Landing a Commercial Lease
For many dance studio owners, negotiating a good lease or lease renewal against an experienced agent or landlord can be a challenge. Dance studio tenants may go through the leasing process only once or...
View ArticlePlanning for Success
Teachers! How often do you walk into your dance class with the thought, “What am I going to teach today?” Dance teachers have many responsibilities, but one of the most important is accountability. And...
View ArticleOnce an Employee, Now a Rival
It’s a studio owner’s biggest fear: former employees who turn into competitors. When your most popular instructor tells you she’s leaving to teach for the studio up the street—or worse, plans to open...
View ArticleFor Love of the Body
Perhaps dance studio owners would do well to start posting the following disclaimer on their front doors: “Warning: Dance can change the course of your life.” It’s a truth that Marjie Major, a...
View ArticleWhen Frank and Victor Met May
Fifty-one years: It’s a respectable age for a dance school. That kind of longevity usually means that the teaching comes from the heart, and that’s certainly the case at Shawl-Anderson Dance Center, a...
View ArticleNo Studio, No Problem
Being a great dance teacher or studio owner requires stamina, know-how, and, most important, plenty of flexibility. Sometimes the traditional methods don’t work and teachers must find new images to...
View ArticleBallet in a Modern Israel
From my balcony at the Tel Aviv Hilton, I watched swimmers, surfers, and the waves of the Mediterranean Sea lapping on the beach below. In Israel for the Performance Awards, my program to encourage and...
View ArticleEarly Learners: Works in Progress
I never know who’s going to have the most fun in a brand-new class of preschoolers—them or me. The kids are as cute and excited as can be and it’s my job to make sure they are learning as well as...
View ArticleRediscovering Joy
I looked in the mirror the other day. I looked tired. I felt tired. I was never one to count wrinkles, but things just looked saggier than usual. It’s a feeling I seem to have often these days.
View ArticleHigher-Ed Voice | Angling for Adults
Dancers gather in the hallway, stretching and awaiting the beginning of class. A few students peer into the studio, giggling. When a file of energized, sweaty dancers saunters out, a new group rushes...
View ArticleStudents Speak Out | A Week That Changed My Life
I was 3 years old when I stepped onto a stage for the first time, dressed in a red tutu and tiny ballet slippers, covered in glitter, with my hair in a perfect bun. Since then all I ever wanted was to...
View ArticleHumor & Heartstrings | August 09
When 3-year-old Madison Sugg’s mother took her into the handicapped bathroom, her eyes widened and she squealed with delight: “Look, Mom, there’s a ballet barre in here.”
View ArticleTeacher in the Spotlight | Barbara Parren
“My dance teacher and mother, Barbara Parren, owns a small dance studio in Wall, New Jersey, where she has taught dance to students for 18 years. She has been through many disasters with her studio...
View ArticleThinking Out Loud | An Alphabet of Thanks
My dear hubby, love of my life, reacher of things on the high shelf: You are my steady hand, my calm influence, and my biggest fan. You are the yang to my yin, the voice of reason to my impulsiveness....
View ArticleMail | August 09
Just completed reading the April/May issue—wonderful and inspiring is all I can say. As an ethnic/world dance instructor for almost 30 years with a ballet, jazz, and modern background, I am excited and...
View ArticleA Better You | Know Your Legs and Feet
Virtually all dancers treasure their legs and feet. Legs give us the power to enjoy the greatest feeling in dance: flying through the air. In my favorite childhood dream—perhaps a precursor to my love...
View Article2 Tips for Teachers | Pirouettes Part 2
In teaching pirouettes it is important to emphasize using turnout. On relevé the supporting leg must retain turnout with the working leg placed so that the toe is just below the knee of the supporting...
View ArticleOn My Mind | August 09
They don’t perform grand leaps, not one fouetté turn nor a single pirouette, and there’s no flash at all. Yet you watch them with your mouth open, while that head-to-toe body chill takes over your full...
View ArticleAsk Rhee Gold | August 09
Dear Rhee, I recently discovered that one of my students, Joanne (not her real name), who is 15 and has been with me since she was 3, is having issues with drug addiction. This young lady is talented,...
View ArticleAugust 2009 | Table of Contents
COLUMNS Ask Rhee Gold On My Mind 2 Tips for Teachers A Better You DEPARTMENTS Mail Thinking Out Loud Teacher in the Spotlight | Barbara Parren Humor and Heartstrings Students Speak Out FEATURE ARTICLES...
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