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Tiny Dancers Class: 3 Awesome Tips to Inspiring Quick Order
Whether you’re facing a brand new class of littles or you are walking in to greet the same group you’ve had for months, law and order in the classroom is key. It’s important because a bunch of cute ballerinas in sparkly black leotards and pink tights can turn into a band of mini elephants faster than you can say ‘grand battement.’ Keeping a tiny dancers ballet and tap class orderly can be a challenge. I don’t know about you, but I personally go a little nuts when baby, preschool, and kindergarten dancers are running loose. It’s not necessary for littles instructors need to tolerate unbridled disorganization or noise. I remember one…
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Dance Teacher Survival Kit: My Favorite Practical Self-Care Items
Teachers give of themselves everyday. It can be an exhausting job because of the little minions you get to enlighten, discipline, and interact with everyday. Then there’s the fact that as a dance teacher, you’re on your feet a lot, walking, dancing, crawling–all of it. That’s why I’ve created this “dance teacher survival kit” made especially for teachers who need a little self-care. We might be the instructors in the studio, yet we still end up sore and in need of a little self-care at the end of the day because, more often than not, we dance just as hard as our students. And talk at the same time. While…
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Preschool Tap Class: 3 Fresh Ideas For Keeping Your Kiddos Engaged
Keep the kids engaged during tap class! Okay, so you have flaps, heel toe walks, shuffles. But as every dance teacher knows, you need something pretty powerful to grab your kids’ attention in preschool tap class. So, is is possible to keep those little ones engaged in preschool tap class while still teaching them the fundamentals? Of course! More than likely, you’ve developed a few activities of your own. However, you can never have too many options when it comes to great class ideas. But perhaps the ones that have become you’re go-tos need a break. Something can be fun and diverting to kids for a while. However, eventually the…
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Dance Teacher Professionalism Tips That Will Set You Apart
A few dance teacher professionalism tips that don’t cost a cent. We’ve all seen ‘em. We’ve even met ‘em. Some of us have even looked up to ‘em. You’ll see later why I say SOME of us. Yep, it’s no secret that most of the time when a dance teacher reaches a point where he can openly call himself a professional, he lets some of the great foundations one clings to as an amateur slide. Today I want to talk about a few of those foundational, amateur values that are worth holding on to even once a person crosses over to being a professional. And the good news? They don’t…
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Dance Clothes: Leggings and Pants I Love for Teaching
One of the perks of being an artist for a living is that I get to live in stretchy pants. I’m pretty sure I’ve only worn jeans a handful of times since starting my freelance writing and dance teaching career. However, the functionality required of the dance clothes I wear when I am writing in a coffee shop are quite different from those I wear when I am teaching ballet and tap classes or salsa dancing. When I choose what leggings to wear while teaching I look for them to be comfortable, durable, and stylish. Any dancer will agree that wearing comfortable clothes in class is high on the must-have…
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Dance Outfits: Under Armour Edition for Teachers
Today the topic of discussion is: my favorite Under Armour outfit for teaching ballet and tap classes. I generally go for neutral colors like grey and black when I am teaching or dancing. I just feel the most comfortable in them and think that they are the best fit for me. I will admit, I don’t have a whole lot of Under Armour in my closet. But my recent discovery of this outfit combo has me thinking that I’ll want to take a look at more work out clothes from here in the near future. I’m sure there are lots of teachers out there who discovered the wonder of this…
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5 Things That Separate Professional Writers, Dance Teachers, and Artists from the Rest and Cost You Nothing
We’ve all seen ‘em. We’ve even met ‘em. Some of us have even looked up to ‘em. You’ll see later why I say SOME of us. Yep, it’s no secret that most of the time when a person (artist), reaches a point where he can openly call himself a professional, he lets some of the great foundations one clings to as an amateur slide. Today I want to talk about a few of those foundations, amateur values that are worth holding on to even once a person crosses over to being a professional. And the good news? They don’t cost you anything and are relatively painless. But, trust me, they…
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Another Day to Dance: Stopping to Be Thankful for My Legs
It had been one of those weeks. I was tired. It seemed like a sore throat from talking over kids whose lot in life appeared to be interrupting me, had become the norm. As I pulled myself out of bed that morning, I was able to muster up one positive thought to keep me going: It’s finally Friday! Wrapped up in my robe, being careful to keep my feet on the bath mat and off of the floor that was cold as an ice rink at this time of morning, I attempted to stretch my neck. Even the hot shower had been unable to loosen up the kinks woven into…
