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Dance Conference: Energize – For Dance Studios & Teachers

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We love a good dance conference, and we recently heard about this new offering for dance studio owners and teachers that takes place in Chicago in August. Energize provides a space for these professionals to gather, network, get the jump on costumes, and take advantage of a variety of different seminars designed to help them take their businesses to the next level. We talked with Suzanne Gerety of Dance Studio Owner and Revolution Dancewear about the upcoming event and got some great insights we’re happy to pass along to you here…

Suzanne, can you tell readers a bit about yourself and how the idea for Energize came about?

Sure! I’ve been helping dance studio owners start, run and grow their business since we launched Dance Studio Owner back in 2008. I was born into the dance studio life as the daughter of a successful studio owner. Our studio is celebrating it’s 45th season this year. My mom, Kathy Blake and I also are the columnists for Dance Teacher Magazine’s “Ask the Experts”, which we’ve been writing for them since 2011.

In 2013, Dance Studio Owner became part of the Revolution Dancewear family of brands – REV UP Brands –  and we are truly grateful to have reached thousands of studio owners world-wide with our mission to help them keep their passion for dance alive as they grow their business. We offer membership to our website and through those resources studio owners can get exactly what they need to find more students, increase student retention, develop loyal faculty, staff and students and overcome any challenge with the business such as problem parents or studio drama.

Energize came about from our entire creative team at Revolution. Since we have been doing events over the years at our headquarters in the Chicago, IL area such as a live fashion show, shopping events, seminars and trainings, it made sense to combine all of those great events into one awesome weekend for studio owners, teachers, and their staff.

Now that we have four versatile brands that help you run your studio successfully it is a great opportunity for our customers to have time with us in person to learn how to get the most out of each resource. Our costume and dancewear flagship brand; Revolution Dancewear, our elite performance line; Tenth House, our Studio Resource; Dance Studio Owner and our online Dancewear and Costume Sales for studio owners to sell to parents; Nimbly.

What is the thing that makes Energize unique from other dance conferences? [Read more…]

Preparing For Dance Competition Season

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by Karen Musey

It’s the beginning of the 2016 competition season! Emotions are running high and everyone is itching to get the season underway. Help your studio’s competition season start smoothly with these tips:

close-up-13816_640Dress Rehearsal With Costuming

Judges see it every year – a dancer is performing well, and then their costume malfunctions onstage and their confidence is shaken. Always do at least one dress rehearsal in costume! Costumes don’t always move or behave in the way you expect them to. Sometimes fabric stretches more than anticipated, sometimes not enough. Checking this ahead of time will allow for adjustments to be made (sewing, double sided tape, etc!) and get rid of that awkward tugging onstage.

A benefit of this practice: while working with your costume in rehearsal, you might discover the costume moves in an interesting and unexpected way. Working with a costume in a compelling way really adds performance value to a piece. The more dancers treat their costumes as an extension of their work, the more strongly it shows up in their investment of character and artistic choices onstage.

Of course, always remember to pack a spare set of tights, a sewing kit, double sided tape, lots of hair pins and (an older pair of) shoes if available…even duct tape – you never know when it might be a lifesaver!

cd-949227_640Prep Your Music

We’ve all been there – the dancers are in position, ready to strut their stuff and….music malfunction! Remind dancers to stay calm if this happens and to take a deep breath – they will be taken care of as quickly as possible. To help sidestep this scenario, make sure all music is burned properly, cued up, clearly marked and an extra copy is readily available.

Please be professional with cutting and editing music. Listen to the lyrics; do an online lyric search if necessary to clarify what is spoken and make appropriate cuts. Be highly cognizant of suggestive lyrics. Generally speaking, most competitions are family age-oriented and music choices should be reflective of that.

As technology progresses, studios are relying more and more on electronics. Backstage technicians are being handed more iPods and other music devices. It is not professional to expect the music technician to “fade” music at a specific moment if the time hasn’t been taken to cut it properly. Make their job easier with clear labeling, cuts and instructions – the dancers will thank you for it.

Look At The Stage

[Read more…]

Difficulty vs Execution – Which is More Important To A Judge?

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"Flying High" by BdwayDiva1. Licensed under CC Attribution 2.0 Generic.
“Flying High” by BdwayDiva1. Licensed under CC Attribution 2.0 Generic.

by Karen Musey

What matters more in a competitive piece – difficulty or execution?

I feel this quandary plagues a lot of competitive teams and dancers. A competing studio’s dancer executes a new “trick” successfully onstage and suddenly the bar of what is considering ranking in an age category jumps up. The pressure to stay current with the bar of excellence is then set, so obviously you need to start pushing yourself to do stuff you can’t do yet.

Really?
[Read more…]

HELP! How Do I Get Back Into Dance Classes?

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Photo courtesy of KCBalletMedia at
Photo courtesy of KCBalletMedia at https://www.flickr.com/photos/67555847@N06/

by Katie C. Sopoci Drake

Hey there. It has been a while, hasn’t it? Teaching, the day-job, kids, or just plain old life got in the way. Although you may have been showing others how to dance, practicing yoga, and even performing here and there, it’s not the same as taking class, so now you’re nervous as heck. Now, you don’t have any grand illusions of running off to audition for a national tour (been there, done that), but you wouldn’t mind brushing up on your technique, and making sure you can jump into the odd performance without tearing anything.

But here come the doubts. I don’t know where to go. All of my dance clothes are long gone. I don’t think I’ll be able to keep up. I don’t even know what level I am anymore. I really don’t want to be in an “adult” class with 12-year-olds.

Before I give you the pep talk, first things first… [Read more…]

Accentuate The Positive: Creating A Great Atmosphere In Dance Class

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Catherine L. Tullyby Catherine L. Tully

Creating a positive atmosphere doesn’t mean that you have to walk around smiling and singing all the time, giving out countless compliments to your students. A positive atmosphere is instead an environment where students feel supported, nurtured and motivated to improve.

So how do you go about establishing this type of feel in your classroom?

First and foremost, it can help to realize that it is a deliberate thing. A positive atmosphere is grown by the instructor and supported by the students. Here are some elements that are present in a positive classroom environment:

  • Respect. The teacher exhibits respect for the students. The students respect the teacher—and the students respect one another.
  • Interest. The teacher shows interest in the students’ improvement and the students are eager to learn and grow.
  • Positive reinforcement. The teacher recognizes when students are doing well and gives them feedback accordingly.
  • Constructive criticism. The instructor gives corrections in such a way that the students are eager to try and improve.
  • Energy. A positive classroom environment is infused with energy and enthusiasm.

Knowing that these are some of the qualities in a positive learning situation is great. Getting them to work in the dance class environment is more of a challenge. For example, how do you show a student that you are interested in them? Or how can you create energy in class?

The very first step is to ask those kinds of questions. Often the answer is not too hard if you just dig a little bit and try things out. Coming up with concrete ways to build these blocks into the class lesson is challenging, but it certainly can be done.

Here are some suggestions to help get you started: [Read more…]

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