Latest / Making The Impact - A Dance Competition Podcast / Developing a Ballet Program For Competitive Studios

Transcript

Developing a Ballet Program For Competitive Studios · 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.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_05: One of the most common phrases we hear in dance is the ubiquitous ballet is the foundation of all dance forms.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_05: Now there may be some debate about the validity of this statement, but there's no doubt that strong ballet programs produce excellent dances.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_05: In this episode of Making the Impact, we sit down with two incredible ballet educators to talk about how they developed their own ballet programs for competitive dance studios and how you can too.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_03: Hey everybody, welcome to this week's episode of Making the Impact.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_03: I'm your host, Courtney Ortiz, and I'm here with my co-host Leslie Mueller.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_05: Hey everybody, happy almost the middle of February.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_03: Almost the middle of February, which is almost my birthday.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_03: Yay!
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_05: Yay! Well, and almost to like the height of competition season, too.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_05: Oh yeah.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_03: It's here, y'all.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_03: It is about to be here.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_03: If it's not here for you yet, it is it is about to be here for a lot of you.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_03: And we love competition season over here at IDA because all of our judges get to go out and see fabulous talent around the world.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_03: And I just I'm excited to continue to travel and judge around the country.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_03: This season I'm working a lot with Revel, and I'm a teacher judge, so I get to talk to all the teachers out there.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_03: If you're listening, hey, uh, hope you like what I'm saying.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_03: And I'm also judging a little bit for other competitions too, just a regular good old judge, and I love it.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_03: So I can't wait to get into the heat of it for sure.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_03: And speaking of competitions over here in IDA World, I want to let everybody know that our IDA virtual competition is back and we just reopened registration for our new solo-only event as of February 15th.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_03: So you're able to submit entries into our virtual competition until April 30th.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_03: So you have a few months.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_03: Whether you want to send one in now or wait until the end once you've done your solo a few times at competition, or you can send it in multiple times because you're gonna get new feedback from new judges each time you submit, which is really awesome.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_03: We really want our virtual competition to be utilized as a training tool for dancers to get that solid feedback, that personalized feedback, and that detailed in-depth feedback.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_03: Because with our feedback, you will get an extra 10 to 15 minutes of start and stop style critique after your standard critique, where the judge goes back through, pauses the video, elaborates even more on the corrections, and it's just a really great service that I would love for you all to take advantage of.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_03: But our virtual competition, you will be able to compete against dancers from around the world, which is so exciting.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_03: And all contestants have the chance to be eligible for individual special awards, for sponsored overall prizes from our sponsors, and the chance to recompete for a brand new set of judges in our top 20 live stream challenge.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_03: So if you wanna enter now on our website, entry start at$55, and you can learn more at Impact Dance Adjudicators.com/slash virtual competition.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_05: And listeners, we could not do this podcast without the support of our amazing sponsors, and I want to tell you about one of them today.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_05: Dance Costumes by Arzua is a Queens-based dancewear and costume company that specializes in flattering, beautiful costumes for everybody.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_05: In each style, they offer a variety of fits to make you feel and look amazing.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_05: Choose from tons of different fabrics, appliques, rhinestones, and more to customize your dream costume.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_05: And right now you can receive 15% off of all costumes using the code IMPACT15 at checkout.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_05: So be sure to visit dancecostumesbyerzua.com for your 15% off.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_03: And I'm really excited to share one more final thing from IDA LAN that we are incorporating into competitions this season.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_03: And I've been wanting to do this for so many years and I finally made it happen.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_03: We are excited, not only IDA, but the podcast is sponsoring a physical award at every IDA affiliated competition event this season, and it's called the Making the Impact Judges Choice Award.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_03: So if you are attending an IDA affiliated competition, which I'll give you a rundown of who those are so you can keep a lookout for this award, our judges, if there is at least one IDA judge on the panel at that event, our judges will select a dance that made an impact to them throughout the entire weekend.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_03: It can be a solo through production, but it needs to be something that they are still thinking about by the end of the weekend.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_03: And whether it was executed beautifully through their choreography or their expression and performance, whatever it is that the judges just can't stop thinking about, we want to recognize you.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_03: And every winner of this physical award, which will be given out at the last award ceremony at each event, will get a shout-out on our podcast, which is so cool.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_03: So if you get the Making an Impact Award this season at an IDA competition, let us know, snap a photo, tag us, share it, and be sure to register your award so we can give you a shout-out live on the air.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_03: To give you a heads up as to where these awards will be distributed, they will be at Axis Dance Competition, DECA Dance Competition, Diva Dance Competition, Dive Dance Competition, Epic Dance Showcase, Gems Dance Competition, High Demand Dance Comp, ID Dance Comp, Just Dance Invitational, Positive Vibes Dance Competition, Spirit of Dance Awards, Star Talent Productions, and True Dance Challenge.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_03: So wow, there's a lot of awards being given out this season, y'all.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_03: So I hope you get it.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_03: I hope you are the judge's choice at an IDA-affiliated competition event.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_03: And thank you to all of our IDA competitions who support IDA.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_03: Let's jump into this episode.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_03: I'm so excited to be bringing ballet back to the podcast this week.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_03: And we had a ballet episode back in season one where we talked about the importance of training in ballet as a competitive dancer.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_03: But today we're actually going to talk about how to implement a ballet program into your competitive studio.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_03: So I'm super excited to have two brand new guests joining us on the podcast.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_03: And first up, I would love to welcome Addison Holmes to Making the Impact.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_03: Welcome, Addison.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_04: Thank you.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_04: I'm excited to be here.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, super excited to have you.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_03: Thanks for joining us and also suggesting this topic to me as an option for season three.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_03: So we're really excited to dive in and hear all about your program at your studio that you work with.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_03: So please feel free to tell the world a little bit more about who you are, where you're based, your training, any career credits you'd like to share, and what you're working on now.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_04: Okay, great.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_04: So I am the ballet director and I'm on my fifth season at Shannon Mathers School Mather Dance Company.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_04: And we're here in northern Orange County, basically by Anaheim.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_04: And she hired me five years ago.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_04: She really wanted to now Shannon's Canadian, so super Royal Academy of Dance, RED background, always, you know, had such an importance in ballet.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_04: Um when she was at Dance Precision, she had Francisco Gella as her ballet teacher.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_04: Um so she's always known how important ballet is, but she wanted an actual program.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_04: So she wanted to stop having just ballet teachers and she wanted a director to have a program to start competing at YGP, to start doing ballet exams, RID exams, and to really have this importance.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_04: You know, it's one thing to say, like your ballet training is so important, your ballet training is so important, and then kids come, you know, t-shirts, shorts, whatever, ballet class is an hour long.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_04: Well, that's you, you know, you're not saying ballet is important.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_04: If you can't have a program, have it structured and compete it.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_04: I don't understand, you know, having a competition studio, saying ballet is so important, and then being afraid to compete it.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_04: And I'll dive in later about the fears and, you know, being so empathetic to those fears, but you know, just grabbing it and starting to compete ballet.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_04: And so I started about five years ago.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_04: It's, you know, it's been really successful.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_04: The kids have totally grown and changed their, you know, fears or uh inhibitions in ballet.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_04: And my background is, you know, I grew up in a professional ballet school for Texas Ballet Theater, and we did ballet exams for RID.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_04: So I went from tiny pre-primary all the way up, you know, learning advanced and solo seal.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_04: And we also competed.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_04: So I had mother and daughter ballet teachers, and they were from South Africa, and they're just fantastic.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_04: So they had, you know, royal ballet training, but they also, the daughter Lindette was a showgirl and worked in Vegas and did musical theater.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_04: They would bring in John Cutchman and Alan Schurfield, and we would do lyrical and we would do jazz.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_04: So I always had that competition kid in me.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_04: And I have always loved the competition world.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_04: And I've always known that they could bridge and come together, that you didn't have to have this like classical academy separate from, you know, your competition kid.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_04: And now we're seeing with uh university programs like USC with William Forsyth and, you know, getting into Juilliard and going to these amazing universities that they are really loving ballet dancers and they're really loving competition kids.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_04: And I do think that the worlds are combining, you know, there's a little still old school apprehension with some of the competition, you know, kids.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_04: And, you know, I would love to dive in and talk about those stigmas and like let's get rid of them.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_04: And I think that's only going to make your studio grow.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_04: Your parents are going to love competing in ballet because you're learning, you know, 100, 200-year-old repertoire.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_04: You're seeing your kid in a beautiful classical costume on stage.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_04: And really, like the parents love it.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_04: The parents love going to YGP and other ballet competitions we'll all talk about in this episode.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_04: And I think it's just so important to start doing.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_04: Like, let's get over the stigma, let's get over the fear, let's bring it to our studio, let's do it the right way.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_04: And it brings a little discipline.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_04: You know, I have uniforms at my school, so each level has a color, and they absolutely love that.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_04: And it just brings like a little more structure.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_04: We don't have any hour ballet classes past age five.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_04: So we have all hour and a half or two-hour ballet classes, which is really important because you can't dive into the work and get individualistic and get kind of in the meat of everything without having those lengthy classes.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_04: So yeah, I grew up at a ballet school and then I danced for Texas Ballet Theater.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_04: And I've lived in LA and New York, and I've actually done a ton of commercial work and industrial work and a ton of equity musical theater work, equity dancer, probably about 20 musical theaters, you know.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_04: I also was a backup dancer for Natasha Bedingfield in Europe and Vienna, Austria.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_04: And so I've I'm like all over the place.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_04: And it's it's proof that you can have like be this ballet person, but be an employable dancer.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_04: So that's me.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_04: And I'm a mom.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_04: I've got two kids.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_04: I'm tired.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_04: I do a lot, I'm tired.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_04: And I'm actually the director of a ballet competition and convention, which Jason is on faculty for.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_04: So we'll talk about that too.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_04: Oh, cool.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_04: So that's called icon dance, and it's a little different than some of the ballet competitions.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_04: It's a little heavier on the classes and the education.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_04: So it's more like a convention style.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_04: So yeah, we can talk about that too.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_04: So that's me.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_03: Awesome.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you, Addison, for joining us.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_03: Excited to have you and can't wait to dive into this episode.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_03: But before we do, I have to introduce you to our next special guest, who's a brand new, he's a judge, but he's a brand new guest on this episode.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_03: And I have actually judged alongside him at Rebel Dance Convention previously, and I've had the pleasure of watching his talented dancers hit the stage, which I'm always so impressed by.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_03: They're so beautifully trained, and I knew that you would be the perfect person to join us on this chat, Jason.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_03: So I'm excited to welcome Jason Kuzner to the podcast.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_03: Welcome.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you, Courtney.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you, Leslie.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_00: It's great to be here.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_00: Great to talk about this important subject.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_00: I guess you want me to jump into those same similar questions that Adam had for Addison.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_00: My background, it's funny, you know, Addison was trained by South Africans.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_00: I am South African.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_00: And I have a different beginning.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_00: I started off as a very ardent observer of dance.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_00: I I wasn't allowed to dance growing up when I did in South Africa.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_00: And my sister did, but I always wanted to.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it was something that I was deeply passionate about even from a very, very young age, from nine, ten years old.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_00: It's something that I knew that I wanted to do and wanted to be involved in.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_00: And so, you know, during the time period because and and you know, the way society was at the time, I mean you would think we talked about the 1950s, but we're really not.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_00: We, you know, all I could do was really watch.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_00: So I used to go and I watched my sister's dance classes.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_00: I used to go to every single dance competition event in South in Cape Town where I grew up.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, in in Cape Town, they were there's they do a public adjudication.
• 13:19
  SPEAKER_00: So at the end of every heat, which is kind of very European, right?
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_00: So at the end of every heat, they the adjudicator, one adjudicator, that's all that they had at the time, would get up and give an assessment of the heat at the time.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_00: So they may have been like 10, 12 to 13-year-old dancers in that particular heat, and they would give a whole spiel about, and there was no soft, soft, gentle language.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_00: It was very clear, it was very, very specific.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_00: It was what they saw, what they didn't see, and and what they can do to what the dancers can do to improve, improve on the work that they did.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_00: So I got a lot of information as a non-dancer at the time through the years.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_00: Literally, I mean, I sat in those competitions for seven, eight years like that.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_00: So you're getting all this theory, all this dance theory being fed into you.
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_00: And then by the time I was 17 years old, I I wanted to come to America and I wanted to pursue musical theater.
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_00: Because at the time that was really, you know, where where I was at.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_00: And it was a way that I could get around, you know, we've we've progressed by that point, and I could get around the whole dancing thing.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_00: So I had a voice, I can sing, I can act, but I could really, it would not give me the opportunity to dance.
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_00: So at 17 years old, I started dancing.
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_00: I was finally allowed to, and so for the year before I came to America to audition, I was in private ballet lessons, I was in private Horton Technique classes, I was taking private jazz lessons, and I was jumping into class with nine and ten-year-olds.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_00: Listen up, ladies and gentlemen, I was jumping into class with nine and ten-year-olds because I wanted to dance.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_00: It wasn't, it wasn't about age, it was about learning.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_00: And so, you know, which I think in hindsight, just talking about it really helps me understand why I think about dance the way I think about dance, and why it is it's it's about doing what you need to do to get where you want to go.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_00: And we can't be so obsessed with the age and the level and the schmebble, whatever.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't matter.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_00: It really doesn't matter.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_00: Anyway, I digress.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_00: So then I go, and then I also I come to America, I start auditioning for college programs.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_00: I get into I got into Elon University's BFA musical theater program, which was amazing.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_00: That was one one of the most important formative four years of my life.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_00: I had the most incredible teachers.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_00: I remember getting into into ballet class and jazz class and modern class for the first time, and it was like backdraft.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_00: It's like all this theory in my head went whoosh into the body.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's and and I and I really learned to dance within a year.
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_00: I was dancing.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_00: It's a you know, it's amazing how that information just permeated into the body so quickly.
• 15:59
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, but then there were things that I didn't have because I didn't start early.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't have the feet, I don't have the turnout, I don't have all of those things.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_00: And so there's that aspect of it.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_00: However, you know, I was dancing.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_00: And so by this, by the by my sophomore year, I was TA in classes already.
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_00: And I knew that this was something that I loved, that had a deep passion for.
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_00: Sharing that theory, sharing, sharing dance technique, and watching the change happen in the bodies and watching the change happen in the mind as dan as the dance started to manifest and and let's say populate throughout the body, right?
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_00: The muscles start to organize, the bones start to organize.
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_00: That's all that delicious stuff.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_00: So I knew I had a gift for that already by my sophomore year, and I and I loved it.
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_00: And so I ended up minoring and dance on top of the BFA musical theater and business administration.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_00: Then I jumped on a Broadway national tour, the Broadway National Tour of Kiss Me Kate, right after college.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_00: But through college, I was doing tons of regional theater.
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_00: I've done over 20 production or 20 productions, kind of like Addison, or regional theater.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_00: And by the time I was done halfway through the tour, the the Kiss Me Kate tour, I was like, I started teaching dance to the ensemble because I was, I dare I say it, I was bored on the road.
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_00: I was bored.
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I found I found the touring mundane, and and it was like I needed more.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_00: This was not stimulating enough for me.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_00: And it sounds kind of bratty because it's like, you know, first Broadway National Tour went, mm-mm, not not quite.
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_00: This is not quite what I what I'm seeing for myself right now, which is great to be in a position where you have that choice.
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_00: So I started teaching class.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, this, I really have a knack for this.
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_00: I want, I want to know more about this.
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't, I want to know theory, I want to know how I want to understand choreographic structure, I want to understand um pedagogy, and I want to understand the theory behind the pedagogy, all that kind of yummy stuff.
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_00: So I started applying for MFA programs in dance.
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_00: And cut a long story short, I ended up getting a full artistic scholarship to the MFA dance program at Southern Methodist University in Dallas.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_00: And after that, I moved to LA and I started teaching at various studios.
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I started doing the grind with, and for me, the grind was hey, let me show you what I can do.
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_00: You don't have to pay me for the class.
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_00: Let me just come in and show you what I want to do.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_00: Because I I I started, I wanted to teach in ballet-based programs because that's where I was most comfortable, because that's what I was most familiar with.
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_00: I wasn't I wasn't familiar with the competition world in America, which I've actually come to adore and love every aspect of it in so many ways.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_00: You know, people people think ballet people are we snobby about this.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_00: No, we're snobby about technique, we're not snobby about the venue, but we're not snobby about where the venue in which it's performed, because a performance opportunity is a performance opportunity, and that's what and that's what competition and conventions really provide for these kids.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_00: So I wasn't very familiar with it.
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_00: And when I moved to LA, I eventually started really understanding it and wanting to learn more about it, because it it was really competition-based schools that were responding to my inquiries, right?
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_00: I I taught for them, taught for a lot of you know, both ballet and and competition schools.
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_00: And even when I was in Dallas at my MFA program, I was teaching for ballet programs, really good ballet programs, um, which Addison's all familiar with because she was there.
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_00: Taught for her, actually, for Addison's teachers at Dallas Dance Academy.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_00: That was my first job in Dallas when I was doing my MFA.
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_00: Sorry, I backtracked a little bit.
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_00: Anyway, trying to tie the knot there where Addison and I really start, our connection happens.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_00: But about around 2015, I had the opportunity to go into a studio.
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_00: It was dying, the program was dying, it was a ballet program.
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_00: And I was like, okay, so I've been teaching now for X an extended amount of time.
• 19:51
  SPEAKER_00: I would say at this point, it's 10 years of teaching.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_00: And what I'd noticed was there's some amazing things about competition schools and the training in competition schools, but there's also a lot of not so amazing things about it.
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_00: And then the same thing applies to the ballet program.
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_00: Great things in ballet, some ballet schools in ballet programs, but a lot of not so great things about it.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_00: Why don't I take the two of them and just put them together and create a program around that?
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_00: Take away the nonsense, take away the stuff that I don't like, the stuff that I don't agree with, that that I, you know, I'm just saying I I because it's, I guess it's at the end of the day, is my opinion about it.
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_00: You know, everyone's got their own feelings about about it all.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_00: But, you know, my perspective as an as a as an academic, being my mind being inquiry and progression and progress, I'm like, okay, we can do things differently here.
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_00: Let's let's take the mind games and the emotion out of ballet and the emotional abuse out of ballet, and let's and let's take the uh the noise of the competition, competition schools out of the out of competition.
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_00: Noise being trophies are important, first place is important, blah, all these things that are actually irrelevant to your progress or your potential career as a professional.
• 21:09
  SPEAKER_00: Let's take that out of the picture and let's just put the work together.
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_00: So for me, it was how do we take the work from both sides and put the work together and take away all that other noise that just gets in the way of progress and training.
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_00: And so I started Burbank Dance Academy in 2015.
• 21:29
  SPEAKER_00: We are now, are we going into our seventh season?
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, does COVID really count?
• 21:33
  SPEAKER_00: So can I say like we're going to our fifth season?
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_00: Take away takeaway two years.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_00: But you know, we're still around, we're going strong, and and since and since day one, my dancers have been achieving really nicely at all competitions with a ballet foundation as their base for their training.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_00: So the program, the program, I market the program as a ballet focused program.
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_00: It's not, I don't say we are a strict class.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: Classical ballet school, we are a ballet focused program because I'm insistent that my dancers are taking tap and jazz and lyrical and contemporary and hip-hop.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_00: Very important.
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_00: You know, so so that we are developing a well-rounded, cross-trained dancer, but with ballet as the foundation of what they do.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_00: Because in my experience, and I know this is a controversial statement, ballet is the foundation of Western dance.
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm throwing Western dance in there because jazz and modern are all based on being uh having the roots in ballet or using ballet or being the anti-ballet.
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_00: So it's it ballet has always been the starting point for each one of those modalities and adding different uh influences into that.
• 22:49
  SPEAKER_00: However, also in my experience, the intrinsic lessons learned by the body through classical ballet are really, really helpful to non-Western dance forms.
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_00: So although the web the non-Western dance forms started often started before classical ballet was even around, I found that in a commercial presentation of non-Western dance, hip-hop, Bollywood, Bharatanatyam, whatever it is, those dancers tend to have better mastery and presentation of their facility when they have come from a ballet background.
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely, yeah.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_03: I'm so excited to go even further with this, but this is amazing, and I totally agree, Jason, and I'm so happy to have both of you, Jason and Addison, here to share these perspectives with our lovely listeners out there, who are a lot are mainly very much competitive based.
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_03: This is a competition podcast, so I think that a lot of a lot of this information that we might share might be brand new perspectives that this audience hasn't heard before, which is totally why we do this podcast thing over here, y'all.
• 23:57
  SPEAKER_03: So this is great.
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_03: I can't wait to chat more.
• 23:59
  SPEAKER_03: So let's jump on in.
• 24:00
  SPEAKER_03: Leslie, you ready?
• 24:01
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_05: Well, and so Addison and Jason, thank you so much for spending your time with us.
• 24:06
  SPEAKER_05: And after hearing about your backgrounds, I see why Courtney was like, these people, these people are it.
• 24:11
  SPEAKER_05: And I was like, okay, great.
• 24:13
  SPEAKER_05: And you are, you're it.
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_05: You're the people for this episode.
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_05: But I also find it interesting that Courtney, you mentioned our studio spotlights earlier and about how those programs, you know, have developed.
• 24:25
  SPEAKER_05: And I think 80% of them so far have cited ballet as being the number one thing that they want their kids to do in the studio.
• 24:34
  SPEAKER_05: Like everybody has to take six to eight hours of ballet a week on top of everything else.
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_05: And so that's great to hear that, you know, y'all's programs are pretty much the same.
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_05: And it does kind of speak to why it is important and why the most successful studios you hear about are the ones who focus on ballet first, in addition to all the other things, like you said, Jason, that, you know, are influenced by ballet or that could, you know, and I've always said too, ballet is not going to not help you.
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_05: Like even if you're a hip hop dancer, something in ballet will help you.
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_05: Maybe it's not gonna help you, you know, a hundred percent of the time in every single hip-hop style, but something you can take a nugget and it'll be great.
• 25:14
  SPEAKER_05: Like, and so I think, you know, people who argue against that, I I disagree.
• 25:18
  SPEAKER_05: Anyway, let's get into ballet programs at both of your schools.
• 25:22
  SPEAKER_05: So, Addison, you're um directing at Mather Dance Company.
• 25:26
  SPEAKER_05: Can you tell us, first of all, you started the ballet company or the the program five years ago.
• 25:32
  SPEAKER_05: What did it look like before you came?
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_05: What does it look like now?
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_04: So before I came, they had two ballet teachers, and they had a decent amount of hours.
• 25:43
  SPEAKER_04: Both ballet teachers have beautiful resumes and are very strong dancers and teachers.
• 25:49
  SPEAKER_04: So that wasn't the issue.
• 25:51
  SPEAKER_04: They both have opposite ways of teaching.
• 25:55
  SPEAKER_04: So the kids were getting like happy, loving one teacher and Rush, you know, um, kind of general American ballet, I want to say, you know, not specific to a syllabus.
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_04: And then they were getting very strict Russian teaching.
• 26:11
  SPEAKER_04: So the kids were like loving, coming to this class, but this class, sometimes she would use fun music and hip-hop music, and and she was teaching great technique.
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_04: She's a wonderful person.
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_04: Then they were getting Russian ballet teacher who was teaching great technique, but was more, you know, I'm going to the Kirov in 1973.
• 26:32
  SPEAKER_04: And so they were getting like these two polar opposites, and it just wasn't a program.
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_04: And she really wanted that.
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_04: Um, so the kids were getting good technique, but it wasn't making sense as a program.
• 26:45
  SPEAKER_04: And I think that's the issue with some studios who'll say, like, we have six hours of ballet a week, we have eight hours of ballet a week, and I tell them to point their feet and we do this.
• 26:54
  SPEAKER_04: And it's like, but are you working with your teacher or teachers on really having a program?
• 27:00
  unknown: Right.
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_01: It's a holistic approach, ballet, yeah, consistency.
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_04: And you don't necessarily have to do Chicketty or RAD, but you do need to have something that makes sense where you're coming in every week and it's developing, and it's also working for the choreography that they're doing in lyrical and contemporary and musical theater.
• 27:22
  SPEAKER_04: Like we talk, I talk a lot with Shannon about what's, you know, what's on the docket for the kids.
• 27:28
  SPEAKER_04: And then her assistant, Nicole, that does a lot of um the younger choreography.
• 27:33
  SPEAKER_04: And it's like, what are you seeing in jazz?
• 27:35
  SPEAKER_04: What are you seeing in their solos?
• 27:36
  SPEAKER_04: What are they doing this year?
• 27:38
  SPEAKER_04: Let me develop so it makes sense at the bar.
• 27:41
  SPEAKER_04: And so it's really just kind of structuring your house, it's organizing your house.
• 27:46
  SPEAKER_04: So it's not that some of these ballet teachers are not given enough hours, and it's not that some of them are not knowledgeable or are not teaching correctly, but you know, they're not.
• 27:55
  SPEAKER_04: Are you coming in with a program?
• 27:57
  SPEAKER_04: Are you coming in and disciplining and organizing these kids?
• 28:02
  SPEAKER_04: Like Jason's really brilliant at the kind of mind-body connection.
• 28:05
  SPEAKER_04: Is it, is it, are you being conscientious about your teaching and about your team?
• 28:11
  SPEAKER_04: And I think if you're at a competition studio, there's so much money that goes into that training from your parents that those kids deserve a program.
• 28:20
  SPEAKER_04: And it's easy to do, and honestly, it's fun to do.
• 28:23
  SPEAKER_04: It's really fun as a teacher.
• 28:24
  SPEAKER_04: It gives you a sense of like, I'm not just like phoning it in and doing tombe pata braggly, sodash every class.
• 28:31
  SPEAKER_04: I'm actually like looking at their solos and I'm looking at what they're doing in acro, and I'm looking at what their body needs.
• 28:37
  SPEAKER_04: Does your body need rest in these moments?
• 28:40
  SPEAKER_04: Does your body need more petita allegro?
• 28:42
  SPEAKER_04: What does your body need?
• 28:43
  SPEAKER_04: And then you look at the trajectory of where are your kids going?
• 28:47
  SPEAKER_04: Are are a lot of my kids wanting to audition for university?
• 28:50
  SPEAKER_04: Are some of them wanting to do kind of cruise ship and these things?
• 28:52
  SPEAKER_04: And and I can develop all of that knowing what kind of auditions they're about to go to.
• 28:58
  SPEAKER_04: So I think it's I also think it's fun.
• 29:00
  SPEAKER_04: And you just get really excited about it and then you get like refreshed and, you know, and so you as the teacher and the kids and the parents, I think really do deserve a program.
• 29:11
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, and it sounds like in in your in Mather's case, that nobody's excluded.
• 29:17
  SPEAKER_05: And I would, I would venture to guess that if you're a studio that maybe doesn't have a lot of ballet or you have a ballet teacher, they probably feel a little excluded because it's like, I'm a ballet teacher, I come from this world, I don't do that, or maybe the opposite is you're a ballet teacher, you come from that world, you come in and teach the Tondus, and we're gonna do our competition dance.
• 29:36
  SPEAKER_05: Right.
• 29:36
  SPEAKER_05: And like what it sounds like at Mather is that like we're a family, we do this together.
• 29:41
  SPEAKER_05: You're involved in, like you said, you're watching the solos, you're kind of navigating who needs what.
• 29:45
  SPEAKER_05: Like that sounds like the ticket right there.
• 29:48
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, and it really does work, and it's really exciting.
• 29:51
  SPEAKER_04: So, two seasons ago, the last season of World of Dance, our kids went on and they won.
• 29:56
  SPEAKER_04: It was amazing.
• 29:57
  SPEAKER_04: It was this crazy experience, won a million dollars.
• 30:00
  SPEAKER_04: So it was three of them.
• 30:01
  SPEAKER_04: It was Shannon's daughter, our main boy, Diego, and then Shannon's assistant, Nicole, her little sister.
• 30:07
  SPEAKER_04: So it was just this like like full team moment.
• 30:10
  SPEAKER_04: And that was so much fun to watch those kids go and film and like what does their technique need?
• 30:18
  SPEAKER_04: And we would like sit on the floor and I would sit with Shannon.
• 30:21
  SPEAKER_04: So yeah, it does become a family, and you're totally right.
• 30:24
  SPEAKER_04: The ballet teacher does not need to be this like cold elitist outside person because honestly, we're really not.
• 30:31
  SPEAKER_04: If you really get to know most ballet teachers, we are crazy and wild and fun.
• 30:36
  SPEAKER_04: And like Jason said, we love competition.
• 30:39
  SPEAKER_04: Ballet is the Jason said this before, and it's my favorite.
• 30:42
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, ballet is the original flash and trash.
• 30:45
  SPEAKER_04: Like, look at a ballet variation.
• 30:47
  SPEAKER_04: There's big legs and big turns and 32 fuentes and big jumps.
• 30:51
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, you cannot watch a classical potada coda without seeing a million jumps and legs and a big flashy tutu and the partner.
• 31:02
  SPEAKER_05: Yes, it is.
• 31:03
  SPEAKER_04: So we like this, this is actually our jam.
• 31:07
  SPEAKER_04: We love this.
• 31:09
  SPEAKER_04: We love fully decked costumes.
• 31:12
  SPEAKER_04: So bring us into your world, and we don't need to be, you know, separate.
• 31:17
  SPEAKER_04: And I absolutely agree.
• 31:18
  SPEAKER_04: It's and we don't need to phone in the same technique over and over connect your rotier, connect your retriee.
• 31:24
  SPEAKER_04: You know, that's not that's not making the kids' bodies and muscle memory really make sense.
• 31:30
  SPEAKER_04: So you gotta dive in a little deeper.
• 31:32
  SPEAKER_04: It's kind of like take a little more energy in the the top of your program, but it it, man, it makes such a huge difference.
• 31:40
  SPEAKER_04: Like get creative, get creative with your choreography in ballet class, and that's going to only help them with hip-hop and the intricacies of hip-hop and their, you know, floor work and contemporary and making sure they're protecting themselves as they go to the floor when we do all the footwork in ballet.
• 31:57
  SPEAKER_04: So it really is harmonious, totally.
• 31:59
  SPEAKER_05: Jason, tell me about your program and how you decided to structure it and what it looks like on in the best case scenario, pr non-COVID aside, like best case scenario, your studio does this.
• 32:11
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so listen, my experience is different.
• 32:18
  SPEAKER_00: I started a program.
• 32:19
  SPEAKER_00: However, the principles of how I started the program are very similar to how Addison restructured her program, listening to that.
• 32:27
  SPEAKER_00: I think that the most important thing is faculty cohesion.
• 32:31
  SPEAKER_00: They have to be cohesive.
• 32:33
  SPEAKER_00: We have to be talking from the same script, we have to be operating from the same playbook.
• 32:40
  SPEAKER_00: So I take that charge very seriously so that through line is brought into every single class that we teach.
• 32:47
  SPEAKER_00: So I have, because I I'm very blessed to have an incredible faculty at my school, they have years of experience, they have teaching records, they have performance records as professional dancers, etc.
• 33:02
  SPEAKER_00: etc.
• 33:03
  SPEAKER_00: I don't want to stifle that knowledge and the and the and the sharing of that knowledge at all.
• 33:10
  SPEAKER_00: And I understand that I'm lucky because I live in LA and have access to that.
• 33:15
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of studios don't have access to that.
• 33:17
  SPEAKER_00: So the way that I approach is a little bit different, but the principle of it is the same.
• 33:21
  SPEAKER_00: I am still the director of the school and I have a very specific charge for my dancers on a on a let's call it a month-to-month basis.
• 33:31
  SPEAKER_00: I want those knees straight and I want that rotation working from the hip beautifully with a strong supporting leg.
• 33:36
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not seeing that in the classes.
• 33:38
  SPEAKER_00: This is what I want to see throughout.
• 33:40
  SPEAKER_00: So I don't care whether you come from whether you come from a Vaganava bass, a Shakedi bass, or an RAD bass, the principles of turnout are the same.
• 33:49
  SPEAKER_00: Use your methodology, how you know it, to share it with the kids.
• 33:53
  SPEAKER_00: They will each kid responds differently to different to different triggers, right?
• 33:59
  SPEAKER_00: So the way you say it may not resonate, but the way another teacher says it will resonate, and we are repeating that on a consistent basis.
• 34:07
  SPEAKER_00: The same thing goes in the jazz class and the contemporary class and the improv class.
• 34:11
  SPEAKER_00: We talk about the same things.
• 34:13
  SPEAKER_00: So there's like a theme, like for the month, knees over toes, theme for the month, getting that that's that nice scoopy line from hip to toe, theme of the month, getting on that supporting leg, making the writ to make sure the writer rays really nice and high and the knees pulled back.
• 34:29
  SPEAKER_00: Those kind of things.
• 34:30
  SPEAKER_00: So I make sure that we have those strong focuses throughout the program consistently.
• 34:35
  SPEAKER_00: But I really do want my faculty to teach from from what they know and from their experience.
• 34:41
  SPEAKER_00: So I will not micromanage the content of the class.
• 34:45
  SPEAKER_00: I manage the overall arch of what it is that I want achieved that semester, that month, that week, whatever it is.
• 34:55
  SPEAKER_00: So that would be the how I structure my program.
• 34:58
  SPEAKER_00: Again, it's pulled through into jazz, hip-hop, tap, whatever, whatever, whatever other subject we are offering, we pull those same ideas, the same principles.
• 35:07
  SPEAKER_00: It's very important that faculty are on the same page.
• 35:10
  SPEAKER_00: We have a conversation, we have conversations, we talk about.
• 35:13
  SPEAKER_00: I'm constantly in conversation with my faculty.
• 35:16
  SPEAKER_00: I am not an absentee director.
• 35:17
  SPEAKER_00: I am there, I am teaching classes.
• 35:19
  SPEAKER_00: I teach all the supplement, like a lot of the supplemental classes in my studio.
• 35:25
  SPEAKER_00: I can teach a ballet class, but so can everyone else.
• 35:29
  SPEAKER_00: What do I do that is that is my own, and that's the supplemental stuff.
• 35:33
  SPEAKER_00: It's cont it's contemporary technique for ballet dancers.
• 35:37
  SPEAKER_00: It is ballet elements class for intermediate through advanced dancers focusing on fundamentals because I think that we forget about these fundamentals.
• 35:47
  SPEAKER_00: We start to become more advanced if all of a sudden we think that we don't have to focus on pliers anymore.
• 35:53
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 35:53
  SPEAKER_00: Right, it's just we get through it.
• 35:55
  SPEAKER_00: You don't ever get through it.
• 35:57
  SPEAKER_00: There are fundamentals for a reason.
• 35:58
  SPEAKER_00: And I always use the example.
• 36:00
  SPEAKER_00: It's like you go, I mean, Courtney, you're in New York and you still take class, you go to you go to beginner intermediate classes and you got half half of ABT in the beginner intermediate classes, because we want to be able to take the time to focus on those fundamentals, which give the body the support it needs to protect it from injury.
• 36:19
  SPEAKER_00: If those fundamental muscles are in check and the alignment is in check and the body organization is in check, we stand a better chance of having longevity as the answers.
• 36:30
  SPEAKER_00: You know, so my program, so the program is very much focused on that.
• 36:36
  SPEAKER_00: I really want strong technique.
• 36:39
  SPEAKER_00: Like in my we are doing, I would say that in my like academy and my academy level classes, also with like with Addison, we don't have any classes of a lesson an hour and a half long.
• 36:49
  SPEAKER_00: My academy level, I take two hour or two-hour ballet classes, but even my jazz class is an hour and a half, contemporary tech, an hour and a half.
• 36:57
  SPEAKER_00: Because we need to, I think we if we have some, I I I have something to say.
• 37:02
  SPEAKER_00: My teachers have something to say, and if we don't allow that time, we can't, they can't share really what they have, you know, as their kind of like intellectual property, which is why I have my faculty at my school.
• 37:14
  SPEAKER_00: I want you to share your intellectual property with my with my dancers.
• 37:18
  SPEAKER_00: But again, keeping it unified across the board to make sure that there's a consistency in the training across all genres of dance.
• 37:25
  SPEAKER_00: So they are dancing like a, I would say that we are taking if they it's six six days of the week we're training, we've got six ballet classes a week that we're being offered, we'd be offered.
• 37:34
  SPEAKER_00: Probably up in pre-academy four, we are that's ever we've got everyday offerings.
• 37:39
  SPEAKER_00: When we go into the lower levels, so your five, your five to nine, ten-year-olds, we've got, we got, we drop down to like four times a week, three times a week, two times a week.
• 37:50
  SPEAKER_00: Because I still I still consider that them recreational dancers in the amount of time they prepared to devote to their dancing.
• 37:59
  SPEAKER_00: So I use that word recreational very, very cautiously because I think it's that I I know this is a sidestep, but the word recreational has become distorted in our industry.
• 38:12
  SPEAKER_00: Recreational is the amount of times a week you are devoting to an activity.
• 38:18
  SPEAKER_00: It is not about the quality of training that the dancer or the or the person doing the activity should be receiving.
• 38:26
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that's a very, very important distinction.
• 38:28
  SPEAKER_00: And it's become very bastardized in our in our industry.
• 38:31
  SPEAKER_00: It's become an excuse not to give dancers the best possible training that you can provide.
• 38:37
  SPEAKER_00: So that's so I'll step back away from that because I just that is a very important thing that I like that I that I want to share, because you do your dancers a disservice when you treat them with this bastardized recreational perspective.
• 38:49
  SPEAKER_00: I it's it's not it's not fair to them because you never know what that dancers now eight or nine or ten years old, they're coming once or twice a week.
• 38:57
  SPEAKER_00: I've got a pre-professional young dancer program, and I have got with witches every single day for ages nine through eleven, and I can tell you that those little wreck dancers are all of a sudden saying, Oh, we want to be in that program.
• 39:12
  SPEAKER_00: And so now I'm okay, not I don't even have to audition them because I know what's being taught, and they're two times a week that they're getting terror and that they're getting class.
• 39:20
  SPEAKER_00: So they are absolutely equipped to jump into a more intensive program because their fundamental technique is in check.
• 39:27
  SPEAKER_00: So it's very important.
• 39:28
  SPEAKER_00: That's very important for me.
• 39:30
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, yeah.
• 39:35
  SPEAKER_03: Dance costumes are the final touch to make your vision come to life on stage.
• 39:40
  SPEAKER_03: Whether you're looking for a simple and sleek design, or maybe you want to be covered in rhinestones from head to toe.
• 39:46
  SPEAKER_03: Dance costumes by Urzua is here to make your custom costume dreams come true.
• 39:50
  SPEAKER_03: If you're still finalizing your costumes for the competition season, contact Dance Costumes by Urzua now to receive a quick quote, and they'll get started on creating you a one-of-a-kind costume.
• 40:00
  SPEAKER_03: Also, take advantage of our exclusive promo code from MakingThe Impact.
• 40:04
  SPEAKER_03: Use the code IMPAT15 at checkout.
• 40:07
  SPEAKER_03: That's Impact15 on costumes and dancewear to receive 15% off your entire purchase.
• 40:13
  SPEAKER_03: Check out all of their designs now at dancecostumes by Erzua.com.
• 40:25
  SPEAKER_02: I'm so with you on that.
• 40:27
  SPEAKER_02: I I really love that you said that.
• 40:28
  SPEAKER_03: And yeah, it's it's really it's really comes down to the quality of training and what is being offered.
• 40:35
  SPEAKER_03: And it's like you said, it doesn't have to always be about how many hours, it's the quality of the class that you're taking and and what you're putting into the classes as well.
• 40:47
  SPEAKER_03: Because I think a lot of times, especially approaching ballet talk from the judging perspective, you I'm sure there are people out there listening that have that have heard a judge say on a critique, this dancer just needs to take, you know, more ballet, more ballet, more ballet, more ballet.
• 41:02
  SPEAKER_03: Well, what does that mean?
• 41:04
  SPEAKER_03: Well, yes, I mean, they probably are taking some ballet, but what how are they approaching class?
• 41:10
  SPEAKER_03: And are they making the most of that one ballet class?
• 41:13
  SPEAKER_05: Are doesn't how is the teacher approaching class?
• 41:16
  SPEAKER_05: Yes, like Addison says, is that teacher just phoning it in and saying retere, retere, connector retere, and but like not then giving them some imagery or approaching it from a different angle or having it be a through line, like Jason said, into the jazz class?
• 41:30
  SPEAKER_05: Like there's no taking six days of bad ballet.
• 41:33
  SPEAKER_03: Right, exactly.
• 41:34
  SPEAKER_03: You could be taking how I mean just you could be putting the time in, but you're not putting that the quality and the focus into that ballet class.
• 41:42
  SPEAKER_03: You could you could be an exceptional dancer and take one awesome ballet class a week with the solid teacher that you're putting your a thousand percent effort in and you're self-correcting yourself and you're making the most of it.
• 41:53
  SPEAKER_03: Or you could take, like you said, Leslie, six, very mediocre, you're not giving your best, but I I'm here and I showed up type of class.
• 42:01
  SPEAKER_03: Ballet.
• 42:02
  SPEAKER_00: Can I can I just I want to jump in and just like riff off of that a little bit because I think you're touching on a very, very important point.
• 42:08
  SPEAKER_00: I was teaching in a a college program, a newer college program that was trying to it was commercially based and it had a ballet element to it.
• 42:19
  SPEAKER_00: And what I learned very quickly from that environment, which I think applies even more so to studios, understand your studio culture and understand what it is you're providing for your dancers.
• 42:33
  SPEAKER_00: If you are a competition school that has aspirations of winning everything at every competition that you have, and your focus is on routines, choreography, etc., etc., where does ballet fit into that equation for you?
• 42:51
  SPEAKER_00: So we don't have to be training every dancer to go and audition for Houston Ballet or the Bolshoi or the Kirov or San Francisco Ballet.
• 43:00
  SPEAKER_00: We have to train the dancers, we have to expose the dancers to ballet training that is going to be germane to what their ultimate goal is, which will ultimately be what your studio's focus will be.
• 43:12
  SPEAKER_00: So if you are that competition studio and the dancers are only taking that one ballet class a week or that two ballet classes a week, you actually need to have a teacher who understands that, who doesn't have an ad the an agenda that serves anything other than knee straight, toes pointed, turned out, extension, leaps, turns, right?
• 43:36
  SPEAKER_00: Those are the things that you need to hit in those ballet classes.
• 43:40
  SPEAKER_00: And use the ballet methodology to help augment the dancer so that when they get on the stage or when they get into the rehearsal, they have got those aesthetic elements down path.
• 43:55
  SPEAKER_00: You don't need to be doing anything else in that ballet class.
• 43:58
  SPEAKER_00: You know, that's one of the things that I go into.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_00: To a lot of competition schools, to do is let's go and create a syllabus for your program that is ballet-based, so that we are getting that fundamental technique in there without having to go through an entire ballet syllabus that actually has nothing to do with what these dancers want to do ultimately at the end of the day.
• 44:22
  SPEAKER_00: We can still have respect for ballet, we can still respect the history of it, we can still expose them to all that knowledge base, to all of those luminary figures within the ballet where we can still give them that ballet education, but we don't have to be teaching gargliards in class.
• 44:38
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my god, not a gargliard.
• 44:40
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 44:40
  SPEAKER_00: It's like, whoa, how does how does that serve the competition, the high-level competition dancer who is doing the jazz like a hard-hitting jazz routine that is very turn, or let's call it trick-based.
• 44:54
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't serve them because as a judge, we know I want to see a high releve, I want to see a straight knee, I want to see that passe nice and high, that knee pulled back if we turned out, that heel presented forward, regardless of what that genre is.
• 45:09
  SPEAKER_00: I want to see that you turned out when you're supposed to be turned out, that you're parallel when you're parallel.
• 45:14
  SPEAKER_00: I want to see the knees tracking in the appropriate place.
• 45:17
  SPEAKER_00: I want to see those the clarity of transition.
• 45:19
  SPEAKER_00: I want to see that that opposition elongation, it's all, and it's all that's all cut that can all be covered in ballet class.
• 45:26
  SPEAKER_00: And it can be done once or twice a week.
• 45:28
  SPEAKER_05: And that's what I was really gonna say.
• 45:30
  SPEAKER_05: I was just gonna mention that the kind of ballet program like you're talking about that serves the kind of studio you are, I think also can even apply up until college because you you started talking about that and it immediately took me back.
• 45:42
  SPEAKER_05: I went to Oklahoma City University, which is a American dance.
• 45:46
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, Joe Rowan, get it.
• 45:48
  SPEAKER_05: Yes, Joe Rowan.
• 45:49
  SPEAKER_05: But for about two years, we had a ballet teacher who came from the ballet and modern world.
• 45:54
  SPEAKER_05: OCU does not teach modern.
• 45:55
  SPEAKER_05: They do not teach us to go be in a contemporary company, they teach us to be an American dance style person, which includes ballet.
• 46:01
  SPEAKER_05: We took ballet five days a week, but this one teacher came in and was just disgusted with all of us because we were not training to be ballerinas.
• 46:12
  SPEAKER_05: And I remember it, the morale in those classes was so a lot of us liked ballet.
• 46:16
  SPEAKER_05: I liked ballet, but the way she treated us as if we were not as good as somebody who is in a ballet and modern base dance program at a university where I paid$40,000 a year to attend your school.
• 46:28
  SPEAKER_05: Right.
• 46:28
  SPEAKER_05: Right.
• 46:28
  SPEAKER_05: You know, and like it can that kind of teacher in in the wrong place is is a morale.
• 46:36
  SPEAKER_05: It's toxic.
• 46:36
  SPEAKER_05: You know, it's it's toxic.
• 46:37
  SPEAKER_05: It can ruin, it can ruin your program, it can ruin your kid to the parents.
• 46:42
  SPEAKER_05: And so I think that's such a a wonderful point to bring up that like you don't have to train your kids to be prima ballerinas, but you do have to find a good ballet teacher who fits in the world of your studio.
• 46:53
  SPEAKER_05: Right.
• 46:53
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 46:54
  SPEAKER_04: Or find people that can help your agendas helping you do that.
• 46:58
  SPEAKER_00: Find people that can help you do that.
• 47:00
  SPEAKER_00: There are people that will that will help you do that.
• 47:02
  SPEAKER_00: I know Addison would do that.
• 47:03
  SPEAKER_00: If someone I'm I I do it, I do it.
• 47:05
  SPEAKER_00: I go in and say, look, you need to let's let's take a look at where the training is, and these are the these are the elements that we need to fix in in the dance in the dancers and and create a syllabus that they can hit where they can hit these these elements hard once or twice a week, you know?
• 47:21
  SPEAKER_03: And it goes back to the and I think there's probably a lot of people that are listening to this thinking, like, and hearing how your programs are structured at your studios and saying, like, wow, they they take hour and a half ballet classes.
• 47:31
  SPEAKER_03: Like our studio doesn't have the space, the time for that.
• 47:35
  SPEAKER_03: There's not enough time in the day or the week to take that.
• 47:38
  SPEAKER_03: But at the end of the day, I think it goes back to what you mentioned earlier, Jason.
• 47:42
  SPEAKER_03: It's a it goes to the fundamentals.
• 47:44
  SPEAKER_03: You can be really just focusing on those key fundamentals, going back to basics, taking the nine, like jumping into that extra ballet class with the young'ins, if if that's all that's offered.
• 47:55
  SPEAKER_03: But it's I think that a lot of the feedback that we as judges give to studios who might not have that same amount of quality ballet training that you hope to have or are able to have at your studio, it's most of the time my critiques are always we need to go back to basics and work on alignment and work on our releve and what and those things that you just listed.
• 48:17
  SPEAKER_03: And those really can start from the ballet bar, regardless of how many times a week you're doing it.
• 48:23
  SPEAKER_03: Exactly.
• 48:24
  SPEAKER_00: And it should be taken into the other genres as well.
• 48:27
  SPEAKER_00: If you are taking a jazz class and you are not having a technically based, I don't care if the out the class is 45 minutes long, 15 to 20 minutes of that class should be focused on fundamental technique.
• 48:39
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 48:40
  SPEAKER_00: Your teacher, teachers need to be creative and they need to be able to incorporate that into the work.
• 48:46
  SPEAKER_00: I have found that in a lot of schools we throw away this warm-up.
• 48:51
  SPEAKER_00: It's a rote warm-up, it's that it's that plié, that flat back thing, it's like the swing across, it's like with no kind of like rhyme or reason for that.
• 49:01
  SPEAKER_00: If you're if these kids are only taking one ballet class a week, that through line has got to be pulled into the warm-up for every single one of those other genres that they are taking.
• 49:11
  SPEAKER_00: You can't just it can't be turnout in jazz, right?
• 49:15
  SPEAKER_00: All the time.
• 49:16
  SPEAKER_00: We turn it to the turnout turnouts in jazz all the time.
• 49:20
  SPEAKER_03: And knowing what the difference is, like we have to know that in ballet, this is how we find our rotation.
• 49:26
  SPEAKER_03: And then knowing what a clean parallel position is, for some reason, yeah, if dancers don't even know what to how to turn out properly, they're never going to be able to find a true parallel stance either.
• 49:36
  SPEAKER_03: And because you're using the same muscle.
• 49:38
  SPEAKER_04: And a really good ballet, a really good ballet teacher, when they're when we're younger, we actually work parallel a lot more than people think we do in ballet.
• 49:47
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 49:48
  SPEAKER_04: So they are very complementary.
• 49:49
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 49:51
  SPEAKER_00: Your rotators are your rotators.
• 49:52
  SPEAKER_00: They move like this.
• 49:53
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 49:54
  SPEAKER_00: They rotate in different directions.
• 49:56
  SPEAKER_00: They rotate in different directions.
• 49:57
  SPEAKER_00: So an actual parallel position is an engagement of the rotator that way.
• 50:03
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 50:03
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I I mean, I I don't know if anyone sees the video, but it's like we go we go outwards.
• 50:08
  SPEAKER_00: I don't think so.
• 50:08
  SPEAKER_00: We're going outwards, you know, we're standing straight, but we're taking the rotators and we pull them towards the the walls on the outside, the side walls of the room, the rotation's going that way.
• 50:17
  SPEAKER_00: When you know, we turn out, we're thinking about the inner thigh flesh, the top of the inner thigh and the flesh of the inner thigh coming forward, you know, it's different.
• 50:25
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 50:25
  SPEAKER_04: Now going back to going back to for any studio owners listening, people might be surprised.
• 50:32
  SPEAKER_04: Mather, we only work four days a week.
• 50:35
  SPEAKER_04: So we only have classes Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday.
• 50:38
  SPEAKER_04: We have a couple like little kid extra little things Friday, but we don't have a six-day program.
• 50:45
  SPEAKER_04: So we, it's quality over quantity.
• 50:47
  SPEAKER_04: Now we do 11 months out of the year.
• 50:49
  SPEAKER_04: We don't start any choreography except for some YGP variations and icon variations, but we don't start any group choreography until January.
• 51:00
  SPEAKER_04: So we take all of our fall is only training.
• 51:04
  SPEAKER_04: No training classes ever will be replaced with choreography.
• 51:09
  SPEAKER_04: So then going into spring, they still have all their training.
• 51:12
  SPEAKER_04: They just have we have mandatory weekends where we learn choreography on the weekends.
• 51:16
  SPEAKER_04: And but yeah, we don't have six days a week.
• 51:18
  SPEAKER_04: So some people might be surprised you don't.
• 51:20
  SPEAKER_04: So that's where I want to go back into you don't have to have a six-day-a-week ballet program because I don't want people to listen to this and go, well, we don't have that luxury of that.
• 51:28
  SPEAKER_04: But no, and I can help do that.
• 51:30
  SPEAKER_04: I've gone into studios, like Jason said, and I've helped, you know, run their kind of numbers and look at your, you know, how many teachers you have and your budget and how long you can have these hours and you you can make it work.
• 51:43
  SPEAKER_04: You really can.
• 51:44
  SPEAKER_05: I was I'm glad you brought that up, Addison, because since we only have a uh like 15 more minutes court, I wanted to touch on you mentioned earlier, I think in your intro, Addison, about the fears around ballet from from people who are not in the ballet world.
• 51:59
  SPEAKER_05: Can you speak a little bit to that and how, you know, you already mentioned how, you know, people might listen and say, well, I don't have six days a week and I don't have another studio and I I live in Nebraska somewhere with, you know, 10 people in the town.
• 52:11
  SPEAKER_05: Like I don't have a ballet teacher like this.
• 52:13
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 52:13
  SPEAKER_05: Are there any anything you can think of to help those listeners who may want to make some change, but maybe feel threatened or unable to do so?
• 52:22
  SPEAKER_04: Absolutely.
• 52:23
  SPEAKER_04: And you know what?
• 52:24
  SPEAKER_04: It's hard to start with your teenagers.
• 52:26
  SPEAKER_04: You know, if your teenagers grew up and they've never competed ballet, and then you're gonna throw a ballet number on them.
• 52:31
  SPEAKER_04: That's hard.
• 52:32
  SPEAKER_04: And that's where I'll say that might not be doable.
• 52:35
  SPEAKER_04: Let's just be honest, to make your 15-year-olds compete in ballet at this stage.
• 52:39
  SPEAKER_04: You might have a couple, but I think start younger, start when they're five, six, seven, do a one little ballet number, um, start the choreography with them, start a little program.
• 52:51
  SPEAKER_04: I think the fear, there's a couple fears, and I've judged next to people and a variation will come out and they don't know it's a variation, which is, you know, we can't know everything.
• 53:00
  SPEAKER_04: I don't know everything in hip-hop, and I'm not going to expect every judge to know everything in ballet because we're all we have different backgrounds.
• 53:08
  SPEAKER_04: So I've had a judge, you know, next to me score um Key Tree variation very low on the choreography score.
• 53:14
  SPEAKER_04: Because they he said, uh, I said, Why'd you give that that score?
• 53:17
  SPEAKER_04: It's repertoire.
• 53:18
  SPEAKER_04: Right.
• 53:18
  SPEAKER_04: It's really repetitive.
• 53:19
  SPEAKER_04: He did all the time.
• 53:20
  SPEAKER_04: It was formulaic and it was super cure.
• 53:23
  SPEAKER_04: So I think that's where some of the fear comes in.
• 53:25
  SPEAKER_04: It's like one, it gets judged very harshly because there's so much to pick apart in ballet.
• 53:32
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's just easy to pick it up because we know it, because because everyone knows it, Addison.
• 53:36
  SPEAKER_00: Just want to jump in there and say it's easy to pick apart because everyone knows what it's supposed to look like.
• 53:41
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 53:42
  SPEAKER_00: So there's there's there's that that is a huge fear factor for people.
• 53:46
  SPEAKER_00: So you can't get away with slop on the on the stage.
• 53:50
  SPEAKER_04: Right.
• 53:51
  SPEAKER_04: And when something goes wrong, you can't emote out of it.
• 53:54
  SPEAKER_04: Right, right.
• 53:54
  SPEAKER_04: You can't pedestrian walk and emote out of it.
• 53:57
  SPEAKER_04: It's just it's raw.
• 53:59
  SPEAKER_04: It's real, it's raw.
• 54:00
  SPEAKER_04: So that's that's a fear, is we won't win, it'll be disappointing, whatever.
• 54:05
  SPEAKER_04: One fear is the judges won't be knowledgeable in ballet, and they'll pick us apart or they'll judge scorn.
• 54:12
  SPEAKER_04: You have to kind of go into it not caring.
• 54:15
  SPEAKER_04: Like we're we're competing ballet to get us excited about it, to put it in a repertoire.
• 54:20
  SPEAKER_04: It also is great for a panel of judges, a competition to see your studio bringing everything.
• 54:26
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 54:27
  SPEAKER_04: And that goes for tap and that goes for everything.
• 54:30
  SPEAKER_04: Versatility.
• 54:30
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, then you, it's like, wow, they're competing ballet.
• 54:33
  SPEAKER_04: And I've I've judged some, you know, non-ballet competitions where I've seen a studio do a lovely ballet number.
• 54:40
  SPEAKER_04: Did it get the highest in overall?
• 54:42
  SPEAKER_04: No.
• 54:43
  SPEAKER_04: But I just I remember sitting and like just so appreciating and like saying just thank you, thank you.
• 54:48
  SPEAKER_04: This may not score the highest, but thank you for being conscientious enough to give your students this piece.
• 54:55
  SPEAKER_04: You know, bring someone else in.
• 54:57
  SPEAKER_04: There's so many things like we can zoom choreography now if you can't afford to fly someone in.
• 55:02
  SPEAKER_04: Zoom somebody and get a little sweet piece and just have one number for each age group and just start there.
• 55:09
  SPEAKER_00: Start the sorry, as I want, I think this is a this is an important topic.
• 55:14
  SPEAKER_00: I think because schools forget that we talk about appropriateness in dance and appropriateness at certain ages.
• 55:23
  SPEAKER_00: Y'all, if you just do ballet-based choreography from your three-year-olds all the way to your 11-year-olds, you are going to be safe.
• 55:32
  SPEAKER_04: You will never be able to love you of being inappropriate.
• 55:37
  SPEAKER_00: You will you'll never you will never get that criticism.
• 55:40
  SPEAKER_00: No one will ever say the costume is too racy, because you can you can have a bare midriff doing tondus, and no one's gonna say a thing because there's nothing suggestive about the movement, right?
• 55:51
  SPEAKER_00: So you know, so I think that's a very important thing.
• 55:56
  SPEAKER_00: And so Addison, yes, the little ones focus started with the little ones and get them used to it because uh and you will avoid the inner the inappropriate stigma of any kind of choreography.
• 56:07
  SPEAKER_00: And judges do like it.
• 56:09
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I uh as a judge, I agree with Addison.
• 56:12
  SPEAKER_00: I've sat there, but also as a director, I'd be on that receiving end of the judges cut a judge coming up to me and saying many, many, many occasions.
• 56:20
  SPEAKER_00: Courtney's even come up and said it to me.
• 56:23
  SPEAKER_00: We appreciate that your dancers' training.
• 56:25
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it's it's it's like, and for me as a studio director, that is a win.
• 56:30
  SPEAKER_00: I don't care about the awards.
• 56:31
  SPEAKER_00: Uh we know that there's a political element to awards and you know, at competitions, we're not we we're not all we're not naive to it as studio owners and studio directors.
• 56:41
  SPEAKER_00: For me, the win is the acknowledgement from the people that matter about the quality of the training that is present in the dancers on the stage in that moment.
• 56:49
  SPEAKER_00: And that is such a win.
• 56:51
  SPEAKER_00: And for the and also for studio directors, uh this is important.
• 56:55
  SPEAKER_00: Parents notice it.
• 56:57
  SPEAKER_00: Your kid, your kid, I can from from day one at my at my school, my parents have always come up to me and said, I know they didn't win, but we can see the difference in their training.
• 57:08
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, and it's great advertising for your studio.
• 57:12
  SPEAKER_04: It's great advertising for your studio.
• 57:14
  SPEAKER_04: Look, they take it seriously, they bring ballet.
• 57:17
  unknown: Right.
• 57:17
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that's so important for your for your for the morale of your of your community that you're creating at your studio for them to understand and respect and to be able to see when you put your dance up on the stage with like other dancers, that there's something different about them.
• 57:33
  SPEAKER_00: There's a polish, there's a refinement, there's a finesse.
• 57:35
  SPEAKER_00: And even through from your five-year-olds, we get it, we're getting this and it's kind of really coming through.
• 57:41
  SPEAKER_00: And that's because there's a consistency in the fundamental training that's happening.
• 57:45
  SPEAKER_04: And if competition and winning is the goal, if you look at the dance awards or like Revel, you know, nationals or NYCDA nationals, I can point out every one of those kids takes ballet seriously.
• 57:58
  SPEAKER_04: They go to The Rock in Vegas, they go to stars in Florida, they go to a competition studio, but that has a really good ballet program.
• 58:07
  SPEAKER_04: Totally.
• 58:07
  SPEAKER_04: And I just I I know it.
• 58:09
  unknown: Yeah.
• 58:10
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 58:10
  SPEAKER_04: Or they're supplementing, they're going down the street.
• 58:12
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 58:13
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 58:13
  SPEAKER_04: But if that's the goal with competition.
• 58:15
  SPEAKER_03: I always applaud a studio that brings ballet to the stage.
• 58:18
  SPEAKER_03: I thank them at the very top of my critique.
• 58:21
  SPEAKER_03: And I think it's really refreshing for me as a judge because I've said this many times on different episodes of the podcast.
• 58:26
  SPEAKER_03: As judges, we get to know your studio throughout the weekend.
• 58:30
  SPEAKER_03: We know what your favorite style is.
• 58:33
  SPEAKER_03: We know what sometimes we can pre-predict what's going to happen in a dance.
• 58:37
  SPEAKER_03: What your favorite step is.
• 58:37
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, what's your favorite step?
• 58:38
  SPEAKER_03: What's your go-to is.
• 58:39
  SPEAKER_03: We know that you might wear one shoe on the studio.
• 58:44
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 58:44
  SPEAKER_03: And then we also learn what your studio habits are, which let's be real, all studios have some different types of habits here or there.
• 58:52
  SPEAKER_03: We're actually doing a yes, even the ballet studios.
• 58:54
  SPEAKER_03: And we have an episode coming up a little bit later in our season that is the top 10 studio habits that we're gonna pull the judges and talk about.
• 59:01
  SPEAKER_03: But anyway, I think it's really refreshing when when studios are willing and able to bring ballet to the stage because then I can really see that foundation and those fundamentals and the basics, and I can really see what their training looks like from without the disguise of falling off out of that pirouette and making a reach out of it in lyrical or whatever it is.
• 59:24
  SPEAKER_04: I it's like you're gonna give good feedback that we need.
• 59:27
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, exactly.
• 59:28
  SPEAKER_04: Give good feedback off of that that we need.
• 59:30
  SPEAKER_03: It's a great opportunity for teachers and student owners to really see a whole nother.
• 59:36
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, I never I never caught that habit or that technical flaw right there.
• 59:40
  SPEAKER_03: And I wouldn't have seen it probably if you didn't show me the ballet dance at competition.
• 59:44
  SPEAKER_03: So I always uh applaud the students.
• 59:45
  SPEAKER_03: And don't we want the feedback?
• 59:47
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 59:48
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, we want that good constructive criticism.
• 59:51
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 59:51
  SPEAKER_03: I think I think a lot of a lot of studios do, and I think some don't, you know.
• 59:56
  SPEAKER_03: But I do think that it is important, like as a studio owner or a teacher, if you hear constantly on your critiques that you're getting back dancers need more ballet, more ballet, more ballet, then maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea to have somebody like Addison or Jason or any of, I'm sure there's many other people in the industry that would like be willing to come in and just kind of take like an overview glance of like what is your what is your current structure of your competitive training?
• 1:00:20
  SPEAKER_03: What are you trying to achieve, like we said, which I think is so so great to approach.
• 1:00:24
  SPEAKER_03: And then how can we make that possible through through our ballet program is the ultimate goal.
• 1:00:30
  SPEAKER_04: And if you are searching for a ballet instructor and you feel like you're in a part of you know the world or America that, you know, I'm just having a hard time finding a ballet teacher.
• 1:00:40
  SPEAKER_04: I know Jason and I.
• 1:00:41
  SPEAKER_04: We we know everyone.
• 1:00:43
  SPEAKER_04: Like we we know so many people.
• 1:00:45
  SPEAKER_04: Reach out to me, DM me, send me an email.
• 1:00:48
  SPEAKER_04: Like I'm so community-based and love to make connections and to help people, I'm happy to do that.
• 1:00:54
  SPEAKER_00: I think the other thing, Addison, is also we have access to so much information.
• 1:00:59
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:01:00
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, you know, I I think I think that as as teachers, I think that if we're not utilizing our resources like YouTube, I mean, okay, we need to be a little bit more analytical and using it.
• 1:01:11
  SPEAKER_00: So it's like say say say a variation work.
• 1:01:13
  SPEAKER_00: Why is that variation better than the other variation?
• 1:01:15
  SPEAKER_00: Well, go study it.
• 1:01:16
  SPEAKER_00: Break it down, take the time to do that because we can because you can do that.
• 1:01:22
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, even if you if even if you don't feel your ballet training is where it needs to be to get your kids where it needs to be.
• 1:01:27
  SPEAKER_00: I bet you you're wrong.
• 1:01:29
  SPEAKER_00: I bet you if you just take a little bit of time to do the work, to look, do the research, that that get that little bit of information, compare and contrast, you empower you will you can empower yourself to be completely impactful to your own students without having to find that super like incredible ballet ballet person that you think that you need.
• 1:01:50
  SPEAKER_00: You probably don't need it.
• 1:01:52
  SPEAKER_00: You just need to know that you need to highlight the elements that your dancers need, and then you need to figure out how best to teach it.
• 1:01:58
  SPEAKER_00: And there are tons of resources available on how to achieve that.
• 1:02:01
  SPEAKER_04: Or provide provide some opportunities for your ballet teacher to continue their education, send them to a certification, get them PBT certified.
• 1:02:10
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 1:02:10
  SPEAKER_04: Correct.
• 1:02:11
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and because of the, there have always been so many, obviously, really great ballet intensives and different teacher trainings and things throughout our industry.
• 1:02:21
  SPEAKER_03: But I do think that because there is a bit of a rise in popularity of the ballet competitions becoming a part of the competitive dance world and the and then also the rise of competitive dance across studios.
• 1:02:33
  SPEAKER_03: I think that there are even more resources now than ever before.
• 1:02:38
  SPEAKER_03: So I really hope that people can take advantage of that more wherever you're based around the country.
• 1:02:43
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 1:02:43
  SPEAKER_04: Oh, yeah.
• 1:02:44
  SPEAKER_04: There's some great ones.
• 1:02:44
  SPEAKER_04: There's, you know, ABT has now their program, and there's some great, uh, there's a really good Cuban teacher program that's that's just really good, um, like with the muscle memory and the mind and body.
• 1:02:56
  SPEAKER_04: So it's like what Jason said, and now so many things are online after COVID.
• 1:02:59
  SPEAKER_04: That one silver lining was it gave us access to Zoom and you know, alternative learning, online learning.
• 1:03:06
  SPEAKER_04: So it's just sometimes we get, you know, lazy is not the best word, but sometimes we get lazy in our own teaching or we just get kind of stuck in that.
• 1:03:13
  SPEAKER_00: We do get lazy.
• 1:03:15
  SPEAKER_00: We do.
• 1:03:16
  SPEAKER_00: Addison dungeon, we call ourselves out.
• 1:03:18
  SPEAKER_00: We do get lazy and we gotta snap ourselves out of it.
• 1:03:21
  SPEAKER_00: You're right.
• 1:03:22
  SPEAKER_00: That's exactly what happened.
• 1:03:23
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, you can.
• 1:03:24
  SPEAKER_04: And then you can get excited about it because you're it's like you're young, you're young again and you're learning again.
• 1:03:30
  SPEAKER_04: And we all we all need to always continue to learn.
• 1:03:33
  SPEAKER_04: It's just gonna make everything so much stronger in our studios.
• 1:03:36
  SPEAKER_04: It's exhausting.
• 1:03:37
  SPEAKER_04: That's why Addison's tired.
• 1:03:39
  SPEAKER_00: What we do is exhausting, and so it's so sometimes it's easy just to phone it in and and to it and and and and still give a decent class.
• 1:03:46
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that you know, we can I can own it.
• 1:03:48
  SPEAKER_00: I do it, and we all do it.
• 1:03:51
  SPEAKER_03: This has been so great.
• 1:03:52
  SPEAKER_03: I've loved chatting with you, and I think this has been so informative.
• 1:03:55
  SPEAKER_03: I hope all the listeners out there maybe will approach structuring your schedule differently next season as you are revamping it over the summer, maybe walking into ballet class with a new perspective uh next week or tomorrow, whenever you're taking ballet again.
• 1:04:09
  SPEAKER_03: So thank you so much, Addison and Jason, for sharing your knowledge and advice and wisdom to our listeners around the world who are tuning in.
• 1:04:17
  SPEAKER_03: We are so grateful for you spending your day with us.
• 1:04:21
  SPEAKER_03: And how we usually have our guests lead us out on making the impact is to just leave one final bit of advice, tips, feedback, love, encouragement, uh, in regards to our topic today, which is developing a ballet program for competitive studios.
• 1:04:39
  SPEAKER_03: Ready, set, go.
• 1:04:41
  SPEAKER_04: Okay.
• 1:04:41
  SPEAKER_04: I would say back to the fear, like let's just let's let those fears go because we don't want regrets.
• 1:04:48
  SPEAKER_04: We don't want to get at the end of life and like why didn't I why didn't I take a risk and and do those programs with my kids?
• 1:04:54
  SPEAKER_04: And why didn't I take them to, you know, those ballet competitions, or why didn't I, you know, grow that program a little more?
• 1:05:00
  SPEAKER_04: I would say just dive in today, just do it.
• 1:05:03
  SPEAKER_04: It's you know, some some things we know that in our dance industries, it's just showing up, showing up to the audition, showing up for your kids and doing it, you know.
• 1:05:12
  SPEAKER_04: And so I would I would encourage you to look at ballet not as this elitist, snobby and cold, which of course it can be at some points, but look at it as this beautiful foundation is used a lot, but it really is.
• 1:05:28
  SPEAKER_04: Look at this beautiful foundation for our kids technique.
• 1:05:31
  SPEAKER_04: Let's look at what we want to do for them.
• 1:05:33
  SPEAKER_04: Let's look at the like arc of the goal that I want for my students, and how can I implement that ballet training and those ballet opportunities for my kids.
• 1:05:43
  SPEAKER_04: And then start getting excited about it.
• 1:05:45
  SPEAKER_04: Stay up one night and kind of research and what different programs can I go do and what can I get certified in?
• 1:05:51
  SPEAKER_04: And then maybe I could bring a small certification to my studio teacher training, and then maybe I could have a ballet and contemporary intensive.
• 1:06:00
  SPEAKER_04: And it can make even more money for your studio.
• 1:06:02
  SPEAKER_04: You know, anytime you add opportunities and you tack onto it, it can bring more money to your studio.
• 1:06:08
  SPEAKER_04: So it really is win-win.
• 1:06:10
  SPEAKER_04: It doesn't need to be separate, the separate elitist thing.
• 1:06:14
  SPEAKER_04: And it really can make your studio bloom.
• 1:06:17
  SPEAKER_04: And I hope you bloom as well.
• 1:06:18
  SPEAKER_04: And we're here as a community.
• 1:06:20
  SPEAKER_04: Reach out to me.
• 1:06:21
  SPEAKER_04: I'm on everything.
• 1:06:22
  SPEAKER_04: And reach out to me if you need help.
• 1:06:23
  SPEAKER_04: And if you um want help with your studio, I'd be happy to come.
• 1:06:27
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I echo everything Addison just said.
• 1:06:30
  SPEAKER_00: I think that she's spot on.
• 1:06:32
  SPEAKER_00: There's very little we don't agree on, which is nice working together.
• 1:06:36
  SPEAKER_00: I wanted to share my philosophy with which I run my program at my school because I think that it could resonate.
• 1:06:43
  SPEAKER_00: And it's I don't care what you want to do with dance at the end of the day.
• 1:06:49
  SPEAKER_00: I want you to be able to have the choice to pursue it professionally if that is what you desire.
• 1:06:56
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that that philosophy for me is about empowering these dancers to have the opportunity to choose.
• 1:07:06
  SPEAKER_00: Not everyone's gonna become a professional dancer, but I feel as studio directors, we have a responsibility to our whole to make sure that they can have that choice if that is what they would like to do.
• 1:07:19
  SPEAKER_00: And that is super empowering.
• 1:07:21
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not pursuing professional dance because I choose not to pursue professional dance, not because I don't have the skill sets to be able to pursue professional dance.
• 1:07:31
  SPEAKER_00: And I think it's a that's a very different place, it's a realistic place for them to be.
• 1:07:35
  SPEAKER_00: Because there's nothing worse than selling a false bill of goods to kids saying you can become a professional dancer, but you haven't provided for them the appropriate training that's going to allow them to take that next step.
• 1:07:46
  SPEAKER_00: So we have to be very reflective as student directors and teachers and make sure that we are sending the right messages to these to these dancers and giving them the right skill sets that are in line with what we are preaching about the industry and about what our studios can provide for them in terms of what that end goal looks like for our dancers.
• 1:08:06
  SPEAKER_00: And then as far as training is concerned, my final thought would be keep it simple and less is much more, and the repetition is the mother of all teachers.
• 1:08:18
  SPEAKER_00: Those are all those are things we've all heard over and over again, and I'm gonna say it and I'm gonna share it because that is where the magic happens.
• 1:08:25
  SPEAKER_00: Magic happens in repetition, magic happens in simplicity, because then we can really see the nitty-gritty details of the work.
• 1:08:33
  SPEAKER_00: If we get too bogged down in choreography, in technique, when we're doing technique, the kids become obsessed with coordination and become obsessed with the sequence of movement rather than becoming obsessed with the technical execution of the movement and the intricacy of that technical execution.
• 1:08:51
  SPEAKER_00: And if we're only doing ballet once or twice a week, that should be the focus and not the choreography or the coordination or the sequencing.
• 1:09:02
  SPEAKER_03: Thanks for tuning in to this week's episode all about developing a ballet program for competitive studios.
• 1:09:08
  SPEAKER_03: Be sure to follow our special guests on social media.
• 1:09:11
  SPEAKER_03: You can find Addison at Consulty Ballerina and Jason at JasonCooster.
• 1:09:16
  SPEAKER_05: Don't forget to follow Mickey LiamPack on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Podcast, Google Podcasts, and pretty much everywhere you listen to podcasts.
• 1:09:25
  SPEAKER_03: IBA's virtual competition is back, and registration is now open for a solo-only event.
• 1:09:32
  SPEAKER_03: Compete alongside dancers from around the world and receive detailed personalized critiques from a pre-screen IBA judge.
• 1:09:39
  SPEAKER_03: And new for the season, your critique will include up to 15 minutes of start-and-stop style feedback, plus a new broken-down score sheet to help dancers really see exactly where their score was impacted.
• 1:09:50
  SPEAKER_03: Your entry includes a virtual competition patch in the menu, and all dancers are eligible for individual special awards, overall sponsored prizes, and the chance to recompete for brand new judges in our top 20 challenge live stream event.
• 1:10:04
  SPEAKER_03: Entries are only$55 to participate, and registration is open until April 30th, 2022.
• 1:10:11
  SPEAKER_03: Head to our website now to learn more and register your solo at Impact DanceEducators.com slash virtual competition.
• 1:10:19
  SPEAKER_03: We can't wait to see your dance.
• 1:10:22
  SPEAKER_05: Coming up next in season three, stay tuned for student choreography, the next studio spotlight feature with Studio Blue, and mental health for dancers.
• 1:10:32
  SPEAKER_03: Thanks for tuning in.