Posts

dance team leaders

How to Fix the Problem When Dance Team Leaders Don't Step Up

It happens all the time, we select our team leaders for the season, and everything starts off great. We feel confident in the seniors of our program to step up and be the leaders we need. And then… sometimes they fall short. The qualities…

Coach Interview: Kelley Tafazzoli, University of Tennessee

Tell us your dance story and how you became the coach at Tennessee. I am not a Tennessee native, I’m originally from PA. I’m a Yankee but now I live in the south so I bring a little of that brashness with me. I grew up a studio kid,…
TJ Maple

Coach Interview: T.J. Maple of Stephen F. Austin University

Tell us about your background and how this coaching career came to be for you.  I didn’t have the opportunity to be on a dance team in high school. Growing up in the 90s it wasn’t acceptable. This all really came about through natural…

Creating Genuine Team Unity with Dancers of All Abilities

Team bonding is such a big focus of the summer, but there are two important rules to team bonding. 1) You can’t force it and 2) You have to do it all year. One big challenge I hear from coaches who are trying to establish team unity is when…

Coach Interview: Christina Leone

Christina Leone, a Colorado native, is starting her 17th year coaching at the high school level. The 20-21 season will mark her 12th year at Rock Canyon HS and she previously coached for five years at Ponderosa HS, while simultaneously directing…
jodi maxfield

Coach Interview: Jodi Maxfield

30 years as the coach of the BYU Cougarettes Tell me about your background I grew up dancing, I always had a love for dance. I’m quite a bit older than a lot of the coaches who are coaching now, so there weren’t a lot of opportunities…

Why You Don’t Want Everyone to “Fit In” on Your Team

A lot of coaches worry about their team culture and we strive to make sure everyone fits-in. We want to ensure everyone has a sense of belonging, that each dancer is included and is a good match for our team legacy and current positive culture.…

Love Languages for Dance Team

How to Emotionally Connect With Your Dancers In Record Time Dr. Gary Chapman wrote a wonderful book in 2007 called the Five Love Languages. It’s widely popular and there are many different versions, specific to romantic relationships,…
journaling

How To Start Journaling With Your Dance Team

I often talk about the lessons I’ve learned after years of coaching. The things I would do differently, ideas I had late in the game, coaching practices I wish I had used more often. Today I want to talk about one of those lessons, in the…
positive reinforcement

The Special Power of Positive Reinforcement

Whenever I discuss the negative side to punishment, and why you should always avoid physical punishment I get questions about what to do instead. The focus is usually on the side of consequences. Coaches want to know, how do I get them to stop…