I have used everything as far as a device to play music in the classroom. What's better, a phone, an mp3 player? should I go back to the dark ages of CDs?


The main issue I have with using my phone is this; many times if a student is struggling, I use my phone to videotape them dancing, and then I show it to them. Almost instantly, the can actually see what I'm asking them to do, and what the issue is. Can't do that if you're playing music out of your phone (phones can't do that many things at once).

I decided to use my Kindle and give that a try.

First thing I did was go to the app store and download all the apps I needed:

• Relax Melodies (awesome for putting on music that is calming, doesn't end, and perfect for warm-up and stretching)
• Spotify Music (my studio has a group membership, and my Director puts her playlists up there) 
• ES File Explorer (easier to find stuff and go to videos easily)
• Youtube (to pull up dance videos)

There are pre-downloaded apps on the device that are also super convenient

• Amazon Music (just click music at the top, and download your music so you can play it offline. All your playlists will sync too.)
• Calendar (Put your classes on the schedule and they'll help you stay on time! and it syncs with your google.)

I've had an Etsy shop before and guess what... it's a ton of work. I'm also a seamstress (fun fact!) and that's a ton of work too! Those two things together? Naw, fam. I'll stick with ballet and playing around on Canva.

Supporting small business allows people like you and me to be able to support their families. Pick small before going big!

Check out Designer for Dance.

JD says, "I was born to do this."

I was born into a clothing industry family. My grandparents and parents had retail clothing stores in several locations in Arizona. There was always a sewing machine in our home while I was growing up because my mother frequently did alterations of garments that were sold in our store. I learned to sew on her machine when I was just a boy.
I enjoyed a 10-year successful career as a fine artist where I made my living painting and print making. But I continued to sew - mostly for myself. For a twenty-year stretch of my life I studied Hip Hop, Ballet, and Jazz dance. In time I merged everything that I had learned into sewing and printing garments for dancers of all kinds. I have been doing that since 1998.

Y'all don't even understand. I can't pick which one here is my favorite, so I'm just taking a screenshot. So. Flipping. Cute.

so cool and funky!

that Retire tho!

Holy hairballs it's a turn-out kitty.

Precious. Get it here.

Sparkly Kids shorts!

Tons of color and pattern options. $19

And yes, there's a clearance section too.

Savin' those dollas.

I think I might have to get me some of that stuff. I LOVE it!!

Shop local, friends.

<3 p="">

Sometimes, no matter what you do, you cannot keep control of a class that just. won't. stop. talking. How do you deal with that?


1. Stop Talking Yourself. 

Every year, at least once a year, when I'm super frustrated with my chatty classes, I just pretend I've lost my voice. I whisper and tell them I can't talk.

Yes I know it's a lie.

Sorry. *(not sorry.)

>>>>>Dance Class Etiquette Guide - your complete guide to behavior before, during, and after class

They're silent as a mouse! They have to be! They can't hear me, the music is quiet, and they're hanging on my every word/movement.

Seriously, if your class is too loud, you are probably too loud, too.

Photo credit: McBeth via Visualhunt.com / CC BY-NC-ND

Can't stop talking completely? Talk really quietly.

Now, that doesn't always work, I'll be honest. For the majority of kids it does, but sometimes...

2. Let Them Talk.

"Miss Haley, why would I let them talk? I'll never get anything done!"

You will if you get them to say what you want them to say.

For instance, when I teach echappe to 3-year-olds, I echappe and say, "Escape!" and jump back to first and clap my hands and say, "Together!" After doing just a few, the kids almost always join in.

Photo credit: bobbyrettew via Visual Hunt / CC BY-NC-SA

Chatty classes? You don't even have to ask them to repeat you. If you say it every time as you dance, most of the time, they'll join in.

Sometimes that's still not enough.

3. Don't Stop Dancing.

This option is not for the weak of heart.

Photo credit: darcyh via Visualhunt.com / CC BY-NC-ND

Basically it requires you to pre-choreograph everything in your class, set the playlist, and start the music. You say what you're supposed to say, they say what they're supposed to say, you dance the whole time, your transitions are choreographed, there's no down-time, and they're so focused on keeping up with you (and breathing) that they don't have time to talk.

>>>>>Printable Poster - Help! My Dancer Says She's Hurt!

4. Make Them Apologize. 

When all of the above options have failed, I stop the music, ask all my students to stand in fifth position, and I lecture them.

yeah I know, it's kinda old-school, but I make it very clear that I'm unhappy. Here are some of the things I say:

• You are distracting the students who want to learn, that's rude to your classmates.
• I have spent a lot of time trying to teach you to dance, and you are not being a good steward of that time.
• You are being rude and disrespectful to me
• You are being rude and disrespectful to your parents, who are paying for you to be here.

On Thursday February 16 of 2017, Hope Owens sat down in her dance class. This was highly unusual. The next few months would be one of the hardest times for her and her family.


In a few months, she went from having oxygen tubes and physical therapy and just to be able to stand, to getting a scholarship at the Dancer Palooza convention and being given a solo in her studio's production of The Nutcracker.

I got a chance to talk to Hope on the way to her rehearsal on Saturday a few weeks ago.
I asked Hope and her mother, Tara, to give me a basic run-down of what transpired.

When she sat down in dance class, Tara (who is a dance teacher) was highly concerned. It was unlike Hope to give less than 100% in class, and very unusual for her to sit.

They went to the doctor, just in case. She had flu-like symptoms, but no temperature. The strep test came back negative. She was told to go home and rest.

The morning after her birthday, which was very soon after visiting the doctor, she got up from bed and said to her mother, "I can't breathe."

"It was so unlike her," Tara said. "We went to urgent care and were given antibiotics and an inhaler."

On the following Monday, Hope didn't go to school. She seemed worse than before, so they went to their pediatrician who sent them to the hospital immediately to get X-Rays.

Reflecting on the events, Hope and Tara agreed that seemed to be the turning point; everything went downhill from there, and it escalated so quickly it was hard to keep up.

An ambulance was called. Hope was sedated, plugged with needles, put through tests, put on a ventilator, an incubator, and treated with antibiotics. She was on meds around the clock.

It all seemed to revolve around her lungs. "She was like a dog panting," Tara said.

And through it all... smiles.

While she was sedated but not totally asleep, Hope wrote back and forth to her mom on a piece of paper to communicate. She had a tube in her throat to help her breathe and get enough oxygen, so she was unable to speak. She realized she wouldn't be able to compete the upcoming weekend, and wrote to her mom, "put someone strong in my place."

Hope spent a long time in the hospital constantly being treated by a variety of doctors, but didn't have a turn-around until they finally brought a lung doctor to look at her. He diagnosed her with Reactionary Pneumonia. She was put on steroids, and had a high-flow nasal machine put in so she could breathe.

Hope said one of the hardest parts of being in the hospital was not being able to eat real food. Because she was 14 at the time, she was in the children's hospital, and many kids can't handle food while in there. "It was a battle every time," they agreed. The doctors finally allowed her to eat, after making sure she could properly swallow, and watching her slowly eat applesauce.

Since she seemed to be recovering, the doctors wanted to see if they could send her home over spring break. They did an X-ray of the chest, and found a pneumothorax (large black space on the X-Ray) where her lung had collapsed. They tried to allow the lung to fill back up naturally by using air, but because she had been on the steroids, it had made her lungs stiff, and had to have a surgery to lift the lung and insert an air tube.



Every day they did an X-Ray of the lung to check if it had lifted itself up. "Our day was determined by that Giraffe X-ray," Tara sighed, then explained; "We were in a children's hospital. Everything was decorated to be less scary. Our portable X-Ray machine had a giraffe on it."



Later, they clamped the tube in her lung, hoping that the lung would lift itself up and recoup.

It took 13 days of being on that tube before the lung lifted, and on March 30th, Hope was able to walk out of the hospital.

I asked Hope what some of her biggest struggles were once she got out of the hospital. She replied right away with "Stairs. My stamina was completely gone." She did say that when she went back to school she was allowed to use the elevator, which helped a lot during the early parts of her recovery. She said one of her biggest victories was being able to run up the stairs, which happened just a few weeks ago.

When I asked her, "At what point did you start doing physical therapy to get your strength back," she and her mom struggled to answer, explaining that even while in the hospital, she would tap, do plies, stretch, and do her best to dance. Almost immediately the hospital sent a PT to work with her.

"I tapped through the bad times," she said.




I also asked her how soon did she return to dance. "I went to class the day I got home... Warm-up, stretch, leaps and turns, just some stuff."

Soon after being cleared, she attended a convention, where she was prepared to sit out if necessary, but she managed to get through all the classes, with some breaks, and even win a scholarship for her tap. Miss Ella had saved her a spot in her ballet dance, which she performed successfully, though she opted for flat instead of pointe shoes.

Every class at convention was a struggle. Hope was frustrated that she couldn't dance like her old self. She had to sit out sometimes and take breaks, but her tapping toes still worked! She was awarded a scholarship and we couldn't have been more surprised and more proud!

In regards to missing school, Hope explained that she just studied a lot, and worked really hard. She'd always been a good and dedicated student, so when she went back to school, her teachers were gracious in allowing her to take tests, but not doing all the missed homework.

When I asked about her experiencing depression, she was insistent she was the most optimistic one in her family. "I didn't experience depression at all," she insisted. Her catch phrase was "Hoping with Optimism." She said her mom struggled with some depression, and there were definitely some tough times. She said, "Some days I felt like I would never get out of the hospital."

She did a lot of art therapy (the benefits of art are never-ending!). She painted with watercolors and acrylics, did sketches, etc and it was little things like art that would give her something to look forward to each day. She also looked forward to hanging out with the therapy dogs.

She also held tight to scripture verses. "When you're praying, you ask for something, and you believe you'll receive it, it will be granted."

I asked her, "If you could go back and change anything, at all, what would you change?" Hope's answer surprised me; "I would have asked for fruit sooner." I thought to myself, fair point. Hospital food sucks and nobody wants candy when they're sick.

Hope and Tara both reflected on the fact that her illness brought so many people together that it was mind-blowing. "DTN was so loving and supporting," Tara said. "Teams at competitions were dedicating pieces to her." An artist in Australia mailed Hope a pair of hand-painted decorated pointe shoes. People from all over the world heard about her story and sent socks, bracelets, cards, goody-bags, and girly stuff. People at home sent food. "We had home-cooked meals almost every night."

Hope with a Therapy Dog

"One woman sent us warm cookies and cold milk!" Hope said, excited.

Tara even met people in the nail salon who had randomly heard her story via a "friend of a friend" and were praying for her and for Hope.

But one of the hardest parts was fitting back into her life. "It felt like I was gone, and life just... went on without me."

Some of her long-time childhood friends were cold to her upon her return, as if they had "moved on." Her team that seemed so supportive before, several months later, they were back to the drama and the pettiness. "It's not an 'everyone will be nice to me forever' card," Hope said.

Fully Recovered

Hope did have a hard time reconnecting with her older sister, but they've both continued to grow closer to Christ, and to each other through Hope's recovery process.

"The doctors kept telling me I wouldn't be able to do this, and do that..." Hope said.

Her mom pipped in with, "I kept saying in response, 'you don't know Hope.'"

"The whole experience has matured me, and strengthened my faith... I have so much appreciation and love for God, and I experience thankfulness."

There are a lot of things in the dance world that are out of date (forcing turn out) or that we've recently learned more about (bouncing stretches). Sadly, a lot of out of date teaching methods are still being used. In fact that's what I'll be talking about during the conference - how we need to change the way we dance and teach for longevity.

There's another out of date method that almost every single teacher uses.

OK, I'm going to get a lot of hate for this but here it goes... *takes deep breath.*

The ballet barre.


Sorry guys... but the ballet barre is over-rated, over-used, and almost non-essential.

(Please note I did not say completely useless. I would never say that. And I don't think Eileen would either.) But there's a reason only my intermediate/advance dancers ever do barre, and even though we do some stuff, most of our class is done on the floor or in the center.

Why?

There is one reason. Just one.


Seriously. How often do we see our dancers gripping, leaning, pulling, pushing on the barre? Or we tell them their standing leg needs to stay activated, and not just hang out while their working leg works? It's just too easy to cheat, leave your hip open, lose your turn-out, or stop engaging the body fully.

Photo credit: quinn.anya via Visualhunt / CC BY-SA

Do your dancers find it impossible to use their arms and their legs at the same time? They've learned to "hold the arm" in a position while the leg moves. That's not how ballet works! Instead, they need to learn to use their arms to help their legs, and vice versus.

Photo credit: fingle via VisualHunt.com / CC BY-NC-SA

Are your dancers significantly stronger on one side than the other? Many times, it's because the body compensates on the weaker side, and because barre is so easy to do it wrong, it doesn't get corrected. Another reason is because we do things once on each side, rather than working the weaker side extra.

Imagine doing your hardest barre combo without the barre.

Now imagine that it's actually easier to do with without the barre than with.

Because if you are utilizing your muscles correctly and efficiently, it will be!

OK Haley, what is this amazing phenomenal program you're about to sell me?

Well first of all let me be super clear about something: I am not being compensated in any way to share or promote PowerDance Technique. I do not gain affiliate payment. I don't get a lump sum. There's no link exchange. I'm sharing the program with you because I believe in it.

OK so now about the program.



Here are the amazing things that you will discover after working through these exercises:

• You will understand where rotation comes from
• You will feel resistance to movement, and take on a whole new level of elongation
• You will feel how to "squeeze your butt" the right way.
• You will feel your back - all of it
• Your neck tension will go away
• Your ankle tension will go away
• You will feel how your arms and your legs are connected
• You will be in control of your body
• You will experience opposition in a whole new way
• You will see the connection between different dance steps (how are glissade, petite jeté, grand jeté, developpé, and ballancé all related?)
• You will stop making the same mistakes over and over and over, instead being able to understand and be in control of the correction.
• You will revolutionize your turns. Pun fully intended.

All of these things are automatically corrected when you are put in a position where you have no choice but to do the step correctly, otherwise you will fall flat on your face. You can't pronate, because you're activating the right muscles. You can't force your turnout because you're on the ground with nothing to force it against. You can't help but use your arms because if you don't, you'll fall.

Maybe she gets home and falls into bed; the next morning your nine-year-old is hobbling around like an eighty-five year old woman, complaining of pain in all sorts of weird places.

Maybe you were the top of your studio at home, but now at Ballet School the classes are really kicking your butt, and it hurts to relevé; you can't kick that soreness.

Maybe you danced in High School, but this is your first time actually dancing 8-10 hours a day with a company, and after four days you think you're going to die.

Do not fear! Put down the pain killers and try these all-natural and healthy alternatives to pain relief.



1. Hot Bath + Essential Oils

This is number one on my list for a reason. After a long day teaching or dancing, the first thing I do when I go home is draw a hot bath (and I mean hot. I don't even use cold water in the tub).



Put about 2 cups of Epsom Salts in the bath. If you're really sweaty and want to pull some toxins out too, throw in a little bit of indian healing clay, dead sea mud, or pink himalayan salt.

If you have Peppermint essential oil, put in 2 or 3 drops of that, too (no more than that, or you'll start shivering, even though you'll be red-hot! That's a bad combination). If you don't have peppermint oil, you can get some here (this is the only kind I buy; it's pure, inexpensive, and extremely strong, and is the only thing that gets knots out of my shoulders and feet).

Or, you can throw a few bags of peppermint tea into the bath.

Other good oils to use include Rosemary (great for pulling muscle cramps out) and Lavender (for relaxation). And yes you can put them all in the bath together; they smell great. I recommend Radha beauty for all of them.

 Once you get everything in the bath, wait until it's cooled enough for you to get both feet in and stand there without feeling like you're going to die. Then you can settle in for a nice soak.

Pro-tip: don't stay in an extremely hot bath for longer than 10-20 minutes. If you have to get out once in awhile and drink cold water, that's helpful to keep your body from overheating.

2. Topical Treatment

Throw out that tiger balm; there's all sorts of crap in there! use an all-natural cream, lotion, or oil blend. Arnica gel is a good option (and it's also great for bruises). I personally take peppermint oil, rosemary oil, rosehip oil, and jojoba oil, and just massage the crap out of my legs and shoulders.

3. Sweat It Out

One of the reasons you're sore is because of the lack of oxygen in the muscles; do some cardio, wear some sweat pants, and work out until you're drenched. Follow up with some foam rolling, and a nice deep stretch. It makes all the difference in the world!



4. Water. 

Drink water! Your body is more water than it is anything else; keep yourself hydrated.

The Healthy Dancer

Is your soreness injury related? Learn more about injury prevention and safe stretching here!

1. First, you need a good dance floor. It's very dangerous to wear your dance shoes anywhere but on a dance floor. Get this affordable roll-out floor at Discount Dance.

Tap N Tube roll-out floor - $100.93

2. Next, get yourself the perfect ballet barre - One that is both portable, and attached to the wall! Ballet on the Go is a project started by a high school girl who needed a ballet barre to take with her. This is the perfect option for home-studios!

Ballet on the Go Portable Barre - $49.99 plus shipping

3. Most affordable option for a mirror? Get a few of these bad boys, take the frames off, and use Command Strips to attach them to the walls.

Closet Mirror, $5.88

4. You'll need a nice sound system... something small, with good sound quality that is tough, durable, and lasts a long time... sound too good to be true? Well I've had this bluetooth speaker (also has aux cable) for almost 10 years now, and it is still works perfectly!

Creative D100 Bluetooth Speaker - $85.95

5. Get some stretching and conditioning tools for injury prevention.


6. A 2-pack of spin boards to help you with... well, everything. Read more about how to properly use a spin board here.

2-pack of spin boards - $19.99

7. The best and most comfortable dancing socks you'll ever wear!

Be You Sure Sock - $17.99

Don't forget to sign up for the Healthy Dancer online conference! There will be sessions on injury prevention, safe stretching, using spin boards and foam rollers, nutrition, and more!