There are few things that will make me feel more self-conscious than having a camera focused on me.  Ironically, in this age of “Selfies” that we live in, being in front of the camera is not my favorite thing. You’d think that I’d be desensitized to the process since my husband is a photographer.

Being the subject of a video is a whole new level of intimidating, but, I am getting used to it. As some of you may remember, Albany Dance & Fitness was the location for part of an MVP commercial a couple of years ago. That video was my first experience with the process. Over the summer, we did another video spot that has been airing on WMHT.

As a small business owner, I’m always working on new ways to promote and market the studio. Having a website, and a Facebook presence, isn’t enough these days. One of the biggest ways to now promote your business is with a YouTube channel. I’ve been thinking about doing this for years, but never really made any progress with it. Well, that’s all changed now.

One of the requirements for Essentrics™ certification, is the submission of a videotaped class.  An Essentrics™ class is about an hour long, so shooting the class on a cell phone, and creating a DVD, was out of the question. The video really didn’t need to be broadcast quality, but my videographer, producer, editor, (AKA my husband) wouldn’t let me settle for low quality.

I really didn’t want to think about it and was just focused on learning the Essentrics™ program. My husband started doing research on video cameras, microphones and editing software. Then he started taking online courses about shooting, and editing videos. He really loves to do that kind of creative work, and having been employed for years in TV, none of this was really out of his comfort zone. And besides, it’s more fun than cleaning the garage!

We started slowly with a few test videos, to get comfortable with the equipment and to work out the bugs. We both made a lot of mistakes, but we finally got to a point where we feel like it’s working.

So, once we shot the Essentrics™ class for my certification, what do we do next? Over the years, many of my Gentle Ballet, and Beginning Ballet students have mentioned that they would like to be able to go over the combinations outside of class. Learning a new combination and then doing it, is a skill I learned when I was in my teens. Many of my students are new to ballet, so they never had the chance to develop that skill. Creating short videos that they could review at home, seemed like the logical first choice.

As of this writing, we have posted five of these videos. You can get them through our website, or through our YouTube Channel. The plan is to create a few new ones every month, and make them available when I’m teaching the combination in class.

I’m hoping my students will like these, and use them. If they prove to be popular, I already have a few ideas on what other types of videos I would like to create.

My husband is hoping you will like them as well. If you do, I’ll keep him busy shooting videos, and he will never have to clean the garage again!