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Teaching Tip: How To Pace Your Dance Class

May 11, 2010 by 4dancers

Teaching dance truly is an art form in and of itself. Besides obvious things such as creating combinations and dealing with any disciplinary issues that arise, you will also need to learn how to pace a class properly.

For example, you’ll to learn how to run the class so that you’re communicating information to the students, but you also want to be sure their muscles don’t get cold while you are talking. There is a fine line between giving corrections and explaining steps and talking too much.

Another pacing issue has to do with how much time you spend on a combination. You will want to do it enough so that the students feel like they are getting it down to the finer points, but not so many times that they are bored with it.

There is no magic number for these things–the point is, you need to be aware of them.Teaching Tip Simply thinking about how you are pacing the class will go a long way toward avoiding these problems. Watch your students. Are they shifting around and looking “antsy”? If so, you may be losing them. Or their muscles may be losing warmth.

One great way to get a feel for how to perfect this skill is to watch teachers who have been around for a while. They tend to pace things quite naturally. They have learned over time how to structure the class in the most effective way and how to get information across effieciently.

The good news is that once you begin to get a handle on this issue, you will need to think about it less and less over time.

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Filed Under: 4teachers, Studios, Teaching Tips Tagged With: combinations, corrections, teaching dance

Teaching Tip: Challenging Your Students In Class

February 22, 2010 by 4dancers

Sometimes it is good to give your students a bit of a challenge in ballet class. Change things up a bit. Students get used to certain patterns, and breaking from the routine will keep them from getting complacent.

For example:

+ Start class facing the opposite way from which you usually begin at the barre.

+ Have students face away from the mirror to do their exercises in the center.

+ Teach a combination, then have the students reverse it.

+ Do exercises in both single and double time.

+ Have students come up with their own simple combinations.

Just throwing a new thing into the mix will help keep your dance classes lively. It will also challenge your students to think outside the box and stretch a bit as dancers. Try to do things like this from time-to-time and the result will be a happier class that is more able to respond to change.

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Filed Under: 4teachers, Studios, Teaching Tips Tagged With: ballet class, combinations, dance

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