a few mushy words...for Ms. Leigh and Mr. Johnson

[joyofaleap]

I joined this site recently and I can't wait to see everyday what is being posted.

I know I make mistakes and post in the wrong places...sorry. BUT, I have to say in this season of love and gratefulness that what is being done here is just absolutely incredible. It is filled with the best energy and it trascends the cyberwaves and goes right to our hearts.

The generosity with which Ms. Leigh and Mr. Johnson address all our restlessness and how they are willing to address a topic again and again is one more example that all is not lost with this human race of ours and perhaps we do deserve to be here a little longer

I would have liked to have emailed this and make it more personal but...what the heck, I know all the moms feel this way. So again THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!

[drives2much]

I second this.

[Mel Johnson]

Awwww, shucks, t'ain't nothin'. It's what we do as teachers. We get new students and parents, and part of our job is to adjust the mind so that it's in a state to receive information and put it to use with a minimum of danger and stress. We used to use the analogy of Ballet Talk for Dancers as a big clubhouse in a huge old Victorian mansion, with lots of different rooms. The job of the moderators is to make sure that the clubmembers get along well together, and to ease the mind from the outside world. There are some things we know that we can't fix, but we can employ strategies for dealing. Dance education was one of the first disciplines to employ the concept of "buy-in" by its practitioners.

[jimpickles]

I'd like to add my thanks too. It was wonderful to find this board. The moderators are doing a wonderful job of answering queries quickly and with full respect even for silly beginner questions from a rank amateur dancer like myself, when a very important aim of the board is to be a support for budding professionals. So thank you, to Mel in particular who has always given very prompt and helpful answers to my queries on the male bulletin board.

 

Its also given me a bit of an insight about what its like to be a professional dancer in New York, a ballet mom, a dance student anywhere, etc. Also its interesting to hear how badly behaved some adults can be in class. All intriguing insights.

 

And lets not forget the excellent software! This allows us to navigate round this large and complex site easily and track the threads we are interested in.

 

So thank you everyone, and particularly the moderators, who put so much time and care into helping strangers on this board.

 

Jim.

[Mel Johnson]

We're glad you're here, Jim. Having folks from "down under" is good for us, because ballet is such a growth industry there, and demand for quality is high. Common sense is also an overarching quality I find in most Australians and New Zealanders, so we have to be candid in our answers. Keeps us honest, you know!