Latest / Making The Impact - A Dance Competition Podcast / Back to Basics - The Importance of Foundational Training

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Back to Basics - The Importance of Foundational Training · Making The Impact - A Dance Competition Podcast

0:07
SPEAKER_01: Have you ever wondered what goes on behind the table at a dance competition?
0:10
SPEAKER_01: Exactly what are the judges looking for anyway?
0:13
SPEAKER_01: This is Making the Impact a Dance Competition podcast.
0:15
SPEAKER_01: Each week we'll cover a different topic related to the world of competitive dance from the perspective of the judges behind the table.
0:25
SPEAKER_01: While the competitive dance world appears to reward tricks, there is more to dance than whacked out bot mods in one million olive second terms.
0:32
SPEAKER_01: Dance educators Kaylin Barr and Mary Morone join us on this episode to discuss why it's imperative for competitive dancers today to focus on the basics in every genre, for the longevity of their careers, and for the integrity of the art form.
0:48
SPEAKER_05: Hello, dance world, and welcome to the fifth episode of Making the Impact.
0:52
SPEAKER_05: I'm your host, Courtney Ortiz, and I'm here with my co-host, Leslie Mueller.
0:57
SPEAKER_05: Hey Courtney, happy October! Happy October, wow, it's already here.
1:01
SPEAKER_05: It's crazy that we're in the fall, but it feels so good in New York City.
1:05
SPEAKER_05: I love the fall weather.
1:07
SPEAKER_01: Fall is in the air, it's all crisp.
1:09
SPEAKER_01: And I'm really excited for this episode today because I think it's um timed really well for this time of year because it's the beginning, still the beginning of the dance season, you know?
1:19
SPEAKER_01: And at the beginning of the dance season, it's important to go back to the basics.
1:22
SPEAKER_05: Yes, it is.
1:24
SPEAKER_05: We knew we had to put this topic at the start of our season to hopefully inspire a lot of the teachers out there to go back to basics and not forget about some of those foundational technique and skills that we're learning throughout all genres of dance to incorporate into our weekly technique training.
1:42
SPEAKER_05: So we have some awesome guests that are joining us on this episode, and I'm really excited to hear what they have to share.
1:50
SPEAKER_05: And yeah, it's gonna be a really good one.
1:52
SPEAKER_05: I'm pumped for it.
1:53
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, me too.
1:54
SPEAKER_01: But before we get into that, I think we have some sponsors to share.
1:57
SPEAKER_05: Yes, let's hear from our very first sponsor.
1:59
SPEAKER_05: Young Arts is an arts organization that supports young artists across 10 different disciplines, including dance.
2:06
SPEAKER_05: Their national arts competition is open to artists aged 15 to 18 or currently in grades 10 through 12, where selected winners can receive cash scholarships, mentorships from leaders in the industry, a lifetime of professional support, and the prestigious honor of being a young arts winner.
2:22
SPEAKER_05: Competition finalists in their senior year are further eligible for nomination as a U.S.
2:27
SPEAKER_05: Presidential Scholar in the Arts, one of the nation's highest honors for high school students.
2:32
SPEAKER_05: Fun fact: I was a young arts winner in Modern Dance back in 2007, during my senior year in high school.
2:39
SPEAKER_05: Young Arts opened my eyes to so much more besides dance, and they truly helped kickstart my professional career.
2:45
SPEAKER_05: The deadline to apply for their 2023 national arts competition is Friday, October 13th, 2023.
2:52
SPEAKER_05: Learn more about Young Arts and start your application today by clicking the link in our show notes and visiting youngarts.org slash apply.
3:00
SPEAKER_05: Francisco Gela Danceworks is our season 5 premiere sponsor.
3:05
SPEAKER_05: Hey dancers, are you in high school?
3:07
SPEAKER_05: Have you thought about what you want to do with your dance career after you graduate?
3:11
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3:13
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3:21
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3:26
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3:31
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3:41
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3:49
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3:59
SPEAKER_05: Use the code MAKINGTHEIMPACT in all caps when registering on their website at FranciscogelaDance.com.
4:07
SPEAKER_05: Learn more about Francisco Gela Dance Works programs and seminars by clicking the link in our show notes or visiting their website now.
4:14
SPEAKER_05: Alright, dance world.
4:15
SPEAKER_05: It's time to jump into this week's episode and we are talking all about the basics of dance.
4:22
SPEAKER_05: Back to basics, y'all.
4:24
SPEAKER_05: We're starting off the season at your dance studio probably with some technique and training.
4:30
SPEAKER_05: Hopefully that's happening weekly in the studio.
4:33
SPEAKER_05: And we wanted to put this episode at the top of the season because we want to remind all of the studios out there, all of the dancers out there, how crucial the basics are when training in every genre of dance.
4:44
SPEAKER_05: And we're going to discuss that in full detail this week on the episode with two fabulous guests joining us, like always.
4:51
SPEAKER_05: The very first guest that I'm excited to welcome to the podcast for the very first time is someone who I've known and admired in the industry for a long time.
4:59
SPEAKER_05: I've had the pleasure of teaching their students up in upstate New York, not upstate, but like right above New York City, up in Westchester area.
5:08
SPEAKER_05: And so, so, so talented.
5:09
SPEAKER_05: So immediately when I was casting for this episode for our basics episode, I was like, who out there is teaching the basics really, really well?
5:18
SPEAKER_05: I know exactly the person.
5:20
SPEAKER_05: I'm excited to welcome Kaylin Barr to the podcast.
5:23
SPEAKER_05: Welcome, Kaelin.
5:24
SPEAKER_02: Thank you.
5:24
SPEAKER_02: Thanks so much for having me.
5:26
SPEAKER_05: Yes.
5:27
SPEAKER_05: And thank you for doing such great things with your dancers.
5:31
SPEAKER_05: It's been awesome watching their journey through your social media and through their social media, but just then also getting the opportunity a few summers for the past few years to work with them in the studio.
5:42
SPEAKER_05: And it was just so refreshing to see that they understood those basics, especially in jazz dance and I'm sure in so many other genres so well.
5:50
SPEAKER_05: So I applaud you and all the teachers at your studio for training them so well.
5:54
SPEAKER_02: Thank you.
5:54
SPEAKER_02: And we love having you come.
5:56
unknown: Yeah.
5:57
SPEAKER_05: So, Kaylin, if you wouldn't mind sharing a little bit more about you, uh, where you grew up, where you're based now, any career credits, and what you're working on.
6:07
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
6:08
SPEAKER_02: So I grew up in Hyde Park, New York, which is also upstate.
6:13
SPEAKER_02: Especially if you live in the city, you consider it upstate.
6:16
SPEAKER_02: It's in the Hudson Valley.
6:18
SPEAKER_02: And I grew up at a small studio there.
6:21
SPEAKER_02: And then I went on to dance in college at the University at Buffalo.
6:25
SPEAKER_02: I got my BFA and dance there.
6:28
SPEAKER_02: And right out of college, I got my first professional gig dancing for Royal Caribbean.
6:34
SPEAKER_02: So yeah, I danced on cruise ships for a few years.
6:38
SPEAKER_02: It's where I met my husband.
6:40
SPEAKER_02: So that was awesome.
6:42
SPEAKER_02: I got to travel the world and dance and meet my love.
6:45
SPEAKER_02: So after that, I danced with Spirit Productions, which yeah, Spirit, which is kind of, I think, similar to cruise ships, but on land.
6:56
SPEAKER_02: And they I was dancing around the country with them.
7:00
SPEAKER_02: And I also danced with a New York City-based company called Synthesis Dance under the direction of Tracy Stanfield.
7:08
SPEAKER_02: She teaches at BDC and steps.
7:10
SPEAKER_02: So that was amazing.
7:12
SPEAKER_02: So we got to do some more like contemporary jazz work and more company work with that.
7:18
SPEAKER_02: And now I'm a full-time teacher choreographer.
7:22
SPEAKER_02: I teach around the tri-state area, and I'm the company director at a studio in based out of Rye, New York.
7:30
SPEAKER_02: Love it.
7:30
SPEAKER_02: So yeah.
7:31
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
7:31
SPEAKER_02: I live in New Jersey now.
7:33
SPEAKER_02: So it's quite a commute.
7:34
SPEAKER_02: But I didn't know that.
7:36
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
7:37
SPEAKER_05: Oh wow.
7:37
SPEAKER_05: How long does that take you?
7:39
SPEAKER_02: Uh it's depends on traffic, but sometimes it can be like 50, 55 minutes.
7:46
SPEAKER_02: But wow.
7:47
SPEAKER_02: With our hours, I think driving home, it's only about 45 minutes.
7:50
SPEAKER_05: Okay.
7:50
SPEAKER_05: But you're like there almost every day, I'm sure.
7:53
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I'm there a lot.
7:54
SPEAKER_05: So my gosh.
7:55
SPEAKER_05: It's worth it.
7:56
SPEAKER_05: It's worth it.
7:56
SPEAKER_05: Yes.
7:57
SPEAKER_05: Awesome.
7:58
SPEAKER_05: Well, I'm so happy that you're here chatting with us on the podcast.
8:02
SPEAKER_05: Thanks so much for joining.
8:03
SPEAKER_02: Yes.
8:04
SPEAKER_02: Thanks for having me.
8:05
SPEAKER_05: All right.
8:05
SPEAKER_05: And our next special guest who is joining us on the podcast is a returning guest.
8:10
SPEAKER_05: They are also an IDA judge and a studio owner.
8:14
SPEAKER_05: You may remember this guest from last season, season four, episode 121.
8:18
SPEAKER_05: Do dancers need private lessons to succeed?
8:21
SPEAKER_05: I'm excited to welcome back Mary Morone to the podcast.
8:24
SPEAKER_05: Welcome, Mary.
8:25
SPEAKER_03: Thank you so much for having me.
8:27
SPEAKER_03: So excited about our topic.
8:29
SPEAKER_03: Yay.
8:30
SPEAKER_05: Yeah, I'm excited to hear your studio owner perspective on this topic because I'm sure that you are the one that is determining what classes are happening and scheduling all of that for your studio and then overseeing the curriculum for your teachers.
8:45
SPEAKER_03: Curriculum is like such a key word there, lesson planning.
8:48
SPEAKER_03: Absolutely.
8:50
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
8:50
SPEAKER_05: Can't wait to dive into it.
8:52
SPEAKER_05: But if you wouldn't mind sharing with our listeners, reminding them a little bit more about you.
8:57
SPEAKER_03: Sure, absolutely.
8:57
SPEAKER_03: So my name is Mary Marone.
9:00
SPEAKER_03: My home base is Connecticut.
9:01
SPEAKER_03: That's where I was born and raised.
9:04
SPEAKER_03: I do now reside in Florida.
9:06
SPEAKER_03: I am on the Gulf Coast.
9:08
SPEAKER_03: So I also have a commute.
9:11
SPEAKER_03: But I do own a studio.
9:13
SPEAKER_03: We are now in our 22nd year, and that is based up north as well.
9:17
SPEAKER_03: I was born into my mother's dance studio.
9:20
SPEAKER_03: So I have been dancing as soon as I could walk.
9:23
SPEAKER_03: I have trained in probably every style possible.
9:26
SPEAKER_03: My mother had me in every single class I could possibly be in, immersed in every convention, master class, guest teacher.
9:33
SPEAKER_03: I was there.
9:34
SPEAKER_03: And when I wasn't in the dance studio, I was modeling.
9:36
SPEAKER_03: I did a lot, a lot.
9:38
SPEAKER_03: Dance definitely opened up a lot of opportunities for me as far as print work goes.
9:42
SPEAKER_03: And then runway until I was too short for runway.
9:47
SPEAKER_03: I was tall when I was young.
9:48
SPEAKER_03: And then once I didn't grow anymore, that was it.
9:51
SPEAKER_03: But no, I started choreographing at a very young age just because I had an opportunity being in my mother's studio.
9:56
SPEAKER_03: So as I started to get more into the professional dancer world and started getting more opportunities as far as different things on screen, different things on stage, choreographing for me was just where it was at.
10:08
SPEAKER_03: And when I started teaching students where they were going, their accomplishments far outweighed anything.
10:15
SPEAKER_03: And I'm so proud to have so many dancers currently working in the industry for years.
10:20
SPEAKER_03: So that is just probably one of my biggest achievements.
10:23
SPEAKER_03: Now I spend a lot of time going up and down the coast teaching, choreographing, as well as my own running my own dance studio, but adjudicating all over the place.
10:32
SPEAKER_03: And I have to say, one of my favorite things is the amount of volunteer work I do within the dance world and also the amount of um performing and volunteering I do for the military and our veterans.
10:43
SPEAKER_03: So that's something I'm really passionate about as well.
10:46
SPEAKER_05: I love that.
10:46
SPEAKER_05: I love hearing that.
10:47
SPEAKER_05: And is that something that your studio is also in involved in?
10:51
SPEAKER_03: Yes.
10:51
SPEAKER_03: It started when I was younger.
10:53
SPEAKER_03: Both of my grandfathers were in World War II.
10:56
SPEAKER_03: And when I opened my own studio 22 years ago, you realized, like, hey, you're in charge.
11:01
SPEAKER_03: You can, you can do anything you want, right?
11:03
SPEAKER_03: You're in charge.
11:04
SPEAKER_03: So I made it right away.
11:05
SPEAKER_03: Our first year, we started going out to as many veterans associations as we could, volunteering our time, not only performing, but starting to run different like care package drives.
11:14
SPEAKER_03: Then even now today, every year we do thank you cards around Veterans Day for all of the military.
11:19
SPEAKER_03: We have a few organizations that we mail them to, and they are mailed out overseas because I've really tried to teach the dancers that every holiday that we think we have off for a holiday that's military-based, like your veterans, like your memorial, there's a reason why.
11:32
SPEAKER_03: And dance is a gift, and we are all you know lucky enough to have it.
11:37
SPEAKER_03: So why not spread that joy to someone who's keeping us free and and and sacrificing their life for us?
11:43
SPEAKER_05: Wow.
11:43
SPEAKER_05: That's so great.
11:44
SPEAKER_05: I'm I'm so glad that you put that into the studio and introducing your dancers to that.
11:49
SPEAKER_05: And I'm sure that a lot of parents appreciate it as well.
11:52
SPEAKER_03: Everybody associates us definitely with that, and that's that is something I'm very proud of.
11:57
SPEAKER_05: Aw, I love hearing that.
11:59
SPEAKER_05: Well, congrats on that.
12:00
SPEAKER_05: And uh congrats on uh owning a studio from a distance uh now for a very long time.
12:07
SPEAKER_05: That's awesome.
12:08
SPEAKER_05: And I can't wait to hear all about this topic with you and your studio owner perspective.
12:12
SPEAKER_05: So let's jump on into our basics chat.
12:15
SPEAKER_01: Awesome.
12:16
SPEAKER_01: Well, folks, so we both thought you guys were the best choices to be on this podcast because we believe that you are great at what you do and teaching basics, not only, you know, to the beginners, but continuing on throughout their training.
12:30
SPEAKER_01: But I want to turn it around.
12:31
SPEAKER_01: Do you think you're great at that?
12:33
SPEAKER_02: Um, yeah, I guess I would say I think I've grown.
12:38
SPEAKER_02: I think Mary was saying this earlier too.
12:40
SPEAKER_02: I think I've grown into loving that the longer I've been teaching and the more experience I have with it.
12:46
SPEAKER_02: And you start to notice, even judging, you start to notice things that you're looking for and what's missing.
12:52
SPEAKER_02: And when you guest teach, you go other places and see all the different things that you, I guess, wish you were seeing more of.
13:01
SPEAKER_02: So it kind of that is what helped me realize how important it was and make sure I was teaching that to all the kiddos.
13:09
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
13:09
SPEAKER_03: And absolutely, I think as you you age as a dancer, you realize that hurts, that doesn't work anymore.
13:16
SPEAKER_03: And sometimes you think if you could go back to your younger self and learn things differently, strength training, whatnot, and you had it more reinforced.
13:24
SPEAKER_03: I have to say I was very lucky.
13:26
SPEAKER_03: I have a very old school training just because I did grow up in my mom's studio.
13:30
SPEAKER_03: Having the studio for 22 years is like you could do the math.
13:34
SPEAKER_03: I I've been, you know, I'm older.
13:36
SPEAKER_03: So I do have an older, I guess, dance training when dance class was dance class.
13:42
SPEAKER_03: So, you know, it was a completely different structure, which is still how I run my classes.
13:46
SPEAKER_03: And I think, again, and where I know we're gonna get into this, we are in a world where we are fighting social media and TikTok and Instagram.
13:54
SPEAKER_03: We have to label things technique, because God forbid we say ballet, you know.
13:58
SPEAKER_03: So I think I do have a strong approach just because I also I again been around dancing for such a long time.
14:06
SPEAKER_03: I know like the injury prevention strength training benefit of it, but also the formation of what a dance class should be.
14:16
SPEAKER_05: So the structure of exactly the foundation of like you said, curriculum.
14:22
SPEAKER_05: Right.
14:22
SPEAKER_01: Right.
14:23
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's interesting.
14:24
SPEAKER_01: Both of you brought up a point that I want to elaborate on a little bit.
14:28
SPEAKER_01: You know, we're all, you know, we're not the spring chicken teachers anymore.
14:32
SPEAKER_01: And when you are a spring tick chicken teacher, sometimes I think you because I remember this sometimes too.
14:37
SPEAKER_01: You walk into a class and you want to do the fun, cool, exciting stuff because you it's it's fun and you know, but but then you expect the children that you're teaching to already know the basics.
14:47
SPEAKER_01: I know I walked into a lot of places just expecting them to know the things because somebody else should have done that, right?
14:53
SPEAKER_01: I want to come in and do the fun things, somebody else needs to do the basics.
14:56
SPEAKER_01: And I think that's a lesson learned with aging is, you know, we can make the basics fun, but again, somebody has to teach them they're not going to know.
15:05
SPEAKER_01: When you walk in and you say, Okay, well, let's do the fun triple pirouette into the fouetes and to the double stag to the floor.
15:10
SPEAKER_01: Well, they need to learn how to do a plie properly.
15:14
SPEAKER_04: Right before we do that.
15:15
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
15:16
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
15:16
SPEAKER_01: And some and somebody's got to teach it.
15:17
SPEAKER_01: And I think that's, you know, for any of the younger, our younger friends out there listening, that is something to learn very quickly.
15:25
SPEAKER_01: That you nobody, a lot of people aren't gonna know the basics when you walk in to teach your guest class or your, you know, regardless of their age.
15:31
SPEAKER_05: Correct.
15:32
SPEAKER_05: Regardless of their age.
15:33
SPEAKER_05: Cause I think that people associate basics with young.
15:37
SPEAKER_05: And I don't think that that's necessarily true.
15:39
SPEAKER_05: Sure, there is to me like a building block method of how we should be approaching our genres when we're teaching them as educators.
15:48
SPEAKER_05: And there's things that we should be making sure we're covering before we move on to the next.
15:52
SPEAKER_05: Like I absolutely believe that.
15:54
SPEAKER_05: And yes, that's probably starting when they're as young as six, up in, but you're still learning the basics throughout your entire time as a training dancer and just applying them in different ways.
16:06
SPEAKER_05: And I think that that is absolutely getting overlooked, especially when we get to the 11, 12-year-old dancers who all they care about are tricks and they never really mastered how to do simple skills like pivot turns, pasta bureau ray, weight transfers.
16:25
SPEAKER_05: It's like, it's mind-blowing to me that they can do some of the things that they are capable of doing.
16:30
SPEAKER_05: Like if you can do a headspring, which takes so much force and flexibility and strength and, you know, precision to be able to do that skill, how can you not do a pa de boo-ray?
16:43
SPEAKER_05: Like, I don't, it, it, it baffles me.
16:45
SPEAKER_05: And those basics are getting just forgotten about for the trick, which is sad.
16:51
SPEAKER_05: And I also just feel like that with the, like you said, Mary, like the evolution of social media, I think that is another factor in why we're kind of rushing past them a lot in a lot of studio settings.
17:05
SPEAKER_05: And again, I'm gonna just like praise what you're doing, Caitlin, at your studio because to me, I came in and I taught your advanced level dancers a walking pattern that consisted of a pot de bureau, pivot turn, and directional changes.
17:20
SPEAKER_05: And they were one of the first studios that I've ever taught that to that understood what was happening.
17:25
SPEAKER_05: And the advanced dancers were excited about it.
17:28
SPEAKER_05: And it's not, we're not doing tricks, we're not doing crazy things.
17:31
SPEAKER_05: I just wanted to see how do you get yourself across the floor?
17:34
SPEAKER_05: Do you under and can you do it with style?
17:36
SPEAKER_05: And can you execute it exactly how I gave it to you with the timing, with the with the snap of the focus, with the with the shift of the weight?
17:44
SPEAKER_05: And they did it flawlessly.
17:46
SPEAKER_05: And that tells me that you're working on the basics probably year-round in class and not just like, well, they learned this when they were seven and we've moved on to so many other great things.
17:57
SPEAKER_05: It has to be continuously worked on, just like in ballet, the repetition is there.
18:01
SPEAKER_05: We're not skipping plies because we've advanced beyond plies.
18:05
SPEAKER_05: Like it's part of the process.
18:08
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
18:08
SPEAKER_02: I was gonna say, I actually think most of a lot of my teens actually love doing a jazz walk and things like what you were just saying across the floor.
18:20
SPEAKER_02: It's one of their favorite things.
18:21
SPEAKER_02: So I think part of it too is just like as a teacher, I love it.
18:26
SPEAKER_02: So when I'm teaching it, I'm excited about it.
18:28
SPEAKER_02: And that hopefully makes them excited about it.
18:31
SPEAKER_02: And then those steps, the more basic steps, can be an exciting, fun thing and not just like a boring foundation thing we're learning.
18:40
SPEAKER_02: So I think the teens actually love a good jazz walk.
18:43
SPEAKER_05: So I've gotten to so many studios where I'm like, all right, very first thing we're starting with is the jazz walk across the floor, and dancers have absolutely no idea how to walk.
18:53
SPEAKER_05: Or they're like, oh, yeah.
18:55
SPEAKER_05: Exactly.
18:56
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
18:56
SPEAKER_05: Like, wait, what?
18:57
SPEAKER_05: Why would you why do you hate a jazz walk?
18:59
SPEAKER_01: Like they're so embarrassed.
19:00
SPEAKER_01: They're so embarrassed about it because they don't know how to do it.
19:03
SPEAKER_01: And that's what I encounter a lot of the time too, is that okay, well, clearly nobody has worked on this with you because it is easy.
19:09
SPEAKER_01: If you're taught how to do a jazz walk, no matter what style you're teaching, you know, leading with the hips or walking across your body or straightforward, like there's so many ways to do it.
19:16
SPEAKER_01: But if if you've never been taught, that is embarrassing and cringy to have to walk across the floor when you haven't been told how to do it, you know, by anybody prior to Courtney coming in and saying we're doing jazz walks, like terribly intimidating.
19:30
SPEAKER_01: So, teachers, don't do that to your kids.
19:32
SPEAKER_01: Don't have them be embarrassed when the guest teacher comes in and just wants them to walk.
19:36
SPEAKER_05: Like, start class off with that.
19:38
SPEAKER_05: Like that is a great way to start off a jazz class, is let's take a walk across the floor.
19:42
SPEAKER_05: Show me your jazz walk today.
19:44
SPEAKER_05: Let me finesse it, let me tweak it, let me tell you what's great about it, let me tell you what you can work on and get them comfortable doing it because I can tell as a judge so much about a dancer on how they do a jazz walk, how they even enter the space, even if they're walking in a pedestrian fashion, which is very contemporary dance, how you present yourself onto the floor is part of it.
20:07
SPEAKER_05: So I think that incorporating more walking in any style class, walking with style, walking with confidence, not just pedestrian walking, like you're hanging.
20:18
SPEAKER_05: I'm I'm always like, it looks like y'all are hanging out at school, walking to your next class or hanging out at the mall.
20:23
SPEAKER_05: Like we need to like amp it up a little bit.
20:25
SPEAKER_05: We've been walking since we were one.
20:27
SPEAKER_05: How do we walk like a dancer now?
20:29
SPEAKER_05: How do we walk with confidence and grace and and sass or pizzazz, whatever whatever adjective you want to throw in there?
20:37
SPEAKER_05: So I I definitely encourage more studios to incorporate that into their training in all genres.
20:43
SPEAKER_03: Right.
20:43
SPEAKER_03: It's basic transitions.
20:44
SPEAKER_03: How do you get from all those tricks that you want?
20:47
SPEAKER_03: You need a transition step.
20:48
SPEAKER_03: And if you've never done progressions of any type of transitions, how do you get to those steps?
20:53
SPEAKER_03: And I know, you know, we're always focused on tricks.
20:55
SPEAKER_03: I know we'll probably get into that, but there it can't go trick, trick.
20:59
SPEAKER_03: There needs to be a transition step.
21:01
SPEAKER_03: And sometimes I'll take a class, no matter what the genre is, and I'll say, How are you transitioning from here to here, from there to there, from the floor, from up to the ground?
21:10
SPEAKER_03: How did you transition?
21:11
SPEAKER_03: You can't just stop dancing and they're looking at you like, Well, what trick can we do?
21:16
unknown: Right.
21:17
SPEAKER_03: Right, what trick can I do to get into that trick?
21:19
SPEAKER_03: To get into that trick?
21:20
SPEAKER_03: No, it's it's things like your jazz walks.
21:23
SPEAKER_03: And if you go into um a masterclass or a convention setting and you said to a group of advanced dancers, we're gonna warm up, we're gonna, we're gonna stretch, we're gonna do some great dynamic warmups for jazz, we're gonna do pelvic and hip isolations and you know, shoulders, um, head, we're gonna go across the floor in progressions.
21:39
SPEAKER_03: And then I say to the that studio after, you know, what was your favorite class of the day?
21:43
SPEAKER_03: We didn't really do anything in jazz.
21:45
SPEAKER_03: Right.
21:45
SPEAKER_03: But in contemporary, we learned a really cool combo.
21:47
SPEAKER_03: And you're going, wait a minute, jazz was your best class.
21:49
SPEAKER_03: I watched it.
21:50
SPEAKER_03: Right.
21:50
SPEAKER_03: But we didn't do anything.
21:51
SPEAKER_05: Dude, what?
21:52
SPEAKER_05: Right.
21:53
SPEAKER_05: What are all those things I just named?
21:55
SPEAKER_03: You just did.
21:56
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
21:56
SPEAKER_05: And like that says that they took nothing away from us.
21:59
SPEAKER_05: Right.
22:00
SPEAKER_03: Of the best class of the day.
22:01
SPEAKER_05: Like in the teacher's eyes, every teacher is like screaming on the sidelines, like, yes, thank you for the basics.
22:07
SPEAKER_05: So I'm so here for it.
22:09
SPEAKER_05: Hopefully, thinking that it'll get through to their dancers why this is important.
22:14
SPEAKER_05: And then the dancers walk away saying, Well, it was boring, and we just like repeated the same thing like a thousand times, and I didn't get to do my favorite trick.
22:23
SPEAKER_05: And, you know, I the combination wasn't cool because it was a progression across the floor.
22:27
SPEAKER_05: Like, whatever their reasoning is.
22:29
SPEAKER_05: And again, that's like the hard part is how do we as teachers get through to them to make this important in their eyes, to make this fun to them still?
22:40
SPEAKER_05: I know, like Caitlin, like I know you you said that they love jazz walking because you love jazz walking, but like, is there anything else that you can add to to that on you know your perspective as the teacher, teaching them the basics, but also what of what else have you noticed from your dancers when learning it?
22:56
SPEAKER_02: I would say, well, I was gonna add to the convention talk too.
22:59
SPEAKER_02: I think if you're doing it, if you're doing progressions in your classroom with the kids of all the all ages, they're when they get to a class, that convention and they're doing a progression style class, they are gonna hopefully enjoy it more and appreciate it more.
23:14
SPEAKER_02: So that's another, yeah, another thing too, just be working on it with them so that if they do experience that, they appreciate it.
23:22
SPEAKER_02: But yeah, I would just, I think definitely starting everybody off when they're younger really helps with anything.
23:30
SPEAKER_02: Isolations, you get that, I think when they start when they're younger, they're they have more, they're more comfortable with it than when they get older.
23:39
SPEAKER_02: So especially with isolations and jazz, I talk about this all the time.
23:44
SPEAKER_02: When you get to that middle school, 11, 12 year olds age, they're they can get uncomfortable with hip isolations and things like that and kind of giggly.
23:55
SPEAKER_02: I think when you start that when they're younger and it's just the normal thing you do in class, they're so used to it by the time they get to be older that there's less of that.
24:04
SPEAKER_02: And same with um like improv and exercises like that.
24:09
SPEAKER_02: When you start improving with an older kid, a teenager, they're more uncomfortable with themselves.
24:15
SPEAKER_02: And they're same with what Courtney, you were saying about the jazz walks, they might feel uncomfortable and silly and embarrassed.
24:22
SPEAKER_02: So I think just starting off when they're younger, being excited about it, and then definitely um praise when they do it.
24:31
SPEAKER_02: So, like you're giving them a pivot.
24:34
SPEAKER_02: I like to use certain words too, like fierce.
24:38
SPEAKER_02: You're telling them, oh, that's so fierce, you look so fierce, and then they want to be fierce, right?
24:42
SPEAKER_02: So, so just a lot of praise when they're doing steps like the more basic steps, so not just praising the aerials and the tricks and the illusions definitely is how I try to approach it.
24:58
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26:37
SPEAKER_01: I like fall on the floor with happiness when I see somebody do a really good pivot.
26:41
SPEAKER_01: Like pivot is truly one of my favorite steps because you can do so much with it.
26:44
SPEAKER_01: And you know, the kids think you're ridiculous because I'm I will literally fall on the floor be like, that's the best pivot I've ever seen in my life.
26:51
SPEAKER_01: And they don't, they're like, what?
26:52
SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, you just don't understand.
26:54
SPEAKER_01: You it's so good.
26:55
SPEAKER_01: And I think you're right, Kaylin.
26:56
SPEAKER_01: Just like the praising of the basics and and genuinely being excited about teaching them and about, you know, seeing when they were being done correctly is super key with the younger ones.
27:06
SPEAKER_01: And the older ones are just gonna roll their eyes at you anyway, um, if you're falling on the floor about a pivot.
27:11
SPEAKER_01: But I think one of our IDA judges, Mary Roberts, has mentioned this before on one of the podcasts.
27:17
SPEAKER_01: But when she does her isolations, you know, I I can see isolations, you're standing there and you're isolating.
27:23
SPEAKER_01: It's it's a long time if you're doing the full body and you're gonna do polycentrics and all that kind of stuff.
27:28
SPEAKER_01: It's a long time to just literally stand in second position and do your isolations.
27:31
SPEAKER_01: So she moves them around.
27:33
SPEAKER_01: She does a section in one spot, and then we dance over here, and then we do our shoulders, and then we dance over here, and then we do our hips.
27:40
SPEAKER_01: And like literally just something like that, especially for the younger kids, to keep them motivated to not get frustrated with standing in one spot.
27:49
SPEAKER_01: I mean, I think something as simple as changing where you are in the room during your warmup can really just activate them just a little bit more.
27:57
SPEAKER_05: Yeah, that's great.
27:58
SPEAKER_05: So when it comes to basics in general, I feel like we've we've briefly mentioned like jazz basics throughout, but I would love to touch on other genres as well outside of jazz.
28:11
SPEAKER_05: But what types of basic steps do you feel like are being overlooked in the genres that we see, whether it's in classes that you see maybe happening elsewhere via social media, even in honestly, like I can tell a lot about your basics based on your dance that you present at competition?
28:30
SPEAKER_05: Based on, you know, you you say you're an intermediate 10-year-old dancer.
28:35
SPEAKER_05: I have an expectation for what type of basics I want to see as a judge for an intermediate 10-year-old dancer that you aren't showing me whatsoever in this dance.
28:44
SPEAKER_05: So, what are some of the things that we feel are being overlooked in training these days in any genre?
28:50
SPEAKER_05: Anything come to mind?
28:52
SPEAKER_03: I think I I can start with hip-hop just because I feel like hip hop in a competition world sometimes is used as an overflow category.
28:59
SPEAKER_03: You know, I I really want this jazz solo.
29:02
SPEAKER_03: You're not there yet.
29:02
SPEAKER_03: Let's put you in hip hop.
29:04
SPEAKER_06: What?
29:06
SPEAKER_03: I've I I've seen it from um not only judging, but just from working with studios and I'm watching a dance, I'm going, that's really not hip-hop.
29:13
SPEAKER_03: That's kind of jazz with sneakers on.
29:15
SPEAKER_03: I was gonna say it's like jazz funk, probably.
29:17
SPEAKER_03: Right.
29:17
SPEAKER_03: It's not, she's not ready for jazz yet.
29:19
SPEAKER_03: Well, she's not ready for hip-hop either.
29:21
SPEAKER_03: Right.
29:21
SPEAKER_03: She doesn't have the lines for jazz.
29:23
SPEAKER_05: So they're putting her in hip hop and putting a sneaker to disguise it, but then you're really not teaching them true hip-hop dance.
29:29
SPEAKER_03: Right.
29:29
SPEAKER_03: And I feel like something like hip-hop.
29:31
SPEAKER_03: I have to say, like within my studio, again, I'm I'm a big, I really like to promote lesson plans and curriculum.
29:37
SPEAKER_03: And we have our techs are all separated.
29:40
SPEAKER_03: You have your ballet companies, which again, I'm not apologizing for ballet, and I'm not naming it anything else.
29:45
SPEAKER_03: It's ballet class.
29:46
SPEAKER_03: There's a dress code, there's bar work, there's a ballet director, it's ballet class, that's its own entity.
29:52
SPEAKER_03: But then within it, we have a tap tech class, multi multiple, uh hip-hop tech, acro, tech, which isn't just your tricks, it's your floor transitions, whatnot, but we can get into that.
30:03
SPEAKER_03: But as far as like hip-hop goes, when they're coming in into any of my genres that have extra technical classes working on your basics and your fundamentals, we try to touch upon too, like, can you name where it started?
30:15
SPEAKER_03: Can you name any of the history?
30:16
SPEAKER_03: Can you name any of the locations in the US?
30:19
SPEAKER_03: Maybe where it started.
30:19
SPEAKER_03: Where did tap start?
30:20
SPEAKER_03: Can you name any of the music?
30:22
SPEAKER_03: Where, where did this start?
30:24
SPEAKER_03: You know, jazz music was made for tap dancers.
30:26
SPEAKER_03: Did you know that?
30:27
SPEAKER_03: You know what I mean?
30:27
SPEAKER_03: Like, where did hip hop come from?
30:29
SPEAKER_03: So I always try to start with a little bit of that, and then you keep pulling it out throughout your class throughout the year, like, hey, don't forget about that because that's you know, that's necessary to know.
30:38
SPEAKER_03: But within within hip hop, again, you're supposed to stretch out and warm up.
30:42
SPEAKER_03: It's not just hip-hop class, you just walk in and do a combination.
30:45
SPEAKER_03: There are old school grooves that you have to know.
30:48
SPEAKER_03: So when you're in a in a competition setting or you go on a job, you can't groove, you can't find the pocket of the music.
30:55
SPEAKER_03: That's from your grooves.
30:57
SPEAKER_03: But let's say you want to take popping.
30:58
SPEAKER_03: Do you know how to pop one muscle at a time?
31:00
SPEAKER_03: Because that is a whole technique in itself where we stand in front of the mirror and we just try to isolate and pop our triceps, then our biceps.
31:08
SPEAKER_03: You know what I mean?
31:08
SPEAKER_03: That's its own thing, gliding footwork.
31:11
SPEAKER_03: Everything is its own technique.
31:12
SPEAKER_03: And I feel like something in like hip-hop specifically gets completely lost because we don't warm up, we don't stretch out.
31:18
SPEAKER_03: It's just choreography.
31:20
SPEAKER_03: Again, it's very, very prominent on social media, hip-hop.
31:25
SPEAKER_03: You just want to jump in and do, you don't want to put the work in, you don't want to learn the history, you just want to jump in and do the choreography.
31:30
SPEAKER_05: So that's all I think that social media is tricky in that too, because all we're seeing is the combo.
31:36
SPEAKER_05: We're not watching the entire class.
31:39
SPEAKER_05: We're just seeing the final product at the end of class when they get the cameras out and they film this, you know, how long, however long they've been practicing.
31:47
SPEAKER_05: Maybe they've learned it for four classes, the past four classes, and now they're filming it for the camera and look how great it looks.
31:53
SPEAKER_05: And then people see, oh wow, oh my God, I want to be a hip-hop dancer, and they don't want to put the work in that took these dancers to get to that point.
32:00
SPEAKER_05: Like, let's I'm hoping that it's not just a combo class the whole time.
32:05
SPEAKER_05: I that's what I'm hoping.
32:06
SPEAKER_05: Uh, and and even when I go take classes, like, I mean, let's be real, do I take hip hop classes often?
32:12
SPEAKER_05: No.
32:12
SPEAKER_05: Like I take more like commercial uh hip-hop, like jazz funk style classes.
32:18
SPEAKER_05: I couldn't tell you last time I took a real hip-hop class.
32:20
SPEAKER_05: But I hope that the teachers are starting off with a warm-up, yes, that's necessary, but then also going into those groups and going into those foundational skills that are going to prepare you for the combination.
32:32
SPEAKER_05: That's the exact same way I approach a jazz class, is that I always do a progression to prepare you for what's to come in the combination.
32:40
SPEAKER_05: And that's all of that's getting lost in the mix of and and to be honest, like I don't even know if we really should be doing combinations in hip hop until we've learned all of those, those basics.
32:52
SPEAKER_03: Like, how are you dancing?
32:54
SPEAKER_05: Yeah, like exactly.
32:55
SPEAKER_05: Like how, how is it even possible?
32:57
SPEAKER_05: Like, sure, you can follow along and and hope that you're doing it right, and just like even for like memorization purposes, that's great to, you know, work on that.
33:07
SPEAKER_05: But there's so much more before that.
33:09
SPEAKER_05: There's so much more that needs to be happening before we get to the combo, which is what everyone is focused on.
33:16
SPEAKER_03: Right.
33:16
SPEAKER_03: And it's the same thing I feel like with the tap genre, you do all your basics, right?
33:20
SPEAKER_03: You learn how your tap shoe works, all the parts of your shoe, all the parts of your foot, your weight, weight distribution, whatnot.
33:26
SPEAKER_03: You get advanced.
33:28
SPEAKER_03: It's just about that choreography.
33:30
SPEAKER_03: And then I have to say I make all of my dancers warm up.
33:33
SPEAKER_03: They they probably don't like me very much for it because I will always make a joke and I'll say, okay, your tap group is up next.
33:39
SPEAKER_03: Let's go warm up.
33:40
SPEAKER_03: And they start doing splits.
33:40
SPEAKER_03: And I'll go, Oh my gosh.
33:42
SPEAKER_03: Are you doing a split in your tap dance?
33:44
SPEAKER_03: Because I don't remember putting the split in there.
33:46
SPEAKER_03: What we should be doing is rolling our ankles so many times to the right, so many times to the left.
33:50
SPEAKER_03: Let's shake them out, let's do some air shuffles, let's do some nerve tap, let's loosen up our ankles because you just did three lyrical routines where you had tight, nice, stretched ankles.
33:58
SPEAKER_03: How are you tapping now?
34:00
SPEAKER_04: Right.
34:00
SPEAKER_03: So, and you know, and those are things that I've learned, obviously, through the industry.
34:05
SPEAKER_03: How do you warm up for every genre?
34:07
SPEAKER_03: Because they're different.
34:08
SPEAKER_05: Yes.
34:09
SPEAKER_05: So and it's important for the kids to understand that because that's a whole nother chat.
34:14
SPEAKER_05: I we did a warm-up chat.
34:16
SPEAKER_05: Kids don't warm up these days, teachers don't warm up kids these days.
34:19
SPEAKER_05: It's a whole issue.
34:20
SPEAKER_05: So, you know, for like the kids to even be told go warm up, they don't even they have no clue what that means at all.
34:28
SPEAKER_05: Even by dropping into a split, that's also not doing a warm-up.
34:31
SPEAKER_05: So that's a whole thing in itself.
34:34
SPEAKER_05: Anything, I mean, I I'm glad you brought up tap, Mary, because I I definitely think that tap is another one of those genres where kids might feel bored quick because a lot of the skills that you're learning, like heel drops and toe drops, and shuffles and flaps and pickups and pullbacks, all of those skills can then be combined into while you're tapping.
34:59
SPEAKER_05: Yes, like the basic skills that you have to know how to do properly, then get create combined into the harder skills that you think are quote unquote advanced tap steps.
35:11
SPEAKER_05: So you can't do the shaky bop until you know how to do XYZ.
35:16
SPEAKER_05: Like it's just it's I and I I know where they're so excited.
35:20
SPEAKER_05: Even something as simple as a time step.
35:22
SPEAKER_05: You have to know how to shuffle before you do a time step.
35:26
SPEAKER_05: Like those types of basics are getting overlooked.
35:28
SPEAKER_05: And then everyone, I think, thinks that a tap dance needs to be just like really, really fast with very unclear footwork that's just a mile a minute, but it's fast, so it's advanced.
35:40
SPEAKER_05: And it's like, actually, no.
35:41
SPEAKER_05: I want you to go back to your basics and clean this up and find the pocket and show me a rhythm that makes sense so I understand that you understand what the rhythm of a time step is supposed to be, that you understand what the rhythm of a cramp roll is supposed to be, because you obviously have mastered the heel drop.
35:58
SPEAKER_05: Good for you.
35:59
SPEAKER_05: But is it musically correct in what the cramp roll is supposed to sound like rhythmically?
36:04
SPEAKER_05: Probably not.
36:06
SPEAKER_05: So that's going back to basics again.
36:08
SPEAKER_05: And I think like timing.
36:09
SPEAKER_03: Yes, timing.
36:10
SPEAKER_03: Like no, I put I put the metronome on and we just tapped to that.
36:14
SPEAKER_02: So a basic step going back to that will help all genres of basic is just weight transfer, weight shifting, right?
36:23
SPEAKER_02: So make sure making sure you're teaching them that from a young age and also, yeah, timing and rhythm.
36:29
SPEAKER_02: And I I would say, like, when I go teach at other places, I always notice not everyone can count themselves in.
36:36
SPEAKER_02: So you're constantly, if your teacher is constantly counting you in every time, you don't necessarily the kids aren't learning that they should be doing that.
36:43
SPEAKER_02: So I try to teach at very young age, like obviously not everyone's gonna get it right away, but I try to teach them, you know, you need to be listening to the music, counting yourself in, knowing when you have to go, what every phrase I give, every progression I give is going to be, you know, a count of eight, two counts of eight, four counts of eight.
37:01
SPEAKER_02: So you know when the group in front of you is done, you're next step.
37:06
SPEAKER_02: So I think that's another basic thing, but also just classroom etiquette is like a basic that I feel like not everyone really teaches.
37:15
SPEAKER_02: And again, in all genres, like how to take class, counting yourself in, things like that, how to go across the floor, where do you want, things like that.
37:26
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
37:27
SPEAKER_01: Well, and I do think that like that can get really overlooked as something, again, that needs to be taught.
37:32
SPEAKER_01: Because at some point somebody's gonna think you already know that.
37:35
SPEAKER_01: Right.
37:35
SPEAKER_01: So I think those are really excellent things to bring up in terms of this conversation because basics aren't just steps.
37:41
SPEAKER_01: Basics are your attitude and your presentation and how how you take class.
37:46
SPEAKER_00: Right.
37:47
SPEAKER_01: I did I did want to say something about tap though.
37:49
SPEAKER_01: I think tap, because you know, with lyrical and contemporary and jazz, you know, it's got such a either pedestrian vernacular and contemporary, maybe you're lyrical, or a current, like, oh, we're cool.
38:01
SPEAKER_01: We're doing cool TikTok moves that aren't necessarily dance steps.
38:04
SPEAKER_01: You can much more easily forget about the basics in those genres.
38:08
SPEAKER_01: But with tap, either you're walking or you're stomping or you're doing a tap step.
38:13
SPEAKER_01: So at least with tap, I feel like, you know, you're taking your beginner tap class at age 25.
38:19
SPEAKER_01: You're gonna learn a dig, a spank, a brush, a heel, you're gonna learn a shuffle, you're gonna learn a paradiddle in an hour.
38:24
SPEAKER_01: You can do a combination with that using the skills you've learned.
38:28
SPEAKER_01: So, like I feel like with tap, at least, you know, maybe not on the competition stage, because again, then we're having to like get into the conversation of, well, I have to present something.
38:36
SPEAKER_01: And if they only know those four steps, what am I supposed to do in a two-minute dance?
38:40
SPEAKER_01: Fair.
38:41
SPEAKER_01: Maybe don't take them to competition if they don't know that many steps.
38:44
SPEAKER_03: Just say it.
38:45
SPEAKER_01: But I do I want to like shout out at least to the tap, the tappers out there, that I think you can more easily teach the basics and get people to pay attention to the basics because there's literally nothing else to do.
38:57
SPEAKER_01: There's nothing else to do.
38:58
SPEAKER_02: Right.
38:59
SPEAKER_02: Applying that to other genres too, that's another way to make it a little bit more interesting, right?
39:05
SPEAKER_02: So you have a pot of array, a pivot, a jazz walk, chasse, whatever.
39:11
SPEAKER_02: You take these basic steps once they've learned them and you just move them around, put them in different order, change up the rhythm, timing, different directions.
39:20
SPEAKER_02: And it makes them think and it's a challenge.
39:23
SPEAKER_02: And I feel like a lot of kids are always like, oh, I'm not being challenged, or that's just a way to challenge a kid more with basic steps.
39:30
SPEAKER_02: So I think making it that makes it a little bit more fun.
39:32
SPEAKER_02: And also when they don't get it, I mean, you're not always gonna get it.
39:37
SPEAKER_02: So just the challenge of like something new, but with the same steps, I think is a good way to make it more exciting.
39:44
SPEAKER_01: And that's also a good way.
39:45
SPEAKER_01: And listen, we all know these kids to knock them down a peg.
39:48
SPEAKER_01: If they're like, I already know how to do that, right?
39:50
SPEAKER_01: We all know we have those kids in class, and you're like, well, can you do it backwards?
39:53
SPEAKER_01: Can you do it facing the wall with no mirror?
39:56
SPEAKER_01: Okay, you're not ready to, you're just not ready to move on.
39:58
SPEAKER_01: And that like humbles somebody.
40:01
SPEAKER_05: I mean, that's exactly what I do.
40:03
SPEAKER_05: It's like a reality check every time I go to a new studio.
40:07
SPEAKER_05: Every time I'm like, all right, we're gonna do this progression across the floor.
40:11
SPEAKER_05: They feel somewhat confident on the right, somewhat-ish.
40:15
SPEAKER_05: Maybe some sometimes it's just crash and burn.
40:18
SPEAKER_05: Like and they, and here's the thing that gets me is it looks like everyone's following along with me when I'm teaching it.
40:25
SPEAKER_05: Looks like it's going okay.
40:27
SPEAKER_05: Like, yeah, I can see that they have the basics to do this.
40:31
SPEAKER_05: I can tell based on their technique, because I already be, I can tell based on how they warmed up what I'm gonna throw at them across the floor, because I can just tell based on how they're doing that, a little idea of their training if I've never worked with them before.
40:43
SPEAKER_05: So I give them what I think feels appropriate, but also a little challenge to feel it out.
40:49
SPEAKER_05: Everyone's going great.
40:51
SPEAKER_05: The moment the music comes on, it is crash and burn.
40:55
SPEAKER_05: And I don't know why.
40:57
SPEAKER_05: And I then I have to have a whole talk and I have to say, listen, y'all, like, really take take a look at these steps that you just did across, attempted to do across the floor.
41:06
SPEAKER_05: We did nothing that was challenging or hard.
41:08
SPEAKER_05: This isn't hard.
41:09
SPEAKER_05: We did Chene turns and chassis steps and pivot turns and a weight transfer.
41:14
SPEAKER_05: What happened?
41:15
SPEAKER_05: Like it's truly, I'm truly like, what happened?
41:17
SPEAKER_05: You've been doing this, you should have been doing this since you were seven, eight years old.
41:21
SPEAKER_05: So what now you're 15 and you're crashing and burning in this across the floor?
41:25
SPEAKER_05: I'm not really understanding where why this is hard.
41:28
SPEAKER_05: And I get it's it's hard.
41:30
SPEAKER_05: Like it's I'm a different teacher.
41:31
SPEAKER_05: I might have taught it different, maybe my musicality is different, and that's what makes it challenging.
41:35
SPEAKER_05: But also, like they should feel confident to be able to get through something like that at an advanced 15, 16-year-old like age range, I think.
41:44
SPEAKER_01: I do wonder if it's something like what Kaylin brought up about not necessarily understanding how to count the music.
41:51
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
41:51
SPEAKER_01: You know, if 100%, if you hear it in your head, you're one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, and you're counting it when you're teaching it, but then you put the music on for maybe that connection doesn't happen with what you were saying count-wise and what they're hearing in the music.
42:03
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
42:03
SPEAKER_01: So that would tell me that, you know, musicality is something to focus on in class.
42:08
SPEAKER_05: Totally.
42:08
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
42:09
SPEAKER_05: Huge issue.
42:10
SPEAKER_05: Huge, definitely a huge issue.
42:12
SPEAKER_02: And they should be able to do it if you change the song.
42:16
SPEAKER_02: The same comedy counts, you're set.
42:18
SPEAKER_01: Right, right.
42:19
SPEAKER_01: And I think that's also training.
42:20
SPEAKER_01: Like, you know, stu teachers, if you're not doing that with your students, try that.
42:25
SPEAKER_01: You know, we do this one combo every week across the floor.
42:27
SPEAKER_01: If you're that kind of studio, change the music next week because that will challenge them when you didn't even realize that would challenge them.
42:33
SPEAKER_01: But like that's a challenge.
42:35
SPEAKER_01: And then once that changes, okay, we're gonna slow this down or we're gonna speed it up.
42:38
SPEAKER_01: Right.
42:38
SPEAKER_05: Yeah, I've definitely done different.
42:40
SPEAKER_05: I've done that before with dancers who have adapted to the across the floor very quickly.
42:45
SPEAKER_05: So then I'll be like, all right, great.
42:47
SPEAKER_05: So that was the jazz version.
42:48
SPEAKER_05: Now I'm gonna put on a lyrical, a slower song, same counts, same rhythms, but I want you to even execute the sequence in a more lyrical contemporary style.
42:59
SPEAKER_05: And what does that mean to you?
43:01
SPEAKER_05: Like just exploring different ways of use of dynamics based on the music.
43:06
SPEAKER_05: So they obviously, like to me, they should understand the timing.
43:10
SPEAKER_05: Like you said, Caitlin, it's the same timing.
43:12
SPEAKER_05: It doesn't matter what song.
43:13
SPEAKER_05: If that means you have to float through this triple pirouette way slower because that's what the timing is, that's what it is.
43:18
SPEAKER_05: That doesn't mean you get to rush it because the count the music's slow.
43:22
SPEAKER_05: Like, I don't know if we're really a lot of students are truly teaching the dancers that.
43:27
SPEAKER_05: And I like to play with different rhythms too.
43:30
SPEAKER_05: So let's like if you do an example, like I think that's a great suggestion, Leslie, of like create an across the floor or even a combination that the dancers can work on for a month.
43:40
SPEAKER_05: And every time they come to this class, it's the same one.
43:42
SPEAKER_05: Now they're gonna know it, they're gonna find the repetition, but slightly twist it up and change it up a little bit each week.
43:48
SPEAKER_05: Where even you put on a different song and maybe there's a different rhythm here where we're gonna push this to the do to do like a pushed five before the ball change or whatever it is.
43:58
SPEAKER_05: Like just change it up to challenge the.
44:00
SPEAKER_05: The dancers in different ways instead of just feeling like we have to keep progressing to these skills and these tricks that are beyond that.
44:08
SPEAKER_05: Because I know for me, and I think we can get into this, like I, as a professional dancer, and now on the other side of the table, auditioning dancers or cruise ships, it is so apparent to me when it's only that these dancers have only solely focused on how high is my leg, how high is my jump, and they can't do the actual combination.
44:28
SPEAKER_05: Like, and then I'm like, I can't hire you.
44:31
SPEAKER_05: Like you are not hireable because you're not going to be a soloist doing bot maz and leaps the whole time.
44:37
SPEAKER_05: You have to dance with the ensemble.
44:39
SPEAKER_05: And are you are you going to be able to pull through in rehearsals when it's a fast process?
44:44
SPEAKER_05: I'm not sure.
44:45
SPEAKER_05: And that's what scares me for the generation is the basics are getting lost because of the glitz and glam of everything else and the tricks.
44:52
SPEAKER_03: That's also a basic skill, though, because we're talking about teachers in studios not teaching musicality, time signatures, timing.
45:00
SPEAKER_03: But I know whenever I have a team, a group, any anything more than a soloist, being a team player, a team member is also a skill that has to be taught.
45:09
SPEAKER_03: You can't just assume that this group of dancers is gonna match this duo, this trio, or whatever.
45:14
SPEAKER_03: And I have found that over the years, I always say to them, exchange numbers, but they already have group chats, you know, find a time.
45:21
SPEAKER_03: You can use an open room at the studio.
45:23
SPEAKER_03: You need to practice together without a teacher.
45:25
SPEAKER_03: You need to go in together.
45:27
SPEAKER_03: I want you to correct one another.
45:28
SPEAKER_03: Watch each other dance.
45:30
SPEAKER_03: How do you not ever sit back and I want to watch?
45:32
SPEAKER_03: I'm doing a duo with you, Courtney.
45:34
SPEAKER_03: I have to sit back and watch you dance.
45:36
SPEAKER_03: Not because I want to correct you.
45:37
SPEAKER_03: I want to say, oh my God, I loved your head there.
45:39
SPEAKER_03: I don't do that.
45:40
SPEAKER_03: I, but Mary, I loved your shoulder.
45:43
SPEAKER_03: But all right, I didn't even know you were doing that.
45:45
SPEAKER_03: Right.
45:45
SPEAKER_03: You know, and now that makes us a good team.
45:47
SPEAKER_03: You didn't realize I was slow on that part and you're helping me.
45:50
SPEAKER_03: Right.
45:51
SPEAKER_03: And it's this language that that team builds together that when they're warming up, they have this whole other language that they're counting, like, all right, don't forget it's five, six, arm in, arm and head and snap.
46:01
SPEAKER_03: And they have this whole little lingo that I'm like, oh, but they remembered it.
46:05
SPEAKER_03: But again, it's a skill that sometimes teachers don't think they have to teach because when you have a group that works well together, there's nothing like it.
46:12
SPEAKER_03: And again, when you start to audition to go out into the industry, you're not a solo.
46:16
SPEAKER_03: You're not nobody's nobody's having you, you know, be a solo during the Christmas spectacular.
46:21
SPEAKER_03: There's a million, there's a bunch of other dancers.
46:24
SPEAKER_03: So you need to learn how to dance with other dancers.
46:27
SPEAKER_02: Yes.
46:27
SPEAKER_02: And that's something I also try to teach when I'm doing progressions, is going back to counts, right?
46:34
SPEAKER_02: And timing.
46:35
SPEAKER_02: Like everybody's given the same count when you're going across the floor.
46:40
SPEAKER_02: So, or a combo or whatever it is, but I teach this, I try to start it when I'm doing the progressions.
46:46
SPEAKER_02: What you're given the same counts.
46:47
SPEAKER_02: So you should be going at the same time as your partner, right?
46:50
SPEAKER_02: If you're going two at a time.
46:51
SPEAKER_02: So I try to bring that.
46:53
SPEAKER_02: I mean, sometimes it's not even in their mind to even think about that, right?
46:56
SPEAKER_02: They're trying to get the combo still, they're trying to pick it up, do the technique, whatever it is.
47:00
SPEAKER_02: But a lot of classes I'll just focus on that, right?
47:03
SPEAKER_02: If we're getting a lot of critiques at competition, you're you're need to be cleaner, all those things.
47:08
SPEAKER_02: Sometimes it is just a matter of paying attention to what your other your partner's doing, or just if we all were given the same counts, we should all be dancing at the same time.
47:18
SPEAKER_02: So that's something else to think about when you're in class.
47:21
SPEAKER_01: That makes me think of the the moment in center stage where she says, Well, there's time for a triple.
47:26
SPEAKER_01: Couldn't we all do a triple?
47:28
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
47:29
SPEAKER_01: No, no, no, we're doing a double.
47:33
SPEAKER_05: I love that.
47:34
SPEAKER_05: I actually that that made me think of something that recently happened in a class of mine, uh, of an across the floor, and it was like three dancers going across at the same time.
47:44
SPEAKER_05: And one of the dancers had the correct timing, but she felt early.
47:50
SPEAKER_05: Like to her, she everyone else was behind the music and she was on the correct counts, or it could have been the opposite.
47:57
SPEAKER_05: I can't remember, but either way, like she was doing it right.
47:59
SPEAKER_05: And then she saw the other dancers weren't with her in the mirror, and then she second guessed herself.
48:04
SPEAKER_05: And I I like stopped the music and I was like, you were right, they were wrong.
48:09
SPEAKER_05: Trust your gut.
48:10
SPEAKER_05: Like, don't watch the other dancers.
48:12
SPEAKER_05: If you know you're right, like, no, own it.
48:15
SPEAKER_05: Because I mean, and then there's the dancers.
48:17
SPEAKER_05: I also have the conversation often with, okay, who thinks they got that across the floor right?
48:22
SPEAKER_05: And so many dancers raise their hand.
48:24
SPEAKER_05: I was like, so all the way down to where your head was supposed to be, which arm was up for this, what count this was on, like those tiny details, then their hands start slowly dropping.
48:34
SPEAKER_05: And I'm like, it's important as dancers to understand what we can do to fix ourselves.
48:39
SPEAKER_05: Because if you just go across the floor and think, I got it right, I was perfect, then you're never gonna improve.
48:44
SPEAKER_05: You have to know that you were incorrect.
48:47
SPEAKER_05: Even those dancers in that scenario that where I called out the dancer that was on the right timing, I was like, Did y'all know that you relate?
48:53
SPEAKER_05: Or did you think she was wrong?
48:55
SPEAKER_05: Because interesting, you know, you have to know who's right in the scenario.
48:59
SPEAKER_05: Because yes, you should be all going across the floor together.
49:03
SPEAKER_05: I get it, you know, a fumble might happen, but you have to know where to pick it back up.
49:07
SPEAKER_05: If you messed up, you have to know, okay, well, at least the pirouette preps will count five, and I'm gonna be there ready and waiting.
49:13
SPEAKER_05: You know, like that's how dancers need to approach taking class.
49:16
SPEAKER_05: And it doesn't matter how hard the the skill is.
49:18
SPEAKER_05: It's it could be the easiest thing ever.
49:21
SPEAKER_05: Like those are part of like we were talking about, the basics of dance, of just being in time.
49:27
SPEAKER_05: And we learn how we should be learning how to count our music and finding the downbeat at age five and six, you know, with musicality classes and baby ballet classes and tap classes.
49:37
SPEAKER_05: So I don't know.
49:38
SPEAKER_05: Like, I'm hoping that's happening, but I don't know.
49:41
SPEAKER_01: Like, well, and that kind of stuff is like you don't have to harp on it.
49:44
SPEAKER_01: You don't have to do it the whole entire time, but devote a little bit of time to it because it is necessary.
49:50
SPEAKER_01: And like, yeah, of course we all have we all got a 45-minute jazz class for an eight-year-old.
49:54
SPEAKER_01: Okay, that's not a lot of time.
49:55
SPEAKER_01: Like, I hear you.
49:56
SPEAKER_01: Okay, you know, so pepper it in here and there, just like Mary was saying, I like to pepper in a little bit of dance history.
50:00
SPEAKER_01: Like you have to because there's just no, we're not all getting college degrees in dance, taking a lecture class on the history of hip hop.
50:07
SPEAKER_01: Like we can't do that feasibly at a dance studio, but you can do as much as you can and you just have to be creative with how you do it.
50:14
SPEAKER_01: And Courtney, you said something that I feel like we should maybe touch on just a little bit about when you do across the floor, you said, you know, do you did you have all of that down to where your head was supposed to be looking?
50:24
SPEAKER_01: I think that's a basic that nobody talks about in terms of even their own choreography sometimes, because I know I'm guilty of, you know, some I'll teach a across the floor.
50:34
SPEAKER_01: I'm not even thinking about focus unless it's the focus of what I'm doing.
50:38
SPEAKER_01: But there should be, you know, you should be, okay, your head is here, your focus is here, you're looking up there.
50:43
SPEAKER_01: And then somebody will ask me, you know, very astute seven-year-old, where are we looking?
50:47
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
50:48
SPEAKER_01: That's a good question, Sarah.
50:50
SPEAKER_01: So I think that's another basic that even as teachers, we could work on a little bit more because it's hugely apparent in routines at dance competition if you have or have not talked about that.
51:00
SPEAKER_02: Yep.
51:01
SPEAKER_02: And if you teach that again with the weight shifting exercises, andor that's another thing to add to more basic steps, right?
51:10
SPEAKER_02: Is to add a spot change or a focus change.
51:12
SPEAKER_02: And if you're teaching that to them from such a young age, then they're going to take that with them, hopefully, into their choreography and make everything just like a cleaner, everything just cleaner across the board.
51:24
unknown: Yep.
51:25
SPEAKER_05: Just having that type of awareness in every genre, I think, for dancers to really focus.
51:31
SPEAKER_05: And I always say things like, listen, you're a class of 25 and I am one teacher.
51:37
SPEAKER_05: I don't have 25 eyes on all of you at the same time.
51:42
SPEAKER_05: I can only watch give corrections here and there.
51:45
SPEAKER_05: I can give group corrections that everyone should be applying.
51:48
SPEAKER_05: But you, as the dancer, need to be aware of what the corrections are as well.
51:53
SPEAKER_05: You have to be learning from one another, listening to what someone else gets as a correction and applying it to yourself if you're not doing that.
52:00
SPEAKER_05: Not just thinking that you've got it and you're the best.
52:03
SPEAKER_05: And oh, well, my leap was the highest.
52:06
SPEAKER_05: So I'm the best dancer in the room.
52:07
SPEAKER_05: Yeah, but actually, dance Sally Sue over here did the progression correctly.
52:12
SPEAKER_05: And I care more about that, the basics that she did, over wow, great, great height on your jump.
52:18
SPEAKER_05: That's beautiful that you have such beautiful flexibility and you're a bot ma.
52:22
SPEAKER_05: I love that.
52:23
SPEAKER_05: But did you do the back potab beret and prep on the proper corner for the pirouette?
52:28
SPEAKER_05: No.
52:29
SPEAKER_05: So, you know, it's like to me, even as a professional, a guest teacher and like a working professional, that's what matters to me.
52:37
SPEAKER_05: And I I don't, I hope I know that dance that's hard to get through dancers' heads, but I hope that teachers approach their training that way, that the basics are important.
52:49
SPEAKER_05: Because I feel like that with the social media, like we talked about at the beginning, and then also just like the pressure to stay relevant and competitive.
52:58
SPEAKER_05: Now that everyone can compete, every like even like you we hinted at earlier.
53:02
SPEAKER_05: If you don't really know these skills, maybe you shouldn't be hitting the competition stage yet.
53:07
SPEAKER_05: Maybe you're not ready for competition.
53:09
SPEAKER_05: That is okay.
53:10
SPEAKER_05: There was a time and a place in the dance industry when competition wasn't for everybody.
53:15
SPEAKER_05: Now it's for everybody.
53:16
SPEAKER_05: And then I think people feel the pressure of it's competition.
53:20
SPEAKER_05: So now I need to throw in all these tricks that are beyond my ability.
53:24
SPEAKER_05: And I think it's kind of actually hurting our industry a little bit because those basics are getting lost because of that.
53:30
SPEAKER_03: And I also think as much as you have to convince some dancers that basics are important, you also have dance parents thrown in there.
53:38
SPEAKER_05: Yes.
53:39
SPEAKER_03: So I know myself, even if my technique ballet program has been implemented, implemented for let's say 20 years.
53:46
SPEAKER_03: Okay, but it's definitely constantly evolving because it has to.
53:49
SPEAKER_03: As a teacher, you constantly have to defend, beg, explain why these classes are necessary.
53:57
SPEAKER_03: Because, like you said, they might have seen that wonderful leap they did in your jazz progression, but you're like the pot of beret preparation that she couldn't, she was like tripping on her own feet, she wasn't even on the right timing.
54:07
SPEAKER_03: But her leap was great, and that's all that is necessary whatsoever.
54:11
SPEAKER_03: And I'm constantly telling parents stop trying to skip levels.
54:14
SPEAKER_03: Maybe your friend's in a different ballet company, but they've had two years of it on you, or maybe their body grew differently.
54:21
SPEAKER_03: It has nothing to do with age.
54:23
SPEAKER_03: It it does not.
54:24
SPEAKER_03: It has to do with their ballet training that for that specific class.
54:28
SPEAKER_03: So I feel like um having to deal with parents, another word we threw around before is challenge.
54:34
SPEAKER_03: I get so many emails that start with she, he or she really wants to be challenged.
54:40
SPEAKER_03: A plie and a releve in the positions of ballet and your arms and your head, your profile, they don't change.
54:47
SPEAKER_03: If you've taken ballet for 20 years or it's your first ballet class, I don't know how much challenge you think you're gonna get.
54:53
SPEAKER_03: Did you do them correctly?
54:55
SPEAKER_03: Did you, are you doing them repetitiously?
54:57
SPEAKER_03: Are you taking them home?
54:58
SPEAKER_03: I feel like we're constantly like trying to defend the class, why it's important.
55:03
SPEAKER_03: We're begging dancers to take them, and you're constantly fighting this word challenge.
55:13
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55:18
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56:06
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56:10
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56:17
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56:49
SPEAKER_05: It's been around for a long time.
56:50
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
56:50
SPEAKER_01: Advanced dancers are happy to take a beginner class.
56:53
SPEAKER_01: Beginner dancers think they, you know, have to take an advanced class.
56:56
SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
56:56
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
56:56
SPEAKER_03: And you're doing yourself a disservice in your in your dance training, trying to skip to be with your friends or wherever you think you should be, wherever you think your dancer should be as a parent, or you think you should be as a dancer.
57:07
SPEAKER_03: A lot of people don't know.
57:08
SPEAKER_03: There's only a little small window of time in your formative dance training that you are able to get this.
57:14
SPEAKER_03: If you skip out on it or or choose not to take it seriously or put any work in, you don't go back to the you don't go back to that.
57:21
SPEAKER_05: Especially like, like I that immediately makes me think of dancers who start later in life.
57:26
SPEAKER_05: Right, exactly.
57:27
SPEAKER_05: You know, they're playing catch up.
57:28
SPEAKER_05: Like I had a dancer that came to my class at steps who started dancing when they were like 19, I think, a male dancer.
57:35
SPEAKER_05: He's like 24 now.
57:36
SPEAKER_05: And he's like, this is the type of class I need because there's no, there's no like adult classes that are focusing on basics in jazz dance.
57:45
SPEAKER_05: And I never learned them.
57:46
SPEAKER_05: So like I need this type of class.
57:49
SPEAKER_05: Everyone just focuses on the combos because these are quote unquote professional studios and those basics are forgotten about.
57:55
SPEAKER_05: And I was like, that is, I could only imagine the challenge of, you know, not getting that foundational training from when you're young.
58:03
SPEAKER_05: So that's why I do think it's important to remind and refresh, no matter what age you are, of those, those basic in any genre.
58:11
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, for sure.
58:12
SPEAKER_02: I think too, like if you start training the kids young in their alignment and they're having, you know, strength and conditioning classes and they're learning about their muscles and their bones and how it all aligns up when they're younger, then it's actually gonna be, I've been trying to stress this to my dancers lately, like it's actually going to be easier when you get to the harder skills, the fuites and oscillants and all the crazy tricks.
58:40
SPEAKER_02: You're gonna pick that up so much faster if you know where you your body is in space and you have your alignment down, you don't have to think about it as much.
58:48
SPEAKER_02: And so when they try to rush ahead, that's what I mean.
58:51
SPEAKER_02: It's so hard, but I try to keep explaining that to them.
58:54
SPEAKER_02: And then hopefully you have dancers that can kind of show that, right?
58:59
SPEAKER_02: So who have been training with you since they were little and are now older and they don't have all as many bad habits and their technique is there just for everyone to see that they went through the progression and did it, all the levels, and now they have that.
59:15
SPEAKER_02: So I mean, it is a lot about trust too.
59:18
SPEAKER_02: Huge like having your dance family trust you and I think also trusting yourself.
59:25
SPEAKER_02: Like if you trust that you know you've done all the research you've learned, you know what you're talking about, and you go into class and you teach it like you trust what you're doing, then hopefully everyone else will see that and also trust you.
59:41
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I think what you said about using the old your older, you know, dancers kind of as an example is such a great thing.
59:47
SPEAKER_01: I think it might be beneficial for, you know, parents looking for a studio or looking for a new studio or even questioning where your kid is at your own studio.
59:55
SPEAKER_01: Go in and watch the older classes and like really see what they're doing, how they're doing it, talk to the teachers, you know, and and like you said, Kaelin, maybe there's an example to be made of, you know, so-and-so started at three.
1:00:07
SPEAKER_01: She did all these things in the right order, and this is what's happening now.
1:00:11
SPEAKER_01: And you can see, like, she has all, and like not to call out somebody else who hasn't done that, like, but the comparison would be a nice thing to be able to look at if it wasn't so political to probably do that.
1:00:21
SPEAKER_01: But, you know, it's like you can see the difference from somebody who stayed the stayed the course and maybe didn't, you know, necessarily skip around and try to do things that they weren't ready for versus the kid who did.
1:00:33
SPEAKER_01: And it's like, what are the puzzle pieces that are missing from that kid and their training versus the person who stayed stayed the course?
1:00:41
SPEAKER_01: You know, I think that's always something to consider for parents, whether it's dance or football or whatever else you're doing.
1:00:47
SPEAKER_05: And you briefly brought up alignment.
1:00:49
SPEAKER_05: And I think that that's when safety comes into play.
1:00:51
SPEAKER_05: And that is what is so important for our one body that we get in this life.
1:00:57
SPEAKER_05: One body, you have to make sure you're taking care of it.
1:01:00
SPEAKER_05: And if the alignment isn't corrected at the beginning before the skill is even taught, like if you are knock-need taken off for your side leap, we're we have an issue.
1:01:11
SPEAKER_05: Like they're, you know, and that's why we do repetition and ballet.
1:01:15
SPEAKER_05: That's why we do the strength and conditioning, just to get dancers aware of their bodies, aware of the muscles, aware of how to properly track our knees, making sure we're not pronating, like those types of things that feel boring and basic are there for your safety.
1:01:30
SPEAKER_05: And it, I mean, I've noticed a huge like influx of terrifying injuries that dancers are getting these days, that they are getting surgeries on on their young bodies at 15, 16 years old.
1:01:43
SPEAKER_05: And that just makes me nervous for their future.
1:01:46
SPEAKER_05: Like, is their dance career already over before they even graduate?
1:01:50
SPEAKER_05: If they wanted to pursue this, or are they gonna have an injury that's gonna just be with them their entire professional career or teaching career?
1:01:57
SPEAKER_05: And that's not what we want.
1:01:58
SPEAKER_05: So I think their whole life.
1:02:00
SPEAKER_01: Honestly, yeah, their whole life.
1:02:01
SPEAKER_01: Like true, even no matter what you're doing.
1:02:03
SPEAKER_01: Like you get injured at 15 or 16, some of those things are are gonna debilitate you for a long time, whether you're trying to dance or not.
1:02:09
SPEAKER_01: You know, you could just go be, you know, an accountant at 50 years old, really struggling because you did a scorpion, you know, wrong.
1:02:17
SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
1:02:18
SPEAKER_01: I hate on scorpions because I have not a flexible back at all.
1:02:21
SPEAKER_01: So even if I try to do it right, it'd be bad.
1:02:23
SPEAKER_05: I just I hate on them too because it looks it looks painful.
1:02:27
SPEAKER_05: It looks so painful.
1:02:28
SPEAKER_05: And then I and I'm like, if my back hurts and I never even did that once in my life, I can only imagine someone who did it a trillion million times, you know?
1:02:37
SPEAKER_05: Like, so yeah, I think I'm I'm as I've gotten older and as I've gained more injuries and I thought, quote, thought that I did things right technically and trained correctly.
1:02:48
SPEAKER_05: And then I'm like, well, wow, oh my God, if I'm getting injuries and I did things right, I can only imagine studios who aren't focusing on the alignment and strength and conditioning and all those things, like I can only imagine where these dancers' bodies are going to be when they're my age.
1:03:02
SPEAKER_05: So I've been a you know very aware and like a stronger advocate for safe training practices because I think it's really important.
1:03:09
SPEAKER_05: And based on what I watch at competition when I'm judging, oof, I don't know if that's happening at the studio.
1:03:14
SPEAKER_05: I don't know if that's prioritized at the studio because there's a lot of questionable things I see.
1:03:19
SPEAKER_02: And it definitely you can incorporate it into because I know not everyone has time for a special class for that necessarily, but you can definitely start to incorporate different things into your warm-up.
1:03:32
SPEAKER_02: And because I'm always surprised when I go teach other places where people like the kids don't know how to do a plank.
1:03:40
SPEAKER_02: I was gonna just say plank.
1:03:40
SPEAKER_02: And I'm like, we're planking here when we're like seven.
1:03:44
SPEAKER_02: We're we and you, I mean, you have to teach it properly, obviously, too, not just we're all doing whatever, but I'm always surprised by the plank.
1:03:52
SPEAKER_02: So basic skill planking.
1:03:55
SPEAKER_02: But yeah, that's so easy to fit in to your warm-up, things like that, and getting just getting the kids stronger all around.
1:04:03
SPEAKER_03: And again, it goes back to basics and like let's say a progression, watching a dancer do a simple ballet roll as a transition and they can't get off the floor, like they're getting up, not only turned in, but they have a hand down and the knee is over the ankle, right?
1:04:16
SPEAKER_03: You know, and you can see a shrub.
1:04:18
SPEAKER_03: Shoving themselves up, right?
1:04:19
SPEAKER_03: But yet they go into a headstand, into a straddle, into a kippah.
1:04:23
SPEAKER_03: Right.
1:04:24
SPEAKER_03: And then I watch them land completely permeated, knees over, and I'm going, the stress you just put on your kneecap.
1:04:30
SPEAKER_03: Why didn't we work on just the ballet rolls going across the floor?
1:04:33
SPEAKER_03: Because like there's so many great drills for those kinds of things.
1:04:36
SPEAKER_03: Why aren't you doing any type of like a core warm-up?
1:04:39
SPEAKER_03: Because if you don't, if you can't hold a plank, you know what I mean?
1:04:43
SPEAKER_03: You can't hold, we call them dead bugs.
1:04:44
SPEAKER_03: You you can't hold anything like that.
1:04:46
SPEAKER_03: You know what I mean?
1:04:48
SPEAKER_03: You have to have a core.
1:04:49
SPEAKER_03: And for my little ones, I'm always like, you know what an apple core looks right like?
1:04:52
SPEAKER_03: If you didn't have that nice strong apple core, what where where would the apple be?
1:04:56
SPEAKER_03: You know, because you can't get off the floor doing a simple roll, right?
1:05:00
SPEAKER_03: You know, and then they want to know why they're not doing aerials.
1:05:03
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
1:05:03
SPEAKER_05: And they want to know why their technique score isn't higher at competition.
1:05:07
SPEAKER_05: It's because they're coming as knee braces on.
1:05:10
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
1:05:10
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
1:05:11
SPEAKER_05: Right.
1:05:11
SPEAKER_05: Exactly.
1:05:12
SPEAKER_05: It's because you landed incorrectly and you stepped up off the floor, turned in and with the leading with the heel.
1:05:18
SPEAKER_05: And to me, that's a basic skill that if you're doing a role, you have to know how to step in and out of the role properly.
1:05:24
SPEAKER_05: Basics.
1:05:24
SPEAKER_05: Like they are.
1:05:26
SPEAKER_03: Mom wanted us to skip two years of ballet so you could carpool with your best player from the school.
1:05:32
SPEAKER_05: Yes, yes, yes, to all of this.
1:05:35
SPEAKER_05: So many scenarios, I'm sure we've dealt with all in different ways throughout our time in this beautiful dance world.
1:05:43
SPEAKER_05: And we could talk about this all day, but I think that we had a lovely conversation about the importance of basics in so many different genres, levels, ages.
1:05:52
SPEAKER_05: Um, so thank you to both of our guests for joining us today.
1:05:56
SPEAKER_05: This was a fabulous chat.
1:05:57
SPEAKER_05: I absolutely loved it, and I hope that it inspired.
1:06:00
SPEAKER_05: Inspire some of the studios out there to continue on with that basic training, especially in the fall.
1:06:05
SPEAKER_05: I do want to just say that your training should be happening year-round, not just during the fall and not prioritizing competition dances for training.
1:06:13
SPEAKER_05: Um, so just putting that out there and maybe you'll take it, maybe you won't, but I hope you do.
1:06:18
SPEAKER_05: And thank you again to our guests.
1:06:21
SPEAKER_05: I'd love for y'all to lead us out on this fabulous chat with final thoughts on whoever you'd like to speak to when it comes to basics in dance.
1:06:30
SPEAKER_03: Definitely to dance parents, but also to the dancers.
1:06:34
SPEAKER_03: Number one, nothing replaces real ballet class.
1:06:36
SPEAKER_03: Instead of looking at something as a basic, maybe take the word basic, take the word beginner, and look at it as more of a foundation.
1:06:43
SPEAKER_03: You only again have a small window of time during your formative dancer years where you do you learn this.
1:06:49
SPEAKER_03: And as teachers, as a studio owner, even as uh conventions, as competitions, we're all part of those formative years, and we have to show that we're doing it correctly.
1:06:58
SPEAKER_03: Not only because you do have that handful that's gonna go professionally, but again, for longevity in your body, even just injury prevention, your job or injury prevention, they both kind of go hand in hand no matter where you're gonna go.
1:07:09
SPEAKER_03: And I saw something really great the other day.
1:07:10
SPEAKER_03: It said, Stop thinking of technique as Amazon Prime, it's not gonna just show up after two days.
1:07:16
SPEAKER_03: And I thought that was just like the greatest, greatest thing.
1:07:20
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
1:07:20
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, going off of what Mary said, it's you're not everyone is gonna grow up and be a professional dancer, go to college and dance, but I think it's important to train them as if they are.
1:07:32
SPEAKER_02: So even if they don't, or maybe they even change their mind later on and that you didn't think they would, like if you're giving them a good foundation and strong technique, then they can do anything.
1:07:44
SPEAKER_02: And it's also, again, going to be so much safer for them and help them in the long run.
1:07:51
SPEAKER_05: So thanks for tuning in to our episode this week, all about going back to basics.
1:07:58
SPEAKER_05: Special shout out to our guests for joining us, Kaylin and Mary.
1:08:02
SPEAKER_05: Be sure to follow them on Instagram.
1:08:04
SPEAKER_05: You can find Kaylin at Blondie Bar and Mary at MaryMarone5678.
1:08:11
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1:09:33
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1:09:36
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1:09:48
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1:09:50
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