I want to start this essay with a disclaimer: I do not hate dance competitions. But as I scroll through social media posts I see an endless stream of complaints about dance competitions; complaints about scoring, complaints about biased judging, complaints about behavior, hours, costs and cheating. It leads me to wonder why these teachers are entering these competitions at all. When posed with the question of why they go to competitions, the usual responses are something like: “We go to competitions to have opportunities to perform” or “We go to competitions to learn”. Well there are opportuni ..read more

When I was 34 years old, at the height of my dancing powers, I quit. I quit the one thing that I loved more than anything else. I quit the one thing to which my entire identity was tied. And I quit because of limitations that were placed on me; and not by the dance industry or society. I quit because of limitations that I placed on myself. I was relatively successful at auditions; and I worked somewhat regularly: television commercials, music videos, small dance companies, off-Broadway musicals. And although I booked more jobs than most of my friends and colleagues, it didn’t add up to a full ..read more

I have heard recently several dance teachers complaining about competition judges who offer no praise; only corrections and criticism. These comments have gotten me thinking about self-esteem, how I was raised, how I was taught, and how I, myself, teach. Not too long ago, I stumbled upon a video in which a young man (20-something) was explaining why, in his opinion, so many of his contemporaries were struggling with life in general. This little video was shockingly insightful. He explained that there had been research done, clearly documenting that children with good self-esteem were, in gener ..read more

So the topic of dancing with one shoe keeps raising its annoying little head. And I’m apologizing in advance for my tone; this is me being a jerk. Why are we even still talking about this? I guess, of course, there will always be new teachers who haven’t quite beaten this particular dead horse as much as some of us have. But whenever this topic comes up, nearly everyone in the discussion insists that it is “two shoes or no shoes”. Yet we look at the competition stages and what do we see? We see dancers dancing with only one shoe, and these dancers, and their teachers, are coming up with some s ..read more

I recently stumbled upon a discussion focusing on a current trend in Dance Convention training. Apparently more and more teachers are “shoving a million tiny movements into one single 8-count” and teaching choreography that is relentlessly fast. I fully understand that I’m old, and don’t necessarily have my finger on the pulse of what is current, popular and hot, but from where I sit, I see this trend as problematic. I have had many discussions with colleagues of my generation as of late, and one of the things that keeps coming up is the following question: “Why does so much of what I see in t ..read more

I’ve seen a lot of social media posts lately through which the authors are offering their services as dance teachers. These posts typically contain some information about the authors’ training and usually include a video clip or reel highlighting the teachers’ dance and choreographic abilities. And many of these prospective teachers are really struggling to find employment despite being extremely well educated and having absolutely stunning dance footage. I know some of these dancers, either personally or through social media, and I know how deeply frustrated they are. I may be out of line, bu ..read more

I usually spend a few moments each day scrolling through social media feeds and interacting with colleagues in the dance education industry. I have entered into discussions that have be enlightening, supportive and engaging. I have made some professional contacts that have proven to be invaluable. And, sadly, I have repeatedly come across trends that I find worrisome. Apparently, it is becoming common place for students, and sometimes their parents, to complain when casting for a performance proves to be disappointing. The complaints are often accompanied by a threat to leave r drop -out if so ..read more

At the age of 25 I set out to become a dancer. It was the mid 1980’s in New York City and the only option available to me was open class. Although I was primarily drawn to and interested in ballet, it seemed ridiculous to me to start ballet training as an adult. A friend had mentioned that there was a jazz teacher named Luigi who was good with adult beginners (I had no idea about who he was or the legendary reputation that he had) and I simply opened the yellow pages, dialed the number, and so began my journey to become a dancer. I have been told many times, by many colleagues, that “open clas ..read more

Yesterday I fell into yet another online discussion on the terms “Master Class” and “Master Teacher”. This is a topic that I’ve discussed in previous blog posts and I almost feel that I’d rather revisit the “tights vs. no tights” or “dancing with one shoe” discussions than rehash this subject yet again. But I read every single comment. I went to the profile pages of every participant, just to get a handle on with whom I was dealing. And I came to a realization. For the most part, the older teachers were more or less of one mind, the younger teachers were more or less of another, and no one was ..read more

I am currently teaching at five different schools, each with a different student demographic and each with a different student culture. What I’m about to discuss does not apply to every program and certainly does not apply to every student, but there is a general trend that I find worrisome. I started training because I loved to dance. It was simple. It was clear. And as I started to train, I discovered that I loved the process of learning. I sought out the best teachers I could find. I took as many classes as I could fit in (usually 2-3 classes per day, 6-7 days per week). I hung on my teache ..read more