"Glitter In The Air"

Did you see Pink perform last weekend at the Grammy's? How long until some dance teacher figures out how to hang a dancer from the ceiling at a competition and spin them around?!?!?!

So we are in the midst of costume chaos at our studio in preparation for our first competition in March. They're all starting to come in and they need altering and so on, so my mind is spinning. I'm so glad I finally got out of that stage of rhinestoning every costume until I could no longer see the original fabric! I used to be that teacher. I even used to have a rhinestoning party for the parents/students at the studio in order to get it all done. I'm pretty sure I doubled costume prices with all that glitter! Then we're talking rhinestone chokers, earrings, hair clips... oh and this new trend of rhinestones on the face and red glitter on top of lipstick! What studio decided dipping a child's lips in to glitter to make them sparkle was a great idea? I'd like to talk to them!

So, I have officially given up on the "glitz" portion of dance competitions. We have rid of most of our rhinestone jewelry and fake eyelashes this year and gone in a more organic direction, which pretty much parallels my teaching/choreographic style. We used to spend hundreds of dollars on all matching accessories, that by the end of the year were all broken or lost. I've decided that is not what I am trying to win with... even though they do give out special awards at competitions for who's costume sparkles the most! It's not the image I want to project with my choreography, so we won't follow suit and try to out "shine" other studios with our jewelry... we'll try do it with our dancing instead!

I once had a dance make-up company try to sell me these big expensive make-up kits for our competitive team, that included 12 different shades of eyeshadows, one to match every costume. Their main approach to me was that after we had spent all this time/money on dancing and their costumes, the make-up and accessories were just the final touch to complete the look. I do agree with that statement to a degree... but what if you're costume has no rhinestones on it? What if it's a tank top and black shorts?

At my studio we do have a small make-up kit for our Competitive team, that we put together ourselves and purchased from Mary Kay. It includes 3 jewel toned eyeshadows, a neutral blush and a berry toned lipstick. It all comes complete in this neat little compact, and then they just have to provide their own foundation and mascara. Honestly, I cannot tell the difference when a dancer is wearing fake eyelashes on stage or just mascara and eyeliner... so let's stop dramatizing about the eyelash glue for an 8 year old and move on!

I do appreciate a beautiful rhinestoned costume at a competition, when it's used in the right context. I have several really beautiful, and expensive, costumes at my studio for that glitzy lyrical solo, or that 9 year old jazz solo. These types of costumes do look stunning on stage, but I generally might get more excited about the costume than about the actual dance. However, there is something about that understated plain black bodysuit on stage that makes me focus on the dancer/choreography instead. Of course, you do have to have that type of dancer to pull that off, so be careful. Don't try to understate a routine if the dancers have weaker technique... it's not effective.

I guess you have to decide what kind of competitive studio you are. Are your numbers really upbeat and vibrant, so they require lots of rhinestones to help accentuate that "look" on stage. If so, great! Whip out those rhinestones, and use them in an effective way that suits the costume/students. But don't go overboard -it's really easy to spot those dances where the most exciting thing that happened is the hair piece that fell out of that kid's hair! Spend more time focusing on cleaning up that routine then you spend rhinestoning their costumes.

If you are a more contemporary studio, whose costumes are less glitzy, then accessorize accordingly. Maybe you just have some hair clips for a few routines, and the rest you go with less of a dramatic look for all the others. The details of your choreography will then be more apparent on stage, but be aware of that in preparation.

I don't think there is anything wrong with either type of studio, so why don't you try a bit of both! As a seasoned adjudicator myself I know that after the first session at a competition I already know which studio is which by the accessories they wear. Everyone at a studio has the same hair-do with the same 2 clips over the left sided part, and they all have matching rhinestone bracelets. It sets a precedent for your studio that you need to be aware of. Maybe you had a really strong group perform, then when your next group steps on stage that I recognize from your studio accessories, they have to live up to that last group you had on.

I even remember seeing a studio last year who had rhinestoned all of their foot undies to match each of their costumes. Maybe they were trying to set a new trend, but on the other hand I don't remember these kids pointing their feet too often either, so maybe that wasn't the greatest idea for them!

Diamonds are definitely a girls best friend... I just like my kids to win a Diamond award, rather than wear them all over their faces!

"The Book Of Love"

Today's blog is inspired by a question I saw a colleague post on Twitter... how do you write down your choreography?

I am the kind of teacher that listens to a song over and over again until I have memorized every nuance and every note before I can choreograph to it.  I feel that the music directly drives every piece that I do... but I've started to find that I have so many routines to do that memorizing music just isn't enough anymore!

So this year I bought myself a fancy notebook at Staples before September rolled around and I wrote in big bold permanent marker on the front cover Robin's Choreography Bible!  I bought post-it note tabs to mark off pages and a soft gel pen that fit neatly down the spiral binding.  Now I am a novelty kind of person, so I took very good care of this book for the first month.  I didn't want any scribbles in it, or dented corners on pages so I never let it out of my sight.

I had never written down my choreography in previous years, as I believe in a very organic process of working through my routines... but I really wanted to make an effort this year to choreograph 40 completely different routines for competition that differed vastly from one another.  Jotting down ideas, or noting tricks/lifts for specific dances in this book really helped me to keep track of inspired moments that I might have forgotten otherwise.  I don't write down step-by-step for every routine, as that's not always effective when you're sitting on the couch, but general ideas of where the routine is going.

I even started using this book for keeping track of combos I would do for my older classes.  That way I could keep track of the details that were important to me in terms of the choreography and helpful notes that I could pass along.  It isn't unusual for me to be reaching for this book in the middle of teaching a combo to the Senior class, because honestly at the end of a long night of teaching I just can't remember everything any more!  What I also found great about keeping track of my combos in my Choreography book is that I could easily pull from them for competitive routines.  I could grab a few 8's of a combo that really worked for a student and put it in their solo if applicable.  The kids even know what the book is for and have referenced to it themselves in times of desperation of forgetting what I did in the last class on their solo!  They won't find scripted out counts of 8 in vast detail, but they're familiar enough with my language of dance and how I work in the studio do understand what the majority of it means.

I never used to understand why teachers wrote things down, as my brain just functioned as a dancer, so I found it easier to work organically and had no problems remembering details.  Now as I get older, and just more busy at the studio, that little book, now complete with dented corners, has become one of the most useful tool in my classes.  I even started making a game for myself of moving the tabs of finished routines to the opposite side of the page, so I could keep track of what was completed and what still needed work.  Maybe I'm just too easily amused by those little florescent re-stickable pieces of shiny paper!

Recently, I purchased a sister book that is coincidentally titled Robin's Choreography Bible #2!  I have already started keeping track of brilliant ideas for picture day and the Recital in it... and maybe I'm jinxing myself, but there are already several pages dedicated to insane ideas for competitive routines for next year... and no you can't borrow my book for a sneak peak!

I have even created a systematic language for myself in the book to remind myself to warn the kids that what's coming up will hurt!  There is an almost vicious excitement I get when I am nearing that starred section on the page.  It's the "I know you won't get this right away, and you will have bruises tomorrow, but trust me it will be amazing when it works"!  That's probably too long to be a subtitle in my Choreography book, but it will definitely be the title of a Chapter in my autobiography one day!

"Make Me Whole"

So I finally did it... get your minds out of the gutter!  I officially went off processed foods... well I became a pseudo-vegan!

Last week I watched this movie about where the food in our grocery stores comes from, and that was enough to turn me off 90% of what they sell there forever.  This probably seems dramatic, but if you watched the movie you'd be disgusted as well.

Most of the food we buy in the grocery store is not even 'real' food.  By that I mean, that most of what we buy there is processed, or so filled with chemicals and hormones that you might not even know what it really tastes like.  So when I say I'm a pseudo-vegan, I'm officially off meats and dairy but I'm still going to eat fish.  Just not fish sticks... real fish!  Now I don't mean that I will never eat meat ever, but only if it's 100% organic.  I am not buying any more pre-packaged/processed foods in the store, but I will attempt to cook a lot more and make healthier choices when it comes to convenience options.

Now I have always been health conscious, mostly so that I can practise what I preach.  I want to feed my body good food so that I can get everything I demand out of it.  I always avoided fast food, and I am that person who never gets cheese on my sub at Subway, but I never realized how much other "crap" I was eating.

Tonight I went and familiarized myself with the Organic & Vegan section of my local grocery store.  I bought organic Yogurt, several pounds of vegan meats, and soy cheeses.  I'm not giving up the foods I love, just finding healthier options.  I raided the fruits and vegetable section, and also found whole grain options of all the starchy foods that I love.  I do realize that this kind of shopping/eating is going to be expensive, but I will probably become a less wasteful person in the process.  This food will all go bad faster than chemical filled foods, but that's the trade-off.  I'm not going to be one of those die-hard vegans, but I am vouching to only eat real whole foods.

So what does this have to do with my studio you ask... well the very first parent in my doors tonight brought with them 2 dozen donuts from Tim Hortons to celebrate her son's birthday.  Normally I would indulge myself with one, as they are sitting on my desk, but instead I restrained myself the entire evening.  I can't make a rule that says "no crappy food allowed" in the studio, but I probably will write up a newsletter to all my parents letting them know about the benefits of feeding their kids good food before dance class, and in general.  It's not to scare people about what they're eating, but just to realize that as dancers we demand a lot out of our bodies and as parents and teacher we should be encouraging kids to make better choices when it comes to food.

I discovered there is a Vegan restaurant near my house, which I will visit this week at some point to familiarize myself with their menu.   Some of my friends and me even went to our favorite little Mexican Restaurant on Friday and I ordered a vegetarian burrito dinner with no cheese or sour cream.  I had fresh salad, rice and tons of vegetables all without the guilt.  I think there are many ways I can eat well even within my lifestyle of not eating at home all the time.

My vegan chocolate cupcakes are in the oven, and I'm about to get some potatoes cooking for my Vegan Shepherd's Pie for tomorrow.  My mother will probably fall out of her chair when she reads that I am cooking!

There is just something really satisfying about cooking things from scratch with healthy ingredients and then enjoying them afterwards.  It's the same feeling that I get after a great night of contemporary classes.  I am tired, sweaty and cannot feel most of my major muscle groups... but it is so satisfying!