In The Spotlight: Raising Leaders in the Performing Arts

Robin talks with Maryland native Ricky Huff, a rec studio kid turned breaker turned entrepreneur, whose production company, Huff Productions, still keeps dance at its core even as the work has expanded into weddings, motocross, and commercial projects. Ricky graduated Atholton High School in 2012, spent a decade teaching and performing across DMV studios and companies, picked up a camera in 2016, and launched Huff Productions officially in 2023.

They talk about why boys who start dance later, once they can focus on technique, often take off faster than the ones pushed into structured training too young, and Ricky opens up about his own struggle to sit through a 90 minute class, which leads into a conversation about dance as a discipline builder even for a brain that fights the structure. He walks through the mistakes that came before the business skills, getting the LLC wrong, buying gear he's never used, and learning to ask other photographers and videographers for help instead of pretending he had it figured out. He also explains why scaling by hiring other shooters backfired, since clients wanted him personally, not a replaceable crew member, and how that pushed his business to pivot from filming individual dancers toward selling dance studios a full retainer package: walkthroughs, headshots, audition footage, recital coverage, and social content.

Ricky makes the case for studios investing in real lighting, describing how a little side light changes what even a phone camera can capture, and closes with where studio owners can find him if they want to upgrade their content: contact@huffproductions.com or HUFF PRODUCTIONS | Maryland Photo and Video Productions

A useful listen for any dance parent wondering whether all that training pays off even when a kid doesn't go pro, and for any studio owner still leaning on six year old iPhone footage for their website.

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Robin's latest DSO Collective Instagram video, "dance is not a sport," went further than expected and pulled in some pushback along with it.

In this episode, she and Santina unpack the actual argument: dance carries the same physical demands as athletics, then layers storytelling and artistry on top, which is why measuring it against sport sells it short rather than elevates it. They also get into why a headline can get misread even when the point underneath it isn't controversial.

From there the conversation moves to competition dance, where Santina shares what she's heard from a client who judges competitions, no consistent standard, no shared rubric, just personal preference dressed up as a score.

Robin makes the case against bringing regulation into the dance industry at all, arguing that educated parents and an open marketplace do a better job of weeding out bad studios than any government standard could.

A direct follow-up to the competition conversation from Ep 67, this time starting from a single video that would not stop getting comments.

Watch The Video That Started It All:
Find "dance is not a sport" on DSO Collective's Facebook and Instagram and let us know in the comments (or here on the podcast page) where you land: art, sport, or both.

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Why does the teacher a dancer clicks with the least sometimes turn into the one who pushes their training the furthest? And what does it actually take to build a teenager who can speak up for herself in a room full of adults?

This week, Robin sits down with Molly Beichler, a teacher and choreographer at EMC Performing Arts Studio, for a conversation that goes well past technique, the kind you'd expect from two people who've spent years thinking hard about what a good dance teacher actually owes a kid.

Molly trained at Ballet Chesapeake and Harford Dance Theater before earning her BFA in Dance Performance and Choreography from Towson University in 2019. She now teaches at EMC and Forest Hill Dance and co-directs Pirouette Productions alongside Alexa Hewitt, and she brings all of it, the training, the choreography, the directing, straight into how she runs a classroom.

Molly and Robin get into what actually happened inside EMC's Nutcracker Camp this year: a full week of pointe work, a partnering workshop led by guest artist Mr. Tim, and dancers auditioning in real time for elevated roles. Molly makes the case for bringing in guest teachers, not because the regular teacher isn't enough, but because of what a student gains the moment they're pulled out of a routine they've gotten too comfortable in.

They also get into where the line should sit on parent involvement, and why the hardest part of teaching teenagers isn't the choreography, it's teaching them to advocate for themselves. Molly shares a real story from a Pirouette Productions cast member who earned her first soloist role, and talks honestly about the moments no teacher wants: telling a family the right call is also the harder one to hear.

If you've ever wondered what actually separates a dance teacher from someone building the next generation of dancers, this one's for you.

Plus: enrollment for SYB is open, details on Pirouette Productions' 2026 production of Snow White, and what's ahead for EMC's Nutcracker season, including the Hotshots and Showstoppers company dancers.

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Robin and Santina follow up on their earlier conversation about parents and studio owners being on the same team, this time with two stories fresh from the week at EMC.

A group of students wrote and delivered a respectful, well thought out email to their teachers about a combined class situation, exactly the kind of self advocacy the show has encouraged all along.

Robin walks through how the studio is responding, including a planned listening session and the search for a third teacher.

Then a parent who held back from reaching out reconsiders, and Robin clarifies what "don't email me at 11pm in a heated moment" actually means, and what it doesn't.

A real example of what staying on the same team looks like when it counts.

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Robin sits down with Tamara Howe, owner of Tamara Howe School of Dance and founder of Ballet Salina in Salina, Kansas, for a conversation that covers her full path into studio ownership.

Tamara talks about growing up a self-described klutzy dancer who quit twice and came back both times, double-majoring in dance and kinesiology at the University of Wyoming, competing in the Miss America program for scholarship money, and an internship near the White House before landing in Kansas and opening her studio from two empty rooms.

She and Robin get into raising five kids inside a family business, what their sons picked up from being in the studio even when they didn't stick with dance, and how Tamara builds community through low-competition programming: one competition a year, travel experiences to places like Branson and Disney, and local trips built around professional theater.

The conversation closes on the friendships and lifelong bonds that come out of growing up in a dance studio, including Robin's own story of counting eleven EMC graduates at her son's wedding.

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Robin and Santina break down the Fall Tour, EMC's two-stop community performance series at the New Freedom Fest and the Shrewsbury Fireman’s Fall Fest.

Robin covers the logistics: rain policy and why a wet dance floor is a real safety risk, what Discovery Gym families and dance families should each expect on drop-off and pickup, and the guideline that came out of last year's chair situation, where dance families set up early and left, leaving Discovery Gym parents with nowhere to sit.

She also talks about why performing in uncontrolled outdoor conditions, heat, gravel, no stage, is worth it to the kids, and Santina adds her own take on what performing in community feels like compared to a stage show.

Robin closes out the episode handing off credit to her team, noting this is the first year she won't be at either festival and naming who's running each piece: admin, the show, the demonstration, and the crew.

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Robin talks with Angela Hartley-Drube, who has run Live 2 Dance in a small Wyoming town for 20 seasons, built a multi-purpose venue during the pandemic, earned the More Than Just Great Dancing Perseverance Award, and recently won Wyoming Woman Entrepreneur of the Year.

Angela is open about living with ADD/ADHD, and she and Robin get honest about what that actually looks like day to day: no early morning routine, no five year plan, a figure it out as you go energy that turns out to be an asset in running a studio.

They talk about what it felt like for Angela to be recognized for perseverance in front of more than 300 studio owners, how she reads a room of teenagers to decide whether to keep them at the barre or pivot the lesson, and how she designed her venue, Arts and Celebrations by the Creek, with rolling bars and removable walls so the same space can host dance classes, weddings, graduation parties, and aerial classes.

Angela also shares the story of her daughter wanting to pursue Cirque du Soleil and what it took to step back and let her find her own path. The conversation wanders into a Cirque du Soleil tour of five Las Vegas venues, why wall mounted ballet barres are a mistake, and Angela's tips for scoring comped hotel rooms in Vegas.

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Robin and Santina tackle a topic that's been landing in Robin's DSO Collective Instagram DMs all season: dance parents venting about how they or their kids have been treated at their studios.

Instead of picking a side, they make the case that studio owners, teachers, and parents are on the same team, and walk through where communication tends to break down, usually when a hard car ride home turns into an 11pm email.

Robin lays out how a parent's role in advocating for their dancer should shift by age, from speaking for a preschooler entirely on their own, to sitting alongside an elementary schooler, to stepping back and coaching a middle schooler to speak up, to letting a high schooler handle it directly.

The conversation closes with Robin introducing a short guide she and her DSO Collective partners built for studio owners, paired with a companion booklet that gives parents language for the moments that catch them off guard, like a rough performance, a hard car ride home, or a disappointing audition result.

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Robin sits down with fellow studio owner and friend Marty, who gave up an engineering acceptance at the University of Washington for a community college business degree and a life running the basement studio she once trained in as a kid.

Forty plus years later, she's still building on that legacy.

The conversation covers what that early pivot cost her and what it gave back, how Marty stepped back from day to day ownership without losing what made the studio hers, and how she stays visible to families even when she isn't in the building five days a week.

They dig into the teen teaching assistant debate, the pushback from dance parents, and why a seventeen year old trained in your culture can outperform a polished resume. Marty also talks about raising creative kids inside the business, her daughter now directing the competition team, her son building guitars with his dad, and why only one of her children wanted to come back to the studio.

Robin and Marty compare notes on trying to keep up with AI and marketing automation while leaning hard on human connection instead.

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Robin sits down with Santina to break down the Dream Team Training Retreat, EMC's annual four-day team event held at a rented Airbnb outside the studio.

She walks through how each day serves a different purpose: Thursday's Holiday Celebration planning meeting, led start to finish by artistic director Elisabeth Simmons.

Friday's Director's Dinner, where Robin hands out awards and rethinks what a gift-giver she wants to be.

Saturday's full training day, including a live pivot after realizing the group needed more interaction; and Sunday's Rising Leaders Brunch, restructured into breakout groups so student teachers could share their own classroom strategies.

Robin also talks about Alli's path at EMC, hired for personality over skill set and given room to grow without micromanagement, and why she collects debrief feedback every year to change the format for next time.

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What happens when a professional ballet career ends before you're ready and how do you turn that heartbreak into your greatest strength as a teacher and studio owner?

This week, Robin sits down with Jess Keller, owner and artistic director of Palm Beach Academy of Dance Arts in South Florida, for a conversation that feels less like an interview and more like coffee with a friend who just happens to have lived one of the most fascinating journeys in dance.

Jess opens up about training at the School of American Ballet, moving to Miami at 16 to attend Miami City Ballet School (yes, in an apartment, without her parents), and dancing professionally with Miami City Ballet, before being told mid-Giselle weekend that her contract wasn't being renewed. She shares what that moment felt like, how it broke her relationship with ballet for a time, and how walking away from dance and into a classroom actually set her up to become the studio leader she is today.

From elementary school teacher to math coach to ESE specialist, Jess's career in education didn't just fill the gap, it completely shaped how she sees dancers: as whole humans first. You'll hear how motherhood softened her teaching, how her professional experience drives her to build the resilience in students that she wishes someone had built in her, and what she's working toward for the next chapter of her studio.

Robin and Jess also get into the dream of studio ownership, building equity, buying land, designing your ideal space, and the unexpected gift of finding community with other studio owners who get it.

If you've ever felt like your "detour" was actually your path, this one's for you.

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This week, Miss Robin walks you through every Specialty Class EMC is offering for the upcoming season, the extras that go beyond your regular package and give your dancer more ways to grow.

From Contemporary and AcroDance to The Musical Experience, Supplemental Ballet and Pointe, Precision Tap, Leaps and Turns, and our beloved Daddy-Daughter and Adagio Partnering classes, she covers what each one is, who it's for, and when it meets.

You'll hear how we've built a clean Thursday-night pathway from 5:00 to 9:00 for technique dancers who want more, with no conflicting choices to wrestle over.

Several of these classes perform at our Holiday Celebration, Open Marley Festival, the Spring Concert, and our Fall Tour, while a few are skills-only, non-performing classes designed purely to build strength and technique.

Talk it over with your dancer, and if you have questions, email Miss Kathy at kathyjones@danceemc.com or stop by the front desk. We'll help you find the right fit.

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This is the episode Robin has been building toward for years.

For a long time, the name Tara Gladden has appeared quietly at EMC Performing Arts Studio, on scholarship awards, in essays, in the hearts of students who've wondered about the girl behind the honor. Today, we finally tell her story.

Robin is joined by her cousin Shawn Gladden, Tara's brother, for a conversation that is raw, honest, and long overdue.

Tara Allison Gladden was a shy, gentle fifteen-year-old from Columbia, Maryland: a soccer player, an animal lover, a girl just beginning to find herself through dance. In the summer of 1993, she was murdered.

But this is not a simple story about a teenage girl and a bad boyfriend. This is the story of a pedophile and sex trafficker; a calculating 26-year-old man who preyed on young girls at suburban malls, groomed Tara over months by making her feel seen and special, systematically turned her against her family, and ultimately silenced her when she found the courage to stand up to him.

Shawn walks us through all of it: who Tara was before she disappeared from herself, the agonizing three weeks the family spent searching, the media circus, the reward fund raised on a median strip in the summer heat, the moment a neighbor's cruelty cut deeper than almost anything else, and the day they found out she had been there all along… on her sixteenth birthday.

He also talks about what it cost him. What it cost his parents. What it does to a family when a chapter this devastating can never fully close.

And then, what grew from it.

The Tara Gladden Scholarship Fund began with the funds donated by Robin and her husband, Walter, was fueled by the reward money that was never paid out and has grown, with the help of the Columbia Foundation and a community that still remembers, into a living tribute that funds dance training for young women at EMC. The mission is simple and deeply personal: give girls the confidence, community, and sense of self-worth that Tara needed and didn't have when she was most vulnerable.

This episode is not easy listening. But it is essential listening, especially if you are raising a daughter, teaching one, or trying to protect one.

Donation Information

If you'd like to honor Tara's memory and support young dancers in need, donations to the Tara Gladden Scholarship Fund are welcome.

To apply for the scholarship, applications open each November.

Website

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This week, the conversation between Robin and Santina, touches on all things understanding the Rungs of the Ladder within EMC.

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In this episode, Ian Howe shares his dynamic journey through the dance industry, from competitive dancer to cruise ship performer, and ultimately to studio owner and educator. He offers valuable insight into the wide range of career paths available to dancers beyond high school, emphasizing the importance of resilience, adaptability, and long-term vision.

Ian opens up about the realities of performing on cruise ships, the transition from artist to entrepreneur, and the ongoing challenge of balancing creative passion with business responsibilities. He also reflects on the impact of COVID-19 on performing arts professionals and the growing need for mental resilience in an ever-changing industry.

This conversation is a must-listen for dancers, educators, and studio owners alike who are looking to build not just a career, but a fulfilling, flexible lifestyle in the performing arts.

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Robin and Santina go head-to-head with dance's most polarizing topic!

They chat about why EMC has spent 35 years intentionally staying out of the competition circuit and how that choice hasn't cost their dancers a thing.

Robin traces it back to her own training at the Baltimore School for the Arts and a marketing decision in early-2000s Pennsylvania, then dives into the real cost of "teaching to the tricks" like lopsided technique, inconsistent judging panels with no governing body, and studios chasing trophies instead of artistry.

Santina adds her own competition-world experience from Australia, and together they unpack how EMC fills the calendar (and the adrenaline) with productions, company trips, and mentorship instead of scores, proving the process can matter more than the podium.

This one's for every family trying to figure out which world is actually right for their dancer!

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Will Tijerina had no dance background when he became co-owner of Dance 360 Orlando. What he did have: military discipline, corporate logistics experience, and a belief that performing arts build leaders.

Robin met Will at a certified coaches training through More Than Just Great Dancing and this conversation picks up right where that left off.

On this show, we talk a lot about how performing arts training prepares students for the world. This time, we flip the script and explore how the world prepared Will for the performing arts.

They dig into what it really takes to grow a studio, why you have to stop putting out every fire yourself, and how the lessons we teach on the stage show up everywhere else in life.

If you've ever told a nervous student that their butterflies are just rocket fuel waiting to launch… this episode is for you!

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In Part 2, Robin picks up the story in Pennsylvania; the historic hardware store she knew was hers the second she walked in, the nail-biting negotiation her dad told her not to get emotionally invested in (spoiler: she did), and the husband who renovated 20,000 square feet room by room. Two decades later, she's running EMC from Florida and somehow more inspired than ever. This one's for every family who's ever wondered what this place is actually made of.

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What happens when a little girl who fell in love with the stage grows up to become one of your most beloved teachers?

In this episode, Robin sits down with Meghann Potter, EMC alumna, solidcore coach, and current Team member at EMC Performing Arts Studio, for a candid, laugh-filled conversation about what it really means to grow up in the dance world.

Meghann takes us from her earliest days at a competitive studio in Glen Burnie, MD to training at EMC with Robin, to earning a BFA at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, to chasing her dreams in the studios of New York City. She opens up about the pivotal ACL injury that stopped her mid-aerial and how instead of shattering her dream, it quietly shifted it.

This episode is a beautiful reminder that your path in the performing arts rarely looks the way you planned and that's often a very good thing.

Whether you're a dance parent, a studio kid, or someone who lived this life, you'll hear yourself in Meghann's story.

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Before there was EMC, there was a girl who didn't dream of performing… she dreamed of teaching. This week, Robin tells us everything: the training that changed her, the rainy morning that stuck with her, the poor choices she made, and the vision that kept her going all the way to opening her own studio at 22. The EMC Way didn't come from a brochure. It came from this. Part 2 coming next!

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