ARTICLES FOR DANCE PARENTS

what am I paying for?

I pay for those moments when my childREN become so tired they want to quit but don't.

I pay for those days when my childREN come home from school and are "too tired" to go TOdance but go anyway.

I pay for my CHILDREN to learn to take care of their body.

I pay for my CHILDREN to learn to work with others and to be good teammates.

I pay for my CHILDREN to learn to deal with disappointment, when they don't get that part they hoped for, but still have to work hard at the
part that they received.

I pay for my CHILDREN learn to make and accomplish goals.

I pay for my CHILDREN to learn that it takes hours and hours and hours and hours of hard work and practice to create something beautiful, and that success does not happen over night.

I pay for the opportunity mY CHILDREN have and will have to make life
long friendships.

I pay so that my CHILDREN can be on stage instead of in front of a screen...

I could go on but to be short, I don't pay for dance, I pay for the opportunities that dance provides my CHILDREN to develop attributes that will serve them well throughout theirlives and give them the opportunity to bless the lives of others. From what I have seen so far I think it is a great investment! 

what DO DANCE TEACHERS DO?

-  Dance teachers spend hours listening to hundreds of pieces of music to find the right one for a class or a 2 to 3 minute dance. 

-  Dance teachers usually need to edit the music: shorten, lengthen, change the tempo, combine with another piece.  It is pain-staking, tricky work that could take hours to make the music sound like it was actually recorded like that.

-  Dance teachers spend hours searching through many catalogues for the perfect costume for each class.  They look for costumes that reflect the dance, will flatter different body-types, are age-appropriate, are reasonably priced, and won’t be terribly itchy on sensitive, little bodies.  The costumes must be ordered in January for the May performances.  Therefore, dance teachers agonize over the fact that the dancers’ measurements in January may not be the same in May.  

-  When parents see their dancers onstage in clever, beautiful, creative dances, they may not realize that the dance teachers spend hours choreographing each dance.  They try to construct dances that show case every dancer, considering the age and various level of each student, in every class.  They also try to choreograph dances that will not only challenge the dancers, but will also be attainable by the performance date. 

-  Teaching dance is physical work.  They get down on the floor with little ones, use their own bodies to demonstrate steps including jumps and leaps, run back and forth correcting dancers, and use a lot of energy trying to be heard above the music.  This takes a toll on their bodies over the years.

-  Dance teachers teach in the afternoon and evening and use the mornings and weekends for all the outside-of-class work. They do not work 9 to 5.  This greatly affects their family life (dinner times, child-care, after-school activities for their own children, etc.)  They need very understanding families.

-  Dance teachers want every one of their students to succeed.  They challenge and encourage their students to be the very best version of themselves.  They want kids to realize the reward in the hard work and dedication it takes to study dance.