How much?

The summer holidays are fast aproaching and, if you are like me, as a dance teacher you are looking forward to a rest.  Resting the mind and especially the body. I think my injury is going, my physio wrapped me up like a Christmas present and put some bright red tape all over my back! Apparently they use it at Wimbledon. All of a sudden i felt athletic, as I hobbled out of her surgery.

Anyway, I digress, back to the holidays.... Only a few weeks in to my 'holiday' I begin to prepare myself for the courses I have booked myself on and look forward to the dance classes i can participate in. Very excited.

For me, I think it is important to attend workshops, classes and courses so that I can update my skills, get some new ideas and remain in touch with what is being taught outside of my world, my classroom. It can also feel rather iscolating at times, just you and the students.  

I dont wish to sound presciptive but you cant allow yourself to stagnate and rely on what you learnt all those years ago to see you through the rest of your teaching career.  Can you? I teach contemporary, amongst other things, various contemporary techniques including, Graham, Humphrey, Cunningham often fusing together the three in one class, and yes, they do have their traditional vocabulary but i'm sure those pioneers of modern dance would want us to evolve from those ideas.  

We only have to look at the new generation of choreographers and their styles to watch the evolution unfold. Wayne McGregor, Siobhan Davies, Akram Khan, Russell Maliphant , Christopher Wheeldon, Hofesh Shechter etc etc ...Or head along to The Place Prize, Spring Loaded or Exposure Dance..... not to mention all the other genres. The dance world has evolved so much and continues to, if you don't move along with it you might get left behind!

I have seen some fabulous courses advertised, several of which i must attend or want to attend, however the cost of everything, once it is all totalled up, is ENORMOUS!!

It is a case of picking and choosing, as dance teachers know, it is not the most lucrative career in the world, particualry off the back of having a baby who is a year old and came with a pair of scissors to cut a big hole in my purse.....(and my abdominals...thank you Beatrice!)

I have decided to have a look around and see what courses, classes, workshops are on offer that are either:

a. Free of charge (unlikely)

b. Low cost

c. Great value for money

c. Just too good to miss!

I will post these up on a blog and on the Dance Bank website, but in the meantime if you are running anything or come across anything that isn't too expensive or free, please forward the information to me so that I can add it to the list.

Don't forget Dance Bank is a resource for teachers to access choreography and lesson plans, to download, free of charge. Please visit the website to register and to find out more information about it. Right now we have a huge library of routines and warm ups to retro music from the 80s/90s and current day pop.

I'm off to watch some of my students in their choreography competition. Can't wait!.... The next generation...
xx

OUCH! Injury as a dance teacher - Ice packs and Jack Daniels

Whilst I am happy to throw myself to the floor, effortlessly rolling out of it and coming to standing with ease and grace, it does come with the odd health and safety issue these days....
Eh hem... I would still like to think that the above description is still me, but if I were to be honest, nowadays, I probably resemble a newborn foal trying to get to its feet for the first time.

The athleticism, the approach, the strength and the ability are still there but my mind thinks I am still in training at college, so there is no air of caution. This could be why I hobbled out of my classes at the end of this week, thinking to myself, perhaps I need to take on a more observational teacher role?

I had to approach my teaching from a different angle and change many of the lessons I had planned.
How do you cope with being injured or with last minute changes to your lesson plans?

Sometimes changes may occur mid lesson, when it is clear the students are not in he mood for what is on the agenda for that class. Rolling with the mood and pulling on your improv talents, experience and natural resources is actually quite fun, sometimes they are the best classes!!

When injury struck, I turned to my pilates, the Dance UK website where there is a fantastic book, 'Your Body Your Risk' edited by Scilla Dyke, plus many other useful fact sheets to read, to encourage dancers to take good care of themselves. I also enjoy reading the books by Dr Eric Franklin, especially 'Dynamic Alignment Through Imagery'.

Well, in answer to my own question, I think I will continue to throw myself around until the day comes when my students have to scrape me off the floor! Then out comes the chair and big stick.

Now, pass me the ice pack....its going in my Jack Daniels.

From small acorns.....

I'm starting to get excited at the prospect of how much fun managing Dance Bank is going to be. 

There are so many roads to travel and avenues to go down, perhaps I should be using less driving terminology and talk in pathways and stage directions?! Anyway, we haven't even launched and we have made some very exciting contacts and i can't get over just how generous all you dancers and teachers are.  Ask and ye shall receive...or something like that.

Dance Bank is proud to support fellow teachers and choreographers. We hope you find all you will need in the one place! If not, then email us and we will do our best to source it for you. We filmed some nice contemporary pieces yesterday along with some adult tap and senior jazz.

Help us to spread the word by telling your dance teacher friends, choreographers and performers so we can have a bumper website for all your teacher needs!! Find us on Facebook and on Twitter

Dance Bank will be a home for the emerging talent, over flowing energy and creativity that is so apparent in the dance arena today.....and we especially liked using the new dances app for the iPhone.  Check it out.

The next step (s)

My next step should be getting my videos up but I'm currently watching the BAFTAs!! Get to work Dance Bank. So coming soon will be a huge array of adult dance class routines and exercises and to get ready for my girls GCSE paper in a week or so we shall be publishing a mock paper and also some documents you may find helpful whilst preparing them for the paper.

Next week is an important week for us as we take everything to the next stage and start speaking to our audience, our fellow teachers, on top of that we are planning a new timetable of adult dance classes and choreography for a July show. Phew.....and i'm going back to class, thanks Dance Digital

I need to revise the time step, as in 'i need more time' step

Ooh, back to the telly

x

Dance Bank - From the corner and in the round: Getting started

Dance Bank - From the corner and in the round: Getting started: "Ooh , it feels like walking into a class for the first time, not knowing quite what to expect or what others will expect of you, so here goe..."

why are we here

Well....I've recently ended up with a large amount of choreography, rather than watch others try and financially benefit from all my hard work, ive decided to give it away.

Then I thought, with so much choroegraphy sitting in folders, on video for many different lessons, exams, teacher trianing, kids classes, adult classes, GCSE dance and the endless notebooks and files full of lesson plan ideas, why not put them somewhere for other teachers to access, you never know they might be of interest to someone.

I wondered how many other teachers might have the same amount of work kicking around that they might want to share in return. So here we are, about to start sharing our creative ideas....hopefully