Higher Standards in Dance Education

In order to run a day care or nursery school, one needs to be certified. To teach in the public schools, one needs at least a bachelors degree, preferably a masters degree. College dance programs require their faculty to have college degrees in addition to professional experience. So, what do you need to teach at a private dance studio: nothing. Anyone can throw up a shingle that says Dolly Dinkles Studio of Dance and be in business.

Is there a need for standards in dance education?

Dance is a physically demanding activity. Taught incorrectly, it can lead to injury. Improper training causes long-term damage to the ankles, knees, hips, and lower back. In addition to the damage it can cause physically, poor standards in dance education lead to low expectations and even lower opinions of dance in the eye of the public. Exposed regularly to low quality dance, students and their parents grow to see dance as something trivial and frivolous. This trivializing of dance is dangerously subversive to the profession. After sitting through never-ending recitals of fringe and sequins, parents are unlikely to voluntarily see a live professional dance concert.

Even on the occasion that they do venture to a professional performance, they are often disappointed. After being accustomed to frilly recitals, a professional dance performance can seem mentally challenging, intense, and even dull. Every dance studio, show, or organization that adheres to poor standards diminishes the larger dance community by turning potential audience members, supporters, and emerging dancers away from dance.

So, why not create national standards for private dance schools?

The American psyche is still very much a cowboy (or cowgirl) at heart. We do not want rules and regulations encroaching on our precious freedoms. Many dance studio owners and teachers jobs would be threatened if they were required to meet national standards. To their credit, they point out outstanding individual teachers who had amazing performance careers, then became excellent teachers, but never received degrees. The fear is that standards would not only regulate poor teachers, but also punish good teachers. While a legitimate concern, I believe that teachers who are truly passionate about dance education would, or already do, embrace standards as a chance for self-improvement and not as an obstacle.

Where the United States fears to regulate itself, a higher percentage of private dance school educators in England and Canada have adopted professional standards and established curriculums in their practices. From my experience working in Canada, I found the dance education in the country to be more consistent from studio to studio than in America. They do not have the plethora of poor quality dance studios that I have found throughout the United States. The acceptance of professional standards and established curriculum has raised the bar of the average small-town dance studio above that currently practiced in America.

However, there is another side. Canada does not have as many exceptional, innovative dance education organizations as the United States. It would seem that standardization runs the risk of stifling creativity. Dance in the United States continues to be the leading innovator for the world. The concept of national standards in dance threatens innovation, our cowboy/cowgirl spirit, and our qualified, yet non-degreed, teachers. These factors lead to a resistance to accept standardization in the United States.

We need standards but were too stubborn to accept themwhat now?

While the American spirit is unlikely to bend to national standards created by a governing board, there is a group of individuals that already unknowingly sets the standards for dance schools: the parents. Parents drive the level of quality in our market-driven society. However, it is difficult for a parent, uneducated in the field of dance, to make an informed choice.

Unfortunately, many parents view the dance teachers role on par with the baseball coach or the cheerleading coach. Most coaches for youth baseball, soccer, and cheerleading were not professionals or professionally educated. And even fewer have been educated in how to teach. This is fine for youth sports. What they are not taking into serious consideration is the fact that the demands of dance training on the body, at even the youngest level, can create great growth or great damage. The seemingly harmless decision of finding a dance studio for your child can be harmful to their young bodies. It takes time and energy to research which dance schools live up to high standards.

If you pick up your local phone book and flip to the dance school section, you will find ads for a number of dance studios. Chances are, the majority of those ads claim to provide quality or professional instruction. Who is going to be honest enough to admit below average or highly amateur instruction? The term professional teachers is loosely tossed about in these advertisements. The average parent assumes that professional teachers are ones who danced professionally or were at least educated at a professional level. But often, the justification for the term is nothing more than claiming that the teacher is paid for teaching. Using that definition of professional teachers, I would like to the see the studio with non-professional teachers who work for free. I doubt they exist. As a parent searching for a dance school, you want the best for your child. Nevertheless, how can you decipher one school from another when they all claim to be exceptional?

What can we do?

I believe the education of the public is the dance communitys top priority. We must teach students and their parents the importance of proper dance education:

1) Teach them about proper fundamentals that do no harm. Knees over toes is the most fundamental safe practice in dance education, yet many uninformed teachers force turn-out on dancers who are either too young to properly execute it or physically unequipped to handle the demands. If parents know what practices are safe and which are not, they can make better decisions in choosing a dance school

2) Teach them the value of a progressive, structured curriculum. Slow and steady wins the race. There is a place and timea sequenceto learning dance. Rushing children to do pointe work or to try technical tricks before they are ready is detrimental to their education as well as dangerous to their bodies. If parents know how a properly structured curriculum works, they can find a dance school where correct education is the focus.

3) Teach them respect for themselves and for the art of dance. Age-appropriate themes, choreography, and costumes not only teach students self-respect, but also helps them learn the vocabulary of dance in the proper order. Inappropriate choreography applies equally to the jazz teacher showing young students suggestive movements as to the ballet teacher showing professional variations to students who are not prepared. If parents know what is age-appropriate, they can better choose a dance school that adheres to higher standards.

Educating students and parents on what proper standards are in dance education is the only way to ensure a future of healthy dancers, create informed audience members, and promote a new generation of qualified teachers. The responsibility for standards in private dance school education will not fall on some national governing board. Rather, it spreads out from each of us to our students and their parents. The responsibility is ours.

James Robey is Founding Artistic Director of the Bare Bones Dance Project, Artistic Director of Ridgefield Conservatory of Dance and Adjunct Faculty member at The Hartt School at University of Hartford where he teaches Horton Modern technique and Jazz Dance. James is active in the Connecticut, New York, and National dance communities as a guest artist, master teacher, independent choreographer, and lecturer. For more information visit web.mac.com/jamesrobeydance

The Printing Process On a T-shirt

In todays fast paced life we have a lot of technologies that can be used to improve our lifestyle. We can even make clothing as we deem fit. Take T-Shirts. We can print T-shirts with anything we like. For example, it can be a photo of your beloved wife or some funny stuff like cartoons, jokes or philosophical statements. And most importantly we dont need to go to anyone to get the prints made. We can do it ourselves in the house with the help of our computer and printer. Yes! We can print it by using our good old inkjet printer.

To start the printing process you need to buy some material. A blank t-shirt of any color and a heat transfer paper. Ensure that the paper works with the household heat iron.

Now follow these few steps to get a fantastic printed t-shirt according to your choice.

Step 1: Design a graphic on your computer. The graphic colors should either match or contrast the t-shirt color.

Step 2: Print the graphic as a mirror image on the heat transfer paper.

Step 3: Place the paper either on the front or on the back of the t-shirt.

Step 4: Press a heated iron on the paper thoroughly. And then peel away the backing paper.

Thats it; you have manufactured a printed T-Shirt.

Paul has been providing answers to lots of queries through his website on a wide variety of subjects ranging from satellite phones to acne. To learn more visit http://www.askaquery.com/Answers/qn565.html

All Lenders Should Adopt Responsible Lending Policy

A responsible lending policy should be adopted by all lenders, not just the banking sector, according to an industry expert.

According to Angela Knight, chief executive of the British Bankers' Association (BBA), credit suppliers who exist outside of the industry should be made to follow the Banking Code. Consequently, Ms Knight purported that consumers could receive greater protection as lenders will only issue money to those who meet certain repayment criteria. She added that otherwise borrowers could soon become "overstretched" and develop "serious" difficulties in making payments on personal loans.

The BBA chief executive, claimed in a letter to the shadow treasury minister, Mark Hoban that: "When a gap opens between what a borrower wants and what a bank wants to lend, too often an irresponsible lender steps in. Only around 63 per cent of unsecured borrowing now comes from the banks. There are certainly responsible lenders among the rest, but how is a consumer to know who they are or what their lending rules are?"

Her comments came as she suggested that non-banking lenders are making up for an increasing proportion of loan and credit deals taken up by Britons. She also claimed that a rising number of suppliers are offering loans to those borrowers who previously did not meet their bank's criteria.

The association reported that lending, when issued and used wisely, "has empowered generations" by giving them the chance to buy goods and services which otherwise could be beyond their reach. Meanwhile, borrowing was said to be "a very sensible tool" in spreading out the cost of purchases over several months, yet Britons were warned to make sure that they "remain in control" of their spending. It is advised that debtors who are unable to make the repayments to their various creditors, should either arrange a manageable payment plan with their providers, seek independent professional advice, or consider a debt consolidation loan.

As a result, BBA advised consumers looking to take out a loan to "trawl through" credit deals advertised by suppliers online and in the press to ensure that they find the most appropriate product for them. It is recommended that borrowers should consider various aspects of any agreement including, the cost of minimum monthly repayments, any fees and the annual percentage rate APR, it is also advised they should ask for a quote.

In recent figures released by the association, a rise was noted in money issued through secured loans. Over the course of May some 19.7 billion was lent out to consumers - an increase of some eight per cent from the same month last year. The BBA also indicated that the average loan per house purchase stood at 157,100, 13 per cent higher than last May. However, lending via credit cards was reported to have fallen by 0.4 billion over course of the month. Director of statistics for the BBA David Dooks claimed that the fall in card expenditure was due to a rising willingness among Britons to pay for goods upfront rather than borrow money. At the same time overdraft and personal loans lending was reduced by 0.1 billion.

Abbi Rouse is Editor in Chief for All About Loans. Our visitors have access to online loans of all types: From home improvement loans to bad credit debt consolidation loans. Visit our site today: http://www.allaboutloans.co.uk

Enlarged Prostate Benefits From Saw Palmetto To Promote Prostate Health

Europe has been using Saw Palmetto to promote prostate health for years. Enlarged prostate or benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) and the herb saw palmetto has been studied in European labs for it's effectiveness in treating the disorder. American labs lag far behind in their research of enlarged prostate and herbs to treat it. Modern medicine in America frequently relies on pharmaceuticals sometimes to the detriment of natural herbal remedies. For instance, Doctors usually proscribe Proscar (T) and other prostate drugs which take time to become effective, unlike the Saw Palmetto herb which will kick in within 30 days.

The medicinal part of 'Serenoa Repens' or the Saw Palmetto is derived from the partially dried ripe fruit of the plant. The Saw Palmetto herb is indigenous to Southeastern United States but is most prevalent in Florida. It is the sterols and the fatty acids that are found in the berry that are the active ingredients. In Germany ninety percent of treatments for BPH use the saw palmetto herb, while in Italy it is fifty percent. Their successes have been many since BPH is nearly universal in the aging process of men.

A Study done in Russia tested 150 men with an enlarged prostate who had been diagnosed with BPH and other prostatic problems. Their findings concluded that Permixon, a European brand of standardized saw palmetto herb extract, had a long term efficacy and acceptability as therapy for BPH. The test was conducted over a period of 24 months and it was found that the quality of life from the base line study improved dramatically. The men had decreased prostate size, better urinary flow and increased sexual activity. The saw palmetto herb works by protecting the gland from irritating testosterone levels and will promote it to shrink.

Even better news about the herb saw palmetto, is that when used to combat enlarged prostate its side effects are almost none and it is non-toxic. Some men complained of gastrointestinal disorders but these were relieved when the herb was taken with food. There were some concerns in the early stages of study that the saw palmetto herb would mask prostate cancer by lowering the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels. After much more study this was found not to be true.

Many studies show that you must buy a brand that is 'standardized with at least 85-95 percent fatty acids' with 320 grams of the herb. In a few cases when large amounts where used it caused diarrhea in some patients. Studies have shown that the saw palmetto extract is effective in 90% of the men in clinical trials in over a four to six week period. Pharmaceutical drugs have been shown to need up to a year for significant improvement. Another benefit is that saw palmetto extracts are about one quarter of the price of pharmaceutical drugs.

There have been other herbs that have be cited as beneficial to enlarged prostate such as, stinging nettle, pumpkin seed, zinc, green tea, South African star grass and melatonin. None are as effective or show the promise of the saw palmetto herb.

In conclusion the benefits of the Saw Palmetto herb for an enlarged prostate are many. It will reduce symptoms of BPH, with occasional mild gastrointestinal distress but this is infrequent. The herbal remedy will not interfere with a prostate cancer diagnosis and it has no known drug interactions. The dosage has widely been agreed on by scientists as 320 grams per day and will cost you significantly less then a prescription drug.

If you have an enlarged prostate and you are looking for an herbal remedy speak to your Doctor about taking the saw palmetto herb to relieve your symptoms. Always speak to your Doctor before adding any medicines to your regime whether they are natural herbs, vitamins or supplements.

Copyright © Mary Hanna, All Rights Reserved.

This article may be distributed freely on your website and in your ezines, as long as this entire article, copyright notice, links and the resource box are unchanged.

Mary Hanna writes eBooks, Software Reviews and Practical Articles. Visit her websites at: http://www.biaxininfo.com http://www.CruiseTravelDirectory.com