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Studio Success with Just for Kix

How to Run a Successful Fundraising Campaign, According to Expert Cindy Clough

Bill Johnson, Courtesy Just for Kix

Cindy Clough, executive director of Just For Kix, has been called the Queen of Fundraising by colleagues. A studio owner and high school dance coach with over four decades of experience, Clough is known for her smart and successful fundraising ideas.

Now, Just For Kix has created a new online tool to help everyone tackle their fundraising goals, whether you're raising money for uniforms, extra classes, or to cover the cost of travel for your dance team's next convention.

Clough shared a few of her best fundraising tips, including everything you need to know about the new tool:

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Sponsored by NYCDA

NYCDA Is Redefining the Convention Scene Through Life-Changing Opportunities

Ailey II artistic director Troy Powell teaching an Ailey Workshop at NYCDA. Courtesy NYCDA

Back in 2011 when Joe Lanteri first approached Katie Langan, chair of Marymount Manhattan College's dance department, about getting involved with New York City Dance Alliance, she was skeptical about the convention/competition world.

"But I was pleasantly surprised by the enormity of talent that was there," she says. "His goal was to start scholarship opportunities, and I said okay, I'm in."

Today, it's fair to say that Lanteri has far surpassed his goal of creating scholarship opportunities. But NYCDA has done so much more, bridging the gap between the convention world and the professional world by forging a wealth of partnerships with dance institutions from Marymount to The Ailey School to Complexions Contemporary Ballet and many more. There's a reason these companies and schools—some of whom otherwise may not see themselves as aligned with the convention/competition world—keep deepening their relationships with NYCDA.

Now, college scholarships are just one of many ways NYCDA has gone beyond the typical weekend-long convention experience and created life-changing opportunities for students. We rounded up some of the most notable ones:

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Guides & Resources

2020 Costume Guide

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Essential info on more than 50 costume brands.

To get your costume company listed visit: listings.dancemagazine.com/costume or contact listings@dancemedia.com.

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Studio Success with Just for Kix

Cindy Clough's 6 Top Tips for Dealing With Difficult Parents

Courtesy Just for Kix

As a teacher or studio owner, customer service is a major part of the job. It's easy to dread the difficult sides of it, like being questioned or criticized by an unhappy parent. "In the early years, parent issues could have been the one thing that got me to give up teaching," says Cindy Clough, executive director of Just For Kix and a teacher and studio owner with over 43 years of experience. "Hang in there—it does get easier."

We asked Clough her top tips for dealing with difficult parents:

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Here’s What Happened When Dean College Brought an Athletic Trainer into Technique Classes

Amanda Donahue, ATC, working with a student in her clinic in the Palladino School of Dance at Dean College. Courtesy Dean College

The Joan Phelps Palladino School of Dance at Dean College is one of just 10 college programs in the U.S. with a full-time athletic trainer devoted solely to its dancers. But what makes the school even more unique is that certified athletic trainer Amanda Donahue isn't just available to the students for appointments and backstage coverage—she's in the studio with them and collaborating with dance faculty to prevent injuries and build stronger dancers.

"Gone are the days when people would say, 'Don't go to the gym, you'll bulk up,'" says Kristina Berger, who teaches Horton and Hawkins technique as an assistant professor of dance. "We understand now that cross-training is actually vital, and how we've embraced that at Dean is extremely rare. For one thing, we're not sharing an athletic trainer with the football players, who require a totally different skillset." For another, she says, the faculty and Donahue are focused on giving students tools to prolong their careers.

After six years of this approach, here are the benefits they've seen:

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Sponsored by Alternative Balance

5 Ways Dance Teacher Insurance Works to Protect You

Courtesy Alternative Balance

As a dance teacher, you know more than anyone that things can go wrong—students blank on choreography onstage, costumes don't fit and dancers quit the competition team unexpectedly. Why not apply that same mindset to your status as an independent contractor at a studio or as a studio owner?

Insurance is there to give you peace of mind, even when the unexpected happens. (Especially since attorney fees can be expensive, even when you've done nothing wrong as a teacher.) Taking a preemptive approach to your career—insuring yourself—can save you money, time and stress in the long run.

We talked to expert Miriam Ball of Alternative Balance Professional Group about five scenarios in which having insurance would be key.

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Dance Teacher Summit

Judith Nelson Led a Session in BrainDance at the #DanceTeacherSummit

Photo by Rachel Papo

Judith Nelson led a Dance Teacher Summit session this summer in Anne Green Gilbert's rhyming BrainDance and other movement stories designed for early childhood dancers. The BrainDance is a great warm-up that strengthens neural pathways and helps to integrate the right and left sides of the brain.

Nelson danced professionally with the Limón Dance Company and David Gordon's Pick-Up Performance Co. As an educator, she worked closely with Virginia Tanner in Utah, as well as Green Gilbert. Nelson is currently on the faculty of the Mark Morris Dance Center in Brooklyn and the Helen Keller Services for the Blind's Children's Learning Center.

Mark Your Calendar

Join us in Long Beach, CA, July 26–28, or in NYC, August 1–3, for our 2019 Dance Teacher Summit.

Dance Teacher Summit

Akira Uchida's High-Energy Contemporary Class at the #DanceTeacherSummit

Photo by Rachel Papo

Those who took Akira Uchida's contemporary class in New York City last summer learned a high-energy combination to share with their students back home. Uchida's style infuses contemporary with an influence of jazz and hip hop, and he danced full-out in front of the class to demonstrate. A popular faculty member with JUMP convention, Uchida understands his responsibility as a role model for young dancers.

Mark Your Calendar

Join us in Long Beach, CA, July 26–28, or in NYC, August 1–3, for our 2019 Dance Teacher Summit.

Jan/Feb 2020
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