It's stories like this one that gives
me so much hope right now.
Take a look at this.
[SINGING] Soldier, keep on marching on.
Head down until the work is done,
Hi, I'm Charlee Hanna-Rule.
I'm from Beaumont, Texas.
I'm the owner, and the founder, and the director
of iRule Dance.
[SINGING] Head in the dust.
Feet in the fire.
Beaumont is a very small, conservative town,
where being different isn't often celebrated.
Being in Southeast Texas, things are not so accepting around
here, and if you aren't what they like,
I mean, they let you know it.
We absolutely have less white people
than any other race in our building,
and oftentimes, it's used against us.
Our competition will say, don't go down there
because this is what they have going on down there.
And you know, what I don't care.
I celebrate our diversity.
I just made it a goal from the day
that we opened that this was going to be the place that
was for everyone, all shapes, all sizes, all colors,
all economic backgrounds.
Charlee really is a saint to this community.
She wants you to be great.
She wants to help you.
She wants you to thrive.
Basically, she's saving kid's lives.
iRule dance is a safe haven for all of these kids.
It's where they can come and feel like they're safe
and their home.
It's the most important thing to me.
[INAUDIBLE] and 1.
When I was 13, I saw an ad in the newspaper,
and they would look for hip hop dancers.
And I was like, you know what.
I'm going to try out.
And I was the only one in the room that was like--
I looked different from everybody else.
I was 565 pounds.
And Ms. Charlee saw me in a corner.
She asked me why I was crying.
She asked me why I was crying is because I
didn't know I looked that way.
When AJ first came in, I knew that he was brought
into my life for a reason.
Today, like I've lost over 300 pounds lost because of her.
She literally changed my life.
If it wasn't for her, I probably would be dead right now.
10, 11 years ago, whenever I came to the studio,
being in a bad place like I was, I
didn't know that I was really worth anything.
She didn't have to do the things that she did,
and she didn't care that I wasn't her blood.
She just didn't wanted me to be better,
and Charlee didn't make us pay a dime.
I know people use the word family loosely, but we mean it.
We are family.
And if you work hard and you value other people
and don't judge people in this building,
we will make sure that you are successful.
And in the end, we win.
We win a lot.
I mean, this summer, we won so much,
I was embarrassed by how much we won.
I mean, almost.
Not really, but kind of embarrassed.
I mean, Charlee's like my second mother.
We are a family.
Walking into iRule, you immediately
feel like you're a part of us.
The love is overwhelming here.
What makes me most proud is that they
know they have somebody in their lives that will fight for them.
iRule dance, and this building, and this place,
and these people are my life.
OK, and our name is?
iRule.
It's my life's work, and it means everything to me.
These kids mean everything to me.
Charlee, AJ, Xavier, come on down.
You have a microphone right there, Charlee.
Hi.
Y'all are awesome.
You're awesome.
So, Charlee, when did you open the studio?
My husband and I opened the studio in August of 2007
to about 50 students.
AJ was one of our first students.
Xavier came a little bit later.
And today, we have about 285 students.
That's incredible.
Yes.
That's incredible.
I mean, I love that you said I'm starting a place where everyone
is accepted.
And the fact that someone is not--
it's mind-blowing to me that we are in 2020,
and there's anywhere where everyone isn't accepted,
and loved, and embraced.
It's just shocking to me, but I love that you did that.
We have to take a break.
I want to talk more with you, but we'll be back after this.
We are back with Charlee, and Xavier, and AJ.
And the two of you started out as students and now
your teachers, how cool is that?
It's amazing.
Is one of my favorite things to do,
and literally, without this place, I'm not kidding.
I would not be here.
I'm so gracious for everything that she does it.
I don't think people understand that there's still
good people in this world.
And if this women wouldn't have took a chance on this,
neither one of us would probably be here.
I love it.
I love that y'all are family.
We found you because you posted a picture of the ballerinas
that went viral, and you almost didn't post it,
why would that be?
Well, it was is right around Black History Month,
and when they sent me the picture,
I immediately thought this would be a great post on my Facebook
page.
And then I got nervous because I thought
we would get some backlash.
Where is the White History Month, that kind of thing.
Right.
So I called my best friend and asked him--
he is he's actually a dancer's dad in the studio.
--and I asked him what he thought.
He was like, first of all, the picture is spectacular.
Second of all, you've never shied away from any backlash.
So we posted it, and it's been almost all positive.
Yeah, it really is amazing, and I'm
sorry that you even had to fear for that.
But the ballerinas have something
to say to you right now.
Hi, girls.
You want to say something to your teachers?
I'm here because whenever you're having a bad day,
you can just walk into her studio, all the kindness,
all the friendship, all the sweetness just comes to you.
And I love that she will take time out of your sweet day just
to teach us, and some people don't even pay attention.
[INAUDIBLE] and it's so nice that they
take their time teaching us, even if we're not
so good sometimes, but [INAUDIBLE] all the company,
and they're so sweet.
And we love y'all.
We love you.
Well, hopefully, when we get past this pandemic,
I want you girls to come to the studio.
I'd love to meet you, and I'd love to have you dance here.
So let's get past all this, and have you here.
All right, we have to take a break.
We have something for you a little later in the show,
but we'll take a break.
Charlee, I don't think you would do this, so I'm going to do it.
I want people to know exactly why we think you're so amazing.
You've bought cars for your students in need.
You've helped with rent on months
that they couldn't pay bills.
You fed those who didn't have enough money for food
and helped countless students get jobs.
No matter what time of day it is,
you'll answer your phone in case it's
one of your students in need of help.
You've taken on thousands of dollars of debt
so that anyone who wants to dance at your studio can,
whether they can afford it or not.
You're really amazing, and there's a lot of--
we want to show you love and support
because there's a lot of people that aren't showing you that.
And I want people to know what a good woman you are,
what an amazing woman you are.
And we love what you're doing with iRule.
Everything is bigger in Texas, so we
thought that we would give you a big gift.
What?
Surprise.
Shutterfly believes that all voices should be heard.
They love what you're doing at iRule Dance,
so they are giving you a check for $50,000.