Teaching Tips – Page 2

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall: A Dance Teacher’s Perspective

March 10, 2014 by 4dancers

Happy March! I hope spring is making a welcome appearance in your part of the country / world!

We recently had an article on Mirrors in the Classroom, by Sally Radell, of Emory University in Atlanta, GA. The first
article was written more for the dancer — Sally has now written one for us which focuses on mirror use from
the teacher’s perspective.

It’s so important for teachers to understand the effect mirrors can have – both positive and negative – and how to best integrate them into classroom teaching, for the students’ best interests. As I mentioned in my intro for Sally’s
first article, I always remember the great Betty Jones (Jose Limon Company dancer and world-famous Limon teacher) saying, “mirrors put you outside your body, not in it” — good words to take to heart, and now we have recent research, such as Sally Radell’s, to give scientific support to them!

Happy Spring 🙂

Jan

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by Sally A. Radell, MFA, MA

It’s easy to develop a “mirror addiction” when teaching dance. This is particularly evident when teaching beginning level technique classes. I primarily use the mirror as a classroom management tool to visually “bring all of us together” in the learning of new phrases. I usually have the whole class face the mirror. I stand in front, also facing the mirror, as I demonstrate the new material with the dancers behind me following along. This enables me to watch the students as I guide them through the phrase while simultaneously calling out movement cues to help them through the challenging portions of the material. This can be a particularly efficient use of time in short dance classes where I am always pushing myself to make it through my lesson. However, I have noticed a certain level of dependence on using the mirror in my teaching; too much reliance on the mirror can create problems that are detrimental to students’ technical development and body image.

What are the drawbacks of mirror use in the dance classroom?

Especially when I work with beginning dancers, I see that the visual reflection of their bodies in the mirror is a more powerful experience than the proprioceptive muscular sensation of performing a movement. Under these circumstances, a dancer “removes herself from her body” to the point where she cannot learn to fully trust her proprioceptive self. Yet without full access to this movement information, a dancer’s growth can be impeded.

Research shows that mirrors in dance classes can contribute to the development of a poor body image for dancers. Often more advanced students will be more critical of their body in the mirror because they have a more highly developed eye for identifying technical weaknesses. They struggle to negotiate between the two-dimensional reflection of their body in the mirror and their three-dimensional body in motion. This heightened self-consciousness may cause a dancer to see her body as an object to compare to others in the room. This whole dehumanizing process can cause stress, negative self-evaluation, and ultimately a poor body image.

Teaching with mirrors can slow down the development of a dancer’s technical skills, especially in the slower adagio phrase where students find plenty of time for mirror-gazing. The more they focus on individual positions, the less likely they are to learn the flow of movement and the muscular connections a dancer needs for smooth technical advancement.

Remember that not all students have the maturity and objectivity to use the mirror constructively. Dance counselor Julia Buckroyd, who is an emeritus professor from the University of Hertfordshire in the UK, reports that most teenage students are unable to see an accurate image of themselves in the mirror. They cannot detach themselves from their reflection in order to benefit fully from the information the mirror provides.

So what’s a dance teacher to do? [Read more…]

“Studio Thinking” In Dance

December 6, 2013 by 4dancers

by Janet Neidhardt

Throughout the school year I teach my students how to choreograph dances as works of art. We work on movement invention and manipulation, creating phrases, and finding form in movement. We discuss the elements of space, time, and energy, and how they facilitate the creation of climactic moments and communication within movement.

No matter how much we practice exploration and play as a class, when it comes time for small group choreography projects, it always seems that my students are so eager to get to the product that they pass by the process in the blink of an eye. I feel like a broken record sometimes when I say “explore, play, try it one way and then try it five more different ways to make sure you discovered what you feel to be the strongest way to dance it.” Placing greater emphasis on process verses product is something that I am constantly reinforcing with my students and the assignments given to them.

I try to create rubrics that are more open to interpretation however I find that if I do not give some specific instructions/structure then the students get confused. I recently assigned a small group choreography project to my students and while the rubric requires the use of various choreographic elements, it also said it had to be two minutes long. After one week of working in groups (they have three weeks to get this done) almost every group had close to two minutes of choreography done and they looked around at each other like “Wow we are almost done!”

This is when I stopped them and said “Now you need to explore, play, edit, and layer your movements with variety.” I told them week two needs to be about exploration and discussed what it meant to be in the process of dance making. I have started to discuss the studio thinking approach with my students in order to help them enter a fresh mindset of expectations. [Read more…]

Competition In Dance Class

October 28, 2013 by 4dancers

dancer posing upside down — Janet Neidhardt

by Janet Neidhardt

I recently read the research article entitled “So We Think You Can Learn: How Student Perceptions Affect Learning” by Susan Haines, MFA and Talani Torres, MFA. I should first point out, since I am addressing competition, that the research article won Top Paper Citation 2012 from NDEO. Haines and Torres spent time researching how their students’ perspectives on a rehearsal process affected their learning of choreography for performance. They found that their students’ competitiveness with their peers stopped their learning process. I found this research so interesting and applicable to my own students and teaching that I had my Honors Dance class read the article and discuss their own thoughts and questions about it. (The article is attached below)

My students had a lot to say when it came to feelings of competition in dance. Although some of them dance on competitive teams and others dance within studios that are non-competitive, they all felt some sort of frustration when being placed in the back or not getting solos when it came time to learn dances which would be performed for an audience. They said things like “it just hurts my self-confidence when I feel like I have worked so hard but I keep getting placed in the back.” They clearly identified with the sentiments expressed by students in the research article.

The competitive environment becomes a problem if student learning is halted because they no longer feel competent or confident in their own dancing.

Only one student said that she wants to become a better dancer for herself not to be better than anyone else. She explained that she loves the challenge she feels within herself when dancing and trying to master movement. She even quoted Mikhail Baryshnikov saying “I do not try to dance better than anyone else. I only try to dance better than myself.”

During this somewhat heated discussion I talked with my students about the goals of my class specifically and explained that no one should feel competitive and unable to learn in my classroom. I want to create an environment in which my students feel internally motivated to improve their skills as artists. I want my students to feel able to take risks and push themselves and learn from one another in a safe and caring environment. My goals in teaching movement and choreography skills, dance history, and development of aesthetics are for the individuals to learn about themselves within the process of learning about dance.

I said to them, “What if your grade depended on the success of the person next to you?” The students quickly responded that they would be helping each other to learn movement and remind each other about details and performance. It was interesting how quickly they began to realize how their focus could shift if their goals were changed from the individual success to the group success.

This is clearly an ongoing conversation and evaluation to have with my students. I hope to instill in them a sense of internal motivation while caring for the development of those around them. Our theme for the year, dancing from the inside out, directly ties into this conversation and will hopefully guide the students to new perspectives about how they approach dance.

Contributor Janet Neidhardt has been a dance educator for 10 years. She has taught modern, ballet, and jazz at various studios and schools on Chicago’s North Shore. She received her MA in Dance with an emphasis in Choreography from the University of North Carolina-Greensboro and her BA in Communications with a Dance Minor from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Throughout her time in graduate school, Janet performed with Sidelong Dance Company based in Winston-Salem, NC.

Currently, Janet teaches dance at Loyola Academy High School in Wilmette, IL. She is the Director of Loyola Academy Dance Company B and the Brother Small Arts Guild, and choreographs for the Spring Dance Concert and school musical each year. Janet is very active within the Loyola Academy community leading student retreats and summer service trips. She regularly seeks out professional development opportunities to continue her own artistic growth. Recently, Janet performed with Keigwin and Company in the Chicago Dancing Festival 2012 and attended the Bates Dance Festival.

When she isn’t dancing, Janet enjoys teaching Pilates, practicing yoga, and running races around the city of Chicago.

Accentuate The Positive: Creating A Great Atmosphere In Dance Class

August 16, 2013 by 4dancers

by Catherine L. Tully

Creating a positive atmosphere doesn’t mean that you have to walk around smiling and singing all the time, giving out countless compliments to your students. A positive atmosphere is instead an environment where students feel supported, nurtured and motivated to improve.

So how do you go about establishing this type of feel in your classroom?

First and foremost, it can help to realize that it is a deliberate thing. A positive atmosphere is grown by the instructor and supported by the students. Here are some elements that are present in a positive classroom environment:

Respect. The teacher exhibits respect for the students. The students respect the teacher—and the students respect one another.
Interest. The teacher shows interest in the students’ improvement and the students are eager to learn and grow.
Positive reinforcement. The teacher recognizes when students are doing well and gives them feedback accordingly.
Constructive criticism. The instructor gives corrections in such a way that the students are eager to try and improve.
Energy. A positive classroom environment is infused with energy and enthusiasm.

Knowing that these are some of the qualities in a positive learning situation is great. Getting them to work in the dance class environment is more of a challenge. For example, how do you show a student that you are interested in them? Or how can you create energy in class?

The very first step is to ask those kinds of questions. Often the answer is not too hard if you just dig a little bit and try things out. Coming up with concrete ways to build these blocks into the class lesson is challenging, but it certainly can be done.

Here are some suggestions to help get you started: [Read more…]

Performance At Its Best

May 21, 2013 by 4dancers

By Janet Neidhardt

It’s that time of year again–time for the end of the year performance for dancers in schools and studios. My students just performed their dance concert and I’m pleased to say they did a wonderful job! A lot goes into teaching students to give their best performance and I often seek out new ideas on how to pull out their strengths in the art of performance.

But how do you get your students to really perform movement fully and to the best of their ability? I find performance is a quality that can be difficult to teach and is sometimes difficult to articulate with words. My students are required to see professional dance concerts during the school year and then they write a critique on the show that specifically describes a performer that catches their eye. In anticipation of their upcoming performances, I asked my students”What does it look like when someone is performing movement well?” Some of the responses I got were:

They look confident
Moving from their center and into their limbs and finger and toes
Their focus in the face is clear
They have purpose in their movement

These are all important elements of crafting a strong performance. I think that being able to articulate this information helped my students to find that performance within them. Things I do as a teacher to help my students perform to their fullest are: talk about performance with all movement executed in class (like during warm-ups), videotape their dancing and have them critique themselves, have them watch each other and discuss what they are doing really well, and of course ask them to articulate what performance looks like.

I find that when I build performance into the craft of choreographing a dance my students have more time to work on the movement and its projection. Instead of teaching movement first and then talking about focus and performance later, I try to talk about meaning and stylization right from the start so the dancers will know what is expected from them and their movement.

Students also perform more strongly when they have ownership over the movement they are dancing. I have my students choreograph movement for their pieces all of the time so that they are more invested in the work and deeply a part of the process. The emotional connection to the work can be another catalyst to a great performance.

Needless to say, teaching students to perform to their fullest can be challenging. At the end of the day, if I know my students felt good about the show they performed and they had fun while doing it–then they have succeeded greatly.

Currently, Janet teaches dance at Loyola Academy High School in Wilmette, IL. She is the Director of Loyola Academy Dance Company B and the Brother Small Arts Guild, and choreographs for the Spring Dance Concert and school musical each year. Janet is very active within the Loyola Academy community leading student retreats and summer service trips. She regularly seeks out professional development opportunities to continue her own artistic growth. Recently, Janet performed with Keigwin and Company in the Chicago Dancing Festival 2012 and attended the Bates Dance Festival.

When she isn’t dancing, Janet enjoys teaching Pilates, practicing yoga, and running races around the city of Chicago

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