Miss Margie will also be working on The Wiz with SJOA Light ministry along side Keith Cosby as musical director and Bob Cummings as Producer.

Miss Margie has been asked to continue to direct and instruct in 2012 for the City of San Ramon Drama afterschool programs at Walt Disney, Twin Creeks and Quail Run Elementary schools in San Ramon.

Lastly, In the month of January 2012 Miss Margie will be working with the students at the Summit Charter High School in East San Jose - Tahoma Rainier ( featured in the movie “Waiting for Super Man”)  on Musical Theater for their intersession (students spend 4 weeks during normal school hours working creatively outside their normal curriculum with teaching artists) … FYI about this new chart school program…. Billionaire Meg Whitman bestowed $2.5 million on South Bay and Peninsula charter school programs. The donation will go to Summit Public Schools.  If the charter school’s name rings a bell, that’s because its first school in Redwood City was glamorously featured in the fire-alarm documentary Waiting for Superman. Whitman’s known for being a big fan of the film, which focuses on how the public education system is failing future generations.

Miss Margie has been asked to assistant direct and choreograph a new musical drama  ”La Llorona”  composed by Hector Armienta which is currently running in NYC.

Tiff Juarez 11y.o from Windemere Ranch middle school in San Ramon and Naveli Garg 10 y.o from Hidden Hills Elementary school in San Ramon.  Both students are participating and collaborating  with other contestants from the Northern Ca chapter of DMA (contestants from San Jose, Sacramento, SF …)  in creating a dance production number for the weekend of the competition Nov 4 - 6.  

Congratulations to Tiff and Naveli for being eligilbe to compete for the Jr Miss Dance title!!!

School of the Arts in SF

Last week, Miss Margie taught a musical theater dance class at SOTA (school of the arts) in SF.  The SOTA musical theater students were talented and wonderful along with their experienced instructors/mentors.  The school is located in the Glen Park area of SF.  Beautiful artworks are all over the school, in the hallways, on the lockers, walls anywhere a blank flat space exists.  As in fame, as you walk through the hallways you hear and see amazing music, artwork, theater, dance and more.  It was a fun and exciting experience!!!

AIM will perform a Public Flash Dance Performance at City of San Ramon’s Public Art Dedicaton at Athan’s Down Park in San Ramon on Oct 12th 5:30P

All Art In Motion (AIM) students, family and friends are invited to participate or support dancers in a flash dance performance as part of a Public Art Dedication ceremony in San Ramon on Oct 12th. 

Find the assemble choreography with this link /or copy and paste to your browser  http://artinmotionryan.shutterfly.com/845 under videos “Flash Dance Choreography” for your veiwing to learn if you wish to participate.  Please come and support our dancers, public art and our community.

Engage your deeper abdominal muscles as you perform a “crunch,” or abdominal curl. The deeper muscles that stabilize the spine and, when activated, also support proper alignment.

Your abdominal muscles include several layers. Most  of these actually wrap around your sides to the back of your body, though often we think of our abdominals only as that “six-pack” area at the front of the body. Those washboard-looking muscles are the rectus abdominus and are only one of four very important muscle layers of the torso/abdomen 

“Bunching“

When you perform a crunch and see that upper layer (the rectus abdominis) bunching up or pushing out, it means that the inner most layers, particularly the transverse abdominis, are not being activated. You are working/strengthening muscles, however, you are not working/strengthening the ones that will help you most in your dancing. The inner abdominal, and other core muscles are most important for executing movement (any kind of movement) with ease.

  Strengthening

Increasing your core strength requires engaging the appropriate muscle groups in a regular (or habitual) way. You want to engage the core during all movement (not just during abdominal exercises). The action your teacher is really asking you to do when she says “flatten your stomach” in a crunch, is actually the same action she wants you to perform when she tells you to “lift up.”

Now, let’s talk about how to engage your core in a crunch and otherwise…

There are two important lengthening actions that engage the core support system. Often one or the other is overlooked, but both are necessary to create efficiency in movement. The first involves those inner layers of abdominal muscles, the other involves the muscles of the pelvic floor. Here are several methods of “finding it” for yourself — different ideas or thoughts work for different people.

Engaging the Pelvic Floor

Teachers sometimes find this an embarrassing topic but the muscles of the pelvic floor are extremely important in dance. Without going into much detail, let’s just try a few methods and images to help you discover how to engage them.

• Imagine and try to activate the same muscles you would use to stop urination (yes, as in “peeing”) mid-flow. Say hello to your pelvic floor muscles!

The sits bones (or ischial tuberosities) point downward. To narrow the pelvis think of bringing those two “loops” at the bottom of the pelvis together.

If that’s too icky, try this: While standing with feet slightly apart, imagine and try to “narrow” the pelvis by bringing your sits bones (those two bones you feel against the floor when you sit up tall) closer together. You are not trying to squeeze your gluts (your “cheeks”) together. The sits bones hang down toward the floor.

• Another way to find this action is to sit up, tall in a chair. Don’t arch your back. Again, narrow the area between your sits bones that is in contact with the chair. It may help to also place the palms of the hands together and press as you draw inward and upward through the base of the body. You will physically grow taller when you do this.

Activating Your Inner Abdominals

To activate your inner abdominal muscles, start just above the pubic bone and moving toward the sternum, pull the abdominal wall inward and upward toward the center column of the body (the spine). You can try this lying down with knees up (as in your crunch position) or from standing. You might even try it lying on your stomach just to feel the abdominals lift away from the floor. Do this without changing the position of the back or pelvis, however.

Some like to think of this as bringing the belly button toward the spine. Others prefer to imagine that you are scooping out the abdominals like ice cream. Others like the image of lacing up the abdominals (my personal favorite because it reminds me that internal obliques (sides of the body) are being activated inward and upward as well).

The Crunch Engaging The Core Muscles

1. While lying on your back with your knees up, try to keep your spine neutral, meaning that it is neither pressed into the floor or arched in a swayed back. There will likely be a small space between the small of your back and the floor.
2. Keep this alignment as you engage the pelvic floor and activate the inner abdominals. This may feel like work all on its own until these deeper core muscles strengthen and you get used to using them.
3. From here, curl the upper body away from the floor. The idea behind a crunch is that you are adding resistance to an already activated core by lifting your shoulders. So, only lift the shoulders as much as you can without loosing everything else.
4. If you are keeping your core activated during the crunch, you will no longer see the “bunch!”

 By MRyan 2011

Brianna Stankus has now been accepted to the LaGuardia high school of music and performing arts at Lincoln Center in NYC.  Brianna studied with Miss Margie exclusively from the age of 6-11 y.o in Ballet, Jazz, and Tap via group and private lessons at age 12 she was accepted into ABT and now LaGuardia HS, Alvin Ailey and Gelsey Kirkland Academy! Her parents always supported her passion and we all are so very proud of her! Way to Go Brianna and family!!

Graham Harper who studied with Art In Motion last year and was directed under Miss Margie, Keith Cosby and Craig Heiting in Aida, a St Joan of Arc’s musical theater production was seen by a director during the performances and given an opportunity to explore work in San Francisco and Hollywood.  Graham recently was accepted into the High School of performing arts in LA this year and relocated to study and work in LA. 

It is always a pleasure to teach and work with these very talented young people.   If you believe, work hard, never give up, you will surely succeed!!!!!