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: 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.