Sean (00:00) Hello?
Megan McElaney (00:01) Hello, hello.
How are you? I asked you first, first.
Sean (00:03) are you?
first.
And cut.
Enough of the Grinch.
Megan McElaney (00:11) That's enough of that, if you know us,
We are huge Grinch fans, and so that won't be the last of you hearing that.
Sean (00:19) huge grins of enthusiasts, and we also happen to be siblings.
Megan McElaney (00:22) Whoop whoop whoop. My name is Megan and I am a fifth year Dallas Cowboys cheerleader.
Sean (00:27) My name is Sean and I am a professional dancer in New York City
Megan McElaney (00:31) yep, we are two siblings, both in the same industry, just wearing totally different shoes
and.
Sean (00:38) This is the Sidekicks Podcast. Woo, woo, woo! Cheers, cheers, cheers. Yeah, no, we are two siblings, two professional dance companies on different ends of the entertainment spectrum. And we wanted to create a space basically to talk about our industries and what it's like auditioning, backstage life.
Megan McElaney (00:58) all the behind the
scenes, yes, all the backstage life, the sisterhood, the friendships and everything in between. But love having a space where we can have a little bit of sibling banter, a little catch up with everyone. So we wanted to create that space as well.
Sean (01:12) Yeah,
we're in two different states and I feel like we don't get to have some quality app time as much as we should. So it's also just definitely a nice place to have some scheduled sibling chit chat time. Not only that, for people that don't really know this side of us in the dancer side to kind of get an insight into what this part of our life looks like.
Megan McElaney (01:21) ⁓ totally.
Yes.
Absolutely, yes. Not only as dancers and professionals, but just who we are as people. We're so excited.
Sean (01:41) I couldn't
have, yes, no, so excited. This has been a long time coming. We've spent months kind of fiddling up to this point. So I'm excited. Yes, many trips to New York. No, so I'm super excited. And I feel like maybe before we dive into a lot of the industry stuff, a good place to start maybe is a little bit of background.
Megan McElaney (01:47) Many trips to New York. Many trips to New York to see Sean. Yes.
Yes, a little bit about us, so let's take it from the top.
Sean (02:05) 5, 6, 7, 8.
Megan McElaney (02:06) Da da da da da. Yeah. We can't help ourselves. We're so we're it's ingrained in us anyways. So from the top, yes. So a little bit about Sean and I, we are both raised in San Diego, California, specifically sunny Oceanside, California. And yes, were born and raised there.
Sean (02:10) no. It is. Yeah. Take it away, Megan.
Shoutout outside.
Megan McElaney (02:28) Our parents got married in the eighties and that's kind of where they started their roots. There are three of us as we call in the Mac pack. We have our mom and dad, obviously Jim and Teresa, or as I call them, Jay dog and mama Mac. But we have our oldest brother Danny. He is our producer by the way, producer Dan and Sean is the middle child and I am the baby.
Sean (02:38) parents.
Producer Denny.
Yes.
What do you think
Sean (02:53) it was like growing up with two older brothers, you being the youngest and only sister?
Megan McElaney (02:58) Oh gosh, it was so much fun, I will say. Definitely grew some tough skin. I feel like I really had to immerse myself in all the sports, because I wanted to be a part of the family, be a part of the brotherhood, I guess. Because, yeah, I didn't want to be left out. So I kind of had to suck it up and be a part of it, or else I was going to be alone.
Sean (03:12) brotherhood. No, I think that's
That is true. And talking about like further talking about that, it was so funny because you hated that you had your own bedroom, which is like every girl's dream. Please let me have my own room, make a tank, give me a queen size bed. You had it all. And you were like, you guys, why you make me be in my own room?
Megan McElaney (03:30) I did.
I felt like I was in time out. Like I love my alone time and I like love my space, but I felt like you guys had such a good bond that I missed out on. And so I was always just like, can I come hang out? And you guys would be like, you must prove yourself a hundred pushups. I swear.
Sean (03:57) Well, it
was so funny because we had like a bunk bed. We had no space in our room. You had a big room with a big bed and you were always like, ⁓ can I sleep on the pullout?
Megan McElaney (04:08) I know we had a
little pull out that, well mostly because I get nightmares. That was like a whole other story. But yes I was. But no, I had so much fun and it was honestly, it made me into a tough girl today because you just had to either get in, jump in, you're just gonna, yeah the sink or swim. That's what it is. So I think that helped, even with my dance career too.
Sean (04:13) You were a little scary cat. ⁓
That is true.
That's true.
Megan McElaney (04:33) But we had a definite fun childhood. think, what would you describe it as? Like to you.
Sean (04:34) Ha ha.
Well,
I feel like we had like pretty like a typical like American family experience, like both our parents worked full time. And, ⁓ I mean, we were really close in age. ⁓ and so we had fun as siblings and our parents, because they were also so busy. They wanted to put us in something, whether it was sports or arts related, they wanted us to be preoccupied. Number one, to better us, but also because they were
Megan McElaney (04:48) you
Mm-hmm.
totally.
Sean (05:06) Just as busy. Yeah.
Megan McElaney (05:08) For sure, yes.
And I think with sports, we all kind of went our different avenues. So I know Danny, he went into the baseball route. He played that all throughout elementary, middle school and high school. then, know, Sean and I, were kind of figuring out what we wanted to do. We were all kind of placed in soccer. Sean, you were placed in baseball.
Sean (05:29) Yeah, we did baseball. All of us did baseball and soccer growing up. Our dad, he was a big athlete in his heyday. He did football and hockey in college, and then he played baseball outside of it and tennis and golf. So when we were growing up, we kind of followed in his footsteps. And like he was our our baseball coach, soccer coach. So Danny followed his footsteps. I followed in Danny's and
Megan McElaney (05:37) Ha
and baseball, yep.
Mm-hmm. Totally.
Sean (05:54) Like we would play baseball in the spring and then all three of us played soccer in the fall. Funny story, we did play piano. Megan used to be scared of the soccer ball.
Megan McElaney (05:58) And we all played piano as well. Yes, funny story.
I would, I would be so afraid. I would be ready to go and kick it and then it would come to me and then I would run away. I was like, no! But honestly, the highlight of soccer for me was getting to eat my orange slices on the side and sitting and watching everyone else play. For sure, yes. Just give us some snacks. Isn't that the same for you when you were like in baseball, you just were jealous of the people in the concessions?
Sean (06:17) Honestly, I think everyone can resonate with that. Some crisp.
Yes, my gosh, no, I was like always the right outfielder. I mean, when you're playing with eight year olds, no balls are going out there. So I would just be sitting there playing in the grass, like ripping out grass, looking at butterflies. And then I would just see like you and all the other kids that weren't playing, you were eating candy, you were on the monkey bars. I was like, are you serious? I have to wear this hot uniform in the sun waiting for a ball to fly in my direction.
Megan McElaney (06:48) Monkey bars!
Sean (06:56) I had no dexterity, so I wasn't gonna catch it. It was, yeah, I quickly grew out of that.
Megan McElaney (06:58) So, yeah,
safe to say that's kind of where we pivoted from my experience and understanding. That's kind of where we both were like, okay, let's do something different. And I remember we were both almost put in Irish dancing because I was like, yeah, well, you too. Anyways, until they found out that we had a whole trip to Ireland, my mom was like, yep, not happening. But I danced for a little bit growing up. I did like, I started at three and I did it.
Sean (07:13) No, you were almost putting Irish dancing.
Megan McElaney (07:25) like a little ballet combo class. And then I remember doing it the following year after that. And then we were just kind of trying to figure out other avenues, but then we ultimately went back to dance.
Sean (07:34) Well,
well, so you were already in dance and Danny was in baseball and my parents were like, obviously you're miserable. What do you want to do? And so for me, I was kind of trying to find my way. I was like, they put me in tennis. I was doing gymnastics. And again, parents were really busy and Megan doing dance, Danny doing baseball. They were like, we can't drive to three separate places. You got to pick. Are you doing baseball? Are you doing dance? And
Megan McElaney (07:38) For sure.
yeah.
Right.
Sean (08:00) For me, I back then I didn't realize it was as big of a decision as it was, I was like, I don't like baseball and dancing at least is an AC, so let's try out that. No, and so.
Megan McElaney (08:10) Let's go with the
comfortable option. Totally.
Sean (08:13) Yeah, yeah, let's get a little
more comfort in. yeah, chose dance and that was the beginning of a wonderful story. That's let us ultimately do where we are today.
Megan McElaney (08:17) That's.
Wow. So wild how one decision can literally project the trajectory of your life. Here we are. So insane.
Sean (08:29) for sure. Here we are. Welcome.
Megan McElaney (08:31) That takes us into our dance background and where we took off in our careers. We started doing dance at dance unlimited and we were doing competition. Sean actually started competition before I did.
He was kind of placed in that upper category. I was more in that novice recital type of dance, but my first competition was actually with my dad. did father daughter and, I always saw Sean, I always saw Sean doing like those competitive, like tap routines and jazz. And I was like, I think I want to get into that a little bit more. So I think Sean kind of honestly led a little bit of the way in the competition world. Would you say the same?
Sean (08:56) Jimbo.
Yeah,
well, yeah, and I think that being a boy in the dance industry, there is just since there are few and far between being a boy, they're like, ⁓ we have a boy, we want to utilize him. Whereas like being a girl, they have like a ton of girls. So when I came in, let's get them into the competition program. When you came in, your avenue was more so as every other girls start off in the recreational program and then work your way up into the comp.
Megan McElaney (09:26) Totally.
Sean (09:37) ⁓ So we both started dancing, we were in separate levels, but we were both dancing in similar groups. And ⁓ no, was, I feel like that's kind of where also you kind of started becoming Sean's sister. Sean's sister.
Megan McElaney (09:39) Totally.
Mm-hmm.
Yes, I do
have that identity as Shawn's sister and has literally led me, led my career for so long. So it's, I've always had that label. So it's been kind of nice speaking in the present now to have my own name and title and own journey, but disregard. Yes. Brother. Megan's sister.
Sean (10:10) and we passed off the torch and now I am Megan's brother. Yeah,
no, but so we danced together, we did competition, we started doing duets and that was when we really started getting to dance together a little bit more and we got some tea to spill on these duets. No, they were, they were. ⁓ But we started doing more dancing together, we were put in the same groups.
Megan McElaney (10:22) Yes.
We'll have to do a separate episode reviewing all of our duets because they were kind of iconic. They were really iconic. I am not going to lie. Yes.
Mm-hmm. We even had solos that competed against each other and we often did the same styles. Sean and I love musical theater. so oftentimes when our ages would match up, we would be in the same category. So it was always fun to see like, who's going to win this round and who's going to win next round. So it was always different, but it was really cool to support each other in that realm. So it fun. For sure. Definitely healthy.
Sean (10:39) And, ⁓ no.
for sure. And it was always healthy competition.
⁓ yeah.
And then, so when we were going into high school, our brother, he was pursuing baseball. So he went to Oceanside high school. And for us, we had an option to choose between two schools. And ultimately I chose to go towards, more of the arts high school, which was El Camino high school. And, you followed me there where we got to dance for together for three years, which was really fun.
Megan McElaney (11:25) I did, yes.
Mm-hmm.
They had a really great dance program. So kind of how it worked is that our sixth period of class was completely dance and we got to choreograph and perform. And then there was also a segmented part of that group. was like a company group and it was like a select groups of 16 and they would do like winter shows and pep rallies. And then, so we were both heavily involved with that. We were even dance leaders together. So.
very much involved in that high school dance life as well.
Sean (12:00) Yeah, and then from there, we graduated. We both wanted to continue dance. I ended up going to Chapman University in Orange County where I majored in dance and business and did the dance team there, danced at Disney while I was there. So many fun ⁓ dance avenues. And you.
Megan McElaney (12:17) So fun, for sure. And would
you say it was like more of the concert dance style?
Sean (12:24) Yeah,
so the program was definitely commercial and concert dance focused. So we did, you know, jazz, we did ballet, we did modern dance. We had performances that were more concert based. We had performances that were more jazz, hip hop, fun styles. And then on the other flip side, we also had the competition team where we competed against other colleges, which is slightly different from yours. Yeah.
Megan McElaney (12:48) Yes. I remember coming to watch you. Yes. Slightly
different from mine. I actually did apply to Chapman University and I did, I did get in. I was so excited, but I think I really wanted to, again, create my own avenue of dance. I didn't want to be Sean's little sister again. And not, not just that, but I wanted to go to a four year university that had the football life, the basketball life.
Sean (12:56) And get in.
Megan McElaney (13:14) And most importantly, the competitive dance team. So I went to San Diego state university where I majored in communication and was also a member of their dance team for the past four years. And I was a captain for two. And my last year competing actually secured D1A hip hop national championship. So that is like my biggest accomplishment in life. I swear that was just so crazy.
Anyways,
so we both had very different careers in dance
and it led us to even different careers outside of college. So it's been really cool to like support each other throughout both of our journeys and see each other kind of shine in our own way. What would you say like, what would you say is like your favorite like dance memory from each other? Like supporting each other, like, yeah, I have mine.
Sean (13:49) for sure.
Yeah.
Favorite dance memory. ⁓ supporting each other. ⁓ well I mean
I think that for me I did really when I would go to watch your dance competitions and I would see you on this amazing team in the front and center holding your spot like performing that was really kind of like a whoa because you know in our small city of Oceanside you were really really incredible and we knew that but
Megan McElaney (14:24) Thank you.
Sean (14:25) seeing you in like a big state school where there's girls from all around the country going to compete and you're competing in schools from all over the country, and you're in the front and center dominating that. was just like, like, ⁓ she really is that girl.
Megan McElaney (14:39) Thank you.
Well, I was going to say like one of my favorite memories, well, I have like two, was when we both competed at the same nationals for our colleges, because like that doesn't normally happen. And we did two competitions. And so we got to watch each other dance. And I just remember like dancing and watching Sean in the front and center and doing all the lifts. And then I could also, when I was performing, I could hear him literally, come on, Megan. Like he has like a very distinct yell. But also other than.
Sean (14:52) Yes.
I do. Love.
Megan McElaney (15:11) the competition aspect was going to watch him dance at Disneyland for the first time. He was in their electrical light parade and we were all so excited. He was like a Prince like ballroom dancer like for Cinderella and we're all like, yes! It was so fun. So we both have had like our fair share of like those college iconic sibling moments that have been so fun.
Sean (15:26) Yes. No.
my God, for
sure. And we got to dance together at your college. You invited me as ⁓ a little guest. So that honestly was one of the only times since high school, since we graduated, that we have gotten to dance together was that moment, which is pretty crazy.
Megan McElaney (15:37) yes, fun. A surprise guest. Yes.
Yes,
for sure. Yeah, it was our annual SDSU Dance Team Showcase and we do one show a year. Now it's evolved to multiple shows, but we did one and we did a duet to Another One Bites the Dust and it was like, people still talk about it to this day. I should post it somewhere. We'll have to post it so people can watch, but it was so iconic and it was so fun too.
Sean (16:10) Yeah.
Megan McElaney (16:15) Cause we had like all these lifts and we're doing like turn sections together and like aerials. was like the full shebang. So it was super fun. But now looking at both of our careers, we've totally taken a huge step and we've, we've definitely evolved in our professional career. And now we're just, I feel like we are in the two most like dominating
professional dance programs, like right now. Would you say the same?
Sean (16:41) Yeah,
Yeah, no, that is crazy to think about, especially going back to when we were, you know, just starting out in dance and, you know, in high school, I never expected us to amount to this level of dance caliber. I mean, I think we always would hope that, but I feel like growing up, they kind of tell you, dance is more of a hobby.
Megan McElaney (16:57) Totally.
Yeah.
Sean (17:05) It's more of something you do on the side and you need to have a real job and a real career down the line. ⁓ So.
Megan McElaney (17:05) Mm-hmm.
Completely. Also,
like the opportunities that were presented when we were at that younger age was always like, you're gonna do a concert dance and you're gonna be like a backup dancer or you're not gonna dance at all, or you're gonna be a dance teacher. I feel like those were like our only options. And so now we've been able to spread our wings and go to these major dance companies and be a part of that. And also,
Sean (17:28) for reals.
Megan McElaney (17:36) you know, support ourselves and make a living and be like be true professionals. So it's been really cool to see. And honestly, that just brings us to we're going to kind of loop it all together. We have so much to talk about with all of our industry knowledge, our experience, especially for me, like I've been able to work with these amazing artists and I've also been able to, you know, be on two different TV shows, which I never thought. And like same with you.
Sean (17:41) Yeah.
Yeah. No, that's crazy.
Megan McElaney (18:03) Like you have so much experience under your belt too.
Sean (18:03) Yeah. No, like we have. Yeah, no. And it's just fun. Like there's so many backstage stories and experiences from auditions and taking class and onset and ⁓ experiences out radio city. feel like there's so many fun anecdotes and maybe things that people don't really know about in both your and my experiences. So yeah,
Megan McElaney (18:25) Completely.
so excited.
to dive into all of those things in even more depth and get to give you that industry insight
Sean (18:33) yeah, I think that this is such a fun conversation that we get to keep kind of diving deeper into talking about that industry knowledge, background stories. And on top of that, bringing in our peers, choreographers, professional dancers, people that have even more experiences and stories to share. not only that, just, you know, we love that sibling banter.
Megan McElaney (18:53) Along with that sibling banter, of course.
Well, that is it for our first episode. Thank you guys for watching. New episodes will drop every Thursday and you can find us at the Sidekicks pod on all of our socials and you can watch on YouTube, Apple podcasts and Spotify.
Sean (19:09) See ya!
Megan McElaney (19:10) Alright, that's all for today. ⁓
Sean (19:13) Bye.