So, you think you can dance? Great! Now it’s time to take your talent to the next level and choreograph a dance. Don’t worry, you can do it! There are 10 basic steps you need to apply when choreographing your dance. Below I will list the ten steps for you that will help you create a wonderful dance.
- Find your inspiration– select a song that you are drawn too. Choose songs that will make you want to dance.
- Have a vision– think about how you want the dance to look and feel. Your vision can include; the clothing you will wear, where you see yourself dancing, costumes, even how you would like the lighting. Write down the dance. Make a list of moves that would work for the song you have selected.
- Develop a vocabulary– This means to think of the gestures and movements. Select dance moves that will flow and work well together.
- Break the song apart– Determine the mood or moods of the song. You may even want to draw out the tone of the music by using squiggly lines.
- Use the full dance space– try to use the entire space provided for you when you dance. When you use all of your space you keep your audience engaged. Also, it ensures that you will use different moves as you think of ways to use the full space.
- Start dancing– Record yourself dancing to the song. There are 3 reasons you should record yourself making up a dance; to see what moves came naturally to you, to see what expressions you made with your face, so you can dance freely without trying to remember what moves you used.
- Get the basic movements down– we like to focus on one part of the song until we have created a dance to it and have perfected it.
- Practice– Practice makes better! Practice the moves until you are comfortable with the flow of the dance.
- Mirror the beginning– Try to end the dance the same way you started it. By bringing the dance full circle, it will give the dance a sense of completion.
- Have fun and be yourself!
www.Juliadances.com Challenge: Expose yourself to more music. Here are a couple of ways you can listen to new music.
- Listen to Pandora or your favorite radio station
- Go to iTunes- on iTunes you can search for your favorite artist and listen to their current music.
After you have found a song that is just right, it’s time to get started choreographing your dance! Here is a dance Julia choreographed. You can see more of her dances and tutorials on her YouTube channel- Julia Dances Live
If you are reading this article then you have probably invested a lot of time and energy into taking good care of your daughter’s hair. All of your hard work will not go to waste now that she is taking ballet. Yes, she will have to wear a bun everyday but that doesn’t mean that her hair will begin to break off. I know you have probably heard the saying, “if you do the same hair style over and over again, the hair will begin to break off around the place that has the barrettes.”
I was concerned about Julia’s hair breaking off too. So I decided to continue taking care of her hair the same way. I decided that if I noticed a change in her hair I would try a new routine. Over the past three years there has been no change to our routine, and her hair is still healthy and has continued to grow. There are some nights I do not feel up to doing our hair routine, so I don’t do it. However, I tried to complete our hair routine most nights. Here is what I do most nights.
- Remove any decorative hair barrettes or regular hair barrettes you put in her hair that day. Things like clips or bobby pins. These things can pull on her hair while she tosses and turns in her sleep. The end result of this would be her hair being pulled out. Even on nights that I do not feel up to doing the rest, I still try to do this step.
- Take her hair out of the ponytail. Chances are you put her hair in a tight ponytail. You do not want her to sleep with a tight ponytail because her hair will be pulling the whole night long. If it’s pulling her hair, after awhile her hair will get weak and break right off. Have you ever seen some girls who have tiny bumps around the edge of their hair? The bumps mean their hair is too tight and it will eventually come out.
- Now that you have removed everything from her hair, let’s start the routine! I like to work from the bottom of her hair to the top of it. I make horizontal parts across the hair starting from the bottom and slowly comb her hair all the way through, beginning from the roots of her hair all the way to the scalp. I make horizontal parts and comb through each section until I reach the top of her hair.
- Next you need to grease the scalp and her hair down to the tips. This is the most important step of all! The oil is what causes everyone’s hair to grow. The reason most African American girls have short hair is not because it can’t grow, but rather we are not taking care of it properly. We are the only people who do not have natural oil. Most people have to wash their hair regularly to remove all the oil their hair produces, not us. We are the complete opposite, we must wash our hair less so that the oil we are putting in our hair has a chance to sink in and strengthen it.
- When you are done greasing her entire hair now you need to put moisturizer in it. Think of it like this, the grease gives your hair the food it needs (vitamins and nutrients.) The moisturizer gives your hair a drink (keeps it from drying out.) You will need to do both to maintain healthy hair.
- After you are completely done greasing and moisturizing her hair now comb or brush it into a loose ponytail or bun. Make sure none of the hair is being pulled. The goal is to keep it contained but not tight.
- Put a cap on for bed time. You can buy a cap or reuse panty hose that have a whole in them. I like reusing panty hose the most because I find that they stay on better during the night.
- The next day you will only need to make the ponytail or bun a little tighter so that her hair will not come out during ballet class, minimum to little brushing needed.
www.Juliadances.com Challenge: Look for a moisturizer that has water for the first ingredient. Remember the goal of the moisturizer is to keep the hair hydrated. What do we drink when we are really thirsty? Water! Why? It has the ability to completely quench our thirst. Think of your hair the same way as your body. Look for a moisturizer that will hydrate your hair.
If you are new to youth ballet then you are beginning to see how costly it can become over time. Last year Julia participated in ballet and tap so we needed to buy apparel for both classes. We needed to buy tap shoes, leotards, tutus, and tights. The money starts to add up and that does not include any performances she may be a part of that year. Some schools actually make the parents buy the costumes, or if you do not have to buy the costume you will still need to buy tickets to the show. Whether you buy the costumes or the tickets it doesn’t matter, ballet can be pretty expensive. If you are wondering how important is the ballet school that your child attends is….it is very important! However, no matter what school you choose to enroll your child, it does not make the cost of ballet any less expensive.
Youth ballet is something that you just decide to invest in your child because they are talented and because they have a desire to learn ballet. If you have decided that your child will be learning ballet then the next step is to find a store that you can get the most for your money. I would recommend researching a store that is close to where you live first before you shopping online. Having a store that fairly inexpensive and near your home is great, because you can have your child try on the items before buying them and you do not have to wait long before receiving the items.
Even if you prefer to shop online it is good to be familiar with a store near you in case something unexpected is needed. As long as the item you are looking for is in stock you can get it right away. Another reason why having a familiar ballet apparel store on hand is for time sensitive items. If you need to buy something immediately you can buy something from a familiar store and be confident that you are getting a quality item.
The more options you have the less limited you will be in any area of your life. If you believe ballet is going to be your child’s sport then it would be good to have many ballet stores on hand. First, I would recommend researching ballet apparel store in or near your neighborhood. Aim for having at least two stores that you can go to that are near your home. Secondly, after having two specialized stores on hand check out other stores that carry ballet apparel. Surprisingly enough, we have found that Target and Wal-mart carry quality ballet apparel. Finally, search online stores that sell ballet apparel. Here are a couple of places that I have found to be valuable when buying ballet items online.
www.dancewearsolutions.com
Www. Ebay.com
In essence, the best place to buy ballet apparel is a place that works for you. If you like shopping online, then compare prices between different online stores. However, I would recommend having multiply stores on hand from online stores to stores located near your home, and even stores that do not specialize in ballet but happen to carry a few items.
