Learn from Another Studio's Success

If you have a competition team at your studio, check out this short interview with The Dance Center in Tuscaloosa, AL in Dance Teacher Magazine which offers sage advice and new ideas that could help freshen up your competition team and program. For the teachers, they suggest attending competitions as "an audience member" and "spend time observing the competition process."

Ideas such as:

• Bring in guest teachers and choreographers
• Hold team-bonding activities like their annual lock-in
• Do community service projects such as adopting a family during the holidays

For more details and some great information, read the article in its entirety here: http://www.dance-teacher.com/content/competition-high-five-rebecca-tingle-and-melissa-verzino

Teaching Arms in Tap

I was so excited to see this article in Dance Teacher Magazine this month: "Theory and Practice: Armed for Tap." It's all about teaching arms and how to use them effectively in tap. I see it all too often - tap students who haven't been trained in ballet but are quick and nimble on their feet, throw their performance out the window with poorly used arms. Dancer, director and choreographer, Ray Hesselink, offers the advice. Here is some of his choreography to enjoy!

Advice: How to Teach Adults

Thinking of building an adult dance program at your studio? Here's a fantastic article from Dance Teacher Magazine called "Feature: Night School" with advice on how to get started, attract adults, and teach them. It's fairly long, so here are some highlights:

• The Joffrey Ballet School attributes their 150% growth in the adult program to the weeklong seminars and intensive dance workshops they added to their calendar for adults. 
• Most adult classes are between 6:30 and 9:00 p.m. 
• Teachers are vital to an adult program's success, as adults are drawn to classes in which they love the personality of the teacher and connect with him or her. Connecting with each student on an individual level also keeps their interest high. 
• Teachers should be highly aware of how an adult feels in class. It is challenging for an adult to try something new, or come back to ballet after a long time. Make sure your corrections are positive and constructive so they don't feel it's personal criticism. 
• Safety is of utmost important as adult bodies are much more limited than that of children. Do not push them beyond what they can do or handle. This includes strengthening the core and including exercises that are gentle on the joints like the knees and hips, and take a longer time to warm up.

The Adorable Chelsie Hightower

Who doesn't love the quick-stepping, bubbly Chelsie Hightower? At just 21, she has achieved more success in a few years than some do in a lifetime - she just has that IT factor. From "So You Think You Can Dance" to "Dancing With the Stars", this article explores where she came from and how she got to where she is today. I love knowing how successful people worked to get to the top, and this article, "Face to Face: Chelsie Hightower" in Dance Teacher Magazine doesn't disappoint!

Amazingly, Chelsie won her first national ballroom title at age 11 after only dancing for two years prior to that. She says that all of her dance studio training in Orem, Utah prepared her for a professional career - "the biggest thing is learning that people will want to work with you if you're a good person, show up on time and have a good attitude."

Her future plans include opening her own dance studio an hour north of Orem that will include everything from competitive jazz and hip-hop to ballroom.

Can Turnout Be Improved? Advice from an Orthopedic Surgeon

Dancers are forever trying to improve their turnout, but according to this orthopedic surgeon, who was interviewed by Dance Magazine in "The Dancer's Hip", degree of turnout is determined by the architecture of your hip and there isn't much you can do to improve it. The surgeon warns against forcing turnout, especially for dancers with hypermobile joints who are very flexible. These dancers are very prone to tears, damage within the hip joint and can even slip the hip out of joint if turnout is forced.

So, what if your turnout is not naturally "good?" Not to worry - there are famous ballerinas who were known for bad turnout and still had great success. Ballerinas like Anna Pavlova, who is considered one of the greatest dancers of all time as a principal dancer for the Imperial Russian Ballet. There are plenty of other qualities besides turnout that make a dancer great - artistry, grace, strength, passion, flexibility, perseverance and ambition. Focus on the qualities that naturally set you apart and strengthen those rather than worrying about the qualities you can't change.

Click here to read the article in its entirety: http://dancemagazine.com/issues/January-2011/On-Dance-Injuries-The-Dancers-Hip

Focus on Your Head

So often I see dancers who neglect to use their heads and shoulders when dancing, or use them improperly. It is the difference between a beginner and advanced dancer - advanced dancers really dance with their whole bodies, making it look easy and natural. When just one part of the body is not used correctly, it can throw off the aesthetic and quality of the dancing. I have been working very hard in my classes lately to focus on the head and eyes, starting at the barre, and have seen great results. My dancers are finally dancing more in unison and their dancing has taken on a beautiful, new quality.

Here's an article to help teachers teach proper head and shoulder placement in class - "How to Use Correct Placement in the Head and Neck for Dancers". Another reference is a previous post, here on Dance Nerds Unite - "Improving Port De Bras" http://dancenerds.blogspot.com/2010/10/improving-port-de-bras.html

The four main bad habits the author says dancers make with their heads are:

1. Holding tension in or straining the neck
2. Focusing the eyes in a different direction than the head
3. Jutting the chin, or lifting it too far
4. Throwing the head, rather than controlling movement

Check out the article at the link above for more info!

More on Summer Study - Company School or Conservatory?

Once you've decided to do a summer dance program, it can be a daunting task to decide which one is right for you with the plethora of choices. One way to divide and conquer is to split the choices into two categories - company school versus conservatory. Here are some videos to help you, and an article from Dance Magazine that breaks it down - Dance Magazine: Summer Study Guide 2011: Conservatory vs. Company School.

The main difference? Company schools offer you exposure to join the company, while conservatories offer small class sizes with individualized attention and a chance to join their year-round school. Company schools include San Francisco Ballet School, Miami City Ballet School, School of American Ballet, and any other school at a professional dance company. Conservatories include The Rock School for Dance Education, The Nutmeg Conservatory, the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, and Harid Conservatory.

Here, some San Francisco Ballet students share their summer intensive experiences at SFB.



Here is a video from The Rock School for Dance Education on their summer intensive.