Barre Trash

(upbeat music) - On three. - Okay. - One, two, three. Hey! (upbeat music) - Hey! (laughs) - Uh-huh, welcome back. Let's call it what it is with Rachel and Juge. And today we have some special guests. We have Lucas and Lewis co-founders of Bartrash. Welcome to home. Hello. - How are you guys? How are you guys feeling? Excited to be on air? Live? Not live, we're not live. - Yeah, I hope not. Yeah, I'm thrilled to be here. This is very exciting. - So, I was gonna say, Lucas and I actually went to school to each other forever ago. So, this is like an eight year reunion. And then I ran into Lewis about two weeks ago at the Pineapple Studios, which was very impromptu. But I was like, I know that guy. (laughs) He's that meme guy. - You know that guy. - Um, but yeah, we're so excited to have you here. Have you here? - Thank you for inviting us. It's gonna be great. Did you recognize him because of his silly jokes from TikTok? - Yeah, kind of. - Yes, his silly jokes from TikTok. Yes, I saw his face and then I peered in the window and there was, I could make out the bar trash along your shirt and I was like, that's it. - Yeah, I'm always wrapping our, I honestly, I'm wearing it too much now 'cause now it just looks like I'm kind of like a jerk. I gotta know, like I'm wearing like the pieces at once. And if it was a little bit like, yeah, we get it. Like, okay. (laughs) - You have a brand. (laughs) - Yeah, if it was a little bit like I'm bragging. But it's like, it's actually good stuff, so. - Yeah, you're proud, why not wear it? - Yeah, this is our baby. - This is your baby. - Yeah, of course. But as you guys know, we always start our episodes out with our guest episodes with our question. Rachel, do you wanna ask him? - Yes, it is what point you, girlie, are you? (laughs) - I am the kind of like, I'm just lucky I'll have to wear point shoes 'cause if I did, I probably wouldn't be a dancer so much for you guys. - I love that answer, but I love that. - I'm the kind who actually I would look so good in point shoes 'cause I was born luckily with great feet. And so yeah, I'm the point you, girlie, that it's like, honestly, the shame I'm not wearing them because these arches went too great in a pair of suhooks. - I feel like low-key after you said, you aggressively flaunt your brand because it's your baby. I feel like that kind of makes you a gainer girl. - I really, I mean, I'm thinking a good way. Not a bad way, I don't think. (laughs) We were all like, I met that in the steering way. I felt like, you know? - No, no, no, no, no, I'm sure. I'm sure. - Whoa, yeah, 'cause of the gainer. - No, it makes sense, like logically, 'cause of gainer the way that their brand is just so like before a lot of other ballet brands started, it was like, gainer was one of those brands that people wore the tire and they had big gainer girls that were like their reps, right? And they like helped them out the brand. - If you will. - Yeah, exactly. So, if you had the feet to go with it. - I feel like Beckian's disc was a name I heard like all the time. - Yeah, she went to Houston, ballet, but is she still dancing? I feel like I've never heard about her in so long. - I think she is. I think she's still like a principal there, her and Chase. - She was always like the dream feet. People were like, oh, I wish I had the crazy feet. - Yeah, she did have crazy feet. - It's funny how these names just stick in your head, you know, like. - Oh yeah, oh yeah. - Also, we have never had the same kind of content available since Breaking Point. - Oh, oh, Breaking Point. Yeah, this guy that was on that show, I really shouldn't even talk about this, but like he like, I went to the Valley West Summer program. Like while that show was, that's the Valley West. - Oh, oh. - If you're listening, and you don't know this, this is the Valley West reality show, a Valley dancer. - No, no, no. - I'm gonna see W. - I'm right about that, right? Yeah. - Yeah. - And so I went to the Valley West Summer Intensive when it was like, like at the height of its popularity, I guess, and one of the guys who was like on the show basically like stayed around for the summer. And like used that time to kind of like flirt with my girlfriend. And I was like, I was like 16. I was like, dude, this is terrible. Like it's like the worst case scenario. It was like a guy from TV like steals your girlfriend. - Yeah. - Which is not like how it ended, but like that was what it felt like in the moment. - That's crazy. I kind of know like the men who are still on the show, 'cause I've been in the Utah scene. I went to university in Utah, so I've like. - Oh yeah, it's, yeah, yeah. - I'm trying to guess who it is. - It's not the podcast, but I remember being like, dude, it's not fair to use your TV presence to like charm the girl that I've been struggling to suffering through a relationship with. - Okay. (laughing) - All you do to something. (laughing) - Yeah, yeah. It's like a push-on. - I feel like you're kidding. - I feel like I have a guest, I'm not gonna say anything. But anyway. - Oh, when you can turn it, yeah, at the end of it, I can talk to you. (laughing) - Lucas, I feel like just based off of the fact that you don't wanna be in point shoes, well Rachel, what do you think? Would you place him in one particular room? We try to place these with like the stereotypical personality that goes to these girlies, so. - Okay. - Yeah, I was like, I'm a block, girly. - Yeah, I was thinking block too. - Block is like good, neutral. I think, is a bell of boils to a block, girly? - Yeah, I think she has custom blocks. I can't remember, I'm pretty sure it's custom blocks, yeah. - But they're just like a solid chill dancer, doesn't necessarily need to be, you know, in her point shoes, doesn't necessarily need to be in the studio all the time. She's just like a good, - But she's very naturally talented. - I don't even need to be in the studio. - That's a group of myself. - Okay. - You may have another one. - Okay, okay, okay, okay. Well, okay, so, no, I'll come up with another one. I'll workshop as I go along. - Pizio, I would say, Capizio is like more in between, 'cause freed girlies are just like, they think they're the coolest, because they're freed girls, and they're obsessed with their shoe, and they gotta talk about their makeup. - That's gross, it's normay. - Oh yeah, are you like a movie? - Yeah. - Look at the high maintenance girl. - Really? I would say that girls are high maintenance, because we're like, you know, I don't know what happened with the shoe. Like it's like they were like falling asleep and they're putting together, it's like, we're so particular, whereas I think some of the other, like Capizio or a block, if you're not getting costumes, you're not as like in tune with like every little detail that was put into it. - Okay, I'll do it. - What about suffix? I feel like a lot of the girls have been danced so weirdly, we have been wearing suffix, like talking them off. - I see what you did. - Yeah, I saw it. - To know, I guess. - Suffix are like, I don't want to take something in something. - Let's give it. - I think they're the knock off freed. - Yeah. - Oh wow. - So you're talking to like freed girly girlies. I spent a lot of time in suffix shoes and I personally had a hard time with them. And we have personified the suffix girly as being maybe a very like strong headed, maybe a little bit stubborn, a little bit into it. - Wow, okay. - So I don't know if Lucas, that fit you. - They're both made in England, so I guess freed, I guess they're like, they're like, you know, they're like fighting the same turf. - We're living in a block. - Yeah. - Okay. - I think that's a smart one. - Anyway. - So it's like, anyway. - Yeah, no tear shade. - Yeah. - I really don't know more suffix for a while. - Yeah. - We're just like, it's more so us personifying it and exaggerating, you know? - No, no, no, sure. I mean, if you're making this great money for this podcast, then freeds are the one. 'Cause they're, I know those are like the, I feel like those are the boots you brand. Like if you've got money, yeah. - Well, we are both freed girly, so. - They, of course we hate those girls up. We're like, the free girls are the best girls. It's 'cause it's us, like, we're so, we're so, yeah. - We all like what we wear. I mean, I love so dance. Actually, here's a crazy shoe related thing that I've been waiting to tell somebody. - Okay. - And since you guys have to listen, I'll tell you. So I, so the crazy thing is, and this is true, I know I tell a lot of jokes, but this is actually a true story. That I hurt my foot a couple of years ago, and I went to the physical therapist, Marika, in here in New York, who's looked a great physical therapist. And she, like, wiggled the end of my toe, and she was, like, you need a larger shoe. Just by wiggling the end of my, like, the very end, like, the very final little tip of my toe, she wiggled it, she was, you need a larger shoe, that's okay. So I went up from an eight and a half in Sodanza, 'cause I kind of liked tighter shoes too, so to feel like they weren't gonna fall off. I went from a half to nine, and then I went from nine to nine and a half, and then this, on my, this past contract, I went from nine and a half to 10, and my foot keeps, like, expanding with the shoe. And every time I go up half a size, my balance gets twice as good. So, like, my balance has never been better, and my, thank you for being bigger. My feet are getting bigger. Yeah, my feet are, like, spreading out and, like, filling with muscle, and my balance is way better, and I've gone up a shoe size and a half. So there is a lot of foot for you. These are ten years. 'Cause it's very interesting. Yeah, that is really interesting. That makes sense, though. Yeah. [BLANK_AUDIO] I think the foot naturally is supposed to be a lot bigger than than than they are now. Look is why you're shaking your head over there. What's your opinion on sense to me what you're saying right now? Yeah. As we can know. And my opinion is kind of like, oh, it's frightening. It's going to be like, what, 20 and a half? Yes. Yeah. No, that's so funny. It just goes up. Yeah. It just goes up forever. I mean, so far I haven't sound like the upper limit of my foot size, but I've been getting new straight shoes because now my shoes are wearing now they feel too tight. Have you grown like height wise at all or is it just your feet that are cool? No. It's just the feet. I want to show them because you're getting older. It's just the general. Just the general swollen. Oh, that's, it's just diabetes because I have like. Yeah, I was going to say. I should have seen a doctor do it. Oh my gosh. Oh, that's what it is. Yeah. Okay. I love it. Okay, I love it. So we need to get a little bit into your background truly. Okay. I do want to inquire. Yeah, just if you want to give us a little bit of a little story about where you came from, your dance training, where you dance professionally, and then where you are now. Okay. Me? Okay. I'm from Columbia, South Carolina. I grew up on a farm there. My dad was a farmer. And I started ballet when I was 14 and I started ballet because my friend, my middle school friends, Zellig Williams was a great dancer even in middle school. And still one of the best dancers I've ever met. And he could do like lateral turns and aerial cartwheels. And he had like a lot of confidence. And so I really wanted to be like Zellig. And that was one of the things I, and he went on America's Got Talent later. And he was really cool. And that's it anyway. So yeah, I've shot out to the person who did inspire me early on. And so I'm 14. I went about lessons. And by 15, I had moved out of the house to like go to conservatory full time in South Carolina. And then I ended up graduating from the curable academy when I was 19. So that was where I like finished my training. So yeah, like Russian training all the way through. And then now currently I dance with new English ballet theater, which is based in London. We just wrapped our spring season, which was a bunch of some new choreography by dancer from the Royal Ballet. And another piece by Matthew Ball, who's a principal there. So choreography by a woman in general. So like lots of very cool rep that I enjoy doing. And that'll start back up again in July and then continue into the fall with different stuff. So yeah, really enjoying the company that I'm with now. Nice. How long have you been there? This was my first season with them actually. Right before this, I was a New Jersey Ballet in New Jersey. I just wanted to get guests from the name. And that was cool. I did some very good rep there too. I got to do rubies, which is my first balancing piece. I got to do fancy free, which was during Robbins. So I got to do some really cool rep and then work with some great people from outside the company. So they brought in to like stage those pieces. So that was a super cool experience to dance there. Nice. Yeah, yeah. I'm trying not to ask. Well, I'm just going to ask it because I've already said that I'm trying not to ask it. But I'm so curious about your cure off experience since there was that scandal. Am I correct? Correct. I also don't want to get the details wrong. And you can Google it. But like the long story short is it was funded by a Korean Christian. Let's call it an organization. And they were very popular like in the 70s and 80s. And they made like millions of dollars, like billions of dollars. And like very extremely long story short, the proceeds from this group, religious group funded the Russian sister school of the Buganova Academy in Washington DC. And then that money sort of started to dry up. You know, as they lost popularity and as the leader went to prison for tax fraud. And then to compound matters, a woman that worked there in bezels. Like I want to say $500,000. Okay, that's fine for it. And then I think and again, fact check me on any of this, but I believe she was rehired. And then in bezels again. And she went to and she went to prison. And so and then cure off clothes. So Americans sort of one true Valley conservatory institution. I guess SAB might be sort of the other one is totally like has disappeared. So so my my time I cure off did really have anything to do with that, but that is the story. And the family and this sounds crazy and the sounds made up to and again, if I'm wrong, check me. But I think that the family that was behind the wealth that funded the cure on Academy is also the same family that was behind the international sushi company empire that brought sushi and popularized it in America. Wow, and I know and I know that that sounds. I know that that sounds like I'm having a fever dream and maybe I did, but I'm pretty sure that that's true also. Well, that's super interesting. Yeah, my answer about cure off, but I had a great time there. I mean, I got got way better at ballet. Yeah. Yeah, it gave me some reading. It kind of wanted me to join the religious group. I'm strongly trying not to use a different word to describe the group, but one of the guys kind of brought me a book. And he was like, hey, we're not really supposed to do this, but like I think you would like the teaching stuff, the reverence. And I was like, oh, word, like I'll read the book and consider joining your religion, but I did not end up reading it. As like 17 year old, you got the book or something like that? Yeah, something like that, 18. Impressionable age. Yeah, they were kind of like, you seem right for recruitment. Right. Wow, it is crazy hearing the stories that people have from their ballet schools. I would love to just compile them all and do like a big episode and just of different people's experiences, just the things we hear. Yeah, we've talked about a few other. I'll say it Coltie, like ballet schools that have had interesting, we would love to like also do some sort of TV series on it. We've always talked about it. Like American Horror Story, but like American ballet school horror story. Yeah, that's a good one. Netflix, we're ready. How about you? I thought I took the story there a little farther for the question. Yeah, it's fine. It's good. It was a good story. I'm learning so much today. I am from, this is the question was how, what was the question? The question was, what religious cult funded your school? Right, really. Just get background and background to where you are now. Great. So I am from Argentina. I grew up in a Coast King Coral, which is a small town of about 40,000 people there. I started dancing when I was 16 or so. I always play soccer and dance like folk dances, which is kind of like a, you know, tap situation there from Argentina. I trained at rock school for about, for a couple of two years or so. And I worked with the International Ballet. I was my first company, then I learned ballet for about five seasons, Indianapolis Ballet. And right now I'm in the National Ballet of Uruguay in South America. We met with Luis while touring with this small company in Germany. And it was a funny story actually. I got to the place at two in the morning. We didn't know each other. We were sharing a room. Two hours prior that I get a message of this random dude on Instagram. He says, hey, look, I will be a roommate. And there's just one problem we are sharing a room, but there's also just one bed. And he wrote to me in Spanish, right? I was like, he's probably just, you know, messing this up. He doesn't know how to speak Spanish, which he does right now. Somehow he learns Spanish throughout the years. And so I answer and say, like, listen, this is crazy. There needs to be another bed. We're going to be there for a whole week. We're going to be like, pardon me for the entire week. This is just crazy. You know, you know, it's fine. Like you will see. My fly got delayed. I got there at two in the morning. Everybody is asleep over there. And I see Luis. You know, I walked into the room, opened the door. And I see Luis sleeping in the corner on something that looked like a bed, right? And I'm like, dude, what are you talking about? There's one bed in there. And then I have one like pretty comfy bed in here. He's crazy. All right. I woke up the next morning and I see the guy sleeping on top of what it was a little couch and a little table, right? Like he was asleep. On those two things, he put like a blanket and a pillow and he was like, what are you doing? He's like, well, there was like, I mean, I know you are sort of the comfy table in between. And then I slept like across them. Imagine. So, you know, I say like, listen, thank you so much. I really appreciate this. And that's how we met. And then we tour France and Switzerland. And then we went back and did another tour through a very bad tour with a twal, this company called a twal, and we can talk about life you want. Yeah, sure. Yeah, we're the located, remind me. Latvia, I guess. Latvia, that's it, crazy people. Everything that's bad about a company, that's them. They don't pay people, they treat women like crap, they are abusive, and I don't know what else, but it was a very bad tour. And we see, we saw it happening. A friend of ours weighed, this was in telegram, so I can't remember how it translates. But it basically, she weighs, let's say 105 pounds, is like the rough translation, and they asked her if she could lose 5 pounds by tour. Also, in writing, we're not, this isn't here, we have a screenshot. Yeah, we posted the email on bar trash, but the tour that we, it's not the tour that we met on, it's one that we did together later. But yeah, that's the kind of people that they are, which is I guess for us, we feel like not great kind of people. I think I've heard of that company being problematic before. Well, there's a girl now who's struggling with, there's several people now that are struggling with them who are owed money. Another guy that I know of in a recent tour of them, they took him out of the show, but they didn't fly him like back home. So he just had to like continue on tour with them, but like sit there. I mean, I'm smiling, but like, it's pretty bad actually. Yeah, because they like out of spite, like I can't remember what he did wrong, but they, some sort of reason out of spite, they were like, you're not going to dance with us. But like, we're not getting you a, like, we're not going to change your ticket and get you a ticket home and like spend the money. So you just have to like, go to my city to city and like sleep overnight on the bus and like just be in like cold, Baltic cities and just sit around. And you're like, you're not taking class, you're not doing this show, like you're just long for the ride now. So yeah, a lot of like comically bad things, which really aren't so funny in the moment to be honest. Oh, yeah, not at all. Yeah, I may or may not have done two shows of a similar experience. And then I was like, get me out of here. I wouldn't left. I was like, I can't, can't do anything like this. I can't get out. Like would dancers have still little money that you get? I actually offered to pay a guy out like he, I can't remember what the conflict was on his tour, but he really wanted out. Like he wanted to be done. He was suffering. They were, they were causing problems for him. And I was like, dude, like I'll, I'll get to take, I'll cover the remainder of the money that they owe you or whatever. Like just, just go home and hook it up. Yeah, but he ended up sort of just sticking it out. That was nice of you. Most dancers is like you're just really short on money because we don't make much. Yeah, absolutely. Well, I love your little meat cute of you guys basically almost sharing a bed. Yeah, well, it was crazy to even when Lucas saw the real bed. He still wanted to sleep on the coffee table with me. It was a sweet cup. You have to say you guys must have snuttled after that. Yeah, we didn't use the bed. No, I'm cute. That is so funny, oh my god. Well, as you guys started to talk and started to form this idea, I'm just curious why you guys decided to start a dancewear brand. Why go dancewear? They're like kind of a variety of different things you could have due, but you could do, but you guys chose to go. Yeah, actually our first, I could talk about the dancers with Lucas. Why do you keep calling me Luis? I don't know. I could call him a second time today. This has happened twice now. We had a meeting before this and he called me Luis. But that's his name. Yeah, you're just listening. Yeah, I'm Luis. He's Lucas. Yeah, I talked about our very first meeting together. Yeah, super briefly. So we started a website called the dancers list where you could, whatever city you're in, you could search and find like the local, like in London, it's easy, right? There's pineapple in New York. It's easier steps on Broadway, but if you're just traveling generally, if you're in Madrid or if you're in just, you know, Cologne, Germany, you're not sure where you could take ballet class and stay in shape. It's sort of hard to find one. So the very first project we did was that building this website with, I don't know a couple hundred studios on it and sort of making a tool for people to use that, which started with our experience. Like it was Lucas' idea because we were in Madrid and he was like, "Man, there should be a website that you could just search your city." And I was like, "Yeah, you should." So smart. We didn't start with dancewear. But when we started talking about clothing and started with some t-shirt ideas, also from Lucas' side, and then I was like, "Well, with a little more effort, we could actually, I can't remember what the next product after that was, but sort of beef up the idea." And then we were like, "Well, we should have its own name. Like we should have a brand name, so we came up with that." And then it just kept sort of rolling when you realized like, if we were going to do it, and it was going to be successful in our money eventually, that we should do it sort of big. And then we just enjoyed it. So I think once it started rolling, we just, honestly, there was never really any question about it. Once we started moving towards making a clothing brand, we were just making a clothing brand. It really wasn't like, "What are we doing exactly here?" "Yeah, are we right?" Lucas, is that right? I don't remember. Yeah, but they won. It was a business. I don't really remember doubting it with you. We weren't sure how long it would take to take off. To take off. I remember kind of being like, "We know it will, but we don't know when." So that was maybe the only sort of stressful thing. Do you remember Lucas, like earlier, any other like earlier conversations, or like, I don't know? I mean, the conversation from the star up until now has changed a lot because we have learned a lot since when we started it, you know, Louis went to Yale and he has all this knowledge from Yale that he likes to remind me every single day. A very smart guy. Yes, very smart guy, you know. And Lucas is a good buy the scenes helper. And I did some marketing. So we were always a good match. Like, whatever I don't understand, how to do. He's very good at, and vice versa. And we don't have feelings, basically hard feelings for anything. So he can literally tell me anything and same thing for me because we know that it's in the best interest of the company and growing together. So that was since day one. And I think that's one of the key, one of the good things to have may bar trash, you know, to where it is right now, to what it is right now, because we started from scratch with, you know, zero followers and just us with a couple of thousand dollars from our savings as the answers, which weren't, you know, that much. And it was scary at the beginning, but we decided to do it anyway. We did it. And a year and a half later, we are about to be in 70 stores in America and Europe as well. Yeah, huge. As well as, you know, we're doing this part with you guys. We just had a meeting with a huge building, a ballet clothing brand. Before this, and we're, you know, connecting with people and making it happen, shipping to over 37 countries already. Over 30,000 followers on Instagram. So, and, and all, all of that in a year and a half. So it has really taken off to a place where we, you know, we knew, you know, we were going to get there eventually. It's just we did it much quicker. That's crazy. Yeah, alongside of that, what do you think? Because it sounds like those are all amazing things that have happened sort of recently. What has been each of your biggest like pinch me moment where you like, wow, this actually feels real. I can't believe this is happening. Um, I know one. Yeah, go ahead. Lucas, you knew yours, because I have a couple of issues from. Right. I'm sure you have so many. Why would you start? No, you start because if you pick this one, then I'll have the one second one. So we, um, we started with about 10 products for Black Friday. We saw, you know, a couple of thousand dollars then. And we said, okay, this is what, you know, what's going to be? We're going to be selling this amount of dollars every single day. We made the math and it was great. But it was just because we released on Black Friday that everybody is shopping. After that, it was a little, you know, harder. Um, the really like moment that we knew we had something was when Louis created this real about holding something at little lemon. Right. That was crazy expensive, like $180 or something for a pair of whatever, uh, for a pair of socks, more or less. Um, and, and that got us our first 10,000 followers. And all the comments were so positive about supporting us being business owners and full-time dancers. That was, I think one of the first ones when we were like, all right, we started a business. And now it's a business. We have a vision. We have an audience. Let's make it grow. And our biggest, like, are we sold out of the product that we relate to? We released a product at the same time as we posted that video. And we sold out of it, like, I think in under two weeks, maybe one week. Yeah. So that, that was like the, like seeing like the most viral video we had made yet. With the most followers we had gotten yet. And then getting the most sales we had gotten yet all of the same couple of week periods. Every time we, um, we get a sale, we get an email, seeing all those emails one after the other. It was one of the best feeling. ever because you was a product we chose at the time we made the photo the video it's something we created and it worked it was a full circle so once we start seeing like the not even because of the money but because like it worked something that you really you know we were really hard for that we did like a couple of photoshoots in Barcelona and New York and you know Paris and all of the time working it was crazy it was crazy it was really insane so I can do a like an opposite side of that like a small pinched me like like that's not about like sales or anything because for sure that I think that week for both of us like we were texting each other like dude are you like are you seeing this and then like another one you would be like dude but the but just like last month I think in January how was that the Royal Opera House like in the studios so like upstairs like you know where the where the classes and stuff happened and I walked by an exam so there's like kids in there they're like let's say like 13 year olds dancing and there's a little panel of the judges watching them and I think they're I think it's and you know just so I don't know for some reason the adults are observing the kids this day and maybe they're getting a score or something and it's all girls and there's one boy in there and the one boy is wearing a bar trash hoodie in his exam in his like yeah like all the girls make me cry that's so cute yeah all the girls are in the guitars and tides and they're correctly dressed and then the one boy in the room is like wrapping our fucking shit okay and I see him through the window and I'm like dude like I'm like in the window I can't say anything right but I'm like morning on my chest and I'm like it's you me like we're like it's us like oh my god you're wearing the hoodie and he looks at me and he was like he's like doing a shirt and I swear to god he leaves the room he leaves the dance studio and like gives me a big hug outside and I'm like dude you are a real one like you're wearing our stuff also like you should go back to class but like you're wearing our hoodie like where everybody else is dressing about like close he's like I'm gonna grab bar trash and so anyway we took a photo together in the hallway and it was just awesome it was just like oh my god like something we made like this kid felt was like worth wearing like of whatever he put on that day he was like this is the thing I'm gonna wear and especially I think for for being a male dancer and for having been the only boy in the room when I started of the tallies and all of the girls less capable than all of the girls like insecure about it bullied for it and all of that stuff like when I see the kid wearing a bar trash hoodie like it was extremely extremely moving and so that was for me like a very pinched me moment that was so sweet I love that oh my gosh I think that's got to be so cool like I mean obviously it's hard to be a female dancer so like because there's so many of us and there's so few jobs but it's also hard to be a male dancer because there are like you're in a female dominated space a hundred percent at the time so seeing your influence on young young students and young boys young male dancers like that's got to be I mean that's just so I think the more the merrier the more you can do to inspire others and get more young students in the room and help them feel welcome yeah so that's just like the dance world is objectively harder for women but I think it's sometimes harder for boys when they're young and then harder for women when they're older because yeah the older the concerns become like professional you have to do with mental health or your physical health of course those things don't matter when you're young too but when you're a young boy in most places and you're trying to do ballet the social like pressure to not do ballet is high and I think it is a lonely road in some ways obviously homophobia is like something you're gonna encounter from minute one so you know I think I think like each has their own like difficulties at different stages of the career for sure yeah well and just like I mean I'm curious like when you're gonna drop male tights and like when you're gonna do stuff like that because I think that would be super cool but I love of today's meeting yes but it's just like it's awesome I think if anybody can seize themselves in you and you being entrepreneurs as well as male dancers who have a strong following and stand for something besides just like flexing and looking in the mirror you know like that's gotta be so meaningful to them that matters that matter big time so yeah good to see you guys for doing that thank you you guys for doing that okay fun question Lewis when are you gonna drop the ballet stand-up special? oh man you always think yeah I mean I find it flattering people are like oh you should try a stand-up comedy because I think like I'm good at just like running my mouth so ballet a ballet stand-up special would be awesome that wasn't like when you like the more you joke the more enemies you make so since we are trying to like sell people clothing like I'm sure I would bother somebody at some point like in a one-hour ballet stand-up like make fun of the wrong I don't know making fun of freed swearers and then all of a sudden we're getting protested by freeds it could be bad that's true for business that's a good point look as we're going to comment on that look like you maybe had a thought on his stand-up special uh this this is my life I take notes I just okay yes I'm the idea guy here um I just wrote ballet stand-up question mark that's a good that's a good that I like to be good yeah it could be good could be good that would be so funny like if there's some sort of gathering of like companies to just like have um in event where you just have like a stand-up one night and it's just like a bunch of open-mind dancers like an open mic or like I think that would be like it's a pretty good idea yeah you know you could do it like yeah I mean if you guys want to like host a live ballet stand-up event yeah come to my house it's totally yeah we would we totally promote that there's so many we have so many ideas of directions we want to go in but I haven't really thought that much about the totally the comic scene but I don't know I have that like that gift but what's the deal with free yeah I mean hosting it I don't I don't want to be the stand-up talent but hosting it yeah I think I could do that we could do that yeah I'm sure I could put together with a call of tight five on some ballet yeah all right let's let's go that'd be exciting yeah kind of love that um I love your memes though I can't tell you enough that first couple that you did talking about contemporary dancers and male dancers shopping for clothes I mean and the finance guy date I can't tell you how many people sent me that that are outside of the ballet world yeah like my mom sent me that like four times she didn't meet you but she just like we just re-posted it it's all new for her I think I need to redo I need to do another finance guy with the problem let me tell you the problem with the finance guy on a date joke which is that during it I have to eat I actually eat the food because like and I'm like cuz I eat chewing with my mouth open as part of the joke and so you got to you got to do it when there's like when you're hungry but like the food has to be a little gross and also like if you get if you take more than one or two takes that you're getting full now so you feel bad about yourself so no one can be around like the first time I did it my girlfriend was in the other room and you know like I didn't want her to see me like that you know so this like the food to like bad eating is like such a key and also like yeah I feel bad about myself playing that guy so you know you got me in the right headspace for I do think we're due for another finance guy on a date with the ballet joke if you like golfing there's a way to do it on the golf course so you can make a day out of it that's good that's a good one I love that so yeah so the rest of the day I'm just going golfing yeah yeah I gotta and also this is one problem too with social media is like you like I hate to redo jokes and to be postings but when you do you get a whole brand new audience for them so Lucas will like it courage me he'll be like let's post that joke again because like a whole new million people will see it but I'm always like oh no I want to do like something brand new and it's like it's too it's too high of a standard to put on yourself to be like yeah yeah you can't think of endless viral yeah can be yeah and they're not all gonna be viral it's like you almost don't know what will end up being viral totally totally and so I'm just some that I have thought have been like super funny that haven't taken off and then others where I'm like this really okay like this is the big one so I loved I loved the one that you posted recently about you going to Royal Ballet and like pretending to be dressing like someone yeah this is such a creative idea like so viola viola was very tolerance of my various like joke ideas with her because there's another video with her where I like gifted her a pair of like very wet sweaty pants that I had worn being like these remind me to have them and she was really like cool about doing that joke which is nice Lucas has had some some hits though this week with like the emotional I like the more serious emotional take I feel like on ballet whereas I've been war like doing like the clown and stuff that's a good it's a good two sides of the coin yeah well Lewis get all these funny ideas for videos the thing is you know he will get three four five maybe six per month but we post three times per month so I feel feel in in those trying to do it again Victoria Barrel's thing is Lucas. Yeah, even some of the funny videos, I'll be like, I'm out of ideas and he'll give me He'll like give me something to start with and then I'll go record my version of his idea. Yeah. Yeah Yeah It's definitely easier when you're together like we When we first started the podcast we were together and now that we live different places like our social media with so much easier We'll be we're just like, hey, let's go in the other studio on our break and like to make this idea um, so now we're like We our lives are so different creating different content and trying to blend it But I love that you guys are posting so frequently that's definitely important. Yeah. No, we post we we commit to post every day So as we post for the what's today And we have posted once a day or more since we started a year and a half ago. Yeah, it's so impressive We are trying But we are sure to not miss one day. No, that's so impressive There was a month where Lucas pre-prepared. Mm-hmm. I don't even know what the number was I want to say 60 posts or something crazy Mm-hmm, and he was like let's do it like what do we eat for two weeks like it was so much And I was like dude, this is a lot of work for you like you want to like you just want to like blow through all of the content And he was just like bucket like we'll do it and so I schedule all the posts And I think at that point it was like three a day for two straight weeks And he had created like them all over the course of like two full days of working Yeah, we haven't had done anything like that since but that was like I don't know a second month And we were like let's just see like let's just go crazy on it and find out, you know Yeah, so much that's the content. That's you know, that's what we need to do too And now we're we're in a little inspiration. Yeah, we kind of like we started off with a bang and found this like amazing community and then like our lives dramatically shifted and then they dramatically shifted twice more I know like finally starting to find our flow We're like our new kind of career choices, but I was gonna ask you Lucas because you're not just managing bar trash You've got like your own presence as well as What's it called? Sorry the connected It's it's connected. It's got it. Yeah, ballot world connected And it is basically what it started as just connecting people through zoom In during the pandemic where I think I took a few of your classes There you go. You see amazing. Oh my gosh, that's you. I know what you're talking about Full circle amazing. So yeah, it's it basically started like like that and then it shifted into I have a mark a background. So it shifted into us helping the ballot world In terms of growing in social media game or students ads websites and you know and what not and now it's shifting once again into We offer Other businesses like restaurants and like fitness coaches and Pilates instructors yoga instructors Um to edit their content. I just found out that you know Let's say a fitness coach will spend about 30 hours weekly only editing content up to Um, so imagine if you could put that you know that amount of hours back into your business I know I have to worry about editing and producing ideas for content Um, and that's enough for I am creating as of right now because I have had so many Request from other people saying like do you edit for you know Pilates or whatever and I'm like we haven't done it yet Um, and now I have a A team of 10 people we have video editors and people that are research for content and social media managers salespeople And there you know that gives me a lot of more time to worry about bar trash because they take care pretty much of everything that goes You know day-to-day In terms of the business operations and And yeah, so I you know, I tried to Oh spread all my time and and balance it out with dancing bar trash and BWC and now this new like shifting from BWC But yeah, that's amazing. Oh, yeah Wow, and it really just shows like um How dynamic you guys both are you have so many talents and you're you know Pushing yourself in all these different directions, which I'm sure is just making you more well around a human and dancer Um, I think a lot of young dancers get like pigeonholed, you know You think you only all you need to think about is ballet and nothing else matters and then Once you start your career you learn you One probably need to make more money doing something on the side And into you want your voice to maybe be heard in another capacity outside of just the studio So I think it's really great for people to see I think there's a bigger benefit to it, which is just that you get you get fulfillment from like different sources and Like Mono when I go in ballet Which you have to be to be level to be great at it like of course you have to be If you're gonna do the role he used Well Yeah, actually don't talk about much by the way loop is just likes that's all people that I But like of course you have to yeah, you have to be crazy about it to do it well To do professionally like there's no way other there's no way other than that to get like the technical master you need But when you have a bad day in the ballet studio like if it's all if all you have is ballet like it's over for you for that day You're you're so true like we've all gone home after not, you know after not being able to like be on our like the whole day You're just depressed So I think I think a big benefit of having outside projects Is that you just you could have a success that day even if you didn't have success that day Your ballet life It's tough to you. I mean I really I really feel like also people should read more like dancers You know, it's it's not often that you're like taking the time to pick up a book like there's just just so much more out there in life that you could like Try to gather together and that stuff does make you a better artist like it makes you more interesting. Oh, yeah Yeah, yeah, yeah, you lived a little. I mean like it's like Romeo and Juliet is like a good example of this Yes, by the time you have the maturity as a ballet dancer to play Juliet or Romeo You're probably like in your 30s because you've done a lot of it and drawn when you go and play the role But the roles are of two 14 year olds. So it's like a few or like sleep reviews a similar example But the more it's a life experience you can get the better the maturity of your performances too But I don't I think it's hard to teach people that and you know, it's a yeah, you kind of figure that out Yeah, it's up to you to figure out. Yeah To just make sure that we stay on time because I feel like we could just keep going with you guys Should we do some for for nothing to finish us up? Okay Yeah, I do want to ask one final question Just because we've been talking about being an entrepreneur with in addition to being a dancer What's one thing that you've learned throughout this process? Maybe the last year and a half that you would want to share with other people who are starting their brands like we're good friends with lazy ballerina club the ballet scout all these people who have just kind of started to explode on TikTok and Start selling products. Yeah, is there something that you've learned that you would want to Pass on to someone else who's thinking about doing something similar good question Um This is a I mean, this is this is a common advice. I guess if you if you read a lot or listen to podcasts and thing But the ideas are cheap. So you really can ideas are easy to come up with um You know, we all have we all have that thing or like it's they just like my granddad He always said that he had invented the the mailbox that opens at both ends So he go down to the street like in America I don't know who listens to this and Lucas is fine. I think same for you. Well, you have a mailbox at the end of the driveway in America. You have to go around to the street side and open it Uh to get your mail and so it's dangerous because you're out where the cars are so he my granddad sent a letter to the mailbox Companies that you open from both sides and in my granddad's version of this they Stole his idea and a few months later they came out with the double of the double of the mailbox Which maybe it's true. I prefer to believe that this is a chance. That's true. It's true. Sure. It's true By my point being like anybody can be like they should make the double ended mailbox like or we should make Tights we should make live owners or we should read we should make a new type of point shoe But there's a very few people like orza for example. They make a ballet shoe with a sock a shock absorbing sole I'm sure other people had that idea, but orza are the brand that said the this is the product that we're going to make Um, so it takes way more to in the execution than than just to have the idea So you have that's where all of the energy has to go into the execution because the idea is a lot easier Yeah, that's great. It's my roundabout way via the mailbox and and orza it takes to answer your question But I don't know maybe Lucas has a has another good piece of advice Um, yes, I love talking about this. I usually I always tell my friends about this Um, you're not inventing anything new so seek for help Um, everything has been done. Just go and see what's working and adapt it to your brand Be consistent Be organized with your time if you say you don't have time because you work eight or ten hours per day at the company that just Uh, you probably you can wake up three hours before that and you can go to bed three hours after and you have You know some hours there that already can put into the business and basically um, just Um Find some some one that we wants to do what you're doing. Not for money, but because you love it. That's super important. Because if you're chasing money, then it's just you're not going to be able to put the amount of work in hours that requires. And like we always say with Luis, because we love it and we have a common goal, we just don't mind putting, putting there for like when we get together, traveling, last time we went to Paris for three days, we work maybe like 16, 16, 18 hours per day, just like creating content, ideas, going from one place to the other, talking through dinner, you know, we wouldn't just like work, work, work, but we just love it. And it shows now, the brand is growing. But yeah, that's my idea. You can't be mean, you're miserably about the money because you just, like we don't count our hours, for example, it's just, if you're like, well, but or do our profits add up to x about per hour, you're missing the point. Like a lot of the payoff is in the joy of creating something. And if in that, that attitude, like, I mean, we've never, I know there's no accounting for the hours that we spend on this whatsoever. There's no attempt to extract money from the business. It all goes back in. And that's those are the attitudes. And if you listen to like the how I built this podcast or anything like that, this is what other successful people will, will all say, there's nobody. I was like, well, I worked 10 hours a week building my brand because I was being paid on paper. It's like, that's that's the wrong attitude. So yeah, yeah, I mean, it's shown, like congratulations on all your new accomplishments. The store in store is amazing. Yeah, that's a very exciting one. That's that's awesome. I'm very excited to see like what's next for you guys. And it's so cool that like, we've been able to reconnect slash connect in the first place. I think this is like the rock, the rock full circles is cool. Yeah, the connection. We're gonna kind of go into our last little segments, just like a random segment just before you have to run. Rachel, you want to lead us through? Yes, okay, so this is our for for nothing. It's just like rapid fire, quick answer questions, just for fun. So our question is, if you're familiar, sorry, what's the four or so? It's just like, it's okay, we wouldn't have to explain. But it's like, you know, when you're counting, you say for for nothing, five, six, seven, eight, that it's just the name of the segment. So it really has nothing to do with what we actually say in the segment. So the question of our for for nothing is, we're gonna play the game Kiss Mary Kill, but with ballet steps. I thought it was like with ballet people, I was like, oh god. Yeah, like spill it. Kiss me. Oh, I will tell you a girlfriend, finish me. But yeah, we did this. Kiss Mary Kill, so, you know, how the game goes. We don't have to explain it for you guys. It's up to you guys to start. We, if you want to start, oh, I thought you gave us three steps and then we're leaving it open and down here repertoire. Are you? Yeah, it's someone else. You asked me to ask him. No, we. I only got this one second quicker than Lucas, but we come up with the own kiss Mary Kill. They don't give us. So we just, we just make our own list of three. Just out of ballet steps. Great. Mine would be Kill Rebel Todd, which I think Lucas can do one. I can't. Or the thing where you go on the dot, like as if you're doing an on the dot, you know, in you do a split in the mid-air, in the end of the day, I also think Lucas can do. But both of those, like the physics of it, I don't, I don't know the physics of those. Okay, so you're calling too. On the dot. Yeah. Mary, a triple pirouette that is on the music. That's on the music. And kiss, what's that? That's like a fleeting love for it's like, yeah, it's good, but it doesn't last. It's lustful. That would be like the, that one double tour I did that one time. That's good. That's good. Two years ago, that was so high. And like, boom, boom, and then I just landed it. Like I don't, I, that was the best one I ever did. So that's my little, my little, my smooch. I love that. That was good. So it's, it's, I'm freaking out here. So he's all related to, to ballet steps. Basically, it's ballet. I thought we were going to kiss someone in the ballet role. No, no, no, no, no. No, no, no. From a company. I mean, that would be a great episode, but we would have to make that exclusive contact. Yeah. People have to pay specifically to see that. Nice business money. So it's, I will, with the kiss, kill, and Mary, is I would do this? Yeah. I don't say in the right order. In the right order. Okay. Okay. So I would kiss a, a, a, Betty, Allegro, Betty, Allegro is like, boy, a little balance she in like, nice. I will, I will kill Adaggio. It's just a need to stop. Adaggio, and sometimes, I just need to, um, and I will marry, um, I will marry, um, I will marry, you know, this step where you go like in, out in Granbadman, what is that? Yeah. No one reverends. No one reverends. No one has a real name for it. I've asked several people, several like, professional teachers who like teach for their whole career, Scooby Doo. I'll learn that. Yeah. I'll represent other good ones. That's a first. I've never had a guest that wanted to marry that one. So that's very unique. Is what you get? What? Who gets, can you do a rebel Todd? The, this one? Or, yeah, this one. I don't like that. But it's like that. I can't see. I'm so tired. So if you're not seeing this rumor mimic, it's, yeah, I can do it. I'll, we'll, we'll attach a video today. What about what I said with the split in the middle? I feel like you can. They're on my Instagram. I'll send it to you later. Check his Instagram. I think, you know, I think to run up this conversation, I think Lucas really is a free girl. The way that he is tailored his questions perfectly to him, I feel like he's like the kind of free girl that she darns. He also cuts the top of the shoe off. He puts his own special elastic, he's the cheese greater in everything. Yeah, I'm going. That's it. That's the British point you that I am. As a new London resident, I'm all in on a, on a British shoe. Okay. And free. You can miss me with it. Go ahead. Oh, show off. It's that. Well, it has been a pleasure having you guys both here. I wish you the absolute best of luck with everything you're doing and congratulations. Yes. Thanks. Spend so much. We're having us. These were so much fun. And chat yourself out on social media real quick. So our listeners can follow you at bar trash B a R R E trash as in trash bag pant. At bar trash or you can email us [email protected]. Lucas's phone number is plus one. That's it. That's it. Bar trash. If you can't figure out to find us. It's thin slime. I don't know. That's it. All right. Good. Well, thank you guys. We're so happy you came on. Bye bye. Bye. Bye. Bye.