Ballet and Dance Parents - Ever Concerned About The Pressure And UN-Reality of Dance Reality TV?

Dance parents! Please read THIS post at Dance Studio Today.



"How To Open A Dance Studio...Dance Moms Reality TV

UPDATE 1/9/2012:
GMA had a clip this morning of this show and I understand that there is now DANCE MOMS 2 being filmed at Stars Dancers Studio in Miami FL. The studio is owned by a season 6 So You Think You Can Dance Competitor Victor Smalley and part of the Federation of Dance Competitions machine. I understand that the Dance Moms series is now going franchise with plans for shows from the Midwest and the west coast. I still feel the way I did yesterday, this show hurts children and that is the point of this blog. BOYCOTT THE SPONSORS and to use a cliche, "save the children". It isn't about the adults it is about the bullying of children and right now that is a popular topic. If I still owned a studio I would boycott the advertisers of THE FEDERATION OF DANCE COMPETITIONS too!!

DANCE MOMS and its effect on the Dance Studio Industry

The intent of reality TV is to present real life situations in a scripted format (sorry fellow dance aficionados this includes SYTYCD). If that is true then the producers of this show see the dance studio industry in the following format:

* Overweight women, poorly trained in the dance arts who obviously no longer train and lack body tone, limited education past high school, egotistical control freaks who enjoy bullying for bullying’s sake especially those who are better educated than they are
* Parents, mainly women, who want to live their lives through their children, who accept inappropriate treatment by those to whom they pay a fee to do so, even the well-educated are vulnerable
* Competitive venues that promote and encourage teachers who exhibit the Abby Lee behavior (this is obvious since the first event to allow this woman to be videotaped did so gleefully)
* Costume manufacturers who create inappropriate outfits that encourage young girls to mature too quickly, the designs are inspired by previous competitive performances
* Young choreographers who design routines based on their personal level of achievement and not the children they are entrusted with to train


If you believe that Abby Lee’s methodology and model for running a dance studio is the correct one, stop reading this blog and move on. If you think your business is in jeopardy because of this show (which it is) then continue reading.

Due to illness I am no longer a studio owner, BUT I still think it is the best job I have ever had. My resume shows the industries I have worked in. I have created a petition to get the sponsors to drop their advertising on this show based on the website ads for it, the biggest is Macy’s. We need to come together as a community of learners who are concerned how this show, in its second season (usually the season that establishes it will continue), affects our bottom line. This includes ALL who are involved in the dance studio industry, owners, teachers, bloggers, costume manufacturers, competition companies, event venues, makeup companies, and presenters of educational seminars, ANYONE who is involved in our industry in any format.

I was a “dance competition pioneer”; I had one of thirty-five entries in the first New England based private competition in 1973. I created the original ADJUDICATED competitive scoring system that many at first ridiculed but are currently using/abusing, in 1977 for my own competition based on concepts I developed with my partner, a corporate attorney. About the same time the persona Abby Lee portrays began to develop, marketed by those who decided they wanted all the pie not just a piece of it. Routines promoting negativity emerged including a routine that portrayed mentally ill people in an 1800’s health care facility format, incorporating gaudy hair design, gothic makeup and children dancing in strait jackets. My clientele contained professional people who encouraged me to stop entering their children into these venues and only allowed them into my event, as I also felt discouraged that this was to be the “new” trend for the dance studio industry for children on an intensive level.

I transitioned into public education in 1991 first as an English teacher then as a technology integration specialist. Through professional development courses sponsored by my employment districts I learned better approaches to teaching than those emulated by others in dance studios, then and now.

I know many wonderful teachers who agree with me, they do not manage their businesses using this model. They promote positive behavior on all levels as administrators. Professional dancers shudder that this woman represents the many hours of training they have engaged in to be as polished as they are. The show is a misrepresentation of our industry on many levels.

I encourage you to sign the petition I created on December 20, 2011, after viewing the advertising promotions for this show. As the show progresses this season I think more of you will begin to realize your livelihoods are in jeopardy.

Please share this blog post with others; we are all in this together. I believe, in dance there are no strangers only friends who haven’t met yet.

Thank you for reading,
Jann Davis

Petition is here:" and the rest of the post.

Flexibility Exercises For A Professional Ballet Career

One of the ballet parents asks me if I could recommend a DVD for flexibility training. She states that her dancing daughter has

* tight hamstrings
* and front legs, I assume meaning her quadriceps

Her daughter's aim is to get higher leg extensions.

The ballet teacher says its her hips but the daughter describes the above. I recommend the ballet student reads the articles below:

A muscle stretching exercise;

"For your low back and hip area: stand with feet together, and take a long step forward. Keep your hips and low back upright, and place your hands on your hips so you can feel it if your posture changes.

Bend your back leg slowly, lowering into a runner's lunge, not uncomfortably deep. You will feel the stretch at the front of your hips. The posture muscles at the front of your spine will get this stretch as well, and also the front of your back thigh. Hold for a 10 count, and switch legs."

For a flexibility exercises DVD, with massage techniques and myofascial release, get your dancer the Flexibility Workout For Athletes.

Healthy Nutrition For Your Growing Dancer

A dance parent recently asked me if I have any idea what would healthy nutrition be for a teen aged girl who takes a few ballet classes a week.

For a growing ballet dancer, I recommend that junk food be kept to a minimum, and fresh organic foods are eaten as much as possible. Why organic? The hormone disruptors in food laden with pesticides cannot help any child grow up to be healthy. Hormones affect bone growth, muscle strength, and your child's view of the future.

The general guidelines of lean (grass fed or wild caught)proteins, lots of green vegetables (raw with a tasty dip can become a favorite with kids) and salads made with healthy oils, would be good for anyone, especially athletic people.

Learn about HEALTHY FAST FOOD.

Read about NATURAL MUSCLE BUILDING AND WHEY PROTEIN.

Understand BRAIN HEALTH AND OMEGA 3 OILS.

Use a NATURAL ENERGY DRINK without all those food chemicals.

Green vegetables supply calcium and other minerals for proper growth. Healthy oils such as flax seed oil, walnut oil and coconut oil make wonderful salad dressings. These oils contribute to brain function. If your teenager is moody, get them oils with omega 3 fatty acids in them. Unfortunately, the regular bleached super market oils are not the ones that help them grow.

Snacks that help a young dancer would be celery, nuts and seeds. The oils and trace minerals in these foods will get them more mileage than a pizza. O.K., have pizza once a week, but it is not good snack food.

Your dancing daughter or son will have a real struggle with the stress of competition in ballet and the physical demands if they eat the typical modern diet. I hope you'll read the articles listed above for more detail. But this is for you too, the concerned dance parent. It should be your diet too. It is anti-aging, and your dancer will have you around longer!

Personal Charisma And A Professional Ballet Career

A mother worries about her dancing daughter; the director of the ballet school her daughter attends has said that her strength is her personality and the fact that people like to watch her dance. Will it make up for the fact she is not the most technical dancer? And that she has a good-enough but not ideal ballet body?

If everyone is doing the same steps and shouldn't they all presumably look the same? Is personal charisma something that any child can learn or develop?

When your dancing daughter or son has a wonderful quality to their work that is unique to them, they truly have a gift. Anyone with the right physique can learn ballet, but when eyes are drawn to a dancer it puts her/him apart from many of the other dancers. Many dancers spend years in the corp de ballet because they are excellent dancers, but their gift, ironically, is blending in. They just don't have an extra spark or magnetism that draws people's attention to them.

It is wonderful when a child is accepted into a professional ballet career training program when they don't have the perfect ballet body but their personal charisma is so obvious to those holding the auditions.

I always hope these gifted performers never eye the perfect ballet bodies that do show up in professional ballet schools and feels lesser-than in some way.

Less charismatic dancers who later in their training take some acting lessons will blossom in a way that their teachers may not have expected them to. And some become more noticeable just because they grow up and develop confidence.

One way to increase your child's confidence is to get them THE BALLET BIBLE.

(And remember to get The Parents Manual for f*ree!)

Is There A Professional Ballet Career For My Dancing Daughter

I feel for you, because once I was a dancing daughter. I know my mom did her best so that I could have an extra advantage at having a professional ballet career.

And I bet your heart aches, for all the times that your dancing daughter moans and groans after ballet classes, that "I'm not good enough"..."so-and-so is so much better than me"...and more.

Well, know this and take comfort. No one is ever good enough in ballet. It is an occupational hazard. But, on the positive side of things, in ballet, you are always getting better. Even the prima ballerinas and lead male dancers improve all the time. There is no perfect.

If your dancing daughter, after all your time, expense, and emotional commitment, only becomes a corps de ballet member, will you love her as much?

Of course you will! As an understanding parent, you know that very few children who train in classical ballet become the prima ballerinas or premiers danseurs of their generation.

So how can you help your dancing daughter be the best she can be? Can you help in a way that matters - I don't mean your emotional and unconditionally loving support, but can you help in "the ballet world"?

You are your child's biggest support. And you can offer her even more support by finding and providing great dance education, to enhance her ballet training. Most ballet schools (yet) do not offer any education in functional anatomy, for example.

Or training in extra-curricular practice in say, special foot exercises that give her ballet muscles for pointe work. Ballet footwork is admired and mimicked by football players and tennis players, in case you didn't know. Everyone in sports desires that level of professional footwork.

To dance in pointe shoes - that is a big one!

For your younger dancing daughter, who is not yet ready to dance in ballet pointe shoes, THE Perfect Pointe Book offers a dance education with exercises to prepare for ballet footwork, that nothing else provides.

Every dancer has some limitations. The earlier they address these compromising factors, usually involving physique, the better. You can help your dancing daughter right now.

Why now? Doing these special ballet muscles exercises, will prepare your ballet dancer for dancing in pointe shoes, long before she gets there. Look at the author's presentation, and I think you will find that the material will help your dancing daughter work toward a professional ballet career.

Foot Arch Pain In Ballet Dancing

In ballet dancing, there is always the potential for many types of foot pain. Children dancing, who have different shapes of feet and muscle strength, may experience foot arch pain for various reasons. If your child complains about feeling foot arch pain during or after ballet classes or contemporary dance classes, there are corrections to be made in their ballet moves.

THE BALLET BIBLE breaks down every detail about how to learn properly in ballet classes and how to use the foot and arch muscles.

For example, the following topics are covered:

foot - proper weight placement on the floor

rolling ankles, or pronation - and its relationship to ballet turnout

relaxation techniques

stretching exercises

sprains, strain and pain of the lower leg caused by weak foot muscles

ballet injuries such as shin splints and sprained ankles

"Rolling ankles" in ballet dancing, is when the inner sides of the feet collapse toward the floor. This pulls on the knee joints, as well as all the tiny joints in your feet. Usually this is fixed by the dance student learning how to hold ballet turnout better in the rotator muscles at the back of the pelvis area.

As the entire leg rotates outward, the inner foot lifts a little, without evoking excess tension in the ankle muscles.

Relaxation techniques and stretching exercises are explained. The stretch of the ankle joint done by relaxing the tibia or shin muscle, prepares for a gentle and safe ankle joint and muscle stretch, to increase flexibility and a achieve better point of the foot.

Weak sole of the foot muscles will cause over-use of the lower leg muscles. This will result in tension and a decrease in the joint movements required to prevent ballet injuries.

How to prevent foot arch pain is one of a hundred technical pointers your child will understand with The BALLET BIBLE where you will get all the details.

Dance Teacher Summit Free Passes - Value $425

Author of The Body Series, Deborah Vogel writes today:


"I'm excited to announce that I will be giving away 5 full

attendee passes for the Dance Teacher Summit being held

July 29 - 31, 2011, in New York City. Each pass is worth

$425 and you can take all the dance classes, visit the

exhibit hall, and get a goody bag filled with... well

goodies! You're also invited to the cocktail party, the

ACE award competition performance, and a fun Fashion

Forward show choreographed by Mandy Moore.

Transportation and lodging is not included in this contest -

just the $425 registration fee.



To be in the running for one of these 5 free passes place

an order for $50 or more from The Body Series. The

contest is open from today, June 27th - July 3rd. I'll

pick the 5 winners from all who order first thing on the 4th

and then email you immediately, making for an even better

holiday!