be a friend

Be a Friend, Bring a Friend — Dos and Don'ts

Baffled by BAF BAF month at Tiny Dancers? Never fear, your handy guide to Be a Friend, Bring a Friend month is here! What is BAF BAF month, you ask? For the entire month of October you are welcome to invite a special friend to join you in dance class for free. It's a pretty simple process, but we have some dos and don'ts, so please check out the list below while you decide on a friend to invite!

Do- Call in advance to let the studio know you will be bringing a friend.

Don't- Bring a friend to a class that is full (a full class has 10 children in it for ages 3 and up, and 7 children for Wiggletoes classes). If you do not know if your class is full, please ask your teacher, look on our website or app, or call/email the studio.

Do- Have your BAF BAF invitation form filled out with your friend's information so the teacher knows their name to welcome him or her to the studio!

Don't- Bring a friend that is too young for the class. We stress the importance of appropriate lesson plans for each age level, and we wouldn't want a child becoming overwhelmed because a class is too difficult or they have not reached the level of social maturity to feel comfortable.

Do- Invite family or friends from school even if they don't have the proper dance shoes! We have plenty of shoes to borrow and stretchy clothes that allow for movement can be worn in place of a leotard and tights.

And finally.... don't worry about gender—boys and girls are all welcome at our studio. Dance is for everybody, and everyone who wants to learn is welcome here!

I hope this cleared up any questions you might have about this exciting month-long event. If you think of anything else, please feel free to reach out to your studio manager. We can't wait to meet some new friends!

it's all about choreography

Since before I can remember, I loved to choreograph. I would go over to my aunt’s house and spend hours making up dances in the basement with my cousin Haley. Our brothers always found other things to do until recital time, when they would beg to be included. Of course my mom made me work them in somehow and I got to practice not only my dance moves but my ability to get creative if things didn’t go my way. Dance has always been about more then movement in this way. I owe a lot to my dance teachers but I also owe a lot to being able to explore dance on my own, on my own terms, and I always encourage my students to go home and do the same. How do you get your child to be passionate about choreographing dances at home? Well, we all know we can’t make them do anything, but you can certainly use these tips below to encourage them.

It’s hard to make up a dance when you have no space to move how you want. This is where my aunt’s house came in handy; she had a huge basement. Move some chairs in the living room or some furniture in the basement to create a small “stage.” Make sure you have some sort of music player in the room so the dancing can commence! Bonus points for creating a “back drop” with a large roll of white paper and some crayons.

I really enjoyed choreographing the most when I had a goal in mind (halftime performance, talent show, etc.) or someone to push me to finish. Having my cousin around encouraged me to come up with a full dance, plus it was fun to create with her and see what kinds of movement we could come up with together. Invite some friends or family over that enjoy dancing too (perhaps a fellow Tiny Dancer alum?) and ask them to show you a dance they made up so they can practice for the upcoming recital!

Lets face it, the best part of a dance recital is getting to wear a sparkly costume. I always had a chest full of old dance recital costumes, thrift store finds and things my mom collected here and there. When I was a little older I would come up with full concepts and create costumes to go with the theme (who knew I was practicing for my job at Tiny Dancers?). If you don’t already have a dress up bin they are very easy to create. Old dresses and jewelry that you don’t wear, a stop to a local consignment shop or Goodwill, or simply picking up some scraps of fabric to tie around the body from a fabric store will work.

Cheers,

Miss Karly

welcome

Welcome to the inaugural blog post written for Tiny Dancers by our very own Miss Karly! Please check back monthly for new posts.

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I am extremely excited to be given this forum to share my knowledge of all things dance, craft and fashion. Today I would like to share with you some tips on keeping your little dancer’s special dance class outfit looking like new. It’s not an impossible task, I promise!

Leotard

Leotards are notorious for being food, ink and dirt magnets. We understand that younger dancers love wearing their leotard outside of class and that means there are plenty of opportunities for stains. If you catch a stain early, say during snack time, try to dab with cool water so the stain does not set before you get a chance to launder it. If it is an ink stain, hairspray works best. Then turn inside out and wash as usual. You want to prevent shrinking of cotton leotards by putting them on the delicate setting when drying, or better yet air dry.

Tights

I hear this one every week, “Miss Karly there’s a hole in my tights.” Which makes sense because tights are made with a knit method, creating thousands of tiny loops just looking to snag on those evil bush branches or rough cement sidewalk. While it’s next to impossible to totally repair a hole in your child’s tights, you can prevent the hole from getting larger by brushing on clear nail polish around the edges of the rip.

BONUS: This is also a great way to keep your child’s ballet slippers knotted permanently! Just tie a knot, dab with clear nail polish and cut the extra string away.

Tutu

Tutu’s are made of a delicate fabric called tulle. Tulle is very temperamental and loves to wrinkle easily or even melt when it is introduced to heat. The first rule when washing a tutu is SKIP THE DRYER. Even a washing machine on the gentle cycle can do some damage. It’s best to hand wash in cool water and then hang overnight to dry. This prevents the tulle from getting thin, droopy or warped and your tutu will stay like new!

*BONUS TIP*

You can turn last year’s recital costume into this year’s favorite dress up costume by simply cutting off the lower part of the leotard that falls underneath the tutu. This will allow your child to slip the costume on over their head and wear it like a dress. You do not need to worry about the fabric fraying but if you would like some extra reinforcement, dab the cut end in clear nail polish or finish the edge with a zig zag stitch (if you have a handy dandy sewing machine that is).

Favorite Coffee Shops This Month
Fairfax- Dunkin’ Donuts
Mosaic- Mom & Pop
Alexandria- Firehook Bakery