Kick Ball Change Podcast

In this deeply moving episode of Kick Ball Change, we sit down with Taylor Gordon, a Professional performer and accomplished choreographer, to explore the intersection of artistry, resilience, and healing.

Taylor reflects on her career performing around the world while her brother was serving overseas in the military. She shares the profound impact of losing him after he struggled with the invisible wounds of his service and how that heartbreaking experience transformed her life and creative purpose.

Through dance, Taylor found a way to process grief and honor her brother's memory by creating Unpacked, a powerful choreographic work that explores trauma, healing, and the lasting effects of military service on individuals and families.

This conversation is an honest and inspiring reminder that art has the power to tell the stories that words often cannot. Taylor's vulnerability, strength, and commitment to using dance as a vehicle for awareness and healing will resonate with dancers, artists, veterans' families, and anyone who has experienced loss.

Join us for a heartfelt conversation about purpose, resilience, and how creativity can become a path toward healing while inspiring others to find hope through even life's most difficult moments.

https://www.taylorjgordon.com/unpacked

@taylorjgordon.

What does it take to pursue your dreams with courage and confidence? In this inspiring episode of Kick Ball Change, we welcome Angela Elgani, whose incredible story is one of perseverance, resilience, and reinvention.

Angela shares her kick ball changes and the chances she took on herself to audition without knowing anyone, following her passion with courage, and ultimately dancing alongside some of the biggest names in pop music, including the Backstreet Boys and Britney Spears.

She also opens up about one of the most difficult chapters of her life—the loss of her husband—and how she found the strength to rebuild her life with purpose. Today, Angela resides in St. Louis, where she is empowering women through dance, helping them reconnect with their confidence, embrace their authentic selves, and discover the healing power of movement.

This heartfelt conversation is filled with wisdom for dancers, artists, and anyone facing a new beginning. Angela reminds us that success isn't about having the perfect path—it's about trusting yourself enough to take the next step, even when it's uncertain.

Join us for an inspiring conversation about resilience, courage, and the transformative power of dance. Whether you're pursuing a dream, navigating loss, or looking for the confidence to begin again, this episode will leave you feeling empowered to write your own next chapter.

BT reflects on his journey from feeling like he didn't belong to discovering the power of being fully present. He shares how embracing mindset, resilience, and self-belief helped him navigate the "kick-ball-changes" of his career, turning uncertainty into opportunity and healing through life's biggest transitions.

In a true full-circle moment, BT recounts the incredible path from auditioning to dance with the King of Pop to eventually becoming one of Michael Jackson's choreographers—a testament to perseverance, growth, and trusting the process.

Today, BT channels his passion into creating powerful dance films through Spinkick Pictures, where movement becomes a vehicle for storytelling, transformation, and hope. He discusses his collaboration on Amy's Victory Dance, the remarkable story of Amy Jordan. On May 1, 2009, Amy—a former professional dancer based in New York City—was struck and run over by a 15-ton NYC Express bus, leaving her pinned beneath the wheel with devastating injuries that crushed her right leg. As she regained consciousness, her first thought was, "Am I ever going to dance again?" Her second was, "If I survive the night, there will be a Victory Dance."

This conversation is about far more than dance. It's about identity, resilience, purpose, and the courage to stay present through life's most pivotal moments. Whether you're an artist, entrepreneur, athlete, or anyone navigating change, BT's story is a powerful reminder that our greatest transformations often begin when we stop striving to belong and simply allow ourselves to be fully present.

Our students need sensory inputs and at earlier ages. The arts provide tools, as healthy outlets"

Join us on the Kick Ball Change as we welcome Miss Crystal Bacon, a leading Arts Director in North Carolina. She brings us into how she spear-headed changes as an administrator to bring in more arts based programs in the dance schools and local preschools. As a former dancer, she leans into her kick ball change moments of motherhood, and how she embraced them, by stepping into the admin role as she understands the power that the arts can provide.

She is now leading teams, through the support of the State to educate other teachers and parents in the importance of early arts education.

The more children and educators understand the power of the arts, and how they help heal and grow, by allowing both educators and students to lean into them, compassion and kindness will continue to flourish.

What happens if your wild heart envisioned opening a dance studio to provide a nourishing space for others to grow, but you were in your third trimester, expecting your first child?

What if the space you felt connected to was offered as that space you envisioned? Of course you Kick Ball Change full force and sign the lease, then have your beautiful child 10 days later.

That is the journey of this ever talented performing artist, Suzana Stankovic, the owner and director of Wild Hearts PAS.

As a gymnast who was introduced to the beauty of ballet late, she invites us into her wild journey of her kick ball changes, and her mindset of getting through them gracefully.

Suzana "banana" is a mastermind of supporting artists, no matter the age. Her No Label No Limits is a testament to that, as her studio in Astoria, Queens offers classes, performance programs, intensives in the art of dance, music and theater for everyone.

If you have been waiting for a chance to take the next step, let this master artist's journey inspire you to make it happen!

You can follow her studio

https://www.wildheartpas.com/who-we-are

https://www.instagram.com/wildheart_performing_arts/?hl=en

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5SUfPrvMio3gzEGronAasQ

Have you ever felt limited in your own career? Or perhaps one day, on the train ride to your "personal dream" job you decide you want to take Kick Ball Change and PIVOT?

Never let fear lead you is the message from our guest Miss Heather J Wilson in this deeply inspiring second act of her Kick Ball Change. Join us as she guides us into how she CHOOSE to change her path, establishing her own Kick Ball Change, that led her to opening her own companies and dance studios, and how she continues to be a leader in the Dance Education World with Baa Baa Ballet, Grunt if You Understand and educating the next generation of creative talent at Eastern University.

This exploding TWO ACT Podcast should inspire anyone and EVERYONE.

Miss Heather Wilson defies the dance world, and finds creative ways to Kick Ball Change her way through life.

Follow her journey as a young dancer, who was faced with enough kick ball changes to make anyone quit. She pushed right through and found her PIVOT into dance education. The Kick Ball Changes continue from starting Non-profits dance programs, opening dance studio space, navigating heartache and raising power-willed children.

Heather is the director and leader of Baa Baa Ballet https://www.baabaaballet.com/

A comprehensive preschool dance education program, and recently launched her latest project, Grunt if you Understand!

https://www.gruntifyouunderstand.com/

A fundamental program applying visceral learning with science to strengthen young dancers in Ballet.

We hope you are just as inspired after ACT I, you begin to let your kick ball changes move you forward, and not get hung up on them. Sometimes too a kick ball change can last an 8 count or 8 years.

You decide if you get better or bitter.

How do you navigate the path, when the path feels like it falls through?

Tune into this inspiring podcast with Miss Miranda Spada, who realized she was in a BIG kick ball change, but was presented with an opportunity in a moment, and she took the chance, and faced the change, which opened the doors to her heart in what she KNEW she was destined to do.

She is currently the Competition Director at Tonawanda Dance Arts and also directs and runs her own Mentorship Program called L.E.A.D.

This program facilitates the growth of individuals who are looking to enhance their training and work towards pursuing a possible career in dance. She enjoys giving her students opportunities in and out of New York that

enhance their dance journeys. She is involved with the More Than Just Great Dancing Organization under Misty Lown and is also certified in Progressing Ballet Technique (PBT) Levels 1 and 2 as well as ProgressingContemporary Technique. She is also certified in Modules 1, 2 and 3 of Alixa Flexibility. She is

also a Mental Wellness Certified Dance Adjudicator.

Miranda is an adjudicator with many organizations within the Industry including IMPACT Dance Adjudicators, AMP Dance Competition where she also runs and directs their new Ambassador Program, Beyond The Stars, Breakout, Guidance Dance Experience and American Dance Awards. She loves being able to pass on her education and passion to the next generation.

This talented dancer and choreographer did not let the challenges of her Kick Ball Changes to hold her back. Miss Tess Ripepi takes us into her journey of performing and traveling and offers us key insights on WHY it is so important to stay connected. You never know the opportunities that can unfold for you when you show up and ask.

As the Head Coach of Charlotte's Dance Team, Tess  continues to foster a supportive environment for dancers to thrive. She understands the need of community in the dance world, and through her creative guidance, and skillful instruction she has been “leveling up” dancers for several years.

Her journey of “LEVELING UP” led her to opening the doors to the expansive Charlotte , NC training program Level Up Dance. This training program, under the direction of Tess was fostered through her own journey of professional dance and performance training.

Level Up Dance isn't just another dance studio –it’s a launchpad for aspiring dancers aged 5-17 to excel in the entertainment industry.

Our mission is to transform passionate dancers into powerful professionals, offering an array of exclusive opportunities. Experience personalized coaching, diverse classes, and a supportive community. As part of our program, dancers gain access to my NIL (Name Image & Likeness) agency, direct bookings for TV/Film work in the Southeast market, and comprehensive college & post-graduation guidance.

We are proud to support Tess and the expansion of her Level Up Dance Company. Her summer Master Class Series and Ballet Intensive is up and running, with an Open House August 3rd from 11-1pm.

https://www.levelupdance.io/

They also will be hosting a High School Dance Clinic with the Charlotte Dance Team on July 27th!

Email or contact Tess and Level Up for more!

Life is movement and for this Choreographer, Dancer, and Creative Artist, she did just that. From an early age this talented dancer grew through her KBC moments of being "too tall" and " not fitting in". She used her strengths and found her our inner passion as a creative artist. This thriving and talented dancer endured many kick ball changes in NYC, between roomate and bed bug issues, to finding dancers and space to create in.

Lean in to her journey of never giving up on yourself or your art work. Her most powerful work she choreographed, tackles the plastic epidemic in our oceans.

“Plastic Ocean”

The work began as a site-specific commission for the Westbeth gallery in NYC. From there the work was invited to be expanded and performed at the United Nations Headquarters in NYC, and later another version was invited to the Dzul International Dance Festival in Campeche, Mexico. The work consists of dancers moving throughout a sea of plastic bags wearing costumes by Zachary Alexander and dancing to original music by Bettina Sheppard. The visual of the dancers moving in waves throughout the overwhelming amount of plastic is quite striking. The bags almost create a type of water-like movement onstage to dance in, but the gravity of the message creates a bittersweet memorable image for audience members.