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Easy and Fun End of the Year Dance Class Activities
If you are reading this blog post, it is likely that you've made it to the end of another dance...
How to Overcome Choreography Block
The dreaded feeling of choreography block ... chances are that if you're reading this blog post,...
Embracing Creative Rest in the Dance Studio
If there is one thing that seems to define the dance industry, I would say it is hustle. The dance life is not easy, by any means. Dancers have to work hard to achieve success, whether it is as a performer, choreographer, dance teacher, or dance business owner. There...
#TheMonthlyMessage: A life lived for purpose yields more joy than a life lived for pleasure
I'll admit it: I love creature comforts. Dinners out, spa days, hotel stays, flannel sheets in the winter, margaritas by the pool in the summer ... I'm here for it all. But I'm also deeply committed to my career in the arts, which of course does not exactly yield the...
5 Ways to Become a Better Dance Performer
With competition, concert, and recital season coming up fast, chances are that you will be hearing a lot of feedback about your performance quality from your dance teachers. Performance quality in dance is a broad term that could be used to describe a lot of different...
Recommended Reading: Jazz Dance Books
If I'm being honest, my journey to becoming jazz dance teacher is a long and somewhat complex one. I started taking jazz dance in addition to other dance styles as a kid, but in my pre-teen years I was terribly self-conscious and uncomfortable with the showmanship and...
#TheMonthlyMessage: Respond with More Grace Than Necessary (Especially to Yourself)
Somehow, we've made it to 2022. And unfortunately, we're somehow still ... here. In whatever this is. I think we all know, all too well, the myriad problems in the world right now - no need to elaborate, is there? But what we don't always seem to know is how to...
Simple Ways to Improve Your Dance Improvisation Skills
Are you the kind of dancer who freezes up at the very mention of improvisation in the dance studio? If so, I feel you! I spent so much of my training and early career being absolutely terrified of dance improvisation. I would improv when I was forced to, but it never...
10 Choreography Adventures that Explore Social Justice Themes
As issues of social justice become increasingly prominent in the media and on social media, it is likely that our students (or maybe even we ourselves!) will want to explore these themes through movement and choreography. Dance has been used as a platform for raising...
Simple Ways to Celebrate Fall in Your Dance Classes
Fall is, for sure, my favorite season - and I know I'm not the only one! Even here in Southern Arizona, there is a special magic to the fall season. The air becomes crisper, the nights cooler, and an overall feeling of coziness prevails...even when the temperatures...
8 Easy Ways to Make the Most of Back-to-Dance Season
The start of a new dance season is one of my favorite things in the world. The energy is electric and the possibilities feel endless. I love the potential that a fresh start holds: the potential for my students to meet their individual goals, for my class to come...
#MonthlyMessage: The World Needs More You
One of my favorite things about being a dance teacher is helping my students develop their own creative expression through improvisation and choreography. My entire relationship to dance changed when I discovered these two artistic avenues, and I know first hand how...
My Favorite Team-Building Games for Dance Classes
One of the most incredible things about dance, in my opinion, is its capacity to bring people together in real and powerful ways. In our age of social media, Zoom meetings, and FaceTime, dance provides a unique opportunity to connect in real time and real space,...
5 Quick Tips for Better (and Easier!) Dance Lesson Plans
Dance teachers often fall into two camps when it comes to their dance lesson plans - there are those who take the "do it on the fly" approach and those are the "write every word out" types. I've definitely been on both sides when it comes to my own planning. As an...
#MonthlyMessage: Saying No as a Sign of Wisdom, Not Weakness
It's been a while since my last #MonthlyMessage post - over three months, to be exact. March, April, and May passed in a blur, busy with commitments including choreographing my first full-length musical, teaching my regular workload, assisting with the staging of La...
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