Q: What is so special about Pulse PAC?
A: There are many areas of which we are proud, but the area we can guarantee Pulse to be head and shoulders above the rest is our faculty. Beginning with the directors and filtering right down to each and every teacher, Pulse can truly boast the finest arts education around. The most unique and often overlooked aspect of a teacher is his or her professional experience in the field. Teaching by theory has its place, but nothing can come close to the rare opportunity for a student to learn from those who are actually active and successful in the entertainment industry. Our faculty is comprised of professionals whose resumes are extensive. Pulse teachers know first-hand what it takes to be a part of the entertainment industry, whether in dance, music, or drama. They know the tools that will be necessary to compete and be noticed. Most importantly, they lead by example - not just talking the talk, but walking the walk. Artistry is difficult to describe, but best attained when you can see it in action and emulate it at every turn.
Q: With Pulse being a more serious, elite training ground, will my little one or recreational dancer have any fun?
A: You bet! While Pulse does have a lot of elite students, we realize that 90% of students are doing this for fun. If you are a 2 1/2 year old beginner, an adult who wants to let loose, or anything in between, we have a perfect class for you! Ms. Tabby will be there to greet preschoolers with "Princess Tea Parties" & "Dress-Up Diva Days," while Mr. B breaks down the most current hip-hop moves for kids and adults. Miss Hart will teach children with special needs to find their inner creativity while Ms. KC & Mr. Erik mold their 7 year olds to be well-rounded triple threat performers like their 18 year olds. No matter who you are, we have a qualified/caring instructor to help you reach your goals, all the while enjoying the process.
Q: Could I get cheaper tuition somewhere else?
A: Yes...and no. There is a difference between cost and value. You may be able to take a class for a lower price at another studio, but it is important to ask yourself what you are getting for your money. The answer in most cases is...nothing. There are students who come to Pulse thinking they have had five years of ballet, for example, only to find that they are in fact still beginners and have thrown hard-earned money to the wind. In addition, by the time you add in costume fees, recital fees, and other hidden costs, you are actually spending more and getting less. At Pulse, we set the bar very high and we encourage excellence from our students and ourselves. We offer more classes and better classes in all areas of the performing arts than our competition, and we don't hit you with large, unexpected fees throughout the year. Simply put, there is no other school like Pulse, and when you weigh the benefits against the cost, we bet you will find Pulse to be a tremendous bargain.
Q: Why is Pulse PAC so strict about dress code, behavior, and attendance?
A: In the real world of entertainment, we are held to the highest professional standard. Even at the semi-professional and amateur levels, there are certain expectations that directors, teachers, and choreographers have of those they cast. To not prepare our students for those situations would be an utter failure on our part to do our job. We want to instill in our young students a sense of pride, teamwork, responsibility, and attention to detail that will serve them well not only as the artists of tomorrow, but also as citizens of the world.
Q: What is Pulse Performing Team (PPT)?
A: PPT is a select group of dancers, singers, and actors who want to take their training and opportunites to the next level. PPT has recently restructured the team to allow varying levels of commitment from just one competition piece to as many as over a dozen. A spot on one of these teams can be earned through a successful audition. Once selected for PPT, a dancer has the option of doing a solo, duo, and/or trio. He or she may also select the styles of routines he or she wants to participate in. This makes it possible for students with different interestes to put their efforts into the pieces they will most enjoy. PPT represents Pulse at various competitions and performs at community events. Our current team (63 members) has done exceptionally well, receiving top awards even at the national level. PPT is for active dancers, singers, and actors ages 4 to 18. If you are interested in being part of this group, stop by Pulse or write an email on the contact page of our web site.
Q: What is SLS (Speech Level Singing) and do you offer it at PPAC?
A: The answer is…yes and no! At the risk of offending the many passengers currently aboard the “SLS Train,” I liken this program to the Atkins Diet, the one-finger guitar method, or maybe 8-minute abs. It isn’t that these programs don’t have merit or are not based largely on universal truths – it is that someone has cleverly attached a catchy name to what has long been a universal truth and convinced people it is new. Great voice teachers have been teaching the fundamental techniques of SLS for years without calling it that. For example, there are great exercise programs out there, each with its own logo and its own infomercial. Many of them probably work and help the buyers of their products to be accountable to a program and feel connected to a network of others with similar goals. But the reality is that reaching your target heart rate for an extended period of time daily combined with healthy eating has always been and will always be the way to stay in shape. After all the gyms have opened and closed and all the new diets and exercise programs have come and gone, Arnold did the same regimen to train for Terminator 3 in 2003 that he had done to prepare for its predecessor in 1984. Voice instruction is similar in that the flashy taglines (such as “sing like Josh Groban in no time flat”), endless rhetoric, and marketing strategies designed to sell products and expand enterprises will come and go as fads are prone to do by definition. What remains is inherent scientific truth, a trait that SLS certainly embodies, but does not monopolize. Keeping the larynx from bobbing up and down while singing, working through register breaks to find the “mix,” and enhancing range and tone quality through consistent resonance are staples of good vocal technique and have been for many years. They are in fact the very concepts explained and taught in the textbooks and explored in the vocalization exercises I prefer to use with my students -books that were written by some of the finest and most respected voice instructors in the country before SLS became the toast of the town. So is the foundation upon which Speech Level Singing is built a solid one? Absolutely. Can it work? Surely. There are good professionals and bad ones in every arena. Some doctors diagnose immediately what three others have previously missed. Some fast food attendants give me extra pickles when I ask for them, while many do not. Passion, experience, knowledge, and the ability to inspire the desire to learn in children are far greater assets to any music teacher than a certification that can be relatively easy to obtain and perhaps not as sought after in a few years as it is today.
I have dedicated much time to learning all there is to know about music (a journey that has no end). I have paid my dues at the piano hours a day and reading theory books by the light of the moon. I’ve hauled equipment out of smoky bars at 4 am and have made it my mission to recognize chords and intervals when I hear them and to understand the beautiful inner workings of music that one of my students recently called “poetic mathematics.” I study and celebrate the great works of both Mozart and Jimi Hendrix, Harry Connick, Jr. and Prince. I now dedicate much of my time to teaching MUSIC to those who wish to learn it. I tell my voice students as well as my piano or guitar students that musicianship must be obtained from the inside out. I will not teach voice, but I will use the voice to teach MUSIC. I focus on training the musical ear to hear and understand music, helping a student to awaken the innermost musical instincts and creativity within them. The voice, the piano, and the guitar are just instruments – vehicles used toward the ultimate goal of expressing that which we feel or believe. Technique is a necessary means to an end, but not the end itself! If we can learn to connect to and understand music on the most primal, medicinal level, only then can we begin to nurture a symbiotic relationship with it. A chorus singer turned rocker, my approach is versatile and my style of instruction is unique and effective. With miles of road now in my rearview mirror and hopefully even more still in front of me, I approach the opportunity to teach that to which I have given much of my life. Inspiration is a great adventure, and I hope to share it with you!
Q: Am I ready to take pointe?
A: THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT GOING ON POINTE - By: Victoria Leigh
1. Pointe work is NOT for everyone, regardless of how long they study and how old they are.
2. Taking ballet for 5 years or 15 years or 30 years does not mean that you are well trained enough or have the physical facility to dance on pointe. Some people have had ballet "training" (and that is in quotes because there are, unfortunately, still thousands of schools in this country who hold ballet classes, but have no idea of what ballet training really is) for 10 years, once a week. Others have had 3 or 4 years, but many more classes per week. Which one will be more advanced? This is not a trick question. It depends on the training, however, it is more likely that the one with 3 or 4 years will be more advanced because the kinds of schools who even have once a week classes are not teaching ballet properly.
3. In a properly graded school with teachers who know what they are doing, students who have the potential to progress to the pointe level will be encouraged into at least 3 one hour and a half classes a week by the time they reach the age of 10 or 11 and have had 2 to 4 years of training. Pointe work would begin for these students as they arrive at the age of 12 or older and have at least 3 years of training.
4. Students who do not have this potential will probably be kept in a twice a week class and not encouraged to do more.
5. If you are not in a school which has hour and a half technique classes on a daily basis for advanced students, then you are probably not receiving the kind of training that will get you into the profession. Students in a school which has an "advanced" class which meets once or twice a week are living in a dream world. There is no such thing as an advanced dancer who has not had daily intensive training. It is highly unlikely that students taking once a week will ever get past beginner level, and even with twice a week they will not get past low intermediate, if that.
6. If a student has no rotation, poor placement, weak ankles, and especially no instep and arch, then they should not be on pointe. While these things can be improved if worked on early enough and hard enough, when one arrives at full growth and still does not have the physical facility for pointe, then it is probably not going to happen.
7. One can live without dancing on pointe. There are many other avenues open to you in dance, and it is not the end of the world if you cannot become a "ballerina". Very, very few people can. But there are lots of other dance forms, most of which are more fun, and, while they also require lots of hard work, do not require the same degree of physical perfection that ballet requires. There is also dance history, criticism, dance management, and dance therapy. If you are a wonderful student, then use that - be a doctor and specialize in dance injuries!