Every Monday evening I talk to people about making original work for the stage. Episode 20 features dancer, choreographer, and teacher, Kerrie King from Northern High School in Greensboro North Carolina.
Kerrie is a firecracker of an artist. She has more enthusiasm than a kid on the way to Disneyworld. She is encouraging, creative, and full of amazing ideas. Kerrie has been the dance teacher at Northern High School in Greensboro, North Carolina for several years. Her students have far exceeded anyone’s expectations for a public-school dance program.
Kerrie pushes her students to do more than simply dance. She drives them to create. Every student in her ever-growing program (there are nearly 100 students) stretches to develop original movement. Student dancers create thoughtful and innovative choreography. This interactive style of teaching is important. Kids get to use their bodies in positive ways. The Love Your Body Week event is part of a push toward inclusion in performing arts.
Kids who worry about miniscule weight gains and barely visible perfection in the world of dance may not maintain that enthusiasm for long. We’ve all seen little kids dancing their hearts out on YouTube or Facebook. Some of our own tiny family members dance for the joy of it. It’s great to see teachers encouraging a return to that joyful self-expression. Young people who love to dance will gain technique as they progress because they are inspired. It’s one reason Kerrie’s dance program is bursting at the seams. Let’s all work to love our own bodies as an example for the young people we love.
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If you want to get in on newly created FREEBIES go to sallypal.com/join and sign up to get FREE downloadable (and fun) performing arts postcards, workbook inserts with useful links, and the starter pages for your Creator’s Notebook. Right now, you can get a 20-page free theatre resource. It’s a glossary of jobs you might need people to do for your show. It’s useful, entertaining, and you can do your pop quizzes right out of the pages. I’ll build on it every month to help you build your show.
Concise Advice from the Interview, a short version of tips from my guest, Kerrie King. Here are 10 great bits of advice:
10 - You don’t have to fit into a mold to be a dancer. It’s okay to be who you are.
9 - Your body differences are your creative strengths. Work with them.
8 - Everything in your dance piece must have purpose.
7 - Take positive strides to make your world a better place.
6 - To offer a new perspective, reach beyond the edge of the stage.
5 - Be true to yourself.
4 - Get lots of feedback.
3 - You don’t always have to take every piece of advice you are offered.
2 - Educate your audience and help them understand your work.
1 - Love Your Body
Next week SallyPAL the podcast will feature an interview with pianist, conductor, teacher, and actor Jeremy Stevens. We talk about expressing stories through music. Check out the blog, SallyPAL.com, for articles and podcast episodes, and to sign up for a FREE Creator’s Notebook insert.
Thank you so much for sharing, subscribing, reviewing, joining, and especially, thank you for listening. I encourage you to pursue your dream to have your original work on the stage in front of a live audience. It’s scary, but I’ll be here with advice, encouragement, and a growing community of people like us.
If you like SallyPAL, a new podcast goes out every Monday evening. Thanks again for listening, I’m Sally and this is the SallyPAL blog. The P-A-L in PAL stands for Performing Arts Lab.
Remember: All the performances you’ve seen on stage once lived only in someone’s imagination… Now it’s your turn! I want to help you learn to create original shows for a live audience… Let’s do it together!
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