I have to be honest with you..

I hate the phrase "use your words.", it makes me want to vomit.

Maybe I've just heard it too often. Maybe it's the farm girl in me who grew up pretty rough and tough! All that being said, it was the first phrase that sprang to mind when I was thinking about today's topic.

Here's the thing.. every dance teacher marking an exercise knows that they need to count! You know that it's important that your exercise is in phrases of 8 counts (at least the average exercises). So...

Congratulations! You made it! What a year, eh? You and I both know that many things were dropped from regular practice in some of your dancers' approach to ballet class. They could be summed up in the word ‘Consistency’ I think.

Consistency in attendance. (Ballet class on zoom sucks! Really any education for a child on zoom sucks. Who’s with me on that?!)

Consistency in using their turnout (when was the last time you got to actually activate a child’s turnout muscles?)

Consistency...

Working with a pianist can be all kinds of things.. Awesome, terrifying, exciting, dreadful, amazing, supportive, disastrous, mind blowing, horrific and the words could go on and on. The important part is to realize that we're all different kinds of people with different experiences, skills, perspectives, mentalities, etc.

Today, I'm going to give you 2 necessary steps for you as a ballet teacher when working with a pianist!

SIDE NOTE: Keep in mind, we're all different so some pianists may not totally...

I dare you to sing this.. to the Copacabana melody!

The word is Tempo, Tempo Rubato,

with holding one note extra long and making up the time after,

It is a technique, for being sassy,

Robbing time from measure 4 to hold out measure 3 longer

Across music today, Whether work or play,

Whether dancing or playing music,

Who could ask for more?

Did you do it? Did you actually sing?!  I hope so! I had some good fun making it up!

So, in all seriousness, tempo rubato is totally awesome and...

Choices..We all have to make them

Have you ever been at a restaurant and said to the waiter, "I'm not sure what I want, the lemon seared trout with risotto or the chickpea/chicken curry bowl with naan..which would you recommend?" So often we're faced with a situation where 2 options would work, but we don't know which one we want.. or why! (After months of social isolation, you can see where my mind is at, a meal I don't have to make!! lol)

Like this little story, you, too, are faced with this daily...