Time for change? Ready or not here it comes.

The local fitness center where I've rented for 11  years is under financial duress.   They want to move to a smaller space...so I'm being forced to smush into a smaller area or find a new home for my growing dance studio.  It's such a wierd feeling being pushed into a new plan, versus planning to do it yourself.   I just had it all figured out. We are coming off of an awesome recital in May, have a great group of teachers coming in for the Fall, and then the floor litterally drops out from under us!   Uhmmumf....

So, now looking at new options.  Which are limited in our small town... I just have to keep reminding myself of why I do what I do.  Why we all do what we do...why we teach dance --- it's so these kids can dance. 

I know I should be excited about the possibilities, but I'm just not ready for a big change in my dance life right now.   My regular work life is crazy and I sort of liked the way my dance life (business) was going.  Well, time to "go on with the show" I guess.   I'll let you know how it turns out.  If you have any advice I'd love to hear it! 

Dancingly Yours,
Ms. DeAnne

Hey Ms. DeAnne, do you watch Dance Mom?

At class this week I finally had a young student ask me if I watch Dance Mom on TV. Here was my response: "Yes I have watched it but I really don't like it much." To which the student replies, "I like the dancers but that teacher really scares me! I'm glad you aren't like that Ms. DeAnne"..."Well at least most of the time," she added with a smile. To which I smiled back because I know I'm not at all like that teacher, Ms. Abby. "The parents scare me more," I responded.

I shared with the student that it's great for her to watch the dancers for ideas on choreography, but that she shouldn't compare herself to them unless she practices as much as they do. I reminded her that they practice everyday and take classes every day. "Did you know that?", I asked her. She replied, "Well I know they practice a lot more than I do because they have better turns."

I'm glad she noticed that the other dancers were better than her and that they are good because of their work ethic in the classroom. I made sure to remind her that she could be just as good as them with more practice and boy did she SMILE!

I know we've bashed the Dance Mom TV show before in other posts, but perhaps there's a light at the end of this tunnel afterall. Students can learn that to get to a level of dance they see on TV they are going to need to make sacrifices and put in the studio time to do it. Not a bad lesson to learn. Disney Channel and all the other cool dance shows do make it all look so easy - they don't show the hours of rehearsal that it takes to make it all look so great. Dancing with the Stars is doing a great job of showing the hard work it takes. So, while I don't have time to watch that show either I do like it on premise.

But for the record, I still don't like the Dance Mom show on TLC - I think it has become like Desparate Housewives- full of Botox, big lips and big hair. Those Moms are really scary.