Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Camera 1. Camera 2. Teddi 1.
[00:00:03] Speaker B: Rolling.
[00:00:03] Speaker A: Dana Trolley. Rolling.
[00:00:04] Speaker B: Rolling.
[00:00:04] Speaker C: We're rolling.
[00:00:05] Speaker A: We are doing this. We're doing it. We're doing this.
[00:00:08] Speaker B: Yes. Look at that handshake. Hey, partner.
[00:00:10] Speaker A: Look at that handshake. We're in business here, friends. And by we, I mean this is Teddy Forens. I'm Dana Wilson. This is dance, but this is cli. This is not my usual backdrop for a podcast, but I'm going to be spending a lot more time here, my friend.
[00:00:24] Speaker B: Yes, you are. Oh, my God.
[00:00:26] Speaker A: We're just saying that Teddy really blew out audio.
[00:00:34] Speaker B: I told you.
[00:00:39] Speaker C: Hey, friend. It's a very quiet morning here in Sherman Oaks. I don't feel on heavy air quotes, but that's okay. I'm just talking to my friend in my living room. Right. That's why you're here.
Well, spoiler, we're not staying in my living room for very long. Today's guest is the one and only Teddy Forens. And this episode is super special because we recorded it live in Southampton, Massachusetts. East Hampton. I still don't know.
Southeast General Vicinity, Hampton, Massachusetts, at the CLI Conservatory. In this episode, Teddy and I are talking about my new role there, which is as the director of professional development for Cy6.
I'm thrilled about it. Teddy stays thrilled about everything, but he's, like, additionally excited about this new season for cli. I'm excited about this new season of my life as an educator and as a guide through creative careers. I feel like the last couple years of my life have been spent refining my North Star, which I know my role at CLI will be in alignment with.
I'm very excited about this position. I'm really excited to share this conversation with Teddy. But first, let's do a really sleepy, sleepy win. What's my sleepy win? Today?
[00:02:02] Speaker A: I'm going to.
[00:02:03] Speaker C: Here's what it is. And this.
Yeah, I've got it.
Riz peed on the rug over there, and that was fine for me.
That is my win.
Riz being inside used to be something that freaked me out.
[00:02:22] Speaker A: I really hated it.
[00:02:24] Speaker C: She almost wasn't my dog at the beginning because she exclusively peed inside. I would take her outside every hour, and then we would get inside and she would pee inside because that's where she felt safe.
But I'm celebrating that as a win because I think I am more resilient to the little dings and hiccups that happen in my daily life.
That's what's going with me.
Congratulations. I'm so glad you're Winning? It sounds insincere, but that's just because I'm kind of thrown by how low energy. Ah, Just got back from a vacation.
Three days in Mexico City. It's a win for another time. But I'm pooped.
I'm tight.
[00:03:23] Speaker A: Do you know why it's okay to
[00:03:25] Speaker C: have a snoozy intro for this episode?
[00:03:28] Speaker A: Because you're about to get a shot
[00:03:30] Speaker C: of adrenaline directly to your aortas. Because that is how jacked Teddy and I are to be talking to each other.
On your mark, get set. Let's cli with the one and only Teddy Forens.
It's not a commentary on the episode.
[00:03:54] Speaker A: I'm just so tired today.
[00:03:56] Speaker C: And I'm owning it. I'm owning that.
[00:03:58] Speaker A: Ready? It goes like. Wait, are you. Are we good? Okay.
I'm famous for starting before anyone else is ready to start, and I think that maybe you also share in that.
[00:04:08] Speaker B: Teddy 10,000.
[00:04:09] Speaker A: Do you know why Teddy starts before people are ready? Because Teddy never stops. There's only. There's only go in Teddy Forens world. Wait, is that true or is that a lie?
[00:04:17] Speaker B: I would say that's very true.
[00:04:19] Speaker A: Yeah, I thought it was true.
[00:04:20] Speaker C: I thought.
[00:04:21] Speaker A: I think I know you because I've known you for a long time. I'm Dana. This is Teddy Forens, this is Cli, and this is Dance Plus.
We were joking in the pre roll that Teddi needs a seat belt to keep you buckled in for this.
[00:04:34] Speaker B: Like, legit. Like, I was gonna, like, jump out of my car. I mean, I watch dance. I list all the time. I was telling you.
Just a fan of you in general, speaking, anytime, anywhere.
But the fact that I get it, you know, anywhere on my phone is pretty incredible. So thank you for doing it. How many episodes?
[00:04:54] Speaker A: 274ish, plus or minus.
[00:04:58] Speaker B: And I love the rebrand.
[00:04:59] Speaker A: Thank you.
[00:05:00] Speaker B: By the way, big fan of Dance Plus.
[00:05:01] Speaker C: Wow.
[00:05:02] Speaker A: Big fan of Dance Plus. If you haven't heard about the rebrand, or if this is your first time listening to the podcast, maybe jump back a few, because I've made some really important, significant changes to the podcast. None of them have to do with the content. That's always been fabulous.
But the name of the podcast, the branding, the way that people will find it in the world, all of those things have changed. And that, from a business perspective, was really important to me. So hearing from a businessman that you dig the rebrand, that means a lot.
[00:05:33] Speaker B: Thank you so much. I personally liked the original title too, because words, it makes a lot of sense. But I think that's just naturally, like. It's kind of like Dana plus words that move me, dude. Like, that's how I've known you since I met you, like 20 years ago. More. Plus, I'm like, anytime you speak, I'm. I'm a student. I am listening. I'm a friends.
Yeah, it's. It is surreal, but also so right that you're going to be with us next year. I remember the call that we first had about it, and we were both just giddy, and the timing feels so aligned and so right. So to have you here, doing this here is. I have chills. Like, it's really exciting.
[00:06:16] Speaker A: Let's backtrack a little bit before we get into future.
I have. Yeah, we've known each other from convention. Our convention is when we were students, but I've also been around Since, I think Rev 1 of CLI.
[00:06:32] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:06:32] Speaker A: The place on Cartwright. The apartment building on Cartwright where we were doing tutorials from, like, a bedroom in an apartment building.
[00:06:40] Speaker B: It was. It was an apartment pretty much that we turned into a dance studio. The danceable space was probably, like, 10 by 6 or 10 by 8 or so. Maybe. Maybe 10 by 10. Maybe.
[00:06:52] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:06:54] Speaker B: And, yeah, we started there doing the zoom classes and the recorded classes. In that room, we had a fisheye lens, so it looked a lot bigger on camera. Totally. So people would walk in, they're like, oh, is this the holding room? And I'm like, no, no, no. This is the studio. This is it. If you would like me to cook you some eggs.
[00:07:11] Speaker A: And then I'm just being here.
[00:07:12] Speaker B: Yeah.
Yeah. So definitely that was the early beginnings of cli.
[00:07:17] Speaker A: Okay. And talk about the footprint that you have today.
[00:07:21] Speaker B: Today we have 50,000 square feet. We have not. We're sitting in the ninth studio that was just finished last week. That's why you can still smell the clean Marley. I know. It smells so good. It doesn't even look walked on yet.
[00:07:34] Speaker A: I know. I was afraid to put my water bottle down.
[00:07:37] Speaker B: Be careful. I'm joking.
[00:07:40] Speaker A: There is a fee for that.
[00:07:42] Speaker C: Okay, carry on.
[00:07:43] Speaker B: Yeah. So we're in the. We just finished our fifth conservatory year.
It was incredible. We have learned so much.
Our team just gets more fluid and. And connected as the years go. The students have made a huge impact on me, on us as a team.
The amount of dance that has happened in these buildings over the years, you can feel it.
[00:08:09] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:08:09] Speaker B: You can genuinely feel it every day I walk in.
[00:08:12] Speaker A: I agree with that. I remember the first time I came out to Mass when You guys had, like, brick and mortar out here for the first time, and the studio felt so new this year. I walked in and I was like, oh, work is done here. I smell work. There's becoming history in these walls. I feel it. It's growth. It's very cool.
[00:08:32] Speaker B: It is. And this, we're in building B right now. So this was created in CY right before CY4.
[00:08:39] Speaker C: Right.
[00:08:40] Speaker B: So, yeah, we're about to head into. We have about a month before we start CY6 with Nine Studios.
The production capabilities have really grown, and I think, you know, every year we're unlocking something new, and it really feels like every year is a fresh beginning.
I think you joining on with us is one of those massive steps, so thank you.
[00:09:03] Speaker A: Okay, let's talk about me joining on.
Obviously, I'm excited, but I question for anybody interested in CLI in the future and people who have been here in years past, why is there now a need for my role? What is it about the work climate now or CLI right now that makes having a director of professional development essential?
[00:09:26] Speaker B: It's completely essential.
Your career expands so many different layers of what you've done, what you've experienced and. And how you communicate it. And I think that's really key.
The words that you use that move people literally, I think have a massive impact. I felt it from conversation with you, from just watching your career and seeing all the different kind of jobs that you've worked on and how you get that across when you teach.
So for me, it's about the clarity and creativity that you bring to any space that you enter and the leadership qualities that you bring to the table.
And I'm, you know, always looking for collaborators for strong opinions and people who are flexible and willing to shift and be adaptable. And you represent all of those things. And I think for every student coming here to have someone like you on their team and helping guide them, give them advice, little conversations and jokes in the hallway that really leave a mark on people.
[00:10:33] Speaker A: Yeah, my hallway game is a plus. Oh, I. I move fast. Like, catch me in a hallway is rare because I'm moving. But I love a quick quip. I love, like, even, like, water cooler conversations is what they would call it in the normal workforce. I do. So much is exchanged in those spaces.
And, I mean, I think about going and taking class in LA in my early days in LA at the Dome. Yes, Class at Millennium in the Dome was epic. But it's the parking lot conversations and jams that happened afterwards that really molded me. And I Think what people get at CLI and that they don't see on the outside because we see a lot of dance class and we see a lot of dancing. But there is culture here and there's a community here that I think like I didn't go to school after I graduated high school with honors, by the way.
Subtle flex. But college was not an option for me. Money wise, but also a little bit drive wise. I liked school, I liked learning. But I had a deep sense that LA is where I wanted to be and dancing for pop stars is what I wanted to do. Not everybody has that clear of a North Star at first. I think a lot of people look to college as a bridge between early training and the workforce. I think. Or that's, or that's their trial period of finding out if they even want to be in the workforce, which I
[00:11:59] Speaker B: think is, you know, like I tell anyone thinking about entering a program or even moving straight to la, do the research, like really put in the time to get to know the people running the programs. Who's the director, who's the team, who are the consistent teachers, who's the faculty they bring in, what is their North Star for their students think it's really important. And I think like you and I both, we followed our intuition backed up with research and experiences.
So I think, you know, some, some colleges I'm sure are amazing for so many people and the conservatory is amazing for others. And then some go directly to New York and la. But I think the key is intuition.
[00:12:42] Speaker A: I think obviously college satisfies a thing and a lot of people go there not necessarily for a degree, but for a life experience. Experience that isn't living under the parents roof, that isn't quick into the lion's den, good luck working. That's something other than that. But CLI is even something other than that. So could you talk about how CLI is similar to a college program? In what ways is it similar and in what ways is this totally and absolutely different?
[00:13:14] Speaker B: I think it's similar in the sense of, you know, becoming a young adult. Living away from your parents for the first time is a huge step.
[00:13:25] Speaker C: Huge.
[00:13:25] Speaker B: Having roommates which can bring on different challenges that you have to face and learn about communication.
[00:13:33] Speaker A: So much learning.
[00:13:34] Speaker B: What are the ground rules of, you know, having roommates and I think, you know, being in a new space, I think generally like city, a new town, it's huge. It's huge. And I genuinely wish I had had this before I started my career and that's why I started it Is there wasn't a space exactly for me that my gut check was like, oh, that's the college, or that's the place that I want to go.
[00:14:04] Speaker A: You looked into colleges?
[00:14:06] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, I did a little bit. And then Mia Michaels saw me at NYCDA Nationals and ended up hiring me for a project from there when I was 17, 18.
Or else maybe I would have focused a little bit more on the college route.
[00:14:20] Speaker C: Got it.
[00:14:21] Speaker B: But I would say here, you know, there's about 100 guest choreographers that come in the 10 months. And then we have all of us resident staff, we have all the agencies, Cirque and Disney and Royal and all these different companies coming in.
So in my mind, and after talking to a lot of studio owners, a lot of parents, a lot of teachers, just the community in general and other teachers like us, you know, what's the ideal time?
What's the ideal amount of time? And I think 10 months of dancing five days a week and other classes and courses on entrepreneurship and careers and photo shoots and styling, all those things.
[00:14:58] Speaker A: And like full blown cinema scale making of.
[00:15:02] Speaker B: They're in a production studio.
[00:15:04] Speaker A: This is, I am looking around you guys at gear that I see see on professional film sets. This is unparalleled in any dance studio in the world. I can safely say that, like, this is absurd. The environment that I'm in.
And knowing that just on the other side of this wall, there's a ballet class. There's a ballet class happening. That blows my mind in half.
[00:15:27] Speaker B: Yeah, that's, you know, that's the beauty of it. My brother Johnny and I, who's behind camera right now, Johnny's my younger brother and my mom has her dance studio like 20 seconds down that way on the right, which is where Cy1 started.
And we've always dreamed of, like, if we had a studio someday, what would it be like? How would we build it? What would the colors be? What would the lighting be? You know, what would the cameras be like? So, you know, to have to have that as a student into on day one, just kind of like be thrown into it.
Over time, it becomes normal.
[00:16:02] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:16:03] Speaker B: And I think it's. If you want to be a professional dancer, especially in the commercial worlds, being comfortable with it is. Is huge because sometimes, like I remember first moving to LA and a camera came out at a millennium class and I blacked out.
[00:16:17] Speaker A: Full choke. Full choke.
[00:16:19] Speaker B: I thought I was gonna pass out. I'm like, ah, I'm just trying to like finish the combo. I don't know what I'm doing.
And that was like, in 2000.
Maybe like nine.
[00:16:29] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:16:30] Speaker B: Or ten.
[00:16:30] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[00:16:31] Speaker B: So to now be in a space where we have all this incredible gear and to share it with the students and to give them production classes and talk about it more. Yeah, I. I do think it's one of one, because we're the one on the ground running it. As artists, as dancers, we know what we would have wanted and what, you know, through conversations, what the current generation now is interested in and what they want to focus on.
[00:16:54] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:16:55] Speaker B: Balancing that with what we think is important.
[00:16:57] Speaker A: Yo, and Johnny and I were talking, too. Another huge benefit is that although CLI has grown, like, exponentially, it's still a small and lean enough team that you guys can pivot really fast if we have a new idea tomorrow. Like me recording this podcast today was the idea that I had on Tuesday and Thursday. Like, it's still quick enough. Like, there's no giant board of directors that needs to approve a big thing. And the mobility that you have in terms of special programs, in terms of special opportunities or offers, or the ability to make something or change something fast. You guys are so good at that.
[00:17:37] Speaker B: Thank you.
[00:17:38] Speaker A: It's a hugely attractive quality for me and the type of projects that I like to be involved in, so I'm thrilled by that.
[00:17:46] Speaker B: And because you get to walk in and every day is a new day, it is not like, you know, Groundhog Day.
[00:17:53] Speaker A: Creative life.
[00:17:54] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:17:55] Speaker A: This is a. It's a beautiful mirror for the actual life that people will be living once conservatory or your college program is complete. Is. It's not going to be copy paste the same every day. So I think this is setting people up really well for that.
I am excited to offer some of the things that all of my training didn't prepare me for and that no dance class has prepared people for. And that is the. The mental component of being a creative person in the world, which, at a
[00:18:26] Speaker B: certain point, you know, is 80 plus percent of what we're doing. Because if this isn't, you know, connected to this, then, yeah, it goes out. It goes out the door.
[00:18:39] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:18:39] Speaker C: Or it.
[00:18:39] Speaker A: Or it. Or it is less enjoyable while you're in it.
A lot of the tools that I've learned for managing my mind around big decisions, rejection, my relationships, my kind of ability to schedule my life, I think that's another thing that what CLI does to an insane degree is schedule your world full of important and epic stuff.
But once you get into the world and there's nobody scheduling your life with epic and important stuff. It can be really challenging to find a sense of worth and purpose. And so one of the things I'm excited to extend is the ability to self direct, to self motivate, to self manage your mind, and to keep the things that worked about CLI a part of your daily life. Post cli.
[00:19:34] Speaker B: Some advice I give to students who are really nervous moving to LA or New York. And they're like, where do I even start? I'm like, a budget and a schedule would be a great place is really like, I wish I had done that sooner.
[00:19:46] Speaker A: Good call, my friend.
[00:19:47] Speaker B: Like, look at the classes. Even just a mock month or a mock week and then kind of, you know, add three more of those to see what the consistent class schedule would look like. You know, a little bank of money for the pop up classes or workshops that happen that might be, you know, $60 instead of, you know, 25, which.
[00:20:06] Speaker A: Can we just talk about the cost of dance class in the world right now?
[00:20:10] Speaker C: Wow.
[00:20:11] Speaker A: When you told me you have 100 guest faculty on top of the additional faculty, it is a deal to be training here versus to be training in the professional world.
[00:20:22] Speaker B: I tried, I tried to do the cl like per class. Like, you know, I don't want to say it right now because it's not exact, so I don't want to mess it up.
[00:20:30] Speaker A: But it is definitely Costco, right? Like we're paying wholesale.
[00:20:34] Speaker B: It's, it's, it's, it's a lot different than taking a singular class at a major studio in LA or New York.
And to me, I'm, you know, I get to curate incredibly talented choreographers and people that I still am fans of look up to. Like when y' all enter the building, like, it lights up my world and everyone's world in here. And I think, you know, having, you know, about four to six guests per week, it feels like I'm in LA or New York when I enter the building.
[00:21:02] Speaker C: Oh, cool.
[00:21:03] Speaker B: And then I walk outside and we're in Southampton, Massachusetts, and it's a whole
[00:21:06] Speaker C: different walk outside and there's a trail,
[00:21:09] Speaker A: there's a pond, there are dogs, there's like colonial churches and all sorts. It's so nostalgic. Driving around here is my jam. I, by the way, became a member of the Co op. You did the grocery store? Yeah, I'm a full stakeholder now. So I've, I've officially, I'm officially a local because.
[00:21:27] Speaker B: Have you eaten the filet mignon there? No, get the filets. My kids know the difference. They're like, oh, is this. Oh, that's true. Is this co op?
And if it's not, they're like, I don't think it's co op. It's kind of chewy. They're like, oh, it's. Yeah. I don't see any other grocery store right now to throw them under the bus. I'm so riveted. That's crazy. You gotta get this.
[00:21:45] Speaker A: I love.
[00:21:45] Speaker B: It's worth it.
[00:21:47] Speaker A: Did you know, also, fun fact.
I feel so strongly about Tim Hortons that I also have steak in Tim Hortons.
[00:21:54] Speaker C: Steak.
[00:21:54] Speaker A: I have. I should say of steak.
[00:21:56] Speaker B: I have a flamingon in Tim Hortons.
[00:21:58] Speaker A: I have steak stock in Tim Hortons. That's how much I love Canada and Tim Hortons.
[00:22:02] Speaker B: You know, I. I like it a lot, too. I'm going to be honest, though, like,
[00:22:06] Speaker A: not a great investment opportunity for you.
[00:22:08] Speaker B: For me, personally, you know, I would go with something local here.
[00:22:12] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah.
[00:22:13] Speaker B: Tim Hortons is, like, equivalent to a Dunkin Donuts. Is that going to offend you?
[00:22:17] Speaker A: Like, do they need my help? No, they're fine.
[00:22:20] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:22:20] Speaker A: But I just, like, I felt really strongly about it.
[00:22:22] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:22:23] Speaker A: Okay. What are you most excited about for next year?
[00:22:26] Speaker B: Whoo.
That's.
That is packed in. There's a lot packed into that.
[00:22:34] Speaker A: Three things that you're most excited about.
[00:22:35] Speaker B: Three things. I'm gonna start off with you, and I'm gonna start off also with Andy J being director of hip hop.
Just fascinated by the way she teaches her choreography.
She's just like mama bear, too. And, like, you know, the tough love she gives to the students. I just feel. Feel like we are going to come in so grounded.
[00:22:58] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:22:59] Speaker B: I think there's so much power to strong women. I've always had incredibly strong women around me. And that's honestly, I think one of the reasons why I feel so grounded in my life and have since I was young. My mom is my dance teacher and mentor. My nana, who still shows up at the studio. I don't know if she's come to your class yet this week.
[00:23:17] Speaker A: I haven't seen her this week.
[00:23:18] Speaker B: Okay. She will probably stop in at some point.
[00:23:20] Speaker A: It's just Thursday, though. We've got three more days.
[00:23:22] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, she'll probably stop in. Mia Michaels. There's just been a lot of strong women in my life, so I think having both of you come in is going to be so grounding and powerful and exciting. All the things.
[00:23:34] Speaker A: Thank you.
[00:23:36] Speaker B: And every year, we kind of play with shifting up the curriculum a little bit, whether it Be like, okay, this past year, this went really well, but we feel like we lagged a little bit in February or March. Can we shift some things around? We call it our schedule outline.
[00:23:52] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:23:53] Speaker B: So sometimes shifting those things, like this past year, we rehearsed for our shows right before the show instead of months before, and then coming back to rehearse those pieces. And the flow of that after auditions, it's like this new surge of energy. It feels like a new chapter in the semester.
[00:24:09] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:24:10] Speaker B: So things like that might seem small on paper, but make a huge impact on the energy and the flow of the year.
[00:24:17] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:24:17] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:24:18] Speaker B: So we're really, really figuring out, you know, through a lot of conversations and meetings every day, all day, what is the best thing for the students? What is the best thing for us, the entire conservatory, for the flow of the season. And I think after five years, you know, we're really honing in to what those, you know, 36.
[00:24:34] Speaker A: What that 10 months really looks like.
10 months for how many hundred people?
[00:24:39] Speaker B: There is 280 students coming, same as CY5.
[00:24:42] Speaker A: Okay. And they're split into how many groups?
[00:24:44] Speaker B: Six.
[00:24:44] Speaker A: And how do the tracks work? How do people choose what they're. How to target the training for their interests?
[00:24:52] Speaker B: Yes. So we do surveys with the students before they arrive. Kind of like a get to know you.
And then we're going to do another one in the fall to help align them with the mentor that suits them best for their career goals. So every student gets paired with a mentor. Obviously, you know about this. You were a mentor this past year, and. Yeah, they're in a group of like, 22 to 25 other students that are aligned with those career goals.
And so that. That's a big part of it as well. Yeah, but there's kind of. Yeah, there's so many pieces to be excited about. This coming season, I'm starting the process of getting to know all the students names, where they're from, what their interests are. That's a big part of my summer. Yeah, that usually starts mid July here.
Johnny just built me an incredible app, which you got to see. You saw it?
[00:25:40] Speaker A: I saw it.
[00:25:41] Speaker B: Yo, I'm obsessed. I'm obsessed.
[00:25:44] Speaker A: Listen, so Teddy and I, behind the scenes, are going to be competing with each other to remember your names and faces and interests and talents and things.
[00:25:54] Speaker B: There's a leaderboard and Johnny's winning board
[00:25:56] Speaker A: and trophies, and we're going to. I'm coming for you because, listen, one of the stories I'm rewriting about myself is that I am bad with names.
When I tell myself that I'm bad at names, I don't feel any pressure to remember your name because I'm telling myself in believing that I'm bad with names. But when I tell you that I am becoming a person who's really good
[00:26:18] Speaker B: at names, I love this.
[00:26:19] Speaker A: Who's scary good at names. And then I have software like this. Like Johnny has talked me through.
[00:26:26] Speaker B: He like showed me it looks like duolingo.
[00:26:28] Speaker A: It is duolingo for human, for cycling, for the people that we'll be spending the next 10 months with so that you don't feel like one in 500.
You're one of one. And I know that because I duolingo to your face and name and interests and talents.
[00:26:44] Speaker B: You know, it is.
[00:26:45] Speaker A: I'm so jacked about that.
[00:26:46] Speaker B: It is. To me, the most important thing is realizing that every single student, even though when people look at the program, they're like, oh, it's a really big program to me. I'm like, I used to travel 40 something weekends to conventions, see thousands of dancers, go to hundreds of studios for two days at a time.
And so 280 to me when I put all of my attention, like, I don't travel and teach at studios anymore. This is my baby. This is what I do all the time. So it is so cool to expand your heart on a deeper level with 280 people.
And it's not a number. They are individuals with creative minds, career goals, just, you know, just like beating lives. And it's like putting the care and time into every single one of them is. Is an honor. Yeah. So this, this process that we're doing with the app, it just elevates it and I think it's going to make it really fun for all the resident staff to kind of starting now.
[00:27:48] Speaker A: Yeah, like what, what's the day today? July something.
Oh, by the time we start, I will know everybody's name.
[00:27:54] Speaker B: Let's go, Dana.
[00:27:55] Speaker A: I guarantee on in the Heights, I learned 305 names. We hired 305 dancers for that film and I did not retain 100 or 305 names. But in the moment, especially on set, when you need to say Sabrina, scoot two inches to your left.
[00:28:14] Speaker B: Correct.
[00:28:15] Speaker A: Versus orange shirt. Orange shirt. Like on set. Come on. That's crazy. It really helps to know a name. And again, and they won't think my life. I've struggled with this because of like what you mentioned. We travel a lot. There's a lot of people.
[00:28:30] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:28:31] Speaker A: But I want this to be one of my Strengths and watch me.
[00:28:37] Speaker B: All this.
[00:28:38] Speaker A: I'm so excited.
[00:28:39] Speaker B: That's the type of confidence to go into anything. Like sometimes there is a little bit of a mind trick. Yeah.
[00:28:44] Speaker A: Historically this, but now I'm becoming a person who this. Yeah, that is, that's the work, my friend.
[00:28:51] Speaker B: You know, it comes down to a point too of like, are you. I say to myself, like, I'm not giving myself an option. There's no option to not know. There's only one option, and that is to know every single student's full name.
[00:29:04] Speaker C: Wow.
[00:29:05] Speaker A: Work. Okay.
[00:29:05] Speaker B: Full name.
[00:29:06] Speaker A: Okay, okay, okay, I hear you.
[00:29:07] Speaker B: One last name and spelling.
[00:29:11] Speaker A: This is why I actually have a person for quality control on the podcast who looks at every time everything I write and is like, oops, nope, that's not right. Because I know this about myself.
Mildly dyslexic. There are things happening behind the scenes. But anyways, I love this internal goal that you and I are sharing.
[00:29:29] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:29:30] Speaker A: And the goal to make an impact on.
For me, it's, yes, the individual's lives.
But for me, it's also, I want to make an impact on the workforce. I want for the world, directors, filmmakers, producers, moviegoers, to think of dance and revere dance as high art, as like the way that we think of athletes, the way that we pay athletes. I want to create a workforce that is worthy of that praise, that is worthy of above scale fees. And being here, I think gives me a really good fighting chance of being able to make a huge impact like that.
[00:30:11] Speaker B: Huge impact.
[00:30:12] Speaker A: I told you on one of our recent calls, I was on set recently and as a dancer and one of the dancers said something to the director that I flagged as unsavory.
And in my mind I was like, oh, that's a lesson at cli. Okay.
[00:30:33] Speaker B: It's all those little.
[00:30:34] Speaker A: On my clock. Nobody that comes up through here under my directorship will be saying things like that on a set. Okay, Got it. Noted.
[00:30:43] Speaker C: Great.
[00:30:44] Speaker B: And I think it's all those real life scenarios that you can talk from experience.
[00:30:49] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:30:50] Speaker B: And to me, you know, it's one thing to think about how to do something, it's another thing to actually do it.
[00:30:57] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:30:57] Speaker B: And to live through that experience and know where your mind was at, you know, throughout, you know, all the different stories. You could talk for the rest of your life about all the things you've experienced so far. And I think, you know, little, little moments like that that you're going to share with them. And big moments I think are so interesting as well, where it doesn't feel like textbook. You're reading out of a textbook, but it is like lived experience.
[00:31:21] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:31:22] Speaker B: For me, that's part of the why. Part of the reason why I feel like I've gotten to learn so much is from those type of stories.
[00:31:28] Speaker A: The sticky, contextual, personal bits.
[00:31:31] Speaker B: It stays.
[00:31:32] Speaker A: It stays. I think I always get excited about creating my lesson plans for convention weekends. And I've gotten very good in teaching history, specifically, like names and dates of things at connecting those to story and context makes them more easy to remember. I've got kids that are graduated and say, oh, my God, when I was a junior, you taught me that Don Campbellock created locking in the early 70s when the Vietnam War was happening and blah, blah, blah. And they're telling me this and I'm like, remember?
[00:32:01] Speaker B: Yeah, it works.
[00:32:01] Speaker C: It works.
[00:32:02] Speaker A: When you make something sticky and having it be personal, having it be lived, is part of it, but the other part is making it sticky for them.
My experience of moving to la, I could tell them every word of how that happened and they could recreate it to the T and it wouldn't work because the time is different, because they're different. So my personal stories are helpful in giving sticky context, but that can't be all that we do. I think being able to zoom out, being able to pivot fast, being tapped into their desires and needs is what will make this program an epic success.
[00:32:41] Speaker B: Yeah, it's.
[00:32:42] Speaker A: Yes, it's partially my experience and that I am still a working person experiencing how I want and want not, want not for the industry to be operating. But the other part is the them, like, they're so important. And I at just the small handful of names that I've seen on this list. I am very excited, my friend. Oh, it's gonna be sharing this space.
[00:33:02] Speaker B: Incredible year. Incredible year.
[00:33:04] Speaker A: Mutual enthusiasm, mutual excitement.
[00:33:06] Speaker B: Yay.
[00:33:11] Speaker A: Okay, I think that's all the time we have for today because I have to go teach the greens. What?
[00:33:16] Speaker C: How old is green?
[00:33:18] Speaker B: They are 16.
[00:33:19] Speaker A: Okay. Greens. Green means 16s.
I had yesterday the teals for the first time. 10 and 11.
We had so much fun. Mentally. I am 10 and 11.
[00:33:31] Speaker B: You're doing the music video.
[00:33:32] Speaker A: I'm doing the music video for them. Be on the lookout for that, my friends, because that's going to be a riot.
But for now, Teddy, thank you for what? What?
[00:33:39] Speaker C: What?
[00:33:39] Speaker B: You're doing Men in Black.
[00:33:40] Speaker A: I'm doing Men in Black. We got them all sunglasses.
[00:33:42] Speaker C: Stupid.
[00:33:43] Speaker A: It's really somebody. Somebody raised their hand in class yesterday and they were like, Can I wear a suit? I was like, they asked that? Yeah. I was like, you have a suit. She was like, my brother does. We're about the same size.
[00:33:52] Speaker B: I was like, yeah, bring this suit. I can't wait to see it.
[00:33:57] Speaker A: I'm so excited.
[00:33:58] Speaker B: I love you so much.
[00:33:58] Speaker A: I love you so much. Thank you for having this quick chat. Thank you, friend, listener, viewer for watching.
Get out into the world or get over to cli, but no matter where you go, keep it very funky.
[00:34:10] Speaker C: Dance is produced by me with the help of many big, big, big, big Love to our executive assistant and editor Riley Higgins. Music is by Max Winnie, logo and brand design by Bri Reitz. Our communications team consists of Ori Vajadares and Sydney Richardson, and we've got extra help from LMU intern Carly Clayton.
If you're digging the podcast, please leave a review or rating. Also, if you want to connect with me and the many marvelous members of
[00:34:37] Speaker A: the Words that Move me community, visit dancepluspodcast.com if you're curious to know more about me and all the stuff I
[00:34:43] Speaker C: do outside of the podcast, visit thedanawilson.com.
