Ladies Who Launch

Since New York City is such a Big Apple... I have been searching for HELP with starting a small business. Who knew there was so much help out there? As a member of the Freelancers Union I get e-mails all the time about seminars for entrepreneurs. It's really interesting and it is often hard to pick which one I should go to, I would really love to attend all of them.

I found this website after one of my mentors mentioned to me that she gets their newsletters. It's called Ladies Who Launch- Entrepreneurship and Creativity as a Lifestyle. Check it out! I have not even looked through the entire website yet because there is so much advice for someone like me.

If you find something interesting- leave a comment! We can use all the help we can get... right?



In the meantime movecreateeducate...

Calling All Tappers!

My new tap shoes... aren't they beauties! I thought I would show them off since I have not purchased tap shoes since I was in high school! If you don't know how long ago that was, don't worry, it was long long ago! I wish I had a picture of my old ones so we could compare the difference. I will just tell you this, the bottoms fell out! That's how much I used them and love to tap and teach tap!

This year at Mark Morris Dance Group (click here to find my classes and my bio) I will be teaching 4 tap classes! Can you tell I'm excited? In the next couple weeks I will be coming up with curriculum to teach for Tap 1-2-and 3 and beginning teen tap (ages 13-17)! I will let you know what I come up with... write in your suggestions or ideas if you love to tap!

In the meantime movecreateeducate...

Videos to Get Kids Moving!

Move N' Groove Kids!

Check this out! One of my professors from NYU has started a video collection for creative movement! It's very unique and brings many ideas to children and teachers alike! You can find more of her videos on YouTube.com! I'm so proud to be a part of a community that is so involved in dance education!

Yoga?

So I have been thinking more and more about Yoga and the benefits of the body and mind. It has been the talk of the town lately and all I know about it is what I have taught myself. Some dancers I know LOVE it and some dancers I know HATE it. I'm wondering how this could be if it's such a great addition to balancing your life?

As I said in earlier posts I am looking to integrate some yoga into my movement classes this year. I have found a weekend certification here in the city that sounds like it would be a good fit for me. I would like to take it but it requires that you have an understanding of Yoga and that you have your own practice. So, I guess I better get to class!

Here is the website-
http://www.karmakidsyoga.com


Is there anyone who has a specific yoga that they like? I have some anxiety about trying it out. Any suggestions or tips on making it easier to begin my own practice?

In the meantime movecreateeducate...

Dancer-Dance Teacher Extraordinaire

After a very long day today and an amazing Maria's Movers ballet class (one mom said "you pulled out all the stops today"), I met up with an old/new friend at the park after work. We met at Slippery Rock and danced a lot together. We have been in New York about the same amount of time and thought it was time to meet up! It was great to talk, share ideas about teaching and get some inspiration! She gave me some good advice on some things I have been working towards such as getting back into dancing and performing and most importantly an accountant for artist... which I desperately need.


She has a website ... check it out!



My challenge to you is to meet up with an old friend and make them a new one... it's a great feeling!

In the meantime movecreateeducate...

Maria's Movers has a space! Finally!

If you live in NYC you know how hard space is to find. It's almost impossible. I was determined this school year to start my own creative ballet classes. I knew it wouldn't be easy, but I managed to get some great mom's behind me and now I am proud to announce 2 new Maria's Movers spaces on the upper west side!



For my 3-4 year old class I found space at World Yoga Studio. It's a beautiful space, and besides the plants there isn't much I will have to keep the 3 year olds from exploring.


The second space is at a play room in one of the trump buildings. A few mom's built a play group and asked me if I would be the ballet teacher. It was great for me because they did all the work in putting it together, now I just get to do what I love.


I learned a lot from the challenge of looking for a dance space. It just gives me a taste of the strength I will need when I begin to look for a space for my school. This is just the beginning... more to come!

In the meantime movecreateeducate...

Ballet Among the Blooms

I will be teaching at this event in September... I am looking forward to creating the curriculum for this workshop, even though it is a wide age group. I think anything with ballet and flowers will be beautiful! What a great way to educate children about ballet!

As seen in Time Out Kids New York....
Saturday September 26, 2009
3:00pm-5:00pm
New York Botanical Garden

Kazimiroff Blvd (at Fordham Rd)
718-817-8700

Travel: B, D to Bedford Park Blvd; 4 to Bedford Park Blvd–Lehman College, then take the Bx26 bus to the Garden's gate; or MetroNorth's Harlem Line local to Botanical Garden

http://www.nybg.org

Tickets: Free with garden admission

Description
Members of the New York City Ballet Education Department and dancers from the School of American Ballet create dance routines with children. Ages 2 to 12.

I will take a lot of pictures and post them as soon as the event occurs! I look forward to telling you more about the event...

In the meantime movecreateeducate...

Resources and Props I am thinking about...

I am thinking of purchasing the book "Brain-Compatible Dance Education." Anne Green Gilbert has created a way to make dance and movement fun and also make it count! It's called the brain dance and it can be used with all ages. I plan on using it with my preschool students this year, I think they would really enjoy it and what a quick and easy way to get the kids warmed up and thinking at the same time. I have some material on it already but would love to learn more about it. Any thoughts? It's $55.00 from the website http://www.creativedance.org/store/


Fluffo Balls- I found these at discount school supply and think that my preschoolers would really love them. Similar to Koosh balls, they are softer and can be put into the washing machine to stay germ free (not that I have one) They are quite pricey though so I am gathering ideas of what I can do with them with the littles. Any ideas? I am thinking they may fight over the colors..."you get what you get and you don't get upset" Right?

Yoga Pretzels- I am looking to incorporate some yoga into my curriculum this year. As I learn more about yoga, I am interested in how I can incorporate it into my ballet and creative movement classes. I am thinking about purchasing these yoga cards with pictures and stories on them. What do you think? I am sure my kids would love them and they would be well worth $10.00. I found them on Amazon


Please share your thoughts and ideas...

In the meantime movecreateeducate...

Teaching made easy...

Yesterday I ventured out to find portable speakers that I could hook up to my Ipod and that would be light enough to carry around in my bag all day long. To my surprise it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. I am excited to try this out this year. It will be interesting at first making all the playlists for each class and job that I have. After that, it should make teaching with music simple and smooth. If you are struggling with a way to make your music portable, I recommend something like this. It even zips up in a case to protect it from all the wear and tear it will see over the year.

In the meantime movecreateeducate...

Liability Insurance

If you are a freelancer like me, It is possible that you might need general liability insurance someday. This year I am starting up multiple ballet classes in several different spaces. These spaces such as an apartment building play room, and a Yoga Studio require me to have my own insurance. Here is the website that I used to buy mine. They were super nice and helpful and it is surprisingly very very cheap... If only health insurance were this cheap and available.

http://www.myfitnessinsurance.com/


The insurance policy covers up to 3 million dollars and it covers you in all the spaces that you might teach. I hope this will help someone, because when I found out I needed it I didn't even know where to begin to look. It's all a learning process... and there is always more to learn!

Next on the agenda is a website for Maria's Movers! Check back for progress updates...

In the meantime movecreateeducate...

It's been a while...

Ok so I thought having a dance teacher blog would be a great idea, but then I remembered how busy dance teachers are... *sigh* so forgive me for not updating for a while.

A lot has happened since I last wrote... I promise I will update you day by day...

In the meantime movecreateeducate...