28 August 2025

Educator Moves: What You Might Have Missed in Summer 2025

From director shifts to faculty appointments, here are the major dance educator moves you should know about from summer 2025. Alberto Blanco has been appointed principal of The Sarasota Ballet School, succeeding Jennifer Welch Cudnik, who departs to join Kansas City Ballet School as principal of its daytime program. Harald Uwe Kern has been named director of the School of Ballet San Antonio. Sarah Lane and Marie Zvosec have been named co-directors of the School of Nimbus. Lane will lead the ballet program and direct the school’s new studio in Summit, New Jersey, while Zvosec will lead the modern and […]

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Madi Hicks on Movement, Mentorship, and Making Space for Others
28 August 2025

Madi Hicks on Movement, Mentorship, and Making Space for Others

As a twirly 3-year-old, Madi Hicks says, she didn’t choose dance, but dance chose her.  “Everyone in the studio called me the ‘Ding’ girl,” Hicks remembers. “We were doing this dance where you play a keyboard and then hit a ‘ding.’ I was front and center and screamed ‘Ding!’ to the whole auditorium. To this day, they still call me that.”         Growing up in Dallas, Hicks attended Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts before earning her BFA in dance from Juilliard. After performing with L.A. Dance Project, her passion for choreography led her to California […]

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26 August 2025

The Art of the Playlist for K–12 Classes

A good playlist gets you moving as a teacher—and makes you feel inspired! Music can affirm students’ cultures and personal interests, open up new forms of expression, and facilitate various emotions and states (high energy, calming down, joy, reflection, and more). Playlists can inform classes, projects, and performances throughout the school year.  When I think back to the start of my teaching career in 1997, as a specialist in elementary schools, my music selections were highly limited, mainly based on the number of CDs I could afford to purchase out of pocket or could find within the library system. But […]

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Comp Kid Turned Teacher and Choreographer Gabe De Guzman Comes Full Circle
25 August 2025

Comp Kid Turned Teacher and Choreographer Gabe De Guzman Comes Full Circle

Gabe De Guzman grew up taking convention classes across the country and starring in one viral class video after another, gaining tens of millions of views and hundreds of thousands of fans in the process. Now 24 years old, De Guzman is back on the convention circuit—at the front of the ballroom, leading the next generation of dancers through classes. De Guzman’s high-energy choreograph­y, characterized by unexpected yet seamless transitions, has appeared everywhere from Season­ 17 of “So You Think You Can Dance” to Skechers­ commercials. And while his professional bucket list includes choreographing for an international tour, De Guzman […]

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21 August 2025

Madi Hicks on Movement, Mentorship, and Making Space for Others

As a twirly 3-year-old, Madi Hicks says, she didn’t choose dance, but dance chose her.  “Everyone in the studio called me the ‘Ding’ girl,” Hicks remembers. “We were doing this dance where you play a keyboard and then hit a ‘ding.’ I was front and center and screamed ‘Ding!’ to the whole auditorium. To this day, they still call me that.”         Growing up in Dallas, Hicks attended Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts before earning her BFA in dance from Juilliard. After performing with L.A. Dance Project, her passion for choreography led her to California […]

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TRIBE 99’s DANCE COMBINE Is Pushing College Dance Team Recruitment Forward
21 August 2025

TRIBE 99’s DANCE COMBINE Is Pushing College Dance Team Recruitment Forward

Over the past decade, collegiate dance has exploded in popularity with competitions like UDA and NDA Nationals breaking into mainstream pop culture and gaining attention on social media. College dance teams are becoming increasingly competitive, with steep technical requirements and a prerequisite of standout showmanship. Yet despite this growth, dance teams often lack resources when it comes to recruitment. Many college coaches pay for recruitment expenses, like travel and lodging, out of pocket. Carsen Rowe, founder and CEO of TRIBE 99, sought a solution by connecting aspiring collegiate dancers and coaches through a single national recruiting event. Now approaching its […]

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