Like a lot of little girls, I fell in love with ballet when I saw my first performance of The Nutcracker. Mostly, I fell in love with all the attention Clara got. Immediately after the show I tugged on my mothers arm and asked to take ballet classes. For the first two years of lessons I mostly daydreamed I was dancing the role of Clara, imagining a growing Christmas tree and pretending to hold a small Nutcracker doll during barre. My teacher was not amused. Eventually though, I got to dance the role of Clara, and let me tell you, the attention you get is pretty awesome.

We humans learn by experience, they say, but it turns out, not surprisingly, that not all experiences are
equal, in terms of learning. The method by which we learn something has great bearing on how well-
integrated the new idea becomes into our brain and body. There was a fascinating article in the NY
Times over the weekend, about how a large number of the leaders in the computer industry are sending
their own children to Waldorf Schools, where they don’t connect with technology until well into high

This past Friday, I co-taught my first DANCE POWER class with Kathleen Smith, DANCE POWER Coordinator.  I walked into the gym at Lincoln Elementary School in New Brunswick with almost no idea what to expect.  I teach beginner ballet to a variety of age groups, including third graders, but this would be much different.  There would be no Marley floors, no tights, no ballet slippers; there would be 60 third graders, most of whom would have no idea what they will be getting themselves into.  When you teach at a dance studio, beginners come in with an interest in and desire