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The Procrastinator’s Dance Gift Guide

Nichelle (admin) — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 22:59:28 +0000

By now your stockings have probably been hung by the chimney with care…

But you’ve still got dancers on your gift list! And Amazon is telling you that ~~paying expedited $hipping fee$~~ a dose of Elf Magic is your only Ho Ho Hope for the timely arrival of those gifts.

Never fear, the digital age is here! These gifts are a procrastinator’s dream:

Choreography for Teachers

DancesToGo.com provides à la carte choreography for a variety of dance levels and genres. They’ve got a great group of guest choreographers with years of experience as teachers (and I’m not just saying that ’cause I’m one of them)!

One way to gift it: You may not know which choreography would be most useful for the gift-recipient. Since Dances To Go uses PayPal’s services, you could send money to your dancer friend or family member (they will need a PayPal account) for use at the site. While you’re at it, send them an iTunes gift so they can grab the music, too!

Help for Studio Owners

DanceStudioOwner.com gives studio owners what they need to be successful – e-books and articles, monthly teleseminars, templates, checklists, customizable forms, and plenty of support in an often isolating job. This is one of my favorite resources because they offer so much value at affordable monthly and yearly membership plans. Gift a membership and make your favorite studio owner very happy.

A Weekly Action Plan for Success

A new year. A new commitment to going the extra mile in your dance classes. We at Dance Advantage deliver the keys to make this year outstanding with an e-mail course that provides terminology, an inspirational quote, something to Dancescribe in a dance journal, and something to do EVERY WEEK in a 40-Week E-course.

Let us sustain and motivate your favorite dancer the whole year through. Yes, you can “gift” this e-course. It’s called 4 for 40 and you can find it right here.

Digital Reading

Whether your gift-recipient is Team Nook or Team Kindle, you can give specific digital publications as gifts at the Nook Store or Kindle Store (just look for the Buy/Give as a Gift links on the book’s purchase page).

Here are some of my favorites and books I’ve read this year:(...)

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© Nichelle Strzepek for Dance Advantage, 2011. | Permalink | Category: Blog, Dance Bag, Dance Media, Dancethropology, Featured, Film/Video, Online, Product/Website Reviews | Who's talking about this article?

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A Head Start On The Holidays

Nichelle (admin) — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 13:21:06 +0000

With each year it seems department stores kick off the shopping season earlier and earlier. It’s Halloween weekend and Thanksgiving’s a month away! And now you’re thinking, “Oh no, not Dance Advantage too!”

BUT, with so much going on around the holidays – informal parent observations, formal performances, not to mention all your shopping, cooking, traveling, and other family obligations – it is important to think ahead.

However, that doesn’t mean you have to think too hard! With the choreography, music, and class ideas below I hope to lighten your load a little so that you can focus on more important things this time of year.

Ready-made Holiday Choreography

Downloadable holiday routines are available at DancesToGo.com. Three of them are my choreography:

A Little Angel - Parents will appreciate this silly holiday number for young children, age 3-5. It does feature Santa and mentions prayer in the lyrics, but is mostly about all of the naughty stuff little ones TRY to resist in anticipation of Christmas. It’s fantastically fun with plenty of repetition.

The Little Christmas Tree – This touching and elegant number for 5-8 year-olds could be used for holiday celebrations or informal performances. It works best for(...)

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© Nichelle Strzepek for Dance Advantage, 2011. | Permalink | Category: Blog, Choreographing, For Classroom, Music, Teaching | Who's talking about this article?

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Giving Thanks Giveaway: TenduTV

Nichelle (admin) — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 13:00:44 +0000

This giveaway is now closed.

Welcome to Day 2! Our first giveaway is from TenduTV.

The world of dance at your command.

TenduTV delivers dance programming to every screen imaginable, from your iPod and mobile phone to your living room television.

A few years ago, TenduTV founder, Marc Kirschner was a consultant, helping content companies figure out all of the new technologies that were coming. He became very excited about the potential for HD and digital distribution.

Around the same time, Marc whose wife is a member of Jennifer Muller/The Works, came to the realization that dance had a distribution problem, but it was one of supply, not of demand. People love dance, but what was available to the home audience wasn’t enough, and the film quality wasn’t good enough.

“So,” Marc says, “three years ago, with a small shovel, we set out to move mountains, and now we’re giving audiences the dance programming they want at the quality they deserve.”

Here’s what you can win:

Tendu.tv wants to give away permanent downloads of ALL FOUR of the first titles they are making available on iTunes and Amazon ($70 value) to ONE Dance Advantage reader.

The two performance pieces, Dutch National Ballet’s Hans Van Manen Festival and Wayne McGregor | Random Dance’s Entity are the first dance performances to be available on iTunes, and will also be available in high-definition. Equally important, these are two of the most respected choreographers producing work today, and, according to Kirschner, “two of the most elegant performance captures we’ve seen.”

The Dutch National Ballet produced the Hans Van Manen Festival to celebrate choreographer Hans Van Manen’s 75th birthday. Hans Van Manen was one of the first artistic directors of Nederlands Dans Theater (NDT) and has served as resident choreographer for both NDT and the Dutch National Ballet. The Festival includes performances from Dutch National Ballet, NDT II, the Kirov and the Bavarian State Ballet, all of which regularly feature Van Manen’s works.

Readers may remember Wayne McGregor (called “the closest thing to a rock star that ballet can currently claim” by the New York Times) from the documentary La Danse. While his work can be found in the repertory of companies such as New York City Ballet, San Francisco Ballet and the Royal Ballet (where is he resident choreographer), to be able to watch his company perform is an experience. Entity toured the US earlier this year to resounding acclaim, and we’re excited about making this work accessible to a wider audience.

Essential Dance Film is the first in an ongoing series of collections of “dance film” or “screendance”, which are choreographic works produced specifically for the screen and not the stage. These nine films have toured the world, winning award after award. If you haven’t seen a lot of dance film, Essential Dance Film is your starter kit.

40 Years of One Night Stands is the ultimate real-life dance fairy tale. It’s the story of how two women started a ballet club in the middle of nowhere, and of how that company grew to become recognized around the world – The Royal Winnipeg Ballet. 40 Years is the “Little Engine that Could”, if the Little Engine wore pointe shoes. Alastair Macaulay said about the film “It brought tears to my eyes more than once just because its story… is so irresistible and, in human terms, so admirable”.

Please note that the titles being given away are not yet available for download. Expected delivery is early December (although some titles may arrive earlier). Winner will have the choice of whether or not to receive the downloads via iTunes or Amazon Video on Demand.

Wow, an amazing gift for any dance enthusiast!

How to enter:

Leave a comment at this post, answering the following: What would you like to see from TenduTV?

Is there a type of program you want to see? Is there a device you want to watch videos on? TenduTV wants to deliver, so any and all suggestions are welcome!

As TenduTV downloads via iTunes and Amazon are currently limited to North America, this giveaway is available to U.S. and Canadian readers only. The giveaway closes Saturday, November 13.

(Sincere apologies to those of you in other parts of the world. TenduTV hopes that distribution will soon be extended worldwide.)

Best of luck! Stay tuned for our second giveaway of the day this afternoon.

© Nichelle Strzepek for Dance Advantage, 2010. | Permalink | Category: Blog, Dancethropology, Giveaways | Who's talking about this article?

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40 More Haunting Halloween Songs

Nichelle (admin) — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 13:20:11 +0000

You can definitely have a little musical fun with Halloween, and last year I added a list of over 30 songs, plus a few album ideas to Dance Advantage.

This year I’ve topped that with 40 MORE songs that you can use for parties or for dance class. Go way beyond the Monster Mash with tracks from True Blood, The Ramones, David Bowie, and Kanye West. And check the widget below, for your immediate gratification, they are all available for preview and download via the Amazon widget below.

Please allow me to introduce my… songs

Sympathy for the Devil – The Rolling Stones

Abracadabra – Steve Miller Band (or try Sugar Ray’s version)

Pet Sematary – The Ramones

After Dark – From Dusk Till Dawn Soundtrack

Frankenstein – The Edgar Winter Group

Werewolves of London – Warren Zevon (or try Adam Sandler’s rendition)

Werewolf – Cat Power

Disturbia – Rihanna

Devil Inside – INXS

Welcome to my Nightmare – Alice Cooper

(Don’t Fear) The Reaper – Blue Oyster Cult

Vampires Will Never Hurt You – My Chemical Romance (get the Vitamin String Quartet’s instrumental version, too)

Do the Vampire – Superdrag

Dead Man’s Party – Oingo Boingo

Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps) – David Bowie

Boris the Spider – The Who

Dream Scream – Death Cab for Cutie

X-Files – Mark Snow

Full Moon – Black Ghosts

Full Moon – Brandy

Zombie Zoo – Tom Petty

A White Demon Love Song – The Killers (check out the piano instrumental)

Wizard Wheezes – Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince soundtrack

See You in my Nightmares – Kanye West

Theme from Amityville Horror (Remix) – Horror Movie Madness

Ghost I-IV – Nine Inch Nails (get the whole album of ambient instrumentals for only $5)

That Old Black Magic – Rod Stewart (or your crooner of choice)

Night on Bald Mountain (Remix) – Ultimate Halloween

O Fortuna from Carmina Burana (Remix) – Halloween Dance & Party

Trick or Treat – Otis Reading

Bleed 2 Feed – CC Adcock & The Lafayette Marquis

Bones – Little Big Town

Looking for Dracula* – Charlotte Diamond

When I’m Booin’* – The Backyardigans

Howling at the Moon – The Ramones

Prologue – Little Shop of Horrors

Blood on the Dance Floor – Michael Jackson

Haunted – POE

Haunted – Evanescence

Beauty of the Dark – Mads Langer

Especially kid-friendly tunes are marked with a star (*). But you can find more selections for children in the Trick or Treat Tracks article.

Preview the tracks here:

Oh, and check out these Hair-Raising Halloween-themed Dance Videos too!

Hard as it is to imagine, I know there’s more where that came from. Add to the list with your comments and suggestions below.

© Nichelle Strzepek for Dance Advantage, 2010. | Permalink | Category: Blog, Featured, Music | Who's talking about this article?

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TenduTV Delivers Concert Dance on Demand

Nichelle (admin) — Fri, 15 May 2009 14:30:00 +0000

Because of technology available to us online and in our homes, we are rapidly becoming an “on demand” culture. From a personal computer, a phone, a TV, or iPod, viewers may take in content at their own convenience.

Dance artists and companies are beginning to find ways of making use of this technology, giving audiences that previously may have been out of reach, access to their art.

It is exciting to think that someone on the opposite side of the world can tune in to watch the work of an artist known only on their home turf. And, I find it really thrilling that students unable to attend a live performance due to location or other circumstances have the opportunity to access a work they may never have seen otherwise.

So….

Today I’d like to connect you to TenduTV, a broadband television channel that is delivering live concert dance, documentaries, and dance for camera works to an ever-widening audience. Their videos, many of which show complete (rather than excerpted) contemporary dance works for stage and film, offer excellent opportunities for students to connect with the dance world beyond their own studio.

Live performance video of Robert Battle’s “Overture,” Julie Voshell (from “Movin’ Out”) and Duncan Cooper (see my report on his recent interview here) in Leda Meredith’s “Pair of Jacks,” and works by Jonah Bokaer (which I’ve written about here) are available via TenduTV. There are also several award-winning screendance selections and an inspirational documentary film about the difference dance has made in a London women’s correctional facility. It is not to be missed.

I also want to note that TenduTV is to be commended for working to help dance artists utilize current technology without sacrificing the integrity and copyright protection of their work. I always look forward to the new selections posted on their channel via Sling.com and encourage you to keep your eye on this project. TenduTV is continually finding new spaces and places to broadcast, including millions of home televisions throughout the U.S.

Check out TenduTV’s channel at Sling.com

Visit their site and blog for more information

And say hello on Twitter and Facebook

© Nichelle Strzepek for Dance Advantage, 2009. | Permalink | Category: Beyond the Bubble, Blog, Dance Companies, Dance Media, Dancethropology | Who's talking about this article?

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