Inside Dance Teacher Expo - The Weekend For Dance Studio Owners & Educators

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. Hey, friends, and welcome to another very episode of the Dance Principals United Podcast.

It's always special.

I agree. I think it is always special. It's always special with you.

Oh, Amanda, I don't know if I've said this before, but it always makes me laugh when I'm at a cop or something and someone comes up to me and they're like, I know your voice. I listen to you all the time in the car. It's so funny.

Do you know what? I love when it happens to me at comps. Oh, Bec.

Hey, how are you? Everyone always thinks that you are me, don't they?

They're like, hey, Bec. I'm like, my name's Amanda.

I am also a person. No, we do get.

I live in the shadows. I also get called my mums. I get called Michelle or Beck. Apparently no one calls me Amanda. I think now you're just saying that to make me feel good, maybe. So funny. Hi, welcome to the podcast. We're podcasting today and today we're talking about Expo. Expo. Dance Teacher Expo.

Yes.

Our favorite event of the year. It's coming up.

We were talking about why we thought

you were going to say it. Oh, I was waiting for you to, like, come in with the, like, you know, say it from the other side,

but I really missed that.

Sorry. It was like your cue.

Let's try it again.

Okay. Today we're talking about our favorite event of the year.

Expo. Okay, that was really good.

Yeah, I like it. So Dan Stitch Expo coming up soon. So soon. April 11th and 12th at ICC Darling Harbor.

We're back in Sydney. Woohoo.

Hopefully you've already got your tickets. If you haven't, please hurry up, buy tickets.

Let's go.

We want to see you there.

There's so many people coming though. It's. The ticket sales are out of control.

Yeah. It's actually going to probably be one of our biggest year. I think it'll be our biggest year. It's hard to know this far out, but. Yeah, I think so. But it's so exciting. I love Expo. The energy it brings.

Yes.

The people it brings together. It is such an incredible event and we so, so pumped for it. A little bit stressed, but, you know, that's okay.

Usual. The usual. Do you want to tell them what we're doing for our stall? We don't know yet.

We don't know yet.

But we did have a fun conversation about it yesterday. So we thought we'd tell you some of the ideas.

So if you've been to Expo before, we have always gone, you know, obviously we own Dance Teacher Expo, but we also have a stall, you know, as dance principals united y there. And we've always gone, like, quite out. Like, we've done a ball pit with a slide into it. One year.

Yes. A swing.

We've done a swing box. We did something else. We had a balloon dome.

A balloon dome. Anyway, we've always gone.

What was the other something else? I can't remember now. But yeah, we've gone like, pretty, like out there for it every time. And we're like, how are we gonna make it bigger and better this year? I'm like a human claw machine is what we need that. I just imagine like this big pink, like a Barbie. Like, you know, like the. Yeah, like a claw machine where you pick out prizes or toy or people. I googled it. Apparently there is a human claw machine in Gold coast or somewhere around Queensland area where you can pay for the experience and get candy. It's inside a lolly shop.

No, I've seen this. Oh, that's in America.

No, there's one in Queensland.

There is not.

I googled it. There is one in Queensland still. Has anyone been there if you've been to this? I like, no. And it's like, you know, it's $35 for the ride, but they guarantee you $55 worth of lollies, like, or I don't know, I don't know what $55 worth of lollies. Look. Oh, that's probably not a lot, really, is it?

Like a lot of cavities is what it looks like.

But I was like, how fun would that be? Maybe out of our price range.

No. Really, you think? Oh, we go. We do go pretty crazy. Can I tell them my idea?

Go.

So I just think studio owners get very stressed. And so I was like, we could have like these two gorgeous looking men who are also masseuses. Is that even what it is?

Yeah.

Masseuse. Yeah. Is that the word? And they come around and give little massages. That is a good idea. Amanda. She didn't like it.

Yep. Great idea. I love it. No, look, I'm into it. I'm a little bit worried about sexual harassment in the workplace.

If you like my idea. Just like, let us know because I think that is a good idea.

Think it's a good idea. All right.

In other words, we don't really have any ideas, so if you have some,

please, please let us know. So good. So tell me, what are you excited about most at Expo Beck?

I think I am most excited about getting up on stage and talking. I say it every year. It is my favorite thing to do. I truly, truly, truly love getting up on stage and talking.

Absolutely, absolutely. It is incredible to see, see so many people. I always love the energy of the event. Yes.

So good.

The energy.

So good.

I feel like it's, it's vibey, it's fun. You know, there's a lot of pink. What's not to love?

There is a lot of pink. There is a lot of pink and sparkly suits.

Absolutely. But I am so pumped because we have so many incredible vendors coming as well as incredible presenters, both in the movement room and the business room. What are you excited for?

I want to start with Relative Motion. Cara comes.

She came on our podcast the other day.

She did, she was on our podcast. She did a tutorial for our studio Growth club members. She is just so amazing.

She's so knowledgeable.

So she has these cool tights that she uses for students to understand their muscle groups. And her training is all like, very safe based, but she gets incredible results. I just, I'm all about her. She's very cool, human.

Yes. That sounds amazing. So she's teaching a couple of classes, I believe.

Yes.

Which will be fantastic all around. You know, technique training, strength training, flexibility training, all of those things, as well as, you know, doing this in a safe way. Yeah. Which is so, so important. I, I love that. I'm really excited. Stephen Tenos is teaching.

I know, I know. Finally.

I know. We've never have.

We had him. Maybe first year, never had him.

Oh, well, I'm so excited. Even more so. And he's teaching a class, which of course will be incredible that he's teaching this a class. But he's also going to speak and he's going to speak about, you know, what would you create? I think his title was what would you create if fear wasn't in the way? And about getting over those hurdles as, you know, choreographers where that we are like, oh, but what will people think of this? What will people, you know, how will they receive it? All of those things and that fear. Fear that drives so many of us.

I have to say, you know, I've been friends with Stephen for A very long time, as you know. And you would be surprised at how much he can fear things like that, as we all do.

All right. You know, like, just because he's incredible. We're all humans, of course, and I

am the exact same. And he will tell some very powerful stories and he's such a good storyteller and.

And that comes out in his choreography

talk is going to be unbelievable. Like, that is something to not miss. I'm telling you. It will. Yeah, it will be incredible. Very excited about it.

Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. We've got the whole cast of Dance Life, the new movie that's coming out, which we're super excited about. So they're going to be there, as well as the producer, Jade Barnes, who's going to talk about the experience, you know, if you've seen a little bit about it, it's, you know, filmed in Lond, you know, and getting ready for, like, a really big opportunity. So it'll be really interesting to hear the behind the scenes of that.

Right. Well, I know that there's going to be a bit of a podcast with them as well. And yeah, you guys, it's so cool. The stories, like, Jade was telling us some of the stories and it's like that whole movie is going to be incredible.

It's been so exciting to see the journey of that as well. We've been really privileged to be able to hear a little bit behind the scenes. Jade sort of started telling us about it at Expo, you know, last year, and it's been so exciting to sort of see it take off. And by Expo, it'll be in cinemas, so it'll be great to be able to have seen it the week before y and then be able to chat about it, which will be so incredible.

Absolutely. We have the incredible Shannon Atkins coming out.

I love Shannon.

I love her too. She's so inspirational. Obviously, she's going to teach a lyrical class, which will be incredible. Look, I think the cool part about the classes is, and I've said this before, but just in case you're listening, new, there's no judgment in there. Like, I would never, ever, ever go to an open class now. There's not in a million years like I would feel so judged. And, you know, the kids are so insane, it's ridiculous. But in this room, it's all people of all different ages. Everyone just wants to have a go, you know, it's. It's aimed at teachers and studio owners, so you still get some beautiful choreography out, but you're not going to be expected to be at that elite level

and, and have some skill. Some of the classes are about having fun and like, you know, enjoying yourself as a dancer again as well. But some are designed, you know, for you to have skills to take back to your students as well, to upskill you. You know, I had the most incredible conversation with. Look, I actually don't know if it was a teacher or a studio owner. I can see her face very clearly in my mind. But last year at Gold coast and, you know, I didn't ask her age, but I would guess she was, you know, maybe late 50s, early 60s.

Yep.

And she said that, you know, she wasn't planning on taking a class. She was just planning on sitting at the back and watching and, like, taking notes and getting ideas and inspo. But she's like, I was so inspired. I got up and did one of the classes. And she's like, it felt so brought me so much joy to be up there. She's like, I obviously didn't do the floor work that some of the people were doing. She's like, you know, and she's like, it was so great. It wasn't just me. There were so many people. Like, some people did a version of it. Some people were, you know, there were people that were, you know, able to do all of it incredible, like, you know, young teachers, et cetera. But she's like, there were plenty of other people that were just enjoying it for what it was as well. And how magical is that?

So magic. So magical. I think that's something very, very special about Expo. And Shannon's doing a talk as well.

Yeah, amazing.

And I, I think it's a really important talk because she has been all over the world. She goes to lives in America for six months and lives in Australia for six months. She teaches all over America. She knows what's employable and what's not. You know, she's on the panel of the cruise ship auditions and she knows every company, what they do, and she's doing a talk on creating a dancer that's employable. Like, you know, like a triple threat kind of dancer that's actually employable in today's world. Because it's very interesting to look at the trends that are coming through Australia and whether they're actually employable or whether it's just a trend.

Yeah, super interesting.

So that's going to be a really cool talk.

And I think, you know, being able to show your students and your families, your clients that you are consistently staying at the forefront of this is so, so Important, you know, if you can, the power that that gives you to go back to your, you know, to talk to that client of that really incredible, talented 15 year old and say, hey, I went to a talk with Shannon Atkins and she was explaining that because, you know, it's been a long time since a lot of teachers or studio owners worked in the industry, if they did at all. Right. But to be able to say, hey, I had this connection, I was told this, this is what we should work towards. This is where we should be going. That gives you, you know, a lot of credibility in your studio. And it's great to show the parents that you're constantly upskilling as well.

Yep, absolutely. So that's going to be really cool. I wanted to bring up a new company that's coming.

Yeah.

So I find this really interesting. They're called Fittesque and it's burlesque dancing, but not like the full on burlesque, like just a version of it, A version of it for adults. And I think this is a very untapped market now. Yes. I'm gonna say, Amanda, you do not like exercise classes at all.

I do not.

But you do like a bit of a dancey dance. And if it was a bit of a, you know, cheeky, fun with a bit of a workout that went with it, bit of a cardio workout, bit of a cute, you know, moment in there. It's not like the full on burlesque stuff. No, no. But I love the I like fun

heels class when I don't know if they do it heels or not. Yeah, but that version.

Yeah. And so I think for someone like you or a lot of the mums at my studio, I know are extances. A lot of them.

Yeah.

And maybe didn't, obviously didn't do anything with it, but, you know, danced when they grew up and now they want their child to grow to dance. But I know they would love something like that where they can come out. I just think it's a bit of an untapped market.

Yeah, absolutely. And they're running a class, so it'll be a chance to like, see what it's like.

That would be such a fun class.

Are you going to get off and do the class?

Do you know what? Out of all the classes, that is probably one that I would actually do. I'm not even kidding.

No.

Because I think like, it's pro. It's. It's made for adults that don't necessarily dance. So I know I'm going to be fine in There. And yeah, I actually do think that could be a super fun class. Are you going to do it?

Look, I might be a little bit

busy, but would you do it?

Oh, absolutely.

I would feel like that is something that you would actually do and opt into.

I would opt into that, yeah, absolutely. And I think that's great if it was a weekly class on a Wednesday night, maybe not on the biggest weekend of the year for us, but I think there's so much to that. It's so exciting.

Yeah.

So many incredible brands coming as well.

Yes, we do have some incredible brands. We've got lots of fashion brands coming

and lots of new brands too, which is super exciting to sort of see some new services and some that don't just work inside the dance industry. Like I love that, like, you know, things that we need, you know, we've got an incredible T shirt, you know, printing company coming. We've got, you know, accountants that, you know. Yeah, I love, like different things like that. That is great to have a chance to talk to. And they do do work inside our industry and know they're also, you know, a little bit more like removed from it as well. Which I think is really great to have an outsider perspective sometimes.

Yes. And I think that we in our industry get so confused by what is right, what is wrong, what we are allowed to do, what we should be doing with super with Tax. We talked about this in another podcast, but it is very overwhelming when you didn't get into this really to know any of that stuff. You got into it because you love teaching dance and you're passionate about the industry. But you know that. I think that would be a cool session to go to.

Yeah. So, so good. So many incredible things. The fashion show is always one of the highlights. The twins from Future Stars put that together with so many incredible brands that I'm super excited to sort of see. That's always great. That goes into a bit of a cocktail party. Such a vibe.

I think the cocktail party's a vibe as well. I mean, obviously it's a great time to visit all of the different brands and things that we have in there. But everyone really connects with each other too. Yeah. Making and chatting to other like minded people. I think it's, it's like a big party room actually.

I think it's really good. I had someone tell me that, you know, there was a teacher, you know, they were both teachers at studios and they always ran into each other at comps. They'd never really spoken though, you know, there was a smile Here and there.

Yep.

But they took the time at Expo to go, oh, hey, look, I know we always see each other at comps, but I wanted to introduce myself, like, and then be able to build on those friendships at every comp of the year. Like, how nice is that?

Well, it's, it's how the industry should be. And I do feel like, you know, not to toot our own horn, but I do feel like creating things like Expo and Dance Principles United has really changed our industry a lot. Because I know 15, 20 years ago, there's no way I would have gone and spoken to any dance studio owner ever. Like, it just wasn't done. Whereas now I feel like we do actually go to comp, Talk to each other, hang with each other a little

bit, because no one gets it. Like another studio in it, like another teacher. Like, they're going to be your best friends, like, once we can kind of put that competition to the side. Yeah, they're always going to be. And they're going to be your biggest advocates and the people that can also, I don't know, dry your tears.

Right.

Like, if that sounds a bit dramatic, but, you know, no one else gets it, Gets the heartache that we go through sometimes, the, you know, the hard work, what we put into it, the passion that we do of our businesses.

Yep. We have some incredible choreographers coming out. So Sarah Bolter, exciting. I know. I've always wanted Sarah to come.

Yes.

And she's such an inspiration. I know she's doing the VIP session, which is amazing. So she's just such a rock star. We've got like, Devonte coming out, Locky Thomas, Winston, Sky. So some really cutting edge choreographers cannot wait.

And really good. Different. I like that. It's, you know, different people from different genre. Genres.

Genres, yeah.

But also from different stages of life because I think that's really important. Like, sometimes it's cool to learn from the cool new people like Locky. Like, you know, they're hot, young, like, people as well. But it's also great to have the experience, you know, of someone like Sarah Bolter that has, like a wealth of knowledge and a lifetime of experience. Experience. Like, I think that's so exciting. Right.

And I know what a lot of studios do when they bring their team is they look at our timetable and then they go, okay, I'm gonna go to this session because I'm a studio owner. I'm gonna go to this business session of Amanda doing AI, because I reckon that session is going to be gone. Amanda, thank you and then I better

get working on it and make it incredible. But it will be.

And then this person you guys go to, I'm actually doing a session on behavior management, which has been asked for every single year people have asked for behavior management. So I'm doing a session on that. Then you guys go to Locky's class and then you guys go to a tech class. Like it just. And then they all meet for dinner and talk about it all so powerful. So I just think you don't like. I know it's hard because you want to go to so many classes, but you can get your stuff to go to different classes. And your younger staff will love learning from some of the best in the industry right now, choreographically. And they'll be inspired by it as well. Absolutely. Absolutely.

And it's just a ball of fun.

It is.

So come to ICC Darling Harbour. It is going to be an absolute great weekend. It's so nice to bring your team together to have a chance to. To learn and grow, but also just have a bit of fun and connect to it with each other and reward yourself for your hard work.

Yes.

You know, take some time out of the studio. We cannot wait to see you there. Make sure you get your tickets if you haven't already.

Can't wait to see you guys there.

Thanks.

Bye.

Bye. 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.