Candy Alternatives for Halloween

As Halloween approaches, we often do special activities at my studio or allow students to wear costumes.  Many teachers like to reward their classes with a special treat, which historically has been candy.  I feel that as dance teachers, we have a responsibility to celebrate healthy choices and I like to search out alternatives to candy--especially with all of the food-allergies and preferences that my students have.


Coloring Pages
Such an easy and low-cost "treat"

Glow Bracelets
This is my choice for this year - trying something new and potentially something that they kids can take with them on Halloween.  I found glow bracelets on Amazon for $8.79 for 100 bracelets, so for under $20 I was able to get enough to cover my 16 weekly classes.


Stickers, Stamps & Temporary Tattoos
My elementary-aged kids love stickers, stamps and tattoos.  Not sure if their parents love them as much, but its fun to do a grab-bag of these items.

Rolls of 500 Halloween Stickers:  $9.99
72 Glitter Halloween Temporary Tattoos: $5.50
24 Halloween Stamps:  $7.95

"Haunted House" Class Picture
This one is fun to do with the older kids or students who love social media... the "Haunted House" class picture - take a group picture but tell your students to make a face like they are going through a haunted house - leads to lots of funny faces!

Slap on a filter/background and send to your students and watch them share :)


More Ideas For Those Blessed in the Craftiness Department (THANK YOU PINTEREST)

• 9 DIY Alternatives to Halloween Candy
• Lego Pumpkin Treat Bags
• Glowstick Brooms

Do you do something special with your classes for Halloween?  Do you hand out any treats?  Share in the comments!

Check Out My Interview at Maria's Movers

I was so thrilled when Maria invited me to be a part of her "Creating With Kids" interview project!  Her goal is to interview 52 children's dance teachers this year and I have loved reading the other interviews, especially those who don't work in the traditional studio setting.

You can read my interview over at her blog - Maria's Movers

And check out all her great creative ideas while you're there! :)

Thanks again Maria for inviting me to participate in your project!

Ballet Mime

Crossed arms mean love - but be careful -
make those hands into fists and you may
be saying something completely different!

My students and I had a conversation about ballet miming this week:  Did you know dancers are storytellers as well as actors and actresses too?

Ballerinas and ballet dancers even have their own special hand gestures to tell stories - sort of like ballet sign language!

You may already know some common gestures:
- Both hands to the heart for "love"
- Hand cupped by ear for "hear"
- Bowing or curtseying to show loyalty
- Strong motions with fists to show anger

There are some others you might not be as familiar with:
- Tapping the forehead twice for "princess" and three times for "king" or "queen"
- Crossed hands with fists for "death"
- And "dance" is said by circling your arms overhead in 5th position

Here are some links for more ballet mime:

• Ballet Mime Vocab by The Ballet Bag

• Mime Meanings in Ballet by iSport

Learn the conversation between the Swan Queen and the prince from Swan Lake with this fun video from The Royal Ballet:

Most Popular Posts of 2012

Jump for joy - here are the most-read posts from 2012!

Pinspiration  

Do you find Pinterest as addicting as I do?  Here are the most popular "Pinspiration" posts from this year:

   

Athletic Dancers, April Pinspiration:  Leaps & Jumps, Performance Pinspiration

Music

How to Find Clean Hip Hop Music for Kids 

I guess my teachers aren't the only ones struggling to find clean hip hop music!

How to Get a Clean Music Edit Using GarageBand
My second video tutorial on music editing shows how to do a simple edit using Garageband.

Business

Most popular posts for Studio Owners:

Can we please take a short break
from winter and have summer for a week?

Everything Else

How to Take Dance Photos on the Beach
Some shots from my summer vacation and a tutorial on how to take photos on the beach proved to be on the of the most popular posts this year.

Rock Star Camp
5 days of dancing, crafts and game ideas!


Can't wait to see where 2013 takes us - what would you like to see more of?  Leave a comment!

Link Love: Olympic-Inspired Movement

Thanks to Teach Preschool's post about the Olympic Blog Hop, I discovered a bunch of great Olympics-inspired movement posts for the little ones and had to share!

Move Like a Gymnast from Creative Family Fun - these activities might be fun to incorporate into a summer camp next year.

Pom Pom Games - These pom poms look fairly easy to make and would be a fun alternative to bean bags in the classroom.

Movement Games for Young Children - a few ideas and a great list of guidelines for creating your own movement game.

Ring-Based Movement Ideas - You could easily translate these ideas to non-Olympic rings by using some hoola hoops or rubber circles.

Olympic Family Fitness from The Iowa Farmer's Wife - a 15-minute fitness lesson for a 3-year old including warm-up, activity and cool down.

Cute London Bus Prop Idea - ok, so this one has nothing to do with movement, but the London bus they made from a cardboard box would be a cute prop!

Have you been watching the Olympics?  Will any Olympic inspired movement be making its way into your classrooms this year?

Valentine's Love Playlist Round-Up & Sponsor Shout-Out!

I hope you've enjoyed our little series of playlists featuring songs about love!

Here are the links to each one in case you missed them:

• Children and 'Tweens'
• Jazz, Hip Hop and Ballet
• Tap
• Lyrical and Contemporary

Have a Happy Valentine's Day and now a few deals and coupons from our sponsors...

• APY Yoga System: $10 off with code: TAKE10

• Save 20% of Gaiam Yoga and Gaiam Fitness!

• Shop the celebrity styles at Manhattanite at get 15% OFF! Enter code: NYC15 at checkout.

• Barnes & Noble:   50% Off Hundreds of Kids DVDs!

Monthly Recap

Happy 2012!  Here's our recap of the first month of 2012... it's been a busy one for me - how has your January been? 


Make sure to check back tomorrow for February's "Blog Challenge"!


Link love:

Are you on Pinterest yet?  If you were, you wouldn't have 
missed this awesome picture!

What You Missed From The Dance Buzz

• Results of Top Dance Blog 2011!
• Dance pinspiration over at my pinterest page
• Things I tweeted
• Music inspiration
• January's Dance Blog Challenge and all the awesome participants: Personal Dance Firsts
• We joined in on Dance Advantage's January "Circle Time" post about setting goals.
• ASCAP, BMI, SESAC?  Music Licensing Break Down

Dance Happenings Around The Internet

• How To Date A Dancer (Tights & Tiaras)
• How to build sound-absorbing acoustic tiles for your dance studio (Squirrel Trench Audio)
• If Your Boys Wore Tutus (Marias Movers)
• Combining Dance With Poetry (Dancepulse.org)

Ballroom Dance In School

Just read a great little story about fifth-graders learning swing dancing in schools.

"...the classroom teachers tell us there is such a change in their behavior," Suzie Henneman [ballroom instructor] said on the increased level of respect teachers said their pupils show for each other. 

"The swing is their favorite," she said. "But it's interesting how much they take to the tango. It's such a serious dance. But they love the dance."

Check it out: Catonsville fifth-graders step out of comfort zone, on to dance floor [Baltimore Sun]

January Blog Challenge Posts!

Woohoo!  Check out all the blog challenge participants so far:

• Maria's Movers: The Class That Started It All
• Married To The Dance: My First Flamenco
• Nichelle (from Dance Advantage)
• Kim at Velocity Dance and Fitness

Answer this month's Blog Challenge: Personal "Dance Firsts" and add yours to the list!

NMM: Holiday Music Round-Up

 If you enjoy this post, take a moment to VOTE FOR US for Top Dance Blog of 2011 by commenting on the post (click this link). Thank you!
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My students performing "Winter Song" (2010)

I started writing a post about holiday music, but I realized:

1. I did that last year and I still use the songs on the list.

2.  Other dance bloggers also have some great suggestions.

3. It's not Monday, so I guess this isn't a "New Music Monday".

So instead, I'm pointing you in the direction of some already awesome posts about holiday music! Ok, so one of them is my own post, so technically I just called myself awesome.. but let's let it slide, ok? 'Tis the season!

• The Dance Buzz Holiday Music - Full albums and individual track recommendations

• Dance Advantage: Nutcracker... With a Twist
• Dance Advantage: Holiday Head Start (scroll down for music recommendations)

• Dance.net:  Christmas Music to Highland To
• Dance.net:  Holiday Show Music 

And because I can't resist, here are a few more "winter" and holiday tracks to keep your playlists updated!

Business: Avoiding the Growth Trap

Just read a great small business article by Jay Goltz at the New York Times:

Avoiding the Growth Trap

Worth a quick read if you are a business or studio owner considering expanding your business to a second location or doing other "growing".  If you're like many small business owners, you are constantly looking for ways to improve your business or opportunities to expand.  It is hard to shut down that entrepreneurial spirit that may have even prompted you to open in the first place!

"It really comes down to priorities. Do you want to take outside capital and the “partners” that come with it? Do you want to take on more risk? More employees? More travel? More stress? More potential aggravation?"

Mr. Goltz also makes a good point that sometimes business owners get so caught up in growing their business and expanding that they forget to check if they are still making a profit!

"I have also figured out that business is not just about growth...it is also about making a profit, which many companies seem to forget as they grow themselves out of business. Business is also about understanding that bad things happen...choosing to over-expand instead of being prepared for this kind of stuff can put the company in jeopardy. "

Look before you leap, and really take a hard look at all the possibilities when you are considering expanding. Sometimes its the right move, but sometimes things may be better off left alone.  Figure out your priorities and you will figure out what is right for you and your business.

Breathtaking

Just wanted to share this little video!  The human body is pretty amazing.

Link Love: Great Teaching Ideas!

Times Union

Hurricane / Tropical Storm Irene went through my area in upstate New York, but luckily power was all we lost yesterday.  Many places in my area are flooded, but we just had a few downed branches and trees. The creek by one of my studio locations overflowed and closed the road and parking lot, but didn't get close to the building.  I am so thankful for all of the workers who were out yesterday repairing the power lines and keeping people safe from flooded roadways.  Hope all my readers are also safe after the storm.

Now that the power is back on, I have been catching up on some dance blog reading.  There are some really great teaching ideas I can't wait to use in my classes in the fall and share with my teachers.

• Improv Dance Ideas for Children by Sheri
• Beating The Don't Wanna Dance Blues by Sheena Jeffers at Maria's Movers
• Improve Jumps by Sheri
• Beating the First Day Jitters by Stacey Pepper Schwartz at Dance Advantage

Happy reading!

Link Love: Exercises to Target the Core

Great articles and sites for building core strength!  I will definitely be adding some of these exercises to my teen and tween jazz classes (and my own personal workouts).

4 Great Core Exercises:  Click on the title of each exercise to see a video demonstration.

Max Capacity Training: Designed for body builders, this site has a bunch of great exercises for strengthening your core (and arms.. and legs...).  There are 12 exercises per week and exercises change every three weeks, so click on Weeks 1, 4, 7 and 10 to see all the exercises.

'Tis The Season

Ever wanted to know how to create a giant, paper mache nutcracker?

Kathy Barbro has the answer: www.artprojectsforkids.org...

Guerrilla Dancing In New York City

Arianna Bickle on Madison Avenue | Photo by Jordan Matter Photography

I had to repost this awesome article / photo series by Jordan Matter.

According to Telegraph UK, Mr. Matter was "thinking about the recession and what that meant for talented people who may have lost their jobs. Are you still a dancer if you are not paid to perform? Or are you still a chef when you don't have a kitchen to cook in? It is about people who walk the streets with this incredible skill who could just advertise their ability any time they wanted. Dance is always a part of them and they are always dancers."

Very cool series - take a look!

Studio Owner Buzz: Negotiating a Lease

Studio Owner Buzz is a series of posts on useful tips for Studio Owners. Costume catalog reviews, business tips, and more. Click here for past SOBuzz articles
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Most studio owners got into the dance business from their love of teaching and of dance, not their love of contracts, business management and administrative details. However, being a studio owner also means being a businessperson and often that means negotiating with business people who have been in business much longer than you and will not be afraid to throw some punches.

My first year of owning my own studio, I was 22 and had no official "business" experience. Walking into a meeting to "negotiate" a lease with my future landlord, I might as well have been a lamb being brought to slaughter. I had no idea what I was talking about, and probably came off nervous and lacking experience... which I certainly was. Sure I had done my research, but that's not the same thing as actually negotiating. I ended up signing the lease for 2 years more than I had wanted to, but got more square footage out of the deal so I felt somewhat accomplished.

But you! You're smart! And are doing even more research so you can learn from my mistakes and be ready to negotiate with the big dogs.

First, let's learn about commercial leases.
Read more after the jump

Dance News - July 30, 2010

Dancing With Skyscrapers | The New York Observer

Using Dance to Treat Parkinson's | Seattle Times

Experimental Dance Comedy | Guardian