Today we’d like to introduce you to Rebekah Woodson.
Hi rebekah, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I was born in England and started dancing at the age of three and attended Wingfield academy of dance a Ballet School. I continued dancing through college where I gained a BTEC National diploma in dance, whist training the RAD and ISTD syllabus. I then went on to perform professionally before meeting my husband and moving to Florida. I continued to teach, choreograph and judge events globally. I decided that I wanted to build my own dance competition in 2019. I wanted to give back more to my clients and thought long and hard about how we could be different. I decided to implement live on stage feedback for the dancers after their performance, providing them extra feedback and affording them the opportunity to instantly apply corrections. We started our first event at the Orlando Rep and then covid hit in which we had to turn our event into a virtual platform. Our first virtual event had 685 entries from the USA, Canada, Australia, Mexico, Holland, Wales and England. We have continued to offer two virtual events a year enabling dancers to compete internationally without having to leave their own home, cutting huge costs for travel and hotels. We have grown our Florida events to three live events a year in Tampa, Orlando and Sanford. We have dancers travel to attend from across the state and as far as Puerto Rico, Georgia and Pennsylvania. Unfortunately in March of this year I fell ill with Guillain Barre syndrome causing a temporary ascending paralysis. I was preparing for our Tampa and Orlando events in a hospital bed whilst learning to walk again. Thankfully I had a great team that helped make sure I was at our events whilst recovering. I am still in the rehab facility three days a week whilst working on next seasons events.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Covid in 2020 taught us to pivot and forced us to build virtual platforms and then becoming sick this year with Guillain Barre Syndrome
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
We are known as the feedback focused dance competition offering more feedback then any other event. We use highly qualified judges who truly care about giving the most constructive feedback to help each dancer grow. I’m proud of the family friendly atmosphere at our events and we truly try to make sure that each studio owner feels valued. We also provide multiple scholarships for dancers affording opportunities they may have otherwise not got. This year we introduced a Title competition in which the profits were used to give back to those dancers displaced by Hurricane Milton. We also sold event shirts helping raise funds for the cause that were called’ dancing through the storm’.
We’d love to hear about how you think about risk taking?
I am not a risk taker I am an over analyst. I have had to learn to take chances and Iv done so because I am so passionate about dance and the events that we have built for the dance community.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.fulloutdanceproduction.com
- Instagram: @fulloutdanceproduction
- Facebook: fulloutdanceproduction
- Youtube: fulloutdanceproduction
