I love hanging out with my students and moms backstage before the show. The room is full of energy and excitement! I like to see how my students are feeling, which is usually nervous. Also, the new moms have questions and students like to chat with me before a performance to calm their nerves. I make it a point to go back there every year to help. Then, we take pics and give hugs to put them all at ease. At that point I feel like a proud mom of 100, everyone looking so pretty and ready to perform and show the audience what we worked so hard for all year. Take a look for yourself, some video clips and pictures from right before our show...
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Rehearsal-June 25, 2009
As promised, here is a little glimpse into our Rehearsal night. I can't believe a month has already past. Looking back, as I edited this footage, reminds me of how proud I am of my students. You will notice some frightened faces, some smiles, some silliness, but all with the love of dance. That's what makes me the proudest. There are gonna be mistakes, but what truly matters is the confidence and joy that the kids experience after being up on that stage in front of their loved ones showing of their love of movement. This is why I love my job.
In the video bellow you will see 9 out of the 30 pieces that were in our show "Just Dance" which was held at the JCC of Clifton on June 28th, 2009. Keep in mind that this was our rehearsal, which is not a dress rehearsal. The students practice up to 3 times on stage, the first with me in the wings or directed them from below, the second for correction, and the third with me be able to comfortable watch as if I was an audience member. So, whenever I got a hot minute I grabbed my Flip and tried to capture what I could.
~Saturday 10:15am Ballet, ages 2.5-4 performing "At My Dancing School"
~Saturday 12:15am Tap, ages 5-6 performing "I Want It All"
~Cecelia M. age 7 performing "Here I Am"
~Saturday 2:15 Ballet, ages 7-8 performing "Can I Have This Dance"
~Saturday 2:15 Tap, ages 7-8 performing "Singing In the Rain"
~Saturday 2:15 Jazz, ages 7-8 performing "I Like to Move It"
~Wednesday Pointe performing "A New Day"
~Jennifer and myself performing a jazz duet to "Sorry"
~Finale, myself and the student teachers performing a jazz piece to "Just Dance"
Please take a look for yourself...
Thanks for watching, I hope you enjoyed it!
Keep an eye out for my next post about the Recital
Peace, Love & Dance
~Miss Leslea
In the video bellow you will see 9 out of the 30 pieces that were in our show "Just Dance" which was held at the JCC of Clifton on June 28th, 2009. Keep in mind that this was our rehearsal, which is not a dress rehearsal. The students practice up to 3 times on stage, the first with me in the wings or directed them from below, the second for correction, and the third with me be able to comfortable watch as if I was an audience member. So, whenever I got a hot minute I grabbed my Flip and tried to capture what I could.
~Saturday 10:15am Ballet, ages 2.5-4 performing "At My Dancing School"
~Saturday 12:15am Tap, ages 5-6 performing "I Want It All"
~Cecelia M. age 7 performing "Here I Am"
~Saturday 2:15 Ballet, ages 7-8 performing "Can I Have This Dance"
~Saturday 2:15 Tap, ages 7-8 performing "Singing In the Rain"
~Saturday 2:15 Jazz, ages 7-8 performing "I Like to Move It"
~Wednesday Pointe performing "A New Day"
~Jennifer and myself performing a jazz duet to "Sorry"
~Finale, myself and the student teachers performing a jazz piece to "Just Dance"
Please take a look for yourself...
Thanks for watching, I hope you enjoyed it!
Keep an eye out for my next post about the Recital
Peace, Love & Dance
~Miss Leslea
Monday, July 20, 2009
We're Back!!
Hey there!! Did ya miss us?? As I explained in my last post, there was not much down time for me this year. There are several months of happenings I need to catch you up with. I'm looking forward to posting, tweeting and updating you all again. There is so much I would like to share with you, this will be the first of many post this summer.
Of course my first few weeks of vacation are all about renewing my spirit. This year, as always, I took a trip to the Caribbean the week after the recital. I spent a well deserved (yup I said it, I deserve it) week in Antigua with my love. Now its back to work, not officially since we decided to close completely this summer. What i mean by "work" is... Last year I started what I hope to be another yearly ritual of mine, I hope to use the summer to brainstorm about ways to make the upcoming season even better. I'm sure most dance teachers and studio owners do this regardless on some level. I intend however to be rather aggressive with this work.
I do a lot of online Networking with sites such as...
http://UptownDanceNJ.ning.com (meeting/recruiting local teachers and fellow dancers)
~or~
http://DanceStudioOwner.com (chatting with other teachers in the forum, sharing ideas, getting valuable information from Pros)
~or~
Simply posting on twitter or in this blog to keep my thoughts together and focused.
Last year this method was very successful for us. I'm in the process of visualizing and manifesting yet another year of excellence for Uptown, we will except nothing less =)
Stay tuned for Rehearsal, Recital, and Uptown Entertainment posts as well as my progress with this years improvements for a season that will begin before we know it.
Peace, Love, & Dance
~Miss Leslea
Of course my first few weeks of vacation are all about renewing my spirit. This year, as always, I took a trip to the Caribbean the week after the recital. I spent a well deserved (yup I said it, I deserve it) week in Antigua with my love. Now its back to work, not officially since we decided to close completely this summer. What i mean by "work" is... Last year I started what I hope to be another yearly ritual of mine, I hope to use the summer to brainstorm about ways to make the upcoming season even better. I'm sure most dance teachers and studio owners do this regardless on some level. I intend however to be rather aggressive with this work.
I do a lot of online Networking with sites such as...
http://UptownDanceNJ.ning.com (meeting/recruiting local teachers and fellow dancers)
~or~
http://DanceStudioOwner.com (chatting with other teachers in the forum, sharing ideas, getting valuable information from Pros)
~or~
Simply posting on twitter or in this blog to keep my thoughts together and focused.
Last year this method was very successful for us. I'm in the process of visualizing and manifesting yet another year of excellence for Uptown, we will except nothing less =)
Stay tuned for Rehearsal, Recital, and Uptown Entertainment posts as well as my progress with this years improvements for a season that will begin before we know it.
Peace, Love, & Dance
~Miss Leslea
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
What We Have Been Up To
Wow it has been a while! Seems like right after the Holidays we had no time to do anything except prepare for the Recital. Sadly, no down time to post, twitter, or update our Network. However, free time seems to be more available due to the fact that pieces are choreographed and costumes are being delivered. We can breath a sigh of relief. For example, just last night I completed all 4 routines for my 10-12 year olds. Ballet, Tap, Jazz and Hip Hop... check!
Hence this post, letting you all know we are still alive and our PRS (pre recital stress) did not get the best of us this year. You would think after 17 years there would be zero stress... well... NO. You see, that is part of it, in some strange way the show would not be half as fun without the challenges.
I will not bore you with the details of the tasks we have completed or the road bumps we have encountered. Lets just say that things are great, and we are looking forward to getting back to spreading our love of owning a studio and dance with you all very soon.
I leave you with one minor detail that I am super excited about. Because of my love for Lady Gaga, I have talked my mother into using a remix of "Just Dance" for the Finale. YAY!!
Catch up with you all soon.
Peace, Love, & Dance!!
Miss Leslea
Hence this post, letting you all know we are still alive and our PRS (pre recital stress) did not get the best of us this year. You would think after 17 years there would be zero stress... well... NO. You see, that is part of it, in some strange way the show would not be half as fun without the challenges.
I will not bore you with the details of the tasks we have completed or the road bumps we have encountered. Lets just say that things are great, and we are looking forward to getting back to spreading our love of owning a studio and dance with you all very soon.
I leave you with one minor detail that I am super excited about. Because of my love for Lady Gaga, I have talked my mother into using a remix of "Just Dance" for the Finale. YAY!!
Catch up with you all soon.
Peace, Love, & Dance!!
Miss Leslea
Friday, December 5, 2008
Holiday Happenings
Health and Wellness Seminar with Ms. United States 2008 Graziella Baratta
For Teens and Adults
When: Tuesday December 16th, 2008
Where: Uptown Dance
Time: 7-8pm
Cost: Free
RSVP by December 9th, 2008
Master Class “Precision/Dance Team Style” with Rockette Autumn Morgenstern
For Ages 13 and Up
When: Saturday December 20th, 2008
Where: Uptown Dance
Time: 3:30-5pm
Cost: $20
RSVP by December 13th, 2008
Holiday Party
The last week of classes before Holiday Break, December 18th-December 23rd, we will have a Holiday Party for the children during their scheduled dance class. Its our present to them, lots of fun dancing and goodies.
Holiday Break
December 24th-January 5th. Rest up and Happy Holidays to you and your loved ones.
Holiday Gifts
Perfect Holiday Gifts for your young dancer. Tinkerbell’s Dance Studio DVDs. Miss Leslea is the host for the Jazz and Hip Hop instructional videos.
Happy Holidays!!!
Peace, Love, Dance!
For Teens and Adults
When: Tuesday December 16th, 2008
Where: Uptown Dance
Time: 7-8pm
Cost: Free
RSVP by December 9th, 2008
Master Class “Precision/Dance Team Style” with Rockette Autumn Morgenstern
For Ages 13 and Up
When: Saturday December 20th, 2008
Where: Uptown Dance
Time: 3:30-5pm
Cost: $20
RSVP by December 13th, 2008
Holiday Party
The last week of classes before Holiday Break, December 18th-December 23rd, we will have a Holiday Party for the children during their scheduled dance class. Its our present to them, lots of fun dancing and goodies.
Holiday Break
December 24th-January 5th. Rest up and Happy Holidays to you and your loved ones.
Holiday Gifts
Perfect Holiday Gifts for your young dancer. Tinkerbell’s Dance Studio DVDs. Miss Leslea is the host for the Jazz and Hip Hop instructional videos.
Happy Holidays!!!
Peace, Love, Dance!
Friday, November 14, 2008
The Reason Behind NJ Dancers
I created a Social Network for Dance in August and in just 3 short months I have gained over 50 members. This may not seem like many to most, but I am very proud of the progress we have made. Some of you may wonder my reason for starting my Network, so here it goes...
On my main page my mission statement reads...
Welcome to my Network! Thank you for your support in my effort to create a positive, motivating, non competitive place for us to interact and share our love for dance. My goal is to be well known as a encouraging support system to our Dance community, and best of all, its Free! Help me in my effort and ask others who love dance in NJ to join too. Get yourself a badge or send them and invite. Questions, comments, suggestions are always welcome. I look forward to hearing from you all. Peace, Love, Dance!
As a young dancer I can remember my dance environment being extremely competitive. For instance; among other local dance schools, at competition(of course), auditions, and even among the girls in my own class. When my mother and I opened our studio, one of our main goals was to change that competitive attitude between dancers. We should unite, not be bitter towards each other. We all love dance, why not share our knowledge and motivate each other. We instill this positive behavior in all our students and accept nothing less. We also do not compete our dancers, we chose to teach our students to appreciate dance as an outlet and art form, nothing more. I wanted a companion to the mentality we have within our studio and to share our teachings with hopes that it will become contagious, hence NJ Dancers.
I recently opened up the Network to those who may not live in NJ, but who promote dance over the Internet. You can't really localize what they do, so we have adopted them into our NJ Dance Community. For example; dance bloggers, dance apparel, dance instructional sites, dance forums, etc. I feel this will be very useful to our members because not everyone has the time to search for all the valuable dance info out there on web. That's where I come in, providing resources at your fingertips on Dance NJ. You can find these awesome people under "featured members." I will also alternately display one of these members weekly on the main page so you can't miss what they are offering us.
I would love for you to stop by and visit NJ Dancers. I also love comments, suggestions, and questions.
As always, Peace, Love, Dance!!
On my main page my mission statement reads...
Welcome to my Network! Thank you for your support in my effort to create a positive, motivating, non competitive place for us to interact and share our love for dance. My goal is to be well known as a encouraging support system to our Dance community, and best of all, its Free! Help me in my effort and ask others who love dance in NJ to join too. Get yourself a badge or send them and invite. Questions, comments, suggestions are always welcome. I look forward to hearing from you all. Peace, Love, Dance!
As a young dancer I can remember my dance environment being extremely competitive. For instance; among other local dance schools, at competition(of course), auditions, and even among the girls in my own class. When my mother and I opened our studio, one of our main goals was to change that competitive attitude between dancers. We should unite, not be bitter towards each other. We all love dance, why not share our knowledge and motivate each other. We instill this positive behavior in all our students and accept nothing less. We also do not compete our dancers, we chose to teach our students to appreciate dance as an outlet and art form, nothing more. I wanted a companion to the mentality we have within our studio and to share our teachings with hopes that it will become contagious, hence NJ Dancers.
I recently opened up the Network to those who may not live in NJ, but who promote dance over the Internet. You can't really localize what they do, so we have adopted them into our NJ Dance Community. For example; dance bloggers, dance apparel, dance instructional sites, dance forums, etc. I feel this will be very useful to our members because not everyone has the time to search for all the valuable dance info out there on web. That's where I come in, providing resources at your fingertips on Dance NJ. You can find these awesome people under "featured members." I will also alternately display one of these members weekly on the main page so you can't miss what they are offering us.
I would love for you to stop by and visit NJ Dancers. I also love comments, suggestions, and questions.
As always, Peace, Love, Dance!!
Thursday, November 6, 2008
The Power of the Net
You have all heard me mention before that this was Uptown's year to use the Internet to our advantage. It was long over due, using the power of the Net for advertising and networking. Our adventure started this past summer before our new season began. A very close friend of mine, Graziella Baratta, opened me up to the power of the Net. Sure the studio and I had Myspace accounts, but how about all of the other opportunities out there that are not as "popular". She informed me of Twitter, which has opened up many other doors and has motivated me explore. She also encouraged me to get an official website which was pretty easy since she was my web designer. She is very talented and creative, together we came up with a well received Site that many students and parents are enjoying. Here we are about 4 months later and I want to share with you some of my experiences.
Twitter: Short and Sweet. Follow people with similar interest. Attach links and info, meet and connect with people. So far I've met some awesome dance bloggers, one in which inspired me to start my own (Thanks Nichelle of Dance Advantage.) I've also been introduced to dance communities and sites through Twitter which I will make note of below.
Ning: Similar to Myspace or Facebook but a little more specific. My Ning Network is for Dance in NJ. My goal is to be well known as a encouraging support system to our Dance community, and best of all, its Free! I'm making a big effort to create a positive, motivating, non competitive place for us to interact and share our love for dance. I will talk more in detail about my mission behind this in my next post.
*Two other Ning Network for Dance: Dance New York and Dance Advantage Interactive
Helping Hands, My circle of Info.
Below I will list my dance discoveries thus far in my effort to make full use of the Net.
GenDance: "The NEW weekly e-newsletter and trend-zine for the NEXT GENERATION of dance." Dance Trends, News and Media. I found GenDance at the UDMA Costume Preview Show.
DanceHere: "You’ll find the best news, advice, reviews, and resources from within the world of dance." I found Dance Here on Twitter.
Dance Teacher Web: “Proven tips, tools and tactics to gain, train and retain better students!” Videos and articles for dance teachers and studio owners. You must become a member to access the info on this site. I found Dance Teacher Web at the UDMA Costume Preview show, we won a free month =)
DanceStudioOwner.com:"A collaborative online community and resource that is full of information on everything you need to know to attract more students, retain top talent, inspire loyal faculty and staff and love the business of dance." I found DSO in a Magazine where they were offering a FREE ebook and Tip of the Week Newsletter. You have limited access to the website for free and must join for full access. I became a member and highly recommend the site. Some time after I also found DSO on Twitter.
Dancer Universe: Everything dance wrapped up into one site. Uptown Dance is listed with this site under Dancer Lessons. I found Dancer Universe through their magazine.
Merchant Circle: A well know place to promote any business. You can join the 620,000 businesses across the country who rely on Merchant Circle to manage their online reviews. Best of all, it's FREE!
Dance Plug: "The ultimate Dance Network featuring Online Dance Classes." I found Dance Plug through Nichelle of Dance Advantage.
Dance Jam: Another Network for Dancers. Create a profile, upload and vote on videos. Imagine a Myspace/Facebook combined with YouTube, but just for Dancers. I found DJ on Twitter.
I hope you all find this information useful. Maybe you will find opportunity just like I did. I am very much enjoying the benefits and hope you find something that interests you in the post as well. Questions and comments are always welcome. If you know of any sites, networks, blogs, etc. please share.
Peace, Love, Dance!
Miss Leslea
Twitter: Short and Sweet. Follow people with similar interest. Attach links and info, meet and connect with people. So far I've met some awesome dance bloggers, one in which inspired me to start my own (Thanks Nichelle of Dance Advantage.) I've also been introduced to dance communities and sites through Twitter which I will make note of below.
Ning: Similar to Myspace or Facebook but a little more specific. My Ning Network is for Dance in NJ. My goal is to be well known as a encouraging support system to our Dance community, and best of all, its Free! I'm making a big effort to create a positive, motivating, non competitive place for us to interact and share our love for dance. I will talk more in detail about my mission behind this in my next post.
*Two other Ning Network for Dance: Dance New York and Dance Advantage Interactive
Helping Hands, My circle of Info.
Below I will list my dance discoveries thus far in my effort to make full use of the Net.
GenDance: "The NEW weekly e-newsletter and trend-zine for the NEXT GENERATION of dance." Dance Trends, News and Media. I found GenDance at the UDMA Costume Preview Show.
DanceHere: "You’ll find the best news, advice, reviews, and resources from within the world of dance." I found Dance Here on Twitter.
Dance Teacher Web: “Proven tips, tools and tactics to gain, train and retain better students!” Videos and articles for dance teachers and studio owners. You must become a member to access the info on this site. I found Dance Teacher Web at the UDMA Costume Preview show, we won a free month =)
DanceStudioOwner.com:"A collaborative online community and resource that is full of information on everything you need to know to attract more students, retain top talent, inspire loyal faculty and staff and love the business of dance." I found DSO in a Magazine where they were offering a FREE ebook and Tip of the Week Newsletter. You have limited access to the website for free and must join for full access. I became a member and highly recommend the site. Some time after I also found DSO on Twitter.
Dancer Universe: Everything dance wrapped up into one site. Uptown Dance is listed with this site under Dancer Lessons. I found Dancer Universe through their magazine.
Merchant Circle: A well know place to promote any business. You can join the 620,000 businesses across the country who rely on Merchant Circle to manage their online reviews. Best of all, it's FREE!
Dance Plug: "The ultimate Dance Network featuring Online Dance Classes." I found Dance Plug through Nichelle of Dance Advantage.
Dance Jam: Another Network for Dancers. Create a profile, upload and vote on videos. Imagine a Myspace/Facebook combined with YouTube, but just for Dancers. I found DJ on Twitter.
I hope you all find this information useful. Maybe you will find opportunity just like I did. I am very much enjoying the benefits and hope you find something that interests you in the post as well. Questions and comments are always welcome. If you know of any sites, networks, blogs, etc. please share.
Peace, Love, Dance!
Miss Leslea
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