Tag: dance

10 Tips to Surviving a Dance Class

How to survive a dance class for beginners.

I’ve been teaching dance as an instructor for many years now. I’ve taught hip hop, freestyle popping, and more recently K-POP. Many of my current students are beginners, or haven’t been dancing for very long. Many times, people I know who are interested in learning how to dance will ask me about taking class and some tips I have for them.

I wish I had a guide when I first started taking dance classes and one I could pass on to my new students. Therefore, I decided to create one.

Here’s my list of top 10 things to note if you plan on taking your first dance class.

Continue reading “10 Tips to Surviving a Dance Class”

Day Sixteen: Mine Your Own Material

We spend a lot of our time online, so what we see in places like Facebook and Twitter can lead to a deeper exploration on our own blogs. Today, dig through your online treasures as inspiration for a new post.

Here’s a gem that’s more of a remnant of what seems like a past life, haha 😅

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Back in the latter years of high school and my entire college career, dance was a huge part of my life.

In high school, I started dancing a bit my freshman year mostly because of my sister. She was always way more popular than I was, and I attributed a large part of that to her innate dance ability. 

So if dance = friends, something I had very little of, then why not learn? 😅

I wasn’t terrible, but it did feel pretty natural to learn choreography and perform onstage.

Sophomore and junior years, my dance growth was put to the side as I focused on a new hobby of mine: tricking.
Senior year, my sister and I joined a brand new dance company, Academy of Villains. It was an exciting endeavor being around so many high level freestyles and big names in choreography.

One of my biggest mentors and role models was CJ “Pharside,” the director. In terms of choreography, he was still up and coming. As for freestyle, he was in a league of his own.

For college, I went down to UCI for two primary reasons.

  1. I wanted to be away from home and in a new environment. I figured I would grow more outside my comfort zone and become more self sufficient.
  2. I knew SoCal’s dance community was distinct from NorCal but still very prominent. I wanted to learn and be immersed in it so I could bring it back to NorCal.

Four years later, I’ve gained so many invaluable dance experience with some of the most inspiring teams and dancers in Orange County.

Every team, project, and dance group had a different vibe and energy, but I’m extremely grateful for the experiences.

The groups I want to give a shout out to include: KASA Danceoff, Kaba Modern, Urban Motus, Project Groovement, KKAP, The Heist, Dreams Legacy, BBoys Anonymous, Seaside dancers, and Kaba Modern Legacy.

Although I’m not officially dancing with any groups or practicing on a consistent basis at the moment, I can’t say for sure that my dance career is over.

 I have some ideas and dance-related projects bouncing around in my head, so we’ll see if any of them manifest in future endeavors 😏

Thanks for reading! As usual, I’d love to hear from my readers. Any questions, thoughts, feedback, or comments in general. I read and respond to all comments 😊