Title: Feeling Lucky 

Summary: Finding gratitude every day 

To be published  March 2nd 2022 

Happy Wednesday IHD Family! Another month has gone by at the studio and we feel so lucky to have had another month to do what we love. It can sometimes feel difficult to feel truly grateful. When we go through hard times, feel overwhelmed or underwhelmed with our lives, finding things to be grateful for can be hard to do. Just like anything in life, being gracious is something that becomes easier with practice. Here are some tips for finding gratitude in your life. 

Write it Down 

Making lists always helps organize our thoughts, so why not do it with gratitude. Each day take a moment to make a list of the things you are thankful for. This can be a mental list or even better put it down on paper or in your iphone notes. After a couple weeks of writing your lists you can go back to review your list and take stock of the many things you have to be grateful for. We suggest starting your day with this practice as it will start your day on a positive note and help you lead your life with gratitude. 

Be Consistent

Creating a habit takes practice and practicing gratitude is no different. Along with trying to be consistent with starting  your day with a daily list of things you are grateful for, take time throughout the day to express your gratitude. Add things that give you joy or peace to your mental list, express your gratitude for the people who support you with a heartfelt “thank you” or “I love you” and spend time revisiting, doing things, or surrounding yourself with people that bring you joy daily. 

Sweat the Small Stuff 

Sometimes when we start going through the things we are grateful for we get focused on big events or life altering things. When it comes to practicing gratitude daily we should also include the small things in our life that support us and help us get through life a little happier. Some days we might feel grateful for the ability to move our bodies. Others it might be the half hour of extra sleep we grabbed on a Saturday morning. We might be grateful our intense studying for a math test paid off or that our dog sat next to us on the couch for some after school snuggles. When it comes to finding gratitude, size doesn’t matter. 

At IHD we work hard to be grateful every day. We are certainly grateful to share our love of dance, the ability to move our bodies, our students and their families who make up our amazing community and the studio we call our home away from home. Taking time each day to take stalk of the things that support and encourage us and make us happy makes any hard day a little better and any amount of hard work so much more worth it. 

Happy Wednesday everyone! We are so excited to be well into our 17th season of dance. We feel so honored to have full classes again and a busy studio to dance in every day. For our first blog of our 17th year we thought we’d let you give you a little insight about our history. Here are 17 random facts for 17 years at IHD: 

1. The studio opened in 2005. 

2. We are now in our third location. We moved to this current location in 2015. 

3. All 3 of our locations we’re located within a couple of blocks of each other. The 2nd and 3rd are on the same street.

4. Our teachers have 8 children total with one on the way. 

5. Two of our current instructors started as students at the studio (Miss Jenna & Miss Shelby) 

6. Miss Leah Anna originally painted her whole studio yellow before changing the studio colours to blue & green. 

7. Miss Paula joined the IHD staff after both of her daughters danced at the studio. 

8. In 17 years we’ve attended approximately 68 dance competitions. 

9. We’ve held our annual recital in many different places including schools, theaters and a parking lot. 

10. Since starting to celebrate 5 & 10 year anniversaries at the studio close to 200 students have reached these milestones. 

11. We’ve had two students reach 15 year anniversaries at the studio so far. 

12. We’ve participated in every Newmarket Santa Claus parade we’ve could since opening in 2005. 

13. The studio has always been a family business with families helping with recitals, renovations, moving, cutting music, web design and prop creation. 

14. None of our teachers live in Newmarket but we love this community. 

15. Aside from teaching dance we also developed a mentorship program that teaches our students how to assist and teach classes.

16. Our teachers are dedicated to their own education along with their students. Our teachers have many degrees &  certifications and continue to attend workshops and training to continue their own training. 

17. Three studios, hundreds of students, many teachers and friends over 17 years and we are still excited to teach classes every day!

Title: Get Curious 

Summary:Keeping curiosity alive in dance 

Happy Wednesday everyone! We are entering the second half of our Winter Session and toward the end of our season. This time of year in dance class can bring lots of repetition as we prepare for performances and fine tune what we’ve been working on this year. Many dancers can find this part of the year a little boring and long for the excitement of new skills or choreography. This stage of training however, is so essential for the development of your skills and ensuring you are stage ready, confident to perform and maintain the skills you’ve learned throughout the year. One of the best ways to keep motivated in dance is curiosity. Stay curious about your training and about dance and it will always bring you something new and exciting, even in the most repetitive or mundane times in your training. Here’s our tips on staying curious. 

What can you change?

When we are practicing a skill we already know or working on choreography for a long period of time, it’s easy to go on autopilot. The joy and accomplishment you once felt learning these skills can slowly start to melt away. So what then? Many dance steps are recycled, revisited and built upon each year we dance but we can always find something new. Whether it’s trying to focus on a particular correction, a new variation or a new dynamic, what can you change about the way you are practicing a skill? Can you ask the teacher for a new way to look at it? Can you perform your routine with  a new emotion or work on layering a style to your movement? Spice up your dance class by finding a new angle to look at it. 

Try Something New

Staying curious about dance can also mean stepping out of your comfort zone. If you’re feeling a little stuck in your training, take the initiative to try something new. Maybe sign up or take a class online in a new style or a teacher you haven’t danced with before. Feeling tired of working on the same choreography? Try making up some of your own. Feeling uninspired? Watch other dancers do their thing, whether it be online or by attending a performance. You are in charge of the way you feel about your training and life so if something isn’t totally working, try something new. 

Know your why

Staying interested and curious about a passion or hobby takes dedication and commitment. If you are feeling burnt out or uninspired, get curious about your “why”. Why did you start taking dance classes in the first place? Why did you continue after that first class? What about dance makes you happy? Going back to these very important whys can be motivators to stay curious, open minded and dedicated to your training. 

At IHD we think it is so important to have a beginner's mindset. In dance, there is always so much that is evolving and  so much more we can learn. Staying curious, open minded and open hearted can allow us to stay motivated and dedicated even through the less exciting times in our training. We hope that you will stay curious and grow with us.