NMM: Promised Land - Hannah Miller

You know how you start on YouTube looking up a ballet step and then you end up down a weird alley of YouTube and don't know how you got there?  Or is that just me?  Anyway, this time I ended up at drone videos of Chernobyl (what?), but at least I got this haunting song out of it.  Happy Monday!

iTunes link to Promise Land by Hannah Miller

And here is the drone video of Chernobyl:

Fall 2014 Playlist for Teens

We interrupt this renovation saga with a playlist!  I was updating my playlists for the fall and here are a few new songs my teen/college classes have been enjoying.  I say "teens" because some of these songs have some questionable PG-13 subject matter, so use with caution (as far as I know, there are no swear words).

Stretching Songs

Stay High (Hippie Sabatoge Remix) - Tove Lo (questionable subject matter)
Unkiss Me - Maroon 5
Stolen Dance - Milky Chance
My Fault - Imagine Dragons
Work Song - Hozier
First (Hold My Hand) - Cold War Kids

Upbeat Songs

Celeste - Ezra Vine - an indie rock tune, good for warm-ups
Let The Groove Get In - Justin Timberlake
Flirt (Acoustic or regular version) - Zac Waters - both links link to YouTube because this song is not on iTunes yet!!
King of the World - Young Rising Sons
Dear Future Husband - Meghan Trainor (some questionable lines in this song, so beware)
Fireball (Instrumental Version) - In the Style of Pitbull

Lyrical/Contemporary Songs

I Wanna Dance With Somebody - Bootstraps - link opens in YouTube
Still - Daughter
Photograph - Ed Sheeran Riptide - Vance Joy


How has the beginning of the new dance year been for you?  Found any new music?  Share in the comments!

The Dance Buzz is an iTunes affiliate

2014 Music Selections

Because I'm a huge music / stats nerd, I like to share my song choices from each year.  It's mostly for me to be able to look back and say "when did I use that song"? , but maybe someone will enjoy it too.

(Here's 2013's music list if you're curious... and 2012... and 2011)

Our first half of our recital had a theme which was "dance inspired by literature or literary themes", so you may notice that some of my songs are related to books.

Links open in iTunes, unless otherwise noted :)

TEENS

• A Little Party - Fergie:  Senior large group tap, called this "At The Ball" and had the girls dress up in fancy dresses, gloves and masks as if they were at a ball out of a fairytale.
• Talk Nerdy To Me - The girls titled this dance!  We mixed together three songs for this "nerd" dance:  Cool Jerk, I Wish (Skee-Lo), and Boom! Shake the Room (whattup Fresh Prince!?). This was a lot of fun to put together...:P
• Royal Rebellion - another WAY overused song, but I mixed Royals (Lorde) with the instrumental half of Emily Well's Symphony 2 and the Click Boom Boom (to attempt some originality) for a large group contemporary, ages 15-18
• Medicine - Daughter:  large group contemporary, ages 15-18
• Youth - Daughter: senior contemporary duet, age 17
• Roar - cover by Tori Kelly & Scott Hoying:  Tap solo, age 17 (YouTube link)
• Miss Otis Regrets - Bette Midler:  Musical Theater Tap solo, age 14
• Eet - Regina Spektor:  Contemporary solo, age 16 - can't pass up a year without using a Regina Spektor song!

TWEENS

• Crazy In Love - The Puppini Sisters: Small group tap, ages 13-15
• My Anthem - Christina Grimmie: solo, age 11
• Wings - Little Mix: SO overplayed at competitions, but my kids loved this one.  In hindsight, I wish I hadn't picked such a popular song.  Small group tap, ages 11-13
• Torn - Nathan Lanier:  small group modern, ages 9-11
• The Gravel Road - James Newton Howard:  Large group ballet, ages 9-12.  Theme was "The Giving Tree", costumed half as trees and half as children

CHILDREN

"I'm Late" - white rabbit tap solo
Loved this one!

• I'm Late - Mary Martin: solo, age 9, costumed as white rabbit
• Mr. Sandman - The Puppini Sisters: Trio, age 9
• Jungle Rhythm - The Jungle Book 2:  Large group tap, age 5-6
• What's New At The Zoo - Do Re Mi Soundtrack: Large group jazz, ages 5-6, hilarious song, costumed as different zoo animals.  I only wish I had a little boy to costume as a zoo keeper
• Technologic - Daft Punk / Happy - C2C - Large group tap, ages 6-9.  Entitled "Cookies", they used Girl Scout cookie box props.
• Wizard Wheezes - Harry Potter soundtrack:  large group tap, ages 7-10, called this "It's A Mystery" and we used magnifying glasses - theme was supposed to be mystery books
• Hawaii 5-0 Mix - JiveBunny / Wipe Out - Surfaris:  Large group jazz, ages 7-10.  Used beach props (towels, beach ball, surf board)
• Define Dancing - WALL•E:  Large group ballet, used for ages 6-8 and 7-10, entitled it "The Jellyfish Ballet" and used umbrella props

Can I get a show of hands for who used an "over popular" song this year and regretted it?  What was your favorite song to choreograph to this year?  Comment below.

Our "Frozen-Inspired" Dance Camp: Activities & Games

This post is part of our "Frozen-Inspired" Dance Camp Series.

Activities / Creative Movement

Melting & Freezing
We explored the movement qualities of melting and freezing by pretending to be Olaf melting in the summer or freezing with Elsa's help.  We melted for 16 slooooooow counts, and froze again for 16 then repeated in 8 counts, 4 counts, 2 and 1!  We melted with a friend, froze into different shapes or poses, started on one leg, etc.  Lots of variations to be had with this one!
More Melting Inspiration from Maria's Movers Blog

Journey to Elsa's Castle
We pretended to be Anna and Kristoff making their journey to or from Elsa's castle.  We did this by playing Going on a Bear Hunt, but we changed the words to "We're going on a journey, we're gonna go get Elsa, I'm not scared, I'm not scared".  For the next part ("we can't go over it, we can't go under it, I guess we'll go... through it!"), we encountered :

• Deep deep snow - big slow marches to lift our feet through the snow
• A dark forest - tip toes
• A cold frozen stream - skating
• A big tall mountain - climbing actions
• An icy staircase - careful climbing actions

Until we got to the castle and knocked on the door and found... MARSHMALLOW (the snow monster)!  Reverse all the actions as fast at you can to go back to Arrendale and climb into bed with the covers over our head.

Creative Movement based on Scenes or Characters from the Movie
We did a lot of creative movement / free dance, based on settings and characters from the movie.  We would first describe the scene / character, then talk about the movements the characters did (running, rolling, climbing, skating, etc) and then dance them using those movements.  Some of our favorite scenes:

Olaf In Summer - skipping, laying (sun-tanning), swaying, blowing dandelions, floating

Skating on Elsa's pond - skating, twirling, sliding

Dancing like Marshmallow - "stompy", angry, slow

They also enjoyed pretending to be at the coronation ball, dancing like the trolls, pretending to be a snow-swirl created by Elsa, and of course, being Elsa.

Games

In addition to the usual run of camp games (Freeze Dance, 4 corners, relay races, etc), we added a few or tailored them to better fit our theme:

Obstacle Course - We set up various obstacles around the room relating to the trip to Elsa's castle.  We used cones to tip toe around like trees, a tunnel to go under, a gym mat to roll across, a "tightrope" (tape line on the floor) to walk on, ice puddles to jump over (little rugs)

Pin the Nose on Olaf - we had an Olaf-shaped posterboard and had the girls take turns being blind-folded and pinning their "nose" onto Olaf.  Since we had a large crew, we split them between three different groups so we could have three people going at the same time.

Our life-size Anna & Elsa was a
big hit for photos!

Red Light, Green Light, Frozen Variation - Basic Red light/Greenlight rules - in our version instead of being a redlight/greenlight, the "It" person is Elsa - and freezes people when she turns around.  We used the terms "WINTER" for STOP and "SUMMER" for GO.  If anyone was caught moving when the "It" person said WINTER, they had to go back to the starting line.  First person to touch the "It" person gets to be "It" for the next round.

One other thing that we used during the week was this Life-size Anna & Elsa - we found this great life-size cardboard cutout from Amazon.  They have other characters, but I really liked the two girls together.  We used them for a backdrop in our pictures and the kids loved "holding their hand" and just seeing them in general.


What other games / activities can be adapted to fit a "Frozen" theme?  Are you sick of the music yet?  Will you use it in your classes next season? Comment below!

Our "Frozen-Inspired" Dance Camp

Our most asked camp question since last December has been "Are you doing a Frozen Camp?"  So due to popular demand... a Frozen (inspired) Camp is what we did!

Our studio offers two types of camp: 5-day "Dance Camp" for ages 6-10 and 4-day "Princess Camp" for ages 4-7. For both camps, the students come each day for three hours from 9am - noon and we dance and do arts and crafts. Each year we do a different theme and base the week's lessons around that theme. We hold an impromptu little "show" on the last day of camp for family and friends.

I would say our approach to camp is very relaxed - focus on dance, crafts without a lot of theatrics / costumes - it works for us and leaves us with a lot of happy campers.

We did the Frozen (inspired) Camp for our Princess age group (ages 4-7) at the end of June, and we actually had to close off registration a week prior because of the demand!  (For comparison, our July Princess Camp was half as full as the Frozen Camp was).

I'm going to break up the posts into a few different sections, and hopefully they will give you some ideas for your own camp.
1) Music (this post)
2) Crafts 
3) Games & Activities 

General Camp Agenda 

8:50-9:05am - Parent Drop-off and Student Sign-in
9:05-9:30am - Warm-up and "Get to know you" activities - I like doing the Name Game as an icebreaker
9:30-10:00am - Ballet Dance class (learning choreography / technique)
10:00-10:45am - Craft Time
10:45-11:00am - Snack Time
11:00-11:40am - Tap class (learning choreography / technique)
11:40-12:00pm - Games / Cool-down

Dance Camp Playlist

All links open in iTunes - the Dance Buzz is an iTunes affiliate
I know you will all be surprised when I tell you that the most used album during our Frozen-Inspired Camp was... the Frozen album. Shocking, I know! But we also used a few other non-Frozen songs during our camp so that we (the teachers) didn't go crazy from having songs stuck our head all day!

Songs We Used for Choreography
Let It Go - Idina Menzel - for a ballet / lyrical
Love Is an Open Door - Kristen Bell - for jazz
For the First Time in Forever - for lyrical / sing along
In Summer - Josh Gad - for tap
Fixer Upper - Frozen - for tap

Songs We Used in Class (for creative movement, games, and technique)
Winter's Waltz - Frozen good for across the floor in ballet
Ice Dance - Edward Scissorhands - creative movement and free-dance
Let It Go / Vivaldi's Winter - The Piano Guys - good one for dramatic dancing, freeze dance
Waltz of the Snowflakes - The Nutcracker
Love Is an Open Door (Instrumental Karaoke version) - good for pass the beanbag, or warm-ups


What non-Frozen songs can you think of that would fit in well?

New Music Monday: Torn - Nathan Lanier

Another great instrumental track (see "Let It Go / Winter" mash-up from last month if you want another instrumental), here is "Torn" by Nathan Lanier.  It's very "epic soundtrack-y" - I'm using it this year for a modern class who requested a dance where half could be good and half could be evil.  It seems to be suiting them well.

I believe it was used on SYTYCD a few seasons back, but haven't seen it hit the competition circuit too hard yet, so I figured I'd share!




Grab it on iTunes:

The Dance Buzz is an iTunes affiliate.

2013 Music Selections

A look back at all of the songs I used for choreography this past year.  This post is more or less for my own archival purposes, but maybe someone will find something new too!

Want more? Here are 2012 and 2011's lists.

TAP CHOREOGRAPHY

• Come Fly With Me - Michael Bublé: brother/sister duet
• Lucky Strike - Maroon 5: senior duet
• Say - John Mayer: senior small group
• Dance With Me Tonight - Olly Murs - senior large group
• Cheek to Cheek - Jane Monheit:  senior solo
• I Got Rhythm - Nikki Yanofsky: teen solo
• The Music Box:  teen duet, mixed two songs - Music Box by Regina Spektor & a techno version of Habanera (the song that plays in the beginning of the Regina Spektor version)
• Sinking Feeling - Roisin Murphy: senior duet
• Suzy - mixed two songs - Suzy & Dragons by Caravan Palace: junior large group
• Nothing Gets Better Than This - Max Schneider:  junior large group

MODERN / CONTEMPORARY / BALLET

My little "Nutcracker" dancers

• Us - Regina Spektor: junior large group modern
• How - Regina Spektor:  senior large group contemporary
• I'm In Here (Acoustic Version) - Sia:  contemporary teen solo
• Hi - Psapp: senior small group modern
• Home - Philip Phillips: junior small group modern
• We Bought A Zoo - Jonsi: junior large group ballet
• Waiting Outside The Lines - Greyson Chance:  teen large group lyrical

CHILDREN'S MUSIC

• Pose - A.N.T. Farm:  tap dance ages 6-8
• Think - Aretha Franklin: jazz dance ages 6-8
• T-R-O-U-B-L-E - Travis Tritt: tap dance ages 7-10
• Nutcracker - I combined two songs from the Nutcracker and called it "Nutcracker Sweets": ballet dance ages 5-6
• Die Puppenfee (The Fairy Doll): XVII. No. 16 Ballabileh (called this the "Dance of the Dolls"): ballet dance ages 6-8 
• Mean Girls - Sugarland:  large group, ages 10-12

Apparently this was the year of Regina Spektor and combining songs!  Oh well, onto the next year :)

What was your favorite music you choreographed or danced to this year?

All songs open in iTunes, Dance Buzz is an iTunes affiliate.

NMM: Perpetuum Mobile - Penguin Cafe Orchestra

Today's New Music Monday is a song that just makes you want to create something: Perpetuum Mobile by Penguin Cafe Orchestra (link opens in iTunes).

I've been using this one in my modern classes during improv and I think it helps set a creative atmosphere in class.  Plus its just fun to listen to!  Enjoy :)



Grab it on iTunes:

As a side note, this song was used in the claymation film "Mary and Max", which if you're in the mood for a moving animated movie - watch this (its on Netflix).  Just keep the tissues nearby and don't say I didn't warn you.

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.

--------
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!

NMM: Where Is My Mind (Pixies Cover) by Maxence Cyrin

Just discovered this haunting piano cover of the Pixies tune "Where Is My Mind" by Maxence Cyrin.

And bonus: at 2 minutes 47 seconds... you don't even have to cut it!

Grab it on iTunes


Enjoy!

Pumpkin Creative Movement

I read Maria's great pumpkin patch creative movement idea and was inspired to try it in my classes this past week!  And check out this post at Maria's Movers for even more ideas.

I teach two ages of creative movement - 4's & 5's and an older group of pre-modern students (ages 8-11).  Both loved the new activity!

The 4's & 5's

Growing Pumpkins

First we had a quick discussion about pumpkins:

• What shape and color are they? 
• Where do they come from?
• How they grow?
• Can we eat them?  
• What's inside a pumpkin?

We planted ourselves in the room and grew very, very slowly.  My assistants pretended to be farmers and people going pumpkin-picking and they inspected each pumpkin.

Our pumpkins rolled around the room for a bit and then we started over.  This time, the pumpkins were painted with happy, silly or scary faces.  They had fun making faces while they were pumpkins.

Pumpkin-Picking

Next we changed roles and went pumpkin picking.  My studio is in a suburban area surrounded by farms, so many of the students were familiar with the idea of pumpkin picking. Our movements:

• Tip toe through the rows
• Jumping over pumpkins
• We picked out our favorite pumpkins and brought them to the middle of the room to make a pumpkin pile
• We repeated to find the heaviest, the tiniest, the fattest and the roundest pumpkins and carried, lifted, rolled, and pushed them into our pile

I also asked them what else they might see in a pumpkin patch and we saw:

• Crows that flew, perched and caw'ed
• Grass and corn that stood tall and waved in the wind
• Creepy crawly bugs and worms
• Scarecrows that stood very still and had stiff arms and legs
• A hayride that we all got on together and rode around the room to finish our exercise!

Ages 8-11: Beginning Modern / Creative Movement

I used these exercises as a warm-up.  It was a nice change for them and they seemed to enjoy it:

Growing Pumpkins

Surprisingly enough, we started the same way, but with less instruction.

• Slow growing from a seed to long twisty and stretch vines that covered the floor (focus on moving slowly and stretching our bodies)
• Growing big leaves and even a few flowers (continue stretching)
• Growing a pumpkin (making a round shape)
• Rolling around as a pumpkin1
• Being carved to have a funny, silly, happy or scary face (some used just their faces, others used their whole body)
• Being left out on the porch too long and rotting!

1 We have been learning rolls where we hold our ankles in the butterfly position (my modern instructor at college called these "UFO's"... not sure of the 'correct term').

Pumpkin-Picking

I tried to incorporate our modern dance vocabulary into our movements:

1) Prancing: We didn't want to get our shoes muddy, so we pranced through the rows (and hopped over pumpkins in our path).

2) Triplets:  We put boots on and squished the mud with our up-up-squish (down).

We chose pumpkins and explored how it was like to move with our pumpkins (we are currently exploring weighted-movement, so this fit in perfectly).

We repeated this a few times with various sizes,  various ways to carry our pumpkins and then we found the Biggest Pumpkin Ever and tried to move it but it wouldn't budge.

Pumpkin Carving

We decided to carve the Biggest Pumpkin Ever right there!  We cut the top off and climbed inside (it truly was a big pumpkin!).  Other movement ideas:

• Scooping out the seeds and "gross stuff", as my students put it
• We had a little food fight by throwing the seed chunks as each other
• We scraped around the inside, which was great spiraling movement
• Climbing back out, we carved a large face in our pumpkin
• Climbing back in, we pushed hard on the face parts to "pop" them out
• Lighting a candle or light inside the pumpkin

Want even more pumpkin dance ideas? Check out Maria's latest post with three more pumpkin movement ideas.

Have you done any fall-inspired activites with your classes?

Share in the comments!

NMM: September Contemporary Playlist

It been a while since I've done a New Music Monday post, so I thought I'd share my updated music from my contemporary classes.

I'm teaching a beginning contemporary class this year of ages 10-14, instead of just my usual 15 and up class, so it has been a challenge to find some music that is relatable to a 10-year old.  In fact, when I tried playing the slower, lyrical-type music for the younger class, they asked if I had any faster or "fun" music.

So far (third week in), I have found a balance of "fun" and "serious" music keeps everyone happy - we are working on emotions in combinations, but then we keep it more upbeat during technique portions.  What do you find works best for this age group?

Songs For Contemporary Combinations

All links open in iTunes 

• A Thousand Years - Christina Perri - used this song in both classes
• Youth - Daughter - my younger class said this was too boring... haha! Teens loved it.
• Us - Regina Spektor - used this in my younger class
• Love The Way You Lie - Ariana Grande - younger class
• On The Nature Of Daylight - Max Richter - teen class

Songs For Contemporary Class - warm-up, across the floor

• Two Dots (Nic Fanciulli Remix) - Lucine - great steady beat for grande battements, chaines, etc
• Dance My Pain Away - Wye Oak - use for warm ups
• Too Close - Alex Clare - I just love this song right now!
• Up Up Up - The Givers - used in my younger classes for warm-up (I also use it in my modern classes) - it is a happy song!
• Home - Phillip Phillips - the Olympic USA Women's gymnastics unofficial theme song
• Collide (feat. Avicii) - Leona Lewis - another nice strong beat for across the floor
• Into the Wild (Live) - LP - I am obsessed with this song right now, I use it for warm-ups or cool down in my teen class

2012 Song Selections

Now that the competitions and recitals are over, I'd thought I'd share my list of songs I used this past year for choreography. (Here is 2011 in case you're curious)

All links open in iTunes, unless otherwise noted

TAP
Hit The Road Jack - Ray Charles: Large group tap
Medley: It Don't Mean a Thing / Jumpin' At the Woodside - Swing: Large group tap, ages 13-18
I'm Yours - Jason Mraz: Small group tap, ages 12-15
Americano - Lady Gaga: Large group tap, ages 13-18
Tea Party - Kerli: (had to really edit this version, so beware!), large group, ages 11-14
Hold On - KT Tungstall: Small group tap, ages 13-15
A Shine On Your Shoes - Jane Monheit: Solo, age 11

My magic hat!
Faces obscured for privacy

Born To Entertain - Broadway Kids: Solo, age 10 (Amazon Link Broadway Kids: Sing Broadway)

LYRICAL / CONTEMPORARY
Paradise - Coldplay:  graduating senior dance
Addicted To Love - Florence + The Machine:  jazz / contemporary collaboration - alumni dance (so ages 18+)
Who You Are - Jessie J: Large group contemporary, ages 11-14
Wonderwall (cover) - Ryan Adams: Large group contemporary, ages 15-18
Remnants of a Lullaby - Trans-Siberian Orchestra: Lyrical solo, age 15
The Call - Regina Spektor: Large group lyrical, ages 10-13

OTHER
Magic - B.O.B.:  jazz, ages 6-8, complete with magic hat prop!
Ever Ever After - Jordan Pruitt: jazz, ages 5-6
Rodeo: IV. Hoe-Down. Allegro - Copland: Large group ballet, ages 6-8
Fairy Dance - James Newton Howard: Large group ballet, ages 7-9
Crayola Doesn't Make A Color... - Kristin Andreassan: Large group modern, ages 7-9

Creative Movement: Beating The Heat

"Hot Sun" by Brian Gurrola

Summer is in full swing and it's been hot hot hot where I live for the past two weeks! If it's summer where you live, I'm sure you are feeling the heat.  I feel badly for my city neighbors who have been suffering from super heated subways and sidewalks...  Make sure you're staying hydrated if it's hot where you live!

Because of the heat, in creative movement summer class we've been channeling "cool thoughts".  Here are a few exercises you can do with your classes:

1) Snowy Day Dances.  

Maria explains it best in her blog entry with a ton of great creative movement ideas about snow, and using the book, "Snowy Day" (Maria's Movers)

2) Build a Snow Man (or Woman) - group exercise 

Split up into "Snow People" and "Builders/snow artists".   The Builders will create a snow person out of the Snow People by gently guiding and shaping each snow person into a shape to make one big snowman.

The first time we do this exercise, I assign each Builders a part, like "lower body", "face", "accessories", to help them narrow down what they are creating.  If your crew is really good at working together or you have a small class, then you might be able to skip the assignments and just let them create together.


Remind the Snow that their job is to hold their position, but cooperate if a new Builder would like to shape them differently.


Each of the Builders adds on the creation (stretching arms to create scarves, moving hands for buttons or even suggesting an expression for the Snow to make). Suddenly... Voila! you have a snow man!  Switch the groups and tasks and repeat! 

I love this exercise for my youngest creative movement class (ages 7-10), as it is a great introduction to group work and partnering in a fun way.  This is a very hands-on activity... we learn about communication, leadership and cooperation. 


My older kids get a kick out of it too and you can create some cool lifts (no pun intended) out of it.  With my older ones, I skip the assignments and just split them into groups of 3-5 and tell them they need to create a snow man or woman using their bodies.  Then we take turns showing our snow person and creating storylines about what the snow person does for a living, what he or she is doing at that very moment.  A lot of fun!

3) Ocean Dances 

Check out this page Ohia.com for a lot of great ocean-inspired creative movement exercises!

4) Storm Dance 

Weather and nature is great for creative movement inspiration.  My 5 and 6 year olds enjoy being seeds that blow in the wind and then turn into flowers when the sun shines.  When we are flowers our roots are planted (either by sitting, kneeling or standing in one spot) and just our upper body moves.

Sometimes there is a big thunderstorm coming and our petals and leaves blow very fast (we sort of look like those inflatable tubes that wave all around).  Other times it rains and we drip and droop.  When the sun shines we stand up very tall and spread our leaves to catch all of the sunshine.

Other times we pretend we are clouds that float about the room.  Our clouds can be blown by the wind together to travel in one direction or sometimes we float in different directions. Have fun creating your own weather dances!

5) Other "Cool"Summer Movement Inspiration

- Ice melting and freezing: great for "freeze dance"
- Floating in a pool or stream: oh no! there's a whirlpool!
- Making shapes that divers make (cannonball!)
- Blowing in the wind
- Rain:  light rain, heavy rain, being a flower or plant in the rain
- Fishing: being fish, being on a boat, fishing, being the worm, seaweed
- Fans:  slow fans, oscillating fans, big fans, small fans
- Making Lemonade: adding sugar, ice, lemons, mixing

Music Suggestion:  The David Sun Natural Sound Collection: Sounds of the Earth - Storm 

How do you "stay cool" at dance class?  Any summer movement ideas?

Yoga-Inspired Ab Exercises, Part 1

Looking to change up your abdominal exercises in class or at home?  Try these yoga-inspired moves that are sure to get your abs firing!

The Exercises

Here are a few exercises to add into your ab sequence during your jazz, modern or ballet warm-up.  If you're not sure how to do them, click on the name for a more detailed explanation from Yoga Journal.  All photos unless otherwise noted are from creative commons on Flickr.

Downward Facing Dog

Yoga basics.  Stretches the hamstrings and gets the blood flowing.  Keep the shoulders pressed down away from the ears.

Downward facing dog - photo from Flickr.

Variation - Dolphin Pose:  From downward dog, lower your elbows to the floor while keeping your heels pressed down.  To strengthen arms, you can slowly mover from dolphin to downward dog and back a few times.

Plank or Dolphin Plank

Begin in down-dog and move the shoulders over the palms and hold.  A variation is dolphin plank, which is done on the elbows.

Photo from Flickr.

Added challenge:  Lift up one leg a few inches off the ground.  Hold.  Switch legs.

Dolphin pose with lifted foot, photo from Flickr.

What to watch for:  Make sure your students are keeping their abs tightened and not allowing their back to sway.  Students with arm or shoulder injuries should avoid this exercise.

Hands and Knee Balance

Begin on hands and knees.  Keeping abs tight stretch out opposite arm and leg.  You can make this a moving pose by bringing the knee and elbow in and out while still balancing.  The motion challenges the dancer to use their core to maintain balance.

Watch that students are keeping their hand and leg in line and are not tempted to work their extension by arching the back or kicking their leg higher than the hip.

Side Plank and Dip

Hold side plank position.  For added difficulty, raise and lower and raise hips slowly.  This position strengthens the arms and wrists as well as the abs.  My students found it very hard to balance in this position, especially once we added the dips. Some of them modified it by lowering to their elbow.  Make sure you keep the shoulder stacked over the elbow or wrist.  Also watch out for hyperextended elbows.

Added challenge:  Lift your top leg off the ground - you can do this just by a few inches or all the way until it is perpendicular to the bottom leg (like a side battement).  

Plank Cross 

From the plank position (on hands), lift the right leg and tuck the knee into touch the outside of the left elbow.

High Lunge 

From down dog, step one leg through to a lunge.  Exhale and sweep the hands overhead.
Avoid arching the back or sticking the ribs out.  The ribs should feel "drawn down into the torso".

Half Moon 

From the lunge or Warrior III, rotate the body to face the side and reach one hand down to the floor. Smoothly push up into the half moon pose, stacking the hip bones on top of one another.

To deepen the pose, lift the lower hand off the floor and rest it on the supporting leg so that the student is balance only on the leg.

For a further challenge, raise the top arm perpendicular to the floor (as shown above). Imagine there's a wall in front of you, and press the top hand actively into this pretend wall. Then, if balance is steady, slowly change the gaze up to the raised hand.

Another option is to perform small circles with the raised foot to challenge the balance.

Three-leg Down Dog 

From downward dog, lift one leg so that it is parallel with the torso.  This is the three-leg Down Dog.

To work the abs, tuck the knee and bring the knee to the right elbow, shifting the body weight over the arms and hands.  Stretch the back out and up, the bring the knee to the left elbow, stretch it back out, and knee to the forehead.  Repeat 3-4x total and then repeat on the other leg.

Putting It All Together

5-minute Ab Sequence #1:   Hands and Knee Balance with knee tuck (4 per side),  Downward Facing Dog, Plank, Side Plank w/Dip (4 per side), Plank, Lunge, Half Moon, Lunge, Plank, Downward Dog, repeat Lunge, Half Moon, Lunge with other side.

5-minute Ab Sequence #2: Hand and Knee balance with knee tucks (7 per side), Down Dog (20 second hold), Plank Cross (4 per side), Down Dog to Three-Leg Down Dog with knee tuck (3 repetitions per side), Dolphin Plank w/small leg lift on each side (hold for 10 seconds each side).


Photo Guide and resource list for each sequence after the jump

NMM: Agnes Obel - Avenue

A pretty little song from Agnes Obel, Avenue has a music-box-esqe piano melody accompanied with her haunting vocals.  I think it would make a nice group number for ballet, contemporary or modern.

And it's in waltz time!  Bonus!

Grab it on iTunes:

NMM: Hey Ya - Obidiah Parker

This one's been around for a while, but I recently re-discovered it in my playlists.

Today's New Music Monday song is an acoustic cover of Hey Ya  by Obadiah Parker

I like to use this song in my modern and contemporary classes and also for a cool-down in jazz class. The only problem is for the first few times you play it, the kids will be concentrating on figuring out why it sounds so familiar. I know I was!



Click here for all contemporary New Music Mondays

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Lyrical & Modern "Shoes" - Do You Wear Them?

I prefer bare feet for my modern and contemporary classes, but lately my students have been wearing FootUndeez or Dance Paws (the ones with stripes, polka dots, sparkles, etc) to class. I feel like an old lady but I tell them "when I was your age, those shoes didn't exist and we toughened our feet by dancing barefoot. We we proud of our callouses". In college, we were not allowed to wear them and quickly adapted to dancing on marley barefoot.

Then my students laugh at me and pull on their rainbow colored modern "shoe" over their tender, un-calloused feet.  So here's my question to you, dear reader:

What do YOU wear on your feet to modern / lyrical class?  

Or if you're a teacher - what do you allow your students to wear in class?  For performance?


If you're not sure of what I'm talking about, they are little shoes that slip on over your toes and just over the ball of your foot to reduce friction and help with turns.

As a teacher, I allow my recreational students to wear them in class and in recital, but they must be skin-toned for the recital.  And they must make a choice - whatever they plan to wear for the show, they must wear for class.

For my competitive students, I do not allow the to wear them for modern dances and for lyrical, I make a decision on the day of competition based on the surface of the stage. For slippery stages, they go barefoot.

As a dancer, I don't like the feeling of things between my toes while I dance.  I have a wide foot and the "Pawz" and "FootUndeez" cut off the circulation to my pinkie toe - does anyone else have that problem?  I think I might like the half-ballet shoe (top row, middle), but for now I will remain shoeless.

Teaching Tip: Spaghetti, Meatballs and Pancakes, Oh My!

This creative movement idea was inspired by this Fruit Tree post at Maria's Movers and the comments from Zan (of Hullabaloo Danceshop).  Zan describes her "turnip dance" in the comments and I loved the idea so I've been trying it out with my Modern I / Creative Movement class (ages 8-10).  We have changed it to fit our needs and the kids have come up with different food names (since most of them have never eaten a turnip).  We tried to keep it to somewhat healthy foods.

Our food stretch goes like this (movements in parentheses):

Spaghetti, toast and... pizza?
Ok there's no pizza stretch.. yet!

Flat as a pancake (lie on back)
Round like a meatball (contract and roll into ball on side)
Stretch like spaghetti (stretch long on side, keeping balance)
Flat as toast (lie on belly)
Up like a banana/mermaid (cobra or mermaid pose*)
Flat as toast
Stretch like spaghetti
Round like a meatball
Flat as a pancake (repeat other side)

The only trouble is they always say they're hungry after we do this stretch!

*Some days we do cobra pose (leaving feet on the ground and using hands to push up to stretch back) and some days we do mermaid (lifting feet and kicking arms off ground balancing on belly) - also known as superman pose.

Happy dancing!

Theme Playlist: "Circus"

Fill your show with death-defying dances inspired by the big top!  This post was inspired by the SYTYCD routine by Tyce Diorio "The Circus Sets Up" (music from Water for Elephants soundtrack)



Welcome To The Big Top!
Charmed I'm Sure - Circus Contraption - very dark and scary - definitely for mature dancers
At The Circus - Dance A Story - Richard Maddock 
Happy Boys and Happy Girls - Aqua - a cute young jazz or hip hop
Glitter In The Air - Pink - slower lyrical song

Animals & Performers
Animal Crackers - my favorite version is Joanie Bartels
Talk To The Animals - The Broadway Kids Buy From Amazon

Lion Tamer - Sylvia - Prelude: The Huntress
Ponies - any sort of prancing ballet music

Treats Under The Big Top
Popcorn - Crazy Frog
Cotton Candy - Melany - great for Kindegarten age
Circus - Britney Spears

Clowning Around
Make 'Em Laugh
Send In The Clowns
Tears of a Clown
Rodeo Clowns - Jack Johnson - a nice soft-shoe style tap song

Death-Defying Feats!
Tightrope - Janelle Monae - upbeat jazz or tap
Tightrope or Acrobats - Into The Spin - Dessa - the strings remind me of a tightrope
Acrobats - Tea Party - Kerli - great jazz or acro number
Sword Swallowers - Steel Dreams - Cirque du Soleil