ITC SPECIAL: Live from CYD Northern Ireland

We take the ClassForKids team on a journey through storm BERT to catch up with the our dance communities in Northern Ireland. And it is so worth it! 

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Transcript

Speaker 1 0:02

So Stephen.

Speaker 2 0:03

Yes, brian, we're a company of hard hitting questions here at Class for Kids we are.

Speaker 1 0:08

We get research because I need every question asked. One of the most important questions I'm ever going to ask you in my lifetime Okay, can you dance? I can dance. Why are you asking that? Why am I asking that? Well, we were at, can you dance? We were at. Can you dance best intro ever, best intro ever we were at. Can you dance? Um, at the beginning of november, no, end of end of november, end of november, well, middle, middle to middle of november.

Speaker 1 0:40

Yeah, yeah, yeah, um, and it was great. We were over there with one of our partners, keaton Moore from Move your Mind. We met loads of new people that were going to be one going to be new customers of ours, but also guys that we're going to be working with going into 2025. We're not going to keep you too much longer because this is just a little episode of people that we met at the event, and that was some dance schools. We talked to some of the kids that were dancing, yeah, and it's just a little snippet, a little bonus episode before our big end of year episode. We're just going to leave breadcrumbs for us now. Yeah, breadcrumbs, cool breadcrumbs. Right, enjoy this little bonus episode.

Speaker 1 1:15

Can you Dance in the club? Here we are at Can you Dance Ireland Very, very busy. Behind me, as you can see, class for Kids has came across with the whole team so that we can talk to some dancers, dance school teachers and dance kids at the event. Let's go and see who we can chat to. We are here with Rachel at Can you Dance in Ireland, and what school are you from? O'halland Dance Studio. Is that your school? Yeah, how long have you been running?

Speaker 4 1:39

school. So in January In January, we're going to be celebrating 40 years. 40 years, yeah, so my mom opened the school. I was going to say you didn't open the school. My mom opened the school in 1985. Right, okay, so she's going to be celebrating 40 years next year, which is obviously a huge milestone. So my mom runs the state school end of things. And then I look after the competition and the acro end of things.

Speaker 1 2:02

Just a family business.

Speaker 4 2:03

Family business. So my Nana was also in it as well, right, okay. So she was more into. She did like tops of the town and stuff, yes, so. And then my auntie has a school in the west of Ireland. So, yeah, it's a whole family. It really is.

Speaker 1 2:17

Yeah, well, you said 40 years in. I mean, you're not 40 like starting this when you were a baby or anything, but so how are you finding it today? Have you been to the candy dance before?

Speaker 4 2:25

um, no, this is our first time, right? What about perform? Did you go to perform? Yeah, we were in perform the since perform open, we've been going to perform okay cool.

Speaker 1 2:33

Yeah, we were there this year and, yeah, that was really good as well. But, um, really, we'd like to come along and to talk to all the different kind of schools and audiences, things, well, um, so, what are you doing? Are you competing today?

Speaker 4 2:42

yeah, so we have two routines competing in the seniors seniors and the teens. Okay, cool, so just two routines, and then all the kids are doing various workshops to get an extra bit of training in how many people have you got? With you.

Speaker 1 2:55

Today we have 27 what were the logistics involved in getting them here?

Speaker 4 2:59

so we had to order. We arranged. One of the dads arranged a bus for us. Okay, cool, he's like our bus man. He arranged us all the bus buses for us. Is it crazy on the bus? Not so much in the morning, because we had to be on the bus this morning at 6am, so I imagine on the way home it's going to be a little bit more mayhem we'll give you plenty of these lollies.

Speaker 1 3:19

That'll make it even more. And, yeah, I hope you have a great rest of the year. Thank you, you too. My, my look, who was found? We meet again, buddies. Indeed, keaton from Move your Mind, we met you initially way back in Perform Island. Almost well, it was this year, but it feels like a lifetime ago. It feels like a lifetime ago in February or January. February, that was in Belford, that was in Dublin. Bartley S Dublin, yep, now we're not there. We're at the Icon Centre. And is that? How do you pronounce it?

Speaker 1 3:44

Icon, yeah, icon, yeah, it's Lisburn yeah yeah, yeah, it's a quite, quite impressive venue, but at Can you Dance? Now he's come along to support us, yep, and you do the grand job, and he's where. Let's plug this, merch. We're in the Move your Mind, merch, which I'll tell you, this is c. It's like there was a teddy bear, teddy bear hoodies and it's very, very terry-ish. But thanks so much for coming along, thanks for having me. I obviously work with you throughout the year as well Future coaches, future coaches, events and hoping to do more stuff next year Absolutely, yeah, definitely. But so what are you thinking today? What's the vibe?

Speaker 5 4:17

The vibe is good. It's pretty early days but plenty of dance schools and kids that I know from delivering workshops over here.

Speaker 1 4:23

It seems to be. I don't think there's one that's walked in, that's not went.

Speaker 5 4:25

Yeah, no, I love it, mate, it's brilliant. Yeah, so it's a day of learning mostly, isn't it? Workshops and connection for you guys, yep absolutely Well.

Speaker 1 4:34

Thanks so much for coming along. No worries, let's see. Stay tuned for next year. Jodie, hello, jodie, hi, how are you? I'm very good. What school are you?

Speaker 2 4:43

from. I've trained in Liverpool Central Studios Good, but I'm graduated now, so I'm home, I'm my mum's dance teacher and I'm representing TAF training. Oh excellent.

Speaker 1 4:54

So you trained in Liverpool? Yeah, had you been to the county dances in Liverpool then. Yeah, I think that's super convincing. Yeah, we've been to a few of them as well. How long did you study? Three years, Really. Yeah. What did you think of Liverpool? Loved it? Yeah, it's absolutely amazing. I used to. I like going to the county dances there just so we could go to Liverpool. Yeah, it was always fantastic. So how many people are here today?

Speaker 4 5:14

From the Colour.

Speaker 2 5:15

Yeah, 26 performers their performance day.

Speaker 2 5:19

I think it's 26 did they all come individually together, yeah, and then the teachers came up last night, so I was with the teachers last night. So give us a plug. Tell me a little bit about the course. It's only a new course and it's only started up, but it's flying and it's a pure dance course. Yeah, and they're training just one year before you go to the UK. Yeah, so it's great. And there's a 15, 16 year old age group and then the older age group which is over 18. So they're all looking. Now, after this performance, they're going to look into colleges to perform or to audition for.

Speaker 1 5:53

And if people are listening, how can they find out more?

Speaker 2 5:55

and to get in touch, and if you go onto the Instagram, it's called Taft Training. All the information is on there straight away, all on the bio and stuff.

Speaker 1 6:03

Yeah, please do that. People, Please do that. But thank you so much for taking me, miss. No problem, excuse me, Miss. Yes, you appear to be wearing a Class for Kids t-shirt, so I am. That would mean that perhaps you're working for Class for Kids. You maybe just want to put me to work then. Well, we've just hired you. Yeah, this, yeah, this is what happens. This is the first appearance of Lisa on the podcast. Tell everybody what you're doing at Cash for Kids these days.

Speaker 3 6:29

So I am the brand and content marketing manager and I'm here to well, I'm here today to just soak in the atmosphere of this amazing industry. I'm just marveling at the talent, but we're going to capture some content. We're going to be just getting to know the community more so that we can then make sure our output is matching what everybody here needs. And I really I think it's actually like a bit of a privilege to be spreading about this. Everybody's so talented, but also, as a mum myself, I know how important it is for kids to have these sort of activities for fitness, for mental health. Yeah, it's just an amazing thing to witness and the volume.

Speaker 1 7:15

How do you find the volume?

Speaker 3 7:16

the volume of it. Oh, again, I'm a mum so I can tune it out. I mean, there are some really good screaming going on, really good screaming going on, really good, mainly for me, I thought, mainly for me.

Speaker 1 7:29

I thought Come on.

Speaker 3 7:31

Yeah, yeah, that's exactly it. So as long as we contain Stephen, there'll be less screaming.

Speaker 1 7:37

I cannot be contained. Well, welcome to the company, welcome to the podcast, welcome to Can you Dance? Thank you, let's go have some fun. Yep, I. Who have we got here and where are you all from?

Speaker 5 7:48

We've got lots of people here now, so we're from the TAF Training College in Dublin, a brand new college that's just opened in Dublin this year. And what's your name? I'm Sean. I'm the director of the college.

Speaker 4 7:57

My van.

Speaker 1 7:59

Okay, very quiet. Ben, I'm Carter. Yeah, I'm just yeah.

Speaker 3 8:05

And I'm Lisa, I am a bit of everything in front of the house, a bit of everything so who's in charge, sean?

Speaker 5 8:13

Sean's the boss, okay great, and how long have you guys been? So we've only been open since September this year. Okay, so I started doing associate programmes yes, so I've got one in Liverpool, scotland, dublin and Belfast. Okay, and then we decided to open the college this year in September. So it's our first year open. Fantastic. We've got 40 students in total for our first year and these are two of our students here, two of the lads here. These are TY students Superb, yeah.

Speaker 5 8:37

And where abouts the school? So we're opening Paisley. Okay, yeah, so that's right next to me. Yeah, we're opening Paisley on the 15th of December. That's when we open up in Pais studios. This is how we are. Yeah, we've got 100 kids starting and yeah, super.

Speaker 1 8:51

So I'm in Erskine which is like the town. We're famous for bridge. We've got bridge.

Speaker 5 8:57

So is this your first time along at Can you Dance? This is our first time as the college of Can you Dance.

Speaker 1 9:00

I do a lot of Can you Dance so this is, I think, one of our sales guys. Jack is now just this is his first time here and he's like he's getting you know this sensory. Ah, he went. I have to go outside for a bit and he went. I thought he was outside and he went. I just sat in the toilet for 10 minutes just to chill out. It's a brilliant atmosphere, isn't it?

Speaker 5 9:27

It's good, brilliant, excellent, yeah, good. How can people get involved? How can they? So we have an Instagram page which is Taft Training on Instagram. Okay, and for our college you can apply for the college through the link on the bio. Yep, you've got a link at the college applications. And then for our associate programs we do every six months there, once we open the applications, apply, buy a video and a little statement to say why you want to be part of it. Then it goes to five teachers, then five teachers look at the applications and then we pick our final group. Like we had 190 apply for Scotland and we had to break it down to 100. So it's been a lot, it's been hard.

Speaker 3 10:01

Yeah, it's amazing.

Speaker 5 10:02

Can I do an application Caution and love? Yeah, go on.

Speaker 4 10:05

and legs up let's not.

Speaker 1 10:09

Let's really feel flexible you are, we're not getting this done. We're not getting this done. Listen, guys. Thanks so much.

Speaker 1 10:14

No problem for talking to us and yeah, have a good rest of the event thank you thanks well, here we are on the, the boat now out of Belfast from Can you Dance at the Icon Centre. What a weekend has been. It was fantastic. We are in the middle of a storm Storm Baird as it's going to go down in history on the boat on the way over. It was much, much worse than this. It was very choppy and a bit frightening, to be honest, but we survived it. We met lots of new cool people at Canyard Dance. We caught up with Keaton, we formed a lot more relationships and, yeah, class 4 Kids just keeps on keeping on into the new year and we survived Storm Burt.

Speaker 1 10:56

And without my co-host for a little while, I'm just going to do the sign off. Bye. What did you think of that, brian? I thought it was great. Yeah, it was good. Eh, lots of energy from the people there. But it's got one question sticking in my mind can you dance? Nah, I don't think so. Anyway, thanks for listening to the bonus episode. Stay tuned for the end of your episode. Ooh, what's it going to be? That's a bigger breadcrumb, bigger breadcrumb. Bye, bye.