Episode 46 : Dance it till you make it!
Livia is the founder of Funky Feet, a dance program where the main goal is to help empower children and build their confidence through dance. Livia started her company in 2001, on her own, after seizing the opportunity to teach a dance class as a last-minute replacement. Flash forward almost two decades later, Funky Feet is now a wildly successful dance program in Montreal and counts two locations as The Studio by Funky Feet. In this episode, we talk about the importance of taking calculated risks, figuring things out along the way, and pursuing things we’re really interested in.
Livia’s Growth Story Book Title:
“Confidance”
What you’ll learn:
- Dance has always been a passion for Livia. Growing up, her family loved listening to music, the radio was always on and this had a strong influence on her.
- In a right-place-right-time kind of moment, Livia was given the opportunity to teach dance lessons at the community center where she worked and this is how Funky Feek began.
Notable quotes:
- “There are people in this world that really get kids, and there are people that just don’t… I understood the psychology of the child and how to connect with them.” – Livia on when she realized she was quite good at working with kids while working part-time in schools.
- “Sometimes, you don’t have a manual to know what to do, but you gotta try something and along the way, you figure it out. But it’s a risk, and a lot of us are scared to take that first risk.” – Livia on creating her first dance program, taking a risk with her reputation as a teacher.
Show notes:
02:19 – Livia Avrith is the founder of Funky Feet, a dance program where the main goal is to help empower children and build their confidence through dance. Livia started her company in 2001, and the Funky Feet Studio opened in 2015.
03:10 – Livia was born in Montreal, and grew up in Chomedey, a suburb in the North Shore of Montreal.
05:30 – Livia studied sociology at Concordia University.
10:40 – Livia decided to continue her studies after graduating and completed a certificate in human resources management back at Concordia.
19:35 – Throughout her childhood and teenage years, Livia took a lot of dance classes herself, from ballet jazz to hip hop, and taught dance at summer camp.
24:50 – Livia was pushed to expand her company and hire dance teachers firstly by her entrepreneurial-minded husband but then by becoming pregnant and not being able to work closely with kids for a while.
35:00 – Encouraged by her husband, Livia finally realized her dream of opening a dance studio in 2015, The Studio by Funky Feet.
41:40 – The Studio by Funky Feet has now 2 physical locations: one in the West Island in Dollard-Des-Ormeaux and one in the center of Montreal.
48:15 – Livia invites you to visit Funky Feet’s website, and connect on Facebook and Instagram.