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Dance Blog Spotlight: Maria’s Movers, Move. Create. Educate.

December 9, 2011 by 4dancers

Each month we are featuring a different dance blog on our “spotlight” at 4dancers. Here’s the one we have chosen for December–Maria’s Movers, Move. Create. Educate.

Maria Hanley

1.      Can you tell readers a bit about your background in dance?

I grew up dancing. Since the age of 3 I loved it. I think that might be why I love teaching 3’s so much. My Mom and Dad signed me up for dance because they thought it would bring me out of my shell! I think it worked, but not until later in my life.

The thing is I never wanted to be a professional dancer, I always wanted to be a dance educator. When I was at college for dance so many of my classmates wanted to be professional dancers. I remember one of my professors saying to the class of aspiring dancers, ” teaching will always be your fallback.” I never agreed. I work hard everyday to make sure I am a loving and creative dance educator who really want kids to love and appreciate dance.

2.      When did you begin your blog—and why did you start it?

I started Maria’s Movers, Move. Create. Educate. because I wanted a place to keep and share my ideas. When I first started out, I had trouble finding people who wanted to talk about teaching young children. I thought this would be a way I could talk about it and whoever wanted to talk, read, and join in was welcome. It has become such an amazing resource for me and I hope other dance educators find it useful too. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Dance Blog Spotlight Tagged With: best dance blogs, dance advantage, dance blog, dancepulse, dancing branflakes, educating dancers, grab your sneaks, great dance blogs, kids dance, letters from leaping lets, maria's movers, picture book and pirouettes, sheena jeffers

Dance Blog Spotlight: Tights And Tiaras

October 7, 2011 by 4dancers

Welcome back to our new feature “Dance Blog Spotlight” where we will be highlighting some of the best dance blogs on the web! Last month we turned the spotlight on Tendus Under A Palm Tree, and this month we have Henrik, the author/creator of Tights And Tiaras – another one of my all-time favorites!

Tights And Tiaras Creator, Henrik Lamark

1.      Can you tell readers a bit about your background in dance?

I have been dancing all my life. When I was a kid, my parents tell me, I was running around the house doing all sorts of movements all the time, and I told my mother I wanted to be a dancer already when I was three years old. But it wasn’t as easy as it sounds, I was born with a severe hip-displacement, and went through extensive surgeries when I was about 6 to 8 years old. After a recovery-period, I finally started dancing ballet at a local studio. From there, it’s been a bumpy road, but always heading for the same goal I set out as a three year old: I’m going to be a dancer. And a dancer I became. Today I have been working professionally with ballet and dance since I graduated from ballet academy several years ago.

2. When did you begin your blog—and why did you start it? [Read more…]

Filed Under: Dance Blog Spotlight, Online Dance Resources Tagged With: ballet blog, ballet dancer, best dance blogs, dance blog, dance blog spotlight, henrik lamark, tights and tiaras

Starting A Dance Blog

June 6, 2011 by 4dancers

Starting a dance blog can be a very satisfying thing. If you love dance, researching and writing about the subject may be something you would enjoy. Getting a blog up and running is pretty simple, and it doesn’t have to cost you anything either. If you want to just try it out and see how it goes, here are some tips for getting started:

Think up a name for your blog

Set up a free account at WordPress.com

Brainstorm some topics you’d like to write about

Choose from the list for your category headings

Go behind the scenes and play around a bit

Write an “about” page that tells readers a bit about who you are

Write and publish your first post

It may sound simple—and it really is if you just want an outlet to express your thoughts and ideas on dance. Getting a more formal blog up and running can be more challenging, but starting out this way lets you play around with ideas and get your legs under you. If you find that you would like to do something a bit more serious, you can always upgrade your account with WordPress and get more features.

I started 4dancers on a whim—following the steps I just described above. I had no special knowledge of blogging, and I didn’t have a grand plan for what I was going to do with the site. I just jumped in.

If you are going to try your hand at a dance blog, I recommend looking at some other sites to see what they are doing that you like—and what they are doing that you don’t care for. It can help you pick some subjects and find a general direction. Here are some that you can peek at for ideas–or check out my blogroll:

Tights and Tiaras

Dance Advantage

The Ballet Bag

Trailerpilot

Dave Tries Ballet

If you do decide to blog, be sure and drop me a note—or leave a comment here so I can check out your site!

http://tinyurl.com/3qzfp4j

Filed Under: 4dancers, Online Dance Resources Tagged With: 4dancers, dance advantage, dance blog, dave tries ballet, starting a dance blog, the ballet bag, tights and tiaras, trailerpilot

Oberon’s Grove

September 30, 2010 by 4dancers

Every once in a while I find a dance blog that I can’t believe I haven’t seen before. Enter Oberon’s Grove.

Not only is there a lovely mixture of posts on the site, but the links provided are also excellent. (And I also spent quite a bit of time scrolling through, looking at the photographs. Beautiful.)

Do yourself a favor–check this blog out.

Filed Under: 4dancers, 4teachers, Editorial, Online Dance Resources Tagged With: dance blog, oberon's grove

10 Questions With…Nichelle Strzepek

January 3, 2010 by 4dancers

Welcome back to our new feature…10 Questions With…

This week we have some time with Nichelle Strzepek, Owner/Editor of Dance Advantage, a wonderful dance resource on the web…enjoy!

Intro:  I am Nichelle Strzepek. No one ever has a clue how to pronounce that Polish last name! I say it as if the ‘z’ were silent – Streh-peck. I won’t attempt the Polish pronunciation.

I am the writer/editor at Dance Advantage and a full-time mom to a busy and beautiful 2-year-old boy. Before that, I worked as a dancer and dance teacher. I’ve taught consistently since I was a teenager so I have about 17 years of teaching experience in studios, community programs, at a university. Plus, some years of assisting before that. My degree is in dance and I’ve dabbled in professional performance with modern dance companies here in Houston and “back home” in Pennsylvania.

1. What made you create this dance blog? 

Dance Advantage really grew out of the experiences I had as a teacher, feeling as though there was just never enough time to say or express all I wanted my students to learn in the limited time I had with them each week. Also, in the early part of the last decade (getting used to thinking of the 2000’s that way), I was a young teacher, using the internet to get ideas and look for resources, and was coming up with little. I actually began thinking about a site then, had the name and everything! I was just too busy teaching to do much with it. When I had my son in 2007, I began using a blog to update family and learn from and connect with other parents, I saw an opportunity. I had decided to stay-at-home with my son so, while I won’t say I had the time, I was at home, near a computer, and could devote some energy.

2. What are the top three pieces of advice you have for other dance bloggers? 

Do some research. Work and plan ahead of yourself. Be yourself. When I started, I did do a bit of research (enough to know that WordPress was a preferred platform for publishing and that self-hosting sounded scary)! It was good that I had done a lot of thinking about the material I wanted to share, it helped shape the focus of the blog. What I didn’t do is write and plan before getting started. I just jumped in with both feet and, looking back, I wish I had gotten a head start before ever publishing a word. As for being yourself, the blogosphere is a busy and talkative place. Share who you are and what you are passionate about because that’s what will make your blog special.

3. What is your organizational routine when it comes to blogging (for example, do you research one day and write the next….do you post every day…etc.)?

Ha ha! Organizing has been the toughest part of all this for me. I’ve been learning to be a mother and a blogger at the same time. Plus early on, my writing got noticed and I was encouraged to cover dance happening in Houston as a critic, and I still wanted to dance! Last year I was mad enough to do all those things on top of everything else.

I’ve always been so structured in my teaching – planning classes, designing curriculum for the year. Sometimes my perfectionism gets in the way of true organization but I’ve always been very methodical. Organization is a different game when you have a child. I’m not sure I’ve settled into a blogging routine as much as I have worked around my routine with the kiddo. I generally research a post over time. Some require more research than others so I intersperse these with the ones that are easier to write from the top of my head. I generally post 3-4 articles a week, though, I’ve had to be satisfied with some flexibility and forgiveness of myself when I just can’t get it done.

4. What would you say are your blog’s strengths?

The blog is really an extension of myself and my interests. I’ve never been good at talking about my own strengths (that was always the interview question I hated!) so this is a hard question for me. I feel Dance Advantage succeeds in providing a high-quality reference that continues to grow in scope. I pour much of what I learned in college and plenty of research into the blog. I also feel that while it has a wide audience (students, teachers, and parents) that it is very focused on the community that surrounds dance education.

5. Do you have anything new coming up on the horizon?

Newest this year has been adding a professionally rendered logo and re-working the site to match. I’m also working to step up the newsletter content that I provide to people who invite Dance Advantage into their inbox. In addition, readers will be hearing from some “columnists.” These are folks that I’ve come to really respect as I’ve navigated the online dance world and I am so happy to add their voices to the blog on a regular basis.

6. If you had to describe your blog in just five words, what would they be?

Thorough. Fieldguide. Constructive. Convenient. Wholehearted.

7. Can you recommend another dance blog?

There are so many different kinds of dance blogs! There is a new crop of blogs focused on dance training. I am excited about 4dancers as well as move.create.educate but, an instructional blog of which I’ve been a fan for some time is Deborah Vogel’s The Body Series blog, which was formerly the Dancing Smart newsletter. For performance recaps, reviews, and even updates on SYTYCD, I enjoy Tonya Plank’s Swan Lake Samba Girl.

8. Who are your all-time favorite dancers?

Coming from contemporary dance, I don’t know that I hold that same kind of reverence for individual dancers as one who comes from the ballet world might. I enjoy strong ensemble dancing that makes me think and feel. With that said, my all-time favorites reveal my love of theatrical dancing and musicals – I find I always stop what I’m doing when Gene Kelly, Fred Astaire, Cyd Charisse, and Ann Miller (both ladies Texas natives, I might add), come on the screen.

9. What is your favorite piece of music?

The music I listen to is often different from the music I dance to. Classically, Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata Adagio never fails to take my breath away. It’s wonderfully melancholy and dramatic, gorgeous and tender. A more modern all-time favorite is Bittersweet Symphony by The Verve. Surprisingly, not a U2 song though it shares that big, expansive sound I love (if you get to know me you’ll know I’m a shameless U2 fan).

10. Tell us something about yourself that may come as a surprise…

People might be surprised that I never aspired to be a writer. I had many friends growing up that wanted to be journalists or novelists. I enjoyed writing in school and tried pouring out my heart in poetry as a teenager. I had a college professor in dance who emphasized repeatedly that my written work was strong and suited for graduate work. But I planned to dance and teach. I never really saw myself pursuing any kind of writing career until I started writing Dance Advantage.

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Filed Under: 10 Questions With..., 4dancers, Online Dance Resources Tagged With: ann miller, beethoven, cyd charisse, dance advantage, dance blog, dance blogs, deborah vogel, fred astaire, gene kelly, moonlight sonata, move.create.educate, nichelle strzepek, swan lake samba girl, the body series, tonya plank, u2

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