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Heart and Feet Connect

Bob Wilson — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 19:58:54 +0000

Comedian Steve Martin used to have a routine he called “Happy Feet.” And happy feet lead to a happy heart – in more ways than one. Not only is dancing good cardiovascular exercise, but through Dréa’s Dream it assists in recovery for children who struggle with cancer and other special needs.

On June 18th there will be a special celebration with a lot of dancing – and a lot of heart. It’s the 2009 Heart & Feet dance exhibition, a unique fundraiser for a unique cause. This year’s event promises to be an incredible evening of food, drinks and dancing, featuring the Synthesis Dance Project and Border Crossing Collective. These performances, along with a raffle and silent auction, will raise money for this unique pediatric dance therapy program housed at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.

Dréa’s Dream is the legacy of Andréa Rizzo, a childhood survivor of cancer whose dream was to become a dance therapist for children with cancer and disabilities. Her personal quest was ended when a drunk driver took her life at age 24, but her dream lives on through the Andréa Rizzo Foundation and the children who are given the gift of dance.

The 2009 Heart & Feet event is sponsored in part by MotionWear apparel (http://www.motionwear.com) and will be held at EMI Music, 2 West 20th St. in New York City. You can get more information about Dréa’s Dream – and the amazing young woman who inspired it – by going to www.dreasdream.org.

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I Love Spring Because It’s Dance Recital Time

Bob Wilson — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 16:47:01 +0000

This is my favorite time of year because the dance schools and studios are putting on recitals. It’s exciting for everyone involved…. instructors, parents and of course the students. Everyone has been working all year and preparing to show off what they have accomplished since the fall when they started.

The Progression
The thing I find the most uplifting is watching a recital starting with the youngest beginning performers. These 3, 4 and 5 year olds are all dressed and made up and under the bright lights for the very first time. As you can imagine this is not the finest dancing around and often the mistakes and goof ups are the best part of these performances. Nonetheless, these little ones are showing off their new found skills and performance abilities and you can just see the work that has gone into it. Better yet is watching all the encouraging parents, grandparents, sisters, brothers and family friends support each kid and in each performance. That is really wonderful.

Then each level and age bracket of dancers follows with their performance. It is astounding to see the progression in the performances. Every dance gets better and better providing an instant visual as to the tremendous progress these students make each year. By the time you get to the advanced dancers, it is obvious that with dedication and commitment that those little ones who started out pretending to be ballerinas or jazz dancers, one day can really achieve their dreams. This is both admirable and beautiful.

Collaboration
My kids do Irish Step Dance and were one of the first to have their recital. I never tire of going to see the performances and watching each level as they progress. Of course, I too am a pretty proud Dad when my kids dance.

It takes a collaborative effort on the part of all – the dedication of the instructor choreographing the performances, the parents who encourage practice and make sure their kids are at class each time and, of course, the students who work very hard and are eager to do a great job.

I encourage anyone interested in dance, whether it is ballet, jazz, step dance or whatever to try to get to one of these recitals. You will be amazed at what you see.

Tell Us About Your Recital
Since all the studios are putting their shows on now, you can tap into their websites to find out when and where the recitals are being held. Even if your child is not in dance this might be an excellent way to get them interested. Many academies and dance schools & studios have a spring open house too.

In fact, I know it is a bit late but we invite anyone participating in a recital, or any dance school or studio having a recital soon to post a response to this blog regarding your performance dates. Just include the date, time and location so others can attend your performances.

If you’ve already had your dance recital, tell us how it went, we’d love to read about it.

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We Like to Move It Move It… in Europe

Bob Wilson — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 16:09:31 +0000

In March, we’ll be heading to London, UK for the Move It Dance Conference 2009. This will be our second time at Move It, a conference for dance product manufacturers that’s open to both the public and industry, and it’s a great opportunity to showcase our apparel and what it can do – both on the dancer and for retail shoppes.

In fact, we were able to put on a demonstration at Move It 2008 as part of a partnership with Dancemania (a MotionWear distributor). You can see the Move It 2008 video here – it features our MotionWear Ballet line as well as a few pieces from our MotionWear Team line. It was just fantastic to be able to not only showcase our product, but also see how it performs on stage.

I get really excited about MotionWear UK because so many new dance trends come out of Europe and the UK – even the onslaught of popular dance television programs got their start on British television. From So You Think You Can Dance to Dancing With the Stars, most of them started as UK programs. Really, it’s another market for us, but also a source of inspiration.

If you’re attending the 2009 Move It Dance Conference, whether you’re a vendor, fellow manufacturer, retailer or individual consumer, please stop by our booth and say hello. Our sales rep on the floor will be Ron Stagner (rstagner [at] motionwear.com). He’s a great guy, so please look for us and introduce yourself.

You’ll be able to see, feel and even try on our product. You can also talk to Ron about our custom dancewear, including team and retail lines.

The Move It Dance Conference runs from March 6 to March 8 with a special industry-only pre-viewing on March 5th. There will be exhibitors’ booths (like ours), over 100 live performances and 250 on-site dance classes. For more information, you can visit the conference website at http://www.moveitdance.co.uk.