Misty Copeland

"You create your destiny. Hard work, dedication, sacrifice, and taking risks create amazing opportunities." - Misty Copeland
        Misty Copeland is one of the most inspiring dancers that many young ballerinas look up to, her ability to inspire, encourage, and talent is what many ballerinas can only hope to become like. Not to mention in all of this she is one of very few African American dancers. She broke down barriers people had been waiting for, and she defied social norms all for the love of dance, and it has taken her a long way.
         Something many look up to is Misty's perseverance, growing up she was underprivileged with divorced parents and a siblings that moved around a lot, this means she didn't get proper ballet training till way later in life. At the age of 13 her teacher at school signed her up for ballet classes at the boys and girls club, but before then she taught herself. Her ballet teacher saw her love for dance and actually had Misty move in with her family after awhile to further her training. Eventually she was seen by the director of the American Ballet Theater and took classes there on scholarship. Before she was actually accepted into the American Ballet Company, another company told her "she would never make it as a ballerina." This is not surprising they told her this because many ballerinas start in the ballet school before the age of ten. This is only one way Misty has defied the odds.
          She is now a principal at the American Ballet Theater, this is a huge deal for any dancer but especially her. She is the first ever African American Principal. She is a great example of how you don't have to look a certain way to be a ballerina, and it doesn't matter your background; if you work hard and are dedicated anything can happen. Her talent is beyond belief but her love for the art is what inspires me most, and how she never gives up. It makes me want to push harder to become better. She never let anything get in her way, so why should I?
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/misty-copeland-unlikely-ballerina-60-minutes/
        

How to do a Proper Bun

Many young and old dancers struggle with making a nice clean bun that will stay in and secure. A lot of them don't know about bun makers, that will help you make a perfect bun fast and easily. I have talked about these in a past blog but now I am going to teach you step by step how to use them. The bun maker I will be explaining is a slap bracelet one with two sides that you pinch the hair between, you can get them at Claire's, target, Wal-Mart, or even at dance studios.


Step one: brush out hair and put gel in roots to keep all of your baby hairs down and slicked back


Step two: pull your hair back tightly into a neat pony tail, make sure it is tight.


Step three: (this step is a little more tough for people with layers in their hair) make the bun maker straight and make sure its two sides snap the same way, place it by your pony tail with your hair in-between the two sides.


Step four: pinch the two sides tightly together and slide up to the top of your ponytail keeping the hair in between the bun makers sides


Step five: gently start rolling the bun maker down till it touches your head and feels like it will be tight (this my take a couple tries)


Step six: snap the bun maker around your pony tail and spread the hair around the bun maker.


Step seven: add bobby pins if need be, hairspray, and use more gel to make it more secure, if you want it a little bit tighter you can put a ponytail holder around the whole bun, this also keeps baby hairs down.


Now you will never have messy unprofessional hair again. I hope this helps, I use my bun maker almost every day, I couldn't get along with out it.

Adaptability

"It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is most adaptable to change." -Charles Darwin
         This quote does not just pertain to life, it also pertains to dancers in a way. Competitive dancers are continuously changing the venues they perform and compete in, the floors and surfaces they create art on, and the shoes and costumes they wear while doing what they are passionate about. This is four things a dancer must adapt to very quickly in order to perform and compete at the top of their game. Even some of the most amazing dancers have trouble figuring out how to adapt, it is one of the things that separate great dancers from amazing dancers.
           You may think a venue or the area the dancer is performing in shouldn't change how they perform very much, and usually it doesn't but there are occasions when it does. The lighting in every place is different as well as the coloring of walls, and structure, size, and many more things. This could throw off a dancers spot while they are turning, and spotting is one of the most important parts about turning, without it turning would be nearly impossible. Also it could be distracting towards the dancer, hindering their performance. If a dancer is great they will be able to fully be in the moment in their piece despite any distractions. The most difficult thing about the change in venue would be the stage or performance area size. This could mess with formations, and even affect how big a dancer dances.
           The hardest thing to adapt to is the floor, or surface you are dancing on. Most dancers have a preference on what type of floor they like best, slippery, sticky, in between. Well to their disadvantage every floor will be different. The most common type of surface to dance on at competitions is Marley because you can purchase floor mats of them to place over whatever the stages surface is. I think that Marley is the perfect floor but that is because it is what I usually practice on. Another set back is that most dancers always dance while they are practicing on the same type of floor so it is hard for them to figure out how to use more control on slippery floor and push harder but not look spastic on sticky floor.
             Shoes are not as much of an issue really because you generally wear what the instructor or choreographer asks but usually that's what you practice in, or sometimes they will even ask for input. The last thing is costumes. sometimes costumes restrict movement, but hopefully with a quick run through you can make adjustments and figure it out. Also there is usually time for alterations to help make this process easier.
           As you see, dance is probably more difficult than you think; and ability to adapt makes all the difference.

Talent over Appearnce

"A healthy outside starts from the inside." -Robert Urich 

Going to watch a ballet can be a magical thing. The dancing, music, costuming, and partnering all perfectly fit together. What more could a little girl want to see? Another thing you might notice while you are at the ballet is that most ballerinas are very fit, and very skinny. 

Many young dancers really look up to and admire these professional ballerinas and strive to be exactly like them. This can cause some very bad habits in young dancers. What some of these young dreamers don't realize is that by cutting their portions by a great amount or ceasing eating as a whole also is cutting their energy supply. 

Dancers exert so much energy every rehearsal because they are utilizing every single muscle in their bodies in multiple ways. This obviously burns hundreds of calories every rehearsal so it is very important to replenish your body once you are done and have enough fuel in your body before you start. If you fail to meet your bodies needs and don't have enough fuel in you, you will not be able to perform at the best of your abilities. 

So for people attempting to become like the very tiny ballerinas shorting themselves of food only makes the journey harder because they won't be reaching their full potential. However, something they can do is eat the right things to give them a surplus of energy and is still healthy. Some examples are fruits, vegetables, nuts, these won't pass for a whole meal but they are good sides or snacks. 

By eating the right things it allows the dancer to work towards obtaining the figure and look of the idolized ballet dancers but also allows them enough energy to work at their full potential. What most of them don't realize is that the talent is more important and will over ride the body type. So if you are aspiring to become a ballerina or get into a ballet school, focus on your talent and not your appearance because talent is what will take you far.

Don't Skip the Little Things

"Some people dream of success while others wake up and work hard at it." -anonymous
As the winter months are coming and the snow and cold are settling in many peoples motivations are sliming. However, this is not acceptable for dancers, mediocrity should never be acceptable by anyone but especially not by a dancer. This means still working hard in rehearsal and eating healthy outside of it as well; but it also means not getting lazy on the little things.
This may seem pea sized in the scheme of things but it is very important in the winter months to wear the proper attire in correlation to the weather, especially while warming up and going in and out of where ever you are rehearsing. This may seem like a waste of time but it can be saving you from an avoidable injury, and prevent excruciating pain. No dancer wants a pulled muscle or to be extremely sore and a common reason for both of these two is not having your muscles warmed up properly.
 If you walk outside in the cold your muscles tense up in order to try to warm you up, this is bad for when you go to stretch. Wearing pants and a coat is always a must on the chilly, frosty days of the winter. Just because it takes an extra thirty five seconds to put these necessities on is not an excuse what so ever for not doing it. Rehearsals can be long and tiring or you may be running late but both of these situations are better than having a pulled muscle and being injured.
Another crucial thing to do once jack frost has arrived is you must make sure you stretch good enough that you wont hurt yourself. Stretching your regular amount will not cut it and do it justice. These little things all add together to make sure you are taking care of your body the best way you possibly can. So, make sure you don't skip the little things because in the long run those little things could lead to a big injury.

Kennedy Dance Team

Kennedy Varsity Dance Team is a group of twenty high achieving academic leaders and dancers that attend Kennedy High School. All of these girls strive for excellence, so along with that they are some of Kennedy's hardest workers.
The girls practice and compete all year round; starting in May of the year before and go all the way through March. They have two competition dances they learn in May and those are their main dances that they work on and precisely clean and take to competition; but they also learn probably close to at least twenty five more dances through out the year. The team dances at football games, basketball games, pep assemblies and compete locally and in other states as well.
Most of the girls are some of Kennedy's best and brightest, ranking at the tops of their classes. They have won the highest GPA out of Kennedy's girls athletics in 2014 along with the highest GPA out of all of the high school dance teams in the state of Iowa, which is over two hundred and seventy teams. Not only do these girls get good grades in the class room, but they also score high at competitions. The Kennedy Dance Team was regional champions in Pom and Jazz in the 2014-2015 regional dance competition, and gets a bid to nationals every single year.
Another impressing thing about these dance team girls is that a majority of them are also involved in other sports, and clubs at Kennedy and do club sport activities outside of school. Not only are these girls very involved in their school, they also do a lot of things out in the community. A number of the girls participate in America Reads day at surrounding elementary schools, and the team has help motivate the Ragbrai riders this summer. A favorite of many is the kid's clinics that they hold for kindergarten through fifth grade. They teach them a dance, give them pizza, and at the end of the night have a performance to show their parents all they have learned during that fun filled night.
The girls are always giving back and representing their school in the best of ways and still little to none come to support them at their local competitions. That doesn't seem to stop them, for the past few years they have dominated the more local dance competitions, even without support and motivation from their peers. Hopefully in the future Kennedy's Jungle will be spotted cheering for them too.

Rest is Important

"Rest and self-care are so important. When you take time to replenish your spirit, it allows you to serve others from the overflow. You can not serve from an empty vessel." -Eleanor Brownn

      Dance is a very time consuming activity and sport, and it is also very tiring. A lot of dancers over work themselves and don't realize till it might be a little too late. It's very hard to take off time. 

I can speak to this topic from experience. I am generally a very healthy high schooler I rarely get sick but this fall was rough for me. I got to go to the doctors office every two weeks from October 2nd till November 2nd. This was during the busiest time of the year for me since my team was preparing for the high school dance team state competition. 

      My life is crazy busy between show choir dance team and studio dance so when I was tired all the time for four weeks I didn't really think much of it at first. After four weeks of this feeling I made my first trip to the doctors office. I tested positive for walking pneumonia. Now this is were I needed to take a break and slow down, rest and get better, but I thought by resting I would let my team down. What I didn't realize was by not resting I was letting my team down. 

       I had to go on four different antibiotics through out two months to beat the walking pneumonia. That was two more months of me being fatigued all the time. 

       I thought pushing through it would help my team be better but it wasn't the case at all. I just made myself get worse and not be at my top ability for a longer amount of time. I was healthy for about two weeks, or so I thought I was. Then the week of state I felt worse than ever so I got to make another trip to the doctors office. Yes, I was sick again with strep throat two days before the state competition. 

       Now I realize that if I would have rested and slowed down at the beginning I wouldn't have gotten so sick in the end. So dancers, it is ok to take time to rest and get better, the healthy you is going to be so much more helpful for your team than you are when you are sick. Nearly two months later I finally am realizing what it's like to actually feel healthy again and I regret putting my self through all of that trouble and awful feeling just because I was to scared to rest and take time to get healthy. 

Opinion Sport

"Don't waste your energy trying to change opinions. Do your thing, and don't care if they like it." -Tina Fey

           In most sports there is generally a clear winner, or a stronger team, and they score the most points to win the game or get the fastest time in their race. Dance however is not this way. Dance is an opinion sport and this is what makes it so difficult. You will never be able to read a judges mind and know what they are looking for or what they like. 

           Some judges look for showmanship and passion while others look for technique. 

Some like over done faces and others like suttle ones. Some judges like busy dances with a bunch of little groups while others like clean together unison dances.

           You can spend hours on hours perfecting your performance and your technique and even be the most amazing dancer in the area but maybe the judge doesn't like your song, or your costume, or just your choreography in general. No matter what you do, you can never be sure. 

           Because you can't control what others think of your dance, all you can do it execute it well. The most important thing is making people believe you love doing that dance piece. If you love it there is a better chance that the judges will love it as well. It's refreshing to see someone dance and perform and be able to tell that they love it. Also if you are 100% there in the moment in your dance people will probably be 100% in the moment in the dance with you. If you can get an audience to move with you and feel something then that should be rewarding enough. 

What dancers don't always realize is that a trophy, medal, or plaque doesn't matter, what matters is knowing you left it all on the floor and you did everything you could do to perform and dance at the best of your abilities. 

           If you don't place with the rating, or score you hoped, dreamed, and worked for then all you can do is practice and work for the next one because a dancers work is never done. Take the judges corrections to heart and adjust things accordingly but don't let them get in your head and or take them personally because judges comments are just suggestions. Always remember there's always the next one and there is always room for improvement.

State

          This Thursday and Friday were the long awaited days of many high school and college dance teams in the state of Iowa. It was the annual state dance team competition, that over two hundred and seventy high school dance teams participated in. Iowa has the largest state dance team competition in the nation, with two hundred and seventy high school teams and twenty five colleges, so the stakes are high and everyone has their end result on their mind. 

          Teams are allowed to compete 3 routines and there are endless amounts of categories such as military, hoopla, coed, production, lights, and the most popular Pom, lyrical, jazz, and hip hop.

The Kennedy dance team participated in this state competition just like they do every year, but this year they were even more excited than years past. They have the largest team they have had in many years. They left on Thursday night shortly after school. On Thursday at school they had the winter pep assembly where they performed their jazz routine for their student body of over two thousand. This was in preparation for the weekend and to show the school all they had been working towards. Many staff members and students reported back to the dance team that they believed it was the best jazz routine they have seen from the Kennedy dance team in many years. 

         Kennedy dance team is usually known for their upbeat hard hitting Pom routines. So, at the state competition they competed their two routines Pom and jazz. 

The Kennedy high school dance team performed at 1:30 and 6:40 awards were shortly after where they received division one ratings in both dances and placed sixth in both routines as well. This is a huge accomplishment considering they are in the top divisions for both of their routines due to the enormous amount of kids that attend their high school. 

         The dance team has had such a great season so far, but they are not done yet, they will be defending their title as regional champions in Pom and jazz and the UDA regional dance competition at the Mall of America in January. Believe me, they will be stronger than ever for this competition to show everyone this is their best year yet.

Point your feet

"You've got what it takes, but it will take everything you've got." -Anonymous
           Many people who watch dance but are not dancers and haven't been very involved in dance don't realize how much effort goes into it. Most people can see when dancers toes aren't pointed or when they are sickled (which is never wanted), but they don't usually realize how much effort dancers have to put into that before it becomes natural.
            Some people say "pointe your toes," but what people should really say is pointe your feet because if you just pointe your toes it is not the proper line so you must engage your leg and pointe all the way through your ankles. Yes, crazy enough there is a right and wrong way to pointe your feet. When your toes are pointed your Achilles tendon should go up your calf not clench. Many people who arent properly trained just clench their Achilles tendon not thinking anything about if because it looks pointed but what they don't know is that their pointe is not reaching its full potential and it could cause injury in the future. Stretching your ankles can help improve your pointe but some people have shorter Achilles tendons than others. This makes all the difference because shorter Achilles tendons means that you wont be able to pointe your feet as well as someone with longer Achilles tendons.
            Yes, some dancers naturally have beautiful feet and they can pointe them with no problem, or if you are properly trained from the moment you start dance it is easier to pointe your feet than for people who started dance with improper training. This is because it takes three times as long to retrain and correct your bad habits. To retrain people to naturally pointe their toes it takes a lot more than just practicing pointing your feet, their are pointing exercises because you have to gain muscles and create stronger neural passage ways.  So next time you are giving a correction to "Pointe your toes," actually say "pointe through your ankle" or something of the sorts, and don't be too hard on your self if you are a dancer with not the best feet because sometimes its genetic and other times it is improper training, and it takes a lot more work than most realize.

Conventions

"Dancing stimulates the mind, body, and sole. It has been proven to increase cognitive strengths and prolong life; that is the Miracle of Dance." - Lai Rupe's Choreography
              There are many different things that are involved to make a great dancer become an exceptional dancer; one being the dancers ability of picking up choreography quickly which also leads to being trainable and applying corrections quickly and effectively. These qualities can make a dancer shine above other outstanding dancers.
               A thing that tremendously help improve these things in a fun, challenging environment is a dance convention. You can attend dance conventions pretty much anywhere; their are endless amounts of them. Dance conventions are competitions plus their are classes you can take there. The class taking part is the part that will really expand a dancers abilities. The convention will have a number of the top dancers and choreographers in the dance world there teaching you combos.
               When you sign up you are signing up for all the classes at once and their are different age rooms so you are with dancers around the same age as you. You get a number and have to wear it all weekend so the instructors have some way to identify and remember you if you are a stand out dancer. There are usually around 6 classes a day. You can go to all around conventions where you get all classes from hip hop, jazz, modern, contemporary, ballet, tap and improve, or you can just go to an all genre convention, like monsters of hip hop is an all hip hop convention.
               Every genre is taught by a different professional instructor, this can be very stressful and push a dancer outside of their comfort zone but it is also a great growing experience and will help the dancer in the long run. Since each combo has a different instructor you are learning how to deal with different teaching styles and also might get to try some styles you have never done before. Not only do you learn how to adjust to new dance styles and teaching styles it also helps you become a more spatially aware dancers since their are hundreds of dancer in one big room attempting to dance all at the same time.
             At the end of the convention there is a ceremony where the instructors pick dancers who really stood out and were exceptional. These stand out dancers receive scholarships of some sort to honor their talent and hard work. These scholarships can range from a free admission to next year to asking them to go on their convention tour with them and be helpers for free. I think that every dancer should go to a convention of some sort during their dance career because it is one of the best things to help a dancer grow.

Dancers Edge Nutcracker

        The Nutcracker Ballet is one of the most well known, and famous ballets out there. Most people have seen it, read the book of it, or heard of it; and many little dancers dream of being in it one day. Some dancers in cedar rapids, Iowa get the opportunity to be in it every year, this is because The Dancers Edge puts on the show annually.
         The base line of the Nutcracker story is that a little girl Clara gets a nutcracker doll from her crazy uncle at Christmas. Later that night she has a dream that the nutcracker doll comes to life and he is her dream prince. Then the dream turns into a nightmare and she starts to get attacked by mice, with the king mouse having seven heads. The nutcracker prince ends up fighting off the mice and saving Clara. Shortly after they go on an adventure all over the world, they meet Arabians, tea cup dancers, the sugar plum fairy, the doo drop fairy, and many more. But, eventually her mischievous brother wakes her up from her spectacular dream.
         There are many parts in this production so some of the dancers in The Dancers Edge Nutcracker production are double or even triple casted. There are many leads like: Clara, the nutcracker, the sugar plum fairy, the dew drop fairy, the king mouse, the mechanical doll, the uncle, and many more. Some of the more difficult group parts are the merlatins, snow, and flowers.
        The nutcracker in this production of The Nutcracker is a 15 year old boy named Drew who is originally form here but moved to New York to be a lead on Broadway, and attends performing arts school. Clara is a young girl named Lexi who dances at The Dancers Edge Studio and is in sixth grade, and the Sugar Plum Fairy is a 15 year old girl named Katie who also dances at The Dancers Edge.
         The show times are this Saturday, November 21, at 2 P.M. and 6:30 P.M. and it is twenty dollars per ticket in the Prairie High School auditorium. It is a show you won't want to miss.

Why KHS should have their dance team on the track

        In past years cheerleaders and the dance team have both done sidelines at football games for Kennedy High School. However, the past two years the cheerleaders have decided it was not fair that the dance team girls got to dance on the sidelines because it was the cheerleaders job. So the dance team hasn't done sidelines the past two years to eliminate conflict, and now they may not ever get to do them again.
         I am on the dance team and i think it is absolutely ridiculous that the dance team isn't allowed to be on the sidelines helping support their schools football team. I am a junior and my freshmen year we still did sidelines and it was my favorite part of the year. Performing at half to music that no one can hear and having no one pay attention because they are too invested in their conversations is not quite as fun. So i am going to really push to be able to do sidelines my senior year.
           The sad part is that majority of the student section asks us dance team girls why we aren't on the sideline and they tell us how they wish we still were because they liked us dancing. The football team too says they miss hearing our sideline music; and i often have teachers question me on why we don't do sidelines anymore and say that they miss us dancing on the track. How is this fair? Our school has let the cheerleaders who are supposed to support every activity make an administrative decision. Yes, i believe this decision should be made by the student body and administration not just the cheerleaders.
            We are one of the only high schools in the area that doesn't have our dance team dancing on the track, and you will not find a single college with a dance team that doesn't do sidelines at the games. In fact colleges call their dance team and cheerleaders combined the spirit squad. I think this is a perfect name because the cheerleaders and dance team are both for the same team.We have recently had two of our dance team girls graduate and make D1 college dance teams and they both said how upset they were that we are unable to do sidelines now. Their reasoning is because a lot of us girls on the team now aspire to be on a college team just like them and they said there is no way we will be ready for game days. On game days the college dance teams do pre-game, sideline, cheers, halftime, and more sidelines and cheers. Our team gets to do halftime only.
             Since we are supporting the same team and are the only school in the area whose dance team never gets to dance on the track and do sidelines, i think it is a little out of hand and that Kennedy High Schools student body and administration should make a vote to bring us back down on the track for at least the first half of the game; because in all reality it should be an administrative and student body decision not a cheerleader or dance team decision.

stretching

"Will it be easy? Nope. Worth it? Absolutely." -anonymous
         Many people don't realize the importance of stretching. Even more people don't realize the importance of stretching correctly; or even realize how incorrectly they are stretching. Not stretching at all can lead to pulling a muscle or injuring yourself but so can stretching incorrectly.
         While stretching, it is extremely important to make sure your knees track directly over your toes and also make sure they stay in line with your toes or behind them. This may seem unnecessary but it is an injury waiting to happen. Having your knees invert or not align with your toes causes pain in some people, but even if you don't feel any pain it is hurting you and will cause issues in the future. It stretches the ligaments and tendons in your knee's ways they shouldn't be stretched causing them to loosen. This causes the chances for you to tear your ACL or shatter your meniscus sky rocket, and those could potentially not just be a temporary injury but it can often be career ending.
           Another thing people don't pay much attention to is the proper way to do your splits. However, practicing your splits wrong will cause you to leap and do some other things wrong while you are dancing as well. While doing your splits you must make sure your hips are aligned and NOT opened. opening your hips can cause hip flexor pain and issues in the future. Also dancers are not supposed to use their hip flexors as much as most probably do, so by making sure your hips are correctly aligned will decrease activation in the hip flexors for the time being.
               The worst is when a dancer is "naturally flexible." If a dancer believes they are naturally flexible or the are just lazy their is a big chance that they either wont stretch, or they wont stretch well. By not stretching they will not be able to reach their full potential and their body wont be as warm; they will be more susceptible to injuring themselves in pulling a muscle. Sometimes not stretching can be so severe that a muscle tears. So stretching and stretching effectively are more important than just to make you "more flexible."
                  Make sure you stretch every part of your body as well because, you might not realize your arms, legs, neck, back, and core all need to be stretched along with your legs and hips.
              

Ballet Class

“Ballet is a dance executed by the human soul.” –Alexander Pushkin

                Like I talked about in a previous blog, ballet is the base and foundation of dance. Ballet classes are very calm and focused but take a lot of work physically and mentally.

                It is expected of you in ballet class that you treat your teacher with the highest amount of respect. At the start you are supposed to greet your teacher and at the end you are supposed to go up and personally thank them. Not only do you need to welcome and thank them you also must be very focused and attentive the whole time.

                In ballet class it is required that you wear a leotard, tights, and your hair in a bun, with the proper ballet shoes or pointe shoes. Some may think it’s silly that it is such a strict dress code but there is a reason for it. The form fitting leotard and tights allow yourself and the teacher to be able to see your alignment and pick up on little flaws. Pointing out the flaws in your alignment help you fix them faster and this will translate into all of your other styles and improve things you didn’t even know were wrong. Also it helps for injury prevention.

                In professional ballet schools the highest level students generally already know their class’s combinations before it starts; and the combinations and exercises change every day. Also in professional schools along with colleges there is often and accompanist who will play the music to go along with the combinations on a piano. There are many different time signatures for different combinations so the accompanist has to be very attentive to make sure they don’t play something that doesn’t fit with the combination. In average studio ballet classes the music is played from a cd or iPod but the music still has to be selected carefully to make sure the phrasing of the music fits with the phrasing of the combination. In average studios they also learn their combinations for the class while they are in the class. For more advanced classes it’s usually learned verbally and the dancers have to translate it into their body.

                Many young mediocre dancers or even a lot of audiences don’t realize how intricate ballet is especially combinations. The dancers don’t just have to worry about feet positions but also arm positions and head positions and they have make sure they are also relaxed and only engaging the necessary muscles for that specific move. Ballet is a lot more structured and difficult than most realize.

Bun Head

Many dancers prefer to wear their hair in a bun while they are dancing to keep it out of their face and for turning purposes. A great thing to help make perfect buns fast is a bun maker. There are many different sizes, colors, and types. You can get them at local dance studios, Claire's, Target or Walmart.

Teamwork

“You don’t inspire your teammates by showing them how amazing you are. You inspire them by showing them how amazing they are.” –Robyn Benincasa, World Champion Adventure Racer

                Teamwork can cause a great amount of success or ruin very successful athletes or player. Teamwork is very important in dance for many reasons, one being partnering. When you are partnering with someone you have to be able to connect and trust if you can’t trust your partner the dance or lift or move will never reach its full potential. Also with group dances, you have to work together to feel each other’s energy to know how to stay on time, and to match the dancers around you.

                Respect is one of the biggest parts of teamwork. You must respect your teammates and coach because when people feel disrespected they get discouraged and may even feel unwanted, once this starts people start to slack off and the negative work ethic is way more contagious than the positive work ethic is.

                Trust is also very important. If you can’t trust your teammates and tell them stuff and know they will be there for you it is going to not be as fun to go to practice. When teams work the best together is when they get along and know that no matter what their teammates will be there for them no matter what at the end of the day.

                Bonding makes team closer. You need to know your teammates and be comfortable around them to be able to perform at your highest ability and to reach your greatest amount of potential. Getting to know every single person on the team and have personal relationships with all of them usually makes teams come together quicker, and makes everyone more comfortable on the team, also leads to having more trust and respect. Plus it’s more fun when you know your teammates well.

                Encouragement. It is important to have great encouragement within a team; some nice motivational words to push you through the end, to keep you focused or even to just keep you working hard. Encouragement is not always an easy thing to do, when teams hit rough spots or less successful times, but it is necessary to get the team back to a more successful route.

                Leadership. Not just a captain or a coach but every team is going to have people that are natural leaders; you don’t need a label to be one. Leadership is not hard when the team is successful; it’s hard when the team is having a rough time. Great leaders are great even in the hard times. While being a leader you have to make sure every single person on the team know they are special and there is a reason they are on the team, they are a contributing member and that the team wouldn’t be the same without them. This may seem silly, reminding them they are special, what does that have to do with anything? Well knowing you help actually is motivation in its self. The cliché statement, “a team is only as strong as its weakest link,” is actually very true. The back row is what is pushing the front row to be better, and so on.

                Teams will always be more successful with great teamwork but that has to start with great teammates.

My Dance Life

“I dance because there’s no greater feeling in the world than moving to a piece of music and letting the rest of the world disappear.” -anonymous

I dance because it is a part of who I am. When I am sad I dance, when I am happy I dance, there hasn’t been a single day of my life that I haven’t danced in some way.

I started dancing at Studio Dance when I was 3 years old and have been in love with it ever since. When I was 7 or 8 I was a snowflake in the nutcracker ballet when it came to Cedar Rapids. I started competing at age 11, and did my first solo when I was thirteen years old. When I was thirteen I also made it on the Kennedy Varsity dance team as a freshmen, this was my biggest dance accomplishment so far.

My sophomore year I switched studios and went to The Dancers Edge to further my ballet training. The Dancers Edge has opened so many doors for me and has given me many great opportunities already in the year and a half that I have been there so far. The director of the Russian Ballet came to our studio and did master classes with us which was an amazing opportunity to further my technique. Jaimie Goodwin an amazing professional dancer and choreographer came and did master classes with us and I happened to be lucky enough to be in a dance piece choreographed by her so I got to dance and work with her for a week. I also got to do a solo private with her that was very helpful and one of the greatest experiences I’ve had. They also had Bryan Tanaka, Beyoncé’s choreographer come and I got to take a master class with him. This year we are having another professional guest hip hop choreographer come in to set two pieces for us.  For the great tap dancers at our studio they had Kaelyn Gray a professional tapper and choreographer come and set two pieces for them and also teach master classes.

                The dancers edge made me fall in love with dance all over again, It made me realize how far behind I am and how much work I have to do to get there. I also have learned more about my body and injury prevention.  Jaimie Goodwin and my ballet teacher Mrs. Carol where looking at my alignment and realized that my ribs are offset and a little twisted they think due to a minor case of scoliosis. This is so helpful to know as a dancer because I am now working on how to find my center of balance and counter balance the minor flaw in my body. It’s a stressful thing but will help tremendously in the long run.

                The dancer’s edge and Kennedy dance team made me realize that I don’t want to be done with dance after high school.  My dream is to be on University of Wisconsin Madison’s dance team, or on University of Iowa’s dance team. Both teams are some of the top in the nation so I have a lot of work to do but I think that dancer’s edge is putting me on the right track.

                Some people wonder why I dance so much or how it’s even any fun because I do it so often; but to me dance is the most relaxing, and stress relieving thing in the world. It saves me from pointless fighting because I dance it off. It gets out words you don’t know how to say, it puts you in a great mood and it helps you met friends that will last a life time. I hope that I can dance until the day I die.

Stack the Stands

Kennedy Varsity had yet another competition this weekend. Prairie High School hosted their annual Stack the Stands dance competition that the Kennedy dance team attends every year. Interesting Fact, the Prairie dance team coaches are all Kennedy High School Varsity Dance Team alum.

                Kennedy dance team started their day off bright and early at seven in the morning. The first half of the day was the solo competition. There were over one hundred soloists, from places all over Iowa and even a few girls from Omaha Nebraska. Even with so many soloists the cougars still did not disappoint. Katie Kolthoff, sophomore placed seventh in the ninth and tenth grade division. Stormy Waldrep, senior placed sixth and Macy Schares (me), junior placed third in the eleventh twelfth grade division.

                The cougars didn’t stop after solos. They competed their jazz routine and felt great about it, and then they watched their biggest competition, Iowa City High. Iowa City High also did fantastic but since their music skipped they got another chance and performed again. After that the cougar dance team had some down time before their pom routine. They all hung out and did homework together in their homeroom, some took naps, and others ate, and socialized.

                Then they got ready to compete and perform their pom dance. They were the last group to compete at the competition. After they performed they thought they did one of their best performances yet. Sadly no one from “The Jungle” what the students at Kennedy Highschool calls their student section, was there. Shortly after they performed awards started, but before that they all danced around together with all the other teams. The Kennedy dance team tied for first with city high in jazz, and won first in pom. Not only that but they got first runner up for highest scoring routine of the whole competition. It was another cougar sweep, but sadly no one from kennedy supported them at their competition like they support football and volleyball. Next weekend there is dance team state solos, and then in a couple weeks there is the team portion of state. Maybe that will be the time for the jungle to stack the stands and make an appearance, and hopefully show the dance team that all of their hard work isn’t going unnoticed.

Perfectionists

               “Nobody cares if you can’t dance well. Just get up and dance. Great dancers are not great because of their technique; they are great because of their passion.” – Martha Graham

 A thing most dancers struggle with is being perfectionists; this is a blessing and a curse. Dance is a sport where everyone loves each other’s imperfections, it what makes them interesting as a person, however everyone also loves, wants, and strives for perfect technique.

              Most of the girls I dance with that truly love and are passionate about dance are very hard on themselves, they could do a dance beautifully and still find one hundred things they could have done better. However, this is what makes most of them exceptional. The girls who always find something to work on and actually work on it until they are satisfied, are the dancers who transition from great to beyond compare, and sometimes they still will never achieve satisfaction with it. It’s a part of dancers nature to want to make everything in their dance piece or technique in general perfect, and that leads to a more desired work ethic.

Every teacher, or coach wants girls who are going to work hard and strive for perfection, it makes the team better and creates greater success in their season. However, sometimes this sense of needing to be perfect becomes unhealthy, and unfortunately it happens way too often. Instead of needing to perfect the dance and their technique, they try to perfect themselves as well, their body, appearance, and dancing is all being looked at through a microscope to find every possible flaw even the slightest ones. Often times the insecurity and feeling of being inadequate is carried into every part of life. It's a lot more common than people would realize and sometimes goes unnoticed.

             Although I find this strange that one would be so critical of themselves, I am one of those “perfectionists,” I beat myself up until I get everything the way I envisioned it, if not try to make it better. If I step off the dance floor and feel I didn’t have an outstanding performance I go home and practice it until it is how I wish it was before the next time I perform. I find myself dancing on average about 21 hours a week. I will stay up all night trying to make my assignment or project perfect for school. I spend all this time trying to make everything perfect and I still always wonder how it is that dancers value others imperfections and find them beautiful but can never except their own; but maybe that is what makes dancers grow to become better people.

Stay away from Concrete

                You may already know this because I mentioned it in a previous post, but the Kennedy High School Varsity Dance Team practices on concrete. Some of you may say “so what.” Our try outs are in April and we get in the full swing of things by May, practicing and competing all the way through March. We are basically year round athletes with our studio dancing on top of it, and dance is not easy on your body.

                Dance is probably the worst sport for your entire body right after gymnastics because you are using your body in ways it wasn’t made for. You push your bodies to limits farther than most would even begin to imagine. We are also jumping and landing and rolling on the ground time after time after time to make it perfect.

                All dancers get bruises but concrete makes it worse. Concrete has no shock absorption, imagine jumping in the air and landing just on your knees on the sidewalk. It would obviously hurt, and give you a bruise. Now imagine having a bruise from that and then you keep having to roll on your knees or things like that. Once a girl on the team gets a bruise on her knee it usually doesn’t go away till the end of the season, and eventually a majority of the team has blue, black, and purple knees.

                One of the things we do most in our pom routine is jump. This is cool until it is on concrete day after day, because the concrete has about zero shock absorption. I think you can imagine how this is bad for your body. When we land hard from a jump it makes your vertebrae hit each other and your tail bone, which you might not really feel at first but after time it actually gives you permanent back issues. It crunches your vertebrae together which also results in you to become shorter, however not a very noticeable amount. Another thing about landing your jumps on concrete is it is very bad for your feet, recently I got a bone bruise on my heel which is very painful and probably won’t fully heal until I have time to stay off of my feet for a couple weeks, so basically not until the end of the season.

                The dance team dancing on concrete isn’t just causing temporary issues and pain, it is causing issues with their backs that will last a lifetime. Dancing with even just a little more shock absorption like a gym floor or Marley floor (which is preferred by dancers,) would help tremendously in the long run. Take as many opportunities to dance as you can because I promise you will not regret them, but try to stay away from dancing on concrete every single day.

U of I Competition

This weekend the Kennedy Varsity Dance Team attended the long awaited University of Iowa dance competition at the Carver Hawkeye Arena. This was the first real competition of the season. However, we did compete our Pom at UDA camp this summer and received first with a bid to nationals. We knew that we didn’t want that to be our peak of the season because it hadn’t even really started yet.

                Ever since UDA dance camp in July we continued to practice three to five days a week. In those practices we speed up pom a lot making it faster and a lot more difficult. We also made a lot of changes to the choreography and formations. This process is a lot harder and longer than most would imagine. As a team we have to go through and reclean all the new parts. We make sure everyone’s arms and bodies are at the exact same angles, this takes a lot of repetition. We also have to work our stamina up and do the dance many times over and over again in small chunks, continuing to add on until we can do the full dance because it is hard to do the dance that fast.

                Pom was not the only thing we worked on, we also learned a whole other jazz routine. This took a lot longer than expected because there are so many different things and parts going on at the same time in the routine. Cleaning the jazz dance was a very long process with all the parts, and we didn’t feel quite ready for the competition.

                At the University of Iowa competition this weekend our hard work started to pay off. We did way better than we all had expected. We competed in the medium varsity pom and jazz divisions, and we got first place and won both of them. Not only was this a huge accomplishment but we also beat Iowa City West which is one of our huge competitors. Not only did we prove to ourselves how great we are, I think we also proved to our school how hard we work, even though not a single one of the students at Kennedy High School came to support us. At the end of the day it comes down to work ethic and team work and there is not a single team or group of girls I would rather do what I love with.  

No Where to Practice

The Kennedy High School Varsity Dance Team is very different from every other sport, or activity at Kennedy; one being we have no practice space. Almost everything at our school has the proper space for that specific sport or activity, besides us. The football team has a field, track team has a track, and there is a soccer field for the soccer teams, baseball and softball diamonds for baseball and softball, gyms for volleyball and basketball teams, a wrestling room for the wrestlers, a pool for the swimmers, even a black box and auditorium for the fine arts.

                Now you are probably wondering why we can’t use one of the two gyms. This is because volleyball and basketball get higher priority over the gyms than we do. The volleyball team uses both gyms at the same time and often the whole night the same as the basketball team during basketball season. They also have open gym nights for their sports and allow the junior cougar programs to use it.

Now your next question is probably, well then where does the dance team practice? The answer to that depends on the day, sometimes we practice in the halls, others the cafeteria, and sometimes the choir room. All of these spaces have downsides to them., especially with a team of 20 girls. The hallway is simply not enough room, no one should have to practice there. We have to stop practice when people are  trying to walk by which is very frequently; and we have had girls hit their head on accident on the pillars because there isn't enough space. The choir room is great because there are mirrors but there is not even close to enough space. When we practice in the cafeteria we have enough space except we spend 20 minutes taking down and putting back tables and chairs, and the floors are absolutely disgusting. The main problem is that all these spaces floor is concrete and dancing on concrete leads to more injuries than ever imaginable. I hope that in the future that the dance team can get a proper practice area. 

Off Time

“Don’t practice until you get it right. Practice until you can’t get it wrong.” –anonymous

                Every dancers fear is being told they can’t dance, they need to rest, sit out, or take a break. If you’re not practicing and others are they are making progress and moving forward, improving; while you are regressing or moving back. Dance isn’t a sport where you can just pick back up right where you left off with a year of not stretching. You will not remember all the small details of a dance over a year if you don’t practice or perform it, and most dancers don’t go to watch their group or class practice because the fact that they can’t be doing what they love with those people makes it too painful to watch.

                A way to make getting back into dance more quickly after you have some time off is going to rehearsals and sitting in and watching. Just being there isn’t going to do enough though, you must be attentive and mentally participate. In a ballet class do the combinations in your head. Rehearse all of your pieces in your head as well. It fires the same memory neurons when you do the dance in your head and when you actually do the dance full out. By working the same neurons you aren’t losing anything memory wise, causing you to not regress; and occasionally you can even make progress if you try hard enough. You can learn new things this way. It also exercises you mentally which can help with picking up choreography more quickly in the future.

Another helpful thing would be to stretch, do what you can to maintain flexibility; you lose it faster than you gain it. Make sure you do everything the doctor or physical therapist says to lead you to a faster recovery but don’t push your body over its limits. You have to make sure you don’t injure yourself more than you were by trying to get back into things too quickly. Also bring a notebook in class and write down the new steps and corrections, tiny details and anything that seems important enough to write down. This way you won’t forget the new things because you can practice them full out. Lastly you must keep a positive outlook. Believing that taking time off is the best thing for you at the moment and that you will be back on stage in no time will help as well. In all reality even injured dancers don’t have off time.

Shoes or No Shoes

“Dancing with your feet is one thing, dancing with your heart is another.”  -anonymous

                There are millions of different styles of dance shoes used for many different styles. Usually you wear the shoes based on your teachers’ preference or based on the style. For example for pointe you must wear pointe shoes otherwise it isn’t considered to be pointe. Tap you need to wear tap shoes otherwise there won’t be the tap sounds that make tap, tap. For hip hop you usually wear some type of sneaker because it makes the moves easier.

                 A new question in the modern professional dance world is to not wear shoes for lyrical, contemporary, or sometimes not even for jazz.  This may seem weird, how do you turn on a floor with no shoes? Well, eventually you build up enough calluses that you can turn and slide with no shoes on with ease. Working to get your feet to that stage they will most likely be sore, rip, and even bleed a little sometimes. This may seem gross but it is actually helpful to dance with no shoes. When you don’t wear shoes you can physically feel the floor with your feet you have a more grounded feeling. Having a better sense of contact with the floor eliminates bobbling and other balance related flaws.

                A well rounded dancer should be able to dance with any type of shoe a choreographer requests but also be able to dance with no shoes at all. This is especially important while at an audition. There are many professional choreographers that will refuse to work with a dancer who is will not dance without shoes. Things like these change all the time. Currently a professional dancer and choreographer Jaimie Goodwin is working with a shoe company Bloch to create a thin tight fitted shoe that feels like you aren’t wearing a shoe for dancing. Maybe in a couple years there will be one universal dance shoe.

Costume Searches Gone Wrong

“Dance is the hidden language of the soul.” – Martha Graham

                Most dances are not just dances, they usually tell a story. Everyone knows that dancers must wear costumes, and a costume can either make or break a story line. Picking a costume can sometimes be a very time consuming process and other times you fall in love with a costume right away. Unfortunately my most recent costume search was a bust.

                This year my lyrical/ contemporary dance solo is to a song called “You Lost Me,” by Christina Aguilera. The story line for my solo starts as I’m going through a break up and I was also cheated on by the same guy, the feeling in the beginning is still supposed to feel really raw. I have all this anger bottled up and eventually I realize that “he lost me.” I realize I’m better off without him, I lost someone who was bad to me and didn’t care and he lost the world. So in the end I know I don’t need him and it’s a feeling of sadness but also empowerment.

                So for this particular dance I shouldn’t wear a regular dance costume, because who wears a dance costume while they are processing a break up? So I started looking for a deep colored flowy dress that I could wear again after my solo. I looked for a deep color because it portrays more of a sad look. However, I couldn’t look for black because so many soloist wear black and the girl in the burgundy or royal blue or emerald dress is more memorable than one of the fifty two other girls in the black dresses.

                I searched for hours and finally found a dress I thought I really liked, it was burgundy lace with a few rhinestones on the bodice. When it came I was so excited to try it on. When I finally tried it on I hated it, it wasn’t flowy enough, it was too long, it looked awkward on me, and I hated it. So I spent even more time looking for the perfect dress. After some extensive searching I found the perfect dress it was burgundy the perfect amount of tulle to make it look flowy and I was in love with the beading work. I wait a month for it to come in the mail to find out it looks nothing like it did on line. The sent me a rip off dress it was burgundy with red beading that clashed and looked horrible and it was cheaply made. I have never been so upset with a dress.

                By this time I had 12 days to find the perfect dress, I found a girls royal blue homecoming dress that I loved. I asked her if she was selling it and she told me she would sell it for 300 dollars but since she is bigger than I am I would also have to pay for alterations. So I kept looking and found the same dress online for only 126 dollars. So thankfully I didn’t buy it from that girl. Then I found a girl from another school who had the dress and was selling it for 45 dollars and it’s my size. Now I have the perfect beautiful royal blue dress for my solo that will tie my story line together perfectly.

Why to Sign Your Kids up for Dance

“Every time I dance I turn into a better version of me.”  - Anonymous

                There are many reasons to why you should sign your little ones up for dance class. Dance is a fun way to stay in shape but throughout my dance days I have gained a lot of things besides athleticism. I believe that tiny dancers develop faster mentally and socially because of being involved in the art form of dance.

                The first reason is social skills. Your child is going to meet so many lovely other children in class.  This will help later on when they go to school because they won’t be as shy; they will know how to behave respectfully around other children and make friends. Also some of the friends they meet in dance class will be lifelong friends. My dance friends are some of my very best friends. Dancers are generally very accepting and supporting of others.

                Next is the discipline. Dance class is fun for young children and not very strict but they are learning how to listen and respect a teacher and others around them. They learn what is appropriate and what not appropriate behavior is. They will learn when they can talk and when they need to pay attention; and many other discipline things. This will be very much appreciated by their school teachers in the future.

                Another thing which I think is the biggest reason is it strengthens their memorization skills, and helps them learn faster. Being a dancer has helped me a tremendous amount in school. Memorizing dances like the back of your hand exercises the brains memorization skills. Memorizing things for school is very important you have to remember formulas and parts of the cell and history and many other things. Putting your kid in dance class is going to give their brain a head start on learning to memorize things quickly.

                Lastly they may fall in love with the art form like I did at the age of 3. Dance is expensive and time consuming but it keeps you out of trouble and teaches you how to have a good work ethic. Having a good work ethic is becoming more and more rare; so if you learn it at a young age its more likely to stick. I can’t thank my parents enough for getting me involved in this art form. Not only is it something I love, it has helped me be more successful in my school life and social life. So, do your kids a favor and sign them up for dance class, I promise you won’t regret it.

Cross Training

Many people don’t realize the strength it takes to be a dancer. The most beautiful thing a dancer can do is make the dance look effortless, but what most people don’t know is that in order to make it look effortless it requires a lot of muscle. Dance is one of the only sports that uses every single muscle in the body. At practice we don’t just go over our dances we also cross train. We do anything and everything from running, to insanity, to core workouts, to lifting, and more.

                Not only do dancers cross train to make it look effortless, cross training also helps your jumps get higher and makes harder moves easier to do. Leg strength is very important you need it for kicks, jumps, leaps, turns, pile’s, there are very few moves that you don’t use your leg muscles to do. Also you need arm muscles to hit moves or make slower moves look like they have resistance. Some floor moves require a lot of arm muscle also, to do things such as, push yourself off of the ground or move your body around.  Also a lot of choreographers incorporate lifts in their dances. So if you have to lift a person of a little bit smaller or of close to equal size of you, you obviously must have a lot of arm strength.

                The most important muscles dancers must have are their core muscles. Dancers do countless amounts of ab exercises. Dancers use their core for every move. To dance is to have maximum control over your body. Whether you are just standing or doing a complex move your core must be engaged. Balance is also another huge thing for dancers, and in order to balance you must be using your core. However holding poses, turning, kicks and other advanced technique things use and require an immense amount of core muscles. You must have a good core to have great control and make your movement look beautiful and effortless. Anyone can do a triple pirouette while hopping not everyone can do a clean triple pulled up without bobbling and suspend out of it. So don’t let a dancer’s super tiny body fool you. There is more muscle there than it appears.

 

Injury Prevention

Injuries are every athlete’s worst nightmare. Whether it puts you out for a week, month, season, or it is career ending it is the worst possible thing that can happen to you. Even if it just puts you in pain for rehearsal or a few games or performances; no one wants that. What most people don’t realize is that injury prevention starts in your everyday life with how you sit, stand, and sleep. This is especially true for dancers. How you are sitting, and standing outside of dance class can throw off your alignment making it harder to jump, turn, or anything technique related.

                Many people like to sit into their hip when they stand; I am one of many of those people. Not only does it throw your center of balance off, it gives your hip flexor pain when you go to do your activity. An even bigger problem it causes for dancers is it shifts your shoulders and ribs; so when you plié your ribs and shoulders shift slightly towards the the hip that you sit into. This may not seem like a huge problem but it throws your center of balance off which makes your turns a lot harder than they should be.

                Another thing is standing with too much curve in your back. Standing ways that aren’t necessarily “right” for your body causes more muscles to work, creating tension. So when you try to run or jump after standing wrong all day your muscles will not work as well as they could because they will be tense and tired, even if It doesn’t feel like that, because they were holding you up all day. This causes fatigue in the muscle and will slowly start to cause minor pain that may turn into something bigger. Also if you have an injury and stand abnormal on a regular basis the injury is probably exaggerated from standing like that.

                Now you might have though what I just talked about is crazy but lately I have been reteaching myself how to stand walk and sit and I have had tremendous results. However, it is very uncomfortable and when I’m not thinking about it I revert back to my old ways, it’s a long process but it will be well worth it. In just one week I already can control my ribs from shifting during plié’s which has helped my center of balance improve and I have had less hip flexor pain than I have had in the past. Injury prevention starts in your everyday life.

Street Dancing

Dance is very diverse. There are many different styles, and there are a lot of different versions of each style. In my opinion the most unique and diverse style is hip hop; or street dancing. This is a style that you can be trained in but most people just teach themselves or learn from a friend, not necessarily in a studio. The most unique thing about hip hop, or street dancing is how there are so many different types of it. A lot of times you can find people “street dancing” in big cities for money or just for entertainment because that is what they love to do.

                Popping is a type of street dance that originated in California. Popping looks really cool because the dancer flex’s and relaxes their muscles very fast to “jerk” the body; locking is a style almost the same just the dancer waits a little longer before relaxing the muscles to give a slightly different affect. Tutting sometimes called Tetris, is another type and it is probably the most unique, It’s supposed to be based off of the ancient Egyptians. It is just rapid hand and arm movements, it is not only used as a street dance but also used sometimes in other choreography like show choir choreography for example.

                One of the most common street dance styles is break dancing, sometimes referred to as B-Boying. This particular style was started in the South Bronx area by Latino and African American kids. There are four main parts of this style; Toprock, Downrock, Freeze, and power moves. Power Moves are a crowd favorite and what every kid wants to be able to do when they first see it. Power moves are things like hard jumps, spinning on your head or back, basically any of the tricks. This style of street dance is probably the most well known and most recognizable.

                Battling is very entertaining and has little to no rules. Groups of people gather in a circle usually around two street dance crews that will freestyle battle. The can use contact and do whatever they want; tricks and any style, or even mix all the styles together. There is no time limit and the winner of the battle is chosen by the crowd. Until the winner is chosen the dancers take turns running in and taking over the center spotlight. Dance battles are usually improv dances which means they are come up with on the spot and the song is unknown until it is played. This is like the dancing in the “Step Up” movies.

Auditioning

The audition process is a scary and exciting thing for dancers. It’s a time where doing your best matters the most and it is very stressful. Either your dream can be made or broken all in an instant. However, every audition is different. The one thing that is the same about every audition is the need for the person auditioning, and hoping to get the part to look and act professional.

               A very important part about looking professional is fitting the part of what you are auditioning for. If you are auditioning for a ballet company, it would be in your best interest to wear your hair in a tight, secure, slicked back bun. A lot of dancers use bunmakers, which makes the bun look perfectly polished, and they are not very expensive; you can find them for ten dollars. Also if you were auditioning for a ballet company you would want to wear most likely pink tights and a leotard. That is proper ballet attire which is essential in an audition. In another instance however you might not want a bun, tights, and a leotard. If you are trying out to be a hip hop background dancer for Beyoncé you would want to wear something that would grab the judges or evaluators attention but also looks professional and that is hip hop attire.

Another thing is that you must be ready for anything at an audition. They may ask you to do many different genres or styles of dance so it would be in your best interest to bring all different types of shoes. For example you would want to bring sneakers for hip hop, pointe shoes, or any others. Also you must be ready for them to ask you to dance with no shoes. It is very common for professionals to dance without any shoes on because they can feel the floor better and it is more stable. Lastly you need to go into an audition confident and open minded. Be prepare to do anything the choreographer asks of you and do it without question. Pay close attention to detail because that’s what most people’s fall back is, so if you can show you pick up detail it already sets you above most of the other people there. Lastly relax, have fun, and do what you love.

 

              

The American School of Ballet

The American School of Ballet, otherwise known as, The New York City Ballet is many little dancers dream destination. George Balanchine; a ballet genius who the master mined of many very popular and well known dance pieces; founded The American School of Ballet in the year of 1934. Balanchine was so good at choreographing and dancing mainly because of his understanding of music; his dad was a composer so he grew up with a musical background. Many of the instructors are alumni of the very famous ballet school and were very high up in the company. Other instructors worked with Balanchine or his partner and were appointed by one of them to be one of their elite staff members and help keep classical ballet alive.

                Although it’s every tiny dancers dream destination, you must try out and get accepted to be a part of this amazing school of dance. Although there are thousands of kids from all over the world that try out and dream about getting an acceptance letter, only about 450 kids from the ages of 6 to 18 get to join the school. However, if dancers don’t get accepted to the school during the winter, The American School of Ballet accepts close to another two hundred of the top ballet dancers to join them for their summer classes, or intensive. The acceptance is solely based on talent, and for this reason they offer scholarships. They give about one million dollars’ worth of scholarship money out each year.

                Being a part of The American School of Ballet is nothing close to cheap. The full tuition fee depends on your age and level ranging from three thousand dollars to a little of six thousand dollars. On top of that you must pay the student activity fee which is another payment of one hundred fifty dollars. There is even more, the room and board fees are close to sixteen thousand dollars, it includes, housing, a meal plan with twenty meals a week, WIFI and computer access, and allows you to use the laundry machines. Since it is so expensive the school helps pay for the students who they believe have a professional future. With the scholarship however, comes restrictions, they can’t take a role in a ballet without making sure it is ok with the school, they can not audition or train at any other ballet school either. They also very much care about education and offer academic scholarships as well.
http://www.sab.org/

Christopher Wheeldons "After the Rain"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VibqEWACdRo

                This beautiful ballet piece Choreographed by Christopher Wheeldon, to “After the Rain” is danced by Damien Smith and Yuan Yuan Tan. However, it is often danced by various other professionals. In this specific video the two professional ballet dancers are performing at the “Fire Island Dance Festival” in 2010. The Festival is on the Great South Bay in Fire Island. This particular festival features many different professional dancers in order to raise money for people who need financial aid for health reasons, like treatments and other things like that. The Fire Island Dance Festival started in 1995 and continues to grow in attendance, performance, and income every year.

                Christopher Wheeldon trained at The Royal Ballet and is now a very well-known choreographer in the ballet world. He created this piece for the NYCB (New York City Ballet) to be performed at a celebration to honor the founder of the company George Balanchine. “After the Rain,” is one of Christopher Wheeldon’s most well known and loved pieces. In 2011 Wheeldon also helped choreograph “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.” More recently; in 2014 he helped choreograph “The Winter’s Tale.”

                Damien Smith the male performer in this piece is a principal in the San Francisco Ballet. Damien Smith is originally from New South Wales, Australia; and joined the San Francisco Ballet company in the year of 1996. Damien worked his way up and became a soloist in 1998, and in 2001 he was promoted to a principal. A dance Principal is the highest rank in the dance realm and a huge honor. Damien Smith has been big parts of major ballet productions like “The Nutcracker,” “Giselle,” “Swan Lake,” and even “The Little Mermaid,” along with many others.

                Yuan Yuan Tan was born in Shanghai, China and is 38 years old she is also a Principal at the San Francisco Ballet Company. Yuan Yuan Tan joined the company in 1995 as a soloist and was promoted to Principle a short two years later in 1997. Just l like Damien she has been featured in many well-known ballet productions. For example: She was the sugar plum fairy and the queen of snow in “The Nutcracker,” She was Juliet in “Romeo and Juliet,” and appeared and played the lead in many others like “sleeping Beauty.”  Yuan Yuan Tan is often a guest artist at many festivals like she was with Damien Smith for the “Fire Island Dance Festival.”
https://www.sfballet.org/company/dancers/principals

 

The Foundation of Dance

               

Everything in the world has a foundation. For example: a house has a foundation, sports have basic footwork and moves, and the foundation of dance is ballet. Ballet is not only its own style but also appears in all other styles of dance with the exception of tap. Even in hip hop, ballet makes an appearance; it doesn't follow the same rules but it uses some of the same basic parts of it. The ballet basics are what make every move and technical component of dance possible. With a great ballet foundation every movement should look effortless, which makes dancers look more impressive.

 Ballet was started in the 15th century during the Italian Renaissance, shortly after,  the art form spread around the world like a wild fire. Now there are ballet companies and schools in every part of the world. Ballet is also offered if not required at most local studios. The ballet style itself is very complex and to get into large ballet companies you often have to start at their feeder schools usually before the age of seven. Occasionally people can start when they are older but usually they are not technically advanced enough in that short amount of time to join the larger companies.

In a ballet class you have to be very focused because there are so many little details you do not want to miss; or be practicing wrong. Usually you stand at bars and the teacher will verbally tell you a combination, sometimes they will physically show you but generally they will not in more advanced classes or settings. While doing the combination of basic technique components to classical music you have to be focused on your body alignment. You have to pay attention to which muscles are working and where you’re looking, how your body is lifted, and many other things. After bar you usually do exercises going across the floor of harder technical components or jumps and turns. At the end you do bows and personally go and thank your teacher to show a great amount of respect to him or her.

Ballet is not easy but the basics are a crucial part in every aspect of dance. Great dancers have great technique which starts in the ballet class. Ballet class can be calming but frustrating all at the same time because it takes so much energy from your body and brain because there are so many things to be thinking about. However, you can’t show that all these things are going through your head; you must make it look effortless. Everything has a foundation; and the foundation of dance is ballet.