Haley Hilton graduated from Brigham Young University with a BA in News Media. She is from Salt Lake City, Utah, where she trained in ballet, jazz, contemporary, and hip hop. Haley taught at Center Stage Performing Arts Studio for four years, and has danced professionally with Odyssey Dance Theater. She interned for Dance Spirit summer of 2017. Haley covers the What my Teacher taught me, Chatroom, Face to Face, Teachers' Tools, Technology, List and Recommended beats. Haley also edits Ask the Experts and Ask Deb.
Here's "The Twelve Days of Christmas" dance teacher style! Try your hand at writing your own lyrics to the song, and share it over on our Facebook page.
You may even want to sing this at your studio's holiday party this year—it's a smash, if we do say so ourselves 💁.
Finding music is arguably the most challenging aspect of choreography. Songs that speak to you in a deep and genuine way are seriously hard to come by! To help, here are five music artists who provide choreography inspiration magic to all who listen to them. They're all the rage this year, and if you follow their music down the rabbit hole of streaming services long enough, you'll find exactly what you're looking for, for your next group number or solo.
Performing Dance Arts dancers at The Dance Awards in Florida 2018 (via @performingdancearts Instagram)
Needing some inspiration for how to celebrate the holidays with your dancers? We've got you covered. Check out how Performing Dance Arts (The Dance Awards Orlando 2018 Studio of the Year), of Toronto, Canada, brings dancers together and strengthens studio bonds throughout the Christmas season.
Let us know over on our Facebook page what you like to do with your dancers to celebrate this time of year.
The holidays are here, and as everyone knows, the real best way to spread Christmas cheer is serving your community and helping those in need. Luckily for dance teachers, dance studios are the perfect backdrop for the start of some seriously awesome service projects. Your dancers will learn the value of helping others, and you will all feel warm and fuzzy inside!
Check out these three service-project ideas, and try implementing them at your studio this season. Let us know over on our Facebook page, or in the comments below, what other projects you do at your studio that make a difference in your community!
According to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in the U.S. In 2017, 47,173 Americans died by suicide, and there were an estimated 1.3 million suicide attempts. While it's a myth that suicide rates are higher in December than any other time of year, the holidays give us an opportunity to consider the health and happiness of those we love. As dance teachers, we spend more time with our students than even their parents do, which means we are in a particular position to notice the pain and distress they're experiencing.
It's a dance teacher's job to prepare students for professional careers. As everyone knows, this means more than just giving them precise technique and exceptional performance capabilities. Perhaps more than ever, it's important that teachers prepare their students to know how to make smart and safe decisions when entering the workplace. It's important that we give them the skills to say "no" when a project doesn't fit with their personal values, puts them in a dangerous or toxic work environment, or is discriminatory to their race, gender, sexual orientation or religion. Teachers need to help their students advocate for themselves in order to create a career they can be proud of.
Here are four tips for helping your dancers make safe and smart professional decisions when they leave the warmth of your caring and supportive studio.
For the average person, the holidays in New York City are magical. For dancers, they are out of this world!!!!
To make sure you don't miss the dancey action, should you find yourself in the Big Apple this holiday season, here are three things you and your students simply HAVE to do!
There are few things that can make LITERALLY everyone on earth smile, and dancing babies is definitely one of them. So, because we feel the world could use a pick-me-up today, here are some videos sure to make your heart smile.
Enjoy, and then go out and spread the happiness with others, dance teachers!
