Dance Studio Owner Confessions - Part One!

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.

Join us as we talk everything from marketing systems, studio culture, motherhood, life, and everything in between.

This is the Dance Principles United Podcast.

Well, hey, friends, and welcome to a very special episode of the Dance Principles United Podcast. I have three of my lovely friends that I am so honored to call clients, but people that have become lovely friends and a huge part of our life. With Nathan and I on the couch today. Hi, friends.

Welcome, welcome.

Nate's here. We're doing. If you're listening on a podcast, we are doing a very special episode today. Jump onto YouTube, because we're just talking about. We need more friends to see us on YouTube because we have a couch out. We've whipped the couch out.

Hit like and subscribe. Hit like and subscribe.

So we're here with Nikki and Chelsea and Marie today, and we're gonna kind of have a bit of a fun.

Chat and see what happens.

What do you think?

Yeah, sounds great.

Wonderful. So do you want to start by introducing yourself and telling us a little bit about yourself in your studio? Do you want to go first, Marie?

Yeah, sure. I'm Marie. I'm from Dancing With Marie. My studio's in West Bennett Hills in Sydney, and I've been operating for 23 years.

Holy shit.

And I've been part of Studio Growth Club and Dance Principles United for five years now.

Amazing. Ms. Chelsea.

Hi.

Tell me about your studio journey and introduce yourself for those people who may.

Have missed you ever the shrinking violet. I don't know how shrinking violet. Hi, I'm Chelsea. I own Extreme Talent Company. I have hot pink hair. I haven't done 23 years. That's amazing.

You're not far behind, though, right?

No, I've only. Well, I mean, Mum owned the studio for a million years because she's a dinosaur, but I. This is.

We'll be stoked.

Hopefully, we'll be stoked. But I. Yeah, this is my fifth year because I technically, like, took over in 2020, so we're celebrating five years of extreme Amazing.

Before that, it was Lee Winden dances.

Lee Windon dances, which I grew up. You know, my entire life, I competed against them.

Me, too.

I'm sure.

Yes.

My mum adjudicated Ms. Amanda.

She remembers my slow tap routine.

Slow tap. She always talks about it.

So beautiful. We're so excited. Ms. Nikki.

Hi, I'm Nikki diamond and I'm from the Edge Dance Centre Ring Ride. I've now owned my studio for 15 years. So a bit of a milestone for me.

Amazing.

And we had our concert on Monday in my. My children graduated as well. So my twinnies graduated, which was really, really nice. Yes.

What a moment.

Yeah, it was a beautiful moment. Cause they were my first cohort, so they're the first kids, seven graduates that I've started from scratch with me and gone all the way through. So it was a beautiful moment. Anyway. Awesome. Yeah.

Tell me. We heard a bit about how Chell started her studio. How did you start your studio, Nikki?

I purchased it from somebody.

Yes. Had you been teaching there or you've got a flyer.

I was gonna say, if you are watching YouTube, we've got a sixth guest and it is. Yes. And it's a big one too.

Turn it on.

Your phone. Where's my fan?

Oh my God. So you purchased it? Were you working there? Sorry, I missed that part of stuff.

No, no. I was working at different studios throughout Sydney and I'd done a lot of teaching interstate and overseas as well before I came back. And it was. My part of my values is that I wanted to purchase a studio. Not near any other studio that I'd worked at.

Because you felt it was the right thing to do?

Yeah, I didn't want to be seen as poaching somebody because I think I'm a. I know I'm a great teacher, you actually. So I didn't want to be seen as that. So that's why I purchased it where it was.

I love that. So you'd been teaching overseas. Had you been performing overseas as well or. A little bit.

Prior to. Yes. Prior to having children? Yes. When I hung under my shoes, my dancing shoes, that is. Yeah. I was working overseas. I was teaching at Atlanta Ballet, but I was also a girl and I was. I was in a contemporary dance company and I did a whole bunch of things and then I switched over to musicals and.

And.

And bands stuff and started singing.

Mainly in the States or here.

No, that was mainly. Well, I did overseas contractual work as a showgirl in Thailand and also in Japan with a beautiful company who are also my friend. Starts on call productions. Shout out to them. Yeah. And then I wasn't really singing over there so much. I was singing in the show, but not yet. Then I came back and started singing here in a duo. Yeah, sounds good.

And is that where you met your husband overseas?

No, he is from Australia. So I met him here and then we partway. He left and I followed him.

Ah, as you do.

And, yeah, we ended up getting engaged in America, in Atlanta. And then we got married. And I was only talking to somebody about this the other day. Like, you know how people plan their weddings.

Yeah.

And they take years and years, apparently. I planned mine in three months.

Just said, let's do this quick.

I was like, what the. How did I do that? But I guess that's part and parcel of being a dance studio owner. We're really good at event management, aren't we?

Absolutely. That's what I always was like, because we got married maybe 10 years into our studio ownership, and I was like, this is easy.

Like a concert.

There's no control, guys.

It's so, so easy. I love that. Marie, how did you start your studio? We didn't hear your story.

So I was teaching at the studio that I grew up at in Cherrybrook. Well, at the age of 14, my dance teacher asked me if I wanted to assistant teach.

Yes.

It's like a rite of passage.

Right.

Said yes to that and was doing that for quite a while. At 15, she basically said to me, these are your kids. Off you go. They're your class. And I just found my love for teaching then. And then I decided to open my own studio. Went to uni, did a teaching degree, and then.

So you opened your studio at what age?

I was 19.

Oh, yeah. Nice.

And young.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Finish year 12 and then did a psychology degree for six months. Spent more time at the shop.

It sounds very much like Amanda's university experience.

I ended up with a really big hex.

Yeah.

No degree.

It's exactly. Me, too. How long was I at uni for, like.

Well, do you talk in class or, like, in law? Because I think they're two very. Two very separate.

For a good, like, three or four years, I was at uni, but, like, I don't think I actually finished a whole year's worth of, like, work because I would just, like, forget to pull out of the course by the due dates and, like, just not show up and go, oh, I'm not doing that. Yeah, love that for me. So, yeah, I have a nice big hex set, too. All right, well, I don't anymore. I've paid it off since. Just to be super clear. All right, let's talk funny stories. I think as studio owners, we always have these stories. Like, you know, we go into owning.

A business because of our love of dance teaching.

Absolutely.

Because we think that's what it's going to be all about.

Absolutely.

I'm going to teach these Amazing classes. Everyone's going to enroll. And here we go.

Absolutely.

And that's what we do. And we're just going to teach these kids who are going to grow up to be these beautiful, amazing dancers, and that's all we're going to be. But I think along the way, especially when we've all had our studios for different, like, lengths of time, there's crazy stories, whether it's parents, whether it's, you know, all the things. Have you got a crazy story? Do you want to go first, Nikki?

Sure, I can go first. Mine's really fresh.

Okay.

Fresh story.

It's a fresh story.

It's from my concert on Monday evening.

I haven't heard this story yet. So we're recording this on Wednesday. This is two days ago.

Super, super fresh. So basically, concert was. Look, I'm gonna swear it was a bit of a shit show. Not out front, though.

Yeah, I'm sure it was amazing out front.

Everybody raved about it.

Blah.

Backstage was hectic. It was probably one of the worst experiences I've ever had in all of my teaching years at concerts, which is a complete turnaround. But that's not the story. The story is that.

We heard this on the way from the comp park.

We've been told.

At the end of the show, my videographer came up to me and he said, we've lost a minute footage. And I went, wtf?

Under the couch. Where do we.

Apparently one of the patrons in the audience who was sitting up near the camera decided to unplug. Unplug the cameras from the PowerPoint, even though it had gaffer tape all over it and was what wanted to charge.

Their phone or correct.

To charge their phones.

Literally to charge their phones.

So now I have to go back to my parents and explain this loss of footage. And I couldn't do anything about it at the time. It was like the ushers brought it to the attention. Who does that? Who unplug something which is quite clearly operating a video camera from the wall just to freaking charge their phone? Yeah.

You think it's like a free PowerPoint?

Just wait till it finishes. Like, say, hey.

But the thing was, they actually had.

A phone in a concert anyway. Like, aren't you watching the show?

So many questions. So many questions.

What goes through people. People's head. They could have just piggybacked on top of it. There was a plug to piggyback on top of it. Like, they called the whole thing out of the wall. So that's my story. It's nice and fresh. You know, I have to deal with the aftermath with the parents with that. So that's gonna be.

And it's so up.

She's GPT. Thank you so much.

Because that's not your. Like, it's not. It's nothing under your control. Like, it's just shit that happens right about it.

I reckon I will be.

I just feel like someone really needed to charge their phone. They really need to make a phone call.

Maybe they'll try and watch the footage. I don't know.

I don't know.

Anyway.

What the.

That's crazy. It's just nuts.

It's laughable, but it's not funny.

No.

I feel sorry for the kids.

The routine. Yeah, those kids.

That.

Correct. Because a lot of those kids only come to those classes.

Yeah.

So now it's like one of my staff members says, well, why can't we just put the costume on in the class in classroom?

Better than nothing.

Unfortunately, we've got open week for the next three weeks, so it's not going to kind of work. But I'm thinking maybe next year I can ask somebody to come out and we can film it. Or we could probably do it at the end. I need to try and work it out, think about how to troubleshoot.

And that's the point. How hard you're going to try now to fix that.

I know.

To make it a huge amount of.

Work to make it over and above.

What I need to do now. I have to do that so that I have happy parents. Otherwise I will lose them. And that's.

Yes, that's just us. We want to try and make everybody absolutely crazy.

Shit that happens. Just nuts. Chelsea, have you got a crazy story?

To do a dance? To do a dance.

To do a dance. Not to do with a dance.

I know. I'm feeling.

Which one? Look, I've got lots. I've felt very stressed since you've asked this question, like, what am I going to do?

I shouldn't have prepped you.

No, it's okay. I'm just like. I feel like I have two.

Okay, go.

I want to hear two. We've got time.

Just because, like, just like what you're saying.

Like.

Okay, just recently, a couple weeks ago, we went to a school. It's just one of those, like, you could. You said it walking in. You could write a book, right? Like, anyway, so I go to this school, Fate, you know, and it's like it's sweltering hot. And you're just like, oh, here we go. You know, But I'm like, why am I doing this? But I'm, like, supporting the community, and I'm, like, trying really hard. And the kids are there and they scream, you know what?

I don't know.

That thing, like, just where I want.

To be honest, where I want to be anyway. But we're doing it. It's fine. And I'm winging it. And then you get there, there's no sound. I'm told there's a sound system.

No sound system. Yeah.

Right.

Okay.

How can I pivot? How can we do this? Poor lady had to sit with a microphone, like, at this speaker.

Oh, yeah.

Next.

Next door, we could hear the music. And it was still like.

We'Ll start.

Singing at the same time. We'll tune in.

So we go through and we do the show. And then we're literally like, we're at the finale. Somehow we've made it through. Speaker cuts out, there's no sound. So I just start singing karaoke. And the whole audience just starts singing karaoke. Here I am on the grass in the middle of nowhere, 35 degrees, and the school fade. Like, what is life?

Right? I want.

No one's gonna forget who you are.

I know.

I just saw.

What are you doing?

It was like.

My immediate response was just like, sing.

I wanna know. Can you sing like Nikki or.

No?

Hell, no.

I've got a business singing.

No, look, it was like, you know, I wanna dance with somebody. So I honestly was relieved of, like, at least it's a song everybody knows. So everyone got, like, really into it. A few people joined in. Everyone joined in. It was like, a shitty moment that we quickly turned around.

I love that.

So that's, like, a sensible story.

Okay, tell us the other crazy story.

Deep breath.

No.

Oh, no.

I'm just like, oh, people listening. But anyway, last year at my concert, because I feel like things happen. Yeah. At concert and whatever. There's a million stories that go with it, but it was one that I was like, I'm not sure if I'll ever forget that. But I'm on stage, I'm doing my speech, and I could just hear this ruckus, particularly my mum. And I'm like, you know, on stage raging. Like, I'm talking, like. And then everyone's, like, carrying on, like.

What is going on?

I had this poor little kid just throw her guts up in the wings. Or, like, wings, but, like, not even the wings, like the entrance, like, right there. So I had to, like, stop the show. I'm on stage and I'm, like, trying to, like, remain Calm. I'm like, I just gotta go, like, deal with something now. Like, and then, you know, the techies are, like, working like mad. They play the wrong slideshow. Like, just everything goes wrong. Everyone's running around trying to find a mop.

Scooping vomit. Yeah.

Oh, my God. Like, it was.

You didn't go out in sympathy, did you?

Me? No, absolutely not. It was just like, I'm then on my hands and knees trying to clean up.

Wait, are you like. I know sometimes, like, do you get, like, dressed up for that speech?

I actually don't know. I'm a hardcore uniform girl.

Yeah.

So just don't have. No one's got time.

No, I'm just saying. Yeah. Joggers.

Joggers.

T shirts.

Thank God for that. It was easy to get down and scrub.

So, yeah, that's.

I think that goes back to that point right, where that vision of, like, I'm going to teach and my concerts are going to be amazing and all the kids are going to be out there, I'm going to be on stage looking. And then you're like, next minute you're like, just.

Oh, my hand.

Scooping from it. Amazing.

So did the audience know what happened?

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. It was pretty hard, too.

It was like, we got a bomber.

Clean up in aisle six.

It was pretty hard to, like, get away from it. We tried to be discreet with it.

But everyone's like, this bum has got a bus.

Like.

I think they picked up on it. But anyway, I love that my video people were amazing because they just like.

Cut it out of it.

Cut it out. So it was very. But it's definitely a memory.

I love that. What about you, Marie? Have you got a crazy story?

I do have a crazy story. The one I was telling you about before. I'm actually. That's a different one. So you've just reminded me of that we had in 2014 at our.

I love that you remember the year.

Oh.

Because you know, what year we went dated.

I don't remember a lot, but it was the year we did our Disneyland tour. And everyone was so excited. And we did a Disney concert that year. And bright idea over here. I always have these amazing ideas. I decided I wanted fireworks at my concert.

Oh, God.

Inside, inside, inside.

On the stage. Because I was like, this is a celebration.

Disney Year.

This is very exciting.

So I hired a pyrotechnic company, spoke to the venue, they turned off the smoke alarm.

Next level.

It was next level. And I was like, nah, I'm going to have this awesome experience. For the kids and the audience, because no one knows what's happening except for me. So they set up, you know, the flying. What are they called?

The sparky ones.

Sparky ones fly from the ground.

That's a technical term, I guess.

Yeah, Yeah.

I don't know what they're called. So they set them up just before finale. All the kids came on. They were so excited. And then I said to everybody, okay, step forward. They stepped forward.

Shouldn't we step back?

What you're gonna say. Okay, okay, Absolutely terrify what you're gonna say. No one got burned.

The fireworks went off and everyone's like.

Oh, my God, this is amazing.

And then the fire alarms went off in the middle. The water sprinkler. Oh, shit. So all the kids are on stage with the water sprinklers. Oh, the fire alarms.

And I.

In an auditorium.

There was about 800 people in the auditorium safely evacuated. I was like, okay, well, this has.

Never happened before, Everybody.

No one came in to check on us. So we just. The water sprinklers turned off and we just kept going.

Oh, really? They didn't make you evacuate or anything?

That's grossing. So at the end of it, I was like, whoa. That was.

I felt really safe.

I should have broken out into.

It was.

Yeah, that's crazy.

You didn't get evacuated?

Nothing?

No.

No one even came in to see if we were all.

Oh, my gosh.

Cause we had. We had this crazy year and I.

Don'T know, the great fire alarm year of 2017.

I don't know what year it was.

We were at get the Beat Nationals and they were having a problem in their theatre. We were getting evacuated like, four times a day.

We had a. Like, the big. The big production number with like 130, 140 of the kids. We just sent them all backstage, including, like, the four and five year olds with the senior kids. Like, it'll be okay. One of them was our daughter. She was four. Like, every. It's almost like as soon as the door shuts and all the.

And we left them all. And that was the first one. But then it just kept happening. And there was obviously a problem with it, but we just kept having to evacuate. We had to keep evacuating. And then they'd push us all out because if the kids were backstage, they got sent the other way. And so we'd have to go and try and find them. It was like this big ongoing thing anyway. So we had that happen, like, so many times that week. Like, couldn't even tell You. We got back and did our solo concert at like a community hall and the same thing bloody happened and we got evacuated and the fire trucks came. We didn't have bloody fireworks on the stage. So I'll tell you what, I'm still.

I'm proud of those fireworks.

I will always be proud of those.

I feel like there's really a big. It's like fire and then the rain. It was all a part of the production.

Yeah. You need to like pop up. Yeah, I love it. All right, so craziest stories we've talked about. What about like a biggest fail? Like whether it's a business, a teaching we something you've just looked back on and gone, why the fuck did I ever do that? How did I think that was a good idea? Marie, are you going? Yeah. What are you thinking? That's right. I'm like. And that's the thing. I think we've all made fuck ups. Like, I've made so many fuck ups in my business and things that you look back on and I think sometimes it's nice, like for other people to go, hey, we all fuck up. And it's actually about how you recover from it and stuff like that sometimes. Have you had like monumental fuck ups?

I have. I was.

Like, monumental or little ones?

This was a pretty big one. Yeah. No, like, I've never kind of lived down. I was on stage again. It was in our school hall day. So before we actually hired a proper venue, I was doing everything myself, admin, concert prep, costumes, the whole lot. I was just so burnt out. Like, yes, everybody knows what that feels like. I got on stage, it was a sweltering hot day, no air conditioning in the hall, probably about 300 people watching. I had no clue what I was doing as the beginning of my studio owner career. And I stood up on stage and I said to everybody, okay, this is great, now everybody can go home and so can I. And I'm. And I literally said it on the microphone in front of everybody. And it looked like I just did not want to be there.

Yeah.

And then I got home and my mum was like, how did you say that in front of everybody? And I was like, because that's how I felt at the time. I just was so over it. I wanted to go home. And still to this day, I remember that moment and think I just completely let everybody down on their biggest day of which is concert date.

Right?

Yeah. So that's something that I've. I need to let go of.

But yeah, yeah, I think we've all made mistakes like that. You know, I remember yelling at a little girl for forgetting a costume. You know what I mean? Early on, you know, having that moment where. And I don't know if it was yelling or me just being, like, so frustrated with her. Like, what do you mean? You came without your.

Like, I've done all these things and you can't remember a constraint.

Yeah, all of that kind of stuff. And, like, we've all done those things that you're like, I can't believe I did that. Like, that's not fair on that child. That's not fair.

Yeah.

It's just. I think sometimes our emotions take over. Right?

Oh, 100%.

Yeah. Have you got something? Chelsea comes to mind. Yeah, maybe. So you want to share on the couch? We're on a couch. I might need to lay down.

No, I really feel for yours. Like, I know that feeling.

Yeah.

I'm like, what you just said is me right now.

Yeah.

That's me alone doing it all. The burnout is real. Yeah, the burnout is real. And it is. It's like your emotions take over and.

Sometimes you got to not forget your mask. And not forget what?

And I also think we want everything to be perfect. Yes. We try and make everything perfect. And when pressure I put on myself going like that. Yeah. Next to none. Yeah. Pretty. Yeah.

I think it's just like, me. I do feel like I'm early in the journey and I do really look back on things like that. My mum did. Yes. And when you were there with her, maybe, like. And, like, times are different too. And, like, so how I want to take the studio in a different direction. But then there's things as well that I've tried to do that haven't worked. You know what I mean? That I'm really trying to, like, break that now. So, I mean, one big one. Like, of course, you know, like, I introduced a performer fee last year. I feel like I'm still trying to let that one go. And, like, this year it was like ptsd. I was so nervous about it.

And it wasn't so much the performer fee, it was just the way it was the way I did it.

I sprung it on people and I just. I didn't say it in the right way. I still achieved the thing that I wanted to do, but I just bombarded people with it and then was, like, angry that people didn't understand and didn't, like, just jump on board and get on their knees and go, yes, of course we'll do what you want us to do, like.

Do you know what I mean when you say bombarded? What do you mean, like, heaps of different information at them or I just.

Like, sprung a cost on them that, like, I didn't really think through, and I was just like, yeah, great idea.

Bam. Do it.

And was that late in the year?

Yes.

Yes. Yeah, it wasn't.

And it's like, I wasn't really, like, appreciating Christmas craziness and that people's life gets hectic and, you know, and that it's just dancing. It's not brain surgery. Do you know what I mean? And I do feel lucky that I'm in this group that I can now learn those things and see what other people have done to try and rectify that and make sure.

And that's.

I think that's something that I've really tried to take on this year as well. Like, how can I really make it a great experience? I know I do it for the kids, but how can I make it better for the parents? I've really tried to focus on that this year and just go. They don't want to come to a million rehearsals, and they don't care about how perfect my. My arms are. Do you know what I mean? Like, so I've really tried to fix that this year, but it is like, you do. You just. Yeah, you do things and you say things and. Yeah, we've all yelled at the kid and.

Yeah, and you did have been it.

You didn't mean it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely.

But we're all human, and I think you have to let go of those mistakes.

I think that's the thing, too, like, that other people maybe don't realize. Like, I think you do come across, like, this superhuman person that can do all these things, and then people do. They come at you and they say things to you, and they probably don't mean it that way. And I've had to really, like, I'm a very, like, highly emotional, like.

Yeah. And you take it to heart because.

You take it to heart, you know, like, you feel like you're, like, doing everything and. Yeah, yeah.

It's a tricky thing.

All right, we are just going to hit pause there on the podcast. This one, as we thought it would, will go on for a little bit longer than usual. So we are going to do part two next week, so make sure you listen in for part two of this episode.

We hope you enjoyed this episode of.

The Dance Principles 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 two weeks free in Dance Principles United Tribe. We would love to see you there.