Moving Boxes, Tap Shoes, and Golf Clubs?

This week on Leta’s Tap Styles and My Autistic Life, Amanda and Leta go behind the scenes as they navigate the chaos of moving houses, recording Tap Tuesday episodes on the fly, and keeping their nonprofit dance studio, Autistic Wings Dance Company, running strong.

Hear about Leta’s new promo shoot for Autistic Wings, the hilarious challenge of learning to golf in dance shoes, and the real-life moments that don’t always make it into the final cut. Expect honest conversation about neurodivergence, plenty of laughs, and a peek into the unpredictable world of running a dance studio for autistic kids.

Whether you’re here for the tap dancing, the golf adventures, or just a dose of real life, this episode is for you!

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• Leta's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/@letatapstyles
• Podcast Website: https://www.letatapstyles.com
• Autistic Wings Dance Company: https://www.autisticwingsdancecompany.org

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Transcript

0:00

Especially if you saw the one we posted on Saturday on Facebook of Jack Ellis going, oh, ball, I'm going to run after the ball. And you running all over the living room trying to catch the dog with the ball in his mouth. 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. Leta, welcome to Tap Tuesday. Hi. you and I are definitely not in the old studio. We are currently still moving into the new house. it was just move here in city, but moves or moves, are they not Leta? Yes. Yes. And because I was staying in my hide corner or big door was painted in my hide corner. For everyone who's listening on, podcasting streaming services, there is a cute little like Harry Potter room under the stairs in the basement that Leta has taken as her own room, and she is recording the podcast from in there today with Vela, who rarely makes an appearance on the podcast. So I wanted to go over a couple things that are going to change on the podcast, and some upcoming things. like next week we are taking the week off for Labor Day. hi Grandma. everyone's gonna be outta town anyways and it's last, or, well, maybe not. They might be in school by now, but we're gonna take this is the speaker door. Yes, the beka door never makes it onto the podcast, never. But I wanted to hop on today and get a couple things outta the way Yes. Next week if you are following us over on Facebook, we are going to do a recap of the summer. Like this is everything cool that went on during the summer. This is all the cool guests we had during the summer. I'm going to make a summer, playlist of episodes you may have missed while you were out doing vacations so that you can go back and hit those episodes, right Leta? and that playlist will be posted on the Facebook page. If you are not on the Facebook page, you should join, right Leta. The Facebook page is Leta Tap styles. but yeah, we'll post all that over there. We will be posting on YouTube some shorts just showing clips of our previous episodes, from the summer that everyone missed while they were out having fun. Mostly the guest episodes and we are also going to, my brain just quit on me. It's always quitting on me. Hi. are going to not post anything new next week just because of the insanity of the week. Plus, we need to get stuff done over here, because. Of how we do things. We have pre-done, guest episodes for quite a while. boop, boop. Banana, Nana you are having too much fun. and banana. Nana. Boop. Banana, Here's the thing I wanted to mention. We have, I was you. Can we finish real quick on the important stuff? Yeah. now I have completely lost my train of thought. Sorry. this will be the 99th episode published of Leta's Tap Styles. The hundredth episode is on Friday, back to the guest things, we recorded a bunch. we are, we've already filmed a bunch of episodes with our guests, so Tap Tuesday will be in the new studio once we get it done, we'll show everyone a behind the scenes of the studio. I think Jack is trying to get into your little Heidi corner right now too. Any who and Villa's leaving your Heidi Carner? hi Villa. Any who? We are going to get the new studio up and running next week, but because we have prerecorded guests, you are going to see guests in the old studio, at the old house until like November on Fridays, and then you will see. Us in the new house and any guests that we have coming on for, some other episodes that we're gonna put in bonus episodes we're putting out, they'll all be in the new studio. So, yay. Right. Leta, you do have to unmute once you've muted. Oh yeah, there's a pit bull. He is outside here. Yeah. And this is closed. Anyhoo back to uss. So yes, a hundredth episode. Albert's on Friday for our hundredth episode. I was not tracking. So Albert, if you're listening, congratulations, you got the hundredth episode. Oh, hi Vela. Okay. new podcast studio. We are off next week. If you haven't joined the Facebook page, join the Facebook page, come over, talk to us. Oh, that's no longer a. I have both puppies here. new studio is going to need major dog beds. I have a filling 'cause both puppies are enjoying the basement area where we're building the studio. Right? Leta. Yes, and I have a feeling both of them don't look me at this moment Correct. I could, but I Was a joke. but now I want to. Yeah, I think those are our big announcements. Thank you to everyone who helped, fundraise. During LTAs birthday fundraiser, we raised over $3,000 in one-time, donations for autistic wing stance company. And I'm now. We are 14 now. but we raised over $3,000. We still obviously need money for autistic wings. It's a nonprofit. We are always going to need money for autistic wings. some stuff has come up recently about the lease at the current location where yeah, there's a reason I want to buy a building. We definitely need that $2,800 a month in recurring donations. So if you're able to give, give, if not, if you could just share if you're over on the Facebook group, seriously, come join the Facebook page. If you're in Colorado Springs or you know a dancer in Colorado Springs, we've just released our fall schedule for autistic wings. Yay. Come dance with us on that note, Leta, let's get back to what this is all about. Tapie tap, tap Tuesday. So, if people follow, So are we we are going to talk about, the insanity known as autism and tap. Because I think you have to be just a little neurodivergent to do what you're, attempting to do. Right. Giving me a look. last week our vice president of autistic wings was checking out the, internets And she came up with this brilliant idea that you need to learn to golf and tap dance at the same time. Did she not? We are stealing. This is, we're going to kind of do a Fred Asal Ill, but, modernize it for you. Yes, Yeah, you are definitely not good with lyrical, but we are going to change it to your style of tap So the tap dancing you've done before, obviously. How is it coming along with tap dancing and trying to learn to golf at the same time? I, I, I. Are you questioning why you are doing this? I'm questioning my friend group, my friend choices, Yeah. So, you have absolutely, positively never even gone golfing before. I don't, I'm not a golfer also. Plus, even if I took up a sport that wasn't dance, I would definitely do a punch back. Yeah. but we are, how hard has it been to try and figure out, 'cause you're starting with a tennis ball right now and a little putting, thingy at the house. How hard has it been to try and do that in your, soans? A custom tap shoes? Hi. Hi. Oh, hi. Hi, you two. Hi. Hi. that's a first for that dog. he got brains. Jack, let's finish this and I'll take you out. Yep. Now that the dogs have done, they're interrupting. How hard has it been to figure out how to hit a ball in, those shoes? I will admit to nothing. I don't know. I would rather be embarrassed in front of people I don't know than people I do know. What are are your thoughts on this whole stupid idea? Why am I golfing? I am not a golfer. But autistic ways. I mean, how long have I been saying hello? Years? How long until we move to new studio? so I don't have to deal with the, trying to even understand the emotions. Sorry I had to move because how I was sitting was hurting my back. I am so ready for us to have things like tables and chairs down here in. The studio that is on the list of things we need down here. It's a beanbag for you, but one of the reasons you're doing the golf is we are going to have a golf tournament next year for autistic wings. It's a great way to raise money. We all know it's also a great way for people to come together and get business still done while doing a great cause, right? Leta. Yes. But we are working well. we have to have a cool way to announce the whole thing. And I thought, well, when Gail saw the Fred Astaire, I'm like, Ooh, that would be a fun way to announce the whole thing. yes. Cat. The dogs are liking the new studio space. They just think we should be giving them all the attention in the world. we are going to be moving this from like, you have not had a real golf club in hand. You've been doing a doll and a tennis ball, I think here shortly. You are moving up to a golf ball. Are you ready for that? F. no. Sure. I could very easily turn into a weapon for no reason other than I want to see if it will I mean, I kind of wanna see if it will work too. but it will be the big announcement that we are looking for sponsors. Obviously we're already looking for sponsors for the tournament. How many of your little tap students, Leta, do you think really, really, really want you to do this so that they get lots of money for the studio? They're all six and freaking like three. not, that the babies. The babies, they don't understand what money is. The babies, they don't understand. Hello? Yes. What I say, don't kiss the mirror. I mean, no kiss the mirror. I mean, it shouldn't be just for teenagers, they just shouldn't kiss the mirror. But, one of the reasons we're doing the golf tournament is it costs a heck of a lot of money to run autistic wings. and we are a very specialized, studio that is nonprofit. and like Otter's class cost us about.$1,255 a month. if you haven't been around, Otter is one of our, the nickname we have given one of our kids to try and keep his, identity safe.'cause you know, the web innerwebs is weird. but he is non-verbal. He's been a little clutsy, but he absolutely loves coming in and doing ribbons and stretching and doing ballet and doing, tap dance. What do you mean guess in the mirror? Shouldn. Just be for teenagers. How else am I supposed to That That wasn't what I said. ties they are Teenagers should not be kissing those mirrors 'cause those mirrors are not cleaned on a regular basis. yeah, but I. I mean, they keep asking what reason I have for them to not get the mirrors. And that's the only reason I about those mirrors the SO reason would be making up ghost stories. are nothing but germ filled, mirrors. Even though we do clean the studio, it's just. They don't care about germs. Well, you're probably true on that. So goodies is a funer term. But no, so the whole thing is we threw this at you. Thursday night, and by Friday we were out buying the stuff forward, and by Saturday you were spending hours a day putting in your, tap shoes for this whole announcement to try and get sponsors for the golf tournament, right? And then I went back practice again, and then the next day. I mean, there's the thing, like you had, you had five hours of Soul Talk rehearsal this Sunday, and you did the five hours of Soul Talk rehearsal, turned around and spent another hour learning to put and tap at the same time. Yeah. That was fun. we are going to document this journey via video over on the Facebook page Why? What? because I think it's fun. why? it's fun. Especially if you saw the one we posted on Saturday on Facebook of Jack Elvis going, Ooh, ball, I'm going to run after the ball. And you running all over the living room trying to catch the dog with the ball in his mouth. shiny out. we actually found a golf course here in town that said that we could come out and do tap dancing on their golf course 'cause they're crazy like that. So thanks to that or for that, I mean, you're like, I am sleepy. This whole moving is not helping. Is it? L. But, I need coffee. but I wanted to mention that we are doing every hold on. So yeah, all of that is going to be on the Facebook page. Some of it will be on your personal Instagram page, but if you wanna follow along with the craziness known as, lead A Learning to Golf while tap dancing, or at least put while tap dancing or drive while tap dancing, go ahead, say that on your mic. But if you wanna follow along, join the Facebook page. I will have a link. For the Facebook page in the comments, like I said, it is too, we are in a weird situation with the studio we're in because we do have to have $2,800 in recurring donations a month to pay for rent and to pay for the teacher salaries. But, it is not the best studio. And they want to up the rent on not just us, but the amazing host, studio we have. this is, they are raising triple net. They're not taking care of things like the roof. Or the walls, like the outside walls and things like that. So we really would like to move. but to do that, we've got to have money and we have to have those recurring donations so that we can pay for things like, you know, utilities when we move and teacher salaries when we move. And I know a few people have reached out about the teacher salaries. or if we could up the price of class once more, like otter's class cost does roughly.$255 a month. His family can afford it. We give it to him for $55 a month. otherwise, like a bunch of our kids that are in, with three kids in a class. Okay, so our preschool classes, it would be $418 and 33 cents a month per kid. No family can afford that, right? Leta. And that's for one like ballet class a month or one jazz class a month. That is not for like multiple classes a month. So when you're supporting autistic wings, if you can, that money is going to re. Greatly reduce the amount of mon financial strain that we might have to put on these parents. And I know times are tough. That's why we're looking for 140 people to do 20 bucks a month. And if we had 140 people donating 20 bucks a month, we would have the money we need while we're waiting to get our own building. Golf tournament isn't until next year. We're kind of waiting for those big dollars to come in with that. our website to watch me probably fall on my butt like three or four times it is not on the website yet. Actually, I should put that up before we go. for the golf and pickleball. What do you mean? they should reach out to us.'cause, to sponsor the golf tournament is going to cost, like if you want your name as the title sponsor, that's really expensive. Leta, do you know how expensive it is to be a title sponsor for a golf tournament? I don't do It runs between 15 and $25,000 to be the title sponsor. We will do golf. This is why rich people do golf. cheap golf tournaments, lead a charity run. You won 20 to one 50 for a cheap, boring golf tournament. If you're going out somewhere like Broadmoor or Sanctuary, you're talking four to $500 for play. if you are interested in following along with Leta, join the Facebook page. Follow Leta on Instagram. Leta, what is your Instagram handle? They just tap style like every other thing I had. Isn't it all? only thing was actually have my day on it. Topes just doesn't have your name on it. I meant autistic my stuff around because I am like not finding a place I like. What about you Leta? Yeah. So the other thing is if they are looking for peer-to-peer people or social media influencers who would like to come help out with the studio and help out with fundraising, where would they go to be, to help out with that stuff? Leta. the website with this one. I'll put the golf and the pickleball tournament stuff up on the website 'cause that's next. We're gonna teach you how to do pickleball and tap at the same time. seriously. I now want to use a pickle for. Okay, well maybe we can tell you what I will look into making a light pickle that we can do as a ball for that announcement. Also, if you want my friends seriously after this, I mean, you'd think it would make sense. A pickleball would be pickle shaped. I get it. it does make sense. Or at least a racket should be pickle shaped except for it's paddle, not a racket. But I'm in racket sports, not paddle sports. Or at least an actual pickle for all, like an Well, but what if the racket was pickle? and a cucumber like Larry.'cause we're not using Larry's cousin, but we're not using Larry. too much time watching veggie tail as a child? Too ve is, are going to. so help me. Okay, we are going to wrap this up, but yeah, you can go to the website, go to info at autistic wings dance company.org if you are interested in doing a major support, our, personal or individual and our, business. If you wanna support us at a, higher level as business, especially if you know any Colorado Springs businesses that might be willing to support us or Denver, it helps if our supporters reach out and go, Hey, have you heard about this? And not just us reaching out 'cause it shows them that the community is interested in what we're doing. I don't know. join the Facebook group, the or Facebook page. It, it's going to be linked in the comments below. Seriously, it's fun, it's exciting. Join the face or come over and, chat with us. Tell us what you'd like to hear us talk about. More importantly, a lot of our former guests are on that page and you can interact with the former guest and talk to the former guest about things. Oh, we are going to cha as we're, ending real quick, we are changing One other thing with the podcast, I'm going to start dropping as of Friday. Podcasts are gonna be dropped in the morning versus dropped in the

evening at 4: 19:29

00 PM so this will be the last one dropped at 4:00 PM Mountain Time and starting on Friday they will be dropped at.

I wanna say 4: 19:38

00 AM mountain time so that everyone on the East Coast can

wake up at 6: 19:43

00 AM You can listen to the podcast on your way to work. You can listen to the podcast during your morning gym routines. You can listen to the podcast as you're making breakfast, right? But I, I'm trying to do the math here and then again, I'm not good math, so.

4:00 AM our time is 6: 20:00

00 AM Eastern Standard Time. Alright, so I, okay, so right now, Like I said, follow us, follow us on Facebook. come over to the Facebook page. It's fun, it's exciting. Come interact with us on the Facebook page. if you're watching this on YouTube, don't forget to like, comment, subscribe, all that fun, jazz. If you are listening to this on one of the podcast streaming services and you enjoyed our craziness today, share it with your friends. I forgot. Thanks for bearing with us during this move and, these couple weeks of crazy, tap Tuesday, videos. Friday. Is Albert coming on the show? He's a talent agent. New York way. He deals mostly with equity and aftra and we had a very good conversation on not just autism, but why you really do need a talent agent and what's going on with the industry. don't forget to subscribe or follow the podcast. Share it with your friends. Come over to the Facebook and if you have. The ability to share about the autistic wings, dance company fundraisers. Feel free to share about that. like Leta over on LE's Tap styles on Instagram to see her, you know, golfing and tapping at the same time. And we will see everyone Friday, right Leta. Yes. Bye. bye bye. 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 Don pick if you'll, if you'll miss any of our new podcast. And also if you see the Adorable Don, you Like It.