Marko Panzic & the New Era Cast w/ Amanda

Hi, friends. Amanda here. Welcome to a very special episode of the Dance Principles United podcast. So last night, Nath Beck and I had the absolute pleasure to attend the Dream Dance Company's A New Era show. It was the last show that they did in Sydney, and oh, my God, it was incredible. It was so much fun, so much talent on the stage, and it was so amazing to see a full house of predominantly young people that were there to support, support the next generation of dancers, to support our industry and really be inspired by these incredible dancers on the stage, which was so, so amazing. As a bit of a special treat, we thought that we would share some of the recording of A Dream Dance Company's two of the cast members, Soraya Zapata and Will Dyson, as well as Marco Panzik and their interview that we had at Dance Teacher Expo. Before we get into that, though, we wanted to talk about our three biggest lessons that we learned. The incredible show that Marco and the Dream Dance Company team put on last night. Now, look, we did a great podcast before on this. Beck and I wrapped it all up, but, you know, all the audio fun, we have accidentally deleted that and it's not worked, so we thought that I would just do it again, so please bear with me. But there were three incredible lessons that we learned from the show that we all kind of discussed after the show as well, because Marco does it so well. He does marketing really, really well, and there's so many great tips that you can take back to your studio. So lesson number one, it was a short, snappy show, and that was amazing. I think sometimes as studio owners, we think that, you know, if the show's too short, other parents won't want to pay the same amount for the concert tickets. We hear that quite a lot from studio owners. But you know what? People love a short, snappy show. You know, I believe it was just under an hour, that show, and that was a great amount of time for me. I am an absolute lover of dance, but just under an hour was the absolute perfect time because, you know, much more than that. And we all get a bit squirmy. Let's be honest. We all have short attention spans and anything, you know, more than that, we're all like, oh, is there an interval? You know, I need to go get another drink, I need to go to the bathroom, whatever. I love the feeling of being left wanting more because the show finished. And I was like, oh, that was incredible. That was amazing. Oh, my God, I can't believe it's done already. And that's exactly what you want to leave your audience with, right? So, you know, if you are running your concerts and organizing your concerts, our lesson to you is make sure that it's a short, snappy show. Leave the parents wanting more. Don't feel like you just have to add to it just because there is absolutely no reason people don't see more value in that by any stretch of the imagination. So that, that was lesson number one from the show. Lesson number two was allow people to film. Oh my God. We were sitting, I think front row, second row, back, and we had Beck's daughter with us as well as a whole crew from PAWS Studios as well. And they were all filming and living their best life, which is fantastic because what does that do? It creates hype. And if you are a dancer, if you're in the dance industry or a teacher, you would have seen, seen some of the students Instagram videos, some of the young people's Instagram videos, some of the teachers and studio owners Instagram videos over the weekend of the show from the audience. Now, I think sometimes as studio owners, we get, you know, really like caught up in the old fashioned rules of not allowing the audience members to film. And what if my, you know, this and that, and what if they post this? You know what? All that does is create more hype for your studio. It leaves people going, oh, I wish I'd seen that show. Oh my God, that looks amazing. Oh, I didn't know. So and so went. And so and so went. And so and so went. You know, it's such a good thing to create hype. So allow your audience to film. Why not? You know. Yes, we all used to have those days where theaters didn't allow that. Most of that has changed now. So definitely, you know, we are big believers in allowing your audience members to film because any publicity is good publicity. Right. And that takes us into lesson number three, which is around creating hype. Now, Marco and the Dream Dance Company do this incredibly well. They create so much hype, you know, for months before the show starts. But you can do this too, as a studio owner. You know, what we saw from Marco was a whole heap of Facebook posts, a whole heap of really great content in the lead up to the show. And, you know, sometimes we find that studio owners, you know, they're like, oh, tickets are on sale. I did one post. Why did no one buy tickets? Well, what are you doing to create hype? Not just to your parents, but to the, you know, the greater community, you know, really building up lots of content to put on your socials about. That's great. But also posting about it in community groups, which is no different to how Marco was posting in Dance Teacher Australia or any of those other Dance Principals United Facebook groups. Right. You know, there's so much way to create type in your community. Also inviting special guests. You know, I know this is something Marco did you know, there was some awesome special guests from the dance industry that was sitting in the first few rows. However, are you doing this in your studio? Are you, you know, inviting and gifting tickets to members of influence in your community, Whether that's the local mayor, whether that's a member of parliament, the school principals or, you know, mum influences in your area, it would be the mu influencers that I'd be all about. You know, how can you create hype around your show? Sending emails, socials, you know, all the community outreach stuff. That is all really important to sell tickets, not just sending one email to your current parents. You know, trying to sell tickets to the wider community is a really great thing. I hope you know, that gave you some value because Dream Dance Company did an amazing job of, you know, selling their show and doing a great job of creating hype. And I think we can always, always look at shows like Dream Dance Company or Taylor Swift or, you know, whoever the latest pop stars tour is and take some of those lessons back to our studio and back to our concert and how we can create the same kind of hype around our ticket sales, which is so, so important. Hopefully I did a good job of wrapping that up. I'm so sorry we lost the audio with Bec and I chatting about it, but I hope you love it nonetheless. Now, this incredible interview that we have coming up from you. Coming up for you now is a from Dance Teacher Expo. We had Marco, Will Dyson and Soraya Zapata on stage. And there are some incredible insights into studio ownership, into what we should expect from our teachers and what young dancers want to see from their teachers and how they want to be inspired. It was an incredible, incredible interview. I was blown away, especially by Will and Soraya's answers to some of the questions and how succinctly they put some of their answers that really, you know, hit home for all studio owners and teachers. There were so many nodding heads. Anyway, enough from me. I hope you love this interview. It is incredible. Let us know what you think. Make sure if you do love this interview, you click that little subscribe button, you know, the little tick on Spotify or Apple. It really helps us be seen by more people. We so appreciate it. Enjoy the interview. 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.

Hi.

How are we all feeling good this morning? Absolutely. Did some of you just have the pleasure of taking Marco's class? He's just had to have a quick drink, get it all ready. Amazing. I hope you all had an amazing day yesterday. It was so great. And the level of excitement yesterday was so good. So hopefully we're all still feeling bright enough today and not too exhausted or anything like that. But we're super excited to have you at this session.

Now I'm going to do a bit.

Of a bio read, just a little one. We have the extraordinary Marco Panzik along with the lovely some of the cast members of New Era, Soraya and Will. I'm so excited to see a new era. I heard that. It's been amazing because you guys all know Marco. He has been a multifaceted career spinning, creative, director, choreographer, producer and dancer. And he has an incredible credit list topping in the country. And he's also an amazing, amazing human. And that is what I love. And that's why I'm so excited to be presenting this session. And we really want to talk about growing, growing kids from the ground up and creating a new era of dancers like these amazing dancers here. So we're so excited to get into it. Thanks, Marco.

Can you all hear me if I talk like this? Yes. Hi. Or is that better? Okay. I just hate my voice. Hi, guys. We're going to keep this real relaxed and calm and a nice conversation. I thought this would be a great time together with people as yourselves, teachers, choreographers, everything to talk about more. So the side of, like I was saying, like developing the dream in a sense of like, you know, we all see the success of what we feel dances are or a career in the arts is, and it's kind of, what steps has different people taken? How can we in the classroom, at our studios, encourage and support dancers into a possible career, or if it's even not about a career, different avenues. I think dance can add so many notches to not only a dance career. I think dance is so important across so many parts of just even life. So I think we have an important role as educators in dance as much as it's just movement. Or people go, oh, it's dance. And it's such a. It's a really. It is. We are a weird world because you can't explain it to anyone else outside of the world. Because when they say, what do you do? Dance? They're like, what does that mean? But then when you're in our world, it is huge and it's growing and we can all feel it, that Australia is growing at a rapid pace in dance. I can definitely say in the last. I would even say once Covid ended, there was this, like, gates of everything went from 0 to 100 really quick, which is really exciting and amazing, but also frightening because there's so much now. And as educators, we really have, you know, the responsibility to guide and mentor our students equally into what they need, if that makes sense. Because I'm sure as teachers, you get kids all the time going, I really want to do this. How do I achieve this? Da, da, da. And it's always. It must actually be a really tough job because especially in that age time of full time and the time of deciding, I really want to take that leap. And understanding that investment, there is a lot of discussion that isn't discussed. You know, I feel we get going to be very candid, go for it.

We love that.

But I feel like we do. We. There's a lot of selling the dream, and my company's called the Dream, so I'm not selling the dream, but I'm saying there's a lot of selling the dream into investing big money, into having a career. And I think the thing that isn't discussed is what is the reality of a career and actually how much money can you make from a career and what tools you need to be able to have a career in dance, you know, because people are laying out tens of thousands of thousands of thousands of dollars now and years of time into a dance career. And as much as that's exciting and great, we need to be making sure that we're actually educating these people to go somewhere, not to go through a machine to out the other left stranded in debt. Does that make sense? So I think this can be a nice conversational point because also I just believe with the rapidness of Australia growing, we need to, as a community, understand how to maintain it together, but still allow it to grow. Because growth is amazing in terms of business, but it's kind of the conversations you have to have with your clientele, how much there is now and guiding and all of that. But we'll get that down the track. Hi, I'M Marco. That's the little oversight. I wanted to bring these two amazing human beings, Soraya and Will, along to this discussion because they're currently in the Dream Dance Company. We're literally in the middle of it and next week is like a massive week putting everything together. And then we open in. What day is it today? Sunday. We'll be at our final shows in two weeks. So it's. And to think like what can be achieved in time, let me tell you, it's amazing. So we've got a lot of work to do still with the show, but it's very exciting and I wanted to bring these two because they come from two completely different backgrounds in their training and in their experiences through the dance world. But also I think it's great to hear. I also find say with my program show business. What I love about it is I learn so much about the industry through the eyes of this generation. And I think that has always been something that I constantly. I grow more with what's coming rather than what's been as such. And I think it's really important to understand this generation to then the next generation to understand how we can support it and understand it and build around it rather than trying to have everyone has to fit into because the world is changing. So I think it would be great to have these two insight into topics that arise because I think it's fun to hear from me what my view is, but then to hear people that are still amongst it and having the career and doing the work is really important. So Soraya will do a little snapshot of your little journey for like a couple of minutes. You can tell them about your. Tell them about Saray Ray.

Go this on. Oh yeah, cute. Hi, my name's Soraya. Where do I start? Now I grew up in a small town called Wollongong. You might know. I started at Sher's Modern studio when I was very little. Was there for a while, went through a couple of studios down in Wollongong. They all shut down, which was devastating. But all led me to come up and train at Village for a few years. I started there when I was 16 and I was lucky enough to then graduate from that studio. Did full time for a year there and just since then, I don't know. That's all I really got to say.

Well, you've built a lot. She's building like she's little jazz queen here. If you haven't seen Saraya, amazing jazz teacher and also choreographer. And I'm such a jazz lover. So like when I see this generation do jazz, great. You all know everyone in here who loves jazz. Saraya is amazing.

Thank you. Thank you.

And a great teacher, which is really, really special.

Thank you. Marco.

Hi, I'm Will, I'm 19. So I started dancing when I was seven in a small town called Maitland. It's like inland from Newcastle. And I grew up dancing at a small studio there for a few years and then I moved to a studio on the central coast and I was traveling three hours a day, an hour to school and then an hour from school to dance, and then an hour home every day to go to the studio. And I did a lot of heavy ballet at that studio and I did full time ballet there when I was 15 maybe. And then I moved from that studio up to the Gold coast to Dance Force, which is where I did full time when I was 16. I did full time for two years there. So I did full time when I was 16 to 17 and then 17 to 18 and then I went away on a contract with Royal Caribbean for a year and then I just got back about six months ago and I've just been teaching heaps, which has been super good because the younger generation's amazing.

So see already two very different journeys as well, which would spark a lot of interest in conversation. I have actually some questions. I'm gonna ask these Woohoo.

And then I'll take over at some point we're gonna share this. Interviewing.

Yeah, I love it. I'm just gonna, I wanna ask these guys a few questions for my own. I was just like, I want to know these answers. This is an interesting one. So like, as a dancer growing up, how did you feel, like, best supported? Like, how was your support system growing up as a dancer? Like, what was that to you?

I felt best supported. I don't know if this is like off the tangent, but honestly, the actual way I felt best supported was through words of affirmation, through my training, 100% through everything. I feel like anytime I had a teacher, because I went through a lot of studios, unfortunately, like I said, a lot of them shut down in Wollongong when I had like a teacher tell me they were just proud of me or I was doing a good job and I heard those words, the words that I remember for the rest of my life. So yeah, it's quite simple. But that was honestly the best way I felt supported was just hearing words from my teachers and the people that I looked up to the most and my mentors. So yeah.

Mine would probably be like yeah, Words of reassurance. I'm definitely someone who likes to be reassured in something like it's going to be okay, keep working hard at it. It's all going to work out the way it's supposed to. And as well, like my friends that I was surrounded with and I feel like it's super important for the studios to nurture the relationships between the students to keep that strong. Because at the end of the day, having a great network around your friends is like honestly all that matters. Like dance is such a big thing, but you need your social aspect with your friends and you need to build a good group. So I think like having that nurtured around you honestly was like the biggest help. And I had such a great supportive group of friends and my family too. They're great.

I love it. But that is. That leads to. Amazing that they both said it. But how much what we say affects. And I think now with teaching especially, it's. I'm. I feel I get the most out of my classes because not even from the steps I teach. It's because of communication and the personality I put into my class. I always growing up remembered that as a teacher that when I walked into people's classes and I felt them invested in communication first was more important than the dance steps. And I think that's something we really need to as teachers encourage and build that it's not just about the combo.

What a gift that we have as leaders, as teachers to have such, you know, two amazing dancers who have obviously gone through a lot of teachers. But you remember things that your teachers said to you. And I think sometimes as teachers we can forget the impact our words have. And we're too busy getting the corrie out. We're too busy polishing that routine or making it sure it's stage ready or whatever. That is like such a power that we have.

100%, 100%. And that is like it's such a big thing in teaching that as much as what you're teaching in the steps, what are you communicating through that class? You know, I think a dance class is an experience. As a teacher I feel you get the most out of. And you will build clientele and you'll build a class by the performance you put in into your dance class. I think people forget that being a teacher. Being a teacher is a show. I will never forget the first when I was 19. God, what I'll do to go back. I remember 19 and going to LA. I didn't do full time. My choice was to get Overseas and train and learn from. Back in those days, you wouldn't even. You'd just have to like, who's that dancer behind Brittany? Or who's that behind Janet? And then you'd find them in a way, and then you'd get there. And I'll never forget Brian Friedman's class when I was 19. And it was like, he had his big curly hair and everything. And I remember when he walked into that room and he started teaching, it was literally like he walked in so normal. You would just be like. And I thought it was the coolest thing. Like, so nothing, nothing. And then when that hour started, so it hit, say, 10am and that music started, he put on a white shirt and he literally went, voom. And for that hour and a half, you were in his presence in a performance, and the whole class. What you got out of that class is because he was there looking at you. He was there correcting you. All eyes, everything. It was a show. It was game on. It was boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. Like, and that is something I have always loved the teachers that. And I think watching teachers teach improve you as a teacher. Like, there are moments in my life that I always remember what I felt when I watched someone. I remember being on a convention and Mia Michaels was teaching. And I'll never forget that class because. And I'm such an observer. I'm like, I'm one of those people that will travel to places and just watch people, because I love it. But no but do you know what I mean? Like, watching as humans, what you watch and observe can inspire you more than what you actually do. And I'll never forget the way she could hold a room without showing one step and just communicating what the fit. Like, she would play. Like, I was in tears. Like, I wasn't even in the class. I was in the class corner, like, having tears going. Because she took you into this world and the power of a teacher and what you can get out of it. And this is what I always talk to people when you're building your brand as a choreographer. If you want to be a choreographer, if you want to be a teacher, if you want to be on the world stage as a teacher, if you want to be respected as a teacher, it is your choice to start your own show. And you have to have your own brand that it becomes. This is the Marco Panzik show. You know when you come into. I know. Trust me, you wake up in the morning, we've all been there, and you're like, I don't Know how I'm going to do this? Like, today was hard. I was like, oh my God, I've got so much going on. And I know when that time starts and I walk into a room and I go, I know my teacher alter ego kicks in and I'm hey, guys, let's go. Because I know if I'm not present, if I'm not there, if I'm on this vibration, if I'm not steering the ship, if I'm not, you're letting everyone down. And I truly believe and I've seen a lot of teachers in my time, I've hired lots of teachers. And I'm very big on the quality of a teacher I have in front of people. And I can tell you I've seen brilliance in teachers that are there, that are pushing, and I've seen hype teachers that we all love that just float by. And you're paying them so much money and their vibrations here. And the kids love it because they think they have to love it, but there's actually no vibe in the room. And it is such an important. And I will never hide. I don't. As soon as that becomes if I know your motivation isn't in that room to improve people and to build people, and it doesn't even come down to the steps, it's about that. You're walking in and you're going, I've arrived and I'm here, invested. And this is why with teachers that when they say I deserve this much money or I deserve this or I should be paid this or I should be paid that, do you know what I'm like? You should be paid whatever how good your performance is. Do you know what I mean? And I know this whole, it's an award weight, it's a da da da. All of these rates and everything that get thrown around at the end of the day, I would pay Harris goble $10,000 for an hour and a half. Because I know when she struts into that room, she's a gonna sell out a room and make me a profit and do that. But she's gonna be put on the best show that will change every single person's life in that room. So when your teachers ask you for things or they have to show it in the room, you have to build your own fan club. Your performance as a teacher. And when you wanna travel around and you wanna teach, you better be building your own classes. Because that's how I started as a teacher. My first aim when I started teaching was I'm Going to make every kid love me. Because guess what? If everyone in that room loves me and every kid and every student in that room loves me, guess what goes up? My value?

Hey, can I ask on that? That went really no, because I love that. And you started answering.

But I'm just like this generation. I get really frustrated sometimes because I feel like there's so many lazy friggin teachers out there and it boils my blood. I'm like teaching is such a honor and you are not in like the money you can make as a teacher is ridiculous. If you're a good teacher and you can build it and you have a performance skill and you can sell it. But until you can do that and have those things, skills, your value all, all relies on yourself. Your value does not rely on the studio owner getting you, all the kids and putting the lights on and paying all the bills for you just to sit in a chair and have your smoothie and walk around and talk about your day. And then by 15 minutes in, you're still, you know, not started the class.

Taking your time and that's absolutely. And so many people in here would teach huge amounts of hours, as do you. You teach huge hours and you talked about that performance quality. The second you get there, you turn it on, you know, it becomes the marker. What like tips do you have? And I know this is a little bit off topic, but what tips do you have for all the teachers in here who, you know, get in there and they're like, it's a big day, how am I going to do it? How do you find that energy when it's been a rough morning, you've got stuff going on at home, there's stuff going on in your social lives, you know, all of those things. How do you put that performance on? Do you know? Do you know what the magic is?

My first and foremost thing is dance only exists because of music. So first of all, and this is where everyone has it back to front, everyone thinks dance exists and then we add music that's rubbish. We only dance because of music. We only dance because we love sound and we love beat and we love things. So I don't care whatever mood I'm in. Like this morning, hearing Ariana made me happy. So I surround myself with music that brings me joy or it makes me feel a certain way. I really believe in like music has this power that like when I created that combo. Do you know when you create a combo and you work to something, it's always a snapshot of that time. So Even if I'm in a time of like, oh my God, I don't know if I can do this. Yes. And it's like I get transported back to that date I taught it, you know, a month ago. That always brings me joy. So first and foremost, you have to love music. You have to be so in and know your sound. What is your sound? What is your. If you're the performer in that class, what are the songs? What is like I love a female pop. Give me pop music. Give me something that's a bit little sassy, Give me a little dance, little kickball chain, like, give me something that. No, but if you have that music that drives you, you can literally. That's why even warm up. Warm up for me especially, you know, there's all these things of like, you don't really need to warm up and all that body thing and da, da, da. For me, a warm up. Even if, say we do workshops and Soraya does a class, I will still go in and do a five minute warm up. The warm up isn't to get the kids warm, it's to get you into the performance mode. So my first song is always the switch up of din. It gets a high energy. So if I can get everyone on that vibration and we're all there together and I'm even because, you know, it's that whole Tony Robbins secret. You can feel like this. And if you drastically change something and you change your rhythm or you change your movement, your mood can change. So you can walk into a room feeling like this. If I pump a club mix of a song and it's like, it's forcing me to go, so I just force the shit out of it to bring it out of me. So then in a room I'm then in this vibration of like, okay, I'm going and everyone's with me. So the warm up to me is the like such a great tip, support act. What would you guys say?

I just think about how much impact I have on the kids every single time I walk in that room. And like you said, like, energy is a gift and it's an exchange. Like dancing is an exchange of energy. And I think about all the times I came into the room and my eyes lit up and I was like, I have this teacher today. I want to be that teacher for those kids no matter how I'm feeling that day. And even to a point where I'm like, I might not fill up my own cup today, but I'm going to fill these kids up today because it's my impact that matters the most. So I just think of the kids so much.

That's amazing.

Thanks.

And if you have seen a Soraya class, like, this is something I love about you. You know, you can be like a kilometer away from the studio and you'll still hear yeah, yeah, yeah, like, and that's another. But I would say that's your motivation in like, the way you teach is so high energy that even you're like, she almost brings it out of people because she's vocalizing how they should be feeling. Does that make sense? And then the kids, it's like you're a cheerleader, like watching you teach, it's like you're literally on the sideline, like, go, go. And it's great though because you can see that exchange of the kids are then getting that whole they're feeling something from the teacher that I'm good enough and then that changes a whole exchange.

I think mine is definitely like, your class is a reflection of the energy you bring. So no one wants to teach a class that's like low energy, low vibe. Everyone's like slugging around on the floor. But if you're bringing that energy, of course it's going to transpire onto the kids because they're looking up to you, they're inspired by you. And if you're bringing that energy, it's not inspiring. So I think that when I go into teacher class, I'm thinking about what I wanted my teachers to be when I was in the kids position. So I will always go in. No matter what, how I'm feeling, I will always go in with a positive attitude because it's not about me, about the kids.

Oh, Will, that is incredible and so insightful from a young kid. And I think as studio owners and all young teachers in here, you know, it's. If you're saying the class is low energy, it's a reflection on you. And to have that self reflection, you know, it's not about the kids, it's what you've brought. And that's exactly what you just hit the nail on the head.

And if kids are dropping out of that class, it's not the studio owner, it's the teacher. Can't tell you that no one would leave a great environment. Does that make sense? And that's the responsibility that so much, so many times it falls on the studio owner or something out this is happening. Da da. And it's like you're in, you're steering that ship. That's your fan club that eventually those 20 kids that are in your room and you're teaching them are your most loyal clientele for the rest of your life. Because when you want to, you know, become bigger and do your own things and get your name out there and you want to put an open class on who are going to be the first people there, that room. So I always, I always, when I was coming up and when people say to me, how do I become like a choreographer, like a well known, that's what I want to do. It's like you have to put in the work. You have to start the Marco Panzik tour, you know, you have to start exactly like a musician. You have to play the small grounds. You have to do the. You know, I still to this day I don't. And I don't like. And not in a way of like, I am so busy. I do not have to teach in a way, like there's so much going on. But I love teaching. Teaching is something that when I'm in that environment and I'm in that room, it transcends me and makes me happy. Like that's a happy place for me. And I don't even. You could literally, I do not care. You could throw me anywhere and I could teach them. And how many teachers can you say that about?

I love that about you. And I've seen Marco at studio, you know, there are some teachers and choreographers that only choose the high level studios to go to. And I've seen you at all different types of studios because you're sharing your.

Gift with so many people.

I prefer like, I'm like, I'm not a hype chaser. Like my favorite classes can sometimes be in the middle of nowhere regional, a class of just people who just love dancing. You see that one kid that you go, oh my God, you have something special and that is so. Do you get what I mean? Like, it's amazing when you find those little diamonds when you're teaching and you're like, gosh. And all they needed to hear is like, you're really good. Because it happened to me. I was living in Perth. I had a dance studio When I was 17 to 21, I owned a dance studio on Perth. I thought that was it. My life was set. I'm gonna be a studio owner. I'm staying in Perth with my Commodore. Yeah. And my life is set. Wait. And then I went to Melbourne for a workshop and this dancer who danced for Janet, Theresa Espinosa, probably still to this day would never know, came up to me and said, you are really talented. Why aren't you doing this as a job? And my brain went, what do you mean a job? Because then it wasn't very like, you know, I came from my dad's a boilermaker, my mum worked in a bank. It was very, get a job, get mud. Like, what are you going to do? What's dancing going to do? And that was. And I'm someone that's very. I like to prove people wrong. So it was one of those moments that that power of just being told, you should do this changed my life from one person that would never know, steered me to, then a month later, sell that studio, get on a plane and move to Sydney, like in that instant and changed my life and wouldn't even know. So it's like the power of words and the power of being an environment and how you can and do it positively is so powerful, it's amazing.

Hey, can we jump back onto these lovely young people's.

Shut up, Marco.

No, that is not what I meant because there is so much value in what you're saying. But I'd love to talk about the training and how you guys feel. As you know, you're both recent ish graduates of full time and how the process has gone because probably there's been, you know, you guys are both working, which is fantastic, and congratulations, but probably a lot of your classmates aren't and I know that's a really hard thing. And how can we help? You know, best support? You know, we want to nurture everyone's dream, but we also want to be realistic because there are people that are coming through and not everyone's going to work. And if they love dance, well, that's fantastic. But there's got to be this happy balance, right? I don't know if you have any advice to teachers and Marco might even want to start this off, but how do we. Oh, nope, nope. It's a tricky question, but how do we balance building people up but also setting realistic expectations? I guess a hard question, I'm sorry to throw that to you.

Oh, I think it's being realistic, like. But in saying that, there's a way to say everything. So I think just don't beat around the bush, be honest with everyone and what you think not everyone, like the. Not everyone's going to be like backup dancer for JLo and Beyonce and everything. Like, that's just how it is. But in saying that, I do think that the dance world, Australia is a little bit small, but out of that there are jobs. And I think even if it's not in dance, it could be in TVCs, it could be in acting. There are other things that other students can do, and I think it's being realistic with them and showing them the path that they can go down. And even if they don't work within the creative arts, what we do shows so much discipline. So even if you don't end up working here, you're going to take what you've learned as a dancer into your next job. You're going to stand taller, you're going to speak louder. And I just think that that will help improve, like, with everything that you will do in your life.

I love that. Yeah. Basically going off what Will said, there's room for everyone. And I actually do remember this is how powerful words are in show business. Marco saying to our group that dancing has so many branches and so many aspects. And like Will was saying, TV sees everything, even down to, like, makeup and hair. Like, it teaches us so many skills. And the discipline, I do believe there's room for. But it does get to a point where you do have to be realistic with the student and what they're wanting. And if you think they're going to make it, if you think what path is right, you'll be realistic. But I do believe, yeah, like I said, there is room for everyone and there's branches that dancing can give you. Absolutely.

I know that's such a tricky question, right, because there is. And you don't want to put limiting beliefs on kids either, because you might, you know, they might go to that next studio, something else might click for them. They might have that next teacher and all of those things, but it's hard also.

Sorry, Marco's back. I feel like Kirsten Wiig in language, I think, as well in full time, in the system that we've created here. I definitely think we need to be more heavy on the education side rather than the step side. I think if you're offering a year or two years or three years of full time and there's not theory elements and you're not walking out knowing the bones in your body and just how to do an invoice or how to write a professional email or how to have business skills or how not to manage yourself, I think the biggest part of it, and I'm telling you now, we lose. I would say, what 5% of full timers have the chance of a job. Harsh reality. 95% don't. Why do 95% don't is because they're not taught any manageable how to manage themselves skills. So they leave a system that's already broken. Because the arts world does not run by a schedule. We do not run by a timetable. Never in my life as a creative and all of you would know timetabling a creative life does not exist. It is so up and down it changes. So when you're formulated for a year or two or three into a system that's nine till four and you're hand fed and you can feel all these emotions and you go through it and you're doing class, class. Four classes a day. Four classes a day times five days is what, 20 then how many weeks in it? That's a lot of content. Yeah. And I just think we don't know how to then leave that and be injected into a world to then survive to manage yourself. Because we're equipped with steps we're not equipped to how to sell anything. And our job as dancers and creatives is to sell yourself. You have to be able to write an email to a studio owner. You need to know how to have the difficult conversations professionally. You need to know how to manage yourself, how to hold yourself. So much more is in the detail of managing then it is in the steps. Even when you work professionally as a choreographer On a job, 5% of what you think about is the actual steps on stage. Everything else is emailing, costuming, running around for that. It's the same as when you're putting your dance concert together. I guarantee the dance steps on that stage come in less than all the managing side of putting that event on. Newsletters, parents, everyone's got the whole information. Does everyone know the ticketing? Oh my God, the budget, the it out. Like all of that. Like even just starting to the zone of that full timers don't know how to spreadsheet is alarming because we need to know how to budget our lives. I want to move to London. How do you get there? How do you budget for that? What's a budget? How do I write a budget? How do I do that? These are the things that I do believe if we teach dancers more managing skills, we're not only going to have better dancers in the industry and out there getting more opportunity. We're going to have better teachers because how many teachers are we all know? Never respond to emails, do not know how to communicate because they don't know how to manage themselves at all.

I love that. Absolutely. And like I've had the privilege of teaching inside your show business course and Marco is so big about teaching that to all of his students inside show businesses, you know, teaching them different things besides just the steps. So I think that's so, so powerful. So coming back to nurturing the dream and how we build up these incredible young dancers. You know, let's talk about, you know, when they start taking workshops. Let's talk about, you know, those kids that, you know, when's the right age for them to start looking externally from their studio? And how do we balance, as you know, teachers, for most of us inside a set studio. How do we balance the. How many workshops is appropriate? What should they be doing? What age is appropriate that they start looking externally to their studio? And how do we kind of navigate that whole thing, I guess. And what's the best way. Oh, sorry, Marco.

It's a nightmare now. I don't even know how you guys do it. Like seeing the dance calendar now it is non stop and there's a million versions of everything now. So it's this whole quality control, trying to find where and I think first and foremost your clientele at your studio or your students or whatever relationship you have. I just hope there's a way of that you're communicating in a way that they come to you for advice and guidance. Do you know what I mean? Because I do feel like that lacks. I see a lot of the times, so many people just, just from January to December dancing non stop. And holiday programs are brilliant. I run one in January. It's amazing. I love it. But I do believe dances do need off time. You need as children, there should be an off season. The way AFL or any other sport that there's an off season that you just also don't lose your childhood just down dancing 247 all year round. And also having that relationship with your teachers that you can be like, I'm thinking of doing this. So then at least you can be like, oh, that's, you know, a great opportunity. But have you seen this? Something that you may see more value in? Yeah. And also sometimes, and this is really hard because with a lot of the dream stuff, it's very audition based to get into dream. And my only reason for that is because a lot of the times, you know, I would love to have even 100 more kids in the program. It would be great for me. Brilliant. But I don't want to take money off people that should be putting money into your studio doing more ballet classes. And the problem is, and not that it's a problem, there's something for everyone now and that's great, but also takes away them training at your studio and investing their money into you. And I'm not saying that in a bad way, but I just think, you know, yes, there's programs that, you know, back in the day with Aussie ballet school and all these things that there was a. I need to work hard to get to that. And I've seen the proof in it. I've seen with dreams, the kids I've said no to, and by the third time they've auditioned that they get in, and the improvement in them and the achievement of getting that is like something so special because, you know, as harsh as it is, they didn't get in. It built a resilience and a work ethic. And I worry now that we don't want to make the Society of Dance too much of. Of. If you can pay for it, you can do it. And I really worry with a lot of programs that there's a big. I feel like sometimes I'm up at 3am and I'm watching the infomercials and people are selling me things and here's the da, da, da, da. And it looks shiny and it looks great and it looks beautiful and all of that. And anyone. We want anyone. And that's beautiful. But what you're saying is we want anyone who will pay for it, unfortunately. But what I then see is that some people who are investing thousands of dollars into other things that could be at your studio picking up tap, could be picking up ballet, because what they're doing is dropping other things that are then shortening their span of growth to do something else. And probably half the time these kids owe you money and fees and they're out there doing something else. And you're like, you can't even pay for your term fees. And I saw you at that workshop. Yeah, but I just. Yeah. And I just think that. I think, don't be afraid to have an open communication in your studio, that there's not a policy as such, but an open door. That it's like, we're here to guide you. We're here to help you. If there's external things come to us so we can. Every kid is different and every kid is going to want to do different programs, and that's amazing. And different workshops and different things. But it would be great for you to be on that journey to help guide them, because it's the same. Then when it comes to full time, there's that smorgasbord choice of things that you'd. I hope they would want to come to you and get your opinion so they can move you into it.

Amazing. I'd love to know Saraya and Will, what hit, you know, from a. From your home school, the teachers or the studio owners? You know, what really hit when they were helping guide you, that kept you there for a little bit longer. You know, what worked, what didn't? Was it when they didn't want to have a communication about it? Is that what turned you off or. I don't know. Have you got any insight to share on that?

I think what helped the most at a studio that I trained at for the longest was just them being personable and approachable. Absolutely. And them being real humans. I got to an age where you can have different conversations with teachers when you get to an adult stage, but I think them being open about life experiences and all the things they went through as humans made me feel like I was a part of that. And I could be that too. And I think. But going off this is like a bit of a tangent, but going off, like the off season and stuff like that, I think that's a really important topic that. That needs to be vocalised a whole lot more. And I feel like what guided me and helped me and supported me the most was being able to be a human and a dancer at the same time and remembering that I am Soraya first and then I'm a dancer after that. And I feel like being able to experience life things and listen to my teachers speak about their life experience changed the way I danced and the perspective I had on dancing. And if I didn't have all of that, I wouldn't be the dancer I am today. So I think that's really, really, really important. I could be speaking completely off topic right now, but I had to say absolutely.

I think for me, I definitely came from a studio where communication and approaching the studio owners wasn't really a thing. Like, I feel like I came from a place where it was very difficult to have an open conversation with the owners of the studio because there wasn't that level of, like, communication or, like, if you were to approach them with a question of, can I do this? Can I do this? It was almost as if they were offended that you were even considering doing something outside of the studio. And I think that I'm gonna speak from the dream creative doing that really opened my eyes into the fact that there was a life outside of my studio. I'm definitely someone who, when I'm in something, I'm in it and, like, I have my blinders on and I struggle to see outside of that. But going to do outside things like the Dream Creative was a positive thing for me because I could see that, wow, there actually is a life outside of my own studio. And I think as studio owners, when your kids are going to do things outside the studio, I think they're loyal enough to the studio that it's not a thing as if, oh, are they going to leave or are they going to find things on the other side? You know what I mean? And my studio was definitely one that was like a bit cut if I were to go do something outside of it. But I was a loyal student and it wasn't as if, oh, I'm doing this because I want to leave and move to another studio. I wanted to gauge experiences outside of those walls.

I love that you're so honest about that. Thank you for being so honest about that. And I think that that's probably a really good lesson. I think probably what you're both saying is that, that it's so important to have open and honest and create those environments for our students where we can have those open and honest conversations about what they want to do and support them, rather than putting the walls up and going, no, you can't go to that workshop. No, you can't do that. I know you've seen that on Instagram and creating the conversations because. And I think it's also like self belief in your own product as well that the kids will return because as you said, you were so loyal to those studios. And I think that's really something to take away.

And I think as well with Dream Creative, it's really love. That's something I love about is there's so many different studios in that room. And it's so funny because we see online all these studios and we have big studios and they all come together. And it's funny about the environment you create creates the environment. And seeing everyone come together, it kind of like I feel like, because everyone's kind of there center at their studio or they, you know, and then, you know, my, you know, I still remember the first Dream Elle demos was in the back row. And I was like, how does it feel, Elle? But I was like, it was so important in that Dream Creative thing that all these kids that came from being the star at this studio, they were experiencing, like you said, it opens your eyes to going, oh my God, look at. And if it's done in the right way. And our whole motive is that at the end of it, you're returning to your studio to go, oh my God, I Have so much work to do, and I want to continue working hard. And the thing is. And a lot of the kids that come, they wear their studio with pride. And I love that. I love. You know, I've seen even studios just grow from their kids having that exposure and that belief. And then they go back to their studio and we're like, we're proud to be here. And then it builds that morale of the studio, and then people know that studio like. Like, it's a really fun. And I think it's. It's all about the environment you create and allowing kids to be kids. And to tell you the honest truth, I feel like Dream Creative, 80% of the best part of it is these kids just being kids and they get to a meet new people and there's people now like, you and Tiggy are best friends. And they were in the first Dream creative ever in 2018. And it's like, I'm telling you now when I'm like, okay, guys, you've got lunch now. They're so excited about lunch because they all get to meet and you see them that I'm just watching them going, they're just loving being kids right now. They're just loving being able to just be. And they're just. Does that make sense?

Yeah, you're so right. And going off that. Like Marco said, my bestest of friends are from the Dream Creative and from when I had exposure outside of my studio, I don't have any friends from my studios anymore because some of them don't dance or they've taken a different avenue or they're overseas or somewhere different. My bestest friends and my support network, now that I'm out of full time and I'm my own brand and my own business, are the people from Dream Creative or are the people from different workshops that I've met from different studios because I had that exposure.

Tiggy's from Melbourne, so now she has a place to stay in Melbourne at any time. Like, it's the best network. I always say, great. You're gonna meet someone in every state. You have somewhere to crack whenever you need for a job or an audition. Great networking for accommodation.

I love that and I love just allowing space. And that's something we could all do inside our own studios, allow space for those friendships to form, for those bonds to be created. All of that. We are wrapping up on time? Not yet, because we just. We like to talk, but I thought we might just. Is there something that you would really love anyone to, you know, put out there you know, and how we can really create that new generation, the new era of creating the dream. What would be your best takeaways for these amazing teachers and studio owners and how they can best support their students?

Oh, God. Okay. I think creating an environment with the kids that's super positive. As we've said a million times up here, students hang off literally every word that you say. And I don't think that you truly understand that the things you say to the kids carry weight with them. I always say this. If you were spoken to by a superior in a different setting outside of a studio, let's say you worked at Woolies or something, and your superior was speaking to you sometimes the way that other teachers speak to their students, it wouldn't be okay. But why is it okay in a studio? It's not. And, like, I don't believe in, like, attacking, attacking, attacking, or screaming at a kid to get the best out of them, because I'm definitely someone that will work harder for someone I respect and for someone that I love and I want to be in the room with rather than someone who's constantly putting me down. I don't want to work hard for that, but I will give my all to the person who is wanting to uplift me and is super positive around me. So I think it's just making sure that you understand the things that you say to the kids carries weight.

I would say just nurturing the love for dancing, for me personally, is the most important thing. If you lose the love and you lose the little fire and the light that's within you, it's really hard to light back up again. And I think if you love it and you can nurture the kids with their love, even if the love's different, the love's, like, for the makeup or for the hair or for the branches that go out of all aspects of dancing, I think if they can carry that love for the rest of their life, they're gonna make. They're gonna make it, and they're gonna make their dreams come true. If you love it, you can make anything possible. And that's what I truly believe. So nurture that. Yeah.

I'm going to be really, really quick. But this whole new era thing, that. And why I'm doing what I'm doing with this new show is because, you know, back nine years ago now, when Genesis started, the first ever dream, my whole motive was to put a lineup of, you know, 12amazing dancers that were fresh, new, and I look at that line now of Lauren Seymour, Michael Domesky, Alex, Alex, Madinsky. Like, if I went through that whole cast, they all still have a career. I was literally in Amsterdam watching Joel behind Madonna going, nine years ago, he was on the trees.

What a proud moment.

Yeah. And it's like you're watching these people. And for me, I feel there is. And if you're a new person sitting here or you're a teacher that feels they're at the beginning, I'm telling you now, there's a new era coming, and I think Australia needs a new insurgent of creatives and new people for kids to look up to and new, relevant people. And I. My first and foremost thing, my success is not. The reason why the Dream Continues is because it's really not about me. I hate when people talk about me. I don't want any accolade for what I do. My whole reason and motive for what I do is when I. I see people like this and I find people like this that can go out into the world and shine and make a better community, and I can invest and be behind that and push that. That's what will ultimately make the industry better. So this new lineup of 10 dancers, it's inspiring to me. It's very frightening because it's a whole new thing. But it's also, I want to introduce 10 new people into this industry that we can all look at and go, oh, my God, there's fresh blood that we can use and have new creators, new choreographers, new teachers for our kids to look up to. Because if we keep going without new inspiration, we're going to see the same teachers over and over and over again and it becomes stale. We need new and exciting teachers, and that is something that I'm really positive about. So please come and see the show.

And say, how do we get tickets? We'd love to see these amazing.

Follow the Dream dance company. Follow the journey of a new era. I'm telling you now, these dances are phenomenal. I would love for you to witness this live. I get the same. I get the same kind of nerves as I felt with Genesis because it was something new and that has never been done before. With this, it's very different. Every dancer has their moment in this show. It's going to be really, really exciting. So I'd love for you to come and watch it. And secondly, just remember your teachers. And if you're a teacher, that it's your show and everything that you want to do, it's up to you, and invest in it and start putting the work in. Nothing comes to you easy. It doesn't matter that we've chosen a profession that you have to continue to work. Upgrade, upgrade. We are like the iPhone 20, 21, 22, I'm telling you now, I'm on software update currently. Do you know what I mean? So it's like we are currently always upgrading. And if you can't upgrade and shift and move and relate to people and interchange relationships and that's why you're all here, to connect, get the information, but also take things back to your studio and be selfish and invest in yourself and know you're worthy of it and put the effort in and enjoy it. And last thing, dance is truly. And I have to tell myself this every day because I wake up very stressed lately because I have like 17 million things going on at once right now. But every day I wake up and go, okay, what am I doing this all for? And it's all to make people happy and to entertain people and to have fun. That is all we're doing. All the other noise is just contributing to that outcome. So we've just got to remember that what we do is actually fun. So enjoy it.

Amazing. Can we give a big round of applause to these amazing people? Now that I've heard a bit of behind the scenes of Will and Saraya, I could not wait to see New era. It's going to be amazing. So make sure you grab your tickets. Thank you so much, everyone. How incredible of these three. If you'd like, I'm sure if they have a moment, we might move outside and have. Have some photos and stuff if they wouldn't mind. But thank you so much, guys, Big round of applause. You guys are amazing.

Thanks, guys. Enjoy your day. Enjoy. I'll see you in two weeks in the audience. Right? Come along.

Can't wait.

Don't be shy.