It's A Costume Not a Wedding Dress

I've had some mothers who complained about the costume they got. "It looks flimsy, it really is too big around, we have to SEW the straps?, she doesn't look good in that color, I think it's a little snug, that hair pieces looked skimpy" etc... just fill in the blank. These mothers just don't understand that this is a COSTUME that the dancer will wear for 3 minutes on the stage that is 20 feet from the closest person in the front row and who knows how far from the people in the back row. Plus, she will be DANCING in it and not standing still and without a close up camera on her. Twenty feet away and on a moving object, under the lights, most costumes will look great! Just tell her you were going to get one that cost $100.00 but decided to go with this one since she will outgrow it before Halloween anyway and you know from years of picking out costumes that this will look wonderful on the stage under the lighting. It is a costume not her wedding dress!

Remember: There is no crying in dancing school.

Encouragement for everyone

Encouragement
Everyone needs encouragement, some of us more than others. There are little dancers that dance no matter what you say or don’t say. They are motivated like crazy and work the same way. Then we have the little timid kids, the uncoordinated ones or the ones that might have had a careless remark sent their way. “You are such a clutz” or “I bet that dance teacher is having a hard time making you learn how to dance”, “When are you ever going to learn to skip on two feet?”, “You know you have to be slim to be a dancer” and the list goes on.
We as teachers don’t know what has been said to these little dancers. The little ones trying to learn to skip, tie their shoes, put their tap shoes on the correct feet, the older ones trying to learn to turn, the even older ones working on arabesque and développé height and still others that might be feeling like it isn’t worth it to keep trying.

Remember to keep reminding them how far they have come and where they are now and not how far they have to go. Say things like “remember when you couldn’t skip, and then you worked really hard and kept trying and now you can skip like a pro?” Reminding the intermediate student of how high they could développé in second last year and now how high their leg is going after working on it for a year, how many chainé turns they could do last year (probably none if they were just learning them last year) and now they are turning like a champ, and remember to do the same thing for your helpers, student teachers, office help and teachers. We all love a pat on the back and a reminder that we are getting better and better.
Just one of the things dance classes teach everyone is:
We don’t know how to do it now
We work really hard
We never quit
And now we know how to do it
This is not only a dance lesson but a life lesson and a great one to learn at an early age. We can do whatever we want to do and put our minds to learning how to do it, working really hard, never giving up our dreams and then one day Voila!! We did it!

You can do it too! Remember when you only had 10 students and now look at you!
You did it!!!!
And remember: There’s no crying in dancing school.

Combating those winter blas

The Winter Blas

Winter blas can strike any time between December and whenever spring finally gets here. In the states where it gets cold and snows it is usually the worst but Southern states can have them full force too. 

When they hit your dancers be sure you are prepared. Do something to shake up the class. In the really younger classes you might have crazy hair day, weird tights day or wear makeup day. You can have a ‘dance with your friend day’ where the students bring their friends and the friends dance in the class with the regular students (be sure you have something that day that the non- dancers can do plus, offer free tights free ballet shoes or free registration if they sign up for classes). I love to pull out the stories to dance. You can always make up some or order some to have for these special occasions.  You might get the wedding march and make some brides bouquets or bridesmaids flowers and so some steps that you have been working on to this music with the dancers holding the flowers. You might let a different students lead each barre exercise, or let them wear hats for the lesson. Take pictures! You must do SOMETHING to keep them interested during this time or they will drop out or you will start to get those phone calls: “she just doesn’t want to come, she says she doesn’t like it any more, she says her friends are better than she is” etc...... Nip all this in the bud by creating excitement at the studio during the winter bla months. I used to take my Great Pyrenees dog to the studio with me in Colorado and he just sat in the very back and watched or slept. I would let the dancers say goodbye to him and let them hug him goodbye if they wanted too. Another studio in Colorado Springs had a resident cat that lived in the studio. Just stayed there all the time and the dancers could pet it and visit it when they were there.

Another thing you can do is get out your scrap book. I hope you are keeping one of pictures you take in class, at the shows, recitals and any other place where your dancers are. It is fun to look back and see the kids at a younger age. They get a kick out of it too. It only takes 5 minutes in the middle of class to do this then put it away. You don’t want to do it at the end of class because the moms are listening outside the door and won’t hear any music and then you will have to explain what you were doing. 

Let me know what you do to pep things up in the winter.

And remember: There’s no crying in dancing school.

apprehension about the recital (the kids, not you!)

Apprehension

I was talking to a friend of mind last week about her granddaughter (age 7) who takes dance (in another state). She loves dance and has been dancing for 3 or 4 years. Yesterday her grandmother told me that she didn’t want to go to dance this week. When asked why, she told her grandmother that she was worried about messing up the show dance. Apparently they had started the recital dance and the teacher had TOLD them it was their RECITAL dance and right away this little perfectionist started worrying about making a mistake on the stage. They started something new and she probably didn’t feel like she had learned the first step perfectly. I never told my young students “This is your RECITAL DANCE" or today we are starting "OUR NEW RECITAL DANCE.”  Oh, boy, those little perfectionist start to worry right off the bat. It really is better not to talk about the show, the costumes, anything about the recital at all until much later in the year and closer to the show date.  They will peak in enthusiasm and in the quality of the preparedness too early and start on the down slope before the show arrives.  This goes for showing them a picture of the costume. You will have lots of excitement at first but 4 months later it is old news and then it falls on your shoulders to keep that excitement and newness alive for 4 months and that is hard to do with little kids that don’t have that much conception of time.

More about winter Blaaas next post.

And remember: There's no Crying in Dancing School

Timing the delivery of the costumes

Timing the delivery of the costumes
One thing I did learn from years of telling moms what color tights to get for the show, (you know there are a million colors of ‘pink’ and ‘black’) is I would just include a pair of tights in the costume bag. Just charge extra for that and everyone will have the same color. You won’t have to listen to hysterics at the rehearsal when you say “these aren’t the right color pink tights” unless of course you have some they can buy from you on the spot. Buy some extra for the kids who tear the ONLY pair that matches so you can sell them at the dress rehearsal or at the show. Also, buy the tap bows and put them in the costume bag with the costume, head piece and tights.

Don’t be tempted to give out the costumes in pieces. By that I mean, the hats came in but the costumes didn’t so you are tempted to give out the hats just so you won’t have to store the hats until the rest of the costumes gets sent.

Don’t do it…

Also, I don' think it is a good idea to show the costume or the picture of the costume to the students until closer to the date of the show. It is really hard to sustain enthusiasm about the costumes and the show for very long. Little dancers don’t understand 'time' so when you start to talk about the show and the costumes and 'months' or 'weeks' they think it is coming soon not in 3-4 months or a LONG TIME to little kids. Showing the costumes to the parents only sets you up for the inevitable talk about what is wrong with your costume decision making.

I am seeing studios on Facebook with the dancers trying on their costumes already (January!). If you send them home you run the really big risk that the dancers will wear the costumes, the dog will eat it, they will wear it until it looks 'used' or it will just get lost. One year a student got her costume and the parents took the family out to eat leaving the costume in the back seat of the unlocked car and someone took the costume. I couldn’t get a replacement for it in time for the show.

Remember: There's no crying in dancing school.

Picking out the Costumes

Picking out the Costumes
I know you are right now up to your eyeballs in those costume books. Really!!!!! Just pick out something you think will work and make sure you order it before Feb. 1 and then just forget about it until they start to arrive. I used to order basics and decorate them, I’ve made 14 bakers hats, about a million head pieces, sleeves, arm pieces. You name it and I have made it and most of the time made 13 or 14 of them. It really isn’t necessary to do that. Just find a reputable costume company, and there are a lot of them that will deliver the costumes on time, and then force yourself to order most of your costumes from one or two places. It makes it sooooo much easier. I used to order costumes from one place, head pieces from another, umbrellas from a different place and hats from another place, and then when they started to arrive it was a big mess getting all the accessories into the correct costume bags. It isn’t the end of the world if the costume isn’t perfect or isn’t spectacular. You can always tell the complaining parent that you wanted to save them lots of money and you know this costume will look great on stage in front of the lights. It is something they will wear for 3 minutes and only one time in their lives.

And remember: There is no crying in dancing school.

Be Prepared for Valentine's Day

Order Valentines for your studio
Just me nagging you to order your Valentines TODAY!!! You know you want to give out those little valentines or ‘something’ for Valentine’s Day to your little students. You know you don’t want to be at the all night drug store the night before, trying to find 200+ valentines. You know you don't want to have to go home and sign your name to all 200+ into the midnight hours.
SO, just get on line at Amazon.com or Oriental Trading Company and order up what you want. The darling UPS man will bring them to you and you will have a stress free Valentines. If you are getting cookies or any other kind of food, you can get it now and freeze it. Think about the students, the receptionist, the helpers and other teachers who you might want to give something. (don’t forget to get something for your husband! Haha) Be Prepared!!!! DO IT TODAY!!!!! 

And remember: There’s no crying in dancing school!