Submitting a Guest Post to Dance Advantage

Thanks for your interest in writing a guest post for Dance Advantage.

Although Dance Advantage is written primarily by me (Nichelle), I welcome guest posts from other dance teachers, students, parents, professionals, or those knowledgeable in related fields.  I am well aware that one person cannot be an expert on every subject and I enjoy providing space for others to bring their ideas, thoughts, and experiences to the table.

If you are also a blogger, guest posting is a great way to increase your exposure to other readers. However, you do not have to be a blogger to submit a post or article for publishing here at Dance Advantage. With that said, I do have some tips and guidelines for those that do wish to contribute their work to this site. These guidelines are in place to help you write an effective article for this site and help me to quickly prepare your post for publishing.

What to Write About

Dance Advantage is written for those involved in dance education. Some posts are written with specific members of this audience in mind (This post, for example, is clearly for teachers/studio owners). Other posts are written to broaden or convey a certain perspective on aspects of dance or dancing. I cover a wide range of topics, but each guest post typically fits into one of the following categories:

• For... (Students, Parents, Teachers/Studio Owners)
• The Dance World (History, Companies, Global or Online News & Events)
• Toolbox (Career, Choreography, Performance, Technology, Music, Technique, Terminology, Wellness)
• Inspirational Poetry/Stories/Quotes

(see the navigation bar above to view posts within these categories)

To be accepted for publishing on Dance Advantage, the article must be practical and educational for my audience: dance teachers, students, or parents. I want readers to be able to take away something that they can then apply to their own dance experience. A “how-to” article, or a retrospective on what one learned (or is learning) from an experience that may guide others in a similar situation. Occasionally opinion or perspective pieces will be accepted on teaching, parenting, or dancing in general. As editor, I have the right to refuse content and the right to make changes to anything appearing on the blog (though I will typically not make major changes without consulting the author).

The Look and Sound

Every choreographer and dancer has their own style and signature. So, too, do writers. It is a good idea to peruse the articles here at Dance Advantage to get a feel for my style, however, I encourage guest contributors to write using their own particular “voice.”

The look of the post, however, should fit with the other posts on this blog. Therefore, I ask that any post submitted include:

• at least one image or photograph (able to be used in terms of copyright and fair use – if you are unsure about an image or would like to know where to find images, please ask!) – two to four images work best and YouTube embedding (if applicable) is welcome.
• headings/subheadings (generally if the post is longer than 500 words) – these break up a post and make them “skimmable” (a plus for readers who would prefer to surf away rather then read through long passages of text to get the overall idea of an article). I can help with this if you are unsure how to divide your article.
• E-rated material and language - ‘E’ as in Everyone and Educational. This blog’s purpose is to educate, not alienate. Articles should be written with this in mind and should contain non-offensive language, images, and links. This does not mean that opinions cannot be expressed, it simply means that they should be expressed in a professional and considerate manner.

Please Note

• Your article may be as lengthy as is required to convey your message. If your contribution is exceptionally long, I may discuss breaking it up into two or more postings.
• I reserve the right to edit posts that appear on this blog. I will never heavily edit the post without consulting you. Mainly, I will perform quality control (correcting grammar or spelling errors). It is your responsibility to properly cite sources and check facts. I will pull posts found to contain plagiarism and remove or edit articles with invalid information.
• Unless previously negotiated I’m assuming that the post you’re writing is exclusively for the use of Dance Advantage. While you’re more than welcome to write on the same topic elsewhere – my hope is that posts that appear on Dance Advantage don’t appear in the same form elsewhere. Why? Unique content is better for my blog and better for yours. Readers that become familiar with you here will want to go to your site for what you offer there, and will not benefit from reading the same thing twice.
• Links within your article are allowed. Please do not include affiliate links, however, and avoid excessive links to your own articles or website. Relevancy is very important and links not relevant to the article will be removed.
• Please submit a short bio/byline with your article – this should be under 75 words and tell the reader a bit about you and what you do. This is the appropriate place to link to your blog or website.

I encourage you to let others know that you have provided a guest article for Dance Advantage. Share the good news on your blog, website, and social media networks.

How to Submit Your Article

1. Use the contact form below to propose and discuss the article you would like to submit. I am interested in knowing the overall message or theme of your article so that I can determine if it is a good fit for Dance Advantage.
2. After discussing the guest post and possible dates or timelines for publishing, I will ask you to send the completed article for review and publishing. Articles may be in rich text format or plain text. Please note, however, that it is easier to add my own html or encoding in regard to images and subheadings, so please send images as attachments.

If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me. These guidelines are not hard and fast rules, but suggestions to help your post ‘fit’ better with Dance Advantage and get the attention it deserves.

Your location has been identified as part of a reported spam network. Contact form has been disabled to prevent spam.