Friday, March 16, 2012

March 16th

Dear dancing dream,
                                      Does it matter if you win or loose? No it doesn't. The whole point of dance competitions is to challenge yourself and have fun. Then people wonder why is called dance competition? Well it's called that because you are competing. I must admit, it is awesome when you do win but it doesn't matter. Basically think of a competition as an extra recital.

How do you find a good studio?

To start your dancing dream you need find a good studio. Here are some good tips for finding a good studio :
             What areas do you teach? ( jazz, tap, ballet, point, hip hop, lyrical?)
            - A good studio always has ballet. But you want variety so you also want jazz, tap, and lyrical.
             Do you have a competition team?
              - A good studio has a competition team because your kid might advance higher than regular classes or they might just want to expand.
             What's the average age of your studio?
             - You always want a variety of ages because there are a variety of dancer's. You don't want all the ages to be really young or older because you want your child to make friends.
            How many teachers are there?
            - You want to a fair amount ( 3-4 ) because you don't want your child waiting for their class to begin.

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

March 6th

Dear dancing journal,
                                       My first competition was last weekend. We did good. But it could've been better. I have another in about 2 weeks. Even though one is over, you still have more. You can't just throw it all away after one competition. I understand that you may need a small break. Small break. Like maybe a day. But then you need to get back to work. It's standard in all sports.

Is dance a real sport?

This is a question people ask a lot. Is dance a real sport? In some minds it's not. They protest that pointing your feet and trying to do 4 turns is not what a sport is. But to dancers, yes it is very much a sport. When you try and do 4 turns you have to focus and make sure you're spotting, pushing your feet in the ground, and squeezing every muscle in your body. And it's more than just ballet. In lyrical you have to focus on making sure that your body is strong, but soft. And that your expressing with your face. Or in tap when your making sure that you're on your toes and getting all your sounds in. Also we have hip hop. You focus on staying in a freeze for 2 minutes and making sure everything is sharp. To non- dancers they think you learn the dance and you're done. But you have to learn it and then practice it like any other sport. It takes focus, practice, and commitment. You need those in football, baseball, soccer, hockey, basketball. So in some ways it is and in others it's not. But if you are a dancer, then have to believe that it takes as much work and is just as hard as all the others.