Frame Dance Productions’ Beginner Adult Workshop According to a Non-Dancing Framer

Education

 

Still not sure about attending the Beginner Adult Workshop?

 

I understand how intimidating it can be to go to a dance class and feel completely overwhelmed. You feel awkward and even slow at times, but this isn’t your typical dance class-it’s better. We weren’t just learning simplified dance moves. This class allows us to forget the mundane calculating world and just lets us enjoy being creative for a day. One of the best things about this workshop is the fact we are not only getting in shape through dance and yoga but we also get the opportunity to expand our creative minds. That’s not something most dance classes teach. That’s why I say this workshop is better. It offers a variety of things that people normally don’t find in typical dance classes.

I’m not a professional dancer so I was very thankful our first session wasn’t dancing at all. We simply walked about the room to loosen up. I could do that! We then learned about the various parts of our feet and I honestly had no idea how complex the human foot was! I found out we have outer, middle and inner parts to our heels, arches, pads and even toes. It felt great stretching each part of my foot. I felt each individual toe move as we walked and it really relieved stress in our backs as well. I enjoyed the first session. It was a great break ice breaker to get me ready for Jackie’s intro to modern dance class.

It was nice having one of the Framers teaching us about basic modern dance steps and exercises instead of having a third party teaching it. It made me feel more connected to the Frame Dance team by seeing how they dance/train and use simple body movements to create beautiful dance routines for different shows. I especially liked the fact we spent so much time lying on the floor doing stretching exercises. Who wouldn’t love that if they went to a dance class?

I loved learning new easy ways to stay in shape that didn’t involve spending a lot of money on equipment. That’s one of the other great things about this workshop! We can learn new skills that require no experience and no special gear. Jackie taught us very basic, what felt like ballet moves. Now don’t worry you’re not expected to perform Swan Lake by the end of the class. They were very simple and we did them several times. It wasn’t like other classes where they show a move and they see if you can get it by the second example. Jackie would put on fun music and we would travel across the room. The moves were kind of a mixer of ballet and basic waltzing moves. I know it sounds intimidating when putting them together but they were very easy to pick up.

After Jackie’s intro to modern dance session, it was time to move onto yoga! Yoga mats out and ready to go! The yoga portion of the workshop was very rewarding physically and mentally. As much as I enjoy doing yoga at home, I wasn’t the most coordinated person in the class, but I had fun. I felt skinnier the more we did it! Definitely worth it! I liked the idea of having a session that everyone was used to. I looked forward to that particular session because it was something I already knew and felt comfortable doing. Plus, everyone got to take a short “nap” in the dark dance studio as a part of yoga. Now that should definitely make you want to go to the workshop. Great idea Frame Dance!

After a great lunch at the Vietnamese restaurant across street, we teamed up with another Framer-Alex, who taught us fun creative exercises that expanded our imaginations during the creative writing portion of the workshop. As I stated before, these workshops aren’t typical. I thought we would just sit around, write in our journals and that was it. Nope! Alex had us walk around the room in any direction we desired and would play word association games. We were still being physically active while being mentally tested.

But my favorite part about the creative writing tutorial was plastering colorful sticky notes all over the dance studio with words or phrases of inspiration. But he took it a step further and made us add onto each others’ work and in the end producing a very original short stanza or poem. That was just amazing to see different people with different levels of written creativity come together and create this beautiful and coherent piece of art. It was amazing to see!

The final part was just fun. I don’t know how to describe it in any other way. Lydia Hance, one of the co-founders of Frame Dance, taught us how to take the words/ phrases we produced from the creative writing class and portray them through dance moves. We basically just built on what we learned from Alex but instead of writing, we used our bodies to convey a story.

We had four people in the final session and we each came up with a different dance move. It was incredible how many stories we could tell just by using four dance moves. Sometimes the story would be about controlling one another like puppets on strings or opening someone’s eyes to the beauty of life. All from four dance moves. Amazing. The best part was it was all from our own creativity. No one was telling us how our part should be or how our part fits into the story. We simply told stories.

All in all, this adult workshop is a wonderful idea for anyone looking to get into shape but not wanting to spend the money on a gym. It’s educational, productive and yet relaxing. This class offers the chance to expand creative minds and stay in shape in fun ways. Tap into your artistic side for a day before heading back to the black, white and gray world of responsibility and math. The Framers did a great job in coordinating a friendly and unique workshop. And it’s only $60 for the whole day! Cheap and easy! What more could you ask for? I hope to see all of you on October 25th at the MET Dance Studio. Until then, keep dancing.

 

Click on the picture and register today!

Frame Dance - Multi-Gen Class - Discovery Green Water Promo -  Photographer Lynn Lane-65.jpg

Dance in Pop Culture, friend or foe?

Education

Remember the movie Black Swan starring Natalie Portman? It gave a somewhat negative connotation to the things that happen in the dance world, and even earned this meme.

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Also giving negative vibes to dance were certain shows such as Dance Moms, showing a heavily competitive and abusive dance world. But are all the portrayals of dance in the mainstream bad? TV shows like Bunheads from ABC Family or Breaking Pointe on the CW are often seen as a positive display by people in the dance world, often showing the true hard work needed to succeed and become an exceptional dancer.

 

Tell us what you think! Is dance in the mainstream helping or hindering the spread of a healthy dance culture?

Dance Business Bootcamps

Education

2015-Logo-HomepageWhile at the Dance/USA Conference, we attended a session called Business Bootcamp run by some of the great people at Fractured Atlas.  Here are my notes:

 

Mission Statements:

When writing your mission statement, you show answer the following questions.

What are you doing?

Who is going to benefit?

Why should I care?

Ours is:  Frame Dance empowers Houstonians to communicate, inspire, and connect to the world and others through movement, community and artistic collaboration, and technology. 

One sentence is almost always better.

(Name of company) –> active verb.

 

Making strategic decisions

What is our plan for success?

Intentional + Consistent = Strategy

LSD

1.  List everything your organization does; everything your organization is.  Start to group those, and start to find patterns and themes.

2. Strategic anchors.  Does it serve our mission?  Does it serve our members?

3. Decide

 

Crowdfunding Perks

Campaigns that offer giving perks receive 194% more funding.

How much to ask for and how many to have:

think about the size of your roster

The average donation amount is $75-80

Most common: $20-25

Assume 33% should be from your nearest and dearest–> is your goal attainable?  Can your close network reasonably give 33% of your goal?

How many perks to include?

7-10; try introducing perks a little at a time

Types of Perks:

1. Access; backstage pass, rehearsal videos, dinner with the artists

2. Products: tickets to shows, adding something onto what they are getting in exchange

3. Experience: something that is relevant to the work you are doing

4. Something Personal: personal video, product etc.

5. Thank You: how many free ways can you think to say thank-you

Tie your giving levels to your perks.

 

Team Assembly

Being thoughtful about how to attract and select great people to help you achieve your goals.

Typical Process

1. Be specific.  What do you need them to accomplish?

2. Bespoke Posting

3. Breadcrumbs, what are the benchmarks you are looking for in your candidates?

4. Structured Interview Process; this should look the same for all candidates

-how can I create a question that gets at what we really want in a hire

-ask them what our company does

-when has your set of skills saved the day?

-what everyday skill are you better at than anyone else?

 

Dance/USA Conference

Education

Wednesday was the kick-off for the 2015 Dance USA Conference in Miami, Florida. Each year, dancers and dance leaders gather for this event. Our own Lydia Hance was in Miami, attending the conference.

Major themes that came up this conference included:

What is the social responsibility of dance?

How do we keep up with the constant evolution of society?

How do we finance dance?

Here are some of the notes from the opening plenary.

Screenshot (34)Screenshot (35)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stay tuned for more notes from the breakout sessions.

Are you ready to start a creative practice? (it’s not as scary as it sounds)

Education

Does your mind feel jumbled?  Are you having a hard time identifying your emotions? Do you feel on edge or like your body has unspent energy?  Do you desire internal organization? Do you have something to say but not sure what it is?  I know exactly how that feels– not great.  We created a workshop that can help you find your realignment and leave you with tools for your own creative and physical practice.  Through dance, writing, and movement techniques, we want to help you find your voice, your stillness, and your power.

When I started the MultiGen Framers class, it was fairly new territory for me.  The very essence of this class is that it welcomes beginners to advanced dancers of any age.  So that’s pretty open!  Teaching the class this Spring was an incredibly exciting balancing act of allowing adult beginner bodies to venture into new territory, keep the energy and flow high enough for children to stay engaged in modern dance technique that is true to the form, minus the extraneous physicality to keep the students working safely.  I am compelled to engage the brain as much as the body, and with different developmental capacities, there was a new challenge to find out how to do this.  Teaching MultiGen Framers was like a dream– challenging in all of the best ways, and rewarding in all of the best ways.

image_34cc80edac69df4de48658ebf057535cSomething that did come up as I was teaching, was that due to the need to keep things moving along at a certain pace to keep the children connected to the work, I found myself wanting to spend more time than I could with the adults to help them journey into their bodies in a new way.  So… the Sunday Adult Workshops were born.  As someone who has always had an alternative somatic practice alongside my dance training, and desire to grow my spiritual self and investigate mindfulness, I wanted to offer this as a complete artistic experience for adults.  I believe in cultivating a creative practice alongside your dance classes because dance is more than exercise.  It is a means of connection between body, mind, and soul.  We must develop all three to be the artists that we are.

So these four workshops (take one, two, three or all four) involve a gentle, deep, and slow pace to experience two different somatic practices, modern dance technique, creative writing that will connect mind with body, and a beginning choreography class.    I hope you’ll join us!  This is also a great entry point into joining the MultiGen Framers in the Fall.

Register Here.  Sunday Adult Workshops are funded in part by the Houston Arts Alliance, capacity building initiatives.

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