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Alvin Ailey loss

StyleStation | Aug 05, 2010 | there are 0 comments 0

The Ailey family mourns the passing of Denise Jefferson, who, for the past 26 years, was the director and impassioned steward of The Ailey School. She died on Saturday, July 17 in New York of ovarian cancer.

Appointed as director by Alvin Ailey in 1984, after teaching at the School for 10 years, Ms. Jefferson was instrumental in identifying the potential in young dancers, and mentoring myriad students on their journey to becoming some of the greatest artists in the world.

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tags Ballet, Jazz, Hip Hop, Tap, Modern, Broadway, Ballroom, Teacher, Enthusiast, Parent, Retailer, Studio, Competitions & Conventions, Performance, Summer Study (all tags)

We Broke the Guinness Record for the Most Ballerinas on Pointe at One Time!

Sondra Forsyth | Aug 03, 2010 | there are 0 comments 0

Yesterday, August 2nd 2010, on a perfect summer afternoon at the Naumburg Bandshell in New York City's Central Park, 241 people put on pointe shoes in an attempt to break the previous Guinness record of 226 ballerinas on pointe at the same time. That record was set last year at City Center in NYC after the Youth America Grand Prix. We were determined to best it. Under the watchful eye of a representative from Guinness sporting a logo blazer, we assembled in ten reasonably straight lines. She was stern and businesslike with her pen poised over her clipboard while we waited for the command to releve. Oddly however, nothing in the numerous e-mails sent over the past few weeks by event organizer and uber ballet photographer Gene Schiavone had mentioned a key requirement of the challenge. We were all supposed to stay on pointe, ensemble, for a solid minute. Quick, what would you suggest as a way to achieve that end? How about just sous sous and bourree in place for sixty seconds? Good answer! Instead, though, American Ballet Theatre soloist Craig Salstein gave us a peculiar combination involving bourrees to the left with the left foot behind (!) and a back soutenu without a plie for preparation. I don't have to tell you that many participants, some of whom looked to be as young as 10 or 11, wobbled on the bumpy cement surface and came off pointe. And those straight lines? Not so much any more. But wait! There's a happy ending to this only-in-New-York idyll.

Read about it after the jump!

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tags Ballet, Teacher, Enthusiast, Parent, Studio, Summer Study, New York Dance Scene (all tags)

Bali Bound on a Kite String

BALAM Dance Theatre | Jul 26, 2010 | there are 0 comments 0
Carlos Fittante as

Carlos Fittante as "Rama" in Rama's Meditation from the "Ramayana"

by Carlos Fittante, Artistic Director, BALAM Dance Theatre

What does it take to pull together the international tour of a dance company?  A dance enthusiast asked me that question, which got me thinking about the skills needed to organize Bali Tour 2010 for BALAM Dance Theatre.

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tags Ballet, Modern, Teacher, Enthusiast, Performance, Bali, Company, Director, Fusion, Tour, Ubud (all tags)

How To Create Awesome Online Videos to Promote Your Dance Studio Through Social Media

kinerenterprisesinc | Jul 24, 2010 | there are 1 comments 1
Social Media Icons

Social Media Icons

Day 62 in our 90-Day Social Media Success Challenge for Dance Studios...

A friend of mine, who I met through the wonderful world of social media, asked me the other day, "how do you create all of those great YouTube videos?" She wants to begin integrating video marketing into her company's social media marketing campaign, and she's interested in a step-by-step plan for how to create great online videos. So, I decided to write about it, in order to help her, and all of you as well.

If you read this blog regularly, you already know that I am a strong believer in the power of online videos to connect with your customers, make your brand (dance studio) more personal and tangible, and create a powerful online presence. I even suggested 5 ways that you can use videos to promote your dance studio through social media, in a previous blog post, and in a video (http://youtube.com/dancestudiosuccess).

But for today, I will give you the 5 essentials to creating great online videos.

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tags Ballet, Jazz, Hip Hop, Tap, Modern, Broadway, Ballroom, Teacher, Enthusiast, Parent, Retailer, Studio, Competitions & Conventions, Performance, Summer Study, Apple iTunes, Dance Teacher Staffing, Dance Video, Facebook, HD camera, Kiner Dance Studio Success, Kiner Enterprises Inc., Social Media for Dance, Social Media for Dance Studios, Video Pad Video Editor, Video editing software, Youtube, dance class video, dance studio marketing, dance studio video, how to promote a dance studio, imovie, ipod, marketing strategies for dance studios, online video marketing, social media videos, social media videos for dance studios, video marketing for dance studios, windows movie maker (all tags)

For a dancer & choreographer, Passion trumps bumps in the road

Broadway Connection | Jul 19, 2010 | there are 1 comments 1
Marc Kimelman

Marc Kimelman

YOU MOVED TO NYC AND WITHIN FIVE MONTHS YOU WERE WORKING AS A PERFORMER AND CHOREOGRAPHER! HOW DO YOU DO IT?  

I have always been the type of person to make things happen.  I do not sit around and wait for that phone call.  Instead, when I am not teaching, in meetings, or in rehearsal, I am emailing new contacts and taking class.  Sure it takes time to establish a brand new network of people.  Coming from Toronto where I was more established as a choreographer, and moving to a place where no one knew me was scary and exciting.  I knew I could be an asset to the artistic world in New York; I just had to get my work out there.  

More after the jump!...

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tags Broadway, Choeographer, Health, Moving from Canada to NYC (all tags)

An Obstacle or An Adventure by Elita Sohmer Clayman

elitasc | Jul 15, 2010 | there are 0 comments 0

Is It an Obstacle or an Adventure?

By Elita Sohmer Clayman

Write down these two words on a sheet of paper or on the computer screen.
Obstacle     Adventure

When you encounter stresses do the following. Think, is that stress an obstacle in my life
or an adventure to learn from. Adventure is a process from where you learn something even from an obstacle...

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tags Ballroom (all tags)

BEYONCE`S "SINGLE LADIES", the latest version

StyleStation | Jul 14, 2010 | there are 0 comments 0

Single Ladies the phenomenon continues!

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tags Ballet, Jazz, Hip Hop, Tap, Modern, Broadway, Ballroom, Teacher, Enthusiast, Parent, Retailer, Studio, Competitions & Conventions, Performance, Summer Study (all tags)

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