How did you become involved in dance? I always wanted to dance, ever since I can remember. My mum insisted I wait until I started school before I could start dancing, so at the beginning of year 1 I did my first ballet class and have been dancing ever since. What are you currently doing in the field? Apart from teaching Royal Academy of Dance (RAD), tiny toes and jazz classes at the Dance Centre, I'm currently completing a BA in Dance Education through the RAD. This degree

An arabesque is one of the most week known and beautiful of all classical ballet movements. It should show clean leg, arm, torso and eye lines, demonstrate balance, grace, poise, and have a wonderful feeling of lift and flow. To achieve all of the above, the student dancer must be aware of weight placement. Getting the weight off the supporting heel and on to the ball of the foot and toes before raising the other leg en l'air is important. Find a sense of extension and lengt

Jazz dancing past and present Jazz dance. It's unique to American and expresses universal human experiences, combining the very old with the very new. Its multifaceted nature makes defining it difficult, frustrating, and controversial. Artists, educators, and experts of jazz have both complementary and contrasting ideas about this rich subject. Jack Cole, considered by many to be the father of theatrical jazz dance, defined it as "urban folk dance." Matt Mattox, a protege

Dancers sometimes stretch to the point of contortion to improve their flexibility, but painful, forced stretches can cause tiny tears or pulls. Even seemingly harmless ones can do damage. Let's start by talking about the different ways to stretch our muscles and the different techniques of stretching called ballistic, dynamic, static, and Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation (PNF). Each type of stretch has advantages and disadvantages, but are all effective at increasing