Latest / Making The Impact - A Dance Competition Podcast / Studio Spotlight - Yolanda's Academy of Music and Dance

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Studio Spotlight - Yolanda's Academy of Music and Dance · Making The Impact - A Dance Competition Podcast

0:07
SPEAKER_02: Have you ever wondered what goes on behind the table at a dance competition?
0:10
SPEAKER_02: Exactly what are the judges looking for anyway?
0:13
SPEAKER_02: This is Making the Impact, a dance competition podcast.
0:15
SPEAKER_02: Each week we'll cover a different topic related to the world of competitive dance from the perspective of the judges behind the table.
0:25
SPEAKER_02: For over 50 years, the Landis Academy of Music and Dance has been serving the West New York New Jersey dance community with quality instruction in all styles.
0:33
SPEAKER_02: As the winner of this year's Making the Impact Awards fan favorite contest, we're excited to hear more about this family-owned business and what they bring to the table.
0:43
SPEAKER_05: Hey Dance World, welcome to this week's episode of Making the Impact.
0:47
SPEAKER_05: I'm your host, Courtney Ortiz, and I'm here like always with my co-host, Leslie Miller.
0:52
SPEAKER_05: Hey Courtney, it feels so good to be back at it.
0:55
SPEAKER_05: It does.
0:56
SPEAKER_05: I am so happy that we're doing the pod again.
0:59
SPEAKER_05: I just, you know, we need that summer hiatus, but I am so glad that we are back in action week after week, recording, sitting down, talking to guests, chat and dance again.
1:08
SPEAKER_02: I feel like that summer hiatus gets shorter and shorter every year.
1:10
SPEAKER_02: And is that just me getting older and older?
1:13
SPEAKER_02: Or like what's not?
1:15
SPEAKER_05: Our summers are busy and summer goes by fat so fast in general.
1:19
SPEAKER_05: But like this year in particular, we were so early with scheduling season six, which here we are, we're in season six.
1:26
SPEAKER_05: But like we had a whole day in New Jersey, we had a whole brainstorming session.
1:31
SPEAKER_05: This happened in June, like literally right after we finished season five.
1:36
SPEAKER_05: We were like hitting the ground running, we're like, we're ahead of the game.
1:40
SPEAKER_05: And then we season six is already here, and then we were like, whoa, where did that summer hiatus go?
1:46
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, but I'm glad we're back because I'm excited about this episode because it's kind of a special episode.
1:52
SPEAKER_02: Because we're not gonna do a lot of these anymore.
1:56
SPEAKER_05: If you listened to our intro episode of season six, which launched last week, as this is only our second episode of season six, uh, head on over to that and give a listen to hear some of the updates to Making the Impact, maybe some spoilers as to what's to come.
2:12
SPEAKER_05: And one of the things is our Soul Studios Ballet episodes have possibly gone away.
2:18
SPEAKER_05: And I know that they are fan favorites to so many, but we kind of wanted to make it exclusive and special two are making the impact judges choice or fan favorite winners.
2:29
SPEAKER_05: And like I'm sure you know and possibly saw on our Instagram over the hiatus in June, we did our fan favorite contest where all of the Making the Impact recipients from any IBA affiliated competition had the option to participate in our fan favorite contest where we displayed a clip from their dance and we wanted to see how many votes they got.
2:53
SPEAKER_05: And from that, we narrowed it down to um a handful of finalists, and then we determined one winner strictly based on votes and their submission and who we felt like would be the best candidate for our fan favorite winner, which does receive a full episode spotlight.
3:11
SPEAKER_05: And here we are.
3:12
SPEAKER_05: The time is now.
3:13
SPEAKER_05: We are doing our fan favorite spotlight episode, and it's I'm excited to chat with them.
3:17
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I think it's gonna be an exciting episode and something people can look forward to every season, like you said, Courtney, to be very exclusive, very special to receive this uh full episode on your studio if you win the fan favorite contest.
3:31
SPEAKER_02: So without further ado, let's talk about our sponsors and then jump right on in.
3:35
SPEAKER_02: Sounds good.
3:36
SPEAKER_02: Let's hear from our sponsors.
3:39
SPEAKER_05: Powered by Francisco Gullah Danceworks, I am thrilled to present our Roots Dance Summit, a revolutionary educational and competitive event for studio communities.
3:49
SPEAKER_05: Roots Dance Summit's mission is to foster a lively and inclusive community for studios and schools, or ignite artistic excellence, or and empower the next generation of dancers.
4:00
SPEAKER_05: This innovative dance competition and convention sets a new standard with a three-day event featuring the six C's of participation, or community or classes, or competition or critiques or celebration and college and careers.
4:13
SPEAKER_05: Or it's not just for dancers.
4:15
SPEAKER_05: Roots Dance Summit aims to unite all key members of dance studios, or students, parents, teachers, and directors, or to promote community and a shared vision within the dance world.
4:25
SPEAKER_05: The competitive segment of the event welcomes dancers ages 10 to 18, offering traditional dance genres with codified techniques, including ballet, modern, contemporary, improvisation, and jazz.
4:37
SPEAKER_05: Be a part of Roots Dance Summit's inaugural season with events scheduled in Phoenix, Arizona, and Montgomery, Alabama in 2025.
4:45
SPEAKER_05: Registration is now open.
4:47
SPEAKER_05: Explore their website at Rootstance Summit.com for more information and to sign up for an upcoming event at the new Roots Dance Summit.
4:57
SPEAKER_05: All right, everyone.
4:58
SPEAKER_05: Welcome back to Making the Impact.
5:01
SPEAKER_05: And we are so thrilled to be here with our next studio spotlight episode.
5:06
SPEAKER_05: And fun fact to all of our listeners out there, this may be our one and only studio spotlight episode of the entire season.
5:14
SPEAKER_05: I know this is a fan favorite style episode for everyone through the past few seasons, but we might be shifting gears a little bit and making this a very special, unique feature just for our Making the Impact Award recipients.
5:27
SPEAKER_05: And we are so thrilled to offer this to all IDA affiliated competitions, our Making the Impact Award that is sponsored by the podcast and Impact Dance Adjudicators.
5:36
SPEAKER_05: And if you win this award at an IDA affiliated competition that your judges select, the one dance at your event to be nominated, then you also get put into a fan favorite voting contest that takes place in June after the regional season is complete.
5:52
SPEAKER_05: And on our Instagram, everyone starts voting for all of the different dances.
5:56
SPEAKER_05: And uh we narrow it down to one winner.
5:59
SPEAKER_05: And that one fan favorite winner gets an entire studio spotlight episode on Making the Impact.
6:04
SPEAKER_05: And here we are today to bring you our second ever fan favorite Making the Impact Judges Choice winner.
6:09
SPEAKER_05: We are so excited to welcome them to the podcast.
6:12
SPEAKER_05: They are supporters of IDA and Making the Impact.
6:16
SPEAKER_05: And this studio has been in business for over 50 years, y'all.
6:21
SPEAKER_05: I cannot wait to learn all about their studio.
6:25
SPEAKER_05: And they have won so many achievements throughout their time as a competitive studio.
6:30
SPEAKER_05: They have dancers who are heading off to college working professionally, and their dance, working day and night, has been a first place winner multiple times throughout their uh last season in 2024.
6:41
SPEAKER_05: And they won this award at DECA Dance Competition, which is an IDA affiliated competition.
6:47
SPEAKER_05: I'm excited to welcome the owner and director of Yolanda's Yolanda Fernandez Kincosis and Alexis Toledo, the co-creative director, choreographer, and tap teacher of the award-winning piece.
6:59
SPEAKER_05: Welcome, y'all.
7:00
SPEAKER_03: Ah, thank you for joining us.
7:02
SPEAKER_03: We're so happy to be here.
7:03
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it's a pleasure to be here with you.
7:05
SPEAKER_03: We're excited.
7:06
SPEAKER_03: Our whole studio is thrilled and can't wait to hear the podcast.
7:11
SPEAKER_04: The kids are so excited.
7:12
SPEAKER_04: The parents are so excited.
7:13
SPEAKER_04: It's awesome.
7:14
SPEAKER_04: Amazing.
7:15
SPEAKER_04: Oh, we love to hear that.
7:16
SPEAKER_04: That's awesome.
7:16
SPEAKER_05: We love to hear it.
7:17
SPEAKER_05: And Yolanda's Academy of Music and Dance is located in New Jersey.
7:21
SPEAKER_05: So hello to the Tri-State.
7:23
SPEAKER_05: We had our last.
7:24
SPEAKER_05: I know Leslie, you mentioned you wanted to talk about this, our last Making the Impact studio spotlight as well.
7:29
SPEAKER_05: So if you want to put that in there.
7:31
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, we had um stage Stage Door Dance out in Long Island was this the first making the impact fan favorite contest winner from last year.
7:39
SPEAKER_02: So we had them on last year to chat.
7:41
SPEAKER_02: And I just think it's really neat.
7:42
SPEAKER_02: I think the Tri-State area is a very special area for dance because those studios, specifically Yolanda's and Stage Door, a lot of their teachers, a lot of their talent comes directly from New York City, where we're so blessed to have so many great artists that come out and teach and share their love of dance.
7:58
SPEAKER_02: And so I'm so excited to hear y'all's story and especially having been in business for so long, you know, where did you guys get your start?
8:04
SPEAKER_02: Um, does the tri-state area have anything to do with why you're here?
8:08
SPEAKER_02: Have you lived here forever?
8:09
SPEAKER_02: So I'm just super excited to hear more.
8:11
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
8:11
SPEAKER_03: Of course.
8:12
SPEAKER_03: Thank you.
8:12
SPEAKER_03: Thank you so much.
8:13
SPEAKER_03: Yes.
8:13
SPEAKER_03: My family came here from Cuba and um when I was four years old, and we this was a very Hispanic community.
8:22
SPEAKER_03: And my parents uh instilled uh education in myself and my my siblings.
8:29
SPEAKER_03: And so I have a degree from New York University in education.
8:34
SPEAKER_03: I have a master's also, and they helped start the studio.
8:39
SPEAKER_03: Really, I had this business because of my parents, they helped me set it up, and kind of love for our community is important for me and my family.
8:49
SPEAKER_03: So that I passed on to my children who also love to be with people of our culture and also the community at large.
8:58
SPEAKER_03: And this started in the back room of your house.
9:02
SPEAKER_03: Yes, my parents built a studio for us, right, you know, in the in the back of a house in there.
9:08
SPEAKER_03: And um, I started it there, and at the same time that I was there, I also started teaching in a public school system.
9:15
SPEAKER_03: I was the music and also the dance teacher in a public school system.
9:20
SPEAKER_03: And uh the studio moved to various locations, and so I would go to work at the public school and teach music and dance, and I would there I was a liaison for the New York City Ballet, for the Metropolitan Opera, for Carnegie Hall.
9:34
SPEAKER_03: So many wonderful institutions that we were exposed to.
9:38
SPEAKER_03: And I have brought that love of the arts, and we're so lucky we're right across from Manhattan.
9:44
SPEAKER_03: So now we have a lovely studio, and my daughter, Alexis, is a very important part of that.
9:50
SPEAKER_03: And we have a great staff.
9:52
SPEAKER_03: Um, we have Cecilia Gardenas, uh, who has been with us since the very beginning, and various teachers are also coming from Manhattan.
10:01
SPEAKER_03: I love to have them in the They are who we are.
10:04
SPEAKER_02: Amazing.
10:05
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
10:05
SPEAKER_02: So when y'all came from Cuba, did you start dance class immediately or did you wait?
10:10
SPEAKER_02: Like, were you already dancing as a young child, and then that carried over when you came to the States?
10:15
SPEAKER_03: My mother put me in piano lessons and dance lessons and modeling classes, and you name it.
10:22
SPEAKER_03: And I was busy doing that for an entire lifetime.
10:25
SPEAKER_03: She was a go-getter too.
10:27
SPEAKER_03: My gosh.
10:29
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
10:30
SPEAKER_04: She was like, if she came up with it, she was like, this is it, we're doing it.
10:33
SPEAKER_04: I don't care what you say.
10:34
SPEAKER_04: Like, this is it's happening, it's great.
10:37
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, and that definitely, I definitely see that in you all the time.
10:42
SPEAKER_03: So yeah, they were very supportive.
10:44
SPEAKER_03: They helped, you know, get the location, build the studio, help me get the business.
10:49
SPEAKER_03: And uh, and then as as I grew up, I became more independent and ran the studio on my own and really used a lot of of what I've learned in the educational system to make our studio not just a place where they they come and learn movements, but but because the classes are educationally based, there's a progression, there's a curriculum we move through with a lot of vision as we go through.
11:17
SPEAKER_03: And we have a vision and a mission for our school that we try and create uh lifelong learners of dance and have a passion for dance.
11:26
SPEAKER_03: And so our legacy is very important.
11:29
SPEAKER_05: I love that, yeah, and legacy it is because over 50 years.
11:34
SPEAKER_05: So, what year exactly did the studio open?
11:37
SPEAKER_03: Well, I started teaching in 1974, I started teaching, you know, lessons in that studio that my parents built for me, and we incorporated it back then.
11:49
SPEAKER_03: And honestly, I was just a kid back then.
11:51
SPEAKER_03: You know, with my parents' support, we just continue to expand and expand and and it's grown.
11:57
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
11:58
SPEAKER_02: Well, um so I'm curious for for you growing up as the daughter, Alexis, as of a studio owner.
12:04
SPEAKER_02: Did you were you sort of immediately put into dance because this is just what we do in this family?
12:09
SPEAKER_02: Or I'm a daughter of a studio owner too.
12:11
SPEAKER_02: So that is what we do in this family.
12:13
SPEAKER_02: And I luckily was good at it, enjoyed it, made it my life put, you know, my life as well.
12:17
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
12:18
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, definitely.
12:19
SPEAKER_04: Um, there's definitely an aspect to that.
12:21
SPEAKER_04: I have twin sisters also.
12:23
SPEAKER_04: So we all got put in like right away.
12:25
SPEAKER_04: I grew up like standing on my tiptoes on the bar and like in the room, and you know, with with all the teachers who are who are still here who started, you know, with my mom so long ago.
12:38
SPEAKER_04: Like I grew with them.
12:40
SPEAKER_04: I have like, I like to say I have like eight other moms because you know, you grew up with all these people that help raise you, basically.
12:46
SPEAKER_04: You're here all the time.
12:47
SPEAKER_04: So yeah, it definitely is something that we just do, like we just put into it.
12:52
SPEAKER_04: But at the same time, I definitely have a passion for it.
12:56
SPEAKER_04: So, like I mentioned, my sisters are they were they're in it, they like it, they don't love it.
13:03
SPEAKER_04: So they they did it until they graduated and and now they're still in it to a certain extent.
13:08
SPEAKER_04: Like they help with the recitals and they help with whatever we want um or we need, and they're there for a lot of competitions and everything.
13:15
SPEAKER_04: They come support.
13:16
SPEAKER_04: But yeah, I definitely stuck around a lot longer and way more deeply involved.
13:21
SPEAKER_03: They are well, Alexis also has a degree from Fordham University and she works for NBC.
13:26
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
13:27
SPEAKER_03: So she does that and goes here.
13:29
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah.
13:29
SPEAKER_03: Um, and uh her twin sisters came to dance school, finished it here, but they are at athletes.
13:37
SPEAKER_03: One of the twin the twins, Bianca, is a marathon, she went to the Olympic trials, and the other one is uh CrossFit and she does Guanapalooza and has one at that.
13:48
SPEAKER_03: So, and they also have a company.
13:50
SPEAKER_03: When you asked about a product, we also have a product, a family product, and they've come up with a company called OutSeam, O-U-T-S-E-E-M.com.
14:01
SPEAKER_03: And they have a product which um has basically, well, first of all, the socks that have the seam on the outside so that it doesn't hurt the feet.
14:10
SPEAKER_04: Like, you know, when you put tights on, you're like, ah, the seam is like the worst part, you get blisters and everything.
14:16
SPEAKER_04: So the same thing, especially because one of them is a marathon runner and the other one just crossfit, always they're flipping their socks.
14:22
SPEAKER_04: And the design, like if you're wearing cool socks, the design is like useless.
14:27
SPEAKER_00: Right.
14:27
SPEAKER_04: So they just like flipped it.
14:29
SPEAKER_04: Design is still on the outside, but the seam is on the outside, so you don't have to lose the cool part of the sock just because it's uncomfortable.
14:36
SPEAKER_03: Wow.
14:37
SPEAKER_03: So yeah, they're successful.
14:38
SPEAKER_03: So they're doing a lot of things.
14:39
SPEAKER_03: That's really cool.
14:40
SPEAKER_05: Everyone's an entrepreneur in that in your family, it sounds like.
14:55
SPEAKER_04: Oh, a happy birthday.
14:57
SPEAKER_03: Thank you.
14:58
SPEAKER_04: I will pass it along.
14:59
SPEAKER_05: So you were the older sister that was always living in the studio.
15:03
SPEAKER_05: And I'm sure, Yolanda, you were probably hoping that one of the one of your daughters would hopefully join you along along on the ride with the studio ownership at a point in their career.
15:16
SPEAKER_05: And luckily, Alexis was that older sister who jumped in.
15:20
SPEAKER_03: Absolutely.
15:21
SPEAKER_03: Not only does she help me with the um the functioning of the studio, and I will say that uh also Cecilia Cardano, who's not here today, also really is deeply invested in my other mother.
15:34
unknown: Okay.
15:36
SPEAKER_03: And so Alexis, she not only helps us with the mechanics of classes, but she's also such a creative outlet for us.
15:47
SPEAKER_03: Her vision and her her numbers are unique.
15:50
SPEAKER_03: One of the things that we pride ourselves with is that I don't look at what other schools do.
15:55
SPEAKER_03: We don't look to see, oh, is so and so doing, you know, this kind of style, or this is important, or we should be, we should be doing what they're doing.
16:04
SPEAKER_03: No, we do our own thing, and hopefully it's successful.
16:08
SPEAKER_03: And and it has been the fact that you know we just just go and do unique things.
16:14
SPEAKER_03: Oh, I just had a beautiful mother last year that was a tap and a contemporary piece all together, and it was just like a unique number, and it was something true to what she wanted to do, and she did it.
16:26
SPEAKER_03: It was it was wonderful, it was a wonderful piece.
16:29
SPEAKER_04: It's also really cool that the kids like trust you enough that like when you come to them with an idea.
16:35
SPEAKER_04: Like I did a few years ago, it's one of my favorite numbers.
16:39
SPEAKER_04: I did a Charlie Chaplin number, and I dressed them in like the mustache, the hat, the canes, and they were cool enough to be like, yeah, let's do it, as opposed to like, you know, like, oh, that's weird.
16:51
SPEAKER_04: I don't want to do it.
16:51
SPEAKER_04: No, they were like cool, and they all like they looked up Charlie Chaplin videos and they learned a lot about him.
16:57
SPEAKER_04: It was it, they're all it's cool.
16:58
SPEAKER_04: This environment's really cool.
16:59
SPEAKER_04: Like every all the students are just like super into what they're doing and they want to work really hard, and they're also really trusting in us and what we give to them.
17:10
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
17:11
SPEAKER_02: That's I mean, that's key.
17:12
SPEAKER_02: And we talk about that all the time on the podcast.
17:14
SPEAKER_02: Like, of course, there's there's places and spaces in the dance world where maybe I wouldn't be so trusting or people shouldn't be so trusting.
17:22
SPEAKER_02: But y'all sound like you have this environment that obviously it's a family business.
17:25
SPEAKER_02: You're in there because you love it, you love the kids, they become your family.
17:29
SPEAKER_02: So it's so nice that they seem to trust you that much to say, yeah, like who's Charlie Chaplin?
17:35
SPEAKER_02: Let me let me look this up, let me get interested and get involved.
17:37
SPEAKER_02: Because I can tell you, sometimes the kids these days, they don't know, they don't know, and we have to teach them.
17:42
SPEAKER_02: Kids these days.
17:44
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
17:45
SPEAKER_04: I mean, yeah, sometimes they look at me like I've got three hands, but it's fine.
17:49
SPEAKER_04: At the end of the day, they're like, they're with it.
17:51
SPEAKER_04: It's fine.
17:51
SPEAKER_03: But they trust you enough to be able to, they did.
17:54
SPEAKER_03: They actually we showed them videos of Charlie, Charlie Chaplin, and they were willing to do it, they were willing to do it, and it was such a cute number.
18:00
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
18:00
SPEAKER_02: Well, and how cool is it?
18:01
SPEAKER_02: Like, that's one of my favorite things about judging is when I see a number like that, I'm like, okay, props to the teacher because that teacher wanted to teach history and culture and pop culture and pop culture from another time.
18:12
SPEAKER_02: Like, and the kids were cool enough to take it seriously.
18:15
SPEAKER_02: And I'm like, that whole combination is like, ugh, chef's kiss.
18:18
SPEAKER_02: It's like a little magic.
18:20
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
18:20
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
18:21
SPEAKER_05: Oh, that's awesome.
18:22
SPEAKER_05: And that that really stems from the type of community and environment that you've created for so many years, Yolanda, and a creative outlet for uh your dancers throughout the years.
18:33
SPEAKER_05: Because Alexis, you grew up at the studio and you learn from the teachers that your mom brought in to then have that creative mind to be like, I want to try this, I want to try that.
18:44
SPEAKER_05: And the dancers are so accustomed and used to that because that's just what y'all have always known.
18:50
SPEAKER_05: So, you know, it is it is really exciting to see uh studios thinking outside the box and trying new uh ideas out and not feeling like they have to follow the trend all the time because we see that so frequently in the competitive dance world.
19:03
SPEAKER_05: And I think that's what's really unique and special about this award that we give out is that it can really truly be selected by our judges for any dance, that one dance that they remember by the end of the weekend.
19:16
SPEAKER_05: And that says a lot about your creativity as a choreographer.
19:20
SPEAKER_05: This is a choreography award as much as it is an execution award and delivery from the dancers.
19:26
SPEAKER_05: And obviously, the dancers are getting recognized because they were committed, because they were on board with your vision and they made your vision come to life, and the judges recognized that with your creativity attached.
19:36
SPEAKER_05: So I think that's what's so special about this, and it's so exciting to hear that like you've been doing this, you've been creating fun, exciting dances for such a long time with the studio, and now you're getting recognized for the that awesome creativity.
19:49
SPEAKER_05: So props to you.
19:50
SPEAKER_04: Thank you.
19:51
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, that's it's so cool.
19:52
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, this award is is really, really cool.
19:55
SPEAKER_04: It's like it, like you said, it's like everything all wrapped up in one.
19:58
SPEAKER_04: It's a choreography award, it's a you know, a showmanship award, it's everything delivery package, everything.
20:05
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, it's really cool.
20:06
SPEAKER_02: The kids were so excited to win it.
20:08
SPEAKER_02: It's awesome.
20:08
SPEAKER_02: Tell us a little bit about the dance for those of the our listeners who maybe maybe didn't see it um or haven't checked it out yet.
20:14
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, so uh Working Day and Night is the name of the piece.
20:18
SPEAKER_04: We did it to Michael Jackson's Working Day and Night.
20:21
SPEAKER_04: The kids were all dressed.
20:22
SPEAKER_04: Actually, it was your idea to dress them all in different brightly colored suits, which I think also added to it.
20:29
SPEAKER_04: It just like visually was beautiful.
20:31
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, they like glowed on stage, which is really cool.
20:34
SPEAKER_04: Hard choreography-wise, like coordinating the colors, yeah.
20:38
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, coordinating the colors.
20:40
SPEAKER_04: I also didn't want the two colors like next to each other.
20:43
SPEAKER_04: I wanted everything like you know, the greens never stood next to the green.
20:46
SPEAKER_04: It was a little difficult, but definitely worth it.
20:49
SPEAKER_05: How did you like how did you structure that in rehearsal?
20:51
SPEAKER_05: Like, did you say, like, okay, are you like you have a patch on that says like I'm a green suit wearer or something?
20:57
SPEAKER_04: Actually, so I did a I did a dance uh several years ago now where they also had different colors.
21:03
SPEAKER_04: And so I had those kids like bring in socks of those colors.
21:08
SPEAKER_04: So for this one, I was like, ooh, same thing, because that works really well.
21:11
SPEAKER_04: So I went on Amazon and did a lot of troubleshoot buying, trying to find the right colors to match the suits, and then we ended up using them in the number, and so that we're wearing those same socks that match the suit, which actually like helped elongate the line and it made it like a lot cleaner than having like black socks or no socks.
21:30
SPEAKER_04: So, yeah, so they would wear their socks in class, which was cool.
21:33
SPEAKER_04: Perfect, love that a lot of fun, yeah.
21:35
SPEAKER_03: And they were open, go ahead.
21:37
SPEAKER_03: They were open to all of your suggestions and changes.
21:42
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, so the the piece started out uh to a totally different song.
21:48
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I started I literally the very beginning of the piece, which is like flaps and then time steps into like this double turn, and then they kind of like freeze, which is like their signature movie.
22:00
SPEAKER_04: Now they I did that too, sing, sing, sing.
22:04
SPEAKER_04: And they were like, they did it, but they weren't like super into it.
22:07
SPEAKER_04: And then I was like, okay, let me just try it to like a like a different piece.
22:10
SPEAKER_04: And I put working day and night on.
22:12
SPEAKER_04: And they were like, oh my God, we have to do this song.
22:15
SPEAKER_04: I love this song.
22:16
SPEAKER_04: Like, please can we do it?
22:18
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
22:19
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
22:19
SPEAKER_04: So then it just like went from there.
22:21
SPEAKER_04: I was like, all right, so I guess this is this is it.
22:23
SPEAKER_04: Wow.
22:24
SPEAKER_04: It just went from there.
22:25
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
22:26
SPEAKER_04: That would stress me out.
22:28
SPEAKER_05: Really?
22:29
SPEAKER_05: I am like such a person that like needs to know the music before I even start having a vision of choreography.
22:35
SPEAKER_05: And like maybe it might be different because I'm not a tab choreographer, but yeah, maybe you like created a rhythm and like a sequence that could be put to anything, and then you kind of sculpt it from there.
22:47
SPEAKER_05: But like my brain would be like, no, we can't change it.
22:50
SPEAKER_05: This is what it does.
22:52
SPEAKER_04: It was like, well, it was like a routine.
22:54
SPEAKER_04: Like it was just a I just came up with it in class.
22:57
SPEAKER_04: And then yeah, and then it just grew from there.
23:00
SPEAKER_04: Cute.
23:01
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
23:02
SPEAKER_05: That's so fun.
23:08
SPEAKER_05: Roots Dance Summer, powered by Francisco Fella Dance Group, aims to create a vibrant and inclusive community for dance people by emphasizing artistic excellence and empowering yourself.
23:20
SPEAKER_05: This is a new groundbreaking book.
23:29
SPEAKER_05: Their program now workshop and holding the world.
23:37
SPEAKER_05: Open the theaters in December 18th.
23:39
SPEAKER_05: The competition portion of the event highlights traditional codified genre thought like ballet, modern, contemporary, improvisation, and doctor.
23:48
SPEAKER_05: Roots Dance Summit offers a comprehensive educational experience for students, promoting full unity and self-dorf.
23:56
SPEAKER_05: Their inaugural season in 2025 will host two events in Phoenix, Arizona, and Montgomery, Alabama.
24:02
SPEAKER_05: Registration is now open.
24:05
SPEAKER_05: Visit their website to learn more and register for an upcoming event at RootsDance Summit.com.
24:19
SPEAKER_03: So this is not necessarily our competitive dance troupe.
24:22
SPEAKER_03: This was our Yeah, this was just their this was like their class, like their recital piece.
24:27
SPEAKER_03: Oh wow.
24:33
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
24:34
SPEAKER_03: And they fulfilled it.
24:36
SPEAKER_03: They they really performed it successfully and very well.
24:39
SPEAKER_03: They loved that piece.
24:41
SPEAKER_02: This is like their favorite number, which was really cool.
24:43
SPEAKER_02: And I'm sure that like came through on stage, you know, because you could tell when dancers are like, I'm just doing this stance because they told told me to do this dance.
24:50
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, no, they really liked it.
24:52
SPEAKER_04: Which was so cool because like we went to one competition where they performed it, and the there was another piece that got picked for like a choreography award.
25:02
SPEAKER_04: And so the teacher got on stage and she like shouted out working day and night, which was really cool.
25:07
SPEAKER_04: She was like, There was that one group, and they did so that working day and night.
25:11
SPEAKER_04: You guys killed it.
25:12
SPEAKER_04: The choreography was amazing.
25:13
SPEAKER_04: Oh, yeah, it was so cool.
25:14
SPEAKER_04: There's something, something about this piece and the way the kids connect to it that like lights them up when they got on stage.
25:21
SPEAKER_04: It's like a little, like it's like magical.
25:22
SPEAKER_04: It's sometimes yeah.
25:24
SPEAKER_05: Another thing I want to just mention that I just put two and two together as we were talking about this.
25:29
SPEAKER_05: And we mentioned our last fan favorite making the impact winner from last season was from Stage Door School of Dance, like you said, Leslie, at the top of the episode, but that was also a to dance that one.
25:40
SPEAKER_05: And now here we are with another top one fan favorite.
25:44
SPEAKER_05: And I just started sitting here thinking, like, so why?
25:47
SPEAKER_05: What is it about to dances that are winning?
25:50
SPEAKER_05: And I honestly think that entertainment value is there in a to dance.
25:54
SPEAKER_05: It's different, it's unique these days in a sea full of contemporary at competition.
25:59
SPEAKER_05: And I think that when we are opening it up to the public, obviously when we're doing a voting contest like we did on our Instagram, like maybe non-dancers are gonna watch these dances and be like, I think that this one is the most exciting.
26:12
SPEAKER_05: They liked the colored suits, they liked the song that they're familiar with, they like Top Dance and they understood it more.
26:17
SPEAKER_05: And like that possibly could be why this one fan favorite.
26:21
SPEAKER_05: But I just want to give a shout-out to Top Dance because I think that, you know, it's it's often not as recognized as it should be.
26:27
SPEAKER_05: And when it's done well, it it deserves to be in the top 10.
26:30
SPEAKER_05: It deserves to be in the top three.
26:32
SPEAKER_05: And uh this is proof that uh that more studios should be taking tap seriously, and that we obviously over here at IDA, we are loving on Tap Dance lately.
26:43
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, we love tap.
26:45
SPEAKER_04: I love tap.
26:46
SPEAKER_04: I'm in um a tap company, um, hashtag tap life company, um, which is so cool.
26:51
SPEAKER_04: And we're always trying to advocate more for tap.
26:56
SPEAKER_04: Like you said, like it's always a sea of contemporaries now, which is great because there's they're always so beautiful, they're different, you know.
27:02
SPEAKER_04: But tap is just as exciting and just as cool.
27:05
SPEAKER_04: And like you're playing an instrument while performing, like you're you know, you're adding sounds to the music, you're an instrument and yourself.
27:13
SPEAKER_04: It's hard to coordinate.
27:14
SPEAKER_04: Tap is hard, yeah.
27:16
SPEAKER_02: I'm glad.
27:16
SPEAKER_02: I'm so glad it's getting recognized.
27:18
SPEAKER_02: And so y'all won this award at Decca.
27:20
SPEAKER_02: And was this a DECA event that they had at the tap floor?
27:22
SPEAKER_04: Yes, we went specifically for the tap floor, which was so cool.
27:26
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, yeah.
27:27
SPEAKER_02: So shout out to Decca Decca bringing the tap floor to all their events.
27:31
SPEAKER_02: And let's go, DECA.
27:33
SPEAKER_02: It's definitely a big perk.
27:36
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and you you can't hear it, but here it was so clear, it was so wonderful that they support taps so much.
27:42
SPEAKER_03: So it's great.
27:43
SPEAKER_03: Let's go, DECA.
27:45
SPEAKER_05: I love that.
27:46
SPEAKER_05: Well, I would love to know more about the studio in general.
27:50
SPEAKER_05: So, yeah, Leslie on the same page as me.
27:52
SPEAKER_05: Yep, yep, yep, yep.
27:53
SPEAKER_02: Let's do it.
27:54
SPEAKER_02: I can't wait.
27:55
SPEAKER_05: So I'd we know you've been in business now for 50 years.
27:59
SPEAKER_05: We know you started small and now you've grown.
28:02
SPEAKER_05: So tell us a little bit more about your stats.
28:05
SPEAKER_05: How many students do you have?
28:06
SPEAKER_05: Do you have a rec program along with a competitive program?
28:10
SPEAKER_05: Let's start there.
28:12
SPEAKER_03: Well, our studio is not that big.
28:14
SPEAKER_03: We have about 150 students.
28:16
SPEAKER_03: Okay.
28:16
SPEAKER_03: And what's interesting or unique about our school is that students here take a variety of classes, genres.
28:24
SPEAKER_03: They take, they can select, but everyone has to take ballet.
28:28
SPEAKER_03: So that's the core for us.
28:30
SPEAKER_03: You have to take ballet.
28:31
SPEAKER_03: Sometimes they take more than one ballet, they take, you know, two ballets and a point, and they'll take there's also a variations class where they learn a repertoire.
28:40
SPEAKER_03: And in addition to that, we also offer hip hop, tap, jazz, contemporary acrobatics.
28:48
SPEAKER_03: We have a wonderful kind of acrobatics teacher too, and we jazz, stretching conditioning, stretching conditioning, and flamenco, and flamenco, which is uh something really beautiful.
29:00
SPEAKER_03: And um we have, you know, I've taught the flamenco classes, and now we have an artist from New York City who comes in, and she also teaches those classes.
29:10
SPEAKER_03: So, and it's that's kind of cool when we take it to competition to see something different with the flamenco.
29:15
SPEAKER_03: So when we go to compete, we compete.
29:18
SPEAKER_03: Not only do our competitive dancers compete, but we also take other students who are not in our competitive dance troupe numbers.
29:28
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, we'll take the numbers that we are preparing for the recital, yeah.
29:34
SPEAKER_03: But those students also get to compete.
29:36
SPEAKER_04: So it's not, we don't necessarily have like a rec program.
29:39
SPEAKER_04: It's like we we obviously have the dancers who are more competitive and take more classes.
29:47
SPEAKER_04: We do give solos and all of that, but it's not necessarily we like we have a concentrated dance competition team.
29:55
SPEAKER_04: It's more based off of dedication, hard work.
29:59
SPEAKER_04: So it's it's anyone can get anything at any time if we see that you're working for it and you've earned it, you know, like working day and night, we took to competition not necessarily because it was a competition-specific number.
30:11
SPEAKER_04: It was the recital number.
30:12
SPEAKER_04: It just happened to be ready.
30:13
SPEAKER_04: And I was like, oh, this is good.
30:15
SPEAKER_04: Let's take it.
30:16
SPEAKER_04: And that was so cool because you know, not everybody in that piece is competitive, which was great.
30:23
SPEAKER_04: Like they, like we mentioned, they were on a winning streak, like everyone was recognizing them.
30:28
SPEAKER_04: They were doing such a great job, and not all of those dancers are super competitive dancers, which is so cool.
30:34
SPEAKER_04: It was, it just goes to show like you don't have to be a competitive dancer to make a difference.
30:39
SPEAKER_02: You know, everyone in there made a difference.
30:41
SPEAKER_02: And what a cool experience for them to get a taste of it and to maybe decide, hey, I kind of want to do this now.
30:47
SPEAKER_02: Like, I'm sure you had one or two that were like, let me take another tap class.
30:51
SPEAKER_04: Exactly.
30:51
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
30:52
SPEAKER_04: And then they they open up a little more, like, okay, so I'm taking tap.
30:55
SPEAKER_04: Like maybe I'll start taking stretch and conditioning so that I can work a little harder and then maybe get put into those other extra numbers.
31:02
SPEAKER_04: Or like, oh, I really like I was at a competition for the tap number and I saw their contemporary number.
31:07
SPEAKER_04: I want to start taking the contemporary class.
31:09
SPEAKER_04: You know, it's great, it's it's good exposure.
31:12
SPEAKER_04: And they learn a little bit of everything, which helps with like going to competitions that have conventions, you know, and now they're more exposed to different genres that they either weren't taking before or now they've started taking so they're more comfortable in it, which is cool.
31:25
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it validated their efforts.
31:27
SPEAKER_03: We do have students who are very competitive, and those students we do have special numbers just for them.
31:35
SPEAKER_03: And they go again, they go also to you know, all competitions and conventions, and we do have you know special programs just for them.
31:44
SPEAKER_03: But we every year we look at our student body and we say, okay, let's see who's working hard, who can be in some of these extra numbers.
31:54
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, and that's how we pick.
31:55
SPEAKER_04: It's not an audition process either.
31:57
SPEAKER_04: It's a we're looking at you all year long.
31:59
SPEAKER_04: So it's not like just because she you showed up really well on audition day.
32:03
SPEAKER_04: We're looking at everything and we're talking to every teacher, like every teacher that we have is involved, you know.
32:09
SPEAKER_05: I think that needs to happen more frequently in studios.
32:11
SPEAKER_05: I know that a lot of studios have quote unquote the audition for the team, and then that's going to determine what dances you get put in.
32:19
SPEAKER_05: But at the same time, I think that like a lot of studios say that, but they really are thinking of the whole, you know, past year and the growth and and where they're going from here.
32:29
SPEAKER_05: I think they're putting that in obviously into the equation of determining what dances that they get, but and almost just to kind of like do an audition to put kids under pressure a little bit and see how they do because auditioning is a part of dance life and it's important to grow that skill.
32:44
SPEAKER_05: But I'm curious, just on how you discussed the decision to bring a quote unquote recital dance to competition.
32:53
SPEAKER_05: How does that fly with the parents?
32:54
SPEAKER_05: Where are they like, do they know that that is a possibility?
32:58
SPEAKER_05: Or do you present that and say, hey, I know you weren't expecting to go to comp this season, but I think this dance should be at this event.
33:05
SPEAKER_05: Are you cool with it?
33:06
SPEAKER_05: Like I'm curious to know how that works.
33:08
SPEAKER_03: I we do.
33:10
SPEAKER_03: We go to a variety of competitions.
33:13
SPEAKER_03: Some are more geared towards more competitive dancers.
33:18
SPEAKER_03: And those that are working on those specific numbers, we take those to competition.
33:22
SPEAKER_03: But even to those competitions, we did take working day and night.
33:26
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, we didn't take a whole bunch of numbers.
33:28
SPEAKER_02: Really special numbers.
33:29
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, exactly.
33:30
SPEAKER_04: It depends.
33:31
SPEAKER_04: It's a I think it depends.
33:32
SPEAKER_04: They do, I feel like parents typically, unless the kids are younger, I think that parents typically know there's a possibility that they're gonna take, like be going to competition.
33:44
SPEAKER_04: It's not a guarantee.
33:45
SPEAKER_04: It depends on how quickly we turn the number around.
33:49
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, if it's ready, if it's clean, if the costumes came in in time.
33:56
SPEAKER_04: And if we think it's competition ready, you know, like the number might be done and ready, but it's not like competition ready.
34:02
SPEAKER_04: I think there are a few variables, but I think that the parents aren't usually totally caught by surprise.
34:08
SPEAKER_03: No, like I think a lot of them look forward to it.
34:11
SPEAKER_03: Oh, yeah, they sure do.
34:12
SPEAKER_03: We have like we already have decided, well, we're gonna go to this one, this one, this one, this one coming up.
34:16
SPEAKER_03: And so we'll say, you know, this these particular numbers are coming, are gonna go to this competition in September, and then we're gonna go, we're gonna take these numbers in February.
34:26
SPEAKER_03: And so we send a letter out and notice to parents, this is what's happening, and your child has been selected.
34:34
SPEAKER_03: This these groups are going to competition, and let us know if you you say yes, and they really do say yes, yeah, they love it.
34:42
SPEAKER_03: So amazing, and it's a good thing because it gives an opportunity to if the numbers are ready, obviously, you know.
34:49
SPEAKER_03: But if the numbers ready, why not take them to compete?
34:52
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
34:52
SPEAKER_05: Are there dances that aren't ready that go to competition?
34:55
SPEAKER_05: No, I'm curious.
34:56
SPEAKER_05: Like, because I like I like what your approach is, and I I actually wish that more studios approached it like that.
35:03
SPEAKER_05: You keep saying if the dance is ready, it will go to competition, right?
35:07
SPEAKER_05: Like that is a really great approach to uh what what you choose to present as a studio that represents you.
35:14
SPEAKER_05: You want to make sure that it is stage ready, that it is competition ready.
35:17
SPEAKER_05: And I can't tell you, no offense to some studios out there, but like I have seen dances that are not ready to be at competition.
35:25
SPEAKER_05: So do you feel like that all do you feel like that when you do put the dances into comp, you are confident that they are ready?
35:32
SPEAKER_05: Or are there those some of those dances that are like aren't really ready yet?
35:35
SPEAKER_05: But we promised the parents that we're gonna be at this competition and it needs more rehearsal.
35:39
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, no, I think that that by the time we go to register the numbers for competitions, we kind of know.
35:47
SPEAKER_05: You're like, you know.
35:48
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, exactly.
35:49
SPEAKER_04: Like last year, I I had a younger tap piece that I was like, ooh, I I want to take this.
35:54
SPEAKER_04: And then by the time it came to register, I was like, ooh, we're not taking this.
35:57
SPEAKER_04: Like absolutely.
35:58
SPEAKER_04: Really?
35:58
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
35:58
SPEAKER_04: But these are things that we're preparing for our recital.
36:01
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
36:02
SPEAKER_03: We're working on them all year through.
36:04
SPEAKER_03: And and we do have numbers that are just the competitive numbers, right?
36:08
SPEAKER_03: You know, that we have a choreographer come in and choreograph this number, or we, you know, or we do it our own staff, Cecilia or Alexis, or you know, all of our staff actually does competitive numbers.
36:22
SPEAKER_03: So those numbers we expect and they're gonna go to competition.
36:25
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, it's more the the recital pieces that we're like, this also works.
36:29
SPEAKER_04: Like, let's take it ready to go.
36:31
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, let's it's great.
36:33
SPEAKER_03: And this way you get to build your base.
36:37
SPEAKER_03: You know, younger students now have an opportunity to go to a convention, you know.
36:42
SPEAKER_03: It's like, wow, we get to go to a convention even even if they're a small fry, but they're they're young and but they're numbers ready, and you don't want to go and it's not ready to go.
36:52
unknown: Yeah.
36:53
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
36:53
SPEAKER_05: I just I just wanted to kind of like pop that in there because I do think that there is a I I have an expectation for what I want to see on the competitive stage, and it doesn't matter what level.
37:06
SPEAKER_05: I don't think that's the the the level isn't the issue.
37:09
SPEAKER_05: It's there's a standard to competitive dance.
37:12
SPEAKER_05: And even on your end saying that like these are dancers who are strictly just doing possibly just gonna do recital, but they're ready.
37:20
SPEAKER_05: And regardless of what level the you put them in at competition, that standard of this is now a competitive dance is being set and upheld.
37:29
SPEAKER_05: And I think that we need to uh as an industry remember that this isn't a recital at competition.
37:35
SPEAKER_05: We can save that for the end of the season and you're working towards that.
37:39
SPEAKER_05: But if it's not ready for the stage, then maybe it's not ready yet for the stage and we get back into rehearsal and we get ready for the next competition, or maybe we keep it at recital, you know?
37:50
SPEAKER_05: So, like I think it's it's really interesting approach, and I respect and applaud you for exposing your dancers to that who might not have signed up for competition and getting getting a little taste of it, but also knowing when they're ready to take that next step.
38:03
SPEAKER_05: It's really great.
38:04
SPEAKER_03: Oh, thank you.
38:05
SPEAKER_03: Thank you.
38:05
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah.
38:06
SPEAKER_03: It gives them an opportunity to, I mean, if if they're ready to compete and obviously we work them, they should go.
38:14
SPEAKER_03: And it gives you it gives you a a bet of flowers for your next season so that you know these kids who went to competition and they did well, now they can move on to more competitive style dances.
38:28
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
38:29
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, a lot of dancers end up stepping up to the plate when you give them that chance, which is awesome.
38:35
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
38:35
SPEAKER_02: And it's such good exposure to other people and knowing what everybody else is doing.
38:39
SPEAKER_02: And hey, we could we could do that.
38:41
SPEAKER_02: I could do that too, you know.
38:42
SPEAKER_02: I think that's really cool.
38:44
SPEAKER_02: I am curious about uh your street.
38:46
SPEAKER_02: You have a street.
38:48
SPEAKER_03: We do.
38:49
SPEAKER_03: Like here's the sign.
38:50
SPEAKER_03: Here's our sign.
38:51
SPEAKER_03: There's our sign.
38:52
SPEAKER_03: It was dance place.
38:55
SPEAKER_03: Yes.
38:55
SPEAKER_03: So we had um the mayor and the commissioners came and they did a whole ceremony.
39:01
SPEAKER_03: And you know, I I grew up in this town, my business has been here for 50 years, and it was so nice that they named the street uh after us.
39:10
SPEAKER_03: Yolanda's dance place.
39:12
SPEAKER_03: That's awesome.
39:13
SPEAKER_03: Yolanda's dance place instead of Yolanda's Academy of Music and Dance, too long for the time.
39:16
SPEAKER_03: A little too long for the science.
39:17
SPEAKER_03: Yolanda's Dance Place.
39:18
SPEAKER_03: It was a beautiful ceremony, and mayor spoke, I spoke, and then the students performed in the studio, they came in, and it was really, it's really lovely to be acknowledged.
39:28
SPEAKER_03: And I am so grateful.
39:30
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, you're such a pillar.
39:32
SPEAKER_03: You're you're pleasant.
39:34
SPEAKER_05: Yeah, you have a street named Avenue.
39:36
SPEAKER_05: I mean, that is epic.
39:38
SPEAKER_03: You know, if you think about it, I've been, you know, I've been I grew up in this town, and I have, you know, I taught in the neighboring town, so it's all the same community, the same county.
39:50
SPEAKER_03: And I I have, I don't know, you know, I have two congressional records too, which uh were bestowed to me by the senator.
39:59
SPEAKER_03: So I've been doing this for a while, and I'm so grateful to those who acknowledge our effort.
40:05
SPEAKER_03: You know, yeah, it was really cool.
40:07
SPEAKER_03: It's lovely.
40:07
SPEAKER_03: It was really lovely.
40:09
SPEAKER_03: It was originally day January 28th.
40:12
SPEAKER_03: No, June, June 28th.
40:14
SPEAKER_03: June 28th.
40:15
SPEAKER_03: The day was it the June 28th?
40:17
SPEAKER_03: I don't remember.
40:18
SPEAKER_03: It was like June.
40:19
SPEAKER_03: It was like a few months ago?
40:21
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, like a few months ago.
40:21
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
40:22
SPEAKER_03: Two weeks after our recital on a super hot day.
40:25
SPEAKER_03: We were outside and but it was cool.
40:28
SPEAKER_03: It was so cool that they had you know set this, you know, the whole thing up and it was covered.
40:34
SPEAKER_03: There was the unveiled, you know, a speech and a whole setup and a podium.
40:40
SPEAKER_03: And um, and it was really lovely to be acknowledged and and a privilege, really a privilege to represent the community.
40:48
SPEAKER_03: And I'm so grateful because you know, the dance community here, actually, just the community of people in this area are really so wonderful.
40:58
SPEAKER_03: Our school has such lovely families.
41:01
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that is really beautiful.
41:03
SPEAKER_02: What do y'all so besides competition?
41:05
SPEAKER_02: Um, do you do community events and things like that around town?
41:09
SPEAKER_03: Yes, we've done for years now.
41:11
SPEAKER_03: We've done you know, parades and for the seniors.
41:15
SPEAKER_03: One of the mayors had a commercial, uh, a video commercial that he had for television, and he invited us our students to perform in the commercial, which was really cool.
41:26
SPEAKER_03: It was a couple years back.
41:27
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
41:28
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, we get to the mayor will like ask, or not ask, but yeah, you know, he'll invite us to dance at events.
41:35
SPEAKER_04: So we'll go and the senior center will ask us to dance, and and it's nice to do community events, it's really cool.
41:42
SPEAKER_03: And you know, to give back.
41:44
SPEAKER_03: It's really nice to give back.
41:45
SPEAKER_03: They're actually opening up a cultural center, and I'm hoping to reach out to the mayor and volunteer uh to help out with the cultural center that they're setting up in this town.
41:55
SPEAKER_03: So yeah, uh, it's a really wonderful community and supportive of the people here.
42:00
SPEAKER_05: So I love that.
42:02
SPEAKER_05: And another thing that I really love that you briefly mentioned as far as different styles of dance that you offer at your studio is flamenco.
42:12
SPEAKER_05: I think that is so unique, so cool.
42:15
SPEAKER_05: I'd love for you to share a little bit more about that, why you felt like it was something essential to include in your studio, how your your customers enjoy it, the parents, the the kids.
42:27
SPEAKER_05: Tell us more about that because I don't think we've ever had a studio on our podcast who offers flamenco.
42:34
SPEAKER_05: And I know for a fact, because we've seen your online critiques, some of your dancers have sent in online critiques before, and sometimes it was a flamenco dance, and and all of us are kind of like, that's really cool.
42:44
SPEAKER_05: We're not pros in this.
42:46
SPEAKER_05: This is amazing, but what do we what do we say?
42:48
SPEAKER_05: And and and we love it and we respect it, and we know that all judges feel the same way um when it hits the stage of competition, but we we wanna learn more about flamenco, and I admire you all for bringing that to the competitive dance space because it's a rarity that we see it on stage.
43:06
SPEAKER_03: Thanks.
43:07
SPEAKER_03: Thank you so much.
43:08
SPEAKER_03: I studied at a local school that offered flamenco class, and I studied there and I learned flamenco there, and I'm very grateful.
43:15
SPEAKER_03: And then I went into Manhattan and I studied in flamenco flamenco with many artists in in uh New York City, and we continue it through.
43:25
SPEAKER_03: I mean, for me, it brings me my you know, my grandparents are from Spain, so it's you know, gone to visit and seen the family there, and it's it's lovely to be able to learn not only flamenco, but in Spain, you have theater dance, you have folk dances from each city, and there's so much for students to learn.
43:48
SPEAKER_03: They just think it's just flamenco.
43:50
SPEAKER_03: No, it's really not just flamenco.
43:53
SPEAKER_03: You have, you know, the Java, which is from Araoma, and you have the Aniciana from Valencia, and you have the Sevillana from Sevilla, and so this.
44:00
SPEAKER_03: So much to learn, and it's so beautiful and so expressive.
44:05
SPEAKER_03: What other style can you think about?
44:07
SPEAKER_03: I mean, all dances are expressive, but it's it's powerful.
44:11
SPEAKER_03: It's it's powerful, it's really powerful.
44:14
SPEAKER_03: There's a word that that uh flamencos use, which is dwende, which means that you have this like uh you get into the spirit and the fire inside, and that's what you hope to reach when you're performing flamenco.
44:27
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, so it's so cool.
44:28
SPEAKER_03: And flamenco has so many dances, and it's um it's really wonderful to share that with the community and and to expose kids to that.
44:38
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, and there's yeah, there's so many ways that you can dance flamenco, you know, all the different styles of it and all the different genres from all the different regions, and then you can also modernize it, and then you can use different pieces of music and more traditional music with more modern style, or more modern music with more traditional style.
44:56
SPEAKER_04: There's so much you can do with it, which is so cool.
44:58
SPEAKER_04: I don't know who's more obsessed with it, the parents or the kids, which is great.
45:09
SPEAKER_05: Hey Dance World, it's Courtney, and I want to tell you about a program that is near and dear to my heart, and that is Young Arts.
45:16
SPEAKER_05: Young Arts is one of the only organizations in the United States that supports young, aspiring artists across 10 disciplines, including dance.
45:24
SPEAKER_05: Young Arts offers a national arts competition, open to visual, literary, and performing artists between the ages of 15 to 18, or in grades 10 foot 12.
45:33
SPEAKER_05: And guess what?
45:34
SPEAKER_05: Applications are now open.
45:36
SPEAKER_05: By applying the Young Arts, your dancer will have the chance to receive mentorship and cash awards, gain access to a lifetime of creative and professional development, and become part of an uplifting intergenerational community that helps artists connect, create, and collaborate throughout their careers.
45:52
SPEAKER_05: As a Young Arts dance winner in 2007, I can tell you how eye-opening and impactful my experience was as a high school senior heading to Young Arts Week in Miami.
46:01
SPEAKER_05: I met lifelong friends, worked with the legendary icons in the dance world, and grew as an artist.
46:07
SPEAKER_05: This program is so much more than just an award.
46:11
SPEAKER_05: It truly changed my life and helped me start my career in the dance world.
46:15
SPEAKER_05: I highly encourage and recommend all dancers who are ages 15 to 18 or currently in grades 10 through 12 to apply to Young Arts and enter into their national arts competition now.
46:25
SPEAKER_05: The deadline to apply is Thursday, October 17th, 2024.
46:29
SPEAKER_05: Learn more and start your application today by clicking the link in our show notes or visiting their website at youngarts.org slash apply.
46:55
SPEAKER_03: And it was to a version of Stairway to Heaven.
46:59
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
46:59
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that was so it was just such a beautiful piece, but different.
47:06
SPEAKER_03: We should bring that back.
47:07
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I think we should.
47:09
SPEAKER_04: It's cool too.
47:10
SPEAKER_04: I want to see it.
47:11
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, and I liked how you said, you know, it's it's great that that flamenco is so unique, and it's something that we can bring, you know, to expose people to because you don't get to see it every day.
47:21
SPEAKER_04: But I also wish it wasn't so unique.
47:23
SPEAKER_04: I wish that you know, you would see more of it.
47:26
SPEAKER_04: I wish, yeah, I wish it had more exposure.
47:29
SPEAKER_03: It's dying in Manhattan now.
47:31
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
47:32
SPEAKER_03: Really?
47:33
SPEAKER_03: It really is not.
47:34
SPEAKER_03: There was such a it was like a hub for it before.
47:38
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
47:39
SPEAKER_03: And now it's there are not that many people teaching it.
47:42
SPEAKER_03: There's not that many people who learn it.
47:45
SPEAKER_03: We get sad, really, because it's fine.
47:48
SPEAKER_03: It's cool.
47:49
SPEAKER_04: A few uh years ago, we had a flamenco guitarist play live at our show at our recital, which is cool.
47:57
SPEAKER_04: So we got to dance that piece live, yeah, which is awesome.
48:00
SPEAKER_03: So it's really oh my god, because they got to dance a traditional piece with the guitarist.
48:05
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and and that's what real flamenco is.
48:07
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, it was cool.
48:08
SPEAKER_04: And it was live, so like you get to experience what that's like dancing to live, you know, live music and live musicians, and like this isn't what the recording sounded like.
48:18
SPEAKER_04: Okay, you know, you gotta just roll with it.
48:20
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, it was it was awesome, but it's tough to take one of those pieces to another competition.
48:25
SPEAKER_03: You can't exactly you have to base it on like a recorded piece, yeah, so that you can then do it for your show with a guitarist and be able to take that piece to uh to competition with a recorded, you know.
48:41
SPEAKER_05: Well, I think the hard part with bringing styles of dance like flamenco, like clogging, like Irish step dance, you know, all of those almost seem specialty, quote unquote, in the competitive dance world.
48:55
SPEAKER_05: And many different studios offer many varieties of genres of dance and want that represented at dance competitions.
49:03
SPEAKER_05: But at the same time, it makes it really hard for the judges to really know how to judge this accurately.
49:09
SPEAKER_05: And I think that, you know, a lot of people will say, well, why am I going to waste my money, you know, to have judges that don't understand this genre quote unquote try attempt to critique and score this properly when they don't understand it.
49:22
SPEAKER_05: And to be honest, most of us don't.
49:24
SPEAKER_05: Like, let's be real.
49:25
SPEAKER_05: We definitely don't.
49:26
SPEAKER_05: I've dabbled in flamenco when I did it in a show, and that's all that I know about it.
49:30
SPEAKER_05: But like, I don't feel confident critiquing it and giving you constructive criticism and understanding what's good versus bad in that world because that's just not my specialty.
49:40
SPEAKER_05: So I understand why we don't see it as often, but I also do respect the studios that do bring flamenco, that do bring clogging, that do bring Irish step to expose the greater audience and educate and showcase this other style of dance that exists out there that isn't just contemporary, that isn't just jazz, that isn't just ballet, that we know and eat, sleep, breathe those genres in competitive dance.
50:04
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
50:04
SPEAKER_05: And there's so much more out there in the dance room.
50:06
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, and we love to see it.
50:07
SPEAKER_04: We love when we see other studios that we do flamenco, and a lot of times we happen to know them because of course, yeah, you know, it is really small.
50:16
SPEAKER_04: The community.
50:16
SPEAKER_04: Exactly.
50:17
SPEAKER_04: But it's it's great.
50:18
SPEAKER_03: Yeah to see it.
50:19
SPEAKER_03: We used to go to a competition that their philosophy was there to be different.
50:25
SPEAKER_03: And when we would bring our flamencos, they were like, wow, which was cool, yeah.
50:30
SPEAKER_04: And they they acknowledged that yeah, we don't we don't have that expertise to critique it in that way, but we can critique it in these ways, and this is how we appreciate it and admire it.
50:42
SPEAKER_04: And yeah, that was a great experience.
50:44
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
50:45
SPEAKER_04: A lot of competitions do do their best.
50:48
SPEAKER_04: They just do their best when they see it.
50:50
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, yeah.
50:50
SPEAKER_05: I think.
50:51
SPEAKER_05: I mean, I don't want to say that it's like not like I don't want to say it can't compete, but in a weird way, I almost feel like it should there should be like a specialty section at comp that almost feels like more of like a performance entertainment, like just be able to get out on stage and show the world what we do in this genre and let everyone just take it in and enjoy the performance versus feeling like it needs to get a score and it needs to get critiques and then possibly, you know, if the judges don't know anything, they score it high and then it's winning up against something and maybe it didn't deserve to, I don't know, like or maybe it did deserve to win.
51:25
SPEAKER_05: But like, does it always have to be a competition just to share art?
51:28
SPEAKER_03: Like, I totally think that there should be more of those uh opportunities.
51:33
SPEAKER_03: I've wanted to have uh a venue or a platform, yes, a platform that would be just a performance space.
51:42
SPEAKER_03: I mean, just to be able to take your numbers and have them perform.
51:45
SPEAKER_04: And why does it need to get a score?
51:47
SPEAKER_04: I understand like critiques are great because for the most part, they're there to help you grow, but it doesn't always need a numerical score.
51:54
SPEAKER_04: Like, why do we need a top 10, you know, based on a numerical score?
51:58
SPEAKER_04: Why can't it be the showmanship of this piece or like let's celebrate this one because of this, this, this?
52:03
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, yeah, that'd be cool.
52:04
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, like the special exactly.
52:06
SPEAKER_05: Yeah, yeah.
52:08
SPEAKER_05: Cause I mean, I just feel I feel I want to do my job best when I see these beautiful art forms come to stage, and I can't help them because I'm not trained in that.
52:17
SPEAKER_05: And they also can't have one specialty flamenco.
52:21
SPEAKER_05: I mean, Alexis, you'd be the perfect judge to sit on a panel and critique tap, critique flamenco, critique other styles of dance.
52:28
SPEAKER_05: If if a competition knew, we have a whole three studios that are bringing nothing but flamenco.
52:33
SPEAKER_05: Who do we have to sit on that panel?
52:34
SPEAKER_05: Boom, Alexis is the person because you can critique it versus like Leslie and I would be like, oh, what do we keep doing that?
52:44
SPEAKER_05: This is beautiful, this is amazing.
52:45
SPEAKER_05: We would just like applaud it, you know.
52:47
SPEAKER_05: So it's a hard job for competitions to figure out how to be inclusive enough with all the different genres to make everyone happy and deliver that feedback and the accurate scoring.
52:58
SPEAKER_05: But I don't think that that should hold studios back from wanting to just share this art with others.
53:03
SPEAKER_05: Like that is what is so beautiful.
53:04
SPEAKER_05: And there's not enough performance opportunities, like you were saying, Yolanda.
53:08
SPEAKER_05: You know, a lot of studios use competition as those quote unquote performance opportunities.
53:12
SPEAKER_05: So, like maybe there needs to be a comp that's just performance and or something.
53:17
SPEAKER_05: I don't know.
53:17
SPEAKER_03: You know, it's lovely to just go and perform.
53:20
SPEAKER_03: Obviously, you gotta take your best stuff, but you know, it would be lovely to just have uh something that you can go and have your your best numbers perform and everyone enjoy it and everybody leaves happy and you're all class and that's it.
53:35
SPEAKER_04: No like eight-hour award ceremony.
53:38
SPEAKER_04: Like, no, right?
53:39
SPEAKER_02: We all have like a nice dinner afterwards, yes.
53:42
SPEAKER_02: Oh my gosh, yes.
53:44
SPEAKER_02: Oh man.
53:45
SPEAKER_02: Well, y'all, this was such a pleasure to meet you and hear all about your studio.
53:49
SPEAKER_02: And I'm I'm so excited to see more of you this season because I'm sure we'll get some online critiques and maybe we'll see you out there on the stage.
53:56
SPEAKER_03: Thank you so much for having us.
53:59
SPEAKER_03: It's uh it's a pleasure and uh and a privilege to be able to sit here with you and have you and and share with you uh our experiences.
54:09
SPEAKER_03: So thank you so much.
54:11
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, thank you.
54:12
SPEAKER_04: Thank DECA for picking our number.
54:14
SPEAKER_04: Thank our kids and the parents for rallying and working so hard and going to every rehearsal and voting and getting everyone in there.
54:24
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, this has been such a cool experience.
54:27
SPEAKER_04: Thank you guys so much.
54:28
SPEAKER_05: Of course, we're happy to make this possible.
54:30
SPEAKER_05: And we couldn't do this without the help of our IDA affiliated competitions for supporting our Making the Impact Award and providing that at their event.
54:40
SPEAKER_05: So shout out to all of the IDA comps out there.
54:43
SPEAKER_05: And if you're a listener listening and you said, wow, this is so cool.
54:47
SPEAKER_05: I hope that I could be featured on a studio spotlight, then make sure that your studio is registered to attend a comp that is affiliated with IDA, where you know you're going to get great judges, great accurate scoring, and also possibly become the next winner of the Making the Impact Award.
55:02
SPEAKER_05: Yolanda and Alexis, thank you for spending your afternoon over here chatting with us and being our second ever fan favorite studio spotlight guests.
55:09
SPEAKER_05: We loved having you.
55:11
SPEAKER_05: And how we always have our guests lead us out on Making the Impact is just with one final thought.
55:16
SPEAKER_05: So if you both would like to share, if you want to tell us what's coming for Yolanda's dance studio in the next 50 more years ahead, if you want to share any thoughts about dance in general, about studio ownership, about your uh dancers out to the dance world to give advice to other studios out there, other dancers out there, now is your time.
55:38
SPEAKER_04: Let's see what's coming for us.
55:40
SPEAKER_04: Next summer, we're doing uh world of dance with Disney, which is really cool.
55:46
SPEAKER_04: So we're really excited about that.
55:47
SPEAKER_04: Cool.
55:48
SPEAKER_04: We are working towards our new season, new pieces.
55:52
SPEAKER_04: I am trying very hard to beat myself with uh working day and nights.
55:57
SPEAKER_04: Let's see what I come up with there.
55:59
SPEAKER_03: What else?
56:00
SPEAKER_03: I just want to continue bringing the joy and the passion of dance, and then wanting to perform and just move to music and understanding music and being lifelong lovers of dance and movement, and we'll hope to continue that.
56:18
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, you know, I'm grateful to our community, our students, our families, and absolutely our teachers who are collaborate well together.
56:28
SPEAKER_03: And we'll bring more.
56:30
SPEAKER_03: Hopefully, we'll be here again next year.
56:33
SPEAKER_02: We're not opposed, we would be happy to have.
56:36
SPEAKER_02: I love it.
56:37
SPEAKER_04: Awesome! Thanks for having us.
56:40
SPEAKER_04: Thank you.
56:45
SPEAKER_05: We hope you enjoyed our latest studio spotlight episode featuring our Making the Impact fan favorite winner, Yolanda's Academy of Music and Dance.
56:52
SPEAKER_05: Thank you to Alexis and Yolanda for joining us on this chat.
56:56
SPEAKER_05: Be sure to follow them on social media at Yolanda's underscore academy.
57:00
SPEAKER_05: And to learn more about their studio, visit their website at yolandasacademy.com.
57:07
SPEAKER_02: Don't forget to follow Making the Impact on your favorite podcast platform.
57:11
SPEAKER_02: And if you want more exclusive episodes, support our podcast by joining our Platinum Premium membership for only$5 a month.
57:17
SPEAKER_02: Subscribers receive free Making the Impact stickers, shout-outs live on the air, ad-free listening, and exclusive access to our QA episodes for members only.
57:26
SPEAKER_02: Join now at www.impact dance educators.com slash platinum premium or click the link in our show notes.
57:35
SPEAKER_05: Attention all dancers! Looking for some outside expertise to fine-tune your dance before hitting the competition stage this season?
57:43
SPEAKER_05: Then check out IDA's online judges critique.
57:47
SPEAKER_05: Our seasoned judges will provide you with the video critique of your routine, just like you've received a competition.
57:52
SPEAKER_05: But with IDA's online judges critiques, we take it one step further with our post-critique additional feedback.
57:59
SPEAKER_05: Your judge will go through your routine again, pausing the video to give you even more detailed and personalized feedback.
58:05
SPEAKER_05: You can even request a judge that specializes in your style of dance.
58:09
SPEAKER_05: This game-changing service has helped countless dancers prepare for the competitive date and is available year round.
58:15
SPEAKER_05: With critiques starting at only$35, what are you waiting for?
58:19
SPEAKER_05: Click the link in our show notes or visit our website at Impact Dance Adjudicators.com/slash online critiques to learn more and submit your dance today.
58:29
SPEAKER_02: Season six is just getting started, and we can't wait to release more episodes every week.
58:33
SPEAKER_02: Coming up, look forward to episodes on having the It Factor, how to support your dancer, and ballet competitions.
58:40
SPEAKER_05: We hope you're enjoying season six.
58:42
SPEAKER_05: We're so happy to be back.
58:43
SPEAKER_05: We'll see you next week.
58:45
SPEAKER_05: Until then, keep dancing.