Make Dance Fun

After a very long hiatus, we are back!! We are so excited to be here! In this episode, there are three parts! In part one, we share where we were and a little bit of the crazy. In part two, we share where we are now and what has been happening during the summer! And, in part three, we share some goals and where are going! We would love to hear from you, let us know what you are interested in hearing about in future episodes! WOOOO! Happy new dance season everyone! 

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Episode 61 of ourMake Dance Fun Podcast is Part 2 of our A Typical Day in our (Studio) Life. In Episode 56, we covered Mondays and Tuesdays, so this episode will detail what Wednesday, Thursday and Friday look like! 

These last three days of our “normal” work week usually vary more than our Monday and Tuesday schedule, but we do have a general structure, so we are going to do our best to share this with you guys! 

Wednesday: 

• Confetti Meeting led by Shelley around 9:30a.m.  Ellie joins sometimes, too
• Reserve at least a portion of this day for various Confetti projects, marketing campaigns, creative work, brainstorming, creating presentations, working on Camp Confetti depending on time of year
• Work from our office at Annex on any various projects we have going on for Rhythm or Confetti until around 3 or 3:30. 
• Go home at a normal hour on this day and sometimes very early and work from home. This is also a podcast day when time allows! And, we do our podcast recordings from home since we don’t have a quiet area at the studio! 

Thursday:

• Admin Meeting with Shelley and Krista. We are currently working on putting new systems in place and this is requiring extra time, so we typically meet to work on this and/or anything else that Krista or Shelley needs from us.
• Occasional marketing meetings as well!
• Work on our individual to-do lists in Basecamp
• Thursday afternoon/evening - sometimes at Annex and most the time we will end the day at Rhythm for costume meetings or rehearsals. 
• During Competition and Convention Season,  we hold our Spirit Sesh and final rehearsals at Rhythm on Thursdays (usually a late night during competition season). We spend Thursday nights packing up and loading for the weekend as they almost always start early Friday morning. In theory, this is only once per month, but it feels like it’s an every week thing when you are in it!
•  From September - March, we are very busy with our custom costumes from design meetings to searching for fabric, meeting with Beth for our sample meetings and fittings. This takes place on all days, but because Wednesday and Thursday are more flexible, it's most often on those two days! 

Fridays

• Catch all/Catch up day. 
• Hold any necessary meetings with Emily as she’s at the desk most of the day. It’s a day that not too many people are reaching out to us or asking many questions, so we are usually able to get things done.
• Meet with Ellie, our assistant and project manager 
• Confetti Photo and Video Shoots  - If we are having a photo or video shoot, it usually starts mid-late afternoon (when school is out) and goes until we get it done. We almost always start setting up anything we can on Thursday evening, but this has been a challenge that we are still trying to figure out. 
• Crafting and creating walls

Obviously, we adjust each day as needed, but that’s what our weekdays typically look like. We hope you’ve found this to be helpful in some way when mapping out your week!

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In Episode 60 of our Make Dance Fun podcast, we're doing a fun creativity exercise! We're using this fun box that looks like little match sticks called "SPARK YOUR CREATIVITY - 50 Ways to Ignite Bright Ideas!" We all get stuck sometimes, so we love finding “outside the box” ways to get our brains going! 

We each draw 10 different “sparks” included in this kit and discuss what we might do in that situation, or how it could help us in a creative way! We hope that it will ignite your creativity as well! 

1. Dani: Take a walk, tuning in carefully to everything you smell.
2. Becca: List things that inspire you, refer to them when feeling stuck
3. Dani: Destroy something and make a new thing from the remains.
4. Becca: Tune everything else out. Listen to just yourself.
5. Dani: Improvise.
6. Becca: Give yourself a time limit
7. Dani: Take a break from a project; it may help you gain perspective.
8. Becca: Read about or learn something outside your area of expertise.
9. Dani: Make a log of “mistakes”. Try seeing them as strategies.
10. Becca: Look at the situation from a different angle.
11. Dani: Hone your powers of observation.
12. Becca: Take 5 minutes and write down as many new ideas as you can.
13. Dani: Try working in 90 minute creative sprints - take a 30 minute break
14. Becca: Spend 10 minutes a day on a new creative pursuit. Repeat for a week.
15. Dani: Take a risk, failures may teach you more than successes.
16. Becca: Shadow someone creative for a day and see what you pick up.
17. Dani: Find new uses for materials or elements you’d typically toss out.
18. Becca: Turn off your inner critic.
19. Dani: Take a walk, tuning in carefully to everything you hear.
20. Becca: Give yourself a complete change of scenery.

Now go be creative! 

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Happy new year and welcome to Season Three of our Make Dance Fun Podcast! In episode 59, we are providing you with 23 ideas to commit to the fun at your studio in 2023! Check out our blog post to download the list and see all the fun ideas. We hope you find some fun ways to commit to the fun in 2023! Cheers to fun in the new year! 

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In Episode 58 is a BEST OF 2022 Episode to recap the year!

Top 5 Episodes:
#46 - Fast & Fun Photo Shoots
#38 - Best of 2021
#39 - We’re Back with Season 2 and Summer on our Minds
#45 - Confetti Cannons - Rapid Fire with Becca, Dani & Shelley
#41 - 5 Things to Gear Up for Recitals

Top 5 Locations:
1 - US, 2 - Canada, 3- Australia, 4 - United Kingdom, 5 - Germany 

Favorite Episodes in 2022
D: #48: Fun & Fancy Five Star Staff Kick-Off
B: #51: Planning YOUR Fun Big Show (+ Our Fave Recital Moments)!

Favorite Craft or Project:
B: Rhythm: Holiday Walls; Confetti: Rhinestone Roundup Camp Confetti Crafts
D: Rhythm Story (based on Toy Story) flat characters 

Least Favorite Craft or Project (because of the amount of work, time and effort it took, not because of the outcome!)
D: Holiday wall
B: Halloween wall

What Confetti event/project are you most proud of?
B: Your FUN Big Show, Adding Diego to Twirl & Flashie Cards, and Pinterest
D: New Twirl to Go themes + 3 of our newest Camp Confetti themes: Fancy Mouse Dress Up House, Prancing Pony Party & Rhinestone Roundup

What Rhythm event/project are you most proud of?
D: Recital retreat
B: Staff Kick Off and Photo Shoot and Recital Retreat

Top 3 Most Fun Things for Rhythm and/or Confetti?
B: #4-Rhythm Fun Walls, New Camp Confetti themes,Rhythm Story, Staff Kick Off
D: Your Fun Big Show, Excitement around announcing our 2023 Year-End Show theme; Staff Kick Off 

That’s a wrap on SEASON TWO and 2022! Thank you for listening!  Happy Holidays and we'll be back in 2023 for Season THREE of Make Dance Fun! 

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Episode 57 is all about GRATITUDE! We are so thankful for all of you who listen on a regular basis! We love sharing and love the feedback that you share with us! Please continue to share as that is what motivates us to keep recording…even on those crazy busy weeks! 

A few things we are grateful for!

Shelley Marshall who without, Confetti wouldn’t exist! She makes all the things happen! 

Ellie Bryant is our assistant and a project manager.  She wears lots of hats and she has been so helpful over the past year in many ways! She contributes to writing and social media, lots of crafting and errand running and photo shoots and she helps with prepping for literally everything we do! And, you will see her coming up next month with some fun HOLIDAY content we are producing! ELLIE - THANK YOU for all you do! 

New to our Confetti Staff is Jenni! Jenni is our Preschool Director at Rhythm and she has been a contributor to our podcast multiple times! As a matter of fact, her episodes are among our most popular ever! Jenni has just taken a new position in fulfillment for all your orders! We have just moved all our products in house and Jenni is in charge of all shipping! We are so excited for this new role and are so grateful that Jenni with her organization and thorough-ness is taking over this position! We are grateful for you Jenni! 

Rhythm Staff! Without all our talented staff at Rhythm who inspire us every day, we wouldn’t be doing what we do! We are so lucky to have such talented and driven employees - from our ELT to all our creative teachers, choreographers to our class hosts and assistants! It takes so many people to make all the things happen and we are blessed with the best! So, THANK YOU Rhythm Staff! Y’all are awesome! 

And, finally - our podcast editor…Rob Gal - you make it happen and deal with our lofty spaces, speaking mistakes, coughs, drinking noises and Ruthie barks…and make it all sound fabulous! We are grateful for you, your expertise and the uber fast turnaround time when we are recording at the last minute! 

Again, we are GRATEFUL for each and every listener! We are so lucky to be in this creative and inspiring space and share with each of you! We are wishing you a very happy Thanksgiving and Holiday Season!

And, a reminder that we just started sharing our Fun Flair Fridays in our private Facebook group where we share a fun wallpaper for your phone and laptop as a monthly gift to show our gratitude for you! The only place to get them is in our Facebook group, so request to join today and make sure you answer the 3 prompted questions so we can let you in quickly!

And, don’t forget to check out our Confetti Shop during our Confetti FunFriday Sale! Save 15% off ALL THE THINGS (except Twirl and Confetti Consultations!) by using the code FUNFANCY15. This is our best sale of the year, so grab some gifts for your teachers, for your studio or for you! 

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In episode 56, we talk about the structure of our weekly schedule, who is responsible for what and and how we get things done! This episode we break down Mondays and Tuesdays! 

 Our schedules are constantly changing, but we do try to start with a plan and adjust as needed. We have to divide and conquer in order to really check things off the long list of to-do’s.

Monday is our most consistent day of the week as far as a schedule goes. 

• 10 a.m. - Meet with just the two of us to prepare for our executive leadership team meeting and plan  the rest of the week
• 12:30 p.m. -  ELT meeting in person at studio 
• 2:30 p.m.  - check things off our lists, eat lunch
• 3:30-9:30 teach classes 
• We do have a couple breaks between classes, so we are always using that time to get back to the to-do list. Get emails sent, work on costuming, whatever can get done in a short amount of time while we are there and in full-out work mode.

Dani's list: 

• Event logistics  
• Communications (usually via email) with all our performing company families. 
• Proofing email drafts  
• Crafting
• Guest artist coordination

Becca's list: 

• Unpredictable creative tasks 
• Social media
• Marketing graphics, images, concepting, design 
• Creative visionary for all things 

Tuesday: Our "first day of the week" to get things done.  

9:30 a.m. - meet with each other via Zoom to map out our day. 
10:00 a.m. -  2:30p.m.- Other meetings like our meetings with our Google Ad company, production company meetings, financial advisor,  Studio Manager Krista,  marketing team meetings, Performing Company Directors, costume planning (meetings, fabric shopping, design), check ins with Ellie and Shelley. 

After these meetings are done and classes begin, there are several scenarios that could happen on Tuesdays:

1. After meetings, Dani and I usually switch gears and head into our office or home and work on individual to-dos. 
2. We may have a crafting project or meeting for Rhythm or Confetti that we would stay and work on in the staff room at annex
3. We sometimes schedule rehearsals that we run at Annex as there are open studios there - so those would usually start around 6:00 and we will just work in our office until then.
4. Head back to Rhythm - if we have a Guest Artist in town or if there is a Company rehearsal that we may need to be present for at Rhythm! 

So, as you can see Tuesdays are all over the place but it is the first day of the week that we can really “MAKE THINGS HAPPEN” and they are ever changing but usually very productive days! 

No matter how much we plan, it is usually derailed. Our number one job is problem solving and believe we are really good at this. As a leader, it is the thing you have to be AMAZING at! Like all studio owners, we deal with lots of crazy and dilemmas and  do creative problem solving EVERY SINGLE DAY. 

We hope you enjoyed getting a little insight into our work days. Stay tuned for Part 2 on a future episode! 

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In Episode 55, we're sharing ideas & links to our fave promo items!

1. Slinkies - Super popular with kids! 
2. Reusable Grocery Bags - You get lots of eyes on these at your local grocery stores! We also use them for costume bags when handing out our company costumes!
3. Pop Its - Kids are obsessed!! 
4. Acrylic Key Chains - Add your logo and attach a Pop It (see #3) for a great promo item! Call it a bag tag since most kids don't use key chains and they can put them on their dance bags! 
5. Tattoos - These are a go-to staple for us for goodie bags, open house, summer launch week - fun & super cheap! 
6. Beach Balls - Use these for registration or summer camp promos and/or as give aways at community events!
7. Large Magnets - So many options!
8. Buttons, Stickers and Magnets - StickerMule is a go to for us for all things! 
9. “MOOD” Stadium Cups  - These color-changing cups are so fun, kids & parents alike love them.  
10. Make Dance Fun Confetti Fun Tags - Vintage style key chains in our Confetti shop! Special Sale Price! Great for staff gifts, giveaways, ornaments and more!  

We hope one of these promo items is something you can add into the mix of your giveaways! What are your faves?

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In episode 54, we're talking about all the things we are doing this fall to get ready for our year-end show! Our show is our ultimate marketing tool and this time of year is packed full of prep to get started on the right foot and get our dancers and families on board with the theme! We love to make the show super exciting for our dancers and we love making our theme a really big deal and tying it into all aspects of the studio all season! 

1. Decorating Halloweek with our Theme 
2. Costume and Show Communication Prep
   • At Rhythm we have about 1200 students who take 3600 classes, so, we are planning for eight shows this season. This is a beast of a job to figure out!
   • We meet with Shelley and Krista to make this task happen
3. Measuring for costumes 
4. Brainstorm with the Staff
5. Meetings with Production Company and Theater - solidifying things like lobby space, dressing space, lighting possibilities, making sure the contract is secure and there are no surprises! 
6. Graphics/Logos - We make sure these are ready to go for all our upcoming communications! 
   • We use Canva teams to get backgrounds and logos all set up so our staff can access them easily
7. Planning for the recital retreat: booking the house, logistics, food, travel, spreadsheets, costume books, how we are decorating, etc. We don't wing it, we plan for everything!
8. Creative Planning for Show - watching movies, discussing themes, reading books, looking at books, etc. 

NEW! Your Fun Big Show Update:  We are in the process of adding a written course notes section into Your Fun Big Show course. Anyone who has already purchased it will automatically receive these notes, and of course, all new purchases as well! We will announce soon when they are complete and available! Check out this complete recital planning course!

We hope you are able to take away something from these details that will help you in your show planning this Fall! 

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In episode 53, we're talking all about HALLOWEEK ON THE DANCE FLOOR -  a Confetti tradition since our very first year!! 

Halloweek on the Dance Floor is a fun Halloween combo that we share with you for free to use in your classes during Halloweek! We encourage you to teach it, film it and share it! This year, we are changing it up a little and creating a reel (or tik tok) with specific audio for you to use! We encourage you to create a festive space or background to film your dancers a few at a time doing the combo.

More Halloweek ideas from #rhythmhalloweek

• Podcast Episode #32 Festive Fall Faculty Fun - deep dive on our Pumpkin Pizzazz Party for our Staff
• Podcast Episode #34 where we share tons of fun Halloween ideas and games and such! 
• Studio Decor - we're doing a spooky take of Alice in Wonderland (our year-end show theme). We now have 9 studios to decorate, so are trying our best to streamline some things to make it a little easier to put up and also take down. We will, of course, go more full out on a main wall in our lobby (at both locations) so everyone has a fun place to take all the photos they want.
• Fall Faculty Fun - we're hosting a fun meeting for our Recital Brainstorming session where we'll serve lunch, decorate pumpkins and take a Halloween staff photo where everyone will dress as characters from our show
• Halloween Heels & Spooky Feels - This is something new this year that should be fun! Our adult program is really growing, so we are holding a special event for them one evening where they’ll dress up, have a fun heels class and we’ll provide a few snacks & drinks. This is a great way to promote your adult program! We are getting ready to start a new class for adults in November called DanceMix, a combo of jazz and hip hop, so this will be a fun and festive promo! 
• Rhythm Halloweek - we encourage our dancers to dress up as a character from Alice in Wonderland during Halloweek and if they do, they get a Wonder in Rhythmland sticker.  This is a simple and fun way to promote the show! 
• Performing Company Halloween Party - we host this fun event annually at a local park. Their "families" dress up in their family costume and we play games. It's always a hit! 

We hope you find these fun ideas to be helpful with your Halloween and fall planning.  Share with us what you’re doing at your studios! 

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