CommU-N-I-T-Y Resources!

CommU-N-I-T-Y Resources!Our resources page embodies our mantra for the year to encompass aspects of learning, teaching, & understanding dance. These resources are for you & your family to maintain a Strong Mind, Strong Body, & Strong Heart along with learning the importance of the history to dance! We will be updating this monthly so if you have any suggestions you think would be useful, please email info@cccodance.com and we will look into them! Thank you in advance and we hope this is helpful, educational, & inspiring to our CC & Co. Community!

CC & Co. BLOG: Dance is for EveryBODY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=peV1EsWnWwA

When you think of dance, you might picture an agile and graceful ballerina, floating across the stage with perfect movements. You might think of a tiny preschool dancer, with miniature ballet shoes, waiting anxiously for the first dance class to begin.

Something we don’t often think about is that dance is for everybody - every person and literally, every BODY. There isn’t a body shape or type, an age, ethnicity, or gender that makes a person able to dance or not. If you are willing to try it, dance is willing to welcome you, without discrimination. If you dance, you are a dancer. There are no other requirements. You don’t have to be skilled, you don’t have to look a certain way or think a certain way.

We see these very things at play in our studio on a daily basis, as people from all backgrounds, of all ages, with all different body types walk through our doors and join our classes. We experience this in our classrooms as we see adults who had put dance on the back-burner are inspired, reinvigorating a passion they had put to sleep. We witness this when a middle school student who has been curious about dance for years decides to join us at Bring A Friend Week. We see this when a student who has struggled to find his place elsewhere falls in love with the excitement, the music, and the atmosphere in our studio. We see this in the bright eyes of our preschool students who walk in as little children and walk out as dancers.

Moving our bodies in celebration, to express our feelings, or to create art is universal throughout the human race. Even if we don’t speak the same language, dance is something that can unite us, something that can bring us together without ever having to speak a word. Many cultures use dance to tell stories, uniting people who might not otherwise be able to communicate. Dance can break barriers, foster unity, inspire people, and provide an outlet for expression.

When you dance, you can truly come as you are. You might not have anything in common with the others in the room, but you will be instantly united by the art of dance. You might not feel as though you are a dancer, but if you are willing to move, to be inspired, and to try, that is all you need to do.

When we say that we welcome everyone to be a dancer, we truly mean it. We truly strive to provide classes to meet the needs of every person who wants to join us, from our preschool classes, to our middle school and teen classes, to our adult classes. We never want anyone to feel as though they can not be a dancer.

“Dance for yourself. If someone understands, good. If not, no matter.” — Louis Horst

CC & Co. BLOG: If You Let Me Dance (Week 3)

A flower does not think about competing with the flower next to it, it just blooms.

Our world has become a place of endless comparison as we scroll through the highlight reels of other people’s lives on Instagram and Facebook and other social media. Today’s youth are bombarded with only the best portions of everyone else’s lives, and it can leave them wondering how or if they measure up.

It is more important than ever before to instill confidence in our kids. They need to know that they are capable. They also need to understand that what you don’t see when you’re looking at the highlight reel is the dedication, hard work, failure, and practice that it took to get there.

Dance not only instills confidence in our students, but it teaches them that confidence comes from time spent working hard and being dedicated to a task. Dancers don’t just end up on a professional stage someday. They don’t just make the high school dance team because they thought about how fun it would be. They arrive at these places that become the “highlight reel” through dedication and hard work and building confidence every day in the classroom.

In dance class, teachers equip students with the tools to build confidence. They teach them how to set an attainable goal, how to determine the steps to achieve the goal, and how to measure their progress. Confidence is not necessarily a personality trait so much as it is a learned skill. When we know what to expect, and we know how to get where we want to go, we have the ability to feel confident…and this is what dance provides.

Our CC & Co. dancers step on stage in front of a crowd at least once a year, if not more than once a year. Arguably just as important as remembering choreography, is feeling confident and able to perform. This skill translates to so many other important areas of life. Students who gain confidence through dance, often exude confidence in other areas of their lives such as in school, public speaking, their jobs, and their relationships.

It is our hope that through teaching our dancers in the studio, we are instilling in them confidence that will lead them through their lives in every other area. We want our students to feel confident so that they aren’t worried about comparison, so that they feel capable, so that they set goals that will get them where they want to be, and they will know the steps they have to take to get there. Instead of being lost in the highlight reel of other people’s lives, dance teaches students to keep their eyes forward, focused on the creation of their own beautiful highlight reel, able to recognize the beauty in others, but confident that theirs is just as amazing and unique.

CC & Co. BLOG: If You Let Me Dance (Week 2)

If you let me dance…I will never do life alone.

Although the synchronicity of dance reminds us that it is a team effort, we don’t often think about dance as a team or group activity when we sign our kids up for it. We are more focused on what our student will gain as an individual, and less in tune with the community aspect of dance.

In dance, students realize that they are not doing life alone. They were wired for community, for friendship, and for teamwork. This goes beyond the walls of the studio. The friends students make in dance are often their friends outside of dance. They are the people who come to watch them participate in other activities at school, and the friends who are there to support them when life is difficult. Some of our more serious dancers at CC & Co., spend more time with their dance friends and teammates than they do at home with their families during the week. They celebrate with each other, they cry with each other, and they grow with each other.

The mission of CC & Co. isn’t just to train kids to be good dancers, it is to provide a positive place for kids to go where they are loved and supported, where they have a community of like-minded people alongside them, where they can learn to take constructive criticism and use it to grow, and so much more.

When a dancer joins CC & Co. as a toddler or preschooler, this might be the first time they are able to connect with peers their own age. They are learning how to wait their turn, how to treat friends, how to respect the teacher, and how to function in a classroom. These skills are integral as they grow and prepare to begin their journey in school and other activities. They are learning from a young age the benefits of being part of a community and how to do their part so it runs smoothly.

As dancers grow up at CC & Co., having people in their corner that they can not only dance with but just live life with, is so important. Dancers not only function as part of the community, they get to see adults around them modeling friendship and teamwork and generosity, too. They learn how to ask for help when they need it, they see the benefits of community in action, and they learn to be a supportive friend in others’ times of need. If you are a dance parent, you know that the dressing room is often a place where community is really evident. What an opportunity we have in those moments to show our dancers how to work as a team, how to look for people who need our help, and how to be generous with our time and talents.

By being part of the dance community, we have an opportunity as parents to get our kids involved in a community, to model for them how to do life with others, and so much more. We were never created to be solitary. We need community. What better way to find community than within something our kids already love to do.

CC & Co. BLOG: If You Let Me Dance (Week 1)
“We don’t teach kids to make great dancers, we teach dance to make great kids.” - Misty Lown

Although CC & Co. is new to the More Than Just Great Dancing™ community led by visionary Misty Lown, we have always kept this philosophy - that we aren’t teaching kids to make great dancers, we are teaching dance so we can make great kids.

There are so many valuable life lessons wrapped up in the experience of dance, that it is almost impossible to scratch the surface. We are so excited, though, to start sharing the value of dance, what is going on behind the scenes at CC & Co., and more, through this brand new blog.

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If you let me dance…I will find community.

As we approach our new 2021-2022 dance year, we want to focus on coming back together, in community, with joy. We can’t wait to feel the joy of community not just in our studio, but in schools, in family gatherings, in birthday parties, in afternoon lunches with friends, at beaches and parks, and on vacations.

Throughout the last year, our students and team members have persevered through virtual classes, and they haven’t just survived, they have thrived. Our students have danced in their backyards and their living rooms. They have learned new skills and shared their successes with their classmates on their computer screens and TVs. They have gathered again in our studio, cautiously, following new rules, with extra attention to the safety of others. They have stepped back on stage, overcome with joy to be able to dance for an audience again. They have prepared for the Gala with more excitement than ever before and a new appreciation for the joy that comes with dancing with your friends beside you.

Although we look at community in an entirely new way now having been without it for a year, dance has always been a place where young people can find a community. Even during the height of the pandemic, when physical community was sparse, we gathered virtually, we gathered in parking lots, we distanced and wore masks so that we could continue to be a community in whatever ways we were able. Preschool-aged dancers who are new to taking class and new to spending time away from their caregivers find community in their teacher and in their dance friends. Grade school students make dance friends who become their teammates, who oftentimes become their friends for life. Teens, who need community more than ever, find friends they can trust and count on within the dance classroom. They also find trusted mentors and role models in their teachers—adults who can play a positive role in their lives, who parents can trust to lead their teen in the right direction.

Community happens amongst the dance parents who chat in the lobby while their students are in class and the company parents who sit alongside each other and cheer for their dancers at competition.

When we think about activities for our children, we often think about them at face-value, which makes sense. How much is this activity going to cost? What is the time commitment? We think about if our child will get some exercise or have some fun. But we don’t often think deeper about it. We don’t realize that giving our children the opportunity to dance, gives them so much more than dance.

We love our CC & Co. community, and we are so thankful to be gathering again with joy. We are grateful for all of the people who have been part of the CC & Co. community as students, parents, teachers, and staff throughout the years. And we are always excited to meet and grow alongside new members of our community every year.

Stay tuned for more from the CC & Co. blog each week! We plan to dive into the value of dance, the dancer’s journey at our studio, and more!

Black History Month

During the month of February, Black History Month, the teachers and staff of CC&Co took the opportunity to inspire and educate our dancers on the history, importance and prevalence of many famous and prominent African American dancers. In every genre, we educated them about dancers such as Alvin Ailey, Raven Wilkinson, Bill “Bojangles” Robinson and James Brown…just to name a few!!! We encourage you to ask your dancers about who they learned about and what they took away from this important piece of knowledge as a dancer. The dance industry would not be what it is today without the influence and integral contributions of so many important African Americans. It is our priority as dance educators, to continue teaching them about these instrumental artists, not only during the month of February, but throughout the year!

CLICK ON A GENRE BELOW & SEE WHAT WAS DISCUSSED & WATCHED:

CC & Co Implementations

CC’s Dance Shop
- Offers a variety of new colors in tights, ballet shoes, and jazz shoes for our dancers of color.
- CC & Co. Masks
CC & Co. Dance & Acro Instructors participated in the Liberate the Artist “Forward Movement” training program and obtained an Inclusionary Certificate. Classes consisted of:
- Culture In The Classroom
- Language For Every Dancer
- Incorporating Inclusive Stories
- Embracing the Pivot
- Accessibility for All Abilities
- Today in Dance & Health
- Dance For All

Dance History

It is so important to be aware of the historical figures that paved the way for us to be dancing today. The sacrifices they made and the stories they have to tell about their experiences. Dance history is such a vital part of a Dancers journey. Looking Into the past can give us perspective and inspiration. And a great appreciation for the incredible pioneers of the art forms that we love! Their personal stories are forever a part of the movement they created.

Every Dancer should have a deep understanding of where their art form came from, just as we study the lives of historical figures in school.