Dance Matters Podcast

Send us a text

Sarah Alice Burns is a professional dancer, model and artist development coach who grew up in Australia. After several years of working overseas as a dancer, Sarah took a leap of faith and moved to Los Angeles. After several setbacks and countless no's, she soon became accustomed to understanding that the LA dance industry was not for the faint of heart. Sarah's fierce determination for success and extreme passion meant that she didn’t give up. After landing her first job as a dancer for Usher at the 2010 American Music Awards her career skyrocketed.

She landed the Dream job dancing for Beyoncé for 4 years. Sarah performed with Beyoncé at Super Bowl, various award shows, feature films, multiple world tours, music videos and the worldwide IVY PARK campaign. She has also worked with musical icons: Brandy, Jay-Z, DJ Khaled, Meek Mill, Drake, Jennifer Lopez, Pitbull, Kelly Rowland, Usher and Ne-Yo.

In 2019, Sarah created Industry LA; a professional dance program designed to educate professional dancers from all over the world on how to understand, navigate and gain success in the highly competitive LA dance scene.

In this chat we don’t just touch on the highs but we dig deep into the biggest challenges and setbacks that Sarah has faced. It’s one you don’t want to miss.

Send us a text

Deirdre Barnes is a dancer and choreographer from Ottawa Canada. From a young age she showed incredible talent and dedication to dance. Her passion led to an incredible amount of awards as a competitive dancer Including; Dancer of the Year, Miss Teen Candance, 2007 Starpower’s Dancer of the Year Scholarship, Miss Starpower and Miss Capezio. Deirdre booked her first job at 18 at cirque du soleil in Las Vegas as part of the Criss Angel believe show and never looked back. She then went on to take the stage with a range of artists including; Nicki Minaj, Nick Jonas, Gwen Stefani, Backstreet Boys, Pitbull, J Lo and Gloria Estefan. Deirdre toured the globe alongside Empire of the Sun and Justin Bieber and even did a 2-year Vegas residency alongside Britney Spears. She has also worked extensively in film and TV. Deirdre has been featured on Dancing With The Stars, Disney: Descendants, the Ellen Show, Glee, Shake it Up, The Voice, Black Eyed Peas, American Idol, So You Think You Can Dance and multiple award shows. She is now making the journey into choreography and recently choreographed for her first feature length film.

Send us a text

Alysha Percy is a young and passionate dancer. She started dancing at 2 training in all styles but was drawn to the world of hip hop.

One of her career highlights was being given the honour to choreograph and perform with Fifty Cent.

Alysha has travelled the world with her dancing and has some exciting plans to continue furthering her career.

Join Charlie as she finds out more about the person behind the dancer. This is a fun and quirky chat where you get to know more about Alysha including what her favorite hobbies are away from the dance studio.

Make sure you check out the full interview with Alysha this week on Dance Matters Podcast.

Send us a text

Allain Lupien might best be known for his role as the super villain Lucien in The Next Step. It is, however, his work as a Dance Studio Owner and Principal that first brought him to the attention of The Next Step Producers. Allain Lupien operates The Canadian Dance Company. Under his direction, CDC has won the highest awards in the major dance competitions in Canada, the U.S. and Europe. His Choreography represented Team Canada in the World Dance Championships in 2005 and achieved the highest medal standings for Canada to date.

His training has produced many professionals in Dance including many of the incredible dancers you watch on The Next Step including; Briar Nolet, Myles Erlick, Noah Zulfikar, Lamar Johnson and Isaac Lupien.

Here is your chance to get to know the man behind the amazing choreography and dancing. Charlie asks Allain the tough questions including; his favourite food, the place he would most like to holiday and even what his least favourite food is.

Learn facts you never knew about your favourite people in the Performing Arts industry with Charlie's quick fire round of questions.

Allain’s full interview will be available this Saturday in episode 88 of Dance Matters Podcast.

Send us a text

Goal setting is an important skill to learn to be successful in every area of life. Goals are particularly crucial to helping dancers achieve their dreams. Setting a goal creates purpose, direction and motivation for your life. This podcast will focus on how to set smart goals, that are relevant, measurable and achievable. We will discuss the daily five you can do to make sure you are winning the day. Make 2020 your year and set goals to help you achieve your dreams.