09
SPEAKER_02: That if if your child isn't training up to that higher level, then you know, or do you really want to continue this competition thing?
1:01:17
SPEAKER_02: Because it's giving them a false sense.
1:01:19
SPEAKER_02: They are going to be having a very difficult time in the professional world, very difficult time getting into the colleges.
1:01:25
SPEAKER_02: A bronze level or a gold medal in Courtney's generation would have been good enough to go audition for a college.
1:01:33
SPEAKER_02: That's just the bottom line, because the bronze level students back then were probably so much more advanced than what we see in these level situations.
1:01:44
SPEAKER_02: So that's the part that I'm scared of.
1:01:46
SPEAKER_02: And for parents out there, I would say try to be realistic and try to work with the program and move your child up to the highest level to push them if they want to do it professionally.
1:01:56
SPEAKER_02: Because if you stay in that intermediate level, that's where you will be.
1:02:00
SPEAKER_02: You will not make it probably into a dance college or into the professional world.
1:02:06
SPEAKER_02: Do you do you agree with that, Court?
1:02:08
SPEAKER_02: It is highly competitive.
1:02:10
SPEAKER_00: I mean, you know, I you know, everyone knows how I feel about levels.
1:02:14
SPEAKER_00: So there's that.
1:02:15
SPEAKER_00: But I mean, I I agree.
1:02:17
SPEAKER_00: I think we should have just a wreck and a competitive that's all you need.
1:02:20
SPEAKER_00: I do think the whole everyone gets a trophy mentality of this generation is gonna it's gonna make it harder for all, like you said, for them to really transition, regardless if they're gonna be pro, even into the real world.
1:02:32
SPEAKER_00: We've talked about this so many times on the podcast that dance teaches you more than just training, you know, in technique.
1:02:38
SPEAKER_00: It teaches you life skills and like learning how to face rejection and things like that.
1:02:43
SPEAKER_00: If you never face rejection, because you always get triple titanium in first place in the intermediate level, then you're gonna have a culture shock when you get to a college audition and you can't even make it through the first cut.
1:02:55
SPEAKER_00: Or you're gonna have a culture shock when you get to your first professional audition and you get cut immediately just because you didn't have the right tights on or your hair didn't look proper because you never learned those things.
1:03:06
SPEAKER_00: So I think that, you know, training at the advanced level, if that's what you want, is important.
1:03:10
SPEAKER_00: And I think it's honestly it's harder now because I feel like that there the level of talent has gotten so good for these young dancers that are training.
1:03:17
SPEAKER_00: They're training like crazy.
1:03:18
SPEAKER_00: There's so many more resources now, there's so many more training opportunities that uh you really have to, you really have to want it and you really have to go for it if you want to succeed, I think, because everyone's dancing now.
1:03:31
SPEAKER_00: Like there weren't as many dancers when we were growing up.
1:03:33
SPEAKER_02: I think like Court, when you were dancing, they had like Star Search and you guys actually did it.
1:03:37
SPEAKER_02: Like you went out to Star Search.
1:03:40
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, there was like nothing, nothing else.
1:03:44
SPEAKER_02: There wasn't all the TV shows and all that stuff.
1:03:47
SPEAKER_02: But yeah, but I don't want to discourage parents.
1:03:49
SPEAKER_02: I think it's great they support their dancers.
1:03:50
SPEAKER_02: I don't want to sound negative.
1:03:52
SPEAKER_02: I'm just saying that I I fear for the generation of everybody kind of wants to be a a a superstar and not necessarily um understand how hard it's gonna be.
1:04:02
SPEAKER_02: Because I I know Courtney, you guys trained to the max.
1:04:06
SPEAKER_02: You were there like forever training, but you also were realistic and realized, you know, this was not going to be an easy pack, right?
1:04:13
SPEAKER_02: And it hasn't been.
1:04:14
SPEAKER_02: I think you have to.
1:04:15
SPEAKER_00: It hasn't.
1:04:16
SPEAKER_00: No, but I'm grateful.
1:04:17
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
1:04:18
SPEAKER_00: All right, Miss Brenda, your turn.
1:04:20
SPEAKER_01: Okay, so for the dancer that is on the top level in a studio, that's a I'd say even as young as a freshman, possibly, but definitely by the end of their sophomore year, if they feel this is their pathway, I think it's very important for the parents to find outlets for them outside of their home studio to take additional classes.
1:04:46
SPEAKER_01: We didn't know exactly that that was Leslie Ann's path until the beginning of her junior year, almost maybe some at some point during her junior year.
1:04:56
SPEAKER_01: And she really, I think, really wanted the musical theater aspect of it.
1:04:59
SPEAKER_01: If we had known that earlier, because it wasn't until her junior summer, end of her junior summer, that we placed her in or, you know, looked around, oh look, the two of the studios that are, you know, in our downtown Marietta area have got summer programs.
1:05:15
SPEAKER_01: Oh, let's go take, you know, let's sign you up for one of those.
1:05:17
SPEAKER_01: Oh, do we need voice lessons?
1:05:19
SPEAKER_01: Apparently, yeah, we probably should get some voice lessons and some acting lessons.
1:05:22
SPEAKER_01: We didn't do any of that until her senior year in high school.
1:05:26
SPEAKER_01: And we even reached out, uh, can I say some months some one of our friends' uh names on here?
1:05:33
SPEAKER_01: Okay, Mr.
1:05:34
SPEAKER_01: Marcus and Miss Annie uh at Dance Center.
1:05:37
SPEAKER_01: Well, they were formerly owners of Dance Center South.
1:05:40
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
1:05:40
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
1:05:43
SPEAKER_01: I reached out to them and said, Hey, Leslie Ann is looking to go audition for some colleges for dance.
1:05:49
SPEAKER_01: Do y'all have any extra classes?
1:05:50
SPEAKER_01: And he graciously said, Yeah, come and take some classes.
1:05:52
SPEAKER_01: You don't have to pay for 'em, you know, from a studio owner to another.
1:05:56
SPEAKER_01: And you know, she got to go do a couple of extra classes there, you know.
1:05:59
SPEAKER_01: Um during your senior year.
1:06:01
SPEAKER_01: So I would say if if that's what what your your life want you want your life to be and find find opportunities for your child to take summer intensives, summer programs, summer camps, you know, that have different aspects that they don't get at their own studio.
1:06:17
SPEAKER_01: We obviously we did not do modern.
1:06:19
SPEAKER_01: I don't have a modern background.
1:06:20
SPEAKER_01: I've only had one or two teachers that were my ballet teachers that would come in that had some modern, but we didn't have that to offer them.
1:06:30
SPEAKER_01: Really, you know, at the time we didn't have anybody that had a true musical theater background.
1:06:34
SPEAKER_01: We do our summer intensive now and I've tried to bring in guest faculty that that that don't teach at our studio for our our our kids to say, look, there's another way to do this.
1:06:45
SPEAKER_01: We're not the only one.
1:06:47
SPEAKER_01: You know here here's a musical theater teacher.
1:06:48
SPEAKER_01: She just was in now Fossey on Broadway.
1:06:51
SPEAKER_01: Let's learn some Fossey style today.
1:06:53
SPEAKER_01: So you know get them to branch out if they're that serious about it before they walk in that first door at college audition.
1:07:01
SPEAKER_01: We were lucky enough because I she and I both worked at one of the local dancewear stores to network with another girl that was local here that was an OCU and you know got to go and meet with them, you know, for a lunch one day and find out what what is it about OCU that you know what what's there?
1:07:22
SPEAKER_01: What's the program like what are the teachers like?
1:07:24
SPEAKER_01: So that she had a little bit of an idea of how that was going to work and us as well.
1:07:28
SPEAKER_01: Getting a dance degree is really expensive.
1:07:31
SPEAKER_01: It's it's really expensive.
1:07:33
SPEAKER_01: We, you know, it's you know it it probably I would say probably more so than a four year finance degree.
1:07:42
SPEAKER_01: You know, you just you just have to buy the books and you know you buy your pen and your computer laptop and you're good to go.
1:07:47
SPEAKER_01: You know, you have to have performance costumes and of 55 million leotards and 55 million tights and you know 10 pairs of shoes in each area, you know, because it's just not and that'll last you the first year.
1:07:58
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
1:07:59
SPEAKER_01: So you're talking about all that expense there usually not that many around close to where you live typically that you're going to have to travel and have expenses.
1:08:09
SPEAKER_01: So you have to think think in terms of that and and what what are you going to what if if you're you know a tight budget financially for the parents to be able to afford it, what perks of college are you going to say, I'm sorry you can go here but you can't have this for Leslie it was we are yeah we're we're pushing it back when she was at college it was the first year it was I think it was$24,000 for the whole year, which was three times as much as it was to stay in Georgia and I would have gotten Georgia for free.
1:08:41
SPEAKER_01: So right she would have gotten Georgia for free because we she would have had the Hope scholars get because she had the grades.
1:08:46
SPEAKER_01: So that was an enormous amount of money for 2003 three, you know, for us.
1:08:52
SPEAKER_01: But it was we could go there but your little red Mustang will not be going with you.
1:08:58
SPEAKER_01: You will be living in the dorm and I'm sorry but we can't afford a sorority either.
1:09:05
SPEAKER_01: Well you you also got lucky because I did not want to be in a sorority so right she didn't want to be in a sorority but yeah I mean I would have loved for her to have if she had wanted it I would have loved to been able to do that.
1:09:14
SPEAKER_01: But those two items just were not in the in the financial planning scenario for us.
1:09:20
SPEAKER_01: So mamas you you got to learn how to say no to some things as they're going through this process.
1:09:27
SPEAKER_01: I know now every dance competition is just oodles of money.
1:09:31
SPEAKER_01: We're a small studio we don't usually submit for our high school girls maybe six or seven group numbers which includes a couple of productions that's got everybody in them, you know, and you know they may have a duo or trio and they may have a uh solo where you add up that costume fee and you add up that competition fee twice that's four or five thousand dollars you know there there's got to be a like an end an end product uh at some point for this um you want to be a dance teacher great okay then take as many classes as you can you want to be a dance performer go take a whole lot of classes including vocal classes and theater classes and uh it wouldn't hurt you to be able to play a piano right so you can at least practice with your sheet music that they give you with the audition.
1:10:21
SPEAKER_01: Yeah and a lot of networking I I am truly grateful for Oklahoma City University for all the networking capacity that they give their dancers and put in their lap and then that they can the alumni continue on doing has been outstanding for for Leslie to been able to to maneuver those first few years in New York and in the you know the cruise line industry without that without that networking.
1:10:48
SPEAKER_01: So do not burn your bridges dancers you be on your best behavior every day every time even even right now in high school because somebody's gonna come back and ask your high school dance teacher what were they like in class.
1:11:03
SPEAKER_00: Right and we will tell the truth we will not shoot the coverage we hope you enjoyed this very special Mother's Day episode featuring our dance moms.
1:11:17
SPEAKER_00: We would like to wish all of the dance moms around the world a very happy Mother's Day.
1:11:22
SPEAKER_00: We hope you get to spend the day with your family or maybe watching your dancers dance on stage at an event or at competition.
1:11:28
SPEAKER_00: Sending our love.
1:11:29
SPEAKER_04: Don't forget to follow Making the Impact on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Podcasts, Google Podcasts, and pretty much everywhere we listen to podcasts.
1:11:38
SPEAKER_00: Be sure to check out IDA affiliated competition Diva Dance Competition.
1:11:43
SPEAKER_00: Diva Dance Competition is America's live judging competition.
1:11:48
SPEAKER_00: Their live judging format is extremely unique in the industry.
1:11:52
SPEAKER_00: Dancers are asked to stay on stage following their routine.
1:11:55
SPEAKER_00: Each of the judges provided exclusively by Impact Dance Adjudicators will provide immediate feedback live over the microphone.
1:12:02
SPEAKER_00: This format allows for a very personalized and educational experience where the dancers are able to apply their critiques immediately to their next routines with the purpose of improving as the day goes on.
1:12:14
SPEAKER_00: Something else that makes Diva different is that they are a competition with the cause.
1:12:18
SPEAKER_00: Diva was born as a way to raise awareness for the CDLS Foundation, a rare genetic syndrome that Jack, one of the owner's sons, was born with.
1:12:27
SPEAKER_00: And last but not least, Diva provides all routine photos and videos absolutely free.
1:12:33
SPEAKER_00: For more information on Diva Dance Competition, head to their website now to register for an upcoming event in their 2022 season at divacomps.com.
1:12:44
SPEAKER_04: Season three only has a few more episodes left.
1:12:46
SPEAKER_04: Stay tuned for the next studio spotlight episode featuring club dance, summer intensives and an episode all about dancing in heels.
1:12:54
SPEAKER_00: Thanks so much for tuning in.
1:12:55
SPEAKER_00: We'll see you next week.
1:12:56
SPEAKER_00: Until then keep dancing