TDF- EP.13~ CAITLYN REYES

Episode 13 with Caitlyn Reyes is of course another good one! The dance is KILLER and our interview is lovely as usual. We discuss cheerleading as well as dance and life advice that you have come to expect throughout. Caitlyn is the second ever female presenting "Gamer" at Virgin Voyages and as one of the oldest 'Gamer's it was nice to sit and chat. We really get into the dance with buttons by Pussycat Dolls, so you don't want to miss that on YouTube. Please enjoy and follow Caitlyn 

@caitlynnn_r

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Host- Ty Nelson @tallglassofty

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Transcript

Hello everybody. Welcome back to another episode. I am your host Ty Nelson. This is TheDanceFloor and today we are joined by Caitlin Reyes. She is the second of her kind as the female gamer. She is a bundle of joy, little powerhouse and just an overall funny, chill person. Very excited to be able to work with her and have her on the podcast today. Welcome. What's up, Caitlyn? Thank you. Thank you. What's up? What's up? Yeah, this is very exciting. Who are you? Who would you say you are when you introduce yourself to people? Well, I guess I could say before, my only personality trait was being a cheerleader, but now I am a retired cheerleader. Retired cheerleader? Yes. And now my only other personality trait is working on a cruise ship. So now here we are. Yes, indeed. That's it. And that's it. OK, if you could go back to your younger self and give one piece of advice, what would it be? We're gonna start with a big one. I feel like honestly, I wouldn't do anything different. I feel very confident in the way that like my life has developed and like in the way that I have developed. Like I mean, I guess if it would be anything like gun held to my head, if it would be anything like. I guess it would be like not to care as much what other people think. Like, I feel like, especially when I like, first started, like being in like the entertainment world and like, like starting cheerleading, I would compare myself a lot to other people. But then like, there did come a point where I was like, OK, like everyone. Start somewhere and like, I like it doesn't matter what other people think because everyone develops in their own way, you know, Valid. Yeah. Would you really consider yourself a dancer? That's a That's a great question to start off with. I think you should, but it's up to you to just determine that answer. Yeah. Dancer professionally, like, not at all. For sure. Not at all. Like dance experience I do have is within like cheer and like All Star cheer, which there is a little bit of like dance involved, but not like that's not like the focus, you know. So that's why I wouldn't call myself like, you know, like a professional dancer like I can pick up choreography and like if you give me choreography and you give me like an 8 count, like I could probably do it. But like in terms of like turns and like technicality of dance, it's it's not the same, you know? That's fair. Yeah. So within cheer, what was your, like experience of cheer? Like you said, All Star. Is that like college? Like collegiate? Yeah, it's like, it's like club cheer. So I started, yeah, I started when I was like 10 and then I did it for 8 years. So like 18 is like the Max you can do. I'll start here. And that's when you like age out, you know? And I have like adult teams, but like I never did any of that. So like 8 years of All Star cheer, that's like club competitive cheerleading. So that's like not what you would think of when you think of like, I would say like what most people think of cheerleading is like high school cheer. It's like club cheer is like, I feel like, I don't know if you've ever watched the docu series, like the cheer docu series on Netflix. I've seen a couple. I was actually in a thing called Boss Cheer. Interesting. A web series. So like, I've been around here. I was actually a cheerleader in high school. No, really? My senior year, Yeah, I was a back spot and tumbler, so.. No way?! Wow, that's crazy. Were you Flyer? No.  No? No, main spot? yeah, I was  was a yeah. I was throwing the people and stuff, right? Yeah, like 5 foot throwing people. It's insane. I love that. Yeah, I love that too. Yeah, I belong on the ground. But yeah, that's all I have. I belong on the ground. I've never seen the docu series though. But what made you talk about the docu series? Because like, that's like. What more like All Star is like it's more performative, like, like I feel like it's way more serious in a way than like what like sideline cheer is. And that's like cheering for football games, cheering for basketball, like all star cheer is not involved in any of that. Like, yeah. So I guess like the main difference would be like you work on one routine for like the entire. Season and that's what like you compete with so it's like hard drill training like like it's way different that was kind of what the Boss Cheer web series is about I understand now yes yeah it's like the routine cheer like you work on this whole thing for forever you get the pyramids you get the yes exactly and you just like it goes to music and it goes and goes. Yes, yes, exactly. That's exactly what it is. Yeah. And then I had two years of collegiate cheerleading, which is what most people think of. Did you prefer the collegiate or also are like, that's a hard question because like for a long time I was like All Star girl all the way 'cause I was way more about performing and like fast movements and like, like collegiate cheer is very clean and like you just kind of smile the whole time. But like, All-Star you can get a little more fun with the facials and the choreography. OK, Yeah. It's like it's just way less traditional, you know? But like my for my college experience, like I really loved college cheer. They're both like their own genres; special in their own way. Exactly. I get you. Yes, I completely get you. That's kind of that's how I feel about like literally this series. I find something awesome in each episode, but I love the whole thing. Like I love everybody who comes on. So sometimes it's hard to like put a label on which ones better. Exactly. Totally get it. What inspired you to go into cheer? What inspired you to become ‘The Gamer’? And then what inspires you in dance? I know you're not really saying you're a professional dancer, but it's still an art that you enjoy. So those three things we'll start with cheer, then ‘Gamer’, then dance. OK, so like, what inspired me to, like, go into cheers is what you're asking? Yeah. Well, it was my mom's idea. Love it before. Yeah. Before I did cheer, I did hula for four years. That's cool. Yes. So I've always been into like, kind of performing like, that's definitely like the main drive and I feel like. Three of those categories is like, I've always loved entertaining and performing. OK, so my, I picked cheer because, well, I want to do gymnastics first. But my mom was like, oh, like she loves performing. Like let's put her in cheer because that's more of like a performance aspect than like gymnastics is, right? So it's kind of like the two combined. So then that's what got me into cheer. And then that is a great segway into what made me ‘The Gamer’  is that my mom also found me the job to be ‘The Gamer’ Shout out mom. Yeah, shout out mom. Yeah. But basically she went on a voyage and talked to a ‘Gamer’ on Resilient, and then he had a cheer background. So yeah, it was Andre. Do you know Andre the Gamer when he was the gamer? Now he's a hype, I believe. Yes. But when he was the gamer in his first contract, my mom sat down and talked with him and like, picked his brain. He'd be doing backflips like it’s nothing. Yes. Yes, he literally does. Yes, he does 10 in a row at Sail Away. Yeah, I can't do that.I'm good. Yeah, that's all him. That's all him. That's his thing. But yeah, she talked to him about it and they're like, he was like, OK, like have her connect with me on Instagram and then yeah. So like I yeah, I literally like deemed him and we talked about my mom was like, you guys have like the same kind of like personalities. So like why, why not? Like I just graduated from college. I literally had nothing to lose. I don't want to do a nine to five, right? And so I was like, yeah, like, let me just do it and like see what happens. So yeah. And now I'm here and like, I did not see this in my future at all. But like, I think it's one of the best things that ever happened to me. Honestly. This is so great. I love it. I was gonna ask starting job essentially and your first contract, like how's it been so far 'cause still got some months to go. Yeah, we're literally like halfway done now. I love it like this. Like job is something that doesn't feel like a job, which I feel like is what a lot of people look for when, you know, working. And I feel very lucky to be here. Like so many people would like kill to have my spot, you know, and like, we only our company. Still so small they only have three just now getting 4 ships so like I feel very lucky, very blessed to be here especially like the second female ‘Gamer’ like that yeah that's really sick that's really, really sick so but I've been loving it I feel like I have a good balance between ship life and work life and then. Normal life. So balance is key. Yes, especially come back. (DING DONG) Medical response. Medical response. The first time we've ever had one on the… Damn, not in the galley. They throw an *** in the galley. There was one at like 3:00 AM last night. Did you see that? Yeah, I was still awake. You already know. Yeah, I was still awake. Anytime that comes on, you're like, oh, you just. And listen, folks, we know well hope that it was a medical response, but if there's gonna be an announcement, we want it to be that versus “The ships going down.” So that's why we were just like medical response. But anyway, you already know that I was ‘The Gamer’ , right? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So I've seen you paved the way, I guess. I've just seen it change and evolve a lot. And it's fun to see that people are still enjoying it because honestly, it's way different now. I almost consider ‘The Gamer’... They could go. Influencer role 'cause like the only thing that really separates is the dancing. Like all the trivia's used to be ‘The Gamer’.  That's what, that's what I heard. That's what I heard. And it's so ironic because I feel like I barely do trivia now. In the beginning of the contract I was doing it a lot, but now it's like I do it every now and then.You know, so at least you're still loving it, having a good time. And I, I loved being ‘The Gamer’ too. It's a fun role. So it's nice. It's really cool. And it's nice 'cause I do dance a little bit in the role. I think it depends on ‘The Gamer’. Like Sabrina, she's a dancer. Yeah. So she was dancing a lot and float on himself. Yeah. Shout out Sabrina. Yeah, thanks, girl. But yeah, I have like 2. I'm in two of the Float On Dances, which is really work yeah. And Float On is probably one of the best places to dance. Yes it is when it's not too hot yes. Let's talk a little bit now moving into kind of advice and learning things that you've learned throughout your illustrious career coming straight out of college into this fun job. Is there something that you'd like to tell people like advice wise instead of like your younger self more. So what is something if you met someone today you would be like you know what? This is my two cents. That was a very loaded question. That was a very deep loaded question. This is the whole point of the show. So it can be simple. It can be something that you've recently acquired. It can be something that you've learned. Growing up, it could be something that has just stuck with you throughout. Kind of the through line of the show is: I started with this thing called BetterUp and it's available for you on the ship for free, so check it out. But it got me into a life coach and I started this program where I started learning so much about myself and trying to really better myself, ironically better up. And it got me thinking about how many people around us have such great advice because once I started this program, I started talking more to other people. And when you're working through therapy, sometimes what I've learned is other people like, yeah, that's great. Here's what I learned. So it can be something as simple as like advice you have or things that you love to share. It doesn't have to be deep, but it can be deep, so whatever you want. Think the first thing would be like in trying to like learn new things in stuff like that, is what you mean. I think like kind of going back to like what I said before is like not caring what other people think. And then like you have to remember like everyone starts somewhere and like it's so easy to compare yourself to other people. I feel like especially like even in rehearsals, like I was comparing myself to like especially when we were learning float on. I'm like, Oh my God, I'm surrounded by like all these professional dancers and I feel like it was really holding me back in the moment for like just like letting go and then like letting the choreography come, you know? So like I feel like always try to remember. Like it's easy to compare yourself to people, but like don't because everyone starts somewhere. And it's OK to be out of your comfort zone because I feel like that's how, yes, of course, that's how you grow. So. And that's also part of the reason why I was like, it would be so cool to do something like this because I've never just on the spot like come up with choreography. And I used to be like a cheer coach. So I used to come up with dance choreography. I've always got my inspiration for choreography from other people and like other like videos that I've watched, you know, and I'll take little snippets from here and there and kind of mix/mash them together to make my own choreography. So it was really cool and really different to like, do something like on the spot and like, just be like, I would just feel it, you know, I've never done anything like that. So that was really cool. Thank you. I'm glad you were able to just open up, like, alright, what do you want? What are you thinking? And I was like, yeah, yes, yes, yeah. It's fun sometime to create without a goal, but more so without pressure. It's like we're not doing this for our job. We're not doing this to get paid. Like we're just going to have a little fun. And I've never done anything like that. So we did great. Thank you. Right now, your interview is already. You're clearly a host. You don't know what I'm saying. Thank you. Yeah. Thank you. Pop right in. Pop right into the “Hey, everybody.” and I can tell that you're being your genuine self. Sometimes it's hard for people 'cause they get on here and they're like, well, hello, They get that. Yeah. So yeah, I keep working within the dance. He'll be just as talented. In no time as you are on the mic. Thank you very much. Yeah. Let yourself be free, girl. You're great. I used to like film videos when I was, like, a kid on YouTube. And I'd be like, hey, hey, hey. YouTube channel. Welcome. It's Sparkle Girl 2669. Sparkle Girl. Yeah. Yeah, I was Sparkle Girl 2669. There you go. I was like, you gotta bring back the YouTube channel. I know I should. I like just get one of these. Yeah, it's like easy. The whole set. It's like 200 something dollars. Yes. But it’s an investment? We love an investment. That's right That's right. Speaking about our dance, talk a little bit about why you chose what you chose as far as songs and then like what made you want to get into the dance today? Yes, Well, ‘Buttons’ like that's always like a song that I've had where I'm like I need to do a dance to this song. Like just seeing it like online, like people doing like heels choreography or just like like any choreography, I'm like that song, like eats, like it has so many like like like pop moments, like I don't know. It's just always one of those things where it's like I need to do that one day. So I was like, this is my perfect chance to go and do that. So I'm so glad we did it. Like this is really like a bucket list like type of thing. Oh heck yeah. Yeah. Thank you. I want to say I really appreciate you letting me do that song with you especially if it means that much to you. It was a good time. I knew it was fun. Once you said ‘Buttons’ I was like, oh, this is easy. Yeah, yeah, I get it, 'cause it's just one of them iconic songs, but it's also one of them songs that just makes you wanna. Yeah, it's like really powerful. Very, like, womanly, like, like kind of song in my opinion. So like, I just really like, I was like, when you do that, like the song, like eats like. Yeah. And I feel like it was also a song that was easy to, like, feel confident in, even if like, I didn't feel confident with the choreography, if that makes sense, you know? Absolutely. So a little bit of everything. It was dope. Thank you for bringing that to the to the podcast, of course. Thank you. Thank you for having me. Of course, what is something you wish you had known when you were just beginning your artistic journey? When I think back to like, specifically the gamer rule, especially in like rehearsals, I was really struggling with like memorizing the scripts. Oh my God. And as many times as they tell you like, it doesn't matter, like the script, at the end of the day, they're like, just make it your own. It's like, especially because like, this is like the first time I've ever done, like, hosting, like, really hosting. I was like, I don't know what that means. I know they say it's chill, but like, is it really chill? Yeah. But it's like, I literally got on the ship. We went through installs and I was like, wow, that **** like, does not even matter. It doesn't matter. Like as long as you have the basis of everything. Like I just wish I knew that sooner because I feel like for a long time I was really focused on getting the script and rehearsals. And by the time we were at the end was when I realized, OK. “it’s fine.” But I feel like I could have excelled so much more in a like a faster rate. Not that it matters because we're here now. Yeah, here it is paid, doing the job well. Exactly. But like, I feel like I could have gone there a lot sooner and let myself relax and enjoyed that moment a lot sooner if I just knew like it's.It's really fine. And sometimes you gotta just accept that it will be fine. Yes. Without the install directors being like. It's good. You just like. You know what? I'm gonna believe you. It's fine. Everything's good. Yeah. I think you're a great host. Thank you. Yeah. So they hired you. Coming from you. Hey, they hired you for a reason, though. Yeah. And they say. All the time. Yeah. Yeah, All the time. And that's kind of their scapegoat. But, yeah, as I've gotten older, like they, they really do. Like they would not hire you. They would not go through this elusive, extensive process and pick you if they did not believe in you. Right. If you never believe in yourself, believe in them believing in you. Yes. All right. Yes. There's an anime it's called gear and login and like this bigger brother to his younger brother goes “believe in the me that believes in you.” That's what I'm giving right now. I love that. If you can't believe in yourself believe in the people that believe in you yes, like your family yeah install directors. They do be believing they do be believed from your YouTube channel sparkle girl something  Sparklegirl2669. Yeah believe in your viewers if you will.  Well, pretty chill, I just have another question for you and where can people find you and what is next for you? You can find me Find me @caitlynthegamer CAIT Lyn the gamer on Instagram. That is I. And yes, I'm on the ship till August 29th. So if you're on a voyage, hope to see you there. And after that, if Virgin has me back, I'm gonna do this until I hate it, until I burnout and hate it because this job is so fun and fresh. And I love meeting all the people. Like, I just feel like I love making connections. And that's why this job is so fun for me. It's gotten better each year for me. So really, I love that. I've been here for almost five years now, and I love it. And I love The Happenings, too. Yeah. It's a dope job. So happy you get to enjoy it. Thank you. Thank you. Come back to the maybe Valiant lady, maybe Brilliant. Who knows? Come back to Virgin Voyages to find Caitlyn the Maybe gamer, maybe gamer, whatever they influencer, who knows. As long as they have me, I will be here. I'll take whatever they want. Well here's what we're gonna do now. We're both gonna say the dance floor and I'm gonna lead you in and I feel like you’re gonna know when it is. OK? OK, here we go. Well, everybody, once again, thanks for joining in for another episode. My name is Ty Nelson, your host. We're going to give a huge thank you to Caitlyn Reyes. Reyes, correct? Yeah, I remember. Oh, yeah. For joining in, being a really great host and also just a fun person to dance alongside with. Hopefully you found some inspiration in today's episode and enjoy. The dance, by the way. Go watch the video, and we hope that one day we'll find you out on TheDanceFloor. Oh, yeah. Got it. Yes, indeed. Good stuff. Bye. Bye, everybody. Peace. We just do it? Yes, ma'am. OK. No prep. No prep. Just got it. Oh, see, that's what I'm talking about, she said. I'm taking the space. Yeah. Oh, that's a cute signature. Yeah.