November 2010 | Tapping in Gilbert’s Footsteps
For one day, Retter’s Academy of Dance in Agoura Hills, California, became a film set, complete with bright lights, film equipment, and a silver curtain backdrop. Three young studio dancers tapped...
View ArticleNovember 2010 | Soul-Searching Dance
Engaging students is the best route to committed participation—dance teachers and choreographers know that. If you want students to make the most of your classes or bring more expressiveness to...
View ArticleNovember 2010 | Let Your Tap Creativity Flow
Tap dance is an infant in the scope of dance history. Unlike ballet, which has traveled to us through at least 200 generations of teachers, tap can claim only four or five generations of structured...
View ArticleNovember 2010 | Schools With Staying Power | Doing It Mom’s Way
After 65 years, Miss Jeanne’s School of Dance Arts must be doing something right. Last Memorial Day weekend saw more than 60 adult dancers, ranging in age from late teens to 60-something, performing a...
View ArticleNovember 2010 | Intimate Intensive
The studio owners and teachers filling The Gold School studio had a million questions—about marketing techniques, dealing with problem personalities, balancing work and family, providing quality...
View ArticleNovember 2010 | Broadway on the Pacific
In the dance meccas of New York, L.A., and Chicago, many studios offer training that sets students on a track to a dance career. Then there’s the Academy of Performing Arts (APA). Though its home is...
View ArticleNovember 2010 | As the Dance Teacher Turns | Part 9
Dolly led Jackson into Studio A at 9 o’clock sharp on a bright Saturday morning. “I am so excited to have you here to teach!” she said, showing Jackson how to work the sound system.
View ArticleNovember 2010 | Yoga/Dance
We’ve all seen them—classes called “Yoga Dance” or “Yoga Bootie Ballet,” mixed in among the traditional ballet or jazz offerings. But this trend—the crossover between dance and yoga—has something...
View ArticleNovember 2010 | Bright Biz Idea | Better Together
Everywhere I travel I hear the same story: dance teachers and studio owners lamenting the loss of students to high school dance teams. The reasons vary, but the trend is clear.
View ArticleNovember 2010 | Tops on the Tap Scene
Chicago is known for many things—Barack Obama, the comic lineage of The Second City, the blues tradition of performers like Buddy Guy, the lakefront, harsh winters, rough-and-tumble politics, Michael...
View ArticleNovember 2010 | Ballet Scene | Ballet à la Briansky
In a spacious dance studio at Mount Holyoke College, a class is in the able hands of Viktor Lytvynov, a ballet teacher and company director from Kiev, Ukraine.
View ArticleNovember 2010 | Teacher in the Spotlight | Shay Thompson Morgan
Shay, a former soloist and ballet mistress with William Starrett’s Columbia City Ballet, became director of her own studio at age 19. Her commitment to her craft shows through the numerous achievements...
View ArticleNovember 2010 | Thinking Out Loud | The Church of Debby
A former student of mine stopped by the studio. I hadn’t seen her in years. She brought me a gift and told me how much being at the studio helped her in her life. I do remember that I always encouraged...
View ArticleNovember 2010 | Mail
I am a huge fan of your magazine! As a 33-year-old studio owner, I have found this to be my go-to for running my businesses, teaching, and even preparing to start a family. Thank you for providing such...
View ArticleNovember 2010 | EditorSpeak
I’m writing this right after chatting with British choreographer Wayne McGregor, artistic director of Wayne McGregor | Random Dance and resident choreographer at The Royal Ballet.
View ArticleNovember 2010 | Teacher to Teacher | An Inspirational Adventure
Being a dance teacher requires almost constant creative thought, from teaching dance classes to dreaming up shows and performance opportunities for students. Where does all this creativity come from?
View ArticleNovember 2010 | A Better You | Body Check
For dancers, pain is a way of life. And as teachers, after years of accepting the physical discomfort caused by rigorous training, rehearsal, and performance, we may end up with a skewed perspective on...
View ArticleNovember 2010 | On My Mind
At a recent Project Motivate seminar I ran into a school owner who had not been to any kind of continuing education event for more than 20 years.
View ArticleNovember 2010 | 2 Tips for Teachers | Ballet Basics
So many young dancers don’t know what they don’t know. Those who feel they “know it all” may become frustrated when they take class elsewhere and find that they have to keep up with more advanced...
View ArticleNovember 2010 | Ask Rhee Gold
Hi Rhee, I am toying with the idea of making my teachers part-time employees versus independent contractors. A neighboring studio owner contacted me about a teacher of hers whom she pays as a...
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