You know how it is. It’s the day before your big performance, and you find a little run in your last pair of good tights! You don’t have time to go out and buy more tights, so you can’t afford for the run to get any bigger before your performance. So how do you keep the run from getting bigger?

I don’t care how fabulous of a dancer you are, it looks bad when your pointe shoe ribbons are falling out, not to mention unprofessional. (Auditions or performances when important people are watching is a really bad time for your ribbons to fall out or come undone!)

Most dancers I know tie their pointe shoe ribbons in a double knot when they dance. While this is secure, I have often seen my friends struggling to get their pointe shoes untied quickly during quick changes in performances. I have always tied my shoes in a half bow - it’s much easier to untie (you just have to pull on one end) and it is still very secure.

Over the past few years, I have become a huge Cirque du Soleil fan. As a dancer, it would be a dream come true if I could perform with Cirque du Soleil (and I’m sure many of you dancers reading this feel the same way!) My family tries to see all the Cirque shows that come to Southern California, so of course I was excited to hear that Corteo was coming here! My uncle bought the entire family tickets the day they went on sale, so we could get tickets for Friday, August 24th which featured a question and answer session after the show. We got great seats (back row of the front section) so we had a great view of the show.

It’s happened to all of us. We (or for you dance parents out there, your daughters) have our first real dance performance, and your teacher tells you that your hair has to be in a real bun, with bobby pins and a hair net and everything. Unfortunately, you have no idea how to do this! So… here I am to teach you how. Hopefully this will help.

It seems you have stumbled upon the nextdance.com blog… so I’m sure you have a few questions. Who is this person whose blog you are reading… what the heck is this website about… what is the point of this blog? Luckily for you, I’m here to give some answers! So here we go…