Episode 136: The Studio Owner Who Coaches Studio Owners

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">This week on 5.6.7.EIGHT, Aleksandra interviews Alisa Finney, Principal at</span> <a href= "https://www.gaywightmanschoolofballet.com.au/"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">The Gay Wightman School of Ballet</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">, Artistic Director at The Melbourne Ballet Company, and a mentor through the Dance Studio Owners Association (DSOA). Alisa has also crafted a 13-level classical ballet system of training that is widely used by thousands of dancers across the globe. Through the pandemic, Alisa’s reach has grown exponentially, as she has heavily used Zoom to expand the size of her dance classes.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Alisa is one who wears many hats, but at the end of the day, her passion is for the artform of ballet. And Alisa understands that the future of the artform is in the hands of studio owners, who are training the next generation of ballet dancers. In turn, Alisa invests large amounts of time and energy in developing studio owners so that they’re well-equipped to be mentors, teachers, role models, and entrepreneurs. On the podcast, hear about all of Alisa’s work and lessons learned in her own business growth.</span></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Moving Quotes:</strong></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">"I'm very passionate about the art form of ballet, and now that I have a little bit of experience behind me and am a bit older, I'm just really passionate about giving back to the industry and sharing what I've learned... It fills my cup to help people."</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">[On mentorship] "It's a hard job running a studio. And we wear 50 different hats, always. Trying to be everything to everyone. So it's important to have someone that we can go to that can support us. That can answer our questions and celebrate our wins and hold us accountable."</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">"The way you do anything is the way you do everything."</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">"As