Latest / Making The Impact - A Dance Competition Podcast / Studio Spotlight - CCJ Conservatory

Transcript

Studio Spotlight - CCJ Conservatory · Making The Impact - A Dance Competition Podcast

• 0:07
  SPEAKER_01: Have you ever wondered what goes on behind the table at a dance competition?
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly what are the judges looking for anyway?
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_01: This is Making the Impact, a dance competition podcast.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_01: Each week, we'll cover a different topic related to the world of competitive dance from the perspective of the judges behind the table.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_01: Dale Lamb, artistic director of CCJ Conservatory in Lexington, South Carolina, brings 35 years of experience to her recreational and pre-professional training programs.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_01: With alumni on Broadway, in concert dance companies, and performing in Vegas, CCJ Conservatory prides itself on producing well-rounded and versatile dancers as well as good people.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_03: Hello everyone.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_03: Welcome to this week's episode of Making the Income.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_03: I'm your host, Courtney Ortiz, and I'm here with my co-host, Leslie Mueller.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_03: Hey Courtney, how are you doing?
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_03: I'm good.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_03: How are you?
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_01: I'm great.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_01: I'm looking forward to this episode.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_01: We have such an awesome guest, and I can't wait for people to hear all about their studio.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, this is our final studio spotlight of season four.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_03: Can't believe we're already here.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_03: And I also am excited for this one.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_03: Can't wait to hear all about their studio.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_03: I know all of our fans have been loving the studio spotlights, and we love them too.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_03: And we will be continuing them on into season five next year as well.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_03: We're gonna jump right on in.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_03: And before we jump into our episode this week, we want to tell you about our sponsor, Apollo Performance Wear.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_03: Are you looking for the perfect gift for your dancer this season?
• 1:34
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• 1:37
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• 1:40
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• 1:52
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• 1:57
  SPEAKER_03: Grab your new pair of dance compression socks now by using our exclusive podcast promo code.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_03: Use the code IMPAT10INALCAPS at checkout to receive 10% off your order at ApolloPerformance.com.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_03: Dance longer, dance stronger with Apollo Performance.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_01: And we are excited to continue our popular Making the Impact Judges Choice Awards into the 2023 season.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_01: At every IDA affiliated event, your IDA judges will select one dance that they felt made an impact in the entire event.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_01: We have a few to award and to shout out today.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_01: So first up, we want to say congratulations to Tara No Malley for her solo Crimea River from Bridget's Dance Studio in Braintree, Massachusetts.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_01: She performed at Spirit of Dance Awards event in Framingham, Massachusetts.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_03: From the Streets Dance Conventions event in San Marcos, Texas, congrats to Rise Dance Collective at the Dance Spot from Round Rock, Texas, for their small group, Lookout.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_01: And congratulations to Central Dance Academy from LaMars, Iowa, for their large group, SAX, from Gems Dance Competition in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_03: Congrats to all of our winners, and we hope that your studio will be a recipient of a future Making the Impact Award to hear a studio shout out live on the pod.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_03: All right, listeners, it's time to jump into our final studio spotlight episode of season four.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_03: I hope that you've all been enjoying them.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_03: I know so many fans have reached out saying they love our studio spotlights, and we do too.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_03: We're so glad that we introduced this into the podcast.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_03: And I'm so excited to have our final studio here with us today.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_03: You may know their name as Columbia City Jazz, but a few years back they switched the name to CCJ Conservatory.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_03: Their students have gone on to have bright professional careers, performing with concert dance companies like the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and Ballet BC on Broadway in the Lion King, Hamilton, Cats, and West Side Story, performing commercially in Vegas productions and touring shows, and also being accepted into prestigious college dance programs.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_03: The artistic director was named one of the top private studio conservatory teachers by Dance Teacher Magazine in 2015.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_03: I'm excited to welcome Dale J.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_03: Lamb to the podcast.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_03: Welcome, Dale.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_00: Hi, Courtney.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_03: Hi, we're so happy to have you here today joining us.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_03: And I know that your studio is based obviously in Columbia, South Carolina, is where your studio is located.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_03: Is that true?
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, and no.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_00: We're in the suburb.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_00: Well, they don't consider themselves a suburb.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_00: We're can we're uh located in the town of Lexington, South Carolina, which is right outside of the city limits.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_04: Got it.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_00: So it's it's it's in Columbia, but it's in cult in Lexington.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_03: Getting super specific.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_03: But South Carolina, we're heading down south today with our studio Spotlight.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_03: So y'all are coming to us from South Carolina.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_03: I love hearing that.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_03: And we're gonna learn all about your studio and your journey as a studio owner.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_03: So we're very happy to have you here as our final studio Spotlight guest.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_03: And to kick things off, do you want to share a little bit more about your background in dance, how you got involved in dance and any professional credits and what eventually led you to studio ownership?
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_00: I think that when parents are so supportive, that's great.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_00: But you can also have parents who are not supportive of your dream, and that drives your dream.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_00: My mother was an immigrant from China and she came over here and wanted to she studied some piano and she sang some.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_00: But she, you know, when she came to this country, you you know, you have to make a living and help the family as uh the rest of the family uh immigrates to America.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_00: Long story short, she wanted all of us to play the piano and be in a chamber orchestra.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_00: So uh the oldest child, my sister, was told uh, you know, was playing the flute.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_00: So she is now uh retired and uh she has a doctorate from Temple University in flute.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_00: My other sister is a oboeist and uh she married a doctor and she lives in Baltimore.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_00: She was a a music teacher for many, many years before she retired.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_00: And she graduated from Peabody Conservatory in Maryland.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_00: And then my brother played the violin for a short time, and I played the cello.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_02: Wow.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_00: So that's what my parents wanted.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_00: All of it.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_00: And I started piano at five, and then I started cello at nine, and I got a cello scholarship from the University of Georgia.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_00: And so in my culture, you know, you listen to your parents, you do what they want you to do.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_00: But since the age of five, I've been dancing and choreographing in the living room.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_00: Oh wow.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_00: Like everything was beautiful at the ballet for those like that.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_00: And but she didn't want me to do that.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_00: And so I think that drove me.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_00: I think I was willful.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_00: And that drove me anyway, jump forward.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_00: I got a I I told my mom I just couldn't stay in cello because a teacher, your teacher finally says in college, you know, you're great at this, you could be wonderful at it, but if your heart is not in it, you need to find your passion.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_00: And I still say that to kids who want to dance, but don't really know if they want to put in the work.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_00: I put in the work for dance.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_00: And I was also fortunate because I could sing.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_00: So I went into musical theater.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_00: Nice.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_00: I graduated with a theater and speech degree from the University of South Carolina.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_00: And then from there, I started working.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_00: I went and did auditions.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I did carowins.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, that was my first job.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_00: And then I did like a USO tour and I got to tour the Mediterranean.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_00: I got to perform in Greece and Italy and Spain, and that was incredible.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_00: I did a show in Norway, uh, but it was a show, uh Godspell for the king.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_00: It was that kind of experience was incredible.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_00: I did commercials, I did singing telegrams.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_00: It sounds like beaches.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_00: I did singing telegrams and tapped.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, I was Dorothy and delivered balloons.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, you do whatever you need to.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I did commercials for Hawaiian Punch.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_00: Cool.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_00: And even though I'm Asian, I was a Polynesian, it was just a lot of things.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_00: I did a movie with Burt Reynolds.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I was an extra, I wasn't one of the stars, but I got to work and I got to live my passion.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_00: But then when I laid my hat down, as we discussed, I just I missed dance.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_00: I went into commercial, like advertising for television.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_00: And it was a great job, but my heart was dead.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_00: And I knew that I needed to leave.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_00: So eventually I left that and a fr and I started dancing and taking class.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_00: And that woman was wonderful, and she said, You should help me with the company.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_00: So I began teaching and assisting her.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_00: That led to a job with William Starrett, who has Columbia City Ballet, uh Professional Ballet Company.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_00: And I was his pre-professional director of the jazz company, and that's where Columbia City Jazz came in.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_00: Oh and then I mean, we that has been around since 1992 that I started teaching for him.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_00: But we officially became a pre-professional 501c3 company in 1999.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_00: Nice and up to now.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_00: So that's a little bit of my history as a dance.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't grow up competing.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_00: I grew up doing musicals.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_00: Like You're a Good Man Charlie Brown, I'm trying to think of Alan Godspell, Leader of the Pack, Company, all of those things.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_00: And I did those.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_00: That's where I got my background in how to set performances.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_00: So the competition world was open to me when I got my job with William, and I went to Showstoppers, the first one.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_00: It was a great experience.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_00: I saw all these kids in.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_00: I was uh I was like, wow, what is this?
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_00: So that's how it started.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_01: It really is a different world when you think about, you know, coming from more of a musical theater background.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_01: You go to a dance competition, especially like back in the 90s, you know, it's a completely different experience.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_00: It is.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_00: It's totally different experience.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_00: So for me, I had to learn that way.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_00: And I have a wonderful little side note.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_00: The first time I choreographed anything, I went to a convention that uh Doug Caldwell rest in peace.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_00: He was such a um he taught me so much.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_00: And his note, I mean, you you need I from the beginning listened to the notes from the judge.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_00: I think you need to start with the kids on the stage.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_00: Because you know, in theater, you could start off stage.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_00: You know?
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_00: And so I I took that down to heart and I started, you should make a little tableau so we know that they're starting then.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_00: Now you could say it starts on the side, Q music to the south person.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_00: But back then he he had great notes.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_00: Like, uh, you need to change formations now.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's been the same formation too long.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_00: So he was the greatest.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_00: I learned so much from his judge's notes.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_03: That's so great to hear.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_03: I love hearing that too.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_03: And especially like it's fun reflecting back because I think people are probably listening saying, Well, why were you, as the choreographer, getting notes about when to change formations?
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_03: Because these days you don't really hear those types of corrections on your judge's critiques.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_03: It's all to the dancers only.
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_03: It's not the dancer that created the transition.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_03: So everyone listening, like Doug Caldwell was giving teacher notes, and Dale became a better choreographer because of the judge's critiques that were delivered and the the type of delivery back then that was a little bit more, you know, open to any type of criticism and not just dancer focused uh corrections only, which is what it's evolved to.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_00: I want to sidestep with this, trying, you know, after 30 years of teaching, I've seen generations of dancers grow up.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_00: I've taught them.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_00: And there are times when you feel that are you still relevant?
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_00: And so I better keep educating myself, working with physicians and physical therapists to understand how to train dancers what will help with their rotation and safely so that you're not hyperextending things that will injure them and they need surgery.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_00: So you have to keep yourself uh updated with even if it's this if it's the same targeted thing you're doing, but it there's so many ways to get out effectively out doing that with a student that will be better for them because everybody's uh physical body is different and you need to work in that space.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_00: But times are different, and so what I wanted to say is kids think that everything that you're saying is a criticism.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_00: Get your sh it the same old like for years.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it'll always be if you were playing family tie survey says, What is the top note that a teacher would give you in a dance rehearsal?
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_00: Ding ding, it would be get your shoulders down, straighten your knees, you're not pointing your feet, things like that.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_00: Right, you're slumping, you're swaying your back.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_00: Those are not really criticisms, but kids nowadays take that.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_00: Like way back in the 90s, they would get upset if you didn't give them a correction.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_00: Correct.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_00: Like you're not seeing me, you're not giving me attention, it's all about this one person.
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, but now when you give it, it kills that, it kills their spirit.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_00: So I had to learn, and I mean, like I said, I've been teaching for 30 years.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_00: I had to say, this is an assessment.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_00: So when you hear something like your shoulders are down, that's an assessment.
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_00: It's not a criticism, but a correction is how to get those shoulders down.
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_00: You need to lengthen your collarbone and engage your core muscles so your posture keeps your shoulders on top of your hips instead of in front of them.
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_00: And so that's a correction.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's information to help you fix it.
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_00: Now, after that, it's up to you to take that information.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_00: But when us, if someone says, if a teacher says, you're not linked, you're not not, you're not, you know, your shoulders are too far forward or your shoulders are slumping or whatever, you got your shoulders in your neck.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_00: That's another one.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_00: Then they don't understand.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_00: And so you can say that, but if there's no information to help them understand, well, if I could do it, I would do it.
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_00: So you give them the information, then you say, now you have the information, right?
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_00: Process it in your body.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_00: Then we can move forward.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_00: So I think we have to make sure as teachers to tell them that it's an assessment of what we see.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_00: No different than if you say, you were not close enough to your partner and she couldn't get to you in a rehearsal.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_00: Right, right.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_00: That's an assessment.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_01: So it doesn't mean you're a bad person.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_01: I think I think sometimes the the kids these days take it so personally, like, well, well, Miss Dale doesn't like me because she told me my shoulders were up in my neck.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_01: No, Miss Dale loves you, and she told you your shoulders were in your neck.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_01: She's helping you.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_00: That's how you're right, Leslie.
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_00: That's how it's translated.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_00: But then if it really, I mean, I don't know.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, eventually, and I've had parents come and say that.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_00: Honestly, I'm gonna be honest.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_00: You don't like my child?
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_00: What?
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_00: No, I love your child.
• 15:59
  SPEAKER_00: She would not be in company, she would not be in this program if I didn't love her and think that there's potential.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_00: What needs to be happen, happening is communication and application.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_00: I must communicate it so that she understands and she must apply it.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_01: Yep, absolutely.
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_00: That means taking the information and not just hearing it.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_00: That means putting it in your body to make that correction.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_00: If she needs, you know, you need a second, I'll give you a minute.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm starting to do that now with like the little ones to train them properly.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, I'll say, all right, what have you heard over and over this week from your ballet teachers and you're still hearing from me?
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_00: And they go silent.
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_00: If you've here heard it, has anyone heard you're not pointing your toe in a ton do?
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_00: And then you say then you say to them, how many more times?
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_00: This is from Denise, how many times do you think that your teacher said it in ballet this week?
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_00: How many times did your modern teacher say it this week?
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_00: How many times did you hear me say it this week?
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_00: Or the other teacher that teaches you say it this week.
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_00: And then I say, let's add all that up.
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_00: How many is that in one week?
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_00: How many times is that in four weeks?
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_00: So how much more time will it take for you to take that correction?
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_00: And so you're not being me.
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_00: You're making them realize I've heard this over and over and over and over and over, this many times at least.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_00: And it really does help.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_00: So then I stop the music if it happens again and I go, I don't really need to tell you this correction, do I?
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_00: And then they fix it.
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_00: So that has that has to happen.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_03: Wow.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_03: I love it.
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, it's so true.
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_03: It's it's so true.
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_03: And I I'm so glad that you shared that because it really does.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, you know, applying the correction dancer is just really it's it's tough to navigate and figure out.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_03: And it's not going to happen instantaneously, but getting that, getting that reminder and being like, oh yeah, okay.
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_03: Because, you know, we have to be so aware of our bodies and there's so many things that we can be thinking about, even on just one thing, a pirouette.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, how many things are we thinking about in our muscle?
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_03: Where's my spa?
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_03: Is my core activated?
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_03: Am I using my plie?
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_03: Is my foot parallel?
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_03: Like so many details that that's why we are there as teachers.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_03: And yes, eventually, by the time you say it 20 times, you hope the the dancer has finally registered the, oh yeah, I'm gonna start pointing my feet.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_00: Um Well, that's that's one of the reasons I went into body works, which is my name for conditioning dancers and the training of dancers muscles and stability.
• 18:33
  SPEAKER_00: First, you start with, in my opinion, and people could disagree, you start with stability, stack the bones.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_00: And then once you stack the bones, now you get the muscles to hold the bones.
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_00: And then so you go in progression.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_00: So I try not to, I've seen my teachers, and I've don't give them 10 different things to remember, they're children.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_00: Now the older you might be able to do that, but there should have been a foundation of the basic things when you started, like what you need.
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_00: Uh like for instance, I said, what are the two things you're gonna need necessary for a basic turn?
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_00: And then they look at you and I go, There's 15 of you in this class, and none of you can answer that.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_00: What do you need to do?
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_00: Then one raises, you got a spot.
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_00: I go, okay, that's one of them.
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_00: What's the other one?
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_00: You've got to plie.
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_00: You've got to plie and you don't go on a straight leg, you don't turn without pleaing to press into the floor.
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_00: So then the next day you reiterate that and say, What are the two things that you need for a turn?
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_00: And if you say it like that and you get your teachers to say it, then they will say, Oh, okay, it's plie and spot.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_00: And so we can't give them, they're going to have overload.
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_00: Right, right.
• 19:49
  SPEAKER_00: So we try if if, and and that's why I go to body words.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, you don't, okay, we need to spot.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_00: So I get these little discs, you know, those Pilates discs that are colored that you slide around.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_00: I hold them up and I go, the first group, if you think you can spot without this disc, let me know.
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_00: So the first group goes, I said, now you hold it up, and the next group goes, because the way I was taught was by Frank Hatchet way back in the day.
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_00: And Frank would say, You can't spot Dale, so you need to put a red plate at the end of the hall in your house.
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_00: And you need to channae down that hall until you can spot.
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_00: But kids don't do that anymore.
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, right.
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_03: They just know it's gonna happen.
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_00: They just expect they think if they walk into class, it's just gonna great dance.
• 20:33
  SPEAKER_00: Some dancers are naturally their bodies are conditioned.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_00: They have a high releve just because their feet are, they have nice arches and ankles.
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_00: And then and they also, I mean, I had a girl who had a six-pack at the age of six.
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my gosh.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_00: She's now dancing in sh in Charleston at college, but she had a six-pack at the age of six.
• 20:53
  SPEAKER_00: She was born that way.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_00: It was genetic.
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_00: But then you have kids who don't have that kind of sin or who don't have that kind of feet.
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_00: And so they think there's something wrong with them.
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_00: So you have to tell them there's nothing wrong with you.
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_00: Your body is working against you, but that doesn't mean it will have to always.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_00: You can recondition your body.
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_00: Let's do that now.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_00: So instead of going, you're doing this, and over and over and saying the same thing, I just say, we're gonna go on the floor, we're gonna fix this.
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we're gonna do this exercise for your feet so that we can get a better relevant.
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_00: So the I just stop and just say, we're gonna have to fix it because they'll hear and they'll nod, yes, and it still is wrong.
• 21:33
  SPEAKER_03: Right, right.
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_03: And then they're practicing it wrong.
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_03: And then it's right, so I go, okay.
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_03: Muscle memory.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_03: Like you're going back to basics with the dancers, which I think is really nice to hear because uh a lot of I you know, and especially as competition judges, and I'm I know you watch a lot of competition, there's a lot of times we see things uh out of studios where dancers are doing things beyond what their what their level is, what their foundational lev level is in that genre.
• 21:59
  SPEAKER_03: So it's
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: refreshing to hear that if you see a skill that you're you're you know passing to a dancer and it's like that releve is just not it it's not high enough yet for this pirouette we gotta go back to basics we gotta go to this foot exercise to get us the strength in our ankles to be able to maintain a high releve and I wish that's right and it's the basic yeah it's the basics in the competition and then I've judged I don't like to judge anymore but I've judged where they allow you unlimited solos so you know you you you you see a kid do four solos and you go the first one was enough because the same problems not that it's not good the same problems are in all four exactly correct no high the relevant isn't high enough the portabras isn't strong enough the musicality is not let's do one solo and really work on it but then again also I don't I'm not really into the solo thing and it being what the solo and getting the trophy and that's your goal is to me is like the trophy is going to validate your your training no what you do in class is going to validate your training the trophy is a dessert yeah at the end it's not at the beginning and a lot of kids even at our school you know I want to do a solo well let's work on this first so I don't know about other studios you can't do a solo unless you're taking regular weekly privates yeah to work on your technique because those solos never do well the parents get mad I paid all this money right for this solo and this costume and my child isn't doing well and it's you know sometimes because they're not they're not given the knowledge prior to that that it isn't the solo that's going to make your child a great dancer.
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_00: Right right it's the training that your child is getting that's going to make the great dancer.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_00: Yes tell them Dale.
• 23:57
  SPEAKER_00: Tell the world Dale It's the truth is I mean when you go I've gone to Juilliard for their auditions for their summer programs and you wear a black leotard, pink tights and a hair and a bun.
• 24:09
  SPEAKER_00: You don't get to wear little sparkly outfits and and do all of this or colored leotards or any of that.
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_00: It's all stripped down to who are you and what can you do in that body?
• 24:19
  SPEAKER_00: And they start with ballet and if you don't make that cut they put it on the door then that gentleman the I mean for the last four times that I've gone it's like if your name's not on there and then he has this meeting with the parents and the teachers a parent said well my daughter's very good at ballet and he goes we don't care.
• 24:36
  SPEAKER_00: That's not what Juilliard is about.
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_00: It's about someone who is good at ballet but wants to be diverse in their styles doing modern things like that.
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_00: So it really doesn't matter we're not looking for ballet dancers.
• 24:47
  SPEAKER_00: We're looking for dancers who can do ballet but they want they can do other things.
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_00: And so those things don't impress them.
• 24:54
  SPEAKER_00: Right right so I mean it's just it's so cut and dry there that's the real world you know your name's not on that list.
• 25:00
  SPEAKER_00: Goodbye.
• 25:00
  SPEAKER_00: It is goodbye come back next time try harder figure out what you need to do and come back and audition again.
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_00: And there's no there's silver there's no triple titane there's no right there's no none of that you don't even get a trophy.
• 25:14
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 25:15
  SPEAKER_00: Your trophy is whether or not you got accepted into that program.
• 25:18
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly yeah you know that that's what I'm trying to build.
• 25:22
  SPEAKER_00: Now is that for everyone no right some parents just want their kids to have a great time and to have something positive in their life which I think is really great.
• 25:33
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah dance does not just teach them steps and dance dance teaches them time management dance teaches them commitment.
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_00: It should teach them commitment oh yeah you want to go to this party but you've got a competition this weekend and you've got it you can't go to that party in the middle of the week.
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_00: We have a rehearsal and you're committed to this dance and it teaches them that all the way through their lives.
• 25:56
  SPEAKER_00: I don't care if they want to be a surgeon it tells them that this is a priority and they learn prioritizing instead of I just want to do whatever I want to do and that makes them a strong stronger human being and a better person in the workforce.
• 26:11
  SPEAKER_00: So dance is not just about dance.
• 26:14
  SPEAKER_00: A parent may just want them to have an outlet for physical fitness which is great so they can breathe they get all this stress out their mental health is better they make friends they can listen to music and move like they wanted to when they were little but they also learn prioritizing and they also learn time management and they also learn you know it's a multitask thing listen to the music hit the beat do this step change direction the arms go here this style is this you know and all of those things are going on so it's a multitasking art form which I think is incredible to give them whether they want to become teachers themselves dancers or actors how many how many famous well I you I used to teach um Andy McDowell's children at a studio.
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_00: I was a master teacher at their studio and Sarah Margaret Qually is now a famous actress and she can dance she's you know triple threat and her sister Rainey also danced.
• 27:14
  SPEAKER_00: So they danced first as young kids and that taught them how to emote and to perform and now they're famous actresses Charlie Steron she was a dancer first and then when Ajorie Hepburn she was a dancer first but then she wasn't able to uh carry on that for some um injury that happened and so now I mean after that she became this award Oscar winning actress so dance teaches you how to just be good a good person a good dancer a good anything because of all the lessons in life that it teaches you.
• 27:52
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah yeah I love it is on that dance floor.
• 27:54
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah I'm curious to hear you know you mentioned that you you know you your recreational program you know you have a lot of parents who want that for their kids in addition to the parents who want and the kids who want you know more of a pre-professional level can you tell us a little bit about how CCJ structures both programs and I know you have a homeschool program that I'd love to hear more about and just kind of how you have all these offerings for different kinds of dancers.
• 28:20
  SPEAKER_00: The first one would be recreational.
• 28:22
  SPEAKER_00: We have a recreational director who has two children and so she's very good with younger kids of four, five, six, seven and they get a taste of what the pre-professional company can do at the recital.
• 28:39
  SPEAKER_00: But we have our own summer show and also we have a Christmas show and I started doing that because we need we are very focused on doing things within our community giving back and that's how I got Daniel who is who was in Cats on Broadway with Andy Blank and Bueller.
• 28:57
  SPEAKER_00: He's been in La La Land.
• 28:59
  SPEAKER_00: I met him in an afterschool program when he was a little boy.
• 29:02
  SPEAKER_00: Wow and I think he's 30 now and then Joshua I met him at an afterschool program I was teaching at Weber Elementary and he's been he's a he's danced with the weekend at the Super Bowl and he's done uh Hairspray live NBC and he's done Glee the old TV show that was there.
• 29:22
  SPEAKER_00: The thing is you've if you're doing things like that, but that whole thing has changed over the years.
• 29:28
  SPEAKER_00: Joshua and Daniel are now 30 years old after school programs are a little bit different now.
• 29:34
  SPEAKER_00: But he started taking dance he saw the company little kids just like him but dancing in an organized ensemble fashion.
• 29:45
  SPEAKER_00: And at six he said I want to do that.
• 29:47
  SPEAKER_00: I said well Joshua if you want to do that you're gonna have to really watch your discipline.
• 29:52
  SPEAKER_00: Because he was an after school kid, you know it's just for fun.
• 29:55
  SPEAKER_00: I said this is a different thing and if you explain it to them then they know but you know the kids we have a Christmas show that gives back to the community but when I was little in our house the Ford kids would do music you know Christmas shows for my parents and it just kind of evolved into that and also as a fundraising effort because we're a not for profit studio of 501c3.
• 30:21
  SPEAKER_00: So any of the profits that come from that's that show go back into the education of the company.
• 30:28
  SPEAKER_00: Great.
• 30:28
  SPEAKER_00: That's awesome.
• 30:29
  SPEAKER_00: So the company does that show and we have invited uh the recreational kids to do one or two pieces like the singing Christmas tree and they're doing little bells.
• 30:38
  SPEAKER_00: It's really cute.
• 30:40
  SPEAKER_00: So they get the bug and then their parents get the bug and they go, we want to have them do a little more we would they're really interested in this.
• 30:47
  SPEAKER_00: They really want to do this.
• 30:49
  SPEAKER_00: And that's how you funnel in children who see it.
• 30:52
  SPEAKER_00: They have to see it and feel it you know that the bug on stage wow you know the lights and all of that and the recreational program does funnel it to some others it does not.
• 31:04
  SPEAKER_00: They just want to do their two three classes a week they enjoy taking the little tap whatnot they love Miss Shannon and and they enjoy it and it's part of their lives but you know company does is an investment just like doing band just like doing basketball team or the football team or the cheerleading or the dance team.
• 31:25
  SPEAKER_00: You have to make a commitment and it's something you have to educate your recreational kids to know.
• 31:32
  SPEAKER_00: So that's that part.
• 31:34
  SPEAKER_00: So they see it and then they decide to join company.
• 31:36
  SPEAKER_00: We also get kids who maybe their studios like Ashley closed for whatever reason the pandemic the studio closed they're looking for something or they've decided they want to go into a concert oriented fashion they have a dream like you know Maya she she l this one girl she's very talented she's 14 she lives in Sumter which is another small town outside of Columbia maybe almost an hour away and she wants to do more and her studio is a wonderful studio because they care about her.
• 32:13
  SPEAKER_00: Would you work with her?
• 32:14
  SPEAKER_00: Would you allow her to do things that don't conflict with us so that she can grow and get where she's going and she's been accepted to the complexions all the complexions summer intenses for the entire summer she's a very talented young girl but to get where she needs to go and where she wants to go is a concert company not a professional commercial dancer.
• 32:38
  SPEAKER_00: So that that track you know ladies is different.
• 32:42
  SPEAKER_00: Sure you have to have a modern background you have to have an extensive ballet background you have to be exposed to you know different styles like Horton and Cunningham and you have to be exposed to Graham and things that commercial competitions don't really step into that track is different and we offer that track.
• 33:06
  SPEAKER_00: So you guys offer modern both yes we have a modern teacher because the first time one of my kids auditioned for the Juilliard summer program and they did the modern which at that time was Horton okay they didn't know what was going on.
• 33:20
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah they made it through the ballet cut and then they didn't make the modern that that trip I went looking for a modern teacher and she teaches Horton and Lamone great but then I bring in guest teachers to come in and do coming Cunningham uh Martha Graham Ross Caden was a member of the Lamone company so I'll bring in master teachers to do workshops of modern because I think I'm the only one that does that other than if you're at the university.
• 33:48
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 33:49
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah we we actually had a whole episode on modern dance earlier this season and it was such an informative and eye-opening discussion for so many because I don't think that a lot of competitive studios really understand why we need modern dance and competitive training because if you want to go into concert dance, even if you want to go into collegiate, if you want to go to a college dance program, you're going to be doing modern so why aren't we preparing our dancers properly on our end in the competitive studio atmosphere to and at least exposing them to it.
• 34:22
  SPEAKER_03: So in those series as a workshop exactly like even like even if your dancer would have taken one Horton class prior to that Juilliard audition they would have felt a little bit more comfortable instead of just bombing it at the audition and saying oh man I didn't even know what modern dance was before this moment.
• 34:38
  SPEAKER_03: But like what a great moment like that's such a great inspiring story for you as the studio owner and educator to say, all right we're shifting gears.
• 34:47
  SPEAKER_03: I gotta make sure I have modern dance in my training because I don't want my kids to miss out on opportunities because of what you weren't will able to provide in those moments.
• 34:55
  SPEAKER_00: That's exactly right.
• 34:56
  SPEAKER_00: And you know one of our dances who an alumni now she got a Ashley Green.
• 35:01
  SPEAKER_00: She's a princess Grace Honoring she got a fellowship and she got her first job with whim with him which is ironic because I used to teach her director a little bit of jazz he was in the ballet company Olivier Weavers he was he was not a child.
• 35:19
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't teach him in that kind of preschool aspect he was a company member with Columbia City Ballet and William wanted to introduce the company to contemporary and jazz that kind of thing.
• 35:31
  SPEAKER_00: And so I did work with Olivier for a little while and your paths will cross so teachers remember whoever you meet it's always good to be positive because he owns whim with him in Seattle Washington and he didn't know when he hired Ashley and she was lucky I mean how many modern dancers get a job right outside of college?
• 35:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah hardly ever but she's got a uniqueness that I can't I can I cultivated but I did not I mean if that's who she is it's the roots of her upbringing the great upbringing her mother and father gave her that how she moves confidently and how she does it that's her.
• 36:08
  SPEAKER_00: But she got that job and from then he put her in for the top 25 in Dance magazine she got that and then the director of Alvin Ailey saw a video on Instagram of her improving and then called her in for an audition and now she's a member of Alvin Ailey.
• 36:27
  SPEAKER_00: Wow she's a member of the main company Alvin Ailey and you know so you never know the direction of a dance dream for a child.
• 36:38
  SPEAKER_00: You know kids, you know you but the thing okay let me stop for a minute and say I talked to a person who wants to get their seven year old she doesn't know she wants to be a professional dancer.
• 36:49
  SPEAKER_00: Of course not she's seven but I have seen in my career kids that have graduated high school come to me and say I can't do this I can't do this I cannot spot you know effectively you know I don't have enough ballet and it's too late unfortunately because when you go to a college audition they already expect you to have a certain degree a level of training and that dream now is unobtainable.
• 37:13
  SPEAKER_00: I mean if you want to dance because you love it as just an adult there are classes for that but if your dream is to become a professional dancer that ship has sailed and so what I try to tell parents don't just go to don't pick your studio just because it's 30 minutes you know not more than 30 minutes away from your house go and look at the the biographies you know the resumes of the teachers find out what they've done have they worked professionally did they get a degree what are the alumni that are coming out of your school what are they doing are they dancing because your seven year old child's dream could turn into a I want to be in complexions or I want to be in NDT and that's not obtainable because the foundation isn't there.
• 38:02
  SPEAKER_00: Yep and we must I'm not saying we do it I'm saying all studios have to I'm not saying oh look at me cow down to us.
• 38:09
  SPEAKER_00: No we must evolve all the studios the way we do things have to evolve and that's how Mike talking about the homeschool program.
• 38:20
  SPEAKER_00: Yes tell us more it if your studio okay so I have a homeschool program that I started in maybe the very first part of 2019 it's it's just finished its fourth year.
• 38:33
  SPEAKER_00: And I did I did it before the pandemic and then when the pandemic came it it picked up but you only have so many kids who want to drive so a lot of these kids they want more ballet they want acro that their studios don't have time to do there's nothing wrong with their studios.
• 38:49
  SPEAKER_01: So did you there was a need for this you were having students come to you saying we want more can you can I take class at 9 a.m like were people asking or did you just have an idea that maybe this might succeed?
• 39:00
  SPEAKER_00: Well Ashley graduated I think in 2016 I mean she's she went to Point Park University.
• 39:08
  SPEAKER_00: So I'd say she's now 24.
• 39:10
  SPEAKER_00: So you're talking about maybe this started me thinking about it because she was a commuter student.
• 39:17
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 39:17
  SPEAKER_00: She was a commuter from Charleston South Carolina which is like two and a half hours away.
• 39:23
  SPEAKER_00: And so to get her education she would have to do it on the weekends.
• 39:26
  SPEAKER_00: So we would have a few classes on Saturdays.
• 39:30
  SPEAKER_00: But then I started thinking you know there are other kids that are homeschooled that really want to work it and I had the boy that is going to USC Kaufman this next this fall he was homeschooled.
• 39:40
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 39:40
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 39:41
  SPEAKER_00: And he wanted to he wanted to train to get more educate you know get more training during the daytime.
• 39:47
  SPEAKER_03: These kids that were homeschooled though sorry to interrupt they were already homeschooled before your program like they just didn't go to public school or did they well Ashley did Ashley went to well she went to a fine arts public high school in in Charleston but because she wanted to be with me she couldn't get training with me unless she got the training on the weekend.
• 40:08
  SPEAKER_00: Got it okay and that would start at the right I need to do something.
• 40:13
  SPEAKER_00: And then Michael living in Batesburg you know he was in school but I then I started having homeschool people that wanted to train well I live so and so and I'm with this studio I just want to train can can I supplement that with you and that was how it was born.
• 40:31
  SPEAKER_00: Wow okay and so most of these kids come from Greenville, North Augusta, Charlotte, you know, aways it's not down the street so well literally right now this year in the fourth year I only have one of my kids who's homeschooled taking it.
• 40:47
  SPEAKER_00: Oh okay the rest of them come from all those other cities and they are loyal and affiliated with their studios there's no oh why don't you come to my studio kind of thing.
• 40:59
  SPEAKER_00: It's a homeschool program and they're like the Breakfast Club.
• 41:03
  SPEAKER_02: They love each other.
• 41:04
  SPEAKER_00: Oh yeah they love each other they all they're like unicorns who want the same thing.
• 41:09
  SPEAKER_00: You know you've got I mean I would say every studio in America including mine you've got some that are committed some that are really really committed and some that say they're committed but they're not quite sure they're committed you know and so you've got this mash podge and it's been that way forever.
• 41:24
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah you know and I remember with Sydney she's the one that went to ballet BC and she's in a European ballet uh contemporary ballet company now in Hungary.
• 41:34
  SPEAKER_00: Wow she wants to dance in Europe she when she graduated I'll never forget the story she's gonna get so mad at me if anybody brings it up to her she was having a private and she just started crying and she I sat on the floor and I held her and she goes you know this is all I know and this is what I've been doing and I'm gonna miss it so much and and I looked at her and she was scared.
• 41:59
  SPEAKER_00: She didn't know what the future meant.
• 42:01
  SPEAKER_00: She's not the only one that felt this way but this is the first time I it's happened since then with several and I said you are a unicorn you will go to a place where everyone's a unicorn you she was she went to USC Kaufman too.
• 42:15
  SPEAKER_00: I said you'll go in as a freshman over there and you'll be in a dance program where everybody wants the same thing that you want and you will not feel alone or you know one of a few I mean even if you have a senior company of 35 you're gonna probably maybe have 10 maybe 15 you're lucky if you have half that are that committed right that want to dance not go to the prom.
• 42:41
  SPEAKER_00: Yep they want to go to concept I want to dance yeah I want to you know I want to dance or even just masterclass right I'm not dancing I'm bored this is spring break I don't need to go to the beach I want to dance.
• 42:54
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah those are few.
• 42:56
  SPEAKER_00: Right and so I told her I said it's going to open up a brand new world for you and you're going to love it.
• 43:03
  SPEAKER_00: And those homeschool kids are those unicorns they want it so bad.
• 43:08
  SPEAKER_00: They all know that they want to be professional dancers and if they don't want to be professional dancers for now like I've said one girl I don't know if I want to be a professional dancer.
• 43:17
  SPEAKER_00: I might want to be a broadcaster and I go fine make your dream whatever it is but right now your dream at the age of 14 is that you're dancing and if you're gonna do it do it with gusto do it with passion believe in what you're doing commit to it you're a good person you know what it takes to be good at doing whatever it is schoolwork being a good friend being a good dancer so if you're gonna do it then do it.
• 43:43
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah for now yeah right you don't need to think you know eight years down the line you need to do it now because that's the choice you made today March April sorry April 18th and that's what you want to do.
• 43:59
  SPEAKER_00: So be the good Person and do the right thing.
• 44:01
  SPEAKER_00: And she listened because I did it with heart and positivity.
• 44:05
  SPEAKER_00: I said, it doesn't matter if you don't know you want to be a professional dancer.
• 44:09
  SPEAKER_00: I don't expect that from you.
• 44:10
  SPEAKER_00: What I do expect is that right now, today, at this time, you are dancing.
• 44:16
  SPEAKER_00: And if you're gonna do it, why do it half butt?
• 44:19
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 44:20
  SPEAKER_00: Give it everything and give it your best, and you have no regrets.
• 44:23
  SPEAKER_04: Right.
• 44:24
  SPEAKER_00: And that's gonna teach you to be a self-reliant person and not make excuses.
• 44:34
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• 44:42
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• 44:46
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• 44:51
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• 44:57
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• 45:03
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• 45:10
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• 45:16
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• 45:25
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• 45:32
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• 45:42
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• 45:50
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• 45:57
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• 46:02
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• 46:09
  SPEAKER_03: And the other thing that's important as well is that your studio is providing the opportunity for her to go in whatever direction she wants to based on the training that was received.
• 46:19
  SPEAKER_03: So the the work that she that the any dancer is putting in at any studio, we would hope that that could lead them into if they want to become a professional, they should have had from age three to 17 when they graduate the proper quality training that will allow them to go in that pathway.
• 46:38
  SPEAKER_03: The thing that really upsets me a lot with what a lot of studios say in the industry is, oh, well, they're not going to be a professional dancer.
• 46:46
  SPEAKER_03: But you can't, I don't think that it's fair for studio owners to approach it like that because we should still be offering the same quality training to a dancer who's going to become a broadcaster or a dancer that's going to become a professional.
• 46:59
  SPEAKER_03: They shouldn't have to sacrifice the quality because the studio is just like, oh, I don't really train professionals and no one's ever gone on to be a professional.
• 47:08
  SPEAKER_03: And that goes back to what you said earlier, Dale, about making sure that parents are doing the research, not just going to the closest studio down the down the block if they don't have the credentials.
• 47:18
  SPEAKER_03: What are the alumni doing?
• 47:19
  SPEAKER_03: What have the teachers are the teachers continuing to educate themselves like you, who are working with physical therapists still and still going, attending, you know, teacher seminars?
• 47:29
  SPEAKER_03: Like that's the type of training that parents should want to invest into their kids because then it it opens up their opportunities to more possibilities than just saying, Well, I didn't really get that great of training at my studio because I just went to Dolly Dinkle down the street and they didn't believe in me becoming a professional.
• 47:48
  SPEAKER_03: So I guess I have to become a surgeon, you know, whatever it is.
• 47:51
  SPEAKER_00: Like Yeah.
• 47:53
  SPEAKER_00: But I think the parents need to be educated, and I think it's up to the teachers because the parents are parents.
• 47:57
  SPEAKER_00: It's not their responsibility to know that.
• 48:00
  SPEAKER_00: Now, if they're watching this podcast, they're gonna start thinking.
• 48:03
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, like when you go to a doctor, do you not do the research, the referral, do you not go through the referral?
• 48:09
  SPEAKER_00: And if each studio, I like if you're if your goal is I want my kid to have fun in high school, I want her to dance, I want her to be with her friends, then that's fine.
• 48:19
  SPEAKER_00: Because the schools need to brand their studios in that this is fun, this is what we do.
• 48:26
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, we focus on competition, that's not a bad thing, and I'm not saying that.
• 48:30
  SPEAKER_00: But if that's not what you want, that's not what I wanted for us.
• 48:33
  SPEAKER_00: I wanted to say, it's what are you gonna do after?
• 48:37
  SPEAKER_00: And if you're not gonna do anything after, what can it give you now if you come to us in making you a better person and a better human being and learning time management and discipline?
• 48:46
  SPEAKER_00: And so I think it's important for us to educate them through social media, through advertising, through everything, what we actually are and what we do instead of what it's been for the last 25 years.
• 48:59
  SPEAKER_00: We've been doing this, we've been doing that, because it's changing.
• 49:03
  SPEAKER_00: This homeschool program is not about trying to recruit students.
• 49:08
  SPEAKER_00: It isn't at all.
• 49:09
  SPEAKER_00: It's never talked about.
• 49:10
  SPEAKER_00: We don't talk about their studios.
• 49:12
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, their studios say, I want you to go, I want you to, because we make them better for them, because they're taking more dance or supplementing something that they don't have time because every school has an agenda.
• 49:25
  SPEAKER_00: And one of my best friends owns a studio in Charlotte.
• 49:28
  SPEAKER_00: She probably is one of three people that are my best friends.
• 49:32
  SPEAKER_00: And she has a girl that comes and has come for the last four years because there is no poaching.
• 49:37
  SPEAKER_00: There's not me saying, you know, why don't you come to me?
• 49:40
  SPEAKER_00: Because they live far away.
• 49:42
  SPEAKER_00: It's just to say, I want to promote you.
• 49:45
  SPEAKER_00: I want you to be able to be promoted in your training and that your studios see that the impact is making a great effect on the improvements that you have made through doing this thing.
• 49:57
  SPEAKER_00: And then we thank them for their support.
• 50:00
  SPEAKER_00: So that, you know, like I said, I have one child in, and the rest of them come from all kinds of different studios, but they all are there for the same reason.
• 50:08
  SPEAKER_00: Just like, you know, when I was in New York, it was, you know, you go and you take this class because you like this teacher at Steps.
• 50:15
  SPEAKER_00: But then you'll go over here and you'll go to Broadway Dance Center.
• 50:18
  SPEAKER_00: And the people would choose.
• 50:19
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not sure that that's not going to be something that kids do because they're already doing it with ballet.
• 50:25
  SPEAKER_00: If the studio doesn't do enough ballet, and I'll say that Sydney did it, we we make them take, let's see.
• 50:31
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, tell us how much how much ballet do does your like competitive company pre-pro students take a week.
• 50:38
  SPEAKER_00: It's five to five and a half hours of ballet a week.
• 50:41
  SPEAKER_00: And so she wanted more because she was a unicorn, right?
• 50:46
  SPEAKER_00: So she took at another studio nearer to her house and she supplemented it.
• 50:51
  SPEAKER_00: I was never threatened by that.
• 50:53
  SPEAKER_00: She supplemented it when she was in high school.
• 50:56
  SPEAKER_00: If everybody communicates with everybody else and everybody knows their place, then it's up to the consumer or the parent or the child to decide how their dream needs to be directed.
• 51:08
  SPEAKER_00: And they choose.
• 51:10
  SPEAKER_00: They choose instead of us choosing.
• 51:12
  SPEAKER_00: And so what we're just trying to do is just make better dancers and give them opportunities because we do bring in guest choreographers.
• 51:19
  SPEAKER_00: Some studios are not big enough to do that.
• 51:21
  SPEAKER_00: I get that.
• 51:22
  SPEAKER_00: And so what we do is we bring them in and we open every single master class to outside people because it's it's training.
• 51:31
  SPEAKER_00: Training doesn't have politics.
• 51:33
  SPEAKER_00: Training is training.
• 51:35
  SPEAKER_00: There's no politics.
• 51:36
  SPEAKER_00: It's just one dancer standing next to a dancer wearing whatever dance clothes on a dance floor in front of a master teacher.
• 51:43
  SPEAKER_00: Everybody is going to absorb whatever they put in in that class.
• 51:48
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't matter what studio they go to.
• 51:51
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't matter what they've won.
• 51:53
  SPEAKER_04: Yep.
• 51:53
  SPEAKER_00: Because in that room nobody cares.
• 51:56
  SPEAKER_00: You're just a body moving in motion.
• 51:59
  SPEAKER_00: Oof.
• 52:00
  SPEAKER_01: I love it.
• 52:00
  SPEAKER_01: Training.
• 52:01
  SPEAKER_01: I love it.
• 52:02
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 52:02
  SPEAKER_01: I love it.
• 52:03
  SPEAKER_01: I just love that.
• 52:03
  SPEAKER_01: And I think, I think you're right.
• 52:05
  SPEAKER_01: I think you have a very uh forward-thinking way of thinking about the industry because, you know, not everybody can be everything to everyone.
• 52:15
  SPEAKER_01: Not every studio can do can cater to every single person out there.
• 52:19
  SPEAKER_01: It's just impossible, you know?
• 52:21
  SPEAKER_01: And so to be able to, to allow dancers, especially especially dancers who know what they want, if they want to go be a professional, they they they kind of already know what they need.
• 52:32
  SPEAKER_01: I need more ballet.
• 52:33
  SPEAKER_01: I am wretched at tap.
• 52:34
  SPEAKER_01: I need more tap.
• 52:35
  SPEAKER_01: If you don't offer tap, you can't help me.
• 52:37
  SPEAKER_01: But this person over here can.
• 52:39
  SPEAKER_01: And like you said, that's not even that's not political.
• 52:42
  SPEAKER_01: If you don't have a tap program, you don't have a tap program.
• 52:44
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 52:44
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 52:45
  SPEAKER_01: It's and you know, and if that is not your focus, you can't be everything to everyone.
• 52:48
  SPEAKER_01: So that kid's gonna have to go somewhere else to get the training they need to do the thing they want to do.
• 52:54
  SPEAKER_01: And and I think you're right that that's gonna have to happen everywhere across the board now because we are, we are post-pandemic, we are post, you know, every everybody I think these days in all aspects of life has really sat down and realized I can I can control my destiny because there's so many more opportunities now.
• 53:13
  SPEAKER_01: There are things like CLI studios, there are things, you know, where you can get on Zoom with a teacher from New York City if you're in the middle of nowhere, Iowa, and you can get the training you need.
• 53:23
  SPEAKER_01: It's all available to us.
• 53:24
  SPEAKER_01: And it's just a matter of, like you said, being strong in what you do as a studio owner and studio director and say, you know what, we offer this, and I can help you if you need my help, and I will allow you to go elsewhere if you need somebody else's help.
• 53:39
  SPEAKER_01: You know, that's just the community aspect of what we do too.
• 53:42
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's more in with the the studio cannot be afraid of allowing someone to go and take a class at another studio if, say, they're bringing someone in and that person really loves that style.
• 53:57
  SPEAKER_00: And maybe we, you know, have uh three contemporary choreographers to one hip-hop.
• 54:03
  SPEAKER_00: And so they want to take that hip-hop class.
• 54:06
  SPEAKER_00: There should be no fear that they're gonna go to that studio.
• 54:10
  SPEAKER_00: If there is a fear, then we need to address it with our kids and our parents, communication with our parents, even though it may be tough.
• 54:19
  SPEAKER_00: At times, studio owners don't like that confrontation, but maybe if it's done with respect and with love and with heart and honesty, like you said, Leslie, we don't have this program and have a strong enough teacher for this, but we have this and this and this that you're getting.
• 54:38
  SPEAKER_00: So if you want to supplement that, let's try to find a way that you can supplement that.
• 54:43
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, there's no problem with it.
• 54:46
  SPEAKER_00: If everybody knows what everybody is doing, because eventually those kids are gonna do that anyway.
• 54:51
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 54:51
  SPEAKER_00: If they're that determined and want to dance, they're gonna go pick up whatever it is at XYZ Ballet School, you know, Charlotte Ballet, they're gonna go there.
• 55:01
  SPEAKER_00: And it seems that could competition studios or studios, I don't want to say competition, but just studios in general, that don't do specifically ballet, just ballet, they're not threatened when their kids go to a ballet school.
• 55:15
  SPEAKER_01: Right, right, right.
• 55:16
  SPEAKER_00: But if it's tap, then yeah, it's a big deal.
• 55:18
  SPEAKER_00: And if it's if it's if if maybe it's modern, they don't really want them to do it.
• 55:23
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know why.
• 55:24
  SPEAKER_00: But I just think it comes down to communication and love and respect.
• 55:28
  SPEAKER_00: If I feel that one of my kids is unhappy, okay, I will go into this.
• 55:33
  SPEAKER_00: Because I have to be honest, because these podcasts are not just, you know, the glossy picture over the the printing.
• 55:40
  SPEAKER_00: I had a child that I raised that she started at six.
• 55:44
  SPEAKER_00: For whatever reason, four years ago, she had a family or something at another competitive studio.
• 55:52
  SPEAKER_00: And what I mean by competitive studio is that it was in near our area, close to our area.
• 55:57
  SPEAKER_00: And she went there and it broke my heart.
• 56:00
  SPEAKER_00: Now, for me, it broke my heart more so I can just I don't mind telling you because most people know.
• 56:05
  SPEAKER_00: I tried to have children and I couldn't.
• 56:07
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 56:08
  SPEAKER_00: And so my studio is a labor of love.
• 56:11
  SPEAKER_00: It's what my husband and I feel are our legacy.
• 56:14
  SPEAKER_00: We don't have a child, but the studio is our legacy.
• 56:18
  SPEAKER_00: And so it takes a little bit different approach because I just tell the parents, I share your child children with you.
• 56:25
  SPEAKER_00: They are my children too.
• 56:26
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 56:27
  SPEAKER_00: And so she left and went there, and it broke my heart.
• 56:31
  SPEAKER_00: After the second year, I mean it was really tough.
• 56:34
  SPEAKER_00: And after the second year, something came over me and said, you know, if you really love her and that's what makes her happy and that's what she needs, you need to allow her to be there.
• 56:44
  SPEAKER_00: And my dog, my dog passed away, uh, and she wrote me because her mother, she would come over to the house sometimes.
• 56:53
  SPEAKER_00: Her mother is a gourmet cook and would make things for me and bring it to the house.
• 56:58
  SPEAKER_00: And she said, I'm sorry, I haven't been in touch with you in a long time.
• 57:01
  SPEAKER_00: I really love you, and I'm so sorry that you know, Zoe died.
• 57:05
  SPEAKER_00: That was my dog.
• 57:06
  SPEAKER_00: And she said, I wish that I had gotten in touch with you.
• 57:08
  SPEAKER_00: And that's when I said to her, I love you and I will always love you.
• 57:12
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm just glad you're dancing.
• 57:14
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I'm just glad if if it's not going to be with me, I'm just glad you're dancing.
• 57:18
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 57:19
  SPEAKER_00: And it took that release of the pain and how could you leave me?
• 57:23
  SPEAKER_00: Blah, blah, blah, blah.
• 57:25
  SPEAKER_00: Well, she came back this year.
• 57:27
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, wow.
• 57:28
  SPEAKER_00: She said, I realized what you gave me.
• 57:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 57:31
  SPEAKER_00: And I want that back.
• 57:33
  SPEAKER_00: And so she's back with us, and you know, everything is just great.
• 57:36
  SPEAKER_00: I said, Of course, I would love to have you back.
• 57:38
  SPEAKER_00: I never discussed what happened or why she left.
• 57:41
  SPEAKER_00: I think she just got homesick.
• 57:43
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 57:43
  SPEAKER_00: But sometimes you have to look at the grass and see if it really is greener on the other side.
• 57:48
  SPEAKER_00: And then finding out that what you always needed was what you had.
• 57:52
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 57:52
  SPEAKER_00: And so she's with us again and she's happy.
• 57:55
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, it happens.
• 57:57
  SPEAKER_00: It happens in every studio.
• 57:59
  SPEAKER_00: So if one of my kids wanted to go to another studio, somebody over there shouldn't have to tell me.
• 58:05
  SPEAKER_00: Once the child and the family decide to leave, they'll tell you.
• 58:08
  SPEAKER_00: We don't need to get into this politics.
• 58:11
  SPEAKER_00: You know, if somebody wants Denise Wall always told me, and I've lived by her words, because she is the queen, the diva to me.
• 58:19
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, you get people that come from other studios and want to talk to you, and or they'll see you at a convention and they want to talk to you.
• 58:26
  SPEAKER_00: I think I've made a mistake.
• 58:29
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I've gone to the studio, uh, I should have really talked to you first.
• 58:33
  SPEAKER_00: And so Denise said, rule of thumb, if somebody talks to you at a convention, if a parent comes and talks to you at a venture, you look at them lovingly and say, I think that's great that you're interested.
• 58:43
  SPEAKER_00: But right now you're dancing for this person.
• 58:47
  SPEAKER_00: And because of that, I don't think it's appropriate for us to talk about it here.
• 58:51
  SPEAKER_00: If you still feel this way, come and see, you know, make a visit to the studio and we can talk about what we do when you come.
• 58:58
  SPEAKER_00: And she said, Dale, if they come into your door, you should be able to say, This is what we do.
• 59:04
  SPEAKER_00: You talk about what you do.
• 59:05
  SPEAKER_00: You don't ask them what why they're there.
• 59:08
  SPEAKER_00: You don't ask what happened, you just talk about what you do.
• 59:12
  SPEAKER_00: And that's up to them to decide if they want to come or if they don't.
• 59:16
  SPEAKER_00: And that's what I've done my whole life since she told me that.
• 59:19
  SPEAKER_00: We don't talk about it at a convention.
• 59:21
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 59:22
  SPEAKER_00: I wait, and then if you decide you want to come and talk to me, then you come in the door.
• 59:26
  SPEAKER_00: And that way it's the consumer making the choice.
• 59:29
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 59:29
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, you don't think that people decide to go to McDonald's and then decide that they want to go to, you know, Longhorn Steakhouse.
• 59:36
  SPEAKER_00: They make a change, they know the difference, whatever it is.
• 59:40
  SPEAKER_00: This offers quick food, fast, service, you're on the go.
• 59:44
  SPEAKER_00: This one is a sit-down meal, you know, and so you you know what the difference is.
• 59:49
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 59:50
  SPEAKER_00: And so I just think it's important that we communicate with our people if we feel that there's something wrong.
• 59:58
  SPEAKER_00: If there is something, then we need to listen.
• 1:00:00
  SPEAKER_00: I have a, and it might help other teachers, I have a parent advocate, and she's the one.
• 1:00:05
  SPEAKER_00: If they have a problem, they go to her because she's experienced it with her child that has gra is graduating.
• 1:00:13
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 1:00:13
  SPEAKER_00: And so she could say, Well, this is what you have to consider.
• 1:00:17
  SPEAKER_00: This is their side of it.
• 1:00:19
  SPEAKER_00: And then if they still need a meeting with me, then she's there and she knows what's going on, and the three of us sit down and we talk about it.
• 1:00:25
  SPEAKER_00: And that's the only thing you have to do.
• 1:00:27
  SPEAKER_00: That because if you say, I don't have time to do this, I don't, then make someone that's your advocate that would understand your side and is a parent that's gone through this, be the first step.
• 1:00:39
  SPEAKER_00: And then if that doesn't work, then you talk to them.
• 1:00:42
  SPEAKER_00: And then just be brutally honest with not brutally, that's not lovingly honest about, you know, well, we we can't do that.
• 1:00:50
  SPEAKER_00: One, a we're too small to do that, or a we're too big to do that, and I wish we could do that.
• 1:00:56
  SPEAKER_00: So let's try to find something we can do so you know that I've heard you, and I'm can possibly do that because we can't do what this studio does because they're too small or they're too big.
• 1:01:11
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I'm saying?
• 1:01:12
  SPEAKER_00: So you just have to talk about it.
• 1:01:14
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:01:14
  SPEAKER_00: I hope that helps.
• 1:01:16
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, communication is is a hundred percent.
• 1:01:18
  SPEAKER_00: And with studio owners.
• 1:01:19
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 1:01:20
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 1:01:20
  SPEAKER_01: Communication.
• 1:01:21
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, absolutely.
• 1:01:22
  SPEAKER_01: Well, because I think there there does become times, you know, my mother owns a studio in Georgia and for 35 years also, and has always experienced, you know, parents and kids, they never want to come to her.
• 1:01:36
  SPEAKER_01: You know, they're they always they're talking over here and they're talking over there and they're talking to Miss So-and-so, and they're and my mom is the last person who knows as a studio owner.
• 1:01:44
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that's that is something, you know, from the get-go, you have to make sure to let everybody know.
• 1:01:50
  SPEAKER_01: Like, come, come to the like chain of command is a thing, you know, and your chain of command is parent advocate first and then the director.
• 1:01:58
  SPEAKER_01: Like, don't let it, don't let it fester, you know, any problems that you're having within, you know, smaller sanctions of the studio.
• 1:02:05
  SPEAKER_01: Like it needs to go to the right person, otherwise, you're not going to get the answers you need, you know, if you're just whispering over here or you're whispering over there.
• 1:02:11
  SPEAKER_01: Like, no, parent advocate first for y'all.
• 1:02:13
  SPEAKER_01: And then it can escalate if it needs to.
• 1:02:16
  SPEAKER_00: Also, um, the parents and the dancers need to know are you venting?
• 1:02:21
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 1:02:22
  SPEAKER_00: Or are is this a problem?
• 1:02:24
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 1:02:24
  SPEAKER_00: Are you venting?
• 1:02:26
  SPEAKER_00: So if you're venting, I ignore that.
• 1:02:28
  SPEAKER_00: If you got a problem, then you should go to the source and get it taken care of so you don't create trauma.
• 1:02:34
  SPEAKER_01: Well, and if you're looking for a solution, like you said, venting, venting isn't looking for a solution.
• 1:02:38
  SPEAKER_01: And if you just want to vent, you just want to vent.
• 1:02:41
  SPEAKER_01: But if you if you're looking to actively say, How can you help me?
• 1:02:45
  SPEAKER_01: How can I help you?
• 1:02:46
  SPEAKER_01: Then that is that's an actionable thing, you know.
• 1:02:48
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that's also a really good point.
• 1:02:50
  SPEAKER_01: You know, we don't, I I can't listen to you vent, because otherwise I'd just sit here all day, all day long.
• 1:02:55
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 1:02:55
  SPEAKER_01: All day because everybody's got something to vent about.
• 1:02:57
  SPEAKER_01: But like if you want to find a solution, then let's talk because I might have a solution for you.
• 1:03:02
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 1:03:03
  SPEAKER_00: So that too.
• 1:03:04
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:03:05
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 1:03:05
  SPEAKER_03: This is I I love everything you're saying, Dale.
• 1:03:08
  SPEAKER_03: This is so, so helpful.
• 1:03:10
  SPEAKER_03: And I'm sure everyone listening is loving uh this chat.
• 1:03:13
  SPEAKER_03: And sort of wrap up our our discussion and everything we learned about your studios programs.
• 1:03:19
  SPEAKER_03: We learned about your whole homeschooling program.
• 1:03:21
  SPEAKER_03: When it comes to competitive dance specifically, and I know that you y'all compete, you go to conventions.
• 1:03:27
  SPEAKER_03: Can you tell us a little bit more about that?
• 1:03:29
  SPEAKER_03: You said you didn't grow up competing, so and you were introduced into the competition world in the 90s from Showstopper.
• 1:03:36
  SPEAKER_03: So when Columbia City Jazz, CCJ was started back in 1999, did you jump full swing right into competitions, or was it an evolution of a gradual, let's add some comps?
• 1:03:47
  SPEAKER_03: And then how has that changed through the years?
• 1:03:50
  SPEAKER_03: Have you restructured to go more towards c convention competitions?
• 1:03:54
  SPEAKER_03: Did you always do conventions?
• 1:03:55
  SPEAKER_03: Tell us like how many you go to in a season, more on the competition side of things.
• 1:04:00
  SPEAKER_00: Well, when we started and we went to showstoppers, all we did was competition.
• 1:04:03
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't think there was any of these conventions, honestly, at the time when that was going on.
• 1:04:09
  SPEAKER_00: And that was a foolhardy thing to do.
• 1:04:11
  SPEAKER_00: I would not suggest that to anyone.
• 1:04:13
  SPEAKER_00: If you've never done anything in your life in this respect, you should do your research and possibly, you know, maybe you start with some shows or something instead of going back because you're going up against like Canadians that are just serious as you know, everything.
• 1:04:28
  SPEAKER_00: And we were this little school with this little group of misfits.
• 1:04:32
  SPEAKER_00: And so, of course, the kids did not do well that first year.
• 1:04:35
  SPEAKER_00: And and you just you keep going.
• 1:04:37
  SPEAKER_00: And um, I don't know I how it I mean that was so long ago now, but and we started going to conventions where the judges you we would decide to go to those conventions based on the comments that the judges gave.
• 1:04:49
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I gotta bring up Jackie Slane.
• 1:04:52
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:04:53
  SPEAKER_00: She's she's incredible.
• 1:04:55
  SPEAKER_00: But this is back in the day, and one of my dearest friends is Rhythm Dance Center in Atlanta, Georgia.
• 1:05:01
  SPEAKER_00: Becca and Danny, I've known them for a long time.
• 1:05:03
  SPEAKER_00: We have known each other for many, many years.
• 1:05:06
  SPEAKER_00: And uh we went to LA.
• 1:05:08
  SPEAKER_00: I'm sorry, I gotta bring it up because it's positive, it's a positive thing to bring up.
• 1:05:12
  SPEAKER_00: It was LA dance magic.
• 1:05:14
  SPEAKER_00: It was back when Daniel and Joshua were little kids, so they were maybe around 11, 12 years old back then.
• 1:05:20
  SPEAKER_00: And back in Danny, and you know, it even the you know what rhythm is now is not what rhythm was then.
• 1:05:26
  SPEAKER_00: No, they were still not what we are now.
• 1:05:28
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 1:05:29
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, we can we competed against rhythm back in the back in the day.
• 1:05:32
  SPEAKER_01: Like I know rhythm.
• 1:05:33
  SPEAKER_01: Rhythm rhythm was the place to be.
• 1:05:35
  SPEAKER_00: Well, they also have a really healthy attitude towards competition, and that's why I guess we're friends.
• 1:05:42
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but anyway, so they had a boy, I can't remember his name, maybe it was Eli.
• 1:05:49
  SPEAKER_00: Eli now works her CNN, but anyway, yeah, I think it was Eli.
• 1:05:54
  SPEAKER_00: Anyways, they had a piece.
• 1:05:56
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so when you went to LA Dance Magic, she would watch all of the Pieces.
• 1:06:00
  SPEAKER_00: And then at the end, she would have a teacher Jackie talk where she would critique them as the director of LA Dance Magic.
• 1:06:10
  SPEAKER_00: And so what she would do is she'd say, okay, well, Dale, you shouldn't give them a 3-4 signature, a waltz time piece.
• 1:06:19
  SPEAKER_00: If children that age don't get the swing of waltz time, you should do a four or four time because the musicality was not good.
• 1:06:28
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 1:06:29
  SPEAKER_00: And she would tell me things.
• 1:06:30
  SPEAKER_00: So I mean, I took that into consideration.
• 1:06:33
  SPEAKER_00: And the next thing, I changed the music and went to a four-four time and redid this the piece to go four or four time.
• 1:06:40
  SPEAKER_00: I'll never forget it.
• 1:06:42
  SPEAKER_00: She said, Becca and Danny, if you're going to put, and I learned this for me, you know, it's it's that whole thing we try to teach kids, take the correction that somebody else gets because you may need it.
• 1:06:52
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 1:06:53
  SPEAKER_00: And she said, if you're going to put somebody like him in the middle of the piece and make him the catalyst of the piece, the center of the piece, then that person needs to shine.
• 1:07:04
  SPEAKER_00: Because if they don't know how to do that, it's a blank spot in the middle of the stage.
• 1:07:09
  SPEAKER_00: And she was honest about it.
• 1:07:11
  SPEAKER_00: And they didn't take it offensively.
• 1:07:12
  SPEAKER_00: They go, okay, all right.
• 1:07:14
  SPEAKER_00: Like, you know, he's got to step up if he's going to be the lead.
• 1:07:18
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 1:07:18
  SPEAKER_00: And I say that now, even when, like, if we have a piece and there's a boy in it with a whatever, you know, what he's doing, and I'll go, listen, we cannot do this if you're not going to step up because there's just a big hole in that space.
• 1:07:31
  SPEAKER_00: Even if it's a ballet piece where there was there's a piece this year where uh there's a pause in the music in the ballet, and this one it's called when the leaves fall.
• 1:07:41
  SPEAKER_00: And so this one smaller ballerina, she feel like travels through like a little leaf that floats in the wind.
• 1:07:50
  SPEAKER_00: And I said to her when I was working in her private, I said, okay, let's go to your your solo section.
• 1:07:54
  SPEAKER_00: She goes, I don't have a solo section, didn't even see it.
• 1:07:57
  SPEAKER_00: That was a what do you mean?
• 1:07:59
  SPEAKER_00: And and and the to her, if she wasn't the center, prima ballerina, she didn't see it as a feature.
• 1:08:06
  SPEAKER_00: It is because everybody freezes.
• 1:08:07
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 1:08:08
  SPEAKER_00: She's the only one that moves.
• 1:08:09
  SPEAKER_00: And now she realizes when I said, Do you know that everybody freezes?
• 1:08:12
  SPEAKER_00: And the only thing that people are watching is you.
• 1:08:15
  SPEAKER_00: And then now you could see this light that comes all across her face that she is acknowledged for what she's doing.
• 1:08:22
  SPEAKER_00: But um, that's what I had to tell her.
• 1:08:24
  SPEAKER_00: You look like a blank spot if you don't let your heart come out.
• 1:08:29
  SPEAKER_00: What does it feel to do that movement and be a leaf, a tiny leaf in the air floating in the wind?
• 1:08:35
  SPEAKER_00: And she finally realized this is important.
• 1:08:38
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 1:08:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and it's not everybody's important, but trying to figure out how to tell children that they are important when when they're looking at something and thinking, well, I'm not in the middle, I'm not important.
• 1:08:49
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 1:08:49
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, it's important for us to be able to show them that importance.
• 1:08:54
  SPEAKER_00: But Jackie Sight gave that info and it has helped me through my entire as a director years, years later.
• 1:09:02
  SPEAKER_00: So I loved that about her convention.
• 1:09:05
  SPEAKER_00: We stopped going to competitions because, and I'm not offended, there is a reason for competitions.
• 1:09:12
  SPEAKER_00: Like if you go to a convention, they limit you to X amount of solos.
• 1:09:15
  SPEAKER_00: And if you have kids, you have a large studio and you have a lot of kids that really want to put in the time to train and do their solos, why should they not be picked?
• 1:09:25
  SPEAKER_00: You know, and so competitions give them that chance.
• 1:09:28
  SPEAKER_00: But just for me, and it's just me, I do not feel that this should be like a 10 commandments of competition.
• 1:09:38
  SPEAKER_00: I just came from a of a thing where one day you'll get it, one day you don't.
• 1:09:43
  SPEAKER_00: You know, like you can win and then you can't.
• 1:09:45
  SPEAKER_00: So at a convention, usually they have classes.
• 1:09:49
  SPEAKER_00: And so usually uh you'll you'll you'll compete.
• 1:09:53
  SPEAKER_00: And I have found over the course of many, many years that those, you know, people that compete, maybe they're solo and did well, they are not the ones that necessarily get the scholarships for the work in class.
• 1:10:04
  SPEAKER_00: So if you're a good person that picks up in class and you know how to pick up something really quick and present it, that's for you.
• 1:10:11
  SPEAKER_00: You you know, you can get one of those scholarships.
• 1:10:14
  SPEAKER_00: And so what happens in one thing doesn't happen the next day.
• 1:10:18
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 1:10:18
  SPEAKER_00: And that's why I like the conventions.
• 1:10:20
  SPEAKER_00: So I go to the conventions because of that, because of that classroom kind of atmosphere and how it teaches kids what it's going to be like to audition for Juilliard or what it's gonna be like to audition for complexions or anything like that.
• 1:10:35
  SPEAKER_00: And so that's what I like educationally of conventions, that they have that element.
• 1:10:43
  SPEAKER_00: But on the other side, you know, if kids don't get it, you see kids cry.
• 1:10:47
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, I didn't get this.
• 1:10:49
  SPEAKER_00: And then you have to say, what was your goal?
• 1:10:52
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, if you really wanted to win, if that was it, what what would you needed to have done?
• 1:10:59
  SPEAKER_00: Because you shouldn't want to go back and change anything.
• 1:11:02
  SPEAKER_00: You should move forward in knowing how to fix something.
• 1:11:05
  SPEAKER_00: So if you didn't work hard enough on your solo or you didn't work hard enough in class to be seen or whatever, to get that combo, maybe you should take a couple more classes and learn how to pick up a little bit quicker.
• 1:11:17
  SPEAKER_00: Because that's the only skill that's gonna, I mean, the only thing that's gonna train you to pick up better is to do more combos, is to to work it through your body.
• 1:11:26
  SPEAKER_00: And so they seem to be okay afterwards.
• 1:11:28
  SPEAKER_00: And if they know that it's not my disappointment that they didn't get it, that it's fine just doing it because it's part of what we expect as company members to go through an audition process because you're gonna have to learn to deal with the sting and then the adulation and the sting and the adults, the disappointment and the you know, achievement.
• 1:11:51
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's important for them and if they know that you care, but you know, they will go through slow saying, I don't want to do this anymore because it makes me feel bad.
• 1:11:59
  SPEAKER_00: Well, it makes you feel bad, but you know, what if you go into a job and if you don't get the job, you're gonna feel bad and not work?
• 1:12:06
  SPEAKER_00: So learn to take disappointment and grow from it.
• 1:12:09
  SPEAKER_00: And so, you know, that's that's why I like it.
• 1:12:12
  SPEAKER_00: I think competitions have a good sense of if you have a large studio and you have umpteen different things, you can take those and they can be adjudicated and the teacher or the director can learn from that.
• 1:12:26
  SPEAKER_00: But I just like for people in the industry who are teaching master classes at a convention, that they get to know because um Daniel was growing up, when Daniel was growing up, when he hit 12, I was bringing in Teddy Forrens, who's involved with CLI, and Teddy watched Daniel grow up until he graduated.
• 1:12:47
  SPEAKER_00: And that relationship and seeing the improvement and the work that Daniel would do, Daniel got a scholarship to college, but he was miserable.
• 1:12:54
  SPEAKER_00: He didn't want to go.
• 1:12:56
  SPEAKER_00: And so Teddy took the time to come down and meet with his father and explain to him because his mother had died when he was young, like when he was 14, 15 years old of leukemia.
• 1:13:07
  SPEAKER_00: And so the father was raising the three kids.
• 1:13:10
  SPEAKER_00: And so his father wanted him to go to college, but Teddy assured his father that he would be able to work, and it was through that assurance that his father allowed Daniel to get his dreams.
• 1:13:24
  SPEAKER_00: So Daniel removed himself from that and he did Bad Boys of Dance.
• 1:13:29
  SPEAKER_00: He toured Europe and then he got um he got to the uh finals in So You Think You Can Dance, and from there he got into Shaping Sound, and then from Shaping Sound, he got into Cats, and from Cats he got into Hamilton, and from Hamilton he got into uh Lion King.
• 1:13:46
  SPEAKER_00: You see, this wow from when he was from when he was 12.
• 1:13:51
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, trying to make contact with people in the business, and if you work hard and every time you get in front of them, you realize this is an opportunity to get better, this is an opportunity to grow, not to oh, I gotta be seeing, not that, but I'm going to grow, then those people kind of become mentors for you.
• 1:14:13
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I'm saying?
• 1:14:14
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 1:14:14
  SPEAKER_00: I think uh I've seen in other studios too.
• 1:14:18
  SPEAKER_00: This child and that choreographer knew that child.
• 1:14:21
  SPEAKER_00: And so when that child just turned 18 and wanted to go into dance, and if that kid was ready, they put him in a show dancing behind some vocalist.
• 1:14:31
  SPEAKER_04: You know, it's just that's that's it really is connections, yeah, good work ethic.
• 1:14:36
  SPEAKER_04: Yes, yep, exactly.
• 1:14:38
  SPEAKER_00: Showing up on time, doing the job.
• 1:14:40
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 1:14:41
  SPEAKER_00: They learn that in their secondary schools, and when they go out there, that's what matters.
• 1:14:47
  SPEAKER_00: You can be a great dancer, but if you're late, right, if you don't do the work, if you don't take the corrections from the dance captain, they're gonna fire you.
• 1:14:56
  SPEAKER_00: And that's what we try to teach them.
• 1:14:58
  SPEAKER_00: So competitions we do four.
• 1:15:00
  SPEAKER_00: We do four a year.
• 1:15:02
  SPEAKER_00: We don't do a lot, and we only go to nationals every other year.
• 1:15:06
  SPEAKER_00: Because on the years they don't go to nationals, they do summer programs like Gen 4 or uh they go to complexions or they go to um other other ones, Alonzo King's Lines, and they experience that side of training.
• 1:15:22
  SPEAKER_00: If they don't have the money or they don't can't get into one of those programs, they're too young for whatever, you know, because they're too young.
• 1:15:30
  SPEAKER_00: Then we have a summer program and they're required to do X amount of hours of summer training so that we made the mistake.
• 1:15:38
  SPEAKER_00: I I don't mind telling you our mistakes.
• 1:15:41
  SPEAKER_00: We didn't think that we needed to make a required amount of hours in years past, and they were just kids who were, you know, the ones that I like dancing, I want to dance, but I'm not sure I want to do this, you know.
• 1:15:54
  SPEAKER_00: They wouldn't come during the summer.
• 1:15:56
  SPEAKER_00: So the fall comes, and the people that are trained in all of these camps and did summer training, they're physically not able to keep up with it.
• 1:16:03
  SPEAKER_00: They're huffing and puffing, they're out of shape.
• 1:16:05
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 1:16:05
  SPEAKER_00: And so we decided, no, you're gonna be required to take X amount of hours so that you can come back or you can't come back to company.
• 1:16:13
  SPEAKER_04: Right.
• 1:16:14
  SPEAKER_00: So that's the give and take of that.
• 1:16:16
  SPEAKER_00: But that's only every other year.
• 1:16:18
  SPEAKER_00: Because I want them, because we do do both worlds, commercial world and concert world, the concert world needs a summer for them to be able to experience that.
• 1:16:29
  SPEAKER_00: I love so we only do nationals every year.
• 1:16:32
  SPEAKER_00: I love hearing that.
• 1:16:32
  SPEAKER_03: And I think a lot of people think that's smart.
• 1:16:34
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I think it's really smart, and I think that a lot of studios are kind of shifting gears where, you know, back in the day, everyone used to go to nationals, and now it's like, okay, like we might do like a local one this year, we might do a longer one away next year, or maybe it's only for certain dancers that want to come this year.
• 1:16:47
  SPEAKER_03: That way you can go off and do other opportunities.
• 1:16:50
  SPEAKER_03: Like we've said, there's so many opportunities in the dance world now.
• 1:16:53
  SPEAKER_03: So to be able to have those types of experiences, and even I mentioned on our we did a resume and headshot episode earlier this season, those summer programs can go on your resume.
• 1:17:02
  SPEAKER_03: So why like we need to have let those kids be able to be in them?
• 1:17:07
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, uh, you might want to do a podcast next season and get with somebody.
• 1:17:12
  SPEAKER_00: There are programs for high school kids in Italy to do exchange.
• 1:17:17
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:17:18
  SPEAKER_00: You could, if you're from the States and you want to train in Italy, there are programs there.
• 1:17:24
  SPEAKER_00: And you've got some uh North American choreographers I know, Ethan Colangello, he's gonna be in Italy this summer.
• 1:17:32
  SPEAKER_00: Uh Tys Di Orio, he's gonna be in and in Italy, and they're doing camps there.
• 1:17:38
  SPEAKER_00: And I glanced at one.
• 1:17:40
  SPEAKER_00: I I I I if I can, I'll send you the info.
• 1:17:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:17:43
  SPEAKER_00: But there are people in North America that book a European dance camp where kids who actually have the means or the opportunity to go over there, they can experience something like that in Europe, which will be, I mean, a dream dream camp.
• 1:17:59
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, right.
• 1:18:00
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:18:01
  SPEAKER_00: So look at seeing if you can't do something on that, because I don't think that's something new.
• 1:18:06
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:18:06
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, only professional companies did that before.
• 1:18:10
  SPEAKER_00: But I think they're also doing it for like high school age kids whose parents have a, you know, they have a passport and willing to let them go.
• 1:18:18
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 1:18:19
  SPEAKER_03: That's awesome.
• 1:18:20
  SPEAKER_03: Wow.
• 1:18:20
  SPEAKER_03: Well, this has been so great to learn all about your studio, and you've shared so much advice and wisdom from your years as a studio owner.
• 1:18:29
  SPEAKER_03: I'm sure everyone loved listening to this.
• 1:18:32
  SPEAKER_03: I hope all of our fans loved our Final Studio spotlight of season four.
• 1:18:35
  SPEAKER_03: This is so great.
• 1:18:36
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you so much, Dale, for joining us on the podcast and being such an inspiration.
• 1:18:41
  SPEAKER_03: I hope that our paths cross and maybe we'll get to judge your dancers one day.
• 1:18:45
  SPEAKER_03: Maybe we'll get to teach your dancers one day.
• 1:18:48
  SPEAKER_03: And and I can I'm excited to continue to watch and see like where your dancers go from here.
• 1:18:53
  SPEAKER_03: And thank you for the quality training and all of the opportunities that you're providing to your dancers for our dance community.
• 1:18:59
  SPEAKER_03: It's just so refreshing to hear all about it.
• 1:19:02
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you, Courtney.
• 1:19:03
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 1:19:04
  SPEAKER_03: You are absolutely if you wouldn't mind leading us out with just one bit of advice to the dance world.
• 1:19:10
  SPEAKER_03: You can talk to the other studio owners, you can talk to dance parents, dancers themselves.
• 1:19:15
  SPEAKER_03: Our final thought from Dale Lamb, the artistic director of CCJ Conservatory.
• 1:19:21
  SPEAKER_00: My final thought is something that means a lot to me, and I say it a lot.
• 1:19:25
  SPEAKER_00: It's not the talent that you have, it's the drive in which you do it.
• 1:19:30
  SPEAKER_00: Just like at a bank, you put money in and you expect interest to occur.
• 1:19:36
  SPEAKER_00: So when you draw that money out, you have more than what you put in.
• 1:19:40
  SPEAKER_00: Dance is like that, life is like that.
• 1:19:43
  SPEAKER_00: Whatever you put in it is what you're going to get out of it.
• 1:19:46
  SPEAKER_00: So the more as teachers, as educators and business owners of a dance studio, we always have to not settle.
• 1:19:56
  SPEAKER_00: We need to put more in.
• 1:19:57
  SPEAKER_00: Innovations to the studio, new programs for the kids, new opportunities that they may not have had before.
• 1:20:06
  SPEAKER_00: We can't set.
• 1:20:07
  SPEAKER_00: Parents, they need to also do more educating what's out there for their kids now.
• 1:20:13
  SPEAKER_00: It's changed a lot in the last 30 years.
• 1:20:15
  SPEAKER_00: As you both know, your mother has a studio, and things are evolving, and methods of teaching are evolving.
• 1:20:22
  SPEAKER_00: So we all, the parents need to be educating themselves.
• 1:20:27
  SPEAKER_00: And with the internet, you can find anything.
• 1:20:30
  SPEAKER_00: Google it.
• 1:20:31
  SPEAKER_00: New forms of training.
• 1:20:33
  SPEAKER_00: If your child is being told you don't have face, that's not a correction.
• 1:20:37
  SPEAKER_00: That hurts them.
• 1:20:38
  SPEAKER_00: It makes them more insecure about their performance quality.
• 1:20:43
  SPEAKER_00: They need to find ways of doing that.
• 1:20:45
  SPEAKER_00: Ways acting.
• 1:20:46
  SPEAKER_00: You could do acting, you know, get them an acting coach.
• 1:20:50
  SPEAKER_00: The school has to look at ways of bringing a correction so that the kids can get better.
• 1:20:56
  SPEAKER_00: And that makes a happy home.
• 1:20:58
  SPEAKER_00: An assessment of a problem is an assessment.
• 1:21:01
  SPEAKER_00: There's no way to fix it.
• 1:21:03
  SPEAKER_00: You're assessing it, but it's the work, the drive of the teachers, of the parents, and of the students.
• 1:21:10
  SPEAKER_00: We are here to inspire children.
• 1:21:13
  SPEAKER_00: They have enough in this world that doesn't inspire them or influences them in a bad way.
• 1:21:19
  SPEAKER_00: Give it with love, but be honest.
• 1:21:21
  SPEAKER_00: But that honesty needs to come with empathy.
• 1:21:25
  SPEAKER_00: What would we feel like if we were in their shoes in every class they were told you don't have a face?
• 1:21:30
  SPEAKER_00: They need tools.
• 1:21:32
  SPEAKER_00: You need to, I did some research because I mean everybody, not everybody knows how to project.
• 1:21:37
  SPEAKER_00: And do research and find out what are ways, acting-wise, how does your natural life can apply to your art form and take it there and not where the trophy is.
• 1:21:48
  SPEAKER_00: The trophy is not the validation of your training.
• 1:21:52
  SPEAKER_00: The trophy is not the validation of your work ethic.
• 1:21:56
  SPEAKER_00: It all depends on who's at that competition.
• 1:21:59
  SPEAKER_00: If it's a kick butt and they're just, if it's all Canadians, I think you said if it's all the Canadians, you're not going to do.
• 1:22:06
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe you're not going to do as well.
• 1:22:08
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, those kids train so much more than some of the areas of North America.
• 1:22:15
  SPEAKER_00: You know, whatever the standard is, it's very high there.
• 1:22:18
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:22:18
  SPEAKER_00: And so you have to go, wow, I got a gold.
• 1:22:21
  SPEAKER_00: That's really good, considering that, you know, they're up here.
• 1:22:26
  SPEAKER_00: This is the work I need to do.
• 1:22:28
  SPEAKER_00: And if you're a teacher or director and you're told, I'm giving you on the tape, they do, some of them do, give the teachers tape.
• 1:22:36
  SPEAKER_00: Like that rotation is not happening in that lower back, and that portable part of the back is not, it's not you, they're not using their back, and the feet are not transitioning through the floor.
• 1:22:45
  SPEAKER_00: You need to go back to class and figure out how to make that happen because it's not showing up in the pieces.
• 1:22:50
  SPEAKER_00: You can't get mad at that, that maybe you didn't win because another studio did all those things.
• 1:22:56
  SPEAKER_00: You just suck it up and you go, I need to do better.
• 1:22:59
  SPEAKER_00: Let's go back and look at the tapes, you know, like football coaches do.
• 1:23:03
  SPEAKER_00: Let's go look at the video.
• 1:23:05
  SPEAKER_00: And then you discuss it.
• 1:23:06
  SPEAKER_00: We need to go back to class.
• 1:23:08
  SPEAKER_00: We need to stop rehearsing.
• 1:23:10
  SPEAKER_00: We need to go back to class and fix this problem.
• 1:23:13
  SPEAKER_00: Because every single thing you've got was not about the piece and the timing.
• 1:23:17
  SPEAKER_00: It was about the technique, the rotation of the feet, the port de bra, the focuses, where are you putting your apoma?
• 1:23:24
  SPEAKER_00: Things like that.
• 1:23:24
  SPEAKER_00: And so you just go, I deserve that, but I'll do better.
• 1:23:28
  SPEAKER_00: And then if you do it, you do the work, you do get better.
• 1:23:32
  SPEAKER_00: It makes you better.
• 1:23:33
  SPEAKER_00: You know, failure is nothing but a lesson to make you better.
• 1:23:36
  SPEAKER_00: All of it, all the things, all of it.
• 1:23:38
  SPEAKER_03: So good of it, so let it jump up and down.
• 1:23:40
  SPEAKER_03: No, my gosh, this is so great.
• 1:23:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, my husband just put a sign up to me and said, College applications don't care what trophy you got.
• 1:23:49
  SPEAKER_01: Hey, that is true.
• 1:23:50
  SPEAKER_01: That is so true.
• 1:23:52
  SPEAKER_00: So, but it but what do trophies do for us instead of bashing them?
• 1:23:57
  SPEAKER_00: Trophies make a child who worked really hard cherish that thing until they're 24 years old because that was their first, their first whatever crystal or whatever it was.
• 1:24:08
  SPEAKER_00: It meant something because along that journey with the ups and downs, that was an up.
• 1:24:14
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 1:24:15
  SPEAKER_00: And that child needs that up.
• 1:24:17
  SPEAKER_00: So there is a very valuable reason for competitions and trophies.
• 1:24:23
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not doubting that.
• 1:24:25
  SPEAKER_00: But when you're looking past that, colleges don't care about those trophies.
• 1:24:29
  SPEAKER_00: It but it sits in that child's heart.
• 1:24:32
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that that's an important thing.
• 1:24:33
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not gonna bash anything because there's a reason for everything.
• 1:24:37
  SPEAKER_00: And if you find the good in it, not only will we I be a better person, I don't want to condemn anything, competitions, conventions, performances, whatever.
• 1:24:47
  SPEAKER_00: I don't want to condemn that because there's good that good people are doing.
• 1:24:51
  SPEAKER_00: As long as good people do good work, it's gonna be a successful dance community.
• 1:24:57
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:24:58
  SPEAKER_00: Nationally.
• 1:24:59
  SPEAKER_00: Internationally.
• 1:25:00
  SPEAKER_00: As long as good, yeah, internationally, as long as people do still care about their craft.
• 1:25:07
  SPEAKER_00: You know, like when people made furniture in the old days and they carved it by hand, they don't do that anymore.
• 1:25:13
  SPEAKER_00: Everything's manufactured, correct?
• 1:25:15
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 1:25:15
  SPEAKER_00: Faster, bigger, better.
• 1:25:17
  SPEAKER_01: From IKEA.
• 1:25:18
  SPEAKER_00: We can't do that.
• 1:25:18
  SPEAKER_00: There's a reason for that crafting.
• 1:25:21
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:25:22
  SPEAKER_00: It's almost like a religion.
• 1:25:23
  SPEAKER_00: There's a religion to dance, a respect for it, a respect for the process of it.
• 1:25:29
  SPEAKER_00: And as the generations grow and don't know that, it's up to us, the teachers, to help them understand that process.
• 1:25:37
  SPEAKER_00: It is a craft and it will take time.
• 1:25:40
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't happen overnight.
• 1:25:42
  SPEAKER_00: And if it did, you wouldn't appreciate it.
• 1:25:45
  SPEAKER_00: And so do the work and learn that that wasn't for nothing.
• 1:25:50
  SPEAKER_00: It was for something.
• 1:25:54
  SPEAKER_03: We hope you enjoyed our final studio spotlight episode of season four featuring CCJ Conservatory.
• 1:26:00
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you to artistic director Dale Lamb for joining us on today's episode.
• 1:26:04
  SPEAKER_03: To learn more about CCJ Conservatory, be sure to visit their website at CCJConservatory.com and follow them on Instagram at CCJ Conservatory.
• 1:26:15
  SPEAKER_01: Don't forget to follow Making the Impact on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Podcasts, Google Podcasts, and pretty much everywhere you listen to podcasts.
• 1:26:23
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• 1:26:29
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• 1:26:37
  SPEAKER_01: Join now at ImpactDance Adjudicators.com slash Platinum Premium or click the link in our show notes.
• 1:26:44
  SPEAKER_03: Are you looking for even more personalized, in-depth feedback from your standard judges' critiques that you've been receiving at competition this season?
• 1:26:51
  SPEAKER_03: Then check out our service, IDA's online judges' critiques, where you will receive up to 10 to 15 minutes of post-critique additional feedback.
• 1:27:00
  SPEAKER_03: You can even request a judge that specializes in your submitted dance genre, and they will go back through your routine from beginning to end and pause the video to elaborate even more on those specific predictions.
• 1:27:11
  SPEAKER_03: Critiques start at only$35 on our website.
• 1:27:15
  SPEAKER_03: Submit your dance now at Impact DanceAjudicators.com slash online critiques.
• 1:27:20
  SPEAKER_03: We can't wait to see your dance.
• 1:27:23
  SPEAKER_01: We are almost through with season four of Making the Impact.
• 1:27:26
  SPEAKER_01: Stay tuned over the next few weeks for episodes on body image, special awards, and how studios cast their routines.