A pretty little song from Agnes Obel, Avenue has a music-box-esqe piano melody accompanied with her haunting vocals. I think it would make a nice group number for ballet, contemporary or modern.
And it’s in waltz time! Bonus!
Grab it on iTunes: 
Rock Star Camp Day 5: Performance
See more about our camps here – Rock Star Theme Camp.
Day #5 Set List
- Warm-Up: Creative Movement in center & across the floor
- Class Time: Practice all dances
- Craft Time: Giant Tickets / Programs
- Snack
- Class Time: Dress Rehearsal
- Performance!
On the last day of camp we put on an impromptu performance in the studio for family and friends. Unfortunately I didn’t have my camera for the final day of camp, but I will try to describe everything as best I can.
Main Craft: Giant Ticket / Programs
You Will Need:
– 11 x 14 Construction Paper
– Crayons
We cut out rounded shapes in the corners to make the tickets look more “ticket-ty”. The dancers decorated them for their audience.
Ideas for what to put on tickets: “Admit One” “Dance Camp” “Rock Star Camp”
Ideas for back of ticket (program): Cast list, show order, message to audience
As our audience members came into the studio, our dancers went out and presented them with their ticket / programs.
Showtime Playlist!
We ended up with a great group of students who were hungry for choreography and learning, so we learned eight little combinations, which was so much fun! We started off with our four tap songs and then took a quick break to change our shoes. Then we finished up the show with our jazz & creative movement routines.
Rock This Town by Stray Cats
Old Time Rock and Roll by Bob Seger
Rock Around the Clock by Bill Hailey & The Comets
We Built This City by Starship
QUICK BREAK
Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah by Paula Abdul
Itsy Bitsy Spider by Little Richard
Rock Star by Hannah Montana
We had a great week and I hope you enjoyed coming along with us!
Rock Star Camp Day 4: Bling Bling
Read more about our camp here!
Day #4 Set List
- Warm-Up: Jazz warm-up and across the floor progressions
- Class Time: Jazz class – learn dance #3
- Craft Time: Sunglasses & Necklaces
- Snack
- Class Time: Tap class – learn dance #3
- Fun Time: Relay Races
Playlist
On Day 4, we learned our final dances to “We Built This City” 
by Starship and Hannah Montana’s “Rock Star”.Since we needed more time to practice our dances, we kept craft time shorter than the other days.
by Starship and Hannah Montana’s “Rock Star”.Since we needed more time to practice our dances, we kept craft time shorter than the other days.
Craft #1: Blinged-Out Sunnies
Supplies: Cardstock or Folders, Gem Rhinestones, Glue, Paintbrushes
Teacher Prep: Cut out glasses from cardstock.
Using glue and plastic gems, decorate glasses.
Rock Star Camp Day 3: Glitter, Glitter, Everywhere
Read more about our camp here!
Day #3 Set List
- Warm-Up: Jazz warm-up and across the floor progressions
- Class Time: Jazz class – learn dance #3
- Craft Time: Microphones, Picture Frames, Stars
- Snack
- Class Time: Tap class – learn dance #3
- Fun Time: Alphadance
Playlist
For Day 3, we lip-synced with our microphones to “Rock Around The Clock” and did a fun jazz dance to Little Richard’s rockin’ version of “Itsy Bitsy Spider”
and did a fun jazz dance to Little Richard’s rockin’ version of “Itsy Bitsy Spider”
Main Craft: Glittered Microphone Heads
Supplies Needed: Styrofoam balls, glue, paintbrushes, glitter, hot glue, painted tube from Day 2
1) Apply glue to styrofoam balls with paintbrushes (we put the balls on a fork to make “glitterizing” easier).
2) Dip in glitter and repeat until covered. Set aside to dry.
3) *Teacher Step* Hot glue glittered styrofoam to painted tube (from yesterday’s step).
 |
| Microphones and guitar necks drying.
Our forks wouldn’t fit in the small tubes so we let them dry in the guitar necks. |
Craft #2: Picture Frames
Supplies: foam sheets, foam stickers, hot glue, photos
Rock Star Camp Day 2: Rockin’ Guitars & Hats
See more about our camps here – Rock Star Theme Camp.
Day #2 Set List
- Warm-Up: Jazz warm-up and across the floor progressions
- Class Time: Jazz class – learn dance #2
- Craft Time: Guitars, Hats, Microphones
- Snack
- Class Time: Tap class – learn dance #2
- Fun Time: Limbo & Beanbag pass
 |
| Microphone bases (left) and guitar necks (right) |
Main Craft: Guitars
You Will Need:
– Various cardboard boxes (tissue boxes, shoe boxes, pasta boxes, etc) – 1 per guitar
– 1-foot piece of cardboard tube (wrapping paper or paper towel tube) – 1 per guitar
– Construction or contact paper to cover box
– Rubber bands (6 per guitar)
– Crayons (2 per guitar)
– Paint & paint brushes
– Hot glue gun
– Glue sticks for glue gun
1. Paint cardboard tube. Set aside to dry.
Rock Star Camp Day 1: Tie-Dye
.See more about our camps here – Rock Star Theme Camp.
Day #1 Set List
- Warm-Up: Creative Movement in center & across the floor
- Jazz Class: Learn Jazz Dance #1
- Craft Time: Tie-Dye T-Shirts & VIP Passes
- Snack
- Tap Class: Learn Tap Dance #1
- Game Time: Obstacle Course & Freeze Dance
Main Craft: Tie-Dye T-shirts
You Will Need:
– T-Shirts
– Fabric Dye (pink, yellow, blue, purple)
– Buckets
– Rubberbands
We keep it basic and mix up 4 or 5 different buckets of fabric dye outside the studio (we have a sidewalk with a faucet, which works perfectly). The kids design the t-shirts inside with rubberbands. If you want design ideas, here are a few good tutorials.
We skip the soda ash step and just let the kids dip in the buckets. The shirts end up pastel, but it works for us and keeps it simple. Once the kids are done dipping, we rinse the shirts out under the outside faucet, unwrap them and hang them up to dry.
Tip #1: Some kids will want to use one or two colors, others will need to dip in every bucket. For this reason, avoid darker colors like maroon, navy blue and hunter green – mixing will result in a brown t-shirt! I recommend at least getting red, yellow, purple and bright blue.
Tip #2: The tie-dye will stain skin and dancewear / shoes. Our kids bring smocks, but inevitably someone splashes and ends up with polka-dot tights. In our welcome letter I let parents know we will be tie-dying on the first day in case they don’t want to wear their “fancy outfit”. We tie-dye in bare feet and with our smocks on to avoid most of the mess.
Dance Camp: Rock Star Theme
What a great week of camp at the studio!
Our studio offers two types of camp: 5-day “Dance Camp” for ages 6-10 and 4-day “Princess Camp” for ages 4-6. For both camps, the students come each day for three hours from 9am – noon and we dance and do arts and crafts. It’s a lot of fun and we’ve run both programs successfully for a few years (we’ve been doing Dance Camp for more than 10 years… Princess Camp we just started last year).
Each year we do a different theme and base the week’s lessons around that theme. We hold an impromptu little “show” on the last day of camp for family and friends.
This year, the older kids’ camp theme was “Rock Stars”, which was a blast to plan and to do. I wanted to share our week with you and hopefully it will give you some ideas for your camp or even just some fun crafts to do at home this summer!
Our Rock Star Camp Schedule
Day 1: Totally Tie-Dye
Day 2: Rockin’ Guitars
Day 3: Glitter, Glitter, Everywhere!
Day 4: Stars, Frames & Bling
Day 5: Performance Day
This coming week, look for a new post every day with a breakdown of what we did, craft ideas and song suggestions for a rockin’ week of camp!
Do you have camp at your studio? What’s the format? Is it successful? Comment below!
July Blog Challenge: Dance Outside The Box!
 |
| Feel free to grab this badge for your blog! |
Are you ready? It’s time for July’s Dance Blog Challenge! This month, our challenge is a simple and fun photo challenge:
Dance outside and share a photo or video of it!
What To Do:
1) Grab a camera and head outdoors. You might want a friend or at least a self-timer.
2) Dance!
3) Blog about your photo & leave a comment below or post it to the Facebook wall
I’ll be sharing my photos for the challenge later in the month and I look forward to seeing lots of fun photos!
Ready… Set… Go!
Dance Etiquette & Advice
Kind of loving this post at These Are The Lives We Lead about dance etiquette. My favorite parts:
 |
| Love dance! |
- “NEVER mark. Why pay for a class and mark until you get into groups? Groups occur for MAYBE 10 minutes. Most of which you’ll spend trying to figure out the parts you’ve been marking.”
- “Touching your toes and sitting in a grande plie 2nd for a minute does not a sufficient warm up make.”
- “Be hungry to know everyTHING about your art; ESPECIALLY its history. you would not be here without those that came before you.”
- “If you don’t make the youtube video, don’t get the job, or don’t get called out for the “special” group; it doesn’t mean you stop coming to class. In fact, the very opposite. You KEEP SHOWING UP. perseverance and SHOWING UP is often how a job is booked.”
- “.. know that dance does not come over night. Or over months. Or even years. It happens throughout a LIFETIME process that is to be adored despite struggle. Love every second of it for genuine reason and you will probably find yourself doing all this naturally.”
I wish all of my students read and understood this. Good advice for getting the most out of your classes!
200th Post: Thank You!
200th Post: Thank you!
The Dance Buzz 