I began Dance Advantage in April of 2008. It has been a great eight months and quite a learning process for me. When I began I knew next to nothing about blogs or blogging. This has been a year of learning, watching, reading, writing, trial-and-error, hard work, and TIME (lots of time)! I’ve tweaked the look and the layout of this blog. I’ve tried all kinds of social media forms. And I’ve gotten a really good response from readers and other bloggers. So, I’d like to take a moment to say thank you to a few people/websites that have been a great help.
Thank you!
Some folks that have been especially kind, helpful, and supportive…
Leslea at NJ Dancers and Uptown Dance
Suzanne at Dance Studio Owner
David at Movmnt Magazine
Nancy Wozny at Dancehunter
Angie at Blog Coach
Cammie at Stripes and Velour
Some sites and services that have been a great help along the way
The Body Series/Dancing Smart Newsletter
My Tweeps and other dancebloggers
Selly at DanceOutlook
Tonya at Swan Lake Samba Girl
Deborah at Dance in Israel and DanceBloggers.com
Maria at A Time to Dance
M. Butterfly at Notes from Upstage Left
… the many others who have been kind enough to add Dance Advantage to their blogroll or links, most of them can be found on my blogroll (so please check it out).
And a huge THANK YOU to my readers!
Readership has increased over 300% since that first month of blogging. Dance Advantage has come a long way, and I recently published my 100th post! Just for fun, let’s look back at the most popular posts this year.
Top Five Posts for the Year
- Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Turnout (Part I)
- What Is Modern Dance?
- Creative Dance
- Encouraging Boys to Dance
- Improving Pirouettes
Goals for 2009
I have many goals for Dance Advantage but I thought I’d let you in on the biggest one. Plans are already in motion for making the switch from WordPress.com to WordPress.org. For readers who have no idea, this means that I will have more control over the look and design of the blog, which will translate into a new look and layout, new features, options for navigating the posts, and more. I am very excited about this transition as I believe it will support my mission to provide a quality and useful resource for those involved in dance education.
If you are a regular reader of the blog, I encourage any suggestions or feedback that will improve this site. I’d love to hear from you!
To all of you visiting this, my first post in 2009, I want to wish you a wonderful, prosperous, and…
Nichelle Suzanne is a writer specializing in dance and online content. She is also a dance instructor with over 20 years experience teaching in dance studios, community programs, and colleges. She began Dance Advantage in 2008, equipped with a passion for movement education and an intuitive sense that a blog could bring dancers together. As a Houston-based dance writer, Nichelle covers dance performance for Dance Source Houston, Arts+Culture Texas, and other publications. She is a leader in social media within the dance community and has presented on blogging for dance organizations, including Dance/USA. Nichelle provides web consulting and writing services for dancers, dance schools and studios, and those beyond the dance world. Read Nichelle’s posts.
