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Thank you! I'm so happy to share :)

Thank you!!!

I have found two methods are most effective for empowering students: first, acknowledging that pink tights are historically made for white people. Then, open up the dress code to include skin-toned tights, so that dancers can choose how they represent themselves. Those dancers who have in the past experienced their top half not matching their bottom half will feel that they have equal representation in the dress code. Another approach involves hair - I've had white colleagues drop a student's grade because they couldn't take out their weaves to change their part from one side to the other. I openly acknowledge in my classes that I respect everyone's "hair situation," but still require that the hair be securely back enough to do 32 fouetté turns. And finally, a way to empower ALL students: teach them agency. Generally, female-identifying dancers come to me and apologize for being injured. They are shy about communicating their needs and worry that I will think that they are lazy, etc. When this happens, I remind the student that ballet is a way to learn how to communicate one's needs - what's working, as well as what's not working - effectively. This is a highly transferable skill which dancers can find autonomy and ease in communication with the teacher. In situations like this, trust continues to build, and the dancers then *hopefully* feel more comfortable being vulnerable within the modality of ballet technique. That's the meat of it for me - how can we create a safe situation where dancers can explore every corner of their being, free of judgment? I hope this helps. And please let me know if you think of others. This is something that I'm constantly researching as a teacher. Happy teaching to you, and thank you again for your comment!

@@colleenbarnes2983 Thanks ever so much Colleen for taking the time and efforts to reply in such details, I really appreciate it! The methods you described are brilliant and I really like the ideas behind them. Acknowledging and accommodating the diversity, and encouraging and empowering students to make their own choices to represent themselves, which enables them to see that we don’t always have to follow the old school practice just because it has historically been set that way - time changes so can our practice and approaches, towards a more progressive and inclusive nature without compromising the virtuoso. And I really appreciate how you create the safe space to encourage students to communicate in trust, to build up the courage to accept vulnerability and challenges. All these have given me so many ideas and motivation to explore and make things better for my students, thank you ever so much! Your students are so lucky to have such a caring teacher like you! While dance is but part of their lives, all the experience and things they learn from the classes, from their teachers can really benefit them for life. Thank you for being such an amazing teacher and role model. Thanks again Colleen, and happy teaching to you too! :)

@@nbo8644 Thank you so much :)

Thank you so much for your kind words!

LOL. Any balance that occurs in pregnancy feels like pure LUCK!!!!! You're so funny

That bumblebee made the video for me... just hanging out, wanting to be included :) I'm so glad that you enjoyed the class! Love you too.

I'm glad you like them! Thank you for the feedback. I hope that you are well <3

I'm so glad that you enjoyed the class! Thank you for taking the time to comment :) You should post a video of that awesome floor workout you've been putting on your IG - I would totally take it! Big hugs.

Oh my gosh thank you for your comment! I'm so glad that you had a good class <3