Follow Friday on Twitter: Dance Organizations

If you don't use Twitter, you don't know what you're missing! Twitter can be an overwhelming onslaught of mini-messages, but it can also be very useful to a dancer looking for audition updates or an inside look at being a professional dancer.

This Follow Friday, we are taking a look at some dance organizations that have been all a-buzz...here are a few of our favorites:

@NationalDance: National Dance Institute (NDI), a nonprofit, has impacted the lives of more than 2 million public school children through award-winning arts education programs.

@JacobsPillow: Nat'l Historic Landmark & home of America's longest-running int'l dance festival. Visit the link above to sign up for the Pillow's eclub for artist & event info

@NYCDA: NYC Dance Alliance continues to inspire and nurture the next generation of pro dancers.

@DanceUK: Dance UK is the national voice of dance.

@DizzyFeetTweet: Dizzy Feet Foundation was founded in 2009 by Nigel Lythgoe, director Adam Shankman, DWTS judge Carrie Ann Inaba and actress Katie Holmes, among others.

@chicagotap: Building community with rhythm

@DanceNYC: Everything Dance in New York

@DanceU101: THE source for info & advice about college dance programs: career advice, admissions tips, videos, discussion forums and much more!

@YoungArts: The signature national organization that recognizes and supports America’s most talented 17-18 year olds in the visual, literary and performing arts.

And of course, you can find all of our buzz on our Twitter page: www.twitter.com/thedancebuzz

New Music Mondays: Pop Music

Trying to stay ahead of the trend in pop music? If you're a music-download junkie like I am, you are always looking for new music to use in class or to keep those finicky teens engaged. This article will hopefully give you some new resources.

• Billboard.com - I like to check the Charts section for Top Digital Songs or Hot 100. The Hot 100 are chart-climbers so you can spot the next hottest song before anyone else!

• Top 40 - Find pop hits from around the world. The USA chart will be very similar to the Billboard site, but check out top hits from other countries for some unique music from your class. My favorites are France, World Latin, and World Dance/Trance.

• Radio Disney - Check the Top 30 Countdown for all the hits that your tweens are listening to. Bonus: You can rest assured that all of these songs are age-appropriate.

Disclaimer: Of course you will still have to do the usual bad-words check before playing any song in class--which may also require translation for the world songs, which leads to my next resource:

• YouTube - It's probably not your first thought for new music, but you can find remixes, mash-ups and radio versions of popular songs that are often available to download from the user who created them. Type in a song and you will find remixed versions, mash-ups and edited radio versions.
  

Next week's New Music Monday will have another new music resource for remixes and mash-ups!

Looking for past New Music Mondays?

Studio Owner Buzz: Facebook Marketing Tips

Four Fantastic and Free marketing ideas using your Facebook fan page to hold a contest!

1) Picture Match
Make a status on your fan page say something like:

"One Week Only! Change your profile picture to match ours and be entered to win a $20 gift certificate to the studio. One entry per day, per family."

Within minutes you will see your logo EVERYWHERE!

2) Instant Testimonials. Ask your fans to leave a comment about "why they joined" or "their favorite memory of last year was" to get entered in for a drawing.

Your fan page will be covered with fabulous testimonials!

3) Recruit Fans!
Another type of contest results in your page getting more fans. Your fans must try to refer new people and the new fans must post a comment and say who their friend was that linked them.

At the end of the time period, the person with the most referrals wins the prize.

4) Fan Photos.
Ask your fans to upload a photo of their child to your fan page and have all of their families and friends "like" the page & their child's photo. The student with the most likes wins.

Prize Ideas: a free week of classes, or free month, free costume, free dance bag or simply a dollar amount gift certificate. Don't have the money to give away - give "parent of the month" or "student of the month" or post the winning comment / picture somewhere prominent in the studio or year-end program.

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Dance News - Lady Gaga Edition

Gaga From the Source - Dance Magazine

Flight Safety Dance to Lady Gaga - Associate Press

You decide: appropriate use of Lady Gaga or not?

Need to Solve a Problem? Take a Shower!

In a world of constant connection and interruption, the best place for your creative juices to flow may be the shower!

Last week I realized that I kept discovering solutions to problems while taking a shower. In mid-shampoo, I realized that if I set-up registration in a certain way, it would eliminate hours of work for my office manager. The next day, I choreographed a brilliant combination for my tap class. The next - I got lost in imagining new lifts for my dancers to try.

Why were these moments of brilliance isolated to the shower?

Because I was "disconnected".

No ringing phones, no email notifications or text messages. I was on my own, free to let my mind wander without consequence.

This is apparently not isolated to me - Ismene Brown writes an article about a ballet conceived in a bathtub (theartsdesk.com), Steve Palina discusses his process for exploring creativity, and Wikipedia defines this state of mind.

The ten or fifteen minutes of creative energy I experienced is often referred to as "creative flow". It is that period where ideas are free-flowing and you are so involved in the task at hand that you can tune out the world. Choreographers or dance teachers, this may sound familiar: have you ever been driving while a song comes on and you don't just hear the song, you SEE the choreography. Your mind is in its creative flow.

So, the next time you need to solve a problem, create some choreography or find inspiration - "unplug" from the world. Go for a walk (WITHOUT the ipod or phone!), take a long bath or just sit in your favorite room with the TV off. Find your flow.

The next problem - remembering your ideas once you get out of the shower!