We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Glenda Florez a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Glenda , appreciate you joining us today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

When I knew I was moving to Aurora, CO and my research for Polynesian Dance Groups to join was not a successful one I decided to venture out and create my own group. From my internet research there were not a lot of groups that offered dances from all of the different islands. Mostly Colorado offered many Hula Schools. I decided to particularly advertise all of the different islands especially Tahiti. I also found that there were not many fire performers here in Colorado so I focused on that aspect of our shows as well. This is how I came up with our name Kalama Polynesian Dancers. Kalama means flame or torch. Our name means to remember all of the instructors who taught us in the past and now it is our kuleana or responsibility to teach our kids and future generations. We operate as passing down the torch of our knowledge about dance.

Glenda , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I am a Professional Polynesian Dancer and instructor who has trained with many Halau (Hula Schools) across the Country. Most of her childhood training comes from the Ilima style of dance as she started dancing at a young age (6 years old). She has danced professionally for more than 12 years at The Mai-Kai Polynesian Restaurant in Ft. Lauderdale, FL.

​Glenda has currently more than 100 students that she instructs along with other Professional Instructors whom she mentors. Her Team trains men and women of all ages the Art of Polynesian Dance and Fire Performances. She is also the Founder of Halau Kalama- A Nonprofit Organization. ​

Most people do not know what we opened up our own dance studio in Aurora CO right before the pandemic and we have been blessed to be able to keep it alive and running. We encourage all of our students in our school to do community service and volunteer work and we provide them with a tuition discount every month for participating.

We have two large events per year- Lei Day (this is our 14th year) and our Christmas Recital. These fundraising events help pay our studio and make tuition for our students affordable.

We have brought many popular artists and choreographers from the Polynesian Dance Community to Colorado to do Workshops.

I teach online classes where anyone in the world can access. It is an online platform called Raqs Online and there are so many video tutorials on the platform that include World Dance! Use my code Aloha for a discount of 50% off!

When I am not dancing I love to travel with my Husband and my Daughter. My Daughter was my first dance Student and she continues to dance today. I also have two Shih Tzu named Ernie and Duke.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

Most of all I think it is very important when you own a business to answer phone calls and emails as soon as possible. Sometimes even a quick “I will call you tomorrow” is better than no response at all. I feel like you also have to be very organized in the way you communicate (call), organize clients requests, quotes, invoices, etc…. The last think I would recommend is that you alway say send a “Thank You” after your events. I send an email thank you and have the clients write a review.

Currently I use 17Hats software for clients and Dance Studio Pro for Students in class.

Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?

The most effective strategy for growing the business is by doing one or two free shows per month. I don’t do it that often anymore but when I started I would search festivals and free events around Colorado and I would make it a point to make flyers and bring my small sound system and dance a couple of numbers. Once I performed I created an audience and I passed out my information.

Contact Info:

• Website: Halaukalama.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kalama_polynesian_dancers/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KalamaPolynesianDancers
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/halaukalama/videos
• Yelp: https://biz.yelp.com/r2r/zsezmMlRKhMnvtwQDvMBRA
• Other: Link tree –https://linktr.ee/GlendaFlorez

Image Credits
Randy Poe Photography for Raqs Online