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Guest Blog Post ~ Oblique Strategies: Breaking Through Creative Blocks
Welcome to The Holistic Dance Teacher Guest Blog Series I am thrilled to introduce The...
A Letter to My Dance Students: Yes, this is hard – but that’s what makes it worth it!
Dear Dance Students, Hello again ... it's me, your dance teacher. I wanted to talk about something...
A Letter to My Dance Students: Yes, this is hard – but that’s what makes it worth it!
Dear Dance Students, Hello again ... it's me, your dance teacher. I wanted to talk about something really important today. It might be a little hard to hear, but it's something that we need to discuss more openly in the dance industry. Honestly, I think will change...
Dance Improvisation Tips & Activities for Beginning Dancers
This blog post features tips and strategies for teaching dance improvisation to beginning dancers who are new to improv. Discover why you should teach improvisation to beginning dancers, challenges that beginning improvisers face, and dance improvisation exercises to use with beginning students.
9 Choreography Adventures Inspired by Summer
Take advantage of the creative spark that season can ignite by trying out these summer-themed #ChoreographyAdventures – short and simple choreography prompts that encourage choreographers and dance teachers to reignite their creativity through regular choreographic practice.
How to Use “Gamification” in Your Dance Classes
Gamification is a tool used in marketing and education. It can also be used in the dance studio, to help students learn and improve their skills through play. In fact, it is likely that you have incorporated gamification into your dance classes without even realizing it! Many dance teachers gamify their classes by using simple activities meant to encourage a bit of healthy and fun competition among dancers. This blog post covers different ways to use gamification as a learning tool in your dance classes.
Your Ultimate Guide to Play in the Dance Studio
In this blog post, you’ll learn all about play in the dance studio: what it is, the benefits of incorporating play and dance games into your classes, strategies for using play and dance games in your classes, and what NOT to do when incorporating play in the dance studio.
Dancers’ Wisdom: Be A Light, So That Others Can Shine, Too
The other day, I logged into Facebook and read some devastating news. Marnie Schulenburg, who I had the pleasure of knowing during our time together at DeSales University, had passed away at age 37 of stage 4 metastatic breast cancer. Marnie was a presence, a force, a...
Easy and Fun End of the Year Dance Class Activities
The end of the dance season is a perfect time to introduce some playful dance activities and games into your dance classes. In this blog post, you’ll find dance class games, designed for students age 7 and up, to help you celebrate the end of the year. They include dance games to review what was learned, seasonal dance games for spring and summer, prompts for dance improvisation and student choreography, dance history activities, and more! Help your students celebrate a great dance season, and get excited to register again next year, with these dance class games.
How to Overcome Choreography Block
This blog post features seven strategies to help choreographers overcome choreography block. Choreography block can look or feel different to everyone, but may include feeling stuck in your creative process, uninspired to choreograph, burned out, or more. These strategies can be used by choreographers of most dance genres, working in any dance environment, overcome choreographer’s block and reignite their creativity.
Embracing Creative Rest in the Dance Studio
Creative rest can help dance industry professionals reconnect with their bodies, relieve stress and tension, rejuvenate their teaching and creative practices, and reignite their passion for the art of dance. This blog post details what creative rest is and how it can be used in the dance studio. It also provides two creative rest activities that you can use in your own personal practice or with your dance students.
Dancers’ Wisdom: 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
If you would like to become a better dance performer, it is important to develop your skills in four aspects of dance performance: musicality, character development, connection, and expression. This blog post include strategies that will help you improve your skills in each of these areas, allowing you to become a better dance performer. Follow these tips to become the best dance performer you can be!
Recommended Reading: Jazz Dance Books
Find 8 must-read books on jazz dance that can transform in how you teach jazz dance! These books honor the Africanist roots and aesthetics of the form, while recognizing its evolution over time. Jazz dance students, teachers, and choreographers should add these book to their reading list.
Dancers’ Wisdom: 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...
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