Latest / Making The Impact - A Dance Competition Podcast / Bringing Inclusivity and Diversity to Competitive Dance

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Bringing Inclusivity and Diversity to Competitive Dance · Making The Impact - A Dance Competition Podcast

• 0:07
  SPEAKER_05: Have you ever wondered what goes on behind the table at a dance competition?
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_05: Exactly what are the judges looking for anyway?
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_05: This is Making the Impact, a dance competition podcast.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_05: Each week we'll cover a different topic related to the world of competitive dance from the perspective of the judges behind the table.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_05: The competitive dance world can sometimes feel like an environment where if you don't fit the mold, you might not feel like you belong.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_05: Today on Making the Impact, we're discussing the need for inclusivity and diversity in the competitive dance team as it relates to different abilities, different backgrounds, and different perspectives on what it means to be a dancer.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_03: Hey dance world, welcome to this week's episode of Making the Impact.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_03: I'm your host, Courtney Ortiz, and I'm here, like always, with my wonderful co-host Leslie Mailer.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_05: Hello, Courtney.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_05: Hello, Podcast Land.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_05: We are so happy to be here today.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_05: I'm really excited for this episode.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_03: I am as well.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_03: We're talking about inclusivity and diversity in the competition dance space, the dance studio space, children's youth dance is what we're talking about here today on the pod.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_03: And it's going to be an important discussion, like always.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_03: That's all we do over here.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_03: We only have important discussions on making the impact.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_05: This is true.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_05: It's, you know what?
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_05: Dance competition is important.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_05: And I like today's conversation because, you know, diversity inclusion encompasses a lot of different things.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_05: It is not just one thing, it is not just one area.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_05: It in itself is diverse.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_05: It's a diverse conversation because there's a lot of aspects that we can touch on when it comes to those concepts in the dance competition world.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_05: So we have some really awesome guests today, um, new guests to the podcast, which I'm excited about.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_05: And but before we get into our conversation, we do have some Making the Impact Awards to talk about, which is again also one of my favorite things to talk about.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, we love giving out this award sponsored by the podcast at IDA affiliated competitions throughout the regional season.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_03: So if you are scheduled to attend one of our 15 plus IDA affiliated competitions, you might win the Making the Impact Award.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_03: And this award is selected strictly by the IDA judges on the panel and goes to that one dance by the end of the weekend that the judges just can't stop thinking about.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_03: But they are still talking about it.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_03: It is fresh in their mind.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_03: They want to recognize you.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_03: And you not only get a fabulous plaque on site at the competition, but you also get a live shout-out on making the impact.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_03: So let's hear some of our recent winners.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_05: From Axis Dance Competitions Event in Portland, Oregon, congrats to all that dance company from Eugene, Oregon for their duo trio Two Birds.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_03: From Streets Dance Conventions event in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_03: Congrats to Dance Mechanics from Pittsburgh for their duo trio in Reach.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_05: And from High Demand Dance Competitions Event in Laurel, Maryland, congrats to the Moving Company Dance Center from Timonium, Maryland for their small group Sister Song.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_03: Congrats to all of our recent award winners.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_03: And don't forget to register your award by scanning the QR code on the back so we can give you that shout out on the pod.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_05: And listeners, as always, we're gonna tell you about our sponsors before we jump in.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_03: Dancers, parents, teachers, studio owners.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_03: If you've been looking for a way to get real detailed feedback on your routines from trusted professionals, you've got to check out our service, IDA's online judges' critiques.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_03: Our critiques are done by industry pros, judges who are pre-screened through impact dance adjudicators, many with over 10 years of experience on competition judging panels across the country.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_03: And the best part is that you can actually request a genre-specific judge.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_03: So the feedback that you get is tailored exactly to your style of dance.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_03: Whether it's jazz, tap, lyrical, hip-hop, or anything in between.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_03: You'll receive your critique within five business days guaranteed.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_03: Or if you're in a rush, IDA is the only service in the industry offering 24-hour rush delivery.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_03: And new to all my choreographers, we're so excited to introduce our choreography console critiques.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_03: This version focuses completely on your choreography, not the dancer's performance.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_03: Your IDA judge will dive deep into your concept, transitions, costuming, style, formations, textures, musicality, and overall vision, giving you specific, actionable feedback to help your artistry grow as a choreographer.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_03: Critiques start at just$35, and trust me, they're worth every penny.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_03: Head to Impact Dance Adjudicators.com slash online critiques or click the link in our show notes to submit your video today and see just why IDA continues to set the standard for professional feedback in the dance industry.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_03: We're truly making the impact.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_03: But today we're talking about bringing inclusivity and diversity into the competition dance scene.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_03: Now we have touched on this a few times in Making the Impact History, and one of my favorite episodes that we did either last season or the season before was bringing diversity to judging panels, which is extremely important conversation that we had.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_03: So if you like the conversation that we're about to have right here, right now, you want to hear more on that and why it's so important to have a variety of opinions and experiences and types of people on judging panels.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_03: We covered that in full detail a few seasons ago.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_03: So go give a listen to that fantastic chat.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_03: But today on Making the Impact, we have some brand new guests who are joining us.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_03: And fun fact, they are all Making the Impact Judges Choice Award winners from our 2025 season.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_03: We recognized their studios and their dancers with the Making the Impact Award, and we wanted to bring them back on our podcast to uh share their knowledge, their representation, and everything that they've learned with working with the dancers that they work with in the spaces that they work with, and I think that they're gonna be some fantastic guests.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_03: So the first two guests that I would like to welcome to the podcast are straight up from my hometown, Maryland.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_03: Let's go, Maryland, represent.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_03: But I'm meeting them right here, right now, for the very first time.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_03: They are female studio owners, which let's go, let's go, ladies.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_03: I there's many female studio owners in in the space, but also fun fact, you know what I was thinking before this started.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_03: There's not a lot of female competition and convention owners, mainly convention owners.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_03: Now that I think about that, maybe that's a part of the discussion that we'll get to.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_03: But let's go female-owned businesses.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_03: And um, they are the owners of TNT Dance Academy in Maryland.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_03: I'm very excited to welcome Ty Williams and Tanisha McIntosh.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_03: Welcome.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you for having us.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_03: You're welcome, and congrats on being a Making the Impact Award winner.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_03: Yay! Thank you.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_03: Super awesome moment to be a part of.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_03: And it was a solo, correct?
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_03: Zay Zoe Brooks.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_03: So fun.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_03: Loved, loved the performance.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_03: And we do our voting contest at the end of each season.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_03: So that one's going to be coming up for all of our current winners in June.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_03: And uh she was killing it with the votes.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_03: Like, wow, y'all were sharing it like crazy.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_03: And she has a lot of fans out there.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_03: So I love how far you got in that little voting contest that we did, and we loved being able to recognize you with our award.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_03: So congratulations on that.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_03: And thanks for joining us here on the podcast.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, absolutely.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you for having us.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_03: I know you're both first timers in podcast world, but if you wouldn't mind sharing, whoever wants to go first, a little bit more about you, a little bit more about your background in dance, how you got into dance, and then also maybe how you both came together to open your studio.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_01: So I've pretty much dance has been my whole life.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, well, I'm Ty.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_01: And dance has just pretty much been my whole life.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_01: Uh my mom put me in dance at the age of one, grew up dancing competitively, starting, I think, around the age of five.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_01: And that was my whole life.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_01: I danced in multiple different styles, but my favorite was always tap.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, and so went on to keep dancing competitively, then became a teacher and was able to teach both competitive and recreational dances for both competition and recital.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I even at one point went on tour with the competition and MC'd for a little bit.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_03: Nice.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_01: A little bit pre-pandemic, and then pandemic hit and switched everything up, which is then kind of when TNT came about.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_01: Ah.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_02: I'm Tanisha.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_02: I started dance a little bit later.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_02: I was just kind of doing dance on Andrews Airport Space when I was around six or seven.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_02: I didn't join Dance Depot where M Matai until I was around probably middle school age and then continued through high school and when we competed together.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_02: I also did dance in college um and was the I was a captain twice on the team there.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_02: We did competitions as well.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_02: And I just love dance.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_02: I'm a mommy, uh a new mommy.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_02: A new mommy, yeah, of a one-year-old.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_02: Congrats.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_02: He's great.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and then I would say we kind of started the studio basically because our old studio closed.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_02: And I really texted time and said, Hey, let's start a studio.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_01: Just via text message.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's really that's everything started with TNT over a text to parents that we had relationships with, um, a text to our former studio owner just to kind of get her blessing on us opening a studio because we just didn't want to feel like we were stepping on her toes since she had just closed down.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_01: And yeah, everything went through text and it happened fast.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_01: I can tell you that for sure.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_01: It happened very, very fast.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_03: It worked out.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_03: Well, that's amazing.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_03: I'm so happy that y'all are following your dream and passion of running a studio, and you're doing some great work for your dance community, I can tell.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_03: So I can't wait to dive into this chat with you both.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you for joining.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_03: Awesome.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_03: All right.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_03: Our next special guest who is joining us again, like I mentioned, is Making the Impact Award winner.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_03: And she is also from Rochester, New York with Studio 19 and is the assistant director of the All Needs program, which is creating inclusive, supportive spaces where every dancer feels seen, heard, and valued.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_03: I can't wait to learn more about this program.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_03: I'm very happy to welcome Haley Everett to the podcast.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_03: Welcome, Haley.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_00: Hi guys, thank you so much for having me.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_00: I'm so excited.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_00: We are too.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_03: And I'd love to uh learn more about you and also give us a little intel as to your program, all the all needs program at your studio.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so I was put into dance when I was two years old and definitely always had a passion for it.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_00: But I was a very stubborn two-year-old, so I didn't like my class because none of the kiddos listened to the teacher, so I quit.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_00: And about like a few years later, probably when I was in middle school, I rejoined at Studio 19.
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_00: So I actually grew up dancing there with the teacher who left the studio I used to work at and then opened the studio.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_00: So it came full circle that I was back and I started a little later, but definitely fell in love with it.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_00: So for as long as I was dancing there, we had this All Me's program, and it was just two girls for years.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_00: And I actually assisted the program in high school for a couple of years and fell in love with them, fell in love with the community, and actually led me to kind of work in this community.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_00: So I actually work at Gigi's Playhouse, which is a Down syndrome achievement center.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_00: So we help individuals with Down syndrome anywhere from birth to adulthood and just free programming.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_00: So fell in love with that, fell in love with this community, also just wanting to still bring dance into it.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_00: So I eventually took over the all needs program, just teaching still these two girls.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_00: And I was like, hey, can we compete?
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_00: Like, can we go to competition and just give it a shot?
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_00: And they fell in love with it.
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_00: The crowd fell in love with them.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_00: Like it was just amazing.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_00: And a few years later, I was just having conversations at Gigi's and other studios, and just parents coming up to me, like, oh, I just wish there was a program that our students could join and that was adaptable and that they felt seen.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_00: And I was just kind of like, hey, like, you know, I'm a dance teacher, you know, I can offer you this program.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_00: So fast forward to today, I think our oldest class has 17 students in it.
• 12:38
  unknown: Wow.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_00: Our younger class has six or seven, which is like seven to thirteen, and then the 18 plus, and those two girls are still there.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_00: They're still competing, they're still with us, and we we gave them a class and we gave them a community, and it has it has grown exponentially.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_05: Wow.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_05: I love that.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_05: That's so great.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_05: What an amazing testament to just like the things that dance can do.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, yes.
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_00: It just shows how how amazing this community can truly be.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_03: And I'm so happy to hear so many people have discovered it, whether it was organically or I'm not sure how you guys are marketing it, or maybe they saw you at competition and wanted to learn more.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_03: You know, it is it is so refreshing to know that uh these types of programs exist for all dancers and that you've really grown this to uh success.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_00: And what's so amazing about it is like these disability mamas have their own community, right?
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_00: Like they are the biggest advocate for their kids.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_00: So with promoting it, like we do, but they they did the promoting themselves that it got to the point I was like, hey, we gotta stop promoting this.
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_00: We don't have Ruberspace.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_00: But so many program, more programs are popping up around Rochester, which is so great to see that so many other studios are stepping into having those adaptive dance classes as well.
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_03: Awesome.
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_03: Well, that's wonderful.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_03: And thank you for all that you do for your dance community up there, and thanks for being here on the pod.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_03: All right, let's jump into this fabulous discussion.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_05: Awesome.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_05: Well, welcome again.
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_05: Thank you guys for sharing your time with us.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_05: I want to know from each of you, sort of your own personal understanding of what inclusivity means in the world that we live in with competitive dance.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_05: What does that mean to you?
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_01: So I think like um inclusivity in the competitive dance world is just um kind of a place where we're creating a space for everyone to feel welcomed or everyone's given that equal opportunity to do what they love.
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_01: I think it's just meaning we're including everyone no matter their skin tone, their gender, their age, their abilities, just everyone fills in a space where they feel welcomed and loved and appreciated.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_01: Um I think again, the biggest thing with that is just being able to be given the same opportunities to grow, perform, and share their passion and love for dance.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_02: I agree as well.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_02: I know it's just just wanting to be wanted and loved and valued without having to try so hard to, you know, fit in.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_02: Why fit in?
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_02: We just want to be who we are and just, you know, be able to do what we love.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_02: We share something, which is dance, and we just should be able to get on stage and not care about, you know, what like fitting into a parameter or anything like that.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I totally agree.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_00: So for me, inclusivity and competitive dance just means creating a space like where every student feels like they belong and has the opportunity to just participate and grow along with everybody else.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of times I feel like people think inclusivity just means allowing someone to be there in the space.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_00: But to me, it's like so much more than that.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_00: It's about adapting the environment so every dancer can succeed and feel valued.
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_00: And that might mean in the studio different teaching approaches, different choreography styles, or just being open to the idea that dancers can express themselves in different ways.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_00: At the end of the day, like dance is about expression, it's about confidence, it's about community.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_00: And inclusivity means making sure those experiences are available to everybody across the board.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_00: Um, not just the dancers who just fit that condition, that traditional competitive mold.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_00: We're changing the game and it's growing.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_00: So definitely allowing everyone to share that space.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and I I feel like that, you know, competitions 15 years ago started to break that mold a bit when they introduced levels to competitions, which we talk about so frequently on the podcast.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_03: And it's very controversial because, you know, there's things that could be done better and executed better on both studio sides, competition sides.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_03: But I think that everyone saw the the demand and need for wanting to allow any dancer to be able to come and experience what it's like to be at a dance competition.
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_03: So if you've only trained one hour a week, you still get to get up on that big stage with the lights and having a big audience cheering for you outside of just your recital.
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_03: So I think that even that addition to many competition companies is helping uh adapt to more inclusive spaces.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_05: I mean, that was kind of like the first, the first foray into being more inclusive, um, just to allow more people to come and participate.
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_05: For Ty and Tanisha, have you guys so your studio has been open since 2020?
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_05: Yes.
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_05: In that time period, have you seen any additional changes in the competitive space that you feel like you just have noticed in terms of bringing more people in into the space?
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_05: Or has it stayed pretty consistent for y'all?
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_01: I think it's been pretty consistent.
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_01: It was a little bit of a weird time because of the pandemic.
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_01: So our first experiences were like the pandemic competition us there.
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_01: So we didn't, you know, get that same feel as you would normally get from a competition.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_01: But I think since 2021, when things, at least in the competition world, kind of went back to normal, things have seemed to pretty much be the same on our end.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_05: Right.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_05: I think one of the things that I have noticed just over my time in the world, um, from you know, being a child all the way until now, is that like back in the day there were only, there weren't that many, period.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_05: Right.
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_05: And they did attract like that higher level, more affluent sort of community.
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_05: And now there's so many levels of actual events, right?
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_05: So that's being more inclusive of financial situations.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_05: Like people can come and now win a scholarship, or there's, you know, the kind of uh I'm thinking of like entry fees and the timing that you're allowed to pay them.
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_05: You know, I feel like even something like that is kind of has been a big change in the community over the past maybe 15 or 20 years.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_03: Well, you're so wait, what do you mean by like the entry fees and the timing?
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_05: Well, so like back, I'm pretty sure, at least from my mom's perspective, you used to just have to pay them money.
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_05: Uh the whole thing up front.
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_03: And now instead of being able to space out payments.
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_05: Right.
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_05: Exactly.
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_03: So it's like the deposit and get discounts.
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_03: Exactly and things like that.
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_03: But you know, then I have heard that the lot of complaining of those deposits because they're so big and they need them so early that everyone's like, ah, I can't do it.
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_03: But maybe that's because some people have gotten so used to the spread of the payment plan that like they're expecting that.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_03: But now there's also this like hefty deposit that we have to like front at the top of the season.
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, you know, yeah, I think things have changed in trying to cater to everyone and try to make it work.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_03: To accommodate everyone, right?
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, because everyone does every studio comes from a different situation, different sizes, sizes of studios, different uh financial expectations based on what the studio can afford to do, how many entries can they enter, how many entries can a kid actually be in.
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_03: You know, it's an expensive sport.
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_03: And I love that they are creating uh scholarship opportunities for from some dancers.
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_03: And I even know of um that also happening at conventions too, where they're giving studio scholarships to come back or even specific dancers that they're awarding, which is really awesome to see.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_03: I'm curious to know, Haley, um, your thoughts on this.
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_03: And this is diving into competition specific, especially with your dancers when you head to competition, because I'm assuming that studio your studio has a separate competitive program, and then you have your all needs program.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_03: Are you entering your dancers into the same competitive levels as your the rest of your studio, or are you entering them into some of the designated categories and levels that some competitions create for dancers of special needs and ability?
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_00: Sure.
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_00: So actually the first competition that we the first competition that we took the kiddos to when it was just just the two girls, they actually had a category for um students with disabilities or all needs, however you want to word it.
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_00: So we did enter them in that category, but I feel like in our studio, we are very much about like, yes, this is the all needs program, just like we have the rec program, just like we have the competition program, but they're still just 19 dancers, they're still just part of the studio.
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_00: So we don't really want to like call them out as having like different abilities.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_00: So when we go to a different competition, which we've had attended like a couple different ones, we just put them in the rec category because a lot of times it's like dancers who are dancing an hour a week, and that's all they're doing is they're dancing an hour a week.
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_00: So they fit that mold to be in that rec category, and that's usually how we enter them if if there isn't that like all needs category, which we've only seen at one competition.
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_00: But we don't have a problem just putting them at that lower level.
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_03: I was curious to know like your opinion on that as someone who runs the program.
• 21:40
  SPEAKER_03: And it's I'm gonna bring this into the into the convo because this was actually uh a question that was asked online and actually kind of sparked our interest to want to talk about this a little bit more.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_03: And the question was how do we feel about uh special needs categories at competitions being called inspirational or things like that?
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_03: A student of mine who competes in that category told me she feels it is demeaning and says it makes her feel like she has has to inspire people and she's only nine years old.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_03: So it is interesting because it's d I guess the teacher didn't have to put that dancer in that category if it was offered, but do we like that it's being offered by competitions or should the competitions just eliminate it and let dancers dance where they fit into the specs of if it's level break broken down, like you said, they dance one hour a week, they're gonna be in the rec division.
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, no, I feel like that's hard because when we had this special needs category, it was two or three years ago.
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_00: But I feel like since then, uh this program, like of mine, it's not only grown, but we're seeing more of it in the Rochester community as well.
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_00: And we've had that.
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_00: I actually had a conversation with a competition director one time, like, how do you feel about this?
• 22:53
  SPEAKER_00: And they were just kind of like, well, how would we judge them?
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_00: What would we do?
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_00: And and for me, it's not about the the judging, it's not about the score, it's not they just want their art to be shared on stage.
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_00: And if that's in the rat category, great, that gives them competition, that gives them something to look forward to, that gives them to something they have other studios they're competing against rather than putting them in the special needs category, and a lot of times it was just them.
• 23:17
  SPEAKER_00: And I love giving them that competitive nature as well.
• 23:19
  SPEAKER_00: Like, oh my gosh, look at this.
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_00: Is this the dance that's before you?
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_00: Like, let's go out and have the same energy as them.
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_00: Like, and they see that and it gives them something to work towards and something to grow too.
• 23:30
  SPEAKER_00: So for me, I I just like that regular rec dance category because they they're just dancers, they're just humans that want to share their art and just like everybody else.
• 23:40
  SPEAKER_00: So, so separating from them for me is is something I'm I'm always it's such a touchy subject, it's so hard, but always just in our studio space alone.
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_00: Like these are just studio 19 dancers, they're not dancers with different abilities, they're not dancers every dancer has different abilities, they're all gonna learn and grow in their own space in their own way.
• 24:00
  SPEAKER_00: So they're just dancers.
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah.
• 24:03
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, that's it is it's interesting.
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_05: One of the episodes we did earlier in the whole podcast, like years and years ago, with um a special needs studio owner.
• 24:12
  SPEAKER_05: Like that is what that's her whole studio in North Carolina.
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_05: And I think I if I remember correctly, I think she was kind of split on what what she preferred.
• 24:21
  SPEAKER_05: You know, if if it was offered, she'd put the kids there.
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_05: If it wasn't, she wouldn't.
• 24:24
  SPEAKER_05: And it was just kind of like you said, you know, we're we're just here to dance.
• 24:27
  SPEAKER_05: So I think that's pretty, that's pretty good.
• 24:29
  SPEAKER_05: I love that.
• 24:30
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 24:31
  SPEAKER_03: And let's go to TNT Dance Academy.
• 24:34
  SPEAKER_03: So you y'all are the owners, like I mentioned, female-owned business, black female-owned business, diversity in your studio, so important.
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_03: I know that it's probably in at the forefront of your mission, your studio.
• 24:49
  SPEAKER_03: Um, why do you feel like that representation helps shape young dancers in your studio setting?
• 24:54
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I would say for us, like as a young girl, for my when I was young, I wanted to see black dancers.
• 25:01
  SPEAKER_02: Like, you know, I you want to go out there and you want to see someone who looks like you, who when we're sitting, when the girls are on stage, and the first thing, well, most of our girls go and see who the judging panel is beforehand.
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_02: So old enough to know who they're getting judged by beforehand.
• 25:15
  SPEAKER_02: And you know, we've had those conversations of why aren't there any black judges on the judging panel?
• 25:21
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 25:21
  SPEAKER_02: So, you know, those are conversations we have to have in studio with them as well as their parents, have the same conversations.
• 25:26
  SPEAKER_02: We have parents that ask us, are there any competitions where there's a full black judging panel?
• 25:31
  SPEAKER_02: Are there black, you know, black-owned competitions and stuff like that?
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I just think it's very important for them to see people who represent them as well.
• 25:39
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 25:39
  SPEAKER_02: And I know we are very big on, we want them to know, like, if we're strong in it and we're for it and we love it, we want them to do the same.
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_02: So we want to be that example for them.
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_02: You know, we come from strong black women.
• 25:52
  SPEAKER_01: So like she said, I think it's just the representation part matters.
• 25:57
  SPEAKER_01: It shows that we too can have a seat at the table.
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and whether that's being, you know, a studio owner, a judge at a competition, just a staff at a competition, it just shows that your dreams are attainable.
• 26:10
  SPEAKER_01: They're not far out of reach.
• 26:11
  SPEAKER_01: That's you can do it as long as you keep working hard.
• 26:13
  SPEAKER_01: So I just think it's really important.
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_05: Is that something I'm curious because I always wonder my mom owned a studio for many years, and she was kind of a studio owner who wasn't willing to step up and ask a question of, well, who is on your judging panel?
• 26:27
  SPEAKER_05: Is there a tap judge?
• 26:28
  SPEAKER_05: Is there, you know, she she did not really step up and ask questions like that.
• 26:32
  SPEAKER_05: But I think more and more studio owners are starting to sort of ask the question if if they need something from the event that they're gonna come pay for, like, do you ever find yourself willing to ask that question?
• 26:43
  SPEAKER_05: Like, how's your judging panel for the Maryland event?
• 26:46
  SPEAKER_05: Like, who's on it?
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_01: You know, like are you asking these questions?
• 26:50
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we're not afraid to ask.
• 26:51
  SPEAKER_01: I think too, like a big part of that is social media.
• 26:55
  SPEAKER_01: Like the competition that we won them making the impact award through.
• 26:59
  SPEAKER_01: They were really good about posting on social media, like judges beforehand, or I think just like even their posts represented multiple different races, age, gender, abilities.
• 27:10
  SPEAKER_01: And so I always say, like, when we are we have the competitions that we love that we know we feel valued and supported at.
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_01: And then, you know, you have experiences that maybe don't go as well, but the first thing we always do is look at a social media because I think your social media page can tell us everything we need to know sometimes just based off of what you have on there.
• 27:30
  SPEAKER_05: That's a really good point.
• 27:31
  SPEAKER_05: It is a huge point.
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_05: And it is true because you're not the first people that have said something like that where it's like, yeah, you get you know, businesses need to pay attention to what they're putting out there and maybe then reinvestigate their business practices.
• 27:46
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, I mean, for me, like I can tell everything about you by going to your website if you own a business.
• 27:53
  SPEAKER_03: I'm just like, is it professional or does it look like it was made in 1993?
• 27:58
  SPEAKER_03: Like where, you know, is it organized?
• 28:01
  SPEAKER_03: Is it clear?
• 28:01
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and I can just get a feel.
• 28:03
  SPEAKER_03: If it's if it's 1993 website, I'm not gonna give you my business.
• 28:07
  SPEAKER_03: And it and I'm shocked to even see people attending competitions that have 1993 looking websites, and people are still choosing to give them their money.
• 28:16
  SPEAKER_03: I'm like, we have, you know, and that sounds mean, but at the same time, like that's marketing.
• 28:22
  SPEAKER_03: That's marketing 101.
• 28:23
  SPEAKER_03: Like, we have to have a cohesive social media and a cohesive website that looks professional, that is going to inform the customer what are you getting yourself into?
• 28:32
  SPEAKER_03: And representation on that matters.
• 28:34
  SPEAKER_03: And it absolutely does.
• 28:35
  SPEAKER_03: And I feel like that that is being lost sometimes or forgotten about, or even the whole big discussion, which is kind of off topic, but just the appropriateness level of what is being posted on social media.
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_03: And if that care and thought is being put into what we're putting out there by competition organizations, because then that's going to inform the customer.
• 28:54
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, they're posting stuff like that.
• 28:56
  SPEAKER_03: I'm not gonna give them my business.
• 28:58
  SPEAKER_03: I don't want my kids exposed like that on the internet and however they choose to do that.
• 29:02
  SPEAKER_03: So um, I do think that competitions could be a little bit more tuned into how to appropriately market on social because yeah, that's the first thing anyone does whenever they want to look something up.
• 29:15
  SPEAKER_03: I'm gonna check the Instagram.
• 29:16
  SPEAKER_03: Pull out your phone, check off the Instagram.
• 29:19
  SPEAKER_03: And if they you can even the first like five, six little little squares, you can get a feel right away.
• 29:25
  SPEAKER_03: So I'm glad that you mentioned that because I do think that that is important.
• 29:33
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• 31:18
  SPEAKER_05: What do you think would be helpful for competitions to do if you know we could talk about in at the event, pre-event, social media, but to to better support the people that come from your studio, you know, what what can they do in the moment at the event to make you guys feel more seen, more valued, and more, you know, just like everybody else?
• 31:38
  SPEAKER_00: Sure.
• 31:39
  SPEAKER_00: I'll definitely like start by saying the competitions that we have gone to, we have felt seen, we have felt valued, and it's been an amazing experience, especially the competition that we did when the Making the Impact Award.
• 31:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it was it was pretty magical and pretty great to see.
• 31:53
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but a step going into it, because I feel like there's almost like a fear going around, like how do we judge?
• 31:59
  SPEAKER_00: How do we how do we even involve them in our competition?
• 32:03
  SPEAKER_00: And and the main thing is just too much to adapt.
• 32:07
  SPEAKER_00: Understanding that every dancer learns differently and sometimes just small adoption adjustments, starting with just like how the teachers are teaching the choreography.
• 32:14
  SPEAKER_00: But something that I think would be really cool too is just like a little pre-training for judges on like different abilities, different disabilities that could be happened in the dance community.
• 32:24
  SPEAKER_00: And I'd be think that's super cool for like a judge on a panel just to kind of understand disabilities better, and understanding that an individual with Down syndrome, for example, I obviously work with a lot of individuals with Down syndrome, and knowing that they have something called hypotonia, which is that low muscle tone.
• 32:39
  SPEAKER_00: So just them being able to do simple moves on stage or the fact that they can do this pirouette and understanding, like, wow, like that should not even be like capable for their body types, but looking them up there and understanding the work ethic that went into that.
• 32:54
  SPEAKER_00: So just having a better understanding of different disabilities that we have in our community, whether it be autism, Down syndrome, kiddos in a wheelchair.
• 33:02
  SPEAKER_00: I I actually have a soloist that I teach who's in a wheelchair as well.
• 33:06
  SPEAKER_00: So just having a better understanding and understanding that just creating a culture where where all the dancers still are being seen and valued, which I think I've true truly seen at the competitions that we are tended.
• 33:16
  SPEAKER_00: So it's already happening, which is super great.
• 33:18
  SPEAKER_05: That's wonderful to hear.
• 33:20
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, yes.
• 33:22
  SPEAKER_05: Anything from y'all's perspective, yeah.
• 33:23
  SPEAKER_05: TNT.
• 33:24
  SPEAKER_05: I'm just gonna call y'all that because that's fun.
• 33:26
  SPEAKER_05: TNT.
• 33:27
  SPEAKER_02: I would say for us, I know we I I know Ty does too, but I think we love when we go to a competition, the competition director comes straight up to us and they know us already.
• 33:37
  SPEAKER_02: They're like, You're TNT.
• 33:38
  SPEAKER_02: Right, we got you.
• 33:39
  SPEAKER_02: We don't have to look for them ever all weekend.
• 33:41
  SPEAKER_02: They're finding us, they're making sure we're good.
• 33:44
  SPEAKER_02: Those competitions are the competitions we go back to because you you feel seen, they know who you are, and you know, they kind of make it easy.
• 33:52
  SPEAKER_02: I want it to be when we go there, like, I don't have to look for you.
• 33:56
  SPEAKER_02: You know, our girls, like they're looking for us.
• 33:58
  SPEAKER_02: They're like, okay, your girls are here, and you know, and they're making friends.
• 34:01
  SPEAKER_02: The girls, a lot of our girls love to talk and have fun.
• 34:03
  SPEAKER_02: So most of them will go backstage and make friends with the backstage crew.
• 34:07
  SPEAKER_02: So that's when I know we love a competition because our kids are having a good time.
• 34:11
  SPEAKER_02: They're making friends with the backstage crew, they're making friends with other people.
• 34:14
  SPEAKER_02: So I think we look for stuff like that.
• 34:16
  SPEAKER_02: You know, they're open to talking about things.
• 34:18
  SPEAKER_02: We've had issues and situations where we were able to go to the competition director and get things handled.
• 34:24
  SPEAKER_02: Um, just last year, we had a situation at a competition, and that competition director, she was on it.
• 34:31
  SPEAKER_02: She knew about the situation, I think before we knew about the situation.
• 34:35
  SPEAKER_02: Great.
• 34:35
  SPEAKER_02: And she she was a she was a black woman.
• 34:38
  SPEAKER_02: So she knew she was like, nope, we're gonna make sure this is handled, it had to deal with the kids, and she got it together.
• 34:43
  SPEAKER_02: So, you know, there's just people like that and competitions like that that we look forward to.
• 34:48
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I think I think that's really yeah.
• 34:50
  SPEAKER_01: I think kind of like going off what Haley said, just I think more judging, more training for judges, like bias training, I think is a a good one to just do because everyone has their own biases and their own ways, but just being aware of them, especially going to competition.
• 35:05
  SPEAKER_01: I think like a big possible concern of ours this year is we're doing a dance that could ruffle a lot of feathers.
• 35:13
  SPEAKER_01: It's uh I think a really meaningful dance when it comes to you know being black, and majority of our dancers are black, and we felt that it was an important dance to do and talk about.
• 35:23
  SPEAKER_01: However, I know there's going to be people in the audience that disagree with the dance, and you know, there will probably be judges that disagree with the dance, and so also just kind of preparing ourselves for the fact that this dance just might not do well, and not because of what you guys, your abilities, but just because you're not afraid to dance or, you know, speak up on something that you feel strongly about.
• 35:44
  SPEAKER_01: So I think just training and on things like that.
• 35:49
  SPEAKER_01: And we've gone to a couple of competitions too on the other side of the training aspect of things where it's been nice.
• 35:55
  SPEAKER_01: Again, the making the impact competition we went to was a really nice one where they focused on they had judges that were clear, trained in tap and jazz, which is nice because we had tap soloists who have gone to competitions and they're like, Yeah, I did well, but I don't have any feedback.
• 36:11
  SPEAKER_01: But at these competitions, they were able to get really good feedback and they do them live on stage, which is like again, those additional things that just add to the the fun and something I wish more competitions could bring in, make it more personable.
• 36:25
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, the that's like another layer of the diversity and on the panels that we need, you know.
• 36:31
  SPEAKER_03: Like all and again, we went into a deep dive of this on that that episode, but like that's a perfect example of people complain about all the time, well, they don't have any tap judges on the panel.
• 36:42
  SPEAKER_03: And it's like, you know, sometimes I'm I cast for competition judging panels.
• 36:46
  SPEAKER_03: I get it.
• 36:47
  SPEAKER_03: Sometimes things just don't align where there isn't a tap judge available or a specialty tap judge.
• 36:53
  SPEAKER_03: Maybe everyone knows basic tap, but not advanced level tap.
• 36:56
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 36:56
  SPEAKER_03: But I there's definitely many times where competitions are trying their darndest to make it happen and it just doesn't work, or someone drops out last minute, and there's just so many behind-the-scenes things that we just don't know.
• 37:07
  SPEAKER_03: However, then there's a lot of comps that just hear some people.
• 37:10
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 37:11
  SPEAKER_03: Yep.
• 37:11
  SPEAKER_03: Who's the cheapest, who's the closest, who's the youngest, who's the oldest, who's the whatever.
• 37:15
  SPEAKER_03: You know, it's just how whatever works for them.
• 37:18
  SPEAKER_03: And everybody's different.
• 37:20
  SPEAKER_03: But I think more care, more thought needs to go into that.
• 37:23
  SPEAKER_03: I think that, like you said, as a studio owner with predominantly black dancers, want to see some representation on their judging panel.
• 37:31
  SPEAKER_03: And yeah, a lot of comps actually, so many comps never even share who are the judges.
• 37:36
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 37:37
  SPEAKER_03: Anyway, not in a program, not on a social media, not on the club.
• 37:41
  SPEAKER_05: They barely say hi, welcome to the judges, wave at your friends.
• 37:44
  SPEAKER_05: Like, it's wild when that happens.
• 37:46
  SPEAKER_03: It's crazy.
• 37:47
  SPEAKER_03: And like Les Leslie and I, as judges, we're like, do we even exist in this world?
• 37:51
  SPEAKER_03: Like we like, you know, it's just it's crazy that, and like, what is there a reason?
• 37:56
  unknown: Right.
• 37:56
  SPEAKER_03: To me, sometimes I'm like, is this intentional?
• 37:59
  SPEAKER_03: Are you choosing not to share that information with your clients?
• 38:02
  SPEAKER_03: Because as a client, I would want to know the background of the person that's judging my kids and their last name, where they're from, anything.
• 38:10
  SPEAKER_03: I just want to know about them.
• 38:11
  SPEAKER_03: And for that to be kind of gate kept away from clients and not shared, it doesn't need to be broadcasted on social media, but like at minimum, tell like even send it directly to the studios.
• 38:21
  SPEAKER_03: There's your judging panel for the weekend, like get to know them.
• 38:23
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, that matters, and that's being a little bit lost.
• 38:27
  SPEAKER_03: And I'm not quite sure why that people, uh comps, comp owners feel like that's not valuable information for customers that attend and give them a lot of money to attend.
• 38:37
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 38:37
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 38:39
  SPEAKER_03: Across the board, that's that's super important.
• 38:41
  SPEAKER_03: But I also I want to applaud you for taking a risk on a dance that you know you you feel like it might ruffle feathers.
• 38:47
  SPEAKER_03: We've and I am unclear of what this dance is and I haven't seen it, obviously, but like, you know, if it's done well, if it's done correctly, if it's done properly, I'm I'm sure that it will be well received.
• 38:59
  SPEAKER_03: And even if it's not well received by everybody, I it sounds like that y'all have are taking that risk and understand that risk.
• 39:07
  SPEAKER_03: And I've talked to your dancers about it and said, listen, this might not go in our favor all the time, but we are very, very excited to share this art and this story with the world and hope people understand it and hope people see us.
• 39:21
  SPEAKER_03: And that's the purpose of art.
• 39:23
  SPEAKER_03: You know, we don't wanna, we don't want to take it too far where it's gonna be inappropriate.
• 39:27
  SPEAKER_03: And I think that there's that level of the fine line in children's dance competitions, which we talk about often.
• 39:33
  SPEAKER_03: But I also respect the fact that uh it doesn't sound like that we're doing it for the shock value win and and we have to get first place.
• 39:40
  SPEAKER_03: You know, it's just like we understand that this is a risk that we're willing to take.
• 39:45
  SPEAKER_03: And I applaud you for that.
• 39:47
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
• 39:47
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and I hope that it goes great at competition.
• 39:50
  SPEAKER_03: And I wish I could.
• 39:51
  SPEAKER_03: Have you competed it yet?
• 39:52
  SPEAKER_01: We have not.
• 39:54
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, yeah.
• 39:56
  SPEAKER_03: So you're starting late this season.
• 39:58
  SPEAKER_03: Wishing you well.
• 39:59
  SPEAKER_03: Do you guys always start season late, like in March?
• 40:02
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, roughly, yeah.
• 40:04
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, typically.
• 40:04
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 40:05
  SPEAKER_03: It it's not late, but it's not late, yeah.
• 40:08
  SPEAKER_03: Well, some folks have been doing this since like November.
• 40:10
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, like it just keeps getting earlier and earlier each year.
• 40:13
  SPEAKER_03: You're like, oh.
• 40:14
  SPEAKER_03: And then just out of curiosity, uh, for both sides, Haley, how many dances are y'all bringing to competition this season?
• 40:21
  SPEAKER_03: How many comps are you going to?
• 40:23
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 40:24
  SPEAKER_00: So we we offer competition.
• 40:25
  SPEAKER_00: It kind of like is optional in the past for competitive students.
• 40:29
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, for the All Needs program.
• 40:31
  SPEAKER_00: And they kind of got to the point that they'd like be like, yeah, we're going, and then drop out last minute.
• 40:36
  SPEAKER_00: So this year I made like a hey, Thursday, this is an optional competitive class.
• 40:41
  SPEAKER_00: So meaning no partner work, I can easily change formations.
• 40:45
  SPEAKER_00: Where our Saturday crew is like, hey, if you're signing up for the Saturday class, like we will be doing one competition, um, which is kind of worked out the best.
• 40:51
  SPEAKER_00: I was hoping that would also split it up a little bit in like number wise, but it didn't.
• 40:57
  SPEAKER_00: Um, because we had a lot of them that they wanted.
• 40:59
  SPEAKER_05: Best laid plans.
• 41:00
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 41:00
  SPEAKER_00: So it didn't work out in that aspect, which was totally fine.
• 41:04
  SPEAKER_00: So I actually have like a Thursday um special needs class too that only has they only have four kiddos in it.
• 41:09
  SPEAKER_00: But I talked to their parents, I was like, hey, are you cool if we compete?
• 41:12
  SPEAKER_00: And they're like, sure.
• 41:13
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so they're doing one of their dances.
• 41:15
  SPEAKER_00: Saturday is doing one of their dances.
• 41:17
  SPEAKER_00: And I actually have a lot of solos um and the duet that won last year.
• 41:22
  SPEAKER_00: They actually made the won the award.
• 41:23
  SPEAKER_00: They're coming back again this year with another duet.
• 41:26
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, you guys have to do another one.
• 41:27
  SPEAKER_00: Like, we need another deep go.
• 41:28
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, showstopper.
• 41:29
  SPEAKER_00: You have to do it.
• 41:30
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, and one of my soloists actually, she has just been working so, so incredibly hard.
• 41:35
  SPEAKER_00: And she's one of my dancers that she's kind of like, this is why I do what I do, um, because her confidence level is like exponential growth.
• 41:44
  SPEAKER_00: So I was like, listen, we're throwing you in another competition.
• 41:47
  SPEAKER_00: So we're actually throwing her in one more that she's never gone to.
• 41:50
  SPEAKER_00: Um, we've never taken um this all needs program to just to kind of like trial it out and see how she does.
• 41:56
  SPEAKER_00: Um she's super excited for that.
• 41:58
  SPEAKER_03: Cool.
• 41:58
  SPEAKER_03: Awesome.
• 41:59
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so definitely growing with the with the number of dances that we're bringing.
• 42:03
  SPEAKER_03: Nice.
• 42:03
  SPEAKER_03: That's great.
• 42:04
  SPEAKER_03: And TNT, what about y'all?
• 42:06
  SPEAKER_03: How many comps?
• 42:07
  SPEAKER_03: How many routines do you enter into a comp?
• 42:09
  SPEAKER_03: Just curious.
• 42:10
  SPEAKER_01: So comps, we have we have two teams.
• 42:13
  SPEAKER_01: We have a competition team and an elite team.
• 42:15
  SPEAKER_01: And we just separated them because we had parents and kids who wanted to do nationals every year and travel out of the state to compete regionally, and then parents who didn't want to.
• 42:24
  SPEAKER_01: So our elite team does five.
• 42:27
  SPEAKER_01: No, three regionals and a national.
• 42:32
  SPEAKER_01: So they do five competitions total.
• 42:34
  SPEAKER_01: And then the competition team this year is a nationals year, so they'll do two regionals in a competition.
• 42:39
  SPEAKER_01: And then we also offer just one optional where if you just want to go out of state to compete your solos or duos, you can do that as well.
• 42:46
  SPEAKER_01: So a total of six competitions.
• 42:49
  SPEAKER_01: Wow.
• 42:50
  SPEAKER_05: Okay, so your March through July is very busy.
• 42:54
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, pretty much.
• 42:57
  SPEAKER_03: And also, I didn't ask this question, but how many, how many students do you have on your teams or at the studio?
• 43:04
  SPEAKER_02: On our competition and elite team combined, it's 32 kids.
• 43:08
  SPEAKER_02: Nice.
• 43:08
  SPEAKER_03: Amazing.
• 43:09
  SPEAKER_03: And that's that's really great, especially since you're a newer studio.
• 43:13
  SPEAKER_03: I know you're in year six at this point, but still newer into the industry.
• 43:17
  SPEAKER_03: Wonderful.
• 43:18
  SPEAKER_03: Well, I love hearing that.
• 43:19
  SPEAKER_03: I'd be curious to know, especially coming from studio owners yourself, Haley working with a studio owner, also giving advice to other studio owners out there.
• 43:28
  SPEAKER_03: What advice could you give where studios could take a step forward this season or add into their next season to make their spaces a little bit more inclusive or diverse?
• 43:39
  SPEAKER_03: Anything come to mind?
• 43:41
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, sh I think one simple step for studio owners is don't be scared to be open to adapting the way you teach when new students come in.
• 43:50
  SPEAKER_00: I feel like I've worked with many studios in the past, and some teachers are just like, this is how I teach, I can't change.
• 43:56
  SPEAKER_00: And I've tried to like introduce like special needs, all needs.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_00: programs and it's just it's hard when when you have one way you've been teaching for years.
• 44:05
  SPEAKER_00: Um but every dancer learns differently and understanding that sometimes small adjustments in class like maybe you are playing the music quieter or you have to have a class without the lights on or you have more program assistance in the room with you for for friends that need more physical adaptations.
• 44:22
  SPEAKER_00: And just taught how like corrections are given or how classes are structured can make such a huge difference for a dancer I feel who might not otherwise like feel left out is just making those adaptations like oh like this teacher seen that I need a little extra help.
• 44:36
  SPEAKER_00: That's great.
• 44:37
  SPEAKER_00: Like I feel seen in this room.
• 44:38
  SPEAKER_00: And another important step is just creating a studio culture where all dancers feel valued with who they are and not just how how to perfectly execute the choreography but like how how they execute the choreography and how how their art can can make your art kind of grow so much bigger.
• 44:55
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah just like really recognizing the individual I think that's yes that's what I'm hearing which is wonderful.
• 45:00
  SPEAKER_03: Absolutely TNT any thoughts?
• 45:04
  SPEAKER_02: I would say have the conversations don't be afraid to have these conversations not only with like the students but also the parents ask them you know they're gonna they're your customers they're gonna know you can even ask the kids hey or is there something that you know we go to competition is something you feel a type of way is this something you want to talk about like just have those dialogues and those conversations because open doors and you won't know you don't you can't read parents' minds and you can't read the kids' minds and Ty and I always say that we don't know something until until you tell us until you tell us.
• 45:37
  SPEAKER_01: So we're always just like oh okay.
• 45:39
  SPEAKER_01: I think just being open to change times are changing every day is so different in the world we live in right now.
• 45:46
  SPEAKER_01: And so just being aware of what's happening in today's world for one and then being open to change and work with your family.
• 45:54
  SPEAKER_01: So like even just we have where we live out there's a lot of our families who work in the government.
• 45:59
  SPEAKER_01: So when the shutdown happened like that was something that really impacted a lot of our families.
• 46:03
  SPEAKER_01: So just the again being open to communicate with your families and having what I feel or hope at least our parents feel we they have a safe environment here to talk to and know, you know, we'll we'll work with you while this is a business we really pride ourselves on being a family too and like let's it's about the kids at the end of the day and that's what we want we want to see the kids be able to dance no matter what.
• 46:24
  SPEAKER_01: So just being open to change and being aware of what's happening so you can always be there and show up for whoever your parents your kids whoever needs you at the moment.
• 46:34
  SPEAKER_00: I would also like to throw in one more thing.
• 46:36
  SPEAKER_00: Sorry no please the teachers are studio owners that might be scared to even start like a different adaptive program or more inclusive program.
• 46:44
  SPEAKER_00: I like to just say obviously we've had this program for years but since it's grown it has changed our studio culture so much and not only just our kids being seen and heard but the rest of the studio too you see more relationships with them being being distinguished the cheer squad at competitions is like out of this world and it's changing their mindset as well.
• 47:04
  SPEAKER_00: And I do um I call it the inclusive dance or the collaboration dance at recital every year where I'll have my older team along with like our senior team come together to do a dance and it's kind of a way for like after competition after you have that mindset like oh I've been competing I just want to win I want to do this I have to work harder it kind of has them take a step back and they're like oh like this is what it's about.
• 47:27
  SPEAKER_00: This is why I fell in love with dance.
• 47:29
  SPEAKER_00: And what's super cool is that at competition we saw it with other studios as well watching watching our kiddos on stage like other direct studio directors other teachers coming up to me and being like this was amazing I would never even think like I have a couple kiddos with disability at our studio I never even thought to bring them to competition like this was so inspiring.
• 47:48
  SPEAKER_00: But other students as well like congratulating your kids that they didn't even know coming up and having conversations with them backstage.
• 47:54
  SPEAKER_00: So it definitely changed not only our studio culture but I feel like just the culture at the competition as well.
• 47:59
  SPEAKER_03: Can we talk about how I wish that more kids would do that in general at competition like go out to someone and tell them that you loved their dance.
• 48:09
  SPEAKER_03: Yes and that you were inspired.
• 48:11
  SPEAKER_03: Like I think that it sometimes it just gets so cutthroat at these competitions and it's like well I have to be with my team and I'm not allowed to talk to that team and they're our rival and then kids start questioning what how how a dance made them feel even though they're just the sweet kid that's like loves everybody.
• 48:28
  SPEAKER_05: But the culture it's the culture what you it's everybody it's the parents it's everybody around them.
• 48:34
  SPEAKER_05: I was working a competition this weekend and the director told us this afterwards she goes I was just standing there watching you know a dance and this little girl walked up to me and she said you just look like a really nice person.
• 48:45
  SPEAKER_05: And the director was like well I think you're really nice she goes no I really just think you look really nice and I wanted to tell you that I like you this little child.
• 48:55
  SPEAKER_05: And I think that like those that is how kids are like children are naturally like they want to be friends.
• 49:01
  SPEAKER_05: They want to get to know people and then we as this adult community start you know little rivalries or little cutthroatness and it doesn't have to be like that because be like that little girl like if you're like I know what I like her costume go tell her you like her costume.
• 49:14
  SPEAKER_05: Tell her talk to a stranger.
• 49:17
  SPEAKER_01: That's actually something we started doing at competitions.
• 49:20
  SPEAKER_01: We've made like these little bracelets um and I only thought about it because I'm actually fidgeting with it right now these little bracelets that say fire dancer on them and it just says Love TNT Dance Academy and we give them kids to give to a kid from another studio who they thought was really good or they like their costume or something because it just has promoted it's something that was done to our studio with the little it was dumped that the kids were breaks yeah.
• 49:45
  SPEAKER_01: So just a good way to like you said build that like supportive healthy competition and then to getting us to talk to each other like studio owners are um like that was really nice that your studio did this.
• 49:55
  SPEAKER_01: So it's been a fun way and it's something that I think at least in our area it's been very popular that more and more studios are like handing out things to each two kids that they're inspired by.
• 50:06
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah they do the pins a lot now too we did those with the elite team um this past summer for nationals they put they made little pins and they pinned it on people at nationals.
• 50:14
  SPEAKER_02: Not their costumes because we had to tell them don't be doing that.
• 50:20
  SPEAKER_02: And it just gives the kids an opportunity to speak you know because a lot of our kids like to be they only speak to their friends so it gives them public speaking is important.
• 50:31
  SPEAKER_03: So it gives them something like exciting to look forward to outside of just their dances and the whole event itself.
• 50:37
  SPEAKER_03: But they're like oh how many bracelets do I have to give oh I can't wait who am I going to find okay I have to watch some dances to make sure I can give my bracelets out like that community feel of why we dance, why we go to events like yes, it is a competition.
• 50:52
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, we get it.
• 50:53
  SPEAKER_03: But there it we are allowed to feel inspired by others.
• 50:57
  SPEAKER_03: We are allowed to take in art and feel something and not find out that it's the rival studio that you compete against and they say oh well I I don't like it anymore.
• 51:06
  SPEAKER_03: You know like those types of things it's like feel what you feel when you dances are and we're supposed to feel something when we watch it whether that's good, bad, whatever it is, but don't go tell them your dance was horrible.
• 51:17
  SPEAKER_03: Please don't keep things talk to yourself.
• 51:19
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 51:19
  SPEAKER_03: But you know if it's if it's something that moves you if you loved the costume like you said go tell the kids it's so sweet and it makes their day.
• 51:27
  SPEAKER_00: And so I just think helping having students and especially our studio just understand that dance is about that expression and connection and the more people we invite into that space like the stronger this community becomes and the more meaningful this community becomes and we're we're all we all started dancing because we loved it.
• 51:46
  SPEAKER_00: And just kind of having that that reminder in the back of the head like yes we're competing but but what started us and why are we here?
• 51:52
  SPEAKER_00: Why are we doing this?
• 51:53
  SPEAKER_05: Right.
• 51:53
  SPEAKER_05: All right take that Timothy Shalom we are out here.
• 52:00
  SPEAKER_05: I have one more question um and for it's for all of y'all there was a recent post on a social media dancer site that was talking about um like skin tone tights versus not skin tone tights versus dress code and being somebody I work for Capezio full disclosure there is a lot of work to be done in all of that space in terms of dress code and adaptability for you know sensory issues and things like that.
• 52:22
  SPEAKER_05: So there it's all being happening in the background but as we stand right now, now we have some options for all kinds of different needs.
• 52:29
  SPEAKER_05: What are y'all's thoughts about that?
• 52:32
  SPEAKER_05: Do you in terms of uh tie and Tanisha do you guys have requirements in terms of dress code that makes your community feel more included or are you going more of the root of our dress code is our dress code and whatever it is it is I would say as far as like tights and like shoe matching for us our the kids I always tell their parents their lyrical shoes match to their skin tone their skin tone.
• 52:53
  SPEAKER_02: And if they're too light, I say we can put makeup on it to match it to their skin tone because it just adds something it makes them see like there's a shoe that's for me.
• 53:02
  SPEAKER_02: Because you know you get so even like our little people in red the parents love to get their ballet shoes the color of their skin.
• 53:08
  SPEAKER_02: So I'm you know we're all for it.
• 53:10
  SPEAKER_02: We love it.
• 53:10
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah um tights when I order tights I literally try to match each kid's now it's a struggle sometimes have the kid there to match it's the right have you been in the sun lately yeah so I love that there's variety you know there's options of different colors because we didn't have that when we were growing up everyone had the same color type and that was it.
• 53:30
  SPEAKER_02: So I think it gives them something to look forward to and the parents I think it's more the parents love more than anything else.
• 53:36
  SPEAKER_05: Right.
• 53:37
  SPEAKER_05: Well like you said if if the parents are your age or older they didn't have that opportunity in any capacity whether they were dancers or not.
• 53:44
  SPEAKER_05: Right.
• 53:44
  SPEAKER_05: And so now they're like we're gonna give you what you need.
• 53:47
  SPEAKER_05: And the kids are like this is normal because it has luckily been normalized you know in a lot of spaces so that's good to hear.
• 53:53
  SPEAKER_05: Um and Haley in terms of do you do you have any brands that you guys like in terms of something that is comfortable for dancers who maybe have sensory issues?
• 54:01
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah or do you have a less of a dress code you know for that reason.
• 54:04
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah I definitely have less of a dress code and we're very lenient um with this program but I have honestly like had so many issues with this because even just picking out costumes like it can't have sequence it can't have like we're the definition of like all body types in my class and and it's so hard to find a a costume that adapts to all of them.
• 54:25
  SPEAKER_00: But another thing we've been really struggling with is shoes.
• 54:29
  SPEAKER_00: So many of our of my dancers have just like wider feet because that's just like how they're made and finding a tap shoe that's comfortable or finding a jazz shoe that's comfortable to put on their feet is so hard.
• 54:43
  SPEAKER_00: So that's something I would love to like be looked at in the future as a more adaptable like dance shoe or more adaptable costumes for them because there is those sensory needs.
• 54:51
  SPEAKER_00: Like we have some kiddos that if they like see sequence they're gonna run away screaming they're like nope that is not going on my body absolutely not which like I I get it.
• 54:58
  SPEAKER_00: Like if I'm itchy like I'm I'm not gonna dance my full out either if I don't feel comfortable in a costume.
• 55:03
  SPEAKER_00: So finding a costume and shoes and tights that they can all feel comfortable and confident in I I've given up on tights because I'm like there's half of them will not wear them.
• 55:13
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm just like trying to find a costume that has pants or a longer skirt so that we can get away with not wearing the tights but it's it's honestly really hard.
• 55:24
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 55:25
  SPEAKER_00: And for the shoe thing especially like I have parents like do you know where to go and usually we're recommending this dance or this right down the street but they're like we've tried we tried going there and I'm like I don't know so that's definitely something I've been trying to research more and just having more conversations about to have like more adaptable shoes, more adaptable clothing because it is it is really hard.
• 55:47
  SPEAKER_00: Our first year they went out in a t-shirt and leggings because I was like I can't I was like here's a fun shirt here's some leggings this is what we're all comfortable in this is what we're doing.
• 55:56
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah yeah yeah so that's that's hard.
• 55:58
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah I don't I don't really I I forgot and I forget that like dancers need to try shoes on before they like commit to the purchase.
• 56:07
  SPEAKER_03: You know like with all this online shopping yeah it's just like online shopping now like dance dance physical dance stores are there's like one a town if you're lucky you gotta drive like two, three hours to get to one.
• 56:18
  SPEAKER_03: And it's like I know like a lot of studios would sometimes create a little shop attached to their studio if they could and have at least like a a trial shoe that you could try on and then order it, whatever the case may be.
• 56:28
  SPEAKER_03: But yeah, you know I I and they're growing kids that their foot's changing every year.
• 56:34
  SPEAKER_03: Like they got to get a new shoe every year.
• 56:36
  SPEAKER_03: And so yeah I can understand that that would be really difficult when you can't even try on the shoe.
• 56:41
  SPEAKER_03: And it's not like a sneaker it's like a a jazz shoe that's like supposed to help you do something.
• 56:46
  SPEAKER_05: Different yeah yeah it's functional.
• 56:48
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah yeah well I will recommend I don't know if you guys have heard of this it's the tap fit brand Haley it's like a it's like a I'll send you the link.
• 56:56
  SPEAKER_05: I'll email it to you but it's actually pretty cool because it's meant for people to like to stretch on this it's like tap and a tap and it's got like elastic around it and you stretch it onto whatever shoe you have.
• 57:07
  SPEAKER_05: Oh so it's it's more meant for like exercise but it's a legitimate thing you can buy and that might actually be really helpful if like your kids do need tap shoes that don't come in an actual size.
• 57:18
  SPEAKER_00: So I'll for sure I have a few students in my tap class that don't eat they don't even put tap shoes on because they have like the braces on their legs and they don't fit into a tap show.
• 57:28
  SPEAKER_00: So if I could like have their sneaker and put that on that'd be amazing.
• 57:32
  SPEAKER_00: That's a great idea.
• 57:33
  SPEAKER_03: Yes I'm not overfit.
• 57:34
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you.
• 57:35
  SPEAKER_03: I love that is there anything else that we missed that we want to talk about anything off the top of y'all's head that you want to touch on before we wrap up this chat?
• 57:45
  SPEAKER_00: I do I think I do just want to mention that the day that we won this Making the Impact Award, I I was at the competition and the students that won it weren't there because it was the day after.
• 57:56
  SPEAKER_00: So I didn't even know what was happening.
• 57:57
  SPEAKER_00: But I was of course backstage calling their parents and I had a staff member come up to me in full on tears and I was like I'll probably tear up talking about this but he literally came up to me and he was like this is why we're here this is why we're doing this I'm so glad they got it right.
• 58:15
  SPEAKER_00: I'm so glad you were here representing this program.
• 58:18
  SPEAKER_00: Um and it's just so great to see these competitions becoming more inclusive in the diversity world and the inclusive world and just understanding that that everybody deserves to have their art seen and their talent shown and and yeah and thank you for this platform too to to help us share more about this as well.
• 58:35
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah totally yes I love and that's and honestly that's why we do the Making the Impact Award.
• 58:42
  SPEAKER_05: We give really no restrictions to the judges uh with this we literally say it's whatever dance you still can't stop thinking about by the end of the weekend it's that dance and sometimes I always like to say it the ones I work it's the one you talk about at dinner on Wednesday night yeah after the weekend you're still talking about the dancer the dancer and that's usually what it is is people are probably still talking about y'all's dances.
• 59:06
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah yeah the one the one the one boy that was in it he still every time he sees it he looks at the war he's like ah I'm famous I like alarm buddy I love that yes well this was such a fantastic discussion and I loved learning from y'all and your experiences and thank you for sharing that with us on the podcast.
• 59:29
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you to Ty, to Nisha, Haley for joining us here on this chat.
• 59:33
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you so much for having us thank you you're so welcome and how we always have our guests lead us out if you have listened to Making Impact or maybe here right now is your first time we always have our guests lead us out with just one final thought on the topic at hand.
• 59:50
  SPEAKER_03: So like I kind of said anything else that you want to just leave the world with if you want to talk to other studio owners out there if you want to talk to the competitions directly if you want to talk to students and dancers around the world listening parents as well we have a lot of different people who listen to our podcast in the dance community.
• 1:00:07
  SPEAKER_03: So whoever you want to speak to leave them with uh one final valuable nugget from you.
• 1:00:12
  SPEAKER_01: Just hope in a couple years hopefully this year or if not this year might be too soon but in the next couple of years you know dance competitions can just be a place where kids can go on stage and do what they love.
• 1:00:23
  SPEAKER_01: Choreographers, studio owners can just watch the dances that we've created and be proud of what we did and parents can just be loud.
• 1:00:30
  SPEAKER_01: It's just just hope we get to the point where competitions just go back to being fun and a safe space for everyone to just enjoy and a little less competitive and more sportive.
• 1:00:41
  SPEAKER_02: Ditto ditto I would also say change change is always fun and good even though it sparks a little you know but I think change is what's needed.
• 1:00:51
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah I would say uh just closing this out that just understanding inclusivity is not lowering the standard in dance it's expanding what excellence can look like in the competition community in the dance community and expanding that community as well we hope you enjoyed our latest chat all about bringing inclusivity and diversity to the competitive dance team special shout out to our guests Ty, Tanisha and Haley for joining us.
• 1:01:20
  SPEAKER_03: Don't forget to follow them on Instagram.
• 1:01:22
  SPEAKER_03: You can find Ty at tai.williams.five Tanisha at Nishfee and their studio TNT Dance Academy at TNT Dance Academy underscore.
• 1:01:33
  SPEAKER_03: And you can find Haley at Haley underscore Everett19 and her studio at Studio19 Dance Company.
• 1:01:43
  SPEAKER_05: Don't forget to follow Making the Impact on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Podcasts, and pretty much everywhere you listen to podcasts.
• 1:01:49
  SPEAKER_05: And if you want more exclusive episodes support our podcast by joining our Platinum Premium membership for only five dollars a month.
• 1:01:56
  SPEAKER_05: Subscribers receive free Making the Impact stickers, shout outs live on the air, ad-free listening and exclusive access to our QA episodes for members only.
• 1:02:04
  SPEAKER_05: Join now at Impact Danceadjudicators.com slash platinumpream or click the link in our show notes.
• 1:02:11
  SPEAKER_03: Be sure to check out IDA affiliated competition Elevation on tour.
• 1:02:16
  SPEAKER_03: Elevation on tour is redefining the dance competition and convention experience.
• 1:02:21
  SPEAKER_03: Their passion for serving the dance community has challenged them to think outside the box to create a space where dancers of all levels will grow in their artistry and character.
• 1:02:31
  SPEAKER_03: Engage, embrace and elevate your dance experience at Elevation Dance Convention.
• 1:02:37
  SPEAKER_03: The convention atmosphere is carefully crafted to promote inclusivity, personal growth and character development.
• 1:02:43
  SPEAKER_03: With their inspiring faculty, Elevation on Tour empowers dancers to return to the studio with the newfound energy and love of dance.
• 1:02:51
  SPEAKER_03: Elevation on Tour competitions offers three performance levels, stunning awards and a distinguished four judge adjudication panel, including two specialty critiques for choreography and technique.
• 1:03:03
  SPEAKER_03: For more information about Elevation on tour, visit their website at ElevationOntour.com and find them on Instagram at Elevation on Tour.
• 1:03:13
  SPEAKER_05: Next up on Making the Impact, stay tuned for an IDA competition feature an episode all about point and a throwback episode about ballet only a few episodes left on this season of Making the Impact.
• 1:03:25
  SPEAKER_03: Stay tuned for more in the upcoming weeks we'll see you then