From Brazil to the US: Michelle Choairy on Ballet, Friendship, & Finding Your Place

You may know Michelle Choairy as the amazing woman behind Wisdom4Complex Kids and her THRIVE mentorship program. Maybe you recognize her from her frequent appearances on our show, sharing her experiences raising a Complex Kid.

However, today, we peel back that “Mom Veil.” This conversation is all about Michelle herself.

Join us as Michelle opens up about her own story—from her very first time slipping on ballet slippers in Brazil to her journey to the US to dance professionally. Discover a side of Michelle you haven’t heard before, filled with inspiration, resilience, and a deep love for dance. Plus, enjoy stories from her performances on stage in Brazil!

Don’t miss this chance to see the woman behind the Mom Veil. If you enjoy our conversations, be sure to like, comment, share, and subscribe!

Want to be a guest on Leta's Tap Styles (And My Autistic Life)? Send Amanda Trisdale a message on PodMatch, here: https://www.podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/letastapstylesguest

Check out the podcast’s website: https://www.letatapstyles.com

Transcript

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Hey, this is editing Amanda from the future, uh, hopping on before the program today to mention that, uh, this is a part one that a part two has not been recorded of yet. Uh, Michelle Charri is joining us today and you are probably going, why is she on TAP Tuesday? We are going to explain that away during the program, but let's just be honest. Michelle was our first guest on Leta's Tap Styles podcast and My Autistic Life All of our recurring guests, she has a special place in our heart. And when we were finally at the point that we were like, we need to get a guest on Tuesdays. Our first thought was, Hey Michelle, no, you're not a tap dancer. Hop on. It took us a while to get this part one done 'cause it was towards the end of school and Michelle has an actual job, plus she's got her podcast and she's got the Thrive community going and she has wind stem for complex kids going. So it was crazyville trying to get us all in front of cameras to record part one. It was not supposed to be a two-parter, but. It's Michelle, it's us. Of course, we're gonna make it a two-parter. So part two of the story comes later. Um. Just be on the lookout for that. But I think even part one brings a lot to the table of Michelle's life as a dancer, because I bet you did not know Michelle Chori was a dancer. So sit back, relax, grab your favorite drink, grab your favorite snack, or you know if you're running on the treadmill. Whatever you do while you're doing this, enjoyed this amazing story of an amazing woman that we've all come to know and love as Drake's mom finally appearing as herself, Michelle. This is Leta and this is me and my mommy's my mommy, and there's me and I'm just talking about this stuff. And there's me tap dancing because this is the tap Dancing Autism podcast and there's bunch animals and I'll be trying to in my hair and there's bunch saying, and. Dancing. Oh, also, they're my boots. My boots are amazing. Also, dance, me trying not to have a panic attack. Also, this is a podcast that we autism and kept dancing and blah, blah, blah. I'm A DHD. This thing also. This your adorable puppy. Michelle, for those of our list audience members who are like, you brought Michelle on and it is Tap Tuesday. What is Michelle doing on Tap Tuesday? Because we usually have you on on Friends Fridays to talk about complex kids You on. Tell 'em why we have you on to talk here today. So I was a professional ballerina when I was, I started at 15 years old, so I danced my whole entire life. I started when I was three and just, you know, went up the ladder and I was telling my daughter this week about this, about the whole story and we'll, we can get to that, but. I danced in college. I had a scholarship for college, so that's why I'm here because on top of being a mom of a complex kid and having my business on the side, that is what I truly am. Like that was my heart, my soul. That was my identity. As I was growing up in Brazil up until my, probably my twenties, uh, people still thought of me as did dancer, so Uh, that's one thing I wanted to touch on. Dance is universal. I think some of our listen audience who picks us up on Fridays and is coming from the autism may not understand how interconnected, especially with the internet nowadays, the dance world is. mm-hmm. You came up through Brazil. Some of LE's mentors are from Brazil. Her favorite shoe company. Her shoes are right now being handmade in Brazil. Awesome. Very good. Very good. Brazil has a vibrant dancing. Yes. And different types of dancing. I, you know, I did the professional, I did the. So I started when I was three and I, the, the ballet studio that I went to, they went through the Academy of Dance of London. So we actually would have British, uh, I don't know what they were called in English, but the, they're the masters, right? They would come and they would watch us. We would practice. I. Uh, like it wasn't even a choreography. It was like a class, like s and, and it had to be in, in an order. And we would do it. We would go into the room, it would be just me and this master lady, and she would grade me and tell me if I could move on to the next level or not. And that was every year. I could not find my. My plaques, but I have, I, I have them somewhere, but I don't know where. It was always the certificate that I had passed this thing, but you can see I was in Brazil. I was doing ballet. British person coming in. And then it's like you look outside of Brazil and then there's Carnival and everybody loves to dance. Brazil is like, and, and the music, it's, it calls you, I, I don't know how to explain this, but if you're Brazilian and you don't know how to dance, you're not a true Brazilian is kind of how I like to say that. So. I know. Um, she's over there trying her hardest to stay awake. It's know. I'm sorry, Lena. but she's like, we ha she's like, I do have to be here for Miss Michelle.'cause I wanna be here for Miss Michelle. Oh, so sweet. The Brazilian tap 'cause tap has a gazillion different forms of tap and I don't think people know how many forms. I love watching the Brazilian guys do their Brazilian form of tap. So I will tell you this, I don't know anything about tap dancing 'cause I did it, but I only did it for like a year or two and I was not good. tap. We need to introduce you to the Brazilian tap. do. Yes. Because they took all your like Brazilian carnival moves and all that and mixed it with tap dancing, Michelle, Oh, how fun. and they've got some of your indigenous tribal movements mixed in with the tap dancing. I mean, tap has gone where I think there's 16 different forms of recognized tap at the moment. Are you serious? I did not know that. it, it's become outside of the US Tap has like totally exploded and it's going to live outside of the country where it was formed. Yeah. No, that's, I mean, this, this is crazy. Where did it come from, by the way, Amanda? Tell So tap the history of TAP and I will never be able to do the story of tap. Right? I heard it from James Earl Jones and I will let him, well, not anymore unfortunately, but he should be the one telling it because of his, uh, ability to do storytelling. But the. History is, it was brought over by the slaves and when they got to the US the drums were taken away from them because they could communicate with their drums even. I mean, in Africa, in the tribal nations over there, just like in Brazil and everywhere, music was a language, is a language still. And so they could, it didn't matter what language barriers you had, you could communicate through dance and through s and the uh. Supervisors of the plantations decided this was a bad thing, couldn't have those slaves communicating, right? Oh my they took the drums. Well, it turns out your feet make perfect drums if you work the right way with them. It's And so tap was born on the plantations. Uh, tap was used even to tap in in some plantations. It was the way they were giving the directions for the underground railroad. That is amazing. I did not know that history. That's And it just, it came off the plantations into sharecropping and then it went to Vaudeville. And then Bill Robinson, who is considered the grandfather of Modern Tap, started instead of, 'cause back in the day, they were a lot more crotched to the ground, did a lot more, if you've ever seen like, uh, gene Kelly when he is going down, they did that kind of tap, uh, gene. Or, um, bill Robinson came along and he's brought it a much lot more straight. And did you know the scat where they've got the, um, dirt on the floor as they're tap dancing and brought it into the clubs with the big bands and everything, and then Fred Astaire came around and whitewashed it. But I mean, bill Robinson was so impressive. He was the first black man to tap with a white, we're getting used woman in quotation marks here, woman, uh, Shirley Temple, Yeah. Oh yeah. he was, yeah. no, that's, that's insane. I, I did not know the history of tap and like, this is, this is so cool.'cause I didn't know that it started with the slaves. So it makes sense though. It makes sense. gene Kelly and his brother were the first white kids to tap with a black big band.'cause they tapped with Cap Callaway's Band. But Cap Callaway hadn't known he, they were white when he hired them. Mm.' cause what were a bunch of white kids doing tapping. Well, okay, so I have another question. What about this Irish, what do they call it? Like the The Irish steppers Yes. What? Like where does that relate? So stepping is, I mean if you look a lot of places, stepping is a very big thing. I think some Irish step has come into tap over the years. Um, not a lot. And I think some tap has moved more di towards Irish than Irish has moved towards tap recently. Uh, your river dance, a lot of the tap dancers can do river dance a lot better than the uh, Irish steppers 'cause it's. Borrows so much from tap. Um, I understand a lot of people going, oh, but tap is Irish. No, no, it wasn't. It was, you know, this. But, um, there has been a lot of trade-offs with TAP as it's gone global because you do not. Outside of everyone calls the steps different because like ballet, you have adu as adu, as adu, as adu. It does not matter what language you speak a tap, they're gonna change that lang terminology on you, wherever you go. Because there's also clogging, right? There's Clogging, there's tab, there's I, I mean, this is crazy. Well, and you bring it into like, uh, north America and you look at like the grass dances that a lot of the plains tribes use, and it looks a lot like tap because it turns out dance is universal. It is, and it's a language. It really truly is. The only thing Lita dislikes is it is she doesn't like ballet. We've had her discussions on, she had some. Issues with ballet and, you know, uh, kids with, uh, complex deeds. Once they have issues with something, we're not touching it again. It's not gonna work. Yep. When she was seven, she's like, and yet you keep making me because we don't have another teen helper who can do ballet. So you get to do ballet with babies. You get babies as you're, she's like, blah. Um, when she was seven, she was in eight different pieces for her. Uh. Studio's Nutcracker Oh, okay. And and me Yeah. And didn't work. Didn't yeah, she was not a fan of, um, ballet beforehand. But it turns out when you work yourself to exhaustion complex kids remember these things. At least that time I did almost die my lipstick. At least that time I didn't have lipstick on. That was literally making it where my lungs had no air. She's allergic to lipstick. Oh really? Yes, Oh my goodness. it, eh. Is it just lipstick or all makeup? Oh, stick makeup. Every painted stick form, there's makeup I'm allergic to. We learned this this hard way by some dumb freak and push of a parent of another child, of another. I went to this little job, was being the allergist, decided, okay, let's take this. Stick pencil, makeup, and melted. Just for a side note, that didn't help at all. My lungs stopped breathing again. I almost fainted again. Oh no. Technically, she didn't stop breathing completely. She just had hives running down her throat, which I mean close on the inside too. Yeah. Yeah. On the inside of my float that is uncomfortable like hell. cannot even imagine. Yes, I, I'm allergic to a lot of things, but the, my allergies are mostly like on my nose and on my eyes. The, um, backstage was laughing because I've spent enough time around doctors. I'm like, that's not technically an allergy, and he's gonna tell you that's not technically an allergy. And he was like, it's not an allergy. She just has a severe intolerance. And everyone's like, we're just gonna write allergy down.'cause once the hives go down. I mean, what else do you write, right, Amanda? Like, you gotta, I, I don't know. medically speaking, it's a severe intolerance, and they're like, when we're thinking severe intolerance, we're not thinking the hi. Yes, that they're gonna happen. and I have never played a mouse again. They were doing the cheeks for her mouse. Oh, I have never played any character in anything. We waited to be the mouse. It's in the WWA again Yeah. ever. yeah, no. To be, uh, diagnosed as a true allergy, you have to go into anaphylactic shock twice in 12 Oh, gotcha. Okay. Okay. I don't, when you're talking to most. Lay people who, or like non allergist, even going to your doctor's office. Yeah. Yeah. It's so interesting. Um, but yeah, we, I was super allergic growing up, but not of that, uh, nothing on my skin, but it was really like. More of the, you know, runny nose and all of that. And I will tell you that going through this stuff that I dig, that I was digging out today to show you guys, this is like, I, I remember I used to just die because this was in my mom's house. I am almost 50 years old and so this stuff is probably about 40 years old. And, um, my. Toe shoes. Probably not that old, but, um, but I have, anyway, I went and I dug through it and I'm probably gonna start sneezing here pretty soon. That, that, that makes sense. Uh, as we were opening the studio, I was digging through some of her old shoes. I'm just sneezing up a storm. Um, so you were three when you started dancing, right? I was three when I started dancing, and I just loved it. I loved everything about it. I, you know, I, it just, it was me. It was just, I. Everybody knew me as the ballerina, as the dance. I grew up in that. I tried doing other things, like I tried playing volleyball. I tried playing soccer, tried playing all these things for sports, but nothing, nothing stuck with me besides ballet. Ballet and jazz. And I did a little bit of tap dancing, like I said, and my tap shoes actually fell apart, and I don't think that I have them anymore. So I think that we threw'em away, but I did find, and it's very dirty and very old, my toe shoes, so my point shoes, do you see how old they are? And they're all stained. I don't know why they got so stained, but they are, you know, like a good. I don't know, 30 years old at least. And they are capos and they, I mean, my mom, I had to learn how to sew so I could sew my, my, um, what are these called, my ribbons or onto my shoes. And I used to have to buy one of these. Every week because I would break them. We, we did so much rehearsal and I ended up, I had to buy one of these a, a week And are not cheap. No, it was not cheap. And so I'm really glad and grateful that my dad loved it so much that he could help me, because obviously that is not, you know, that doesn't happen. It's not an easy thing. Now, the other thing that I would love to share you is, do you know what this is Lita. It is like, uh, that's a VHS when you hear us talking about tapes and VHS, that's what they look like. This is a VHS, and this is where I have my old, old videos. Uh, everything cool. In here. And so I was going through my stuff and I found it. I was like, this is kind of cool. That would be fun to, to show. But that's how they recorded us. And it was like these gigantic, um, cameras and they would put them everywhere and they would just gigantic and. Um, they would record it and it would be in one of these. And that's how we, I kept all of my, but the video is so bad. I can't even pick out who was who anymore. I don't even know who I was anymore on the, on the video. But, um, but I, I started pretty early and, um, on here, I'm actually not. On this picture, but you can see that I underlined my name and That that's the important part. yes, I was not on this picture, but I was talking about ballet and, um, and how we were going to perform. And it was, it was called the airport. And so I don't even know what it was, but we, every year we had a theme, so this year was a theme for the airport and I was still pretty young. And then this one is another one. Oh, it's still the, the airport. But this one, it's me in the front. And the splits, lemme see. Hang on. No, I'm the second one in. I'm the second one into that. So these are newspaper clippings that my mom kept for me, of me and my name. And like we were in the newspaper quite a bit because we were a really big ballet studio there. And we did the Royal Academy of London, which is like a big time. So It's a huge time still thing. Still it's big. so, you know, that's what we did and this is how I grew up. But I'll tell you what was very interesting is that I was very used to ballet and jazz, which is very structured, right? Ballet is so structured. You are just, you know, it's the position, it's your arms like. All of that. And so when I got to the United States and I went to school, I went to a, a small college today, it's called BYU uh, Idaho. It's the Brigham Young University University in Idaho. But back then it was called Ricks College. And I was like, you know what? I'm gonna try out for their team, for their dance team. And I did. But the interesting thing was that they didn't do ballet there. They didn't do jazz. It was modern dm. And it took me months to be able to let go and to be able to actually, you know, if you're, if you're not watching the YouTube, you have no idea what I'm talking about, but letting go of your body so you're not so strict. So you're not, and it was, it took a long time for me to like, let go of my, like ballet roots into the modern dance. It was, it, it was hard. It was really hard. I, think a lot of the kids who come into Urban Tap who have not grown up in Urban Tap have that problem.'cause you watch Broadway Tap and it's a lot stiffer than like the. Brazilian Tap or the Urban Tap, or even the Aus Australia's got its own, uh, flavor of tap. Maybe we shouldn't have let the Aussies have anything to do with tap. Um, I love our friends from Australia on it, but like her urban is much more, you're bouncing all over the place. They just dropped a new, uh, video that I sent you the link to that. I'm sure you, it's like, hi, it's right beforehand. Here's the link. Yeah, I'll watch it. I'll watch it later. I. was driving when you sent It. I, I figured as much. I was like, Michelle's gonna look at this and go, um, I now don't understand why Lita doesn't do tap the traditional, very stiff, uh, Broadway way. Okay. Can we just face it? I can't do Broadway Tap. She cannot do Broadway tap for life of her. to be able to do Broadway tap, you have to. Be able to not have a bad, white hip, bad back and be able to not have, uh, let's see every Pringle problem I have in the world and not be allergic to freaking stick makeup. Can you tell the stick makeup has uh, been a problem in life? just suppose I can tell. Dead that I cannot be the God things I would be 'cause a have. Have you seen black makeup? It's mostly and stick for, I mean he keeps saying that I will go for God face, but I'm pretty doesn't have black makeup. Her dad keeps saying she's gonna go goth on him. Yeah. But like, That was one question. Yeah, so Capiz point shoes, which are not cheap. They're still not cheap, and they're still, you know, amazing shoes. I don't think people understand your point. Shoes were practically handmade. Correct. And let me tell you something, I don't know how it is these days, but my teachers were so strict that we could not use any kind of like it was. You have your tights and you have your shoes, you have no, um, what do you call it? No, nothing The toe covers the, Nothing. We couldn't do it. We couldn't do that. My feet were very messed up. If my feet were so messed up at the time, like they had so many calluses. And then the callus would break, and then you would, then you would have, you know, it would bleed again. And then you would turn into a callus again, and then you would bleed again. And every time you get a new pair point shoes, you have to break them in. And so, And that's a whole thing on its own. Like I don't think peop. have some parents who not only are we bringing 'em into the autism world, we're bringing 'em into the dance world. And I'm like, uh, just wait till you see how, because their babies are babies and they're really good. Uh, and they will be in point if they want on point. And I'm like, just, just wait till we start discussing everyone's wave breaking in shoes. Yeah. Oh my gosh. I used to just sit there and it, it was crazy. Some people like, get it wet. I never did any of that. I would just put it on my feet.'cause I was on them, I don't know, like four hours a day. And so it was, you know, it would, and like I said, like I broke them. Like, I literally broke them Oh dot. at every week. I had to go and get one. So it's just a lot And, and thank goodness for my dad and my parents because really this was a very expensive, um. I don't wanna say hobby because it started as a hobby, but really I took it so seriously that I started getting paid to teach dance and to dance. I started, when I was 14, I started teaching ballet lessons and then jazz lessons and then, you know, and so it was, it was crazy, but really it wasn't a hobby. It became, it became. Me like that is, that was my identity. And I think that a lot of people who come into this world of dance and they love it, they, it becomes their identity. Like Lita, that's her identity. It's tap dancing, right? Oh yeah. And the tap dancers have their own ways of breaking in their shoes. And she's at shoes have a lifespan, like you're saying with the tap. Um, the cheap student shoes have a very short lifespan for tap, longer lifespan for ballet.'cause those ballet flats can last you forever probably.'cause you're only going to one hour a week. Yes. Um, but then you flip flop where the professional tap shoes should last you 20 years. As long as you know a good cobbler, Oh yeah. they're paying 400 bucks for her shoes. That, so Dona is sending her for her, uh, custom made shoes. Those things should last her a lifetime. it better and they'll lose them. Oh, no, she, she does not lose her expensive shoes. She's attached to those things. put air tags on them. That's what I have to do on everything that I have in my house that I don't wanna lose. I put air tags on everything. but those point shoes get really expensive and they're only rated for like 22 to 28 hours in the. I know it was crazy. It was, I, I'm not kidding you. Like I, I, loved dance so much that I changed my whole schedule, uh, my senior year for school, just so I could do that. Like I went in and I, that was the year that I. That I started dancing professionally and, uh, so I had made into the company and all that kind of stuff, and so they paid for me to, it was nothing. They paid absolutely nothing, but they paid me to actually in the dance world is, Exactly right. Most of the time you're paying, so when they pay you, then it's like, woo, woo. I'm professional. oh yeah. So, you know, it was, it was hard and it was a hard thing to do. Do I regret it? No way. But, and I. But it, it was, I mean, I didn't get to go and play. I didn't get to go and go out as much because I had dance every afternoon. Every afternoon, and sometimes they would start at one o'clock because my schools in Brazil are a little bit different schools in Brazil, they start at seven in the morning and they're usually done about 12, 12 30, and then you have the whole afternoon to do extracurricular activities or whatever it is that you do. So for me, like I would leave my school and go straight to dance. Straight to dance. And so that's kind of how it was. And um, it was hard though. It was a really hard thing to do and to be a dancer. I tell my daughter this all the time. She, she's a cheerleader, but I, I told her, even if you are cheering, like even if you're doing cheerleading, you need to do ballet and you need to do jazz. And because it is the basic moves, like if you are a ballerina, you can do whatever else, whatever dance, and even play sports because you have such good balance. You have control of your body and everything. So I told my daughter, you wanna cheer great, but you still need to do ballet and you need to do jazz. And so she continues to do that. I have a friend that during middle school and high school, he would sneak into the dance studio because he didn't want anyone knowing he was doing ballet, but, and he still won't say it, so I won't say what his uh, name is because, uh, people know his name. But it did help in the sport he was in. And even as he went to his. One year of college. I think he took, before he went pro, even to his pro years, he was sneaking into ballet studios doing ballet.'cause he is like, this is helping me do what I'm doing. And he's a hall of fame player steak then, because he didn't wanna get teased by everyone else. so I am this was before social media and Yeah. Yes, yes. Well, you know, that's the, that's the beauty of ballet. Like really, like it builds that base for anything. So I'll tell you a funny story, and my husband probably won't like to me telling this story, but last year we went boating. I. With my nephew up in Utah and he does the surf surfing, like boat surfing. I don't know what it's called, but it's a surfboard that you get up on the surfboard and you surf the wake. It's not wake boarding, it's a surfboard. So, um, my husband and I were very used to wake boarding because it's very similar to snowboarding. So your feet are stuck in there and you can't really move your feet very well. But surf boarding, you just kind of, you just have to get up and you gotta, you know, your feet are not attached to the board. You just kind of, it's all about balance. I went in the water. I got up like that the first time I got up and I was up and I was surfing and it was great. My husband tried at least 30 or 40 times and he could not get up on that board. And I tell him like, that's my, that's, it's funny 'cause I tell him this now, I'm like, who's the athletic one in the hi in the house? It's like my joke because he's super athletic and he could do anything with like basketball and soccer and me, like I don't do any sports, but. Hey, I was the athletic one'cause I got up the first time. Uh, yeah, no, I, my husband tr was trying tap, uh, right before he was deployed last year, and he just didn't like the fact we were in a class with his. I am still mad at way class because I don't give a damn. They're still creepy. They're creepy towards my father. They're creeps towards my father, and if any of them started stalking my father, I would literally murder them. I don't care about freaking juvie. I don't care about freaking record deaths with my freaking father. He was getting. women. The women in the class, he was getting crepes. Were being a little, was getting creeps. Okay, can I, they weren't meaning to be creepy, but, oh God, there's a guy in class, so we all need to be like, Ooh, I would like to calm down. Calm down. Uh, like, oh, I wanna be your partner. I wanna be right by you. I wanna be an autistic husband. Mine was like, no. But he also, it was too big of a class. There were 25 people in the class and for autism that just. Does not work to get you where you need to go. Right. Uh, but he was like, you know, this isn't too much different than he did Irish step. He did, uh, line dancing and he did, uh, swing dancing competitively for all three of those. And he is like, oh yeah, dance is easy. I'm like, yeah. When you've been doing it since you were younger, Yes. Yes. That's for sure. Yes. You do have to start young. yes. And next time he takes a dance class while making sure. he said, I calm, calm down. what she's a little protective of her dad and they were kind of flirting with her dad, and he was just letting it go over his head, kind of women who like had put a pin in this said they could give him a new child. That's better than me. me? Also some ableist comments being said, uh, that she took, she took like harshly and he took like, oh, you think I am getting a non-autistic child? Hate to tell you, but current study sake comes from Dad. Hi. I am pretty There you go. if he to, um, the balance thing. Because I am bringing a little bit of the, uh, complex kids into this 'cause we had an amazing thing happen Tuesday that you as a complex mom will understand, and I don't think sometimes people understand. One of our level three a SD kids figured out how to do his terms, Yay. I love that. Do you know that that how hard that is to I, I, I was trying to explain to his mom, he just started dancing in January and he's doing turns now. And I'm like, I'm not trying to be a jerk about this 'cause this is exciting that your child got to do this. But do you know how impressive it is for a kid who's been doing it January, February, March, April, five months with a few, uh, days off for sickness? Um, That's that's impressive for a normal answer. Nobody was looking and paying attention. He did three turns, did a real, partly amazingly clean. Well, no one was looking. that's, I mean, honestly, this is, it's the amount of balance and proprioception that you have to have to do those turns. It's it like you. You use your whole entire body, you gotta use your head, you gotta use everything. So congrats. Yay. Good job. was trying not to be the, uh, mean cruel CEO going, no, no, I get that. This is exciting, but you don't understand five months and doing turns like these would be exciting no matter who I had in class sure. because I mean, I get but you've been there being able to do turns, It's hard. yeah. Um, and I don't think people understand dancers. Make it look easy. Yes. Go watch a ballet and then look at them and look at how beautiful they do it. And then you go, oh, I can do that. Oh yeah, go try. Go try, try to do one plie and I wanna see you. I mean if you look at the sugar plum fairies, uh, big solo, it is pretty much just tech. It is technical as all get out and people are like, that's so beautiful. And I'm like, do you know how much technicality went into that thing? For sure. Yeah, it's, I mean, it's a lot. It is a lot. And when you can make tech look beautiful, yes. it's like how many pks can you do in a row? Uh, Oh my gosh. Seriously, I don't re I the amount that you do just to practice to get, to be able to do it on stage. I, I don't even know how many, I wouldn't even be able to count. We have a 5-year-old who just started in January, another one that I'm like, her mom's so excited going 'cause she could not hop. When we got her in jumping was something she did not do. She's doing PKS and turns and she was like doing 15 PKS in a row this past week. And I'm like, I would get bored after like three. Ballet was not my thing. And her mom's like, oh, well, I mean she's doing it. And I'm like, she started in January. She's doing perfect pks. Uh, you have a problem coming up ahead of you. Your life is about to be in the dance studio. Yes, yes, yes, for sure. Hopefully. was going to be your life. Yeah, I love it. I love what you're doing. I absolutely love what you're doing. I think the thing that's annoying me this week is we had another person reach out going, I wanna just do creative movement for them and they wanna take dance for Parkinson's and turn it to something autistic kids will do, and one, autism and Parkinson's, not the same. have what said. What would they say if I made the nose bleed? Let's not, and say we did put the microphone down. about frigging juvie. Um, she's in a mood today, Oh, it's all good. It's okay. it's, uh, we have a whole bunch of dance studios around here in town that are comparing Parkinson's and autism. Interesting. Okay. and then I go to you. so different? I don't think they understand that it's solely different. They're like, well, they both affect the brain and it's like, and I shouldn't be annoyed, but a lot of those teachers also happen to run IEP meetings for the school district, Oh yeah. Then you're like, uh, you can do that in the dance world. I don't care. The moment you walk into this, yeah, for sure. need to know what autism is. If you're the one running the IEP meeting just saying. For sure. They have to know.'cause this is, I I mean, it's crazy, like how would they not know? but um, these, I get it, they have big hearts, but they're like, well, autistic people can't learn to dance. hearts as Seuss. Uh, so not true though. So not true. And think. Part of it is they just don't understand. You can't learn in a 20 per plus group. But we've got dance studios now that are doing 25 year olds, and I'm like, I don't wanna deal with 20 neurotypical five year olds. wow. Yes, for sure. Um, how, yeah. When you are learning to dance, baby, baby dancer, how many kids were in your class? we would do probably, it depends, but I think that we would probably do like eight to 10. Yeah, I mean, eight to 10 makes sense with neurotypical kids. I'm sure there were plenty of Neurodiverse kids. Um, because I am explaining this pathetically to our parents who I'm like, I don't think you understand. Your life is no longer defined by autism. Your life is now defined by dance. dance. Yep. And it's all the, their kids are going to be defined as, and so it's great. It is really great. Because of that, like there is a different kind of. If that makes sense. it is totally different, and I'm like, now just. To put a b in all of your guys' ears. Uh, we have, you know, all the intensives are gonna be wanting to go to when they are in their middle school and teen years. And you've gotta know what out or America Dance Theater is. You've got to know what LA's doing. You gotta know what San Francisco's doing. And these parents are like, I'm barely learning all the autism terms, and now you want me to learn all the dance terms. Yes. Yes. Well, it's, they're gonna, they're not gonna have to figure it out, right? They are. It's like, hi, did you know we have posters with these? And they're like, really? I'm like, yeah, it's better than the, uh, complex kids we have. Like here's all the definitions and here's pretty pictures with them beside it. Yeah. Yeah. Um, I mean, it's crazy. So, we, we've got five year olds trying to teach their parents how to plie. At that they'll, they'll get it. I mean, it's, it's gonna, yeah. But I at this point you're lost. You're, you're screwed. Your kid's ballerina. I just love it. I love it that what you're doing, I love how the studio has come together for you and how you are trying to grow and get bigger. Um, you know, and. I mean, I will post it again for your 365. I'll try doing that again, so, Thanks, uh, we appreciate all the support and all the friendship and everything. Um. By the time you were a teenager,'cause there is definitely a difference between being three and being a teen and, uh, dance. How many hours a week do you think you put into it? When I was a teenager, I used to go to the studio at about one o'clock.'cause our class started at one 30, our ballet class. And then I wouldn't leave until about nine o'clock at night because I would, I would, um, we had ballet class, then we had rehearsal, and then I would teach three classes after that. So it was close to eight or nine at night. So just a full-time working job. Exactly. Yes. That, that's what I'm trying to prepare our parents for with a couple of the kids.'cause I can clock 'em already going. Um, your life is about to be the studio. Yes. And that's how, have to do that. yeah, like a tap. At least. I only have to do like six hours a day. Yeah, and I don't have to go past my bedtime, That's only 'cause you go earlier in the day. my bedtime. I got bedtime. who homeschool specifically'cause of dance. Oh yeah. Well, I, that's amazing. That is amazing. So, I mean, that allows you to get your studio hours in earlier while you're awake yep. and to go to all the things. I know. You know, it's, that's the life of a dancer though. That's, that's the life, so, Even if like she does not do competition, our studio's not gonna do competition. I, she's like competition's evil. There was an issue she had with a comp one time, but IO get overwhelmed and I'm not taking a bunch of autistic kids and took an overwhelming competition 'cause I have issues. But, um. Even with the just playing performance guys, you have all the master classes. You have Oh, it's so much it, You have. it's a lot and you've gotta love it. And the parents need to buy into it. For you to do something like that, to do something professionally, uh, for me, I. I had to prove to my parents that I was independent enough that, and this is in Brazil of course, um, I was able to just take public transportation, take a bus from my school to my studio, and then from studio to my house at night. Because had I not done that, my parents were like, we're not driving you every time. And this was a far away, it was on the other side of town. Where if you wanted to be a professional dancer, you needed to go. They had two studios, one close to my house, and then one that was far away from my house. And of course, the one that was far away from my house was the one that took the, the, you know. It was the higher one that's where the professionals would, would be at. So it was, it was hard. And you have to want it, you have to love it. And you know, I, I get it with, you know, with a complex kid, things they are, sometimes they will obsess over certain things, you know, but sometimes they will have their moments too, and. I, I feel like if they love it, like Alita did, like what you did, you followed her heart. She wanted to do this, and so, and, and that's kind of what I tell a lot of the parents. Find the one thing that your child loves to do, find that one. Thing and, and just dive into that because then they will be happy. It will be something that they can do and something that you are gonna learn about and something that will make them feel better about themselves because they will get better at it. And they will and you'll wind up missing.'cause I do partially okay a lot. It's not that I don't love where she is now. Mm-hmm. absolutely love watching her on stage. I love watching the professional videos come out. I love watching her, uh, stuff, but I miss the baby years where she was in the cute little baby shoes and you know, the cute little tutu's yes, oh, you look so cute. She had a cute little elf costume for Christmas one year. You had romantic tutu's. You never had pancakes as a baby, 'cause your studio believed in romantic for little kids and romantic on little kids. Or she had one studio that did, uh, the puppet tear scene from um oh. Uh. Sound of music. Oh, okay. that and turned it into a ballet. The only problem was COVID hit that year, so she had to do it on video with not on stage, but the outfit was so cute, it looked like a little German with a little, you know, romantic should post that. You should post that. felt evil Oh. also. Plus it was too small for me. She always has her growth spurt right before recital, and she grows like two clothing sizes right before recital. Yes. So it's great. It it so I always tell them we're buying like really big 'cause I higher. Yes. and they're like, oh, no, no, no mom. We've done this forever. We know what's going on. And they always buy it wrong. into my skin. I literally had red ass marks. Okay. We, we've all had those type, type of, uh, costumes though. Um, both. So what was your favorite, 'cause I know you've done a gazillion performances, but every dancer has that one performance or that one, uh, ballet that was their favorite to do. Which one was your favorite? Swan Lake, that was my favorite. What did you get to play in Swan Lake? Oh my gosh. I, I was not anybody. I was a nobody, but it was so fun to just be one of the nobodies in the back and all the feathers. That was the best part of the whole thing was all the feathers that we had on our outfits. I remember that So specific. Our studio is not doing feathers ever. I have a thing. If you have never done feathers, you will understand later.'cause I've warned our parents 'cause they're like feathers look so great. And I'm like In the picture? Yes. On the video. Yes. Yes, She had a feather costume for a, the one time year she did competition. I think they're still pulling feathers out of the ACCE events. Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. Yeah. I mean, people do not understand that about feather costumes. Those feathers do not stay Yeah, Oh, Amanda, gonna do the Nutcracker. Wait, I not doing Nutcracker. Wait. Well, we might, but everyone in town does Nutcracker and I need something that I can make money on. version. do something a little bit different. version because Autistic version. Now I'm trying to figure out what an autistic version of the Nutcracker looks like. What about you, Michelle? we could do like, like Miss Dad died a cook. She's uh, Ms. Dada would be Debbie Allen Dance Academy's Hot Chocolate. hot chocolate, I mean, we, we, we could do something like Have you seen a Debbie Allen Dance Academy's Hot Chocolate I have not. I have not. gotta take the kids and go see it. please, will, I we're, you're prob you're not in the LA area, correct? South of la just like about 40 minutes. Yeah. Amanda. can be way more than you wanna do. Yes. I I have a recording. Uh, it was at two o'clock, so I'm so sorry. Can, we're yeah, will talk to you later. Michelle, thanks for no, no, no. I just wanted to say I, it, it's been so great. I did not, I wanted to continue this conversation, so I don't know if you can edit this out and then we can, um, do a little bit more. I, I, Oh, we can edit it out, um, or we'll just do a two-parter and have you come back on as soon as you have time to. Yeah. do that. Let's do Alright. Thanks for coming on. Go hop Thank you. See you Bye. Hey, Amanda, from the future here again. Um, like I said, this is gonna have to be a two-parter 'cause Michelle had to squeeze this in before meeting. We are so grateful that Michelle was willing to do this when we threw it at her and went, hi, you wanna be our first dance guest too? Um, we are so thankful to Michelle and to all of our reoccurring guests who are willing to almost at the drop. Come on the show. When I call up and go, hi, have an idea. Can you come on the show? We hope you guys enjoy having the same guest on and on again, and that you're becoming just as familiar with them as we are and that you feel like they're becoming people. You know, you trust and you like hearing from. Um, drop a comment. Message us about what kind of dance you took as a kid, or if you want, didn't take dance. Did you wanna take dance? And let us know down in the comments below. Don't forget to like, comment, share, subscribe, all that fun, jazz, and we will see you on TU Friday for Samantha from Boise Music Therapy Group is coming on to talk about. What else? Autism therapies and we go in depth on what you need in a therapist and some other stuff. Samantha's another one of our amazing reoccurring guests. Um, we just absolutely love them. If you or someone you know would like to be on the podcast, be they over on the autism side, on the dyslexia side. Or on the dance side, uh, you can find us@podmatch.com. There will be a link in the description below to our website to where you can connect with us and message us on Pod match. Pod Match is an amazing service that you've heard us talk about before that Match is pod, podcasters and guest. Um, most of our guests have come from Pod Match actually. Over 90% have, and we, we just need pub match to include a recurring guest thing so that we can get back in touch with guests that we wanna get in touch with easier on the site. But that's a whole different set or a whole different thing right there. Anyways, hope you enjoyed this, our first interview with a dancer. Um, we are gonna have Michelle on to finish the discussion and we will talk to everyone later. Okay, well thank you for watching the PIT podcast and please subscribe and also look at the Adorable Don't Watch Subscribe for. And also please like, and if you'll, if you'll any of our new podcast and also you see the Adorable, don't You Like it?