“It just kind of happened,” says John Corella about creating the Dance Dad podcast, “Like anything I’ve created that I love, I thought, ‘This will be fun’.” Today, John turns the tables and lets guest host Eva from On the Spot Interviews ask the questions about his plans for the show and his mission–or, as he poses it to all of his guests–his ‘why.’ He talks about creating a safe space of healing for the LGBTQ community where they can share their stories from inside of the dance world, a place for meaningful conversations where everyone can be authentic–maybe even a little bit messy.   As he always does, John arrived here by following his spirit, his faith in God and his love of Jesus, all of which help him to navigate what can be a challenging landscape, one where everyone can make their voices heard–including some nasty people in the comments section. He grappled with self-doubt while in the early stages of getting the podcast off the ground, but a very synchronistic sign from the universe let him know he was right to take the leap.   John has the unique ability to draw out authentic moments from guests that even superfans of Dance Moms and the dance world would be surprised by. John reveals the superstar whom he performed with on a famous talent show - and whom he’d love to have on the show to talk to! Which celebrity friendship of John did Eva discover that made her fall off her chair, and who is John’s number one dream celebrity guest (hint: it’s not a dancer).   John is not a dancer either, as he explains on this episode, one of many misconceptions about the dance world that he aims to dispel on future episodes of Dance Dad. After all, this podcast belongs to the listeners–and those who dare to be bold.    Quotes “I really want this podcast to be authentic–some people say messy—but authentic. That happens in our lives, even though we act like ‘Oh, yeah, I look like this and I walk into school’ or ‘I look like this, and I go into work,’ we all have little hiccups and messes before we step onto the mic.” (4:26 | John) “I follow my spirit, my holy spirit, and it just kind of happened. It’s similar to ‘Dance Moms’ or anything similar that I’ve created that I love. I can’t even give you a step-by-step. I just thought of it and then thought, ‘Oh, that’ll be fun.” (7:49 | John)  “That’s another thing, with just starting with this, in the past month of it being public, I wasn’t used to how mean people can be. I forgot about that. I got a lot of nice things, but then I wasn’t used to people being mean and saying hurtful things. But again, that’s been healing for me. I’ve taken it as an opportunity to focus on my ‘why’.” (17:26 | John)  “We all have a little bit of Dance Mom/Dance Dad in us, an ego at times. So, it’s not like I’m expecting people to walk on water here, it’s not that at all. It was just kind of funny, my ego came up, big time, when they told me how well I was doing.” (20:44 | John) “What got me there was just being present, focusing on having these great conversations with people I love. It reminds me of ‘The Kingdom of Heaven.’ Don’t worry about tomorrow, focus on the Kingdom of Heaven and everything else will be added unto you.’ And if it’s not, it’s OK, you’re already in Heaven, meaning feeling good.” (21:33 | John)  Links Dance Dad with John Corella on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dancedadwithjohncorella/ John on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/john_corella/ Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm