NMM: The Lucky Ones - Kerli

I am currently loving this song by Kerli "The Lucky Ones".  I've been using it for tap and jazz warm-ups this week and its got a great beat (and no bad words!).


Grab it on iTunes:

January Challenge: What's In Your Bag?

Did anyone ever have any of the bags above? (The first one is a vintage bag from Etsy)

A dance bag is a dancer and dance teacher's most valuable possession.  Back when we used to use CDs instead of iPods, my bag weighed 50 lbs from the giant CD case I lugged around... now it still is pretty hefty, because I filled the empty space with water bottles and props. #notthesharpestpointeinthebag

January's Blog Challenge Mission:

So for the first Blog Challenge of the new year, I want to know:

What's in your dance bag?

Grab this snazzy badge for your post
if you'd like to  be-dazzle your blog!

How to Participate: 

If you have a blog:
1) Take a picture, make a video, write a post or find one that fits the theme (it doesn't have to be a new post if you've already written something that answers the question).

 2) Then make sure you leave a comment below with a link to your post so we can all read it!


Don't have a blog? 
No problem!  Participate by leaving a comment below, tweeting @thedancebuzz or posting to our Facebook wall a picture of your dance bag, or comment with your favorite item in your dance bag.

I'm getting my post ready to go and am looking forward to taking a peek inside of everyone's bag! :)

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!

The VitaVibe Ballet Barre - A Review

Enjoy this post?  Vote for me for Top Blog Contest!  How?  Leave a comment on this post.

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...a.k.a. "The Search For Portable Ballet Barres, Part 3"

It has been a while since I posted about my search for portable ballet barres (here's Part 1 and Part 2), so I thought I'd do an update.

Full Disclosure:  I am not being compensated by VitaVibe or Ballet Barre Store.  I just purchased the barres for my studio and am sharing my experience in hopes that it helps others!

Since my original purchase in January 2011, I have purchased a second barre from the Ballet Barre Store, so we have one barre at each location in current use.

Both barres arrived fairly quickly (about a week or two) and were very easy to assemble. The first one, my husband helped with and the second one I put together all by myself.

Side note-that-should-be-common-sense-but-I-didn't-think-about:  An 8-foot barre will come in a box that is.. wait for it.. 8 feet long.  Make sure if you need to move it in your vehicle that it will fit.  It was a close one in my little car!

Both times I purchased the "BD96" - an 8-foot double barre from their "Prodigy Series".  I chose these over their heavier-weight line because we have wall barres and don't use our portable barres that often.  The cost of the Prodigy series is also half that of the Professional series.

The connectors make it easy to adjust the height of the
barres as necessary

Each barre is lightweight, easy to move around and very easy to keep clean.  I can't attest to the "antimicrobial properties" of the aluminum coating, but the barres are very smooth to the touch and we wipe them down with Clorox wipes after use.

With the 8-foot barre, we can fit a maximum of two teen students on a side, but its much more comfortable with just one, especially if they're using the barre for a leg stretch.  With the littles, three fit comfortably (two on one side and one on the other).

Pros

• Lightweight aluminum means they are easy to transport to the middle of the floor or to another room as necessary - my students no longer complain about moving the barres!  
• Easy to assemble and adjust as needed - and the Ballet Barre Store sells parts a la carte if anything were to break or you wanted to make your single barre into a double.
• Has stayed much cleaner than the wood barres.  It doesn't get that "grubby" feeling... and no more splinters!

This is the bottom part of the barre, where you can see the only visible scratches.
They are from little tappers experimenting with how tap shoes sound on an aluminum barre!

• The feet of the barre are covered in rubber, which means no more scratched marley - yay!

• The company gives a 10 year warranty on all of their barres.

Oooh, shiny!

Cons

The only downside to these aluminum barres is that the barre is sometimes too lightweight and feels like it could be pushed over.

While this forces the students to be more conscientious about not leaning or relying too much on the barre, it makes me a bit nervous that they if they ever actually do lose their balance, a big grab might knock the barre over.

So far it has not happened, but it just doesn't have the sturdy feeling that our older (and much heavier) wooden or metal barres do.  Heck, the ones we used in college were made of some sort of heavy piping that took 2 - 3 of us to even get it to budge!

Would I Buy Again?

Yes - overall, the pros definitely outweigh the cons.  However, next time I might be tempted to try the Professional series, which is made out of a bit thicker aluminum, which might add enough heft to counteract how light they are to move.

NMM: New Year

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It's hard to find a picture of new beginnings in January,
but here is a "snow egg" in a nest that's in front of our house.

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With it being January, I wanted to make a playlist of songs about beginnings, fresh starts and the future.


Enjoy! (All of the links below open to iTunes)

I'm Beginning To See The Light - Maynard Ferguson - an instrumental jazzy tune with a big band feel, that would be nice for a classic jazz or adult tap class.  There's another great version by Michael Buble too!

At the Beginning - Anastasia (Music from the Motion Picture) - classic Disney love song - could work for a lyrical dance.

Starting Now - Ingrid Michaelson - I've used this quick-tempo song for combinations in modern, jazz and contemporary class.  It starts out sounding acoustic and then builds to a full band, which is nice for a dynamic change.

Where Do I Even Start? - Morgan Taylor Reid - This song was used on Grey's Anatomy, so you know it's dramatic!  I am a sucker for songs with piano harmony sections, so I liked this one right away.  I would use it in lyrical or contemporary class or possibly for a lyrical ballet piece.

New Age - Marlon Roudette - Another nice lyrical / contemporary song.

Intro - xx - One of my teachers used this song last year for a jazz / contemporary piece.  I could see it working for a modern dance as well.  Has a great creepy beginning and then changes into an intense and building melody.

Wanna Be Starting Something - Michael Jackson - Doesn't need explanation :) There is also a newer version featuring Akon, but you gotta love classic Michael.

This is what my front yard looks like in January...
snow and ice!

New Soul - Yael Naïm - Ever since it was featured on that iTunes commercial, I hesitate to use it in class, but it would be such a fun song for a young modern class or for a solo.

Brand New - Emilie Mover - She has such a fun voice - this is a nice uplifting song with a country or bluegrass feel.

What other songs make you think of new beginnings and the New Year?  Leave a comment!

Top Blog Contest 2013 - Vote for me!

It's that time of year again... the Top Dance Blog contest put on by Nichelle over at Dance Advantage!

I love this contest because I get to find a ton of new dance blogs to follow - I can't wait to see who enters this year!

Last year, I was honored to be selected as "Editor's Choice", which made me all blushy and dance around my house to the surprise of my husband (who, by the way, still refers to all of you as my "imaginary friends").

In any event, I'm throwing my hat into the "Teacher Talk" category since my most frequent posts are the music playlists for teachers and dancers!

Vote for me by leaving a comment on this post!

Will you vote for me?  

To vote, all you need to do is leave a comment below on this post.

Leave a comment on what you like best about The Dance Buzz, what you'd like to see more of, or you can just say hi!

Either way, I love hearing from my readers (all, what, 6 of you...??) and would love a comment below.

Thank you and happy 2013... now I'm off to vote for some of my favorite dance blogs! :D

Happy New Year 2013!

Happy 2013!   I hope everyone had a great break!

Over Christmas break, my husband and I moved into our new house.. and have been living without internet (or cable or phone) for the past two weeks... #darkages

While it was nice to have some time to focus on other things without the distraction of screens, our internet-less world was starting to drive us nuts!  I felt like I was back in school, going to the library to use the wifi...

Anyway - the start of the New Year is always a great time to look back at last year, look forward to the new year and set some goals.  Last year, I shared my favorite way to set goals for my business and blog.  The biggest problem is that we don't always keep those resolutions or even think about them after we make them in January.

Did you set goals for 2013?  

It turns out writing them down might be the first step to achieving them!  Check out this infographic from onlineeducation.net about setting goals (click to make bigger) and keeping them:

 

Did you have a nice break?  Did you get the plague like all of my students (and I) did?

Do you make New Year's Resolutions?  How do you keep them?  Tell me in the comments!