Dance Buzz
Talking all things Dance every Wednesday.
Dance Buzz
Episode 8: The Importance of Teamwork in Dance & Convention Kids
Ever wondered why some parents prioritize dance conventions over competition teams for their kids? Brace yourself for a candid discussion as we, Chelsea and Jonathan Godfrey, break down the world of 'convention kids.' We dive head-first into the financial and emotional investment needed for the convention route and explore the value of individual competitions as a growth tool for dancers.
Join us as we explore the value of consistency in dance training - why a home studio matters and how it fosters growth. We share our insights on the ideal balance where dancers can reap the benefits of diverse classes while staying committed to their home studio. But it's not just about the dance steps; we highlight the critical aspects of teamwork in dance, the irreplaceable value of collaboration, trust, and creating connections within dance groups.
Finally, we tackle the topic of investing in dance education, discussing the benefits and financial implications of inviting renowned choreographers into a studio setting. We finish off with a vital discussion for every dancer or parent - understanding the concept of being an independent dancer and making choices that lead to success. Tune in for an insightful conversation that's an absolute must for anyone involved in the dance industry. Whether you're a dancer, a parent, or a dance enthusiast, we've got a seat saved for you in our exciting dance discussion!
Hi everyone, welcome back. I'm Chelsea Godfrey.
Speaker 2:And I'm Jonathan Godfrey.
Speaker 1:And on today's episode of Dance Buzz, we are going to talk about convention dancers, or what we like to call convention kids, and again, as always, these are our opinions and our personal experiences with these situations.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I'm just gonna define what we believe to be a quote unquote convention kid. And that's just somebody who kind of quits their competition team Mm-hmm, their group team to just solely focus on conventions. And in essence, there's nothing wrong with just focusing on conventions there's a lot of great aspects to conventions but I think what bothers a lot of studio owners, including us, is they quit their team so that they could just do solos at these conventions.
Speaker 1:I also want to say that I actually think this is a mostly East Coast dominant thing. I don't, I think it's different West Coast. I think I mean I don't know because I don't live West Coast, but just through, I guess, social media- Social media, talking to people we know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, through social media, chatting to people. It seems to be a thing mostly on the East Coast. And I'm not sure if it's a thing on the East Coast mostly because we're so close to New York City, because we are based in the state of New Jersey and our location is really just a 45-minute train to New York. So I'm not, I'm not sure, but again, that's just our take on it.
Speaker 1:So let's talk about why people may choose to do only conventions, sure. So I think the first part of it, which is the most obvious part, is the financial commitment. I think parents, when they're going through what they want to spend their money on, they're going to gear their dancers to give them what they can based on, I guess, their financial means, sure, but I also think that in that realm that parents believe sometimes and dancers believe that a solo is more valuable than a group dance Right.
Speaker 1:Well, I think what I don't want to use the word bothers but what I feel the most is that dancers who feel like they're at a certain level in their training and whatnot, they almost feel like they're too good to be part of something, to be part of a team. It's almost like, yeah, I don't think that's for me anymore because I've outgrown that and I think it's very possible to outgrow a studio environment and that's no shade on any studios who maybe just focus on solely dance competitions. Every studio is going to offer something different, but that doesn't mean there's not a place for your dancer where they can experience growth and opportunity as a team unit.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I think that that kind of leaves a bad taste in some people's mouths. We've experienced this where people coming in like, oh it's a totally different experience where you are versus where I was, or what you guys do versus what I was before and what they offered, and just like anything in everything there's different levels. There's different levels of competition teams, there's different levels of competitions, there's different levels of conventions. So I think to just say that because you've won a couple of times means you've outgrown something, I think it's just kind of. I mean, it's not, it's not, it's shaded, it's incorrect, though.
Speaker 1:It's just. You can continue to grow just because you have first place trophy. Well, there's a reason why these major conventions have also said pretty much you have to be part of a studio to register. There's a reason behind that.
Speaker 2:I think that kind of came from this whole topic that we're talking about with convention kids, because I think a lot of dancers did leave their studio when they were able to start registering independently. And don't get me wrong, people have found ways around it. Oh yeah, and some studios will completely allow their dancers to be able to register, completely. Allow their dancers to just register. Yeah, they'll just allow them to use their name. And I'm like why? But we're not going to talk about that right now.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so I think, just again rounding out like the financial portion, I think, or just diving a little bit deeper into that conversation, do you feel that maybe, like do you understand what I'm saying about the financial stuff? Do you feel like parents are only wanting to put their money into conventions because the competition stuff is worthless to them?
Speaker 2:I mean it could be. I think there are probably two main sides to it. I think that could be the one where parents aren't seeing the value in individual competitions, and I mean that where there's not a convention directly attached to it.
Speaker 1:Wait, I'm sorry, I just had to chime, though. Oh, that's fine, it's just a little funny, because the parents that I feel like will say, oh, competition is like not worth it. Or also, the parents who are doing their kids are doing their solos, which is the most expensive part.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, we'll get to that too Of a competition.
Speaker 2:But yeah, I mean, I think the first part is some parents don't see the value in competition, and competition needs to be looked at as a growing experience and as a tool to help foster growth for your dancers, although some events give terrible feedback and we have a whole episode on this, so I do feel like that but then some conventions give terrible feedback. I mean there's not. Whatever I do enjoy the classes that go along with conventions. I think that's a great portion to it, but sometimes just going to a competition and not having to worry about taking class and just being able to focus on your performance is great as well. I mean, there's definitely pros and cons to both. I think the second part, financially, is what you're talking about, where they're just like well, I'm just going to let my kid do the solo and, like you're saying, the solos are the most expensive part. So most expensive thing to get choreographed, most expensive thing to rehearse, most expensive thing to compete, the costumes are always more expensive. んhmm, I think people see what they want to see.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I agree. I think that's with all dance in general. I think that's just with anything in general.
Speaker 2:I mean, if you're wanting I don't know to buy a new car and you go to dealership number one and dealership number one is like well, this probably car isn't best for what you personally need. You're like, but this is the car I want. You're gonna go to a different dealership until somebody's like yeah, of course, this is exactly what you need.
Speaker 1:Yeah, of course.
Speaker 2:Let's be real, that dealer that told you that's probably not the car you need is the one that's being honest with you and truthful, and the one that's saying, yeah, you definitely need this car, just trying to get your money.
Speaker 1:So I do think that I wanna just say that I think this conversation is mostly about, in our opinions, not necessarily families that really truly cannot afford competitive dance, because I do think that there are families out there that really are just trying to give their kids the training, as much training as they can, and then, whatever they have left, they allow them to do a convention here and there. But if you're doing as much training as you possibly can and then doing a convention every weekend for 52 weeks, that's a very very different story and anybody's gonna see that.
Speaker 1:So this conversation is really mostly targeting those families. Or discussing those families.
Speaker 2:If you are a family that truly cannot afford to join a competition team, join a team that does multiple events in your own, multiple groups and costumes, because it becomes expensive. My recommendation to you and this is from a studio owner that runs a competition team is train, train and, if you can, every once in a while, go and do a convention or master classes. I'm not saying compete, I'm talking specifically about get all the training that you possibly can in all the additional classes and workshops and things that you can. But that competition aspect is kind of secondary to me. The training is what's most important because you're gonna take that training and you're gonna apply that when you go to audition and when you go to do things. Yes, you need the performance aspect as well, don't get me wrong, but that training is gonna give you a nice solid foundation.
Speaker 1:You know, what I think too that's a little frustrating is I don't really know if this is considered in a convention kid like quote or whatever, but I feel like a lot of kids who do these conventions. They don't have what I like to call a home-based studio, a place where they're getting that consistent training, a place where they're being pushed consistently in an environment that motivates and inspires them, with teachers that are familiar with them.
Speaker 1:That to me is a little frustrating, because it's like you're doing your dancers such a disservice by not giving them a home studio, and I'm not sure where the concept of I'll just take drop-in classes at New York-based.
Speaker 2:Anywhere, I mean there's BDC there's steps there's millennium. There's all kinds of places that you can go and take drop-ins, but they're not comparable.
Speaker 1:They're not like substitutes for your weekly training. That should be happening, like your consistent training. So I'm saying that there's all these other sources and resources that are out there, but these are additives. They're not supplementary or whatever the word is. They're not instead of, so it's like yeah, they're on top of.
Speaker 1:And to be 100%. We have been in situations where kids have left the studio and that is their plan. Their plan is to do that and I'm telling you they don't do it ever. They really don't, because a lot of times kids who do that, sometimes some kids this is very some need other kids to also be doing it with them. So it doesn't work out for them. They don't find the push to go and travel independently, they don't find the push to just sign themselves up for the class. That's some kids. Other kids very, very different.
Speaker 2:Yeah, other kids are very quote unquote independent in what they can and will do and other kids need those other friends but, like you're saying, those additional, those guest classes that you go and take places here and there, but, like you said, they're not instead of they're on top of.
Speaker 1:And I also feel like, too, once you graduate and you move on to that next chapter in your life, whether it's you're gonna go to college for dance, if you're not gonna go to college at all, if you're gonna try to do right into company and again this is dance specific stuff for the most part Wouldn't you want that studio and that connection to be able to go back to?
Speaker 1:Like I know for us we have been able to with like some of our students, like right now we still have like a connection with and we have employed and pretty much have given them like a stepping stone and a back, like a little bit behind the scenes of what we do and opened a door for them, because we've kept that connection. And I think that that's an important part that a lot of people miss. And does that have to do necessarily with just like convention kids? Like can convention kids have that? I think it depends on how much you're at your home base studio, because I feel like for me it's like the kids who are willing to commit to me wholeheartedly. Those are the ones that I'm able to like really build that relationship with to the point where I would hire them.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean when you have your home base studio, like if I'm seeing you two times a week, you know, for a year, two years, 10 years, whatever the case may be, like we build that rapport. But even more so, I know what you need to improve on and I'm going to help you improve on it. If you come take my class one time, you're getting a whole bunch of very important knowledge. But then somebody has to be correcting you, and sometimes they're not and sometimes they are. But the home base just allows for so much more growth than just the. Oh, I'm going to take a ballet class here and then I'm going to take a jazz class here and I'm going to take a contemporary class here, but you're not getting your consistency, your over time. It's going to be a detriment versus a growth.
Speaker 1:Well, I also think too, you know, whenever we have kids who are just doing our training program and they're not doing like our competitive portion of it, we still give the same attention and detail that we can to their training to ensure that they're receiving the best training possible. However, we're missing that performance up, like that performance side of them that we don't get to see that we can work on deeper with them in their training.
Speaker 1:So like I know if my students need more help in certain floor transition work right, Like I can really gear my classes to focus on that. And I think that's part of what being part of competition dance offers is like the training, that's not just the codified steps or whatever, it's the furthering, that from the performance and how to build that through their weekly training. And then us as coaches have to be able to see that and then apply that.
Speaker 2:But members of our training program are with us consistently. No, I agree, Whether that's a day and I mean that as a day, a week, not just a day. And of course we offer master classes, but again, those need to be thought of on top of, not in place of. But members of our training program are here for one, two or three days a week for the whole year. Yeah, yeah, so they're getting that consistent feedback from the teachers who know them.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:But talking about that commitment to a program, I think people who wanna do conventions only and be a quote unquote convention kid find that and we're talking about this. I'm just kind of wrapping this up as the less commitment as a good thing because it gives them more time to go and do these other things. But in reality, like, let's look for our program specifically.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think we can only talk really about our program, because I think this is true to a point.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and not everybody runs their program like this. This is just the way we run ours. But our competition dancers are here Essentially Monday through Thursday, giving them the freedom on the weekends to either do conventions, do competitions, take master classes, go here, go there or just have personal time. I know a lot of comp teams will run Saturday rehearsals and there's nothing wrong with that. We used to do that, yeah, you know.
Speaker 1:But I think sorry, I don't mean to cut you off, but I think, like a lot of these studios that you're referencing, that I mean I know that they're here on in the state of New Jersey and on East Coast, but a lot of these studios that you're referencing, they do full weekends- yeah, they're very long. Like all these other studios that I, that we teach at and that we talked to you, they're at the studio Saturdays and Sundays from 10 am to 5 pm.
Speaker 1:Yeah and Like pretty much we are trying like, and that that's fantastic for them, like that's great that they were able to do that. I and I think honestly, most of the reason why people can do that is because there's no really where else for them to have Additive training that we were talking about, right, unless they're gonna do convention stuff, which isn't a bad thing. But I didn't, I didn't mean to cut you off. No, it's fine.
Speaker 2:I mean, the whole point of just getting at is that these dancers need to invest in their training in their home base, and I mean it's worked for us to have that freedom quote unquote on the weekends, where dancers are able to or not do the additional classes that they want, but they're coming back on Monday and they're getting that consistency every week.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and if we need and this is just like maybe a piece- of advice for teachers who are trying to figure out how to get off weekends. If we need Extended period of time, right like I think this is where a lot of turnoff happens for convention quote these convention kids because they, the parents and the dancer Doesn't want to see their weekly training classes become their Like rehearsal yeah.
Speaker 1:So I think that that puts a really bad taste in people's mouth because people are like well, I'm supposed to be in my jumps and turns class right now, but my teacher decided that we needed to have a contemporary rehearsal, and I think that's where People are starting, like I'm not doing this anymore, my kids not getting the training, and I do think it is an issue when studios do that, because it is taking away From that kids training.
Speaker 1:So what we have learned to do is we have created this thing when we call it hell week, which is something that's used in the concert dance world, I feel, and it's exactly what it says it is. It's it's hell week and we this year we've done, we're doing three hell weeks and all it is is it's Tuesday, it's usually Tuesday, wednesday, thursday and it's just giving out, it's just giving added rehearsal time on a specific week that we've made mandatory, that we are putting out pretty much Before the season starts, and it'll be one, you know, tuesday, wednesday, thursday in December. One Tuesday, wednesday, thursday in February, before the regional season starts. One Tuesday, wednesday, thursday or whatever. I know we did a little different this year but for nationals event right and it's just like extra refining this way it doesn't take them off the weekends.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:It's not like taking away from consistent Training during the week, it's telling people this is what we're doing on this week and it can be just in case, like we know, like we usually only had to. But we added another one this year because I am Pregnant, I'm gonna be on maternity for a little bit, so I wanted to add one in December because I wanted extra eyes at that time to make sure the dancers are progressing where they need to be. However, that doesn't mean I'm going to cancel like At almost every day, especially leading up to competitions and can and events, and just by bypass their training. And this is something that you talk about a lot, john. With leading up, and though that's why we make it so mandatory the weeks leading up to our conventions or our competitions, you have to attend your regular classes, because it doesn't make sense to not be attending your training classes before you're about to go on stage.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and that was a big thing. From before we opened our studio and where we taught, it was like for like two or three weeks prior to Nationals, there was no classes anymore, right, it just went into rehearsing the dance and I'm like you worked all year to build this quote-unquote training and I mean whatever, but then you're just gonna stop right before the biggest performance of the year. I mean, that's how nationals is looked at, it's the, it's your biggest performance of the season.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I gotta say that by the time nationals comes like if you don't know your dance, you, you don't know your dance. If you don't know your dance you know I think it's meant like for us when we do the hell week before, like it's. You know it's three days. We did a little differently this year, but it's just. It's supposed to be just like fine tuning and honestly, it's um, it's a, it's like a, like a pep, like it's like yeah, the kids get together.
Speaker 2:They see the other dances because they're rehearsals they're not seeing the other dances. But I mean, even during our hell weeks our Rehearsals are 30 to maybe 45 minutes long. Sometimes will go a bit longer for like production will do an hour.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it depends, it really depends on the time of the year because, like sometimes, like in December, I will need two hours with a dance but like that doesn't mean. But again, these are all things that are pre-scheduled. They're put out there. They're not taking away from their weekends, they're not taking an insane amount of time away from their rehearsal right, it's just one week. Or from their training it's just one, you know, three days.
Speaker 1:Yeah that they're doing that, and one of those three days they would normally have rehearsals anyway. So it's really just two days that we're using time To really just get that mind-tuning clean it up.
Speaker 1:Yeah, to look where they need to be. So I Think we talked a little bit, john, about like investing in time and I think people need to remember that being part of a competitive studio or Conventions right like we, john and I now are, we only do conventions for correct our Competitions, if that yeah, we do convention competitions because I like the additional Classes that go along with it.
Speaker 2:Kids like it kids like it and it gives them that experience. So that doesn't mean that our kids don't go out and do competitions. Our kids still go out independently and do competitions if they have a Free weekend. But we just do more conventions and competition, more convention competitions and regular competitions, I guess you could say, just because I like that additional class aspect along with that. But moving away from kind of where people are thinking and what we think, people See the drawl to convention kids. We're gonna talk about why it's so important to be a part of a team or be a part of a studio and the first one kind of obvious, is it's a group setting. You're learning to train, you're learning to perform, you're learning to.
Speaker 2:Dance along side, work with, work together with other dancers, your peers, even choreographers, because in the dance world, you know, post high school, where the chances there's how do I say this? There's few soloists. Opportunities yeah, opportunities, and outside of the ballet world really there's very, even fewer, I feel, solo positions. Maybe you're getting a chance to dance in a commercial, you know as a individual dancer, but that's a short kind of period of time, a short gig a one-time gig. Other than that, you need to learn how to write. That's not gonna pay yourself.
Speaker 1:Right, that's not gonna pay your salary.
Speaker 2:You know just one commercial doesn't mean that that's all you're gonna do for the rest of your life. You know you need to be able to know how to dance alongside other people and you may be saying that, well, I could do that by taking outside classes. No, you can't. You go in taking in one hour class with 20 people you don't know and then never seeing them again. I mean, you'll probably see them at different classes, but you're not getting that chance to build a bond and build a relationship and build a rapport and know how to work in In that setting. So the group setting for me is, I think, the biggest well, there's.
Speaker 1:There's a reason why, like when I'm in the rehearsal process, right working on a routine, I remember our, our rehearsals are only 30 minutes long. So we're not in the rehearsal process for more than 30 minutes, unless it's a hell week or if added is needed on that specific Tuesday.
Speaker 2:But um that's because we said all the choreography ahead, ahead of time but Like there is a, what were you talking about previously?
Speaker 1:What were you just saying?
Speaker 2:about the being like together. Yeah, okay.
Speaker 1:Thank you. I lost my train of thought for a second. There is a reason why, when new kids join the team, why the dance just doesn't go like it doesn't go on stage the next day it's because you have new personalities. New by personalities, I mean dance personalities. Right, you have new traits and new things that people are bringing to the table and they're not used to dancing together Like. That's why you can tell people like the difference between people who have been dancing together for six years and people who have just been dancing together for the last I don't know 30 minutes. There's a reason why that happens and it is a skill.
Speaker 1:It is a very, very, very important skill to be able to dance as a unit, and that doesn't mean dancing like robots. I'm not saying that everything needs to be super synchronized. There's a time and a place for all of that. If you're gonna be a backup dancer for Justin Bieber, though, there's probably a big chance that he wants you all to look the same when you watch the Super Bowl. They want you all to look the same, Like those. To me, like when I see those things, I'm like yes, these are professional dancers, these are excelled dancers, but even the people that I know that were like in those things or like. I don't personally know them, but know like who they are, like Jackson Wood, for an example.
Speaker 1:He was part of a studio, he was part of a team. He didn't just do that, you know, when he had to learn how to work together, I'm sure, with other people and da, da, da, da, da, and even when you see, like, even like going back to like one world of dance was really big and the MD3 that we all know, with Emma and Diego and like that crew, like they are part of a team.
Speaker 1:And it's like how do you not see that they are working so wonderfully together because they've been training together, they've been performing together, they trust each other. I don't understand where the disconnect is, that people don't see, like those, that amazing connection, like those amazing things are happening because they're part of a studio, like you know.
Speaker 2:I just yeah, I mean, I understand what people see, like they're then seeing those. They're then seeing different people kind of have the same opportunity sometimes and I get it like not everybody's path is the same, but these dancers that are part of a team, part of a studio, part of a group, are setting themselves up. I feel, and a lot of teachers that we've spoken to not even just our own personal faculty, but from all over the country that we've traveled to and spoke to is that they're seeing so much better, so much better. The dancers that are coming out of these settings are performing stronger as a group because they understand how to work together. They're not just focused on themselves. They understand that when they step onto the stage with other people, they may not be the shining star and like, contrary to you know, a parent's belief, like you know cause we'll go to events, you know, and a parent will come up and be like did you see my dancer messed up? And I'm like no.
Speaker 2:Right cause we don't yeah, correct, we don't look at one single dancer. You're watching the whole dance as a whole.
Speaker 1:Right and that's like like that's a lot of times like dancers, but oh, my dancer. Like one we were at Nationals and one kid like forgot her chair on, say, I literally didn't even notice it at all and like she just like played it off. But that's because I'm not staring at that one child.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you watch the group as a whole and that's the point that these dancers should kind of blend together. They should blend together because and I tell my dancers this all the time and I really emphasize it with my older dancers this year that you being on stage is not about you.
Speaker 1:No.
Speaker 2:You being on stage is to entertain the audience, and I know that's a kind of different feeling when you're still young and you're paying for dance. But when you're older and being paid to dance, your job is to entertain the audience, and if you don't do that, you stop getting paid.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I had like dancers in past year. They would not really love a piece. They'd be like oh, this piece is so boring or it's so like they're not. I hate saying it like this, but they're not out of breath by the end they're done with it. They don't feel like they're putting everything that first of all, that's a them problem, but it's like.
Speaker 1:But I said to them I was like this is not a dance for you, this is a dance for the audience to be like wow, this is beautiful. Like that's why, honestly, I know I'm kind of tangiting here, surprise, but that's why, like I know, in my personal choreography I do a lot of lifts right and I think it makes a dance look beautiful. I love lifting, I love using lifts as transitions and I know my dancers like it didn't happen this year, but like in the past, like they were so over it, and they're like oh, who's going to do that? And I'm like you know what I'm like hello, like this is what you're supposed to be doing and it's just like this is I don't. You know I'm tangiting, but it's like that is what makes it look fantastical.
Speaker 2:And you know that's just the way you choreograph. That's your thing. You know everybody choreographs different. Yours is you really love to incorporate lifts and they always turn out great, so it's fine. Who cares? Yeah, they'll move one from it to the other. Yeah, but being part of a team also allows those dancers to have a lot of opportunities.
Speaker 1:Yes. So well, again, just talking about us you know, that's the experience, we could talk about is we bring in a lot of outside choreographers. We do, which I think sometimes we get shade for.
Speaker 2:We do get shade for and a lot of studios. I feel like we'll shade other studios for bringing in outside choreographers because they're like, well, you don't think your faculty is strong enough Faculty does choreography, we do choreography. We have outside people do choreography but it has nothing to do with you know what? I just commented on a Facebook post about this because somebody was talking about how expensive it is to bring outside choreographers in.
Speaker 1:I saw that. You saw it yeah.
Speaker 2:And somebody was like why are you paying all this money to win?
Speaker 1:I saw this. Oh my God, I saw your responses, golden.
Speaker 2:And my response was I'm not paying all this money to win. I was like we paid a ton of money for previous pieces I mean in the tens of thousands of dollars for one piece and it has nothing to do with winning. Does the dance do well Sometimes? Does the dance not do well Sometimes? I don't care. It has nothing to do with bringing in a choreographer specifically to win, even at a competition studio, a convention competition studio. It's about the experience and giving these dancers the chance to dance with world renowned choreographers that have done world renowned things like go and choreograph for full shows like Cirque du Soleil and been on shows like so you Think you Can Dance and World of Dance and dance back up to Janet D'Action and choreograph for Janet Jackson. That's what it's about for me. It's not about like I'm bringing this choreographer in because I know their piece is going to win. I don't care If it wins great.
Speaker 1:But it's about the experiences for the dancers.
Speaker 2:I definitely think we want it to win, of course, I'm not saying like I don't want to win, but that's not my first thought process when I bring in a choreographer.
Speaker 1:It's kind of like OK, this is great, the kids can add this to their resume, they're getting this one-on-one time. And when we were even talking about this topic, we even talked specifically about Chase Hudson and how Chase has set work on some of our kids and how that's. He graduated from PACE and now he works for, or he also sets work on, the Vols dance team and it's like it's just a great connection to have. You know what I mean. It's like I'm not saying that Chase is going to get even into whatever, into the school, yeah.
Speaker 1:But it's just a nice connection, like when he's there at the audition process for the Vols he's like, oh, I remember that student and maybe he doesn't remember you right away or whatever, but it's just like that little connection of that little bit of one-on-one time. It's like you don't know what kind of impact you're going to be having with these other choreographers. And I know we had a choreographer Blake McGrath came in and he loved one of our students like loved her, loved her, loved her, and continued to talk about her and rave about her. And now when he sees her, he knows her.
Speaker 2:And like you make those connections.
Speaker 1:Yeah, he knows her in this positive way and could it become something. Who knows if it could become something in the future. But the point is is that we've given them now this opportunity to have that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1:To have that experience, to have that exposure, and that's something that you don't necessarily get when you're just a convention kid, not to the depth that. This is because these choreographers think that they go, they teach at conventions all the time and they see all these amazing kids, yeah.
Speaker 2:I mean, are you gonna get, if you're a convention kid, are you gonna get a chance to take class with Blake McGrath, for instance? Yes, absolutely. You can go 15 different events in the city, but you're in a room with 300 other kids. Blake McGrath spent what 12, 16 hours in a group of 25, 30 kids. Like you're getting a much more individualized experience and you're getting to learn from these great individuals, and I'm not even just like you know we're talking about Blake McGrath, but I'm not just him. There's so many other great choreographers that our dancers have had a chance to work with. Because we brought them in. They needed to have gained AWP to do that. We didn't kind of, I guess, limit it, limit our studio to just our in-house faculty.
Speaker 1:We're giving them more opportunities and it's been a great for us too. Honestly, we've built some really nice relationships, like over time, you know, to meet these people and to bring them into our home and you, we almost build like this trust with them as well.
Speaker 2:Yeah and just first you know studio teachers and what not out there, like we build this, come almost like, yeah, you build rapport you build friendships with people and I just want to give like a short snippet of you know we were setting our summer intensive schedule and we had asked one of our in-house faculty to. You know we ask a lot of our in-house faculty to come and teach for it and I don't think it worked out originally. And then it worked out and At the end of the day, you know that faculty members, just like you know what, let them get that outside, let them get a new person. She was like I see them all the time. Yeah, I see them. I get to work with these kids like every week, like let's bring in somebody new? Yeah, like it's. It's that kind of thinking that I think thought fosters growth.
Speaker 1:Absolutely hundred percent. So I think, ultimately, like all of these things right like with having big choreographers come in or well-known Choreographers, like that comes with a financial investment, of course. So you know it's not cheap to bring in anybody. You know you have to fly them. Like this is the thing that I think people forget you have to fly the choreographer in, right, you have to pay us an assistant a lot of times, most of the time, and that's fine.
Speaker 2:I mean, when we travel, we bring an assistant.
Speaker 1:Yeah, they're hope, their hotels, their transportation to and from all their food. And I say they're, they're there, you covered everything, I covered everything. Yeah, okay, yeah, yeah, they're food, yeah, which sometimes is like a filet from which is fine. I mean they eat that filet.
Speaker 2:I want to play too.
Speaker 1:That's fine, but it's like there's a lot of additional expenses aside from you know the choreographer just coming in and setting work, and some choreographers are more chill than others, like some are just like, yeah, I'll just take some pizza, like it doesn't matter. But a lot of choreographers most of them are Our um health kick. Always like they're healthy.
Speaker 2:They're definitely eating much more healthy Money, but it doesn't matter.
Speaker 1:But anyway, with that, it's a big expense. It's a big expense for the studio, yeah, and it's an obviously it's an even bigger expense for the parent.
Speaker 2:Okay, yeah, I don't want to rave too much about this one, but you know, it's like I've heard this before, not even just from our parents, but from other studio, other studio owners, where the parent will be like, well, why doesn't studio just bite the bullet? What? Okay, hold on, I'll bite the bullet on this choreographer, and then that choreographer, and then I'll bite the bullet on costumes, and then I'll bite the bullet on competition fees. And it's like then I don't have a business, then I have a charity. Who's paying my mortgage? Who's paying my? You know, who's gonna be paying for our future child? Like, right, it's it.
Speaker 1:Well, we work we work really hard, like I, I like tangiting, but we work really hard, right, like I think. Like I don't love when People use like, oh, like you work for me. Like I'm the client you work for me. No, like there's a reason why I own my own business because I didn't want to work for anybody. Like we're entrepreneurs, we work for ourselves and we work night in, day in and day out and we think Really really hard about what kind of opportunities we can give these kids to make them the best. I've said this in my last episode. The last episode. It's not about us, it is about them. Yeah, and like we can, we should be able to and dance teachers out there. You have to be able to do your job so well that you can make a livelihood off it, because people trust you and they believe In what you're offering them. So, yes, we do have to make money. Like I don't understand why people don't think like we don't make money, like how else would we make?
Speaker 2:a living. Yeah, if the company that you worked for were to constantly quote, unquote, bite bullets and eat the profit like you would be out of a job.
Speaker 1:Like I think someone said to me one time we just bought a car, but it wasn't about this car. But when I first bought my car they were like oh, you should attach my last name to the license plate, since I basically bought you that car. I was like, okay, like no, like I'm pretty sure I worked my ass off to like be able to afford this car and like that's how I think about it. Like I don't think about, like I respect my customers and my clients, but at the end of the day, we are a business, so we have to like, we have to be able to afford all of the things in our lives to have a livelihood.
Speaker 2:You know what I think? It's just we're in the arts. People look at it very differently because why do people do that? I don't know, but if you were a lawyer and you were driving around in a like beat up car with like a hanging off like bumper, people are like I'm probably not gonna go to that person or a doctor driving the same thing. I literally, but if you're driving a Porsche and we're like oh, they're a good lawyer. Yeah, like I'm good at what I do, I'm going to enjoy whatever.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but honestly, like I went to the dentist and I saw the dentist for 15 minutes and they charged me $120 for a consultation, I was like that's $120 for 15 minutes. I'm like I got up my price. I was like okay, and like you know, because that consult didn't really do anything for me, at least in the 15 minutes that I'm working, I'm doing something like for somebody or whatever. So you know, and it just it just goes to show that, like back to like, people will spend what they want to spend and like they view money how they want to view it and for whatever reason, not a lot of people want to invest what is necessary and some people consider necessary investment as just being training and the additives right, and I think that is okay to an extent.
Speaker 1:I think we talked about the benefits of performance and like what you're missing out on, especially with a rehearsal assistant that is seeing you weekly. Like there's a reason why when you go to a college or a conservatory, they have repertory right. They don't just do all the training and not have a show at the end. Like there's a reason why and there's a reason why when you do that, that process of the repertory, they're hours long because it's not, because, like when you even watch, when you watch concert dance, it's not, they don't all look robotic and they don't all look the same. Like it's not. Like that it's, they're just trying to get the piece to flow together, to look a certain way, and I'm like I don't understand that, like you're going to go from one environment when it's just you and then you have to try to put yourself into an environment when it's a group of people.
Speaker 2:It's backwards.
Speaker 1:It's very, very backwards. So I would say that if you can be part, if you have the resources to be part of a competitive studio that fosters growth, that gives opportunity, that sees the growth like the growth and potential in you as a dancer, why would you not like? Every studio is different, so why, but why would you not take that opportunity if it's presented to you?
Speaker 2:Yeah, 100, 100% and.
Speaker 1:I can't talk. I mean, I can only talk from us and I believe and I'm very passionate about what we do, I'm very passionate about what we offer. I know we offer something that's really strong and unique and it's like I'm presenting to you all these fantastic things, these, all these opportunities, all these things. Yes, you have to pay for your dancer to be on stage. Yes, the prices of the competition events are increasing, like everything else. Everything is going up in prices. So it's just like that balancing act. I know like we require three dances right To be on the team, essentially right. And yes, those might be. I'm just gonna use an easy number $50, because I can do that math easy. $50 per dance for every competition event and that's $150 additive or whatever. But your investment that you're putting into that is so worth it and you have to be able to see that $150 times.
Speaker 2:we only do well, three or four, but $50 of dance is a very low number, but it is low.
Speaker 1:I'm using a low number. I'm not saying that it's not expensive, Like I'm not taking away from the fact that there are fees.
Speaker 2:You just have to know.
Speaker 1:It's like over 200,. I'm sorry. It's over $200 to do a solo. It's over $200 to enter a solo into a dance competition.
Speaker 2:So I'm like you can get at least two in some events maybe three group routines in for that same price.
Speaker 1:Exactly, and it's just like. It makes no sense to me and I think also what's really frustrating is this is not about convention kid dance, but it's like when people are looking to cut back, they try to cut back on the groups cut back on your solos.
Speaker 1:That's literally so much money Like even if it's 200, again, I'm using an easy number $250 per solo to enter. If you have two solos, that's $500 for two solos. That's not where your cutback should be, or that's not what you. You don't cut back from your group dances so you can do two solos. No, do one solo and do more groups, Because guess what You're gonna benefit?
Speaker 2:more from the group work.
Speaker 1:And that's the God honest truth. And I understand that you were saying that you can understand why some people see it that way, because other kids have made it far without being part of a team. But most kids, like, when you look at when your child idolizes someone, think of someone that's in the convention circuit, quote, quote. Right, they're in the convention circuit, someone they idolize. They are part of a studio, they are part of something. I'm promising you that, like I think about all these kids that are dancers of the year Hello, they came from their studio, like they were performing with their studio. They aren't just dancers of the year as an independent, like hello, and I don't get that concept and I'm frustrated by it.
Speaker 1:I'm passionate by it because I think there are good places that can offer you both. You just have to be willing to do the homework to find that place. Period, ha ha ha. So with that, I think that wraps up today's episode. Yeah, again, we wish anybody, whatever you choose to do, the most amount of success. We're here just to help give different perspectives and to help guide, maybe, different thoughts and opportunities. So, with that, best of luck as the season approaches ahead and we'll chat with you next time.
Speaker 2:Bye guys.
