Creating a Future in Dance: Juan Brown experiences COOL Week

Creating+a+Future+in+Dance%3A+Juan+Brown+experiences+COOL+Week

by Caroline Cravens, Staff Writer

Even if it’s just two days a week, work experience is work experience. Juan Brown hopes to have a future in choreography, and he was happy to take any opportunity he could get to work in the world of dance.
COOL stands for Career Opportunities on Location; LISD’s College and Career Readiness program prides itself on COOL week because it gives students a chance to try out career options before they start spending money on education in college. Brown wants to be a choreographer and then later own a dance studio.
“My brother did it (COOL week) last year and he said he has a pretty fun experience,” Brown said. “Mrs. Wood told me that she would try to find a studio for me to teach at and she came up with the Star Dancer studio. So I happily agreed because any place would’ve worked fine with me.”
Brown went to the Star Dancer studio twice for around 5 hours, and observed and helped teach classes. He assisted in a range of classes, from a beginner ballet class to the more advanced team classes at the studio.
“Mostly I observed, but I did take ten minutes out of their time to help them warm up,” Brown said. “At that time everyone had choreographed dances already, but the reason I wanted to be there was to see what it was like to be a choreographer.”
Brown also got to talk with the director of the Star Dancer studio, and he learned a couple of things that he hopes to incorporate into his future studio.
“I learned that you have learn how to take care of little kids to learn how to teach them,” Brown said. “I wouldn’t have thought of that because I just wanted to teach older kids, but it’s better to teach both.”