Blog 1: Pre-project

When I'm not at school, I basically spend every minute of every day at my dance studio. It is an integral part of my life and identity, and I am certain that dance will play a role in my future, whether as a business owner or as a choreographer. So, why not discover more about what goes on behind the scenes at a dance studio? 

I'm 17 years old, and I've been dancing at Dance Studio M since I was three years old. I grew up at the studio, and Michelle Sileo, the owner, has watched me change so much over time. Michelle has always been there for me, from my happiest memories to my darkest moments; the studio is my happy place. I've been a part of the studio ever since the beginning, and I've seen the business develop alongside it. 

I've been offered an opportunity to work with some of the teachers at my studio, and I'm excited to take advantage of it. As I said before, I am interested in learning more about what goes on behind the scenes in addition to choreography and teaching dance. First of all, I want to learn how to manage people and ensure that schedules and daily activities operate well. Next, I'd like to learn how to mentor others, such as by modeling a good work ethic and attitude toward other employees and students. I also want to learn how to be an entrepreneur, including how to build new strategies and how to schedule, promote, advertise to the community, coordinate events (shows and competitions), and provide customer service, among other things. I want to learn these things because I believe that high school students rarely get the chance to experience how a business is run, and I believe it will make me become a more well-rounded individual. I'm looking forward to the next few weeks and learning from some incredible people!


Comments

  1. AnonymousMay 16, 2022 at 9:30 AM

    Great post, Marisa! I'm happy to see that you've been able to find an internship that you are so passionnate about. It seems like you have some well-defined goals and that you're ready to take the most out of this opportunity. I look forward to seeing how your project progresses over these next few weeks!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Blog 5

I spent this past week helping the teachers with classes and other small tasks around the studio. On Wednesday, I offered to help with some additional cleaning at the studio. Because the kids frequently place their hands on mirrors, leaving handprints, I thoroughly cleaned all of the mirrors, making sure to remove any handprints. In addition, we had marks of tape down from the pandemic that required dancers to stand six feet apart, so I began removing the tape. Because the tape was two years old, I had to apply Goo Gone, which left the floors extremely sticky and slippery.  I assisted some classes on Thursday. I started my day with Michelle's jazz red class, which includes dancers aged 10 to 11. To avoid injury, I began by stretching the kids thoroughly with their regular stretch routine, making sure that all of the dancers felt loose and flexible. Then I gave them some across-the-floor combos. They began by doing a kick combo that included two front kicks and two side kicks i...
Read more

Blog 4

Image
Yesterday and today, I spent more time preparing for the recital (show), and I was able to put my creativity and design abilities to good use. This year's recital theme is Monopoly, and my mentor Nina asked that I prepare slides to be projected at the recital. Each slide includes the title of the dance, the choreographer, the full names of each of the dancers, and a monopoly card from the game that corresponds to that dance. I had to do this for each dance in each show, copying the recital program word for word. First, I listed the dance's title, "Missed," as well as the choreographer, Emily Ragland (for the one pictured below). Then I alphabetized each of the dancers' names and placed a picture of a chance card on the monopoly game board that corresponded to this dance. I edited the photographs' saturation, contrast, and brightness to make the colors pop on the projector from the perspective of an audience in a large auditorium. Income tax, go to jail, and GO...
Read more

Blog 7

Only a few days remain until tech rehearsal and the first recital performance on Saturday, and further recital preparation took place on Wednesday and Thursday. Michelle assigned me to work on the dress rehearsal change areas for all dancers. Backstage 1, backstage 2, auditorium center, auditorium front right, auditorium back left, and auditorium back right are the different types of changing spaces. Backstage 1 and 2 are made up of older dancers that have a variety of dances and have a lot of quick changes. The front right and left sections of the auditorium are made up of younger dancers under the age of eight who aren't in many dances and only have dances at the beginning of the recital. Adult classes are held in the Auditorium Center. Back left and right in the auditorium are dancers beyond the age of ten who aren't in as many dances and don't have fast changes. These arrangements are established in this manner to ensure that dancers are separated by age, number of danc...
Read more