The Dance Advantage Giving Thanks Giveaway

If you read our blog you have heard the names Nichelle and Dance Advantage before. If not, I will quickly tell you that Nichelle is an internet dance bud of mine who I finally had the pleasure of meeting in real life this summer. I am a super fan of her blog/website Dance Advantage and have watched her and DA become a huge success over the past few years. I am proud to inform you all of yet another awesome idea of hers. If you are not already a member of her site you must head over there now... Dance Advantage

If me simply encouraging you to do so is not enough maybe her newest creation will be...

Free Stuff!! Freebies!! Giveaways!! Prizes!! Fun!!

Did that get your attention? Dance Advantage has a super fun contest which started yesterday and will continue throughout the week. Details here... Giving Thanks Giveaway

What are you waiting for... GO!!!! =)

UDMA Costume Preview Show 2010

This year I attended the UDMA Costume Preview Show with my friend, fellow dance teacher, and co worker Graziella Baratta. For those of you who are not familiar with the show...

"The UDMA Dance Resource & Costume Show is the country’s biggest vendor gathering just for dance teachers and studio owners! It’s all under one roof— costumes, competitions, conventions, video and teaching tools, tours, flooring, fundraisers, magazines and many other organizations all showing their newest products and services to help teachers and studios owners with the business of dance."

It is an event I look forward to every year to gather info, think about costumes, and just see whats new. It's amazing to think that many years ago I attended the show as a model...now I walk the exhibit hall as a proud studio owner and teacher. The UDMA show is a special event to me for sure, and if you do not attend yearly as an instructor or studio owner you should consider starting a tradition as I did.

All the booths were welcoming, there were some great displays and excitement throughout. We were happy to run into Jose of Backdrops Beautiful and meet some new friends along the way.

Looking forward to next year already!
www.UDMA.org

The Girls Scouts Dance at Uptown

This past Thursday we had the pleasure of welcoming 19 Brownies into our studio for a Hip Hop class. The girls earned their Dancersize badge that day. I think it's wonderful that the Girl Scouts incorporate dance and fitness into the badges the girls are required to earn.

Having Troupe 762 at Uptown was a blast. Class started with a typical warm up, we then learned a hip hop routine to Dynamite. Miss Leslea taught the class and was assisted by Miss Danielle and Miss Alexandra. Great Job Girls!!

The Uptown Connection

For me, like many studio owners and dance instructors, summer is always the time where I think to myself...What can I do to make next season even better? Usually the first thing on my list is updating and improving our website. This year I was looking for an opportunity that would better serve our students and parents. I often ask myself, how can our website be more useful to our current clientele and not just be a form of advertisement for potential clientele? With the ideas I had in mind I realized I would need constant access to our site to be responsible for the many updates my ideas required. After a long process and some debating, I came up with a solution that I was very happy with... The Uptown Connection, our new site which is a social network exclusive to Uptown Dancers.

So many of you are probably saying, (much like my students would put it) "What's the deal Miss Leslea? Did you get bored again and just feel like creating yet another site for us to join??" My answer would be both yes and no. I do feel an extreme urge to let my creativity out over the summer while I'm not teaching, this year it was in the form of amateur web design and studio renovations. However, this site does have a purpose!! Let me explain...
The Uptown Connection will be a place where students and family members of students can go to get the information they need at any time, or simple go to interact with other Uptown Dancers. Memberships must be approved and there will be access levels. For example, currents students will have full access to class choreography, music, tuition and registration where as a friend or fan of an Uptown student just viewing the site would have limited access to things such as U dance apparel, class schedule and general info. This feature also allows teachers and parents access to information students may not be allowed to view. There are many possibilities which I'm excited about, mostly the opportunity for full control over changing content and monitoring the site.

Some features that are available now to benefit students and families of Uptown:

~Up to date Schedule
~Rates
~Online Registration
~Online tuition payments through PayPal
~Current Events Calendar
~Weekly videos of class choreography
~Class music downloads
~Shopping at U Dance Apparel
~Video Chatting and Rehearsing with classmates
~Social opportunities
~Share Photos
~Blog
~Join a Group
~Spark up a convo in the forum

Eventually the goal will be to have a network like this one available within our main site. Trust me, I prefer things simple and clean, and yes I believe less is more. But for now, at least members can benefit from the ideas I had for them to make their experience at Uptown even greater. I can't wait to expand upon this creation and I'm hopeful that this site will become a useful tool to the Uptown Family. Thanks for reading as always, and if you have any feedback for me I would love to hear it! www.UptownDanceConnection.com

Around the Town Dance

After a year or so of traveling to students homes that were unable to attend classes at the studio, I decided to offer my services publicly and expand on my traveling dance teacher business. The first thing you need is a catchy name, right? After a nice lunch with my pals at this years Dance Teacher Summit, Maria of Maria's Movers came up with the name Around the Town Dance, knowing I like to stick with the Uptown theme. Perfect I said!! and so it began...

What is Around The Town Dance?

It is a service Uptown Dance offers for those who are in need of a

Traveling Dance Teacher.

Why would someone need a Traveling Dance Teacher?

For many reasons!

~ The convenience of lessons in your home

~ Birthday Parties custom to your needs

~ A Dance Tudor providing extra help away from the studio

~ A Master Teacher providing that specialty class that your facility does not offer

Where Does Around The Town Dance travel to?

In an effort to keep this experience affordable, we prefer to travel to surrounding towns such as Nutley, Bloomfield, Clifton, Passaic, Newark, Lyndhurst, Rutherford, and North Arlington. If you are not in one of these towns, don’t worry, we would be happy to speak with you and see if Around The Town Dance can make arrangements to come see you!

This sounds like it may be something I can not afford, like the luxury of a personal trainer that only celebrities would have come to their home.

Even though our very first clients were Jason Kidd’s daughters, we do not just cater to celebrities or the wealthy. We keep Around The Town Dance available to anyone who is in need with our affordable packages.

Call us Today for a Quote!

Ask for Leslea

973-450-5882

Below is an example of our latest client, a Uptown Dance student who had a Luau Birthday party in her back yard and wanted her friends to learn the Hula. Thanks Lexi!! Your party was a blast, hope you and your friends had fun too and thanks for having Around the Town Dance there with you to celebrate.

Dance Teacher Summit 2010 NYC

This year I was fortunate enough to attend more than just the Gala. I must say that spending time at the Summit truly motivates you to become a better dance teacher and studio owner..."unite, share, inspire" really just sums it all up. Also, I got to see some of my online dance buds, some of us meeting for the very first time.

Day one was pretty hectic, time went by so quickly and everyone was buzzing around to get to classes and seminars and the opening of the exhibits. I arrived early to register and then viewed Sheila Barker's Jazz class. Next I was off to my friend Suzanne Gerety's Social Media 101 Seminar. It was great to see Suzanne and Kathy again, I couldn't believe a whole year had past. Thankfully our tweets and contact on Dance Studio Owner keep us close. As the seminar began I noticed a wave from Maria of Maria's Movers. This was our first meeting, but I felt like I knew her already from our tweets and online chats. After Suzanne's Seminar, which reassured the room why Social Media is right for their studio, I finally met Nichelle from Dance Advantage. This meeting was long over due because I have been in contact with Nichelle for about two years online, she has helped me a lot with her awesome blog and actually inspired me to start my own. This is a picture of Nichelle and I at the Gala. So great to have met you face to face!

Next was the Studio Owner round table. Here is where studio owners get to chat about areas of concern that come with running and owning your own dance studio. I received a lot of helpful tips and new ideas by talking to the ladies at my table. Afterwards I had a nice lunch with Suzanne, Maria and Lori.


Shortly after lunch my girls from Uptown arrived for the
opening of the exhibits. I really loved walking around and talking to everyone at the booths. I got to meet Jose from Backdrops Beautiful and saw Chad from Real Deal Dance Marketing. I caught up with Nichelle and Suzanne again, filled my goody bag with more goodies, and got some great info! If you know me, you know I could not leave with out buying something, so I chose my favorite vendor...Sugar and Bruno and got two super cute roomy t-shirts for my growing belly. Perfect for when I go back to teaching in September.

Wednesday evening was the Gala, the final event for the Summit. Carl and I went into the city together and had a nice dinner before meeting up with friends. The Gala includes the Dance Teacher Awards, The A.C.E award competition winners, celebrity hosts and some of the best dance companies in the world. I made a video of the nights performances and a photo montage of my experience. I think you will get a better feel for the Summit through these videos. Hope you enjoy and thanks for reading. If you do not already attend the yearly Dance Teacher Summit, its something you should really consider... "unite, share, inspire" and start your new season of dance off right!

What's New For Fall

We are pleased to say we have some exciting announcements for the start of our 19th season! The fall will bring many new opportunities to our students and we can not wait to welcome you back. We hope you all are having a relaxing summer and are looking forward to your return and a brand new year of dance.

A Newly Renovated Studio
There has been a lot of work going on during the summer such as new flooring, a new restroom, a fresh coat of paint and... well, you will just have to see for yourself. Miss Pat and I are super excited about this and can't wait for you all to dance in our new space.

An Adult Dance/Fitness Program
Have you always loved dance but were afraid to start a class? Did you dance when you were younger and would love to get back into it but don't want to be in a class with teenagers? Do you think dancers have great bodies and feel dance is a awesome way to stay in shape? Do you want to stay fit but don't want to commit to a membership at a gym with a yearly contract and an expensive enrollment fee? If you answered YES to any of these questions then you need to try Uptown Fitness and dance your way to a healthier you!! Classes such as...

Cardio Jazz: In this 45 minute class you’ll learn some classic jazz dance steps while burning major calories! You’ll never know it’s a fitness class, and leave with some sassy skills! Taught by Graziella Baratta

Cardio Hip Hop: Learn to dance like a music video vixen in this 45 minute calorie blasting class. Sweat = sexy, trust us! Taught by Graziella Baratta

Cardio Tap: Learn basic tap technique and tone your legs and core. This 45 minute class is all about your feet making a beat and sweating up a storm. *tap shoes required*

BalleTONE: 45 minutes of repetitious classical ballet technique with a fitness flare. If the dancers body is something that appeals to you... that long, strong, lean, sculpted shape, then this class is for you. If you like Pilates, you will LOVE BalleTONE! *yoga mat required*

Yoga: A combination of different styles of yoga. If you need to unwind from a long day and would like to increase flexibility while learning to use the power of your breath, then try this class. A very relaxing atmosphere where you can let it all go...don't we all deserve time like that to ourselves? *yoga mat required*

"U Can Dance"
A free program for children with special needs, held every other Sunday at Uptown. This program is something I have been wanting to start for sometime now and I am pleased to say I have some participants and people willing to help out to make U Can Dance a success. My student teachers will have the opportunity to donate their time to the program as well. And best of all, the children will also have the opportunity to perform in our annual recital and hopefully other local venues. Just like anything else, this program will take time to build. If you know of anyone interested in helping or participating please direct them to this post and our website.

I hope this post builds some excitement for you all for the Fall. This is time where I really start missing my dance family and can't wait to start the new season. By the way, for those of you who don't know, my final announcement...we will also have an exciting new addition in the form of a very tiny dancer in December! *wink wink*

As Always,
Peace, Love and Dance
~Miss Leslea