#Private Dance lessons in Ancaster

[notjustanotherdancestudio]

Staying Connected with NJADS

As a dance mom for the last 4 years I’ve learned all the ways the staff from Not Just Another Dance Studio keeps us informed. So now as staff, I sometimes forget if you are new you might not know just how connected we try to be! But we have a lot of new families this year and a new location, which means there are a lot of people a little less familiar with how we keep in touch. Of course there are also barriers sometimes with certain methods, perhaps you don’t use social media, or your email junk filters are set high. Maybe your Facebook settings keep us filtered out of your newsfeed. Let me tell you though we do our best to cover as many sources as possible so you know where to look.

Our Website Our  website is so handy sometimes our staff resort to checking it because it’s so quick and all the information is there! We are all about transparency so our website lists all our classes, how much availability they have, the days and times they run, the associated fees for each class and the instructor names. We know choosing a studio and classes is tough so we lay out all your choices so it’s easier for you to decide what is best for you and your family. We don’t hide anything from you! You can also find all our contact information, upcoming events and workshops and this handy blog!

Email Once you are registered we stay connected with you through email. Through your email you will receive notices for everything important to you and your account. By email we will confirm class registrations, send receipts for monthly tuition and other billings, notify you of class cancellations, special presentations, and our monthly newsletter. If for some reason our emails are going to your junk box make sure to include us in your “safe list”.

The Monthly Newsletter Our monthly newsletter is sent out at the beginning of each month via email. For those who don’t use email, it will also be posted on the bulletin board at both locations. The newsletter is chock-full of information - technique tips, costume and hair tips, upcoming events, special class information such as theme weeks etc., holiday closures, recital info and our student of the month. This is your key to knowing in advance what is coming up to help you better plan! You can also find the newsletter in our online parent portal.

Our Online Parent Portal Our online parent portal serves a great resource for your family and your dancers. To find our online parent portal visit www.mydancestudio.ca and click the Parent button in the top right corner. You will then be prompted to enter your username (the email you provided at registration). When registered you would have been given a default password in your welcome email you could then change. If you need a reminder of the password please let us know. Once in the portal you will see in the top right corner  some lines and some notifications. This is where you can view any recent messages we have sent you. They will be the same messages also sent in emails.

The parent portal gives you access to all your information. You can use it to view or update your billing information. View your class schedule, any workshops, events or private lessons you have booked under the classes and events tab. Under that same tab you can view and register for new classes as well.  You can also access personal details about your students to make sure they are correct and up to date. This is especially important if there are any health concerns we should know about.

The next time you are on our parent portal take a few minutes to review and accept our policies if you haven’t already. We update them regularly so if they aren’t selected please be sure to review them.

Social Media At NJADS we are social people. We love our family and want to be connected in every way! You can find us on Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, Tumblr, Pinterest and TikTok!

For regular communication we highly recommend following our Instagram and Facebook pages. We have a Closed Facebook Parent Community Group that you can join for updates and reminders. Here we once again post about cancellations, upcoming events, themed weeks as well as share some of our favourite dancers pictures, tips, jokes, videos and more. If you like our page but don’t see our notifications make sure you select follow, “See First” under newsfeed and “On” for notifications. This way you won’t show up for an unscheduled class or miss that picture of your kid and her bestie making silly faces during wacky hair week.

Posters and Calendars When you are in the studio you will also see posters promoting some of our upcoming events such as Halloween costume week, dance camps and more. You can also see our year-in-view calendar (we always have extra’s ask the desk staff for one you can take home) this gives you a view of everything scheduled for the current year! Of course if you want to speak with someone one on one our friendly desk staff are always happy to help. Between us and our instructors we do our best to remind classes in person of upcoming themes for our fun dance weeks. Our administrative assistants and receptionists can answer questions about anything you need such as registration, recital, account questions, holiday closures and more. Be sure to reach out to us if you have any absences to report, or questions to be clarified. That’s what we are here for! You can reach us by phone and email: Hamilton Reception: (289) 426-3313 or  hello@notjustanotherdancestudio.ca Ancaster Reception: (289) 445-1167 or ancaster@notjustanotherdancestudio.ca Or call/Text our studio cell which floats between locations and our studio director Amanda Jeffery. 905-529-9885 We hope this helps you better stay connected and be sure to reach out if you have any questions! -Dani

[notjustanotherdancestudio]

Creating Your Own Choreo- Choreo Contest Tips!

Still working out the choreography for our choreo contest? Did you hear the winners get to teach their own dance routine to the teachers? Remember entries must be submitted by Saturday, 30th at 8:00pm to qualify for voting. All contest details are at the bottom of this post!

So if you need some tips to make it all come together some of our teachers had some advice!

1. Getting started

This one will look different for everyone. Think about what puts you into the creative process and do what works for you.

“Listen to the music...a lot! I like to put the music on repeat to get in the mood to choreograph. See how the music makes you feel. Just start moving to the music and see what feels good to you and goes with the music”- Miss Amanda

“I like to start my choreography with a base. I teach the entire group a section of choreography, from there add layers” - Miss Sydney

2. Put thought into your movements

Think about the space you are in, think about the reason the dancer might be making that movement, what’s the emotion of the song, where is it taking place in the space around the dancer?

“Try to have intention behind every movement. Ask questions about your choreo. For example “WHY are we raising our right arm? What muscle, movement, or breath style is initiating this movement””- Miss Sydney

“Think about the space, travel along diagonals and circles” - Miss Jussara

“Make the dance in groups of 8 times” (think of your counts)- Miss Jussara

3. Film yourself doing the Routine This is a great way to see how your dance works altogether and what it might look like when your students perform it. It allows you an opportunity to revise it and helps to remember your steps!

“Film the routine and watch it over, make notes about things you want to change so you remember the [changes]” - Miss Sydney

“Record yourself so you can go back to the video and see what you liked (and to help with memory, since nothing is worse than creating something cool and then not be able to remember what it was!) - Miss Amanda

“Film and watch it back to see if you are doing too much or not enough” -Mr. Chris

4. Allow yourself revisions

It doesn’t have to be be set in stone the first time. Try it out a few times a few different ways until you get something you like. Then be prepared to need to change it when you teach it to your students. It’s okay to need changes!

“Revise, revise, revise. Never set anything in stone...Maybe you might hear something in the music you didn’t register the first time or see how the choreography would work with a different piece of music.” - Mr. Chris

“Often, the vision in my head looks very different than on stage. Sometimes better, sometimes not at al what I thought. Doesn’t mean I’m a bad choreographer or that my students are bad dancers it just looks different and that’s okay. That’s why we have rehearsals to fix and revise.” - Miss Natalie

“Set choreography, watch it over, change it, modify it, things are not stuck once the group has learned it.” - Miss Sydney

5. Don’t rely on marking

The term marking might be a bit confusing for some of the little ones but basically what this means is often times when we try out our ideas we do a “rough draft”. Our toes might not be pointed, high kicks might be low lazy kicks. It’s important to watch yourself perform it full out as if it’s a final draft or final performance to make sure it really does look how we envisioned it. It is also important to make sure we don’t allow ourselves to get sloppy and find it works it’s way into the performance.

“My best tip on remembering choreography is to always practice FULL OUT, don’t mark it unless it’s to understand the musicality” - Miss Natalie

“Try things full out before you teach the students, sometime things make sense when marking or in our brains but when it’s done full out in the studio it’s not possible or it feels/looks horrible” - Miss Sydney “ I always do the full movements” - Miss Jussara

6. You don’t want to bore your audience but you don’t want to overload them either.

You might not want to make your dance too simple because you don’t want it to be boring. Making it too complex or having too much happening though can overload your audience. Find an in-between.

“Find that happy medium to not overload the audience or have artists doing too much unnecessary movements” -Mr. Chris

“Find a balance between simplicity and complexity” - Miss Sydney

7. Challenge yourself and your ideas

You might have your favourite song and a dance that you made up for it but you have a group you get to work with that could  take it to the next level how could you take it up a notch? When you are working with your group how can you make that combo look even better?

“Challenge yourself to explore outside of the box, example: instead of just running a new formation how can we think of something more visually attractive or complex”- Miss Sydney

“Always try new things and experiment.It took me a few times of trial and error to realize whatever I choreographed would look opposite to the audience” - Miss Natalie

8. Work with your dancers differences. Some dancers may be stronger in some skills than others. Find ways to showcase the various strengths or allow for them to use the side that is strongest in a certain skill perhaps by having the enter opposite sides of the stage (or camera in this case) etc.. But don’t have too many different things happening at once! In this case you have teachers who teach different dance styles so they will have different strengths and different weaknesses! Not all our instructors are doing aerials and TikTok handstand challenges!

“Be aware that not all dancers have the same dominant leg as yourself, know who you’re choreographing for or be prepared to alter it.” - Miss Sydney

“Not everyone needs to be doing the same thing at the same time in the same direction but on the flip side, make sure there is not too much going on.” - Miss Sydney

We can’t wait to see what you come up with! Entrants must be students of Not Just Another Dance Studio. Entries can be submitted until Saturday night, May 30th at 8:00pm. Submissions can be sent to ancaster@notjustanotherdancestudio.ca. If file sizes are too big for email you can upload it to WeTransfer.com for free and you can email us directly from there or copy the link it provides! You can also send it in a private message via Facebook.

Entries will then be posted on our Facebook page for voting Monday June 1st and voting closes  Saturday June 6th at midnight. The winner will be announced Monday June 8th and they will get to teach their lesson through zoom to instructors on Thursday, June 11th at 6:00pm.

Good luck and most of all have fun!