The very first ballet class I played for was a big surprise, because I had no idea what to expect or what would be expected of me by either the teacher or the dancers. I walked into the studio and the first person I saw was the teacher (who seemed to me to be very old), holding a lit cigarette in one hand and a cane in the other!
Beyond the Bubble
Presenting Hip Hop In a Positive Light
![[Photo] Dancers from World Hip Hop Championship in red and black](https://www.danceadvantage.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/HipHop-International2-300x200.jpg)
Back then, hip hop wasn’t about derogatory comments, threats, and how much money you made. It was about family and belonging. It was about taking your world and making sense of it…through dance (b-boying), through music (DJing), through art (graffiti), through words (MCing). THAT is where your philosophy needs to come from.
Melissa Hough On Competition, Rubies, and Being a “Newbie” at Houston Ballet
![[Photo] New Houston Ballet Soloist, Melissa Hough in rehearsal](https://www.danceadvantage.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/MelissaHough-133x200.jpg)
“When I became more serious about which direction I wanted to focus on, I auditioned for the year round program at Kirov Academy. I lived at the school for four years, while still taking my jazz, tap, lyrical classes and participating in competitions, and working on summer correspondence courses so I could graduate early. I also took some voice lessons, because for a long time I wanted to be on Broadway, but during my time at Kirov I decided I wanted to go for it- try to be a ballerina. My (Russian) teachers never thought I’d go very far in a ballet company. They felt I was more suited for contemporary, which at the time I was.”
Ready, Set, Stop: How To Teach Mind-Body Skills By Not Moving
To illustrate this, I ask my students to become aware of how their body feels as it works against gravity. I ask them to put their hands above their heads and then to be still. I remind them, “you are in charge of your body,” “your brain tells your body what to do,” and then we wait.
Summing Up The Summit
Instead of actual snapshots I’m sharing some of the thoughts and impressions I picked up along the yellow brick road. I hope you’ll use, think about, or act upon these little nuggets from the Dance Teacher Summit. I had a great time collecting them for you.
New Continents — From Royal Ballet School To Boston Ballet
“I once took six months off from ballet when I was 14. My school commitments were growing and it was becoming seriously difficult to juggle everything. It reaffirmed for me, however, that ballet was my one love and out of everything what I should have been doing.”
