Dance Training is Life Training - Joe Tremaine

This weekend, my girls attended their first dance convention, TREMAINE.

2015:  Tremaine Dance Convention - 35 year Anniversary Tour

Tremaine holds a special place in my heart, because it is the first and only convention I attended as a child.  After college when I moved Los Angeles, I auditioned for a dance scholarship at Tremaine Dance Center and got it.

Dancing with Joe Tremaine was an exciting time in my life and a time that pushed me to challenge myself physically and mentally.    I was at the studio 40 hours a week dancing with top choreographers and dancers like Marguerite Derricks, Tyce (Keith) Diorio, Liz Imperio, Doug Caldwell, Claude Thompson, Michael Rooney, Brian Friedman, Shawn Munoz, Chucky Klapow, Bill Bohl, Terry Lindholm,  Marcea Lane, Ben Vereen, George Chakiris, and Georgia Engle.  Sherman Hemsley (aka George Jefferson) would even pop in from time to time to say hi or watch a class. 

Sherman Oaks Street Fair - Performing Shawn Munoz's "Tommy the Cat - Tremaine Dance Scholars:"   Laura Galt, Dusty Dickson, Kristy Rankin, Kevin Lee, Xavier Costello, Cheri Tompkins, and Keith Dillon

I was "my best dancer" at this time.  Afterwards, I went on to be cast as a dancer in a Cardigans music video, a Mattel live performance, BARBIE ON RODEO, as a Degas-like ballerina in a Showtime series, and in a variety of musicals.  I'm still dancing today (but getting a little more achy and less flexible).

Laura Galt as Cassie in A Chorus Line - 2012.   Michael Bennet's original choreography restaged/remounted by Danny Herman and Rocker Verastique

As a mother, it is important that my girls be exposed to dance. My husband often laments how he wishes the girls were involved in team sports, but I have always felt dance is a team sport (even before dance teams were all the rage).   I love dance, because it challenges you individually but also teaches you to work with and to respect others.  Collaboration is key in dance and you must work with others to make the final product look good. As a dancer you do work to be your best self and set goals as an individual, but you must also learn how to work, set goals, move, and listen in joint efforts with other creatives.   While being in partnership with one another, dancers learn trust, to be leaders, followers, and innovators.

A Chorus Line - Palace Theatre - 2012

Dance improves vocabulary, teaches you how your body works/builds a kinesthetic awareness, develops sequencing and memory skills, exposes you to a variety of music, and trains rhythm.  Dance teaches you self-discipline, to be dedicated, to set goals, work toward deadlines, time management, to work under pressure, to respect for authority and colleagues, creative thinking and problem solving skills, to listen, to learn quickly, adapt to change, and it encourages a better understanding of emotional, cultural, societal, and environmental perspectives. Dance teaches you how to deal with adversity - how to "pick yourself up if you fall (fail)"  and "the show (life) must go on."  

Neurologically, dance is beneficial for a developing and aging brain.   In the April 2015 issue of the journal, Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, researchers found dancers use multiple parts of the the brain simultaneously, including those involved in higher order decision making, as well as parts that play a role in controlling and planning movement.   Research published in a 2013 New England Journal of Medicine showed dancing dramatically reduced the occurrence of dementia and Alzheimer's disease - especially freestyle dancing.  Dancing requires constant split-second, rapid fire decision making which is the key to maintaining intelligence as it forces your brain to regularly rewire it's neural pathways (neuroplasticity), giving you greater cognitive reserve and increased complexity.  Dancing was shown to reduce the risk of dementia by 76%  (reading - 35%,  bicycling, swimming, & golf - 0% and crossword puzzles four days a week - 47%).

Both still dancing:  Joe Tremaine & Laura Galt

I am thankful to consider myself a life long dancer and hope my girls will enjoy dance throughout their life as well.   If you have never danced and want to, GO FOR IT!  The world is your stage. As Joe Tremaine says,  "Dance Training is Life Training."      

Thank you Joe (as well as your faculty, my dance teachers, and my mom) for providing me the opportunity to dance.  You are loved and appreciated.  P.S.  Joe, I would love one of your "Dance Training is Life Training" tank tops.

Terry Lindholm, Laura Galt, & Joe Tremaine