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29. Artistry Meets Opportunity at Etoile Dance Competition with Carrie Euker
113 Plays2 months ago
Carrie Euker has danced professionally with Milwaukee Ballet, David Taylor Dance Theatre, Seven Dancers and Missouri Contemporary Ballet. She is the Founding Artistic Director of Etoile Dance Competition and currently a full time faculty member at the Boston Ballet School.
In this episode, Carrie gives us a sneak peek behind the scenes of Etoile Dance Competition, a concert dance competition focused on artistry, inclusivity, and meaningful networking opportunities in the dance world. We learn what led Carrie to start her own dance competition and what sets Etoile apart in the competition space. If you are curious about the value of dance competitions or looking for one more aligned with your goals, this episode is for you!
Key Moments:
- Early dance training [1:46]
- How Carrie decided to attend college for dance [2:36]
- Her transition from college student to professional dancer [3:34]
- Starting the School of Missouri Contemporary Ballet [8:48]
- How Carrie balances all the aspects of her career and personal life [12:09]
- Carrie’s favorite roles from her professional career [13:31]
- Her teaching philosophy [14:26]
- Why Carrie decided to start her own dance competition [16:38]
- What sets Etoile apart from other dance competitions [18:30]
- What Carrie sees needs to change about competition dance culture [24:33]
- Her biggest piece of advice for dancers pursuing a career [36:02]
Connect with Carrie & Etoile Dance Competition:
ETOILE DANCE COMP WEBSITE: www.etoilecomp.com
ETOILE INSTAGRAM: instagram.com/etoiledancecomp
Links and Resources:
Get your copy of The Ultimate Audition Guide
Set up ticketing for your next event with DRT (Make sure to mention that The Brainy Ballerina sent you!)
1-1 Career Mentoring: book your complimentary career call
Let’s connect!
My WEBSITE: thebrainyballerina.com
INSTAGRAM: instagram.com/thebrainyballerina
Questions/comments? Email me at caitlin@thebrainyballerina.com
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Transcript
Networking and Introduction to Podcast
00:00:00
Speaker
It's our supportive atmosphere and our positive atmosphere. I want the emphasis to be on educating and nurturing dancers, as well as helping the dancers and teachers network. Networking was always something that I was naturally pretty good at, and it just comes in handy. Dancers a lot of times meet other dancers at summer programs, and I ran into some of my summer program dance friends in college, and then later at auditions. So the dance world is so small, so I wanna help them start their networking.
00:00:31
Speaker
I'm Caitlin, a former professional ballerina turned dance educator and career mentor. And this is the brand new ballerina podcast. I am here for the aspiring professional ballerina who wants to learn what it really takes to build a smart and sustainable career in the dance industry. I'm peeling back the curtain of professional dance world with open and honest conversations about the realities of becoming a professional dancer. Come along to gain the knowledge and inspiration you need to succeed in a dance career on your terms.
Carrie Euchre's Dance Journey Begins
00:01:05
Speaker
Hello and welcome to the Brainy Ballerina podcast. I'm your host, Caitlin Sloan, and I am joined today by Carrie Euchre. Carrie has danced professionally with Milwaukee Ballet, David Taylor Dance Theater, Seven Dancers, and Missouri Contemporary Ballet. She's the founding artistic director of a 12 dance competition and currently a full-time faculty member at the Boston Ballet School.
00:01:26
Speaker
Carrie is also one of my dear friends and probably the most mentioned person on this podcast. and So I'm so glad we're finally able to sit down and have a conversation together. Hi, Carrie. Hi, thanks for having me. Of course. Let's start from the beginning how I always start. Why did you take your very first dance class? I took my first dance class because I have two older sisters and they danced. So I just wanted to do whatever they did.
00:01:52
Speaker
What was your training like growing up? It was pretty well rounded and more, I guess you'd call it recreational. My teacher that I started out with and and had my entire 14 years of training was Kathy Nelson. She was a former racquet. The training was really strong in tap and jazz.
00:02:11
Speaker
And of course ballet was extremely valued as well. And then as I got a little older and more interested in ballet, I started taking ballet at other studios to kind of supplement that training. And then by high school, I was pretty into the ballet, but not at all willing to give up the other styles either. So my training was pretty well-rounded. And then how did you decide to attend college for dance?
00:02:38
Speaker
Well, my parents were kind of like, you're going to college, and which was a good decision. I wasn't ready to go out into the professional dance world yet anyways. And education is, you know, highly valued in my family as well. So there was no question ever that I was not going to go to college. So the question was, do I major in dance? Can I double major? Where should I do that? I was very lucky. One of my teachers brought me with her. She taught at Interlochen.
00:03:06
Speaker
And she brought me with one summer, I had to audition and everything, but got in, went up to Interlochen and was essentially recruited by Tana Hunter at Mercyhurst. And I ended up going to Mercyhurst for dance. I guess it was sort of luck how I ended up there and majoring in dance. I did do some other auditions for dance majors and everything, but the Mercyhurst thing just sort of fell into place and ended up being a great place for me too.
00:03:33
Speaker
After college, what was your transition into a professional career like?
Transition to Professional Dance Career
00:03:38
Speaker
Oh, gosh. That senior year of college was full of auditions and road trips and cattle calls, videos being sent out via VHS tape.
00:03:52
Speaker
and not a lot happening in terms of getting anything, like getting jobs or anything. So what I ended up doing, I had previously gone to the Milwaukee Ballet School Summer Intensive a couple times before. So I made plans to attend that six-week intensive again, and that's where you audition for the second company. At that point, I was like, okay, if I don't get into the second company, I'm going to chiropractic school. I had my application turned into another. I didn't know that.
00:04:22
Speaker
Yeah, so yeah, I kind of joke around with my chiropractor that chiropractic was my backup plan. you are so So I did the six week intensive and ended up getting a spot in MB2 and went there. So I spent two years in MB2. And from there, it was just again, lots of auditioning, figuring out next steps and Everything sort of seemed to fall into place for me. I think dancing professionally is a lot of luck. It's a lot of networking. It's about being in the right place at the right time, who you know, and just going with that. I didn't really have a great plan. Let's see, after MB2, again, we had gone to all kinds of cattle call auditions in Chicago. It was actually a lot of fun. We had fun doing it. But I ended up with a job in Denver with this smaller, newer company called Seven Dancers.
00:05:12
Speaker
And I was thrilled because I was getting paid, I don't know, I can't remember what it was, like a little bit more than I was making it at MB2. And so I was like, yes, this is great. And then I remember being so upset because I got this call from the director saying, oh, we just wanted to let you know that like due to funding, we have to put off our season until January, which was really only like four months later. But to me, I was like,
00:05:38
Speaker
Oh my gosh, this is so devastating. What am I going to do? My moving truck comes on Tuesday and I was sitting at dinner. I was out at like rock bottom on the patio in Milwaukee on the river eating and was kind of like lamenting to a friend like, I don't know what I'm going to do, blah, blah, blah. And and then this bird pooped on my head in the middle of dinner and I was like, oh my gosh, it's a good omen. I have to go to Denver. I'm going anyways.
Growth as a Dance Educator
00:06:05
Speaker
and so My friend was like, okay, most people would be really upset that they just got pooped on, but you're happy about this. So I went to Denver and I ended up working out, getting some teaching hours at the studio that the company was affiliated with. So I'd be able to pay my rent.
00:06:21
Speaker
They had adult classes three mornings a week that I could take for free. And then I also went and took some open classes in Boulder and was able to keep up my training. And then the ballet mistress there told me to audition for the David Taylor Nutcracker because they hire a lot of extras for their Nutcracker. And so that's how I ended up.
00:06:41
Speaker
with David Taylor. So again, it was just sort of like luck just really flying by the seat of my pants a little bit and just seeing what was in store. And then I ended up just loving my three years in Denver. And that was also when I had a really great opportunity to be mentored in terms of teaching by a couple people Stephanie Prosenjak was one and Jocelyn Labson was another. I learned so, so much about teaching. I always loved teaching. I had natural ability for it, like liked the classroom management aspect of it. But in terms of, you know, getting into the nitty gritty and ballet training and what's age appropriate and how the progression works, Jocelyn was just so helpful in that. I got a ton of experience there too. Like they threw me into all these classes and
00:07:29
Speaker
It was totally awesome, not to mention awesome performance opportunities as well. So I had a really great time there. And then I was just kind of looking for the next step artistically and started auditioning again. My backup plan at that point, if I didn't get any other company jobs, I really wanted to change it up. And so my backup plan was I was going to move to l LA and stay on my friend's couch and give the commercial and an industry a whirl because I had made some connections through seven dancers in that aspect too. So that was my backup plan.
00:08:00
Speaker
Thankfully I didn't have to do that backup plan cause I don't think my parents really would have approved of that, but I was, you know, in my late twenties at the time. So anyways, but Karen Grundy gave me a job at Missouri Contemporary Ballet. And when I went there and I did the audition, the rep, I was like, yes, this is so fun. This is kind of bringing back my jazz training and the point work was really hard. And so.
00:08:27
Speaker
I was excited about that. And MCB, just that was where I really, really felt I blossomed as a professional. I felt like I had arrived. And that was just a really great home for me in terms of performing and dancing. and then That brought on so many other opportunities too. When I was at MCB, Karen approached me and she was like, so you're getting your MBA. How would you like to start a school? And I'm like, well, I'm not done yet. I don't know. I don't know. No, that's a good idea. And she's like, no, it's a great idea. We're going to start a school. You're going to be the director. I'm like,
00:09:02
Speaker
Okay, so we did and that was awesome. I totally learned as I went, but I had Karen her support and she was backing me up. It was just a really, really cool experience to start something from the ground up. From there, we, you know, we started all kinds of programming, like the partnership with the boys and girls club.
00:09:22
Speaker
dance reach and then dance ability which then of course when you took over totally made that flourish and kept it going and it was just so awesome to be part of the beginnings of all that and get that experience. I think it served me well now because now I get to I get to work in City Dance here in Boston and at any rate after dancing professionally I started my family, directed Youth ballet, continued teaching, then found myself here in Boston. And now I teach on full-time faculty at Boston Ballet School and direct A12. That's my story. And I was saying to me before he started talking, you are so multifaceted. You've done so many things that I was like, I don't even really know.
00:10:06
Speaker
how to organize my thoughts around what I want to ask you because I have so many questions about
Versatile Career and Backup Plans
00:10:11
Speaker
your career. You always had other things you wanted to do. You've always had this brain that's like, I gotta try different things, had backup plans. Is that something that's just innate for you? Did you learn that? Oh, gosh, I have no idea. I think when you go into the arts, it's kind of drilled into you from maybe non-artists, like you better have a backup plan. What happens if you break your leg or something? And it's kind of horrible to think, but my backup plans were always sort of dance related. Like even when I was wanting to go to chiropractic school, I was interested in it because of dance and would have probably
00:10:51
Speaker
worked with dancers somehow had I gone that route. So I don't think I ever planned on getting out of the dance field altogether, but just sort of like keeping options open and also just being open to things too that were opportunities that came my way. So whatever was presented, you know, just be ready for it. When it comes to dance ticketing solutions, I have tried them all and honestly, none can hold a candle to DRT, the premier online ticketing provider for dance studios.
00:11:19
Speaker
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00:11:40
Speaker
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00:12:03
Speaker
How have you been able to balance all
Teaching Philosophy and A-12 Competition
00:12:05
Speaker
of this? Because like, for instance, at one point you are doing your and MBA and running a school and dancing professionally. You know, now you have full-time teaching, your own a dance competition, you have children. What is the secret to doing everything? Staying off Facebook. No, I'm just kidding.
00:12:22
Speaker
Social media is a time suck. Yeah. No, I think it's just time management skills. And now that I have kids, it's kind of like, I don't want to say my standards are lower in terms of getting things done. But i I feel like I live in a state of like, well, this project isn't done, this one's not done, but it can wait and sort of bouncing around from project to project a little bit more and just sort of accepting the fact that like, not everything is going to be complete all at once. My house is not always going to be clean. The laundry is never going to be done. Just focusing on what needs to be focused on and multitasking, prioritizing, that kind of thing. So I don't know. Now at this point, it's a little bit like living in a constant state of craziness with the kids, but you know how that is. Yeah, your baseline gets a little different for how much like craziness you accept. Whereas before I would have been like, Oh my gosh, my house is a mess. And now I'm just like, it is what it is.
00:13:19
Speaker
Exactly. yeah Do you have a ah favorite role that you danced or like favorite moment from your professional career? Oh my gosh. I always loved the roles where I got to be like a little over the top, whether it be being funny or like a death scene. So there was one, ah what was that piece called? Nigel and Mary. It was choreographed by Karen. And at the end, I got to die on the bed.
00:13:50
Speaker
That was so fun.
00:13:54
Speaker
I loved that moment. That was a good time. I loved originating the role of Alice in Karen's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. That was a lot of fun to originate a role with the brand new score by Tom Andes. That was just so cool to be part of that.
00:14:09
Speaker
Yeah, I want to go back into the teaching a little bit because I kind of think this is going to lead us into the competition conversation. But I'm curious, when you're teaching and when you're working with students, what is your teaching philosophy? Nowadays, my teaching philosophy is more about instilling confidence and self-discipline in the students and teaching to the whole person while passing on my love of the art firm. My teaching philosophy, I think when I was younger,
00:14:38
Speaker
would have been more like technique oriented and that kind of approach. And now I'm like, yes, I'm teaching ballet technique, but I'm teaching a person and not all of these little people are going to go on to dance professionally, but we can create an appreciation for the art form and grow future arts lovers. But also just these kids get so much confidence from ballet and it's so wonderful to watch and they learn self-discipline and just how to be respectful in a learning environment. They carry these skills all throughout their life. So I think my teaching philosophy is way more focused on that aspect. I agree that mine's kind of evolved in that way too, where you start to realize you can't teach the technique without approaching it that way first.
00:15:24
Speaker
You know, you can't get people on board and wanting to be excited about learning if you're not coming at it from the sense of these are individual people who have bad days or who have things going on their life and that we're always taught that like philosophy of leave it at the door and it's almost like Well, what if we just talked about it for a few minutes and then we felt better or we used it? Like how many times have I been having a bad day? And I use that to like fuel my grande allegro or something because it just felt so good to like get it out in that way instead of being like I have to forget about it. Totally. Yes, totally. I had a roommate who was always late to go into work. And so we'd be all mad because we didn't want to be late for work, obviously. And I had the best classes on those days. Right? You can use that. Totally. Yeah. Okay. I want to talk about A12. So you are the artistic director of a competition. And can you just like explain to us a little bit about what A12 is?
00:16:28
Speaker
Yeah, so A-12 is a dance competition with a focus on concert dance styles, so mostly ballet and contemporary and modern. I guess I'll back up to why I started A-12. I saw a need for it when I had a youth ballet that I was directing and we used to go to the Youth America Grand Prix. We loved I guess maybe the pressure of doing that one minute variation in front of an audience on a pretty prestigious stage. They also love the process of learning the variations, which, you know, if you join a classical company, you're not going to always do the principal roles. You're going to do the court work. So it was kind of a nice opportunity to learn a variation like that. Plus the length of them is good. It's a good length for a solo. There were a lot of things to gain from going to this ballet competition, but it wasn't like they were
00:17:21
Speaker
placing or getting jobs at ABT or anything like that. So I was like, wouldn't it be nice to have a competition that incorporated all the bells and whistles of a more mainstream dance competition, which at the time I was also doing a lot of judging. And I thought we need to blend these two aspects together and have a ballet competition that's a little more inclusive with different entry levels and also kind of put the focus on artistry as opposed to being able to do a zillion pirouettes on point. Also, you know, have a place for dancers that are maybe college-bound dancers but not looking to dance professionally or maybe they are after college but not, okay, we're going to ABT or the row of LA right after high school type of thing. And there are tons of dancers. Obviously I was one of those dancers and he went to college too. So I just felt like there was ah like a market for this type of competition. So that's how A-12 was born. What do you think sets A-12 apart from other dance competitions?
00:18:23
Speaker
I hope that it's our supportive atmosphere and our positive atmosphere. I want the emphasis to be on educating and nurturing dancers as well as helping the dancers and teachers network. Networking was always something that I was naturally pretty good at. and it just comes in handy. Dancers a lot of times meet other dancers at summer programs and I ran into some of my summer program dance friends in college and then later at auditions. So the dance world is so small so I want to help them start their networking. I want the competition to be sure it's competitive and dance is competitive. There aren't that many jobs and
00:19:02
Speaker
you know, we're all competing for those same few jobs, but I want it to be supportive and encouraging and positive and uplifting and inspiring and all those things. So I hope that that is what sets A12 apart from other competitions. Yeah. And I think from being a judge and having that opportunity, I think some things from a logistical standpoint that I've noticed, just even the way the critiques are done and having the judges speak live critiques during the piece is really cool. Correct me if I'm wrong, because I haven't been to YAGP in maybe five years. But in my past experience, you're just getting a sheet of like check marks or X's on different things. And then maybe a few sentences if you're lucky. ah Yeah, back, you know, so you're not always getting as much and I really like how you place an emphasis on
00:19:54
Speaker
the corrections and so it's not just did you place or not, you're getting something more out of this experience from judges who have professional valet contemporary modern experience. Right. Yeah. Yeah. I haven't been to YGP in a while either, but that's how it was when I was taking students. And the thing I love about the audio judging is that you can just really get into a lot of detail on something specific. Like maybe it's this first PK Arabesque and you could talk for an entire minute about that PK Arabesque, but I feel like that's
00:20:25
Speaker
valuable feedback, even if that's all you talk about. I think it's great. And you can be you know really articulate or you can you know fire off little things quickly as you see them. So there are different ways you can approach it as a judge. But I also, when I was judging myself, and it wasn't just ballet, it was more all styles that I was judging, but I felt like I really had a voice too. Like maybe if we angle this tilt such that the crotch is not towards the audience, it would be a little more flattering.
00:20:54
Speaker
but to You know, like I felt like I could do some good in the dance world by being able to voice my critiques. It is a skill though. It's hard because you have to.
00:21:04
Speaker
cram a lot into these short variations, but I always enjoyed it myself. I agree and ballet variations are repetitive. So you are seeing the same step like three times in a row. So you can kind of see it the first time and then talk about it the next two times they're doing it and be like right here, that's where I'm talking about it. And you can really see exactly what you're saying. And I really liked to like the last one that I was at in Indianapolis, you gave me the opportunity to talk to the dancers about careers and that kind of thing. And one thing I talked about was even I just took, okay, these were the top five corrections that I gave. You at some point heard me say one of these corrections. So let me explain more what I meant by that. Let me like really expand on that.
00:21:44
Speaker
so that if you hear this, you know exactly. And like the teachers could listen to it too. So they could go back and say, okay, let's work on this thing. The way you've set it up allows you to get so much deeper into it and truly be like mentored for the students as opposed to just like, I did my variation and now what? I think it's just a very well-rounded setup. Does the mere thought of a audition season make your palms start to sweat?
00:22:09
Speaker
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00:22:33
Speaker
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00:22:49
Speaker
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00:23:13
Speaker
Another thing that I would hear or see on like social media on the dance teacher networks would be, oh, we took ballet to this competition and the judge scored us really low on the choreography. Well, talk to Petipa about it. and exactly you're like um And so that was just kind of making me laugh. And so I'm like, well, this is a great place to bring your ballet because we know ballet. The judges are all.
00:23:40
Speaker
obviously very versed in ballet. They're former ballet dancers and current educators, which I also think is important because teaching ballet and doing ballet are two totally different things. So having judges that know what they're watching is very helpful.
00:23:56
Speaker
know what you're watching, and then know how to articulate, here's what you can do to make it better instead of don't fall out of the pirouette. It's like, what if you did this, and that would help fix it. Right. And our judges have done these variations, performed that. They know the choreography in and out. For most of the variations, that feedback is so, so valuable too. What do you think needs to change about competition in dance culture to get people excited about
Evolving Ballet Competitions and Community
00:24:21
Speaker
it?
00:24:21
Speaker
Oh man, that's a really big question. So first of all, the ballet world isn't, not everybody's on board with this competition culture. The landscape of that is sort of changing because it's like, well, you can't compete art, you know, it's, it's art. And then it's also ballet, it's concert dance. It's not meant to be competed. So this is just kind of like a whole concept that.
00:24:47
Speaker
It can be off-putting, I think, to some ballet teachers and performers. However, it's out there. YIGP and some of these other prestigious competitions are here to stay. And with the addition of social media as well, ballet competitions, I don't think, are going anywhere anytime soon. But I think it's a good opportunity for us as educators to sort of get ahold of it. The toxic part of social media, which is like posting your oversplits and that type of thing so I think it's important that as educators we stay ahead of it and that might be through a competition. In terms of the competition culture as far as the mainstream competition culture I think it's just really important to educate our audiences too that dance is not it shouldn't be cutthroat like
00:25:38
Speaker
sabotaging your opponent's type competition. It should be more of a community event as well. So building community, again, back to the networking thing, just being like a more supportive competition. And there are definitely competitions out there that are like that. But I think it's just educating studio owners.
00:25:58
Speaker
on what the goals are for a 12 specifically and making sure that atmosphere is what's being provided. Did you do competitions growing up? Not heavily. I did. You know what? I may have only done one and I got third place. But it was also a convention. It was optional. I didn't go to a competition studio. It was fun. Not everybody wanted to go. It was like a handful of us that went and we took all the classes, which I loved and I remember seeing Joe Rowan perform the dining swan. Wow. Now that I'm thinking back on it, I'm like, oh, that's pretty cool. Yeah. and so yeah But no, I was not a competition kid. Not at all. But I do see the value in it. I think every opportunity to go on a stage is great, because as we know, the stage feels a lot different than the studio.
00:26:50
Speaker
but that's the fun part, getting the audience and the lights and everything in the costumes. Just the opportunity to perform is great and the more practice. You get at it, the better you get. Right. And it's helpful to like going to different place and performing in front of new people or on a different stage than you're used to, because that's going to be a reality as a professional dancer. Like you might be on tour or whatever and have a whole new situation that you have to adapt to quickly. So you're learning how to do that in these situations. And I do appreciate that H.W.A.L., one of the big things that you've always talked about is I want it to be in a theater. I want it to be on a stage with Marley because for people who haven't gone to like some
00:27:28
Speaker
competitions that are maybe more mainstream. But again, not all are like this, but sometimes sometimes you will be like in a ballroom on a set up stage, that's a little rickety, or you'll just be like on a carpeted floor or something like that, where it's not really the same atmosphere as a theater. And that's something I really appreciate too, that it's like, we want this to have the vibe of a professional performance. Right. On the other hand, though, I do have to say there is some benefit to performing on those rickety stages. Because remember, we did some so
00:28:00
Speaker
ah professional i know i was telling you know what I was telling Steve my husband about our South Korea performances and our Goldilocks stage. Remember this? We were trying to find a stage. There was this huge expo center. and so We're like walking around and they're giving us some stage options. so The first one we went to was like this huge gorgeous stage in like the forest almost and it was beautiful but it was wooden and it was monsoon season and there was like holes in the stage but because it had started running. Yeah and Karen was like no we can't dance here and then they're like okay so then they brought us into almost like a lecture hall and showed us like another stage and it was like the size of a queen bed
00:28:46
Speaker
And it was a perfect. ed yeah And she's like, no. So it's kind of like it's like the Goldilocks. like It was, no, it's too big. No, it's too small. And then we went to the final stage we ended up performing at, and we walked up to it. And it was the exact same size of our studio. It was Marley. And we were like, yeah, this is the way we need to dance. And they were like, oh. They're like, it's kind of a weird floor. We don't know. And we're like, no, this is a ballet floor. This is perfect. This is it. Yeah. But I mean.
00:29:14
Speaker
You never know and it was like what if there was no other option like we might have ended up dancing and like you know we had the experience of having to put the rubber on the pointe shoes to dance on the Woodport Missouri Stars or like that one stage at I don't remember what that community festival was but that yeah like pretty rickety.
00:29:31
Speaker
Yeah, it will happen. and You'll have situations where you're like, this is not the ideal stage. And you're right is, it is good to have that experience to an extent before it gets like dangerous and you're causing physical harm to your body because it's not safe. Right? Exactly. Yeah, like gaping holes are probably not.
00:29:47
Speaker
so
00:29:50
Speaker
and But yes venues for a twelve are pretty important and we've had some adventures there already too but knowing what's safe and what's not is helpful just having that experience as a professional and being able to adapt quickly and.
00:30:05
Speaker
act on the fly, make sure the Marley's taped, that kind of thing. Yes, the goal is to have beautiful theater venues with always Marley, definitely always Marley. That's not negotiable. And having great lights and wings and everything, that whole theater experience is all part of it too. Another thing that's really cool I think is that you have a master class before competition starts. Can you talk about that? Yeah. So the goal of that is to have the master class serve as your stage warmup for the day. So the master classes are on stage usually or in a studio and are taught by usually one of our judges or if not another teacher that's brought in to teach it and it starts the day. So every day there will be a morning master class. Yeah, which is really cool because
00:30:54
Speaker
I've got on stage many times for competitions, not quite feeling great because you have a very limited space to warm up in and you're like in the dressing room trying to do your time dues. And it's it's tough where you have like your two seconds so you can get on the stage and just test the floor or something. So like having that is really nice. Yeah. Warming up in a hallway, like holding onto a wall is just kind of stressful. And of course, yes, dancers have to be able to adapt and yeah make it work. but That's not ideal. Also that community building aspect of it again, too, is taking class with everybody that's there just kind of forms that community bond and gets everybody centered before going on stage, as opposed to like eyeing each other down in the hallways, like, who are you? Who are you? And like you know but and just being able to get on your leg and take that time, take those 90 minutes of ballet class to warm your body up.
00:31:49
Speaker
learn something new from the master teacher, hopefully, and get yourself ready for stage. That educational component is a really big part of it. And I think for me, the benefit of attending competitions, like you said before, is the process before it, and then also the education you get out of it. It's not what awards you get. That's like the smallest part of it. All of this that is baked into it is really, really cool. I've had a lot of questions about awards.
00:32:14
Speaker
lately too. I'll just talk about that. Wow. Yes, please. So we award top overalls. Usually it's a top three and that's the highest scores of the day or weekend. Then we award usually a top three or up to a top 10, no more than that in each age category as well. So no, you don't win money. You don't win cash, no cash prizes. But You can win oftentimes scholarships to various summer intensives. We've partnered with Summer Program Acceptances. You can win a brainy ballerina mentoring session. Yes. There are a lot of lot of different things we've offered and we're building that list as well. I taught in an intensive last summer where there were a few A12 dancers that were there for that reason and that was just like, oh
00:33:10
Speaker
That was such a good moment. I was like, Oh, this is it. It's happening. This is what I want. It's happening. So again, we're looking to help dancers build that network. The awards though, not cash prizes. You will definitely get something out of the networking. It's more meaningful. Like it's the continuation of your career, getting to go to a summer intensive or like you said, meeting someone that in the future.
00:33:33
Speaker
You might see a again, or you'll work with, look at us. We met dancing professionally, but now we've been able to do so many things together since. I've been able to judge for your competition because we know each other and because we have that network. And you're like, yes, I worked with Caitlin. I trust her. I know she'd be good at this. I'll bring her in for this. You don't really know at the time. I wasn't like, I want to be Carrie's friend because someday I'm going to judge for her competition. You know, like, but it's just those kinds of things just kind of happen when you're in the industry. So.
00:34:02
Speaker
This network you're building is really huge. Yeah. I hope that students and also their teachers and directors would take advantage. Reach out to us, reach out to the judges, reach out to me, bring my judges in as guest teachers. I am A-OK with all of that. I love that. so I hope that you know it creates opportunities for all of us, really. In terms of students, I encourage, I know what question is going to come at the end, so I'll try not to get too off base, but but just a little piece of advice for young dancers. Don't be shy. like If you see me at a, I don't know, a summer intensive or whatever, like introduce yourself and say, hey,
00:34:40
Speaker
I know you from a 12 or I did this blah, blah, blah. Like we as adults and educators now, we remember you. We remember students and as a student, I would have been so shy. I never would have said anything to anyone unless there was like a really direct connection, but I wouldn't have just chatted anyone up, but like, I would love it. I love to see what former students are up to or hopefully competitors will reach out and keep us up to date on what they're doing and just that community building and
Advice for Aspiring Dancers
00:35:09
Speaker
networking is so, so important.
00:35:10
Speaker
Yeah, I think that is the key that you've mentioned so many times and just such a huge part of what you're building in the dance world. And so I think that for me is the biggest thing. Like when I look at a twall, I'm proud to be a part of that community and part of that network. And like you said, meet people through it and just continue spreading this knowledge through the dance world beyond just that one day. It's so much bigger than that, and that's what's really exciting about it. Yeah, for sure. Okay, so I know you know I'm going to ask you this. If you had to give aspiring professional dancers one piece of advice, what would you tell them? Okay, I thought about this. I'm going to go with this. Stay well-rounded in your training. Be versatile.
00:35:53
Speaker
You have to be good at all styles and you've got to be ready and open to performing other styles. You can't just train in ballet these days. You've got to train in everything.
00:36:06
Speaker
Modern classes are so important. Don't skip your modern dance classes. Go to modern. Yes, yes. But yes, try tap, try hip hop, try ballroom. Make sure you dabble in everything and just stay well-rounded. And the more styles you do, the more information you can take in. The more open you'll be as a performer and as a dancer, and it'll just serve you well. So make sure you're going to all your classes.
00:36:32
Speaker
Yes, love it. I love it. Okay, Carrie, can you tell us if a dancer is interested in learning more about a twall? How can they find out about it? Yeah, you can head on over to our website, a twallcomp.com or you can follow us on social media or handle is a twall dance comp. And you have how many cities this year that you're going to?
00:36:54
Speaker
Six cities this year. Yeah. We'll be in Indianapolis first in January, and then we're headed back to Baltimore, Boston. We've added Lexington and Erie and Rockford, Illinois, my hometown of Rockford, which I'm really excited about.
00:37:12
Speaker
Which I love too, because whenever you come to Rockford, I get to see you being in medicine. So that's always exciting. Yeah. So if you're here, any of those cities, definitely check it out. And I do like to say too, that you can come with your studio or you can really come as an individual competitor too. You have dancers like that as well. So if it's something where you're like, I just want to go and get another performance opportunity, talk to your teachers about it, of course, first, but that's also a possibility. Absolutely. Yeah. Okay. Amazing. Carrie, thank you so much for this. This was great. Thank you so much for having me.
00:37:44
Speaker
Thank you for tuning into the Brainy Ballerina podcast. If you found this episode insightful, entertaining, or maybe a bit of both, I would so appreciate you taking a moment to leave a rating and hit subscribe. By subscribing, you'll never miss an episode. And you'll join our community of dancers passionate about building a smart and sustainable career in the dance industry. Plus, your ratings help others discover the show too.
00:38:10
Speaker
I'll be back with a new episode next week. In the meantime, be sure to follow along on Instagram at The Brainy Valorina for your daily dose of dance career guidance.