K$

Dance & music enthusiast!

[eclecticsaladauthorzine]

I’m sorry but who really has time to give a shit about these dance wear ambassador programs?

[elaborateprop-lightsoff]

Now nationals is over and things are calmer here, I was thinking about how the project kids who got top 10/25 at nationals this year have not all always been front row small group kids. I think there’s an obsession with who is the favourite, and comments about how kids should switch studios because they aren’t appreciated.

I don’t think success is spending the most consecutive years at the top of the pack, it’s the journey and the hours in class and the relationships built, and sometimes it will pay off with a plaque.

[guyfierip21]

I saw a post on here a few days ago that said Molly doesn't "pay attention" to a certain dancer, presumably because she was not the lead of any groups this year.

I think we forget the whole point of competitive dance is dance EDUCATION. Those of you who have never taught comp dance before need to start genuinely trying to understand the pedagogy behind it before throwing around silly statements like that. Where a child is spaced in a group or line is generally not a reflection of how much "attention" they get in their training, at all.

For example, if I have a kid who has gorgeous technique but struggles with musicality and retention of choreography, putting her in the 2nd row IS an example of paying attention to her. I would be paying attention to both her strengths and deficits, and attending to her needs by putting her in a visible window to highlight her technique, while giving her the scaffolding (visual cues from front-row dancers) she needs to succeed. In the studio we would work on improving on those deficits and building her confidence, and if front row is a goal for her, we set clear steps and benchmarks to work toward that in the future! But just sticking her in the front row without all that "invisible" work in the studio would actually hurt her. (Not at all saying this is the case of the dancer who was named in the post I referenced above, this is just a made-up example to demonstrate my point!)

You literally cannot discern the quality of dance education any child is receiving based on if they're selected for small groups, if they're in the front row, or if they're frequently highlighted on social media. In my experience teaching, those back-corner kids are often getting more of my attention. I'm spending extra time reflecting on what approaches I've taken that haven't worked, what I need to do differently to help that kid grow. I'm giving them extra corrections to keep them on track AND extra love to build them up. I'm taking more time talking to them and getting to know them so I can understand what they need in order to grow in their dance journey.

All that to say, a lot of y'all need to smarten up and check yourself before spewing more of these "favouritism" or "neglect" comments. And I'll also say, parents need to stop putting it in their kids heads that getting placed in the back row in one group means their teacher hates them or thinks they're a bad dancer. This whole attitude around the idea of favourites and least favourites based only on what goes on onstage, and not what happens behind the scenes, is really damaging.

[eclecticsaladauthorzine]

THANK YOU DANCE EDUCATION!

[guyfierip21]

fell asleep halfway through 3/3 galas this year, what an awesome nationals season

[eclecticsaladauthorzine]

Same

[eclecticsaladauthorzine]

RORY ROSS!!!!

[grandmarch]

tda orlando has an absurd amount of dances in the dark

[ironharmonybear]

Okay seriously. Whyyyyyyyy do the judges only want things that are so dark??? Why don't they like fun stuff.

[eclecticsaladauthorzine]

Literally, what happened to fun?!?!

[guyfierip21]

who are they insinuated cheating???

[eclecticsaladauthorzine]

[eclecticsaladauthorzine]

The competition world's perception of concert contemporary has become so narrow. Yes concert is a recognizable style but there's a lot of room to explore within it. It's like one very narrow and specific sub-type of concert contemporary that always wins now.

Couldn’t agree more!

Everything is starting to look like shit someone else already won with. Very formulaic and copy and paste!!!

[guyfierip21]

kinda scared to say this, and i wanna clarify it's NOT shade on the dancers themselves AT ALL, but i honestly found like 90% of the top 3/4's solo choreo at both vegas and orlando, but especially orlando, soooooooo boring and derivative. pressplay by far had to most diverse, exciting, and entertaining set of solos recompeting, by a loooooong shot.

[eclecticsaladauthorzine]

ESPECIALLY ORLANDO!

[guyfierip21]

BOLD of people to try to bring transphobia into competitive dance spaces when the modern Day dance competition would quite literally not exist in its current format if it weren’t for the Harlem Vogue ball…..

[eclecticsaladauthorzine]

SPEAK ON IT!!!!!

[compdanceclub]

Soo they are gonna let Lainey dance w that blood on her leg? K🧐

[dancindivas]

lol they could have at least paused after lyrical round ti give her a tissue to wipe it or a bandaid

[eclecticsaladauthorzine]

Is this NOT a safety/health hazard?!?!!

[eclecticsaladauthorzine]

EPPIE!

[eclecticsaladauthorzine]

Ok I need to catch up on Orlando solos!

SEND RECS NOW!

[ilovecontemporarydance]

OH MY GOD CLAIRE MONGE IS A TITLE WINNER. I REPEAT CLAIRE MONGE IS A TITLE WINNER 😭😭😭😭

[softiedancers]

i’m sobbing at the backstage cam

[elaborateprop-lightsoff]

Kind of a woman appreciation!

[eclecticsaladauthorzine]

Literally screamed!

[guyfierip21]

I wasn’t going to send this, but I don't feel comfortable staying quiet because doing so would feel like I'm condoning behaviour that I don't agree with.

I was genuinely disappointed and disgusted to see your posts today about Israel, antisemitism and Jewish people during the press play dance off. I understand it's your account and you're entitled to your own opinions. However, your account is primarily a dance account, where people like me come to engage with dance content.

Posting about such a deeply complex and divisive topic in that context feels deeply inappropriate and insensitive, especially during an event that would cause such high traffic to your account. Regardless of your political view, I think it's important to recognise that comments about Israel can have a real impact on Jewish people who follow your account, particularly if they come across as dismissive, inflammatory, uneducated or make broad generalisations. These issues affect real people, they aren’t just headlines you see in the news.

I'm not saying you can't have opinions or share them, but I do think there's a time, a place and a responsibility to be informed when speaking publicly about topics like this and I don’t feel a dance tumblr is the right platform. I hope you'll take a moment to consider how your posts may have affected members of your audience.

I think this is so stupid! I hate the “time and place” argument because it is literally just a tactic to silence people talking about Palestine. Every single thing I said was true, and I hope I was able to educate some people! Trying to label anything I said as uneducated or inflammatory is just hilarious. It really seems like you’re the one who does not understand the conflict and is made uncomfortable by people talking about it. I will always talk about it. And I hope any Zionists who look at my blog know that they are not welcome here.

[eclecticsaladauthorzine]

Literally anon can shut the fuck up!!!!!

All colonizer apologists can burn in hell right along with israel. Yall problem is yall wanna conflate being Jewish with being a Zionist!

Idgaf what religion or ethnic background you come from GENOCIDE IS WRONG!

And to those who think these global issues don’t trickle down into your precious little dance competitions, just you wait!!!!

[lukesturns]

a mini male pulling a gracyn while gracyn is present in the building about to join the dance off as a senior is poetic

[p21jazzqueens]

I AM SO OVERSTIMULATED 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

[eclecticsaladauthorzine]

Thought it was just me