IMPORTANT: Please read our current studio guidelines for attending any in-person for classes at Teelin.
Exercise and happiness are two very important aspects of good health. Now more than ever, it is so important to support healthy habits! Dancers, this is a great time to outline your plan for home practice. Here are a few suggested resources to help:
- Teelin’s Practice Makes Perfect DVD
- Step Notation & Videos – https://teelin.com/TSID/logon/step-notation/
- Cross Training Resources, such as
- Cosmic Kids Yoga on YouTube (this might be too young for older dancers, but the stories are cute and keep younger kids entertained and moving)
- Yoga with Adriene on YouTube (more geared for older kids/teens – and parents!)
- Pilates Anytime has a 15-day trial offer.
- Feis Fit – here’s their YouTube Link for current free videos and workouts.
- Celticore Pilates for Irish Dancers has extended their free trial period for up to 1 month. Here’s a link to their website to take advantage of the offer.
- Podium Strength & Performance has extended their free trial period for up to 1 week. Instructions on how to take advantage of the offer is on their website, and here’s their website link.
- Dancers in the champ program are also reminded to use the Google Drive documents for further resources, especially the champ warmup resources.
Hard shoe dancers, do you need a temporary hard shoe floor at your home? If so, order a shower pan liner. This is what Maureen is using over her hardwood flooring for teaching on Zoom. It’s easily cut to the size you need. You can order a liner from Amazon, Lowe’s, Home Depot, etc. Or, click here to see a non-toxic option for shower pan liner.
Use either dance floor tape or gaffers tape to secure the liner to the floor. Maureen recommends the following kinds of tape:
- https://www.fullcompass.com/prod/104091-rose-brand-dance-floor-tape-36yd-roll-of-2-wide-vinyl-floor-tape
- https://www.stagestep.com/product/vinyl-tape-1-5-x-36-yds/
Note: Please use common sense judgement regarding the safety of practice areas at home, being mindful of dancer’s health and home floor protection. Practicing on concrete is NOT recommended. It is unforgiving to a dancer’s joints, and to their shoes, too.
Thank you to Megan Greco, DPT, for hosting the April 7 physical therapy forum, and to all who participated or submitted questions! This forum focused on how to train wisely, especially from home in small spaces or on less-than-ideal flooring.
***CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE 3-PAGE NOTES DOCUMENT***
Biggest takeaways include:
- Warm up well, ALWAYS! Warmups take time, and should not be skipped. The purpose of a warmup is to decrease your risk of injury.
- If your warmup is sloppy, then your dancing will be sloppy. Train with purpose.
- Core strength affects EVERY aspect of your dancing. Core does not mean abs. Your core is the entire mid-section of your body. It includes everything from your shoulders to your knees.
- Strength drills and Plyometric drills help train your body to be able to jump and land safely. These drills can be done in sneakers, either outside or inside using a fairly small space.
- Recovery is extremely important. Follow the recommended protocol for how often to drill, and pay attention to your daily healthy habits and recovery activities. See the attachment.
Please keep an eye on Teelin social media accounts for important ways to stay connected.
- https://www.facebook.com/pages/Teelin-School-of-Irish-Dance/153531451351145
- http://instagram.com/teelindance
Here is an overview of the weekday themes:
- Motivation Monday – posting a motivational quote, sometimes with a question/request of the day.
- Tips Tuesday – Maureen will choose a topic and give helpful tips on a wide variety of subjects.
- Workout Wednesday – the post will include an exercise or workout for our dancers/families.
- Throwback Thursday – we’ll be posting some old throwbacks, and asking others to post them as well!
- Freshman Friday – posting tutorials for “newbies” (new to Irish dancing, new to PT, new to competing, etc) featuring photos/videos from some beginner classes or workshops.
Tune in each day, and then respond to connect with your fellow Irish dance enthusiasts!
If a dancer is interested in a private lesson, please follow the usual procedure for requesting a lesson through the online form, and specify whether you are requesting an in-person lesson or a zoom lesson:
- Beginner through Prizewinner dancers should use this form (school login required)
- Champion dancers should use this form (Champ Blog login required)
All Zoom private lessons are discounted by $10 from the usual private lesson fee. Fees are still paid directly to the instructor, not too Teelin. Therefore, please communicate with the instructor to confirm the fee amount and payment method (Venmo, or mail check to home address, etc.).
Including this here, as a reminder to share your smiles with others… stay positive, Teelin Dancers!
The 2020 Baltimore Parade, canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, was supposed to be held on March 15. School closures in Maryland took effect on March 16, the day before St. Patrick’s Day. These video clips were filmed right before the shutdowns, mostly from dancers’ homes or neighborhoods, with a few scenes from this season’s final TIDC performances. We particularly enjoyed how many beginners submitted their videos! Slàinte, friends… wishing the best of health to all, with love from our Teelin Family!