BONUS Episode - Dance For Sick Kids

Hey friends, Amanda here. We are dropping a special bonus episode of the Dance Principals United podcast this week in your ears to celebrate Dance for Sick Kids and all the incredible things they do for the Ronald McDonald House charities. Make sure you have a listen to find out some great ways you could incorporate this into your studio and also some behind-the-scenes goss. I hope you love it. We'll be back with our regular episodes tomorrow.

Hello friends, I'm Amanda Barr and I'm Rebecca Lou Brennan, and welcome to Dance Principles United, the podcast.

Together, we are passionate about helping studio owners with the business of running their studio.

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This is the Dance Principles United podcast.

Hi friends, and welcome to the Dance Principles United podcast. I'm here with the lovely Namin. From Ronald McDonald House and Dance for Sick Kids. How are you, my love?

I'm very good, thank you. I'm excited to be here and talk about this campaign with you.

I am so excited to hear all about it. For our listeners who haven't heard of Dance for Sick Kids, what can you tell us about it?

So, um, Dance for Sick Kids, it's a week-long challenge. So, um, in the middle of May, we have— at May, we have National Families Week. Um, and so, um, for those of you who don't quite know what we do, um, so we're a house that supports families who've children who are being treated at the Children's Hospital at Westmead who are quite unwell. So Families Week has a really special place for us because that's really at the heart of what we do. So Dance for SickKids was born during COVID when people were all locked up at home and we wanted to bring a little bit of joy into the world at the time. And one thing that we've always found brings us a lot of joy is music and dance. And so we launched this campaign during National Families Week where we asked people to commit to dancing for a certain number of minutes a day. So it could be 10 minutes, could be 30 minutes, could be an hour a day. It's for people just to bring a little bit of joy and to ask their friends to sponsor them and raise money. And over the years, it's really taken off and people have really gotten into it. The dance community in particular has just been this absolute bubble of joy that's taken on this campaign. So people sign up, you register, it's free to register, and it's really up to you and your creativity how you get involved. So, you know, We've got everything from beautiful professional dancers who do these, you know, gorgeous dances that people watch every day to this group of tradies that we've got in Western Sydney who jump on their ute and dance for 30 minutes every day in their lunch break. So, you know, people will pay to see something beautiful and people will pay to see something really embarrassing. So it's all sort of sides of the spectrum on the campaign. Yeah.

Oh, that's so fantastic. And so, you know, dance studios can get involved and they can get their students involved and get sponsors from families. You guys raise huge amounts of money, uh, for Ronald McDonald House Charities. That's going to be incredibly rewarding. There's got to be so many incredible stories of how that then works out for those families.

Yeah, look, it is. It's absolutely— I think we get surprised constantly by just the, the way that this campaign can touch people. I think, um, for a lot of people who come and stay with us there's this sudden moment where they're ripped away from their home. So, um, they'll, they'll often say to us, you know, um, my daughters, you know, I had 3 daughters and they were all dancing and they all loved it, and then we went to hospital and we thought our daughter would have an infection, and suddenly we were all airlifted to Sydney and our life changed in a heartbeat. Um, and for that child who can no longer participate in dance, it's hard. For the siblings that have been taken away, it's really hard. We never actually intended for this campaign to necessarily be about the families, but we're constantly surprised by how many of them jump on board. Um, in fact, last year, um, to our surprise, one night we saw on socials, um, that all the families in the house were gathering in the main areas down here and dancing together for Dance for Sick Kids.

Oh, so beautiful.

And so people often say to us, like, working at the house, like, it must be so depressing, like, people are so sick, like, it's awful. And I always say to people, you'd be amazed how many pockets of joy can happen around the house. Um, and Dance for Sick Kids is definitely one of those highlights. Like, we have a beautiful disco here for the kids to get involved in. And, um, we had beautiful Belle, who, um, she actually had an osteosarcoma, which is a bone cancer, in her leg. And she was a beautiful ballerina, and she was actually the face of our campaign a couple of years ago. Um, and she actually participated in the campaign. I don't know how, but she actually just danced on one leg for the entire campaign. Um, and so there's just so many inspiring and inspirational stories out there. Um, and you know, for those families, it means everything to look on socials and see this huge community of people who are gunning for them and who are, yeah, you know, really getting the message out there. And I mean, that's not even to mention the impact of the money that's raised, which, yeah, quite literally puts a roof over their head and food in their mouths while they're taking care of their children.

So, wow, that is absolutely incredible. I, I mentioned before we started, uh, recording that my daughter spent a week in Westmead a little over a month ago. And, you know, being at Westmead Children's, you know, I've always participated in Dance for Sick Kids. I've known what you guys have done there. But I think seeing it firsthand was so, so different. I was really touched. We shared a room with another little girl who had a single mum. She'd been in hospital for 8 weeks with a neurological condition. And, you know, we were there for a week. It was planned, you know, financially we were okay. Like that was fine for us. But seeing the impact that this other family had as a single mom, you know, the children get fed in the hospital but the parents don't. There's nowhere to eat. She was going every night down to your Ronald McDonald House at Westmead and having meals together with her daughter, uh, being able to eat. She was talking about the impacts of that because she'd been off work for like 2 months. And as a single mom, that's, you know, that's a lot to be paying your rent and be able to afford takeaway food and all of that. It's not doable.

No, no, it's not. And I mean, it's, it's so incredibly difficult. There's food, there's parking, there's, you know, transport. And I'm not sure if that family you're referring to was local here, um, but for some of the families that stay with us, they're also living 7 or 8 hours away. So in addition to all of those financial expenses, which are huge by the way, um, one family told us they went to the motel up the road on Hawkesbury Road and asked what it would take for them to stay for the duration of their child's chemotherapy treatment, and it was like $60,000. Like, it's absolutely prohibitive. Um, and so for that family, you know, for the ones that don't stay at Ronald McDonald House, they're sleeping on a chair next to their child's bed or in their car for months and months and months on end. Um, and like I said, for some of our families, there's this added layer of like their family lives 6 hours away. Um, so all of a sudden, you know, your mum can't bring you a coffee, your friends can't come and bring you a meal, um, they can't even come and sit with you when you're hearing hard news or just just, you know, in those moments where it's hard on your child but it's hard on you as a mom.

And absolutely, you know, you—

I think when, when we were originally founded, we were founded by this pediatrician who was an oncologist. And the statement that we all kind of live by, what she said was, a sick child is a sick family. She said, you know, when a child is really seriously ill, the whole family really— the dynamic begins to exist around that sick child.

That becomes really hard.

Like, you know, if they don't have— if they can't stay with us, sometimes dad stays home with the rest of the siblings. They're so far away, um, and not there even to just make that treatment easier for their own child. Um, even when they come here and we're able to wrap them around with all that support, um, we really become their family because their network, at a time when they need their network more than ever, is completely away. They're ripped away from them. Um, one really nice thing to see though is they actually start to create these beautiful connections in the house with other families who are going through the same thing. Um, and these friendships last for years. Like, we hear about them, you know, attending each other's 13th birthdays. And so they, you know, they do create these beautiful connections. But it is just logistically— I mean, like, you think about it, like, you and I, we're very lucky our children are okay. How many times are you just thinking, my God, what am I going to feed them for dinner? Like, where are we going with this? Um, you know, looking at their extracurricular activities, how expensive they are, trying to manage the logistics of who's going there, who's at school, what are we doing, homework, you know, all of those things. Um, when you're trying to manage a sick child, that noise doesn't stop. Like, you still need to feed your other children, you still need to eat, they still have to go to school, you still got to think about them having a social life, their mental health, their education.

Absolutely.

So I think what people— people often look at Ronald McDonald House and they have, they have two impressions that are incorrect. They have one impression that we're completely funded by McDonald's, which is not the case. So McDonald's was our founding partner, and that's— they've got the naming rights to that, and they continue to support us. But on average, about 90% of our operations remain unfunded, and we rely on the community for that.

Yeah.

The other misconception they have is that it's just this kind of fluffy, nice-to-have sort of charity. Like, you know, they don't really understand how essential it really is for families going through it. And unless you've been through it or you see a family going through it, um, it, it really is difficult to really bring home the gravity of the service that we give these families.

Absolutely. And, you know, I totally saw that firsthand, especially from this mum. She actually bought me up a meal from your house, um, as well, which was so lovely of her. And she was eating there every day, needed that, uh, support. She was taking her daughter there to get out of the hospital because she was sleeping in the chair next door in the hospital.

And, um, that service you're referring to is what we call our Day Pass program. So yeah, We're still turning away more than 400 families a year that need to stay with us. Um, and so a year ago we kind of came up with this idea on how we could support the ones who couldn't stay. And so we've created this ability for people to come across the road. It's breakfast, lunch, dinner. They can come and have— there's no limits on it. Um, in your case, for example, if you didn't want to leave your daughter and come in, you can grab a grab-and-go meal. It's in the freezer up front. You just take it across the road and have it. So, um, the demand is so big compared to the need. Like, the hospital keeps growing. Um, the services keep improving, which is amazing. But what that means is that there's more and more families traveling to this hospital. And yeah, you know, cost of living is a real challenge for everyone, let alone, as you say, someone in that position. So that day pass program for us has been, you know, just a real game changer in how many families we can support.

It was absolutely incredible, and it was so lovely to see that, and it meant so much to that mom. Um, and look, it meant so much to me that, you know, I, I live 2 and a half hours away, so, uh, you know what you're referring to, um, absolutely hits with me. I I was up there for a week with my daughter. My other two were at home. I was juggling that, you know, all of those things. And that lady— I couldn't leave my daughter, um, and she couldn't get out of the bed. So, uh, you know, I was relying on— you know, she brought me up a meal from that day pass. It was so lovely. So I think what you do is so, so special. I, you know, as I said, I've always, uh, loved supporting Dance for Sick Kids because I think it's so important as a dance teacher or as a dance studio owner that we, uh, you know, that we help teach our children and our students and our community that, you know, there's more to life than what's in our little bubble, that there are people doing it tough. You know, uh, for us, when I own my studio, we're in quite a wealthy area, um, and I think a lot of people don't— you know, a lot of our students didn't realize what else is going on for other families, you know. And I think it was so important to kind of, you know, instill that in them as well.

Yes, yes, absolutely. And I think, um, there's something really beautiful, uh, particularly where there's children dancing. I think I love the concept of children supporting children. I, I think, um, for the families that stay with us, sometimes when they jump on socials, they have a look. Um, there is just that real joy that comes to children when they're watching other kids that they kind of can, you know, relate to and can see, um, caring about them. Like this concept of like, you don't know me, but you're out there doing something for me. Um, it really resonates with children that stay with us. Um, yeah, we do. We have adults and children with people of all ages dancing, which is amazing. But you're right, there is a real, um, there's a real like need in our community at the moment for children to have that, you know, charitable lens. I think everything kind of comes so easy for kids these days, and where—

yeah, absolutely.

You know, I just sometimes I just, you know, you look at them and you just think you just, you, you want to shelter them, but at the same time they really need to know what is happening out in the world.

Um, absolutely.

So yeah, I think the, the beautiful thing about Dance for Sick Kids is they can do that in a really age-appropriate way, and they can use something that they feel they're really good at. It's kind of a tool in their own belt, you know. Um, so, you know, if you ask them, for example, you know, let's do a bake sale, yeah, they can kind of help you to bake something. Or if it's, you know, um, you know, whatever, there's something they might need. But the beauty of dance is that these dance schools and their students can just go, this is mine, and, you know, I'll take ownership of this and I'll, you know, I'll express myself and, you know, I'll have fun and I'll also learn that I can do this and feel good and then feel even better because I'm doing something with my passion, you know.

Absolutely. And look, I, you know, I know it shouldn't be about that, but for a lot of kids, you know, that reward system that you guys offer is really great for the kids because it really helps them see what's coming up, where they can go, like to hit their goals.

Yes.

You know, I feel like that's really powerful.

Yeah, I think like even outside of kind of the charity one, that incentive and working hard for something you want is a really good, uh, thing to instill in kids. I think for us as well, it's also just an appreciation because people don't have to fundraise. They are— everybody is busy. Like, let's be honest, if your child's fundraising, as a parent, you're also— that's—

you're also involved.

Yeah, involved in— yeah. For the dance teachers, you know, you have your own stuff you need to teach, your own things, you know, preparing for concerts or whatever you need to get going, competitions. So even that sacrifice of taking the time to do this, you know, beautiful engagement with the kids for a good cause. For us, it's, you know, yes, it's an incentive for the participants, but it's also about us saying thank you and kind of marking them as part of our team and our family. Like, the whole campaign feels like a big team. Um, so, you know, there's, there's a, um, a group that stands with us for a few years. They're called Girls United. Um, and so they were a group of girls. They joined in 2020, I think it was. By a girl called Tiana De Luca. So she had 8 siblings and she ended up getting a whole bunch of these students from like, I think they had 72 of them from all around Australia.

Oh wow.

I don't think they even knew each other. Like I think they all just jumped on. And that year they, you know, together from that year they've raised more than $100,000. Incredible. They don't even really know each other. So there's just this beautiful thing about kind of, this is something we all have in common and then we've got a common goal and we've got a common passion to get us there. I've like, it's, it's, it's brilliant. I had this one moment that was almost surreal, but I was out, I was on holidays and I was up in Noosa, so I was nowhere near where I live. Um, and there I was wearing a Dance for Sick Kids t-shirt and this little girl was in Coles and she was wearing a Dance for Sick Kids t-shirt. She was like, oh my God, I did that too! And I was like, me too! And I worked for the charity that like— and she was like, no way! She was telling her mom and it was just a moment of going, this is just a beautiful And it's a beautiful campaign that just brings so much joy on just so many different levels, which is just really—

absolutely. You must see, uh, dance studios, you know, that participate doing like really different things, really interesting ways of getting involved. Obviously they can just put it on their socials and say everyone join, but to me it's about the community and how they actually do it. What have you seen that works really well inside dance studios?

Yeah, um, it's funny because sometimes dance studios will say to us, oh, we're already dancing so much. Yeah, how are we going to convince people to fundraise for us? But people do get super creative. So we've had people who, like, they'll have every, um, day of the week you have to wear a particular color and it's got to be really big and bold.

Um, that's definitely Beck's studio. I'm pretty sure she was—

studio does do that. My daughter was actually dancing at Paws the year they did it, um, and she 'Oh my God, she was coming first the whole time, and then at the very last minute she got pipped at the post.' It was always— we're not competitive at all, but—

oh, Bec definitely is, don't you worry.

There was— there would be ones who would kind of do a funny TikTok challenge every single day. There were ones who would do, um, you know, virtual dance workshops, or they would have raffles, or they would— One Dance Studios are asked the mums to learn the dances that the little kids were doing. So they were like sponsoring the kid and the mum together. But the mums— it was really funny watching the mums try to do the different moves that their kids were doing. So people get really super creative, you know, crazy hair day, crazy sock day, dress up in a Disney character. Um, there's so many beautiful things. Um, one thing we find really, really works as well is people sharing their story and why they're passionate. Um, people are really inspired by watching a group of young people do something that is more meaningful. And so, you know, sometimes we get a dance studio where they'll just really simply get the participants to say, this is why I'm dancing and this is what I'm passionate about, and that will get them, you know, so far. Um, so sometimes it's really silly and sometimes it's really meaningful. Um, and, you know, in other cases it's just been a case of like, I'm gonna do 4 classes a day instead of my usual 1 class or 2 classes. There's such a wide range of ways.

Right.

That's so great. Yeah.

So, so good. We always did a, uh, and I think this worked really well if any of our listeners are after ideas, was we had like this big, like either a disco or like a party day or something like that. And if the kids had raised, you know, $100 or $50 or whatever it was, they got a free ticket.

Yes.

To the event. And if they hadn't raised it, that was fine. They could buy a ticket for $50, which we would then donate. Um, and I had, that's amazing.

Yeah.

And that worked really well because some kids were like, I want a free ticket, so I'll raise money, you know what I mean? And that worked really, really well. So there was like two ways. And some parents that didn't want to like set up the full profile and do the whole thing, they had a way just to, you know, just to contribute on that day, pay a smaller amount, just be part of that one part. And other kids that wanted to go full out had that opportunity as well.

And to your point, actually, it's The competitive angle really works.

Absolutely.

So, you know, I think sometimes you go, oh, I don't really want to do this, and then you watch all these kids raise money and your child puts a bit of peer pressure on you because they're just like, hey, like, everyone's raising money, and you go, okay, better do it. And then you just go, oh, you know, then all of a sudden Grandma's donating $300 to get them over the line. A bit of healthy competition doesn't go astray with this sort of thing. Absolutely.

Beck and I have always had a bit of a healthy competition. Uh, we're best in our studios, and we used to sit there and like try and like at the last minute at midnight I was like trying to put money in to beat Bec's studio.

Well, do you want to hear a little bit about how you compare to Bec's studio?

I would, I would, unless you're going to tell me she beats me because then I don't want to hear about it.

Well, look, the numbers are nuanced.

Okay, let's hear it, let's hear it.

So you've started from 2021, and from what I can see, you guys do every second year for your studio, is that right? So over those years. I mean, you— I think you haven't quite— you haven't registered yet this year, have you?

Oh, well, I'm no longer the owner of the studio, so that would be why. So I'll have to get her in. Yeah.

But over that time, you raised $82,527 in total, which is absolutely huge.

So good.

Yeah, huge. Only really beaten ever by that group, uh, Dance United, the girls I mentioned. So the second highest fundraiser across Australia forever in history.

Incredible. Snaps to Dance Sensations. I started that, but it was finished by Ali, who's now the owner, who does an amazing job.

Well, there you go. So Paws has only done the last couple of years, so yeah, you've got a bit of a head start on them, but they're at $50,152. Here's where it gets interesting. Are you ready?

Oh, okay.

Yeah, so if we go year-by-year comparisons, last year you, uh, you beat them by $4. So it was so close that—

I wonder how that happened. I'm sure it was an accident.

So in 2025, they did $22,915 and you did $22,919. So it is neck and neck. So if it changes anything for you, they have registered this year.

Um, and I know they've already started planning what they're doing as well, so might have a different number in 2026 if you don't get registered. But, um, absolutely.

But look, I think the overarching, you know, you guys have been, uh, year on year really similar fundraising, but you guys have been our supporters since pretty much, well, the second year we've, we've raised it. So that's a huge and just an enormous amount of support that we're so grateful for. Um, there's the number, but there's also the number of lives and people that you are talking to about what we do. And that's so, so, so important for us. Um, people can recognize the name. People don't always know exactly what we do. They don't understand the meals. They don't understand the education programs. They don't understand the counseling. They don't understand that wraparound community of support we're giving to people when they're going through this time. And when people like you are out there fundraising for The money is essential and the message is just as essential because the more people know what we do, the more people will at one point have the opportunity to support us. And it might not be through Dance for Sick Kids, but it still translates into something. So there's this echo ripple effect from what you do and from what dance studios do for us because you guys have got a reach we just can't quite get to. So it's hard to express just how grateful we are for that. It means so much for us and it's really been the foundation of the campaign and it's success for us.

That's been wonderful. So how can studios that haven't registered— it's coming up quickly, but you know what, these things, you can make it like it doesn't need to have a huge lead-up. What can they do to get involved?

So it's danceforsickkids.com.au. So we jump on, you register, it's a really— it's simple. You sort of register, you'll, you'll be prompted to, um, say if you're a dance studio or an individual, and you really just follow through. It's a really self-explanatory process. And then you will then get generated and you'll get a team page and you'll get an individual fundraising page. And then the sky's the limit. We've discussed lots of ways people can get involved, but you're right, it can be really simple. It doesn't take a lot of time to get it off the ground. It can really be as simple as asking people to do more classes than they normally do. You might offer, for example, that the second class they do, you know, that week will be at a discounted rate so they can, you know, get involved and fundraise but tell people that they've, you know, danced more minutes, or, you know, they can dress up, or they can make the dances funnier. All those things we've talked about, um, but you get all the resources to do it. So we'll share social tiles with you to put on all your Instagram, assuming you're over 16.

Yeah, all of that.

Yeah, otherwise your parents need to do that for you. Um, you know, we will share, you know, all the, all the messaging about the campaign. Um, and it is, um, when you get on there, you get badges. So if you update your profile picture, you get a badge. And once you've raised, you know, the first amount money, you get a badge, and you want to kind of finish all those badges. Um, when you raise $160, you get a free shirt. So every year there's a new one. Um, it's so lovely to see people who've collected all of those over the years.

Yeah.

Um, and then there's, yeah, more and more incentives as you go along to, to get involved. So, um, for dance studios, it's about an opportunity to be creative, create a deeper connection with your students and your students. Um, but then also just feel that real sense of pride at the end of it when you look at that money that you've Um, just so you know, that $22,000-odd that you guys would have raised last year, that supports a room for a family for an entire year.

So that's incredible.

Family in a 2-bedroom unit in our facility, fed, clothed, warm, counseled, supported. Their kids are in before and after-school care. There's preschool programs, there's after-school sport. And so that number is a studio. When you raise it, that is keeping a family together for a whole year.

That's incredible for someone that's going through a life-changing thing at the time.

It genuinely is their darkest time, and, you know, you being there for us and for the campaign means we can be there for them when they really need it. So the impact is enormous.

Amazing, amazing. So if you haven't registered, please make sure you jump on the website and register. Doesn't matter how big or how small you go with it, you know, I think every single bit helps. Thank you so much for sharing a little bit about Dance 6 Kids. I mean, it's been amazing to have you.

Thank you so much for the opportunity, and thanks for your support. Again, it's been incredible. We love working with you guys.

Amazing. Thanks, friends. We'll see you next week on the podcast.

We hope you enjoyed this episode of the Dance Principals United podcast. If you'd love to learn more from us, we have a special offer just for our podcast listeners. Go to the link in the show notes right now to get 2 weeks free in Dance Principles United Tribe. We would love to see you there.