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 .