Using the 'and' is NOT enough So we have a dog.. her name is Noodles. She's a 10 month old totally brown bernedoodle and a real delight for everyone!  She looks giant teddy bear dog and gallops like a little horse. lol She's wonderful. The kids love her, the adults love her, my piano students love her, everyone loves her. Now if you've ever had a dog as an adult, you know that it's important to train your dog consistently and accurately or they don't really learn what you're trying to teach them! By this I mean using the same command each time for specific actions you want them to take. N ..read more

A pianist's simple observations from years of accompanying ballet! After all the years of ballet class accompanying, one of my favourite classes is still when students are asked to be creative. The tangible fear or pure ecstasy that I see in their faces when the demand for creativity is given to them is striking!You know what I'm talking about right?! Whether it's creative movement to something I'm making up (often younger dancers) OR creating exercises for a student led barre, I love watching dancers be forced to get creative. Some of them have been waiting for what feels like their WHOLE LIF ..read more

I have to be honest with you.. I hate the phrase "use your words.", it makes me want to vomit. Maybe I've just heard it too often. Maybe it's the farm girl in me who grew up pretty rough and tough! All that being said, it was the first phrase that sprang to mind when I was thinking about today's topic. Here's the thing.. every dance teacher marking an exercise knows that they need to count! You know that it's important that your exercise is in phrases of 8 counts (at least the average exercises). So when you go to teach it, you might be immediately inclined to use numbers, if nothing else, to ..read more

Keeping ballet class fresh and exciting.. especially when it's late spring and your energy has been drained by shows, competitions, exams, and the 'vid with zoom time, is brutal. You know I'm right! I'm feeling the burnout too; TONS of extra rehearsals, extra work, and extra busyness. I LOVE what I do but wow..these are busy times! Spring is the 'Christmas' of our industry. lol. In March I sent out an email asking for my subscribers to hit REPLY and tell me some of the ways THEY keep ballet class and music fresh and interesting when everyone starts to feel drained. Being that I'm not a ballet ..read more

Working with a pianist can be a real treat! Unfortunately, it can also be frustrating at times, especially if you're uncertain how to do it well, so I've put together a tongue-in-cheek guide to ensure that your next opportunity is a delight to both you and your musician!  (I've been on the receiving end of ALL of these at some point in my 20+ year career! lol) Enjoy! :D Top 10 Worst Tips for Working with a Pianist First of all, do NOT talk with your pianist outside of the studio. Musicians love to be thought of as merely a human metronome; casual conversation outside the studio might cre ..read more

Fondus Intrigued Me There are few ballet movements that got me as intellectually engaged with ballet as the fondu did.  I was so intrigued that two legs, exactly the same length, had to travel different speeds from a bent position to arrive fully stretched at the same time. How was that possible? I remember trying it out when I thought no one was looking. lol. I was really really intrigued by the difficulty of the coordination of it. And then came the music for it.. oye. One teacher only wanted tangos.. another, always a barcarolle, a 3rd, 3/4s. I would memorize which music type different ..read more

Happy Thanksgiving to all my American friends! As a Canadian who was already done thanksgiving back in October, I'm eyebrow deep in Christmas preparations already! lol. The lights are up, the tree is up and cookies are start to get stored in the freezer! (Quick question, do you wait until Thanksgiving is over to decorate?) Speaking of Christmas, GUESS WHAT?!  I've been planning on releasing a Christmas ballet class album for years, literally.. about 10 years I kept talking about it but with 2 little boys in the house, recording in peace was a far off dream! All that being said, I finally ..read more

Classical Music and Circle K Did you know that convenience stores often play classical music outside their entrance to discourage people from hanging around? Why? Why do you think classical music would have that kind of power? I would speculate that the layers of rhythm, harmonies, structure, etc in classical music is just too much information for untrained (music-wise) minds to really appreciate; it's noise rather than music to them. They would likely simply say they don't like it, but my guess is that they don't like it because it's an overwhelm of information for them (and likely a little t ..read more

Music is amazing.. I’ve travelled and played piano in 5 different countries,  on grand stages, small halls and dimly lit lounges and do you know what all those experiences had in common? People enjoying the music. Like my grandpa used to say for fun, “Hey! You can play in German!” lol  Music is life. Music brings joy. Music exudes and builds emotions. Music propels movement. Music can drive and inspire a dancer who’s had a bad day. Today I want to discuss STRONG music. If you’ve been reading my posts, you know that music is made up of a couple of different things; Accent, key colour ..read more

Working with a pianist this year? You’ll find this post especially helpful.   When it comes to working with a pianist instead of recorded music, there are a couple of things you need to realize and integrate! What you need to know, before I go any further, is that my beginner days of accompanying ballet weren't exactly the easiest. I started playing for a professional school before ever having been to a ballet or played for a recreational class, even. It was scary. I cried. Legit. A lot! So, if you're feeling a bit overwhelmed as a teacher who's never worked with a pianist before and now ..read more