Something to fall back on.

It's a rant. Apoligies in advance. 

I'm hearing more and more 'What if dance fails and you'll need something to fall back on'. Wait one second, what if doing A-Levels or going to University fails and then what have you got to fall back on? Why must we use the word fail and fall? I actually think I've heard this about six times this week (it's only Tuesday) and it upsets me muchly. I whole-heartedly worry what it's doing to the kid's ability to believe in following dreams who get told this non-stop. There are so many further education options now! 

I went to college at 16. It had it's positives and it had it's negatives. I do not have A-levels but I have a BA Hons Degree, I've written a book, toured the world and have a seleciton of teaching qualifications but most importantly above any of the qualifications I have desire and drive. I honestly think I have got this far in life and become successful purely because I want to. I've worked hard at something I WANT to do. 

I do not have kids, so I know some parents will look at this and say you'll act differently when you're child wants to do a career that is unstable. However, my comeback will be, name a career that is stable at this current time? What sort of place is our country going to be in two years time? Sometimes you've got to be strict with the child that's not working at school, or revising at home, but dont be too strict on the kid that you can see trying. (I also worked in retail and as a waitress, it was a journey!)

If your kid wants a career in the performing arts, let them follow that dream. If they're that passionate about it they'll make it work, and if they don't make it work, they'll make something else work. Trust that you've bought up your kid to be a fighter and someone that doesn't quit, teach them how to save money, teach them how to stand up for themselves, teach them how to use the washing machine but don't stress at them for not knowing their GCSE poems. Kids that perform are passionate, highly strung, often exceedingly emotional but also have the ability to time manage, multitask and be realistic. More often than not they're perfectionists - but I don't see that as a negative! Teach you're kids to be passionate about everything they apply themselves to and you will not need to worry about them. 

If you had asked my Mum or Dad what 'Rosina's back up plan was at 16'...they'd have probably said they didn't know, I don't think I had one? I remember saying I'd do my A-levels later and become an painter when I retire. I've still not needed to apply my back up plan because I've backed up everything I've ever done with my wholeself. What better back up plan than knowing that whatever is shot at your child you know they have the drive to bypass it. 

In my experience, (and my goodness, they tell me everything) denying a young performer the ability to follow their dreams is like shooting yourself in the foot. They will rebel and they will rebel hard. Listen to them.

Happy people = Successful people.

Now this is not me saying let your dancer get away with murder, I love discipline more than I do use of the inner thigh, but do not keep telling your kids they need education to fall back on...teach them life skills to fall back on instead. (I also highly value education!) 

(I got 14 GCSEs; 9 A's, 4 A*s and a B - which ironically was in physics! 😂)

Spring Clean your Pirouettes!

Spring Clean your Pirouettes!

See below for a Free Pirouette Surgery® tip from one of the Express Surgery's at Move It...and a 10% off voucher for any items from the Rosina Andrews Online Store!

So that means... my books, my teachers kits, Sam's Stretch Plans, Teachers Summer Intensive and sweatshirts have discount off of them until the end of March! 

Free Pirouette Surgery® Tip!

You've missed a spot! 

For those of you that have read my book you'll know I'm not the biggest fan of head whipping, crazy staring spots. Instead I enjoy a nice simple movement of the head allowing the body to maintain equilibrium and focus.

I also enjoy Maths.

But, Maths and this part of Pirouette Surgery® do not follow generic academic principles!

A Single Turn = Two Spots
A Double Turn = Three Spots
A Triple Turn = Four Spots

Etc.

Imagine your double turn has one spot at the start, one spot after the first rotation and one spot at the end. All of you that nearly complete your 'double turns' will definitely be completing them now!


SPOT TRAINING EXERCISE

Now, it's not massively important to move your head at all if you're demonstrating just a single turn, however if the initial reaction (the first rotation, aka the single turn) of a multiple turn has a lazy spot then it's likely not to be a particularly successful multiple turn!

Watch the video closely below to see how training the 'quarter turn then move it' action spring cleans my dancers spotting action. 

https://youtu.be/DHeGEX5gHC8

Dance Teaching Vs Box Ticking

In a certificate driven world, the emphasis on completing a task with all the necessary sections ticked unfortunately means we're becoming a box ticking society. It's apparent when applying for a mortgage, it's apparent when beginning the process to get married and I'm sure it's apparent when getting your kids into the local school (I've not ticked that box yet) 

These are legal requirements, cool, but I didn't realise that taking your primary ballet exam was legal procedure. 

Using a syllabus to teach definitely has its pros and its cons, that’s not what this blog post is about, nor do I think there will ever be a blog post from me that brings that to the alter! (The Rosina Andrews Method that teachers attend my intensives on is a teaching method that can be applied to all forms of dance and used alongside any syllabus)     

Earlier on a social network group I saw a worried teacher concerned about the leg of which her primary class test little dancers should start their gallops on; a discrepancy had occured in the notes vs the DVD. Rightly so, as I'm sure the examiner will notice this in the clarity of the teachers work and could mark the children down for it. As dance school teachers we're so careful to make sure everything is 'so' for the exams. The worry of a child coming out with a mark that they or their parents do not like straight away affects our business. We've all heard it "We're going to the school down the road, they all get 100% in their exams and medals too" 

But this is where it's all going wrong. 

My first thoughts were; 

Why does it matter which leg a child gallops on as long as they show their gallops. 

How does the teacher get her 5 year olds to start with the correct leg consistently anyway!? 

If you feel like this then forget ticking the boxes, dance outside of them. The kids and you will feel much better and they'll probably do better in their exams, as you'll have spent more time teaching them how to dance than tearing your hair out getting the correct leg to match the book. 

Safe Stretch Plans

After lauching his safe stretch plans, Samuel Downing Personal Trainer is astounded by the range of dancers wanting help with their stretching. It seems that many dancers spend over 1.5hours stretching each day and they're often not happy with their results. Worryingly, many dancers find their stretching inspiration on Instagram and parents really are concerned about the crazy looking trends on stretching- even though they're too scared to mention it.

Sam's stretch plans are being created for dancers at ballet schools, professional adult dancers, teachers who are recovering from injuries, younger dancers attending auditions and even sportspeople who have nothing to do with dance. Their personal plans are created after an initial consultation and Sam creates a plan that is optimum for their body type, something that copying from instagram doesn't do. The plans are specific and created to minimise the amount of time spent stretching yet allowing better results.

Sam is only doing a certain amount each month to allow personal follow ups and excellent results.

Be sure to book your plan online with Sam.
https://www.rosinaandrews.co.uk/safe-stretch-plans

When 'a lot' becomes 'too much'

Dance training has changed a lot recently. 

In 2010 I completed my degree via distance learning whilst working professionally and I chose my final research thesis to be based upon the training of young dancers. 

As I have grown up as a dancing teachers daughter I always found it interesting that it got to a point where some of my dancing friends had to choose between doing their homework and doing that extra lesson. I always managed to do both and wanted to see how being a ‘busy scheduled child’ affected a child’s development both physically and mentally. Open mindedely I entered the research process and I was pleasantly surprised with the findings. 

It seemed that the busier child had better time management skills, self discipline and the activities stimulated their minds in different ways therefore aiding development. Dance and hobbies reduce stress levels and therefore have more of a positive affect on development than a negative one. In fact there's a lot of research that ‘busy children are seen to do better’.

The problem is busy children in 2010 were much less busy than the ‘Busy dance child’ today. In just 5 years the length of training time, the amount of classes, masterclasses, competitions, private lessons, and the age that this intense training begins has got younger and younger and more and more. 

I totally understand that in order to get students to the standard that they and also us as teachers desire, dancing more than once a week is necessary. But training until 11pm on a school night, 3 hours of conditioning, private lessons before school, and competitions every weekend are NOT necessary. 

I’m a workshop teacher; schools booking workshops on Sundays are part of how I make a living. I’m obviously biased but I do feel that workshops are a really important part of a young dancers development (learning from different teachers, different styles etc is inspiring and refreshing; we could all do with some of that). I also am an advocate of gymnastics training, which I know has intense training schedules and with my technique teaching I know intensity is required. Yes we’ve all eaten our dinner in the car as dancers, but not everyday. We’ve also all fallen asleep in the car after a long rehearsal day, but not everynight. Hard work is needed but where do we draw the line on what it too much?

As teachers we must remember that perhaps 2% of our students are going to go into the industry and dance the rest of their lives. As parents you must understand that the success of your children's dancing isn't reflective upon being seen in the studio, at every workshop, nor constantly practicing and posting on instagram. The success of you as a parent is also not spending your life in the car and never seeing the family at weekends. The pressure is so much, especially for the ‘versatile child’. Dancing is a hobby foremostly, there's got to be some fun in it. I often hear ‘but my daughter loves it’- of which I have no doubt that she does. But don’t you think she’d love having a Saturday afternoon off shopping too? Perhaps that day off would do more good than you think; muscles need a rest, kids need sleep to grow, let alone the hair follicles which are being pulled from day after day in a bun…and I’ve not even started on her social, mental and educational development too.

It's a free world, it's your choice. But I just want to give you an insight into a couple my rules…
(As long as it isn't a competition or show rehearsal- of which I don’t actually have too many)

-If you've been invited to a party…go to it. 
-If you're going on holiday..go on it.
-The school holidays are the dance holidays. Yes, that means all 8 weeks off in summer. (With a summer school or two)

I have never said no to any ‘event or time off’ unless it clashes with something that the dancer has committed too. Commitment is a big one for me, but that's a whole new post! How many childhoods do we get? 

But Rosina, you're an advocate of training like Americans don’t they dance every single day of the week for hours on end? Yes, by the time their at an age where they know that that is the route that they want to follow then yes the training is very regular. But remember their home schooling system helps this. Perhaps they do 4-5 hours a day of dance, but they also haven't done 8.30-4pm at school like English dancers. Spending time at Mather Dance Company this summer gave me an insight into the schedule of their younger dancers, it was busy but in no way anywhere near the ‘busy’ kids I witness here! And their standard? Better. Development takes time, lifespan and maturity, whats the rush? There are exceptions, Sophia Lucia and Autumn Miller both mention there long schedules, even though they're young, this is now they're careers. Some parents I have come across on my travels with exceedingly talented young dancers have managed to persuade their academic schools to have them in the mornings for the core subjects and then have the afternoon off to cooridate their dance training too. If only all schools would allow Elite dancers to do this, Ballet exam practice could be at 2pm, rather than 7.30pm! 

Here's an example schedule of one of my Professional Extension Program dancers, Cosima’s schedule Age 13… perhaps it may shock you? Perhaps you still think it's too much, or too less, but no-one can deny it definitely works for her.

Monday  
6-7pm Drama and Performance Developnment 
8-8.45pm Ballet Virtuoso

Tuesday 
5.45-6.30 Tap 
6.45-7.45 Modern

Wednesday 
-

Thursday 
4.45pm-5.45pm Ballet
5.45-6.30pm, Singing
7.30-8.30 Gymnastics 

Friday 
3.15-4pm Private lesson 
5-5.45pm Hiphop
6.15-6.45pm Pointe 
7-8pm Recreational jazz 
8-9.15pm Contemporary 

Saturday 
9.30-10.15am Rehearsal dependent on competition
10.30-11am Leaps and turns
11-11.30am Conditioning
11.30-12noon Extension ballet 
12noon-12.45 Stretch 
1-2pm Aerial silks and hoops.

Sunday 
Workshop twice a year 

She does stretch at home but doesnt have any home practice programs. She does sometimes do gymnastics out of the studio and sometimes attends masterclasses or workshops. She is also homeschooled, of which we could over schedule her to the max...but what is the point? Shes academic too, so I'd far rather her spend some time developing her mind than her grande battemenent. At the end of the day, an Intelligent dancer will go far. 

The new year is upon us, make the resolution for quality training and not crazy quantities of it. We're always telling people to stop, take time, live, remember to apply that to the dancers too! 

'Squeeze Your Credit Card'

You know me. Well, maybe you don't know me! But if you've seen me teach or read Pirouette Surgery® then you'll know that I like imagery, and not just saying it, implementing it and acting it out!

Last weekend I was trying to get my Level 1 Extension Program dancers (aged 7-10) to squeeze their inner thighs. Activation of the inner thighs is the first step to awesome dancing, they connect to the Transverse Abdominus and then into the rest of the core. Yet, it had been the Christmas holidays and their focus on what I was saying was rather all over the place (I teach normal kids not perfect robots!)

I tried the whole 'imagine you're holding a twenty pound note' between your thighs, and wandered over to my wallet to get one out for them to try...ironically in our cash free society, (I'm a Londoner, contactless is my best friend) there were only cards. Wide eyed and looking at me waiting for the prop to practice with, I found myself handing out my cards for them to squeeze. The most awkward was the Driving license...'Miss Rosina, is that really you!?'

 

What is Dance Surgery®?

After the success of my first book Pirouette Surgery (available to purchase here), a series seemed like the best next step. However as dance techniques and trends change, I felt that could be an epically long series! I am working on add-on E-chapters including Leap Surgery, Imagery Surgery, Studio Surgery and Stretch Surgery which will be released over the next few years but my aim is to share my knowledge to improve the dance teaching world and my tech savvy students inform me that a subsrib-able blog is the way forward! Each week presents us a teachers with a new hurdle, a new problem and I discover these problems in my classes too. I hope this blog will be a respite and comfort for dance teachers who have the hardest job in the world! 

The Dance Surgery® will become a hub in London for myself and Sam’s private coaching, fore mostly as a pop up studio in Summer 2017 and then hopefully we dream of progressing to a permanent location. Together we want to change the consistency, safety and technique of dance by offering; private coaching on specific dance techniques; dance specific conditioning sessions including safe stretch, micro-muscle conditioning and plyometrics; a dancer mentoring scheme improving young dancers mental health and self-esteem and dance rehabilitation therapy with specialist physicians. We want to be accessible to young dancers, professional dancers and teachers who we can collaboratively elevate to new levels of success. We currently offer all of the above as touring lectures and deliver sessions privately all across the world, which we will continue to do (information for booking can be found here) however the future aim is to create a centre in the heart of London to radiate safe dance training and impregnate the industry with inspired and exceedingly talented performers who have long- lived careers ahead of them.