Dancers

A Dancer’s Code of Conduct: Being the Best Dancer You Can Be

Date: October 17, 2013
Author: Miss Erin
Categories: Dancers, Parents
Be the Best Dancer You Can Be

Photo by Geek With a Lens. http://www.geekwithalens.com/dance/sddt/spring-concert-2012-sunday

  • Have amazing work ethic- Your teachers expect you to learn, apply and maintain your corrections.  This could mean: working on your own, practicing at home, doing a step 100 times until you get it and keeping a notebook with corrections in it and reviewing it before each class.  Do the correction you are given right away to demonstrate understanding without being asked to do so.  Do the combination full out with the teacher when he or she is giving it.   Never mark.  Finish each combination well, either dancing all the way off the floor or finishing in a nice fifth with both hands off the barre.  Give 100% effort in your classes at all times.

 

  • Concentrate- Pay attention to everyone’s corrections and apply them to yourself.  Courteously ask only intelligent, thought-provoking questions.  Stay on topic with your comments and questions.   Totally focus on the task at hand and never let yourself be distracted by others.

 

  • Be Respectful to Faculty- Be prepared for class and be on time. Students should be at least 15 minutes early.  If you are late due to unforeseen circumstances, you should ask the teacher’s permission to enter the room.  Greet your teacher or staff as you enter the building or classroom.  Raise your hand.  Address the teacher by name and then ask your question.  Absolutely no talking in class.  No yawning.  Say please. Thank the teacher for his or her correction.  Do not chew gum. No asking when class is over.  No leaning on the barre.  No putting your hands on your hips or crossing your arms.  No sitting down in class.  Go to the bathroom before class begins.   Never openly criticize or question your teacher. Sarcasm and disrespectful behavior of any kind have no place in the classroom. Thank your teacher after classes individually. A hand written thank you note at the end of the year is appropriate.

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Mediterranean Peasant Salad

Date: October 15, 2013
Author: Miss Erin
Categories: Dancers, Nutrition, Parents, Recipes

Salad:

1 seedless cucumber, finely diced

¼  large red onion, finely diced

3 to 4 roma tomatoes, de-seeded and finely diced

½ medium green pepper, diced

1 T flat-leafed parsley chopped

Handful of feta crumbles

A few kalamata olives

Dressing:

¼ c Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1/8 c Red Wine Vinegar

Salt and pepper to taste

  1. Mix all salad ingredients in a bowl.
  2. Whisk all dressing ingredients together in a small bowl and pour over the top of the salad and stir well.
  3. Garnish with olives.

Life is About Choices: Choose Success For Goodness’ Sake!

Date: October 15, 2013
Author: Miss Erin
Categories: Dancers, Parents

Okay, so I started this blog last week to educate students and parents in a positive way.  I promised myself that I wouldn’t use this site as my own personal platform on which to rant and rave. Well, that lasted about a week.  Sometimes students need tough love, so here it is.

I teach many college classes, six each semester to be exact.  The first day of all classes, I read out loud the syllabus to the students.  I do this because inevitably I will have a student that will tell me they were unaware of a certain policy and I can the retort, ‘Oh really? That’s odd because the first day of classes, I read it to you.’   None of my policies are unreasonable.  For instance, there is usually a very clearly laid out attendance policy for my dance classes, of which some of my students refuse to follow and then are shocked when they fail the course.

But I digress; this rant today is for my lecture classes. In their syllabus, there is a calendar of when tests and papers are due.  There are instructions that lay out exactly how I want the term paper written including font to be used, the fact it needs one inch margins, it needs to be double spaced and it needs to have a work cited page.  It tells them to spell check their work and to read their paper before handing it in.  It says that grammar and punctuation will count and that they cannot use ‘you’ in the paper and that all contractions need to be spelled out.  It also tells students that I do not give my personal notes out to students, if you miss, you must ask another student for their notes.  (Yes, that’s right; students have asked me for my notes.) It even gives them my phone number and e-mail in case they have questions or concerns.

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Sweet Potato ‘Fries’

Date: October 10, 2013
Author: Miss Erin
Categories: Dancers, Nutrition, Parents, Recipes

2 Medium Sweet Potatoes

1 T  Olive Oil

½ T cornstarch

Salt and pepper

Cooking Spray

2 t chili powder

1 t garlic powder

Pinch cayenne pepper

½ t cumin

  1. Preheat oven 400 degrees
  2. Cut potatoes lengthwise into ¼ inch match sticks. Toss with oil, cornstarch, salt, salt, pepper, chili powder, garlic powder, cayenne and cumin..  Arrange them in a single layer on a baking sheet sprayed with cooking spray.
  3. Bake 30 minutes turning them once.

 

Being Afraid to Talk About Nutrition

Date: October 7, 2013
Author: Miss Erin
Categories: Dancers, Nutrition, Parents

I have found that talking honestly about health, nutrition and yes weight can be a scary topic for any dance teacher.  I also have found that it is my responsibility as a dance educator to talk about all of these things and when I don’t, that’s what makes all of it so taboo.  I’ll explain how I finally came to this decision after years of teaching, but first…..

The truth of the matter is that if your child wants to become a dancer or is even toying with the idea, they need to know certain things.  Weight is an important factor when it comes to getting a job in this field as well as the role they want in Nutcracker.  Most professional dancers weigh about 10% below the normal range.  This is important for several reasons.

  1.  It’s esthetically pleasing.  Dance is all about the lines of the body and it’s important for the audience to see those lines.
  2. Most dancers need to be lifted and partnered and it’s the dancer’s responsibility to their partner to be at a weight that is easy to maneuver.
  3. It will lengthen their career because extra weight is extra stress on the joints and tendons, especially when you’re talking pointe work.
  4. It will allow the dancer to have higher extension, higher jumps and stellar stamina which are essential to the profession.  Simply because their body weighs less; it takes less effort to move.

Yet many dance teachers fear discussing the all too important issues of weight and nutrition with their students for one major reason; we are afraid of it resulting in eating disorders.  This is NOT what we want for any of our dancers so we become negligent and don’t talk about it at all.

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