high school dance

High School Dance: Building Trust & Teaching to the Whole Student

November 12, 2021 by 4dancers

High school is typically a time of questioning and curiosity for teenagers who are known to be rule-breakers and risk takers. However, more and more I find myself among high school students who want to conform and not push boundaries too much during class. I find that my students need and crave a sense of belonging. They want to feel like they fit in, to not stand out too much, but at the same time they do appreciate the celebration of their individuality.

As a teacher, I am constantly working on getting to know my students as learners, as people, and as movers. When I meet my students where they are at, in their knowledge of my subject matter, and who they are as individuals, I can start to instruct and coach them in a more holistic manner. Working towards understanding students’ perspectives enables me to make strong connections and those connections build trust. When trust occurs, students begin to take on more risks and challenge their own growth.

How do we build authentic trusting connections with our students?

It takes time to get to know each of my students. I make time daily and weekly to ask my students questions about their lives outside of the classroom. I ask them to explain how they can apply what we are learning in class to their lives outside of the classroom. Blending together curriculum with “get to know you” activities can help at the start of the busy school year to build those relationships quickly. Even though relationships do take time to build, it is important to begin that process right from the start. I try to be open with my students and share things about myself as a teacher, a dancer, and a person so that they get to know me as well.

Teaching with patience and in an unassuming manner can take practice. It is very important to always work with students and not against them. I remind my students that I am on their side and that my goal is to help them learn and grow. Asking students questions to learn their perspectives and any issues that they might face can always help me differentiate my instruction.

How can teaching to the whole student allow us to challenge our students to push the edges of their own creativity and craft?

Building bridges between student to teacher and student to student creates trusting relationships within the class. I work to promote an environment that celebrates their uniqueness while also building the class as an ensemble. It is in this way that the students in the class grow together as a whole and learn to grow within their own skills as individuals.

Process. Process. Process.

Support their process with the time and space needed to make work, edit work, take risks, edit work again, take more risks, and so on. Teaching students about editing and revising their choreographic work so that they try a variety of choreographic choices allows them to build their creative capacity as well as think more deeply about choreographic choices.

I like to ask my students to explain how certain sections of their dance relates to their concept. This can be a very challenging question for many students and calls for higher order critical thinking. Some students struggle with this question and then I need to probe a bit more. What do you want your audience to understand or feel when they see this part? How could you change the space/time/energy of this section to better accomplish your choreographic goals?

In order to get to a point of being comfortable with being uncomfortable, students must feel a sense of belonging to the whole class. In this way, they are able to feel confident being part of the group but also being unique in their individuality. When students get to this point in feeling connected to the class, that is when I see them take those risks and really find deeper growth in their learning.

dancer posing upside down — Janet Rothwell

Contributor Janet (Neidhardt) Rothwell has been a dance educator for over 19 years. She has taught modern, ballet, and jazz at various studios and schools on Chicago’s North Shore. She received her Principal License from National Louis University, 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 Adlai E. Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire, IL. She is the Director of the Mélange Dance Company and assists in the production of the Winter and Spring Dance Concerts at Stevenson High School. Janet has also presented multiple times at the National Dance Educators Organization Conference. She regularly seeks out professional development opportunities to continue her own artistic growth.

When she isn’t dancing, Janet enjoys practicing Pilates, yoga, and playing with her children.

Process Focused Thinking In The Dance Classroom

November 10, 2014 by 4dancers

by Janet Rothwell

As a choreographer and dance educator, process is very important to me. It is through my creative process that I problem solve and create various products. My process can vary depending on the task at hand or even on how I feel in the moment. Any changes in my process are usually reflected in the product outcome as well. One example of how changing my process can be helpful is when I am choreographing a work and I do not want it to look or feel like the last piece I created. Changing my process can help me to create new movement and fresh ideas.

In order to teach my students about the value of process I give them many assignments where they have built in time to explore and play. I also have them reflect on their process answering questions like: How did you go about learning a movement sequence? How did you work within your group on a project? How did you approach the creation of your movement?

I often have students work in small groups on various choreography assignments. The most recent project I gave them was to create a short choreographic study based on initiating movement from certain bones in their body. The main goals were for students to learn the names of the bones, where they were located, and how it feels to move from those bones in their body.

The assignment included a rubric which required students to use specific choreography tools and a required length of counts for the whole dance. Often time when I give an assignment like this with a clear rubric of expectations, students look at the list of what the dance must include and work towards this end goal first instead of taking the time to experiment and play with movement ideas. I have to remind them that I’m giving them many days to work on the project to include the process of discovering the movement they want to use and they have time to change their minds and let the dance evolve. I use many analogies like when you create movement and choreography with your group you are writing in pencil not pen so as you go on if you don’t like something simply erase it and make a change.

The majority of the classes that my high school students take are very product focused and students can either be right or wrong with their product. It can be very challenging for students to shift their perspective in my class and linger in the process focused perspective as a means to create and problem solve. In dance class with a creative assignment there is not one way to do anything right so there are many right answers and what I try to teach my students is that I want them to discover what they feel is the best and right answer for them. They discover this through their process.

Having an emphasis on the process rather than the product does not mean that I do not care about the end product. On the contrary, I think that when the process is more fulfilled the end product is also more likely to be fulfilled and realized in a deeper way. The way we go about getting to an end product is through various paths and that we honor the paths we try out and discover what each one has to offer. Students edit and revise more while focusing on process in order to create the product.

As students embrace this mind set I see a shift in the quality of their work and their work ethic. In a world of instant gratification and product focused thinking it is becoming more and more important that we teach young people to value the process, the how we get to an end goal. Teaching students to be process focused can have great implications in many areas of their lives and help them to problem solve in creative ways. I hope to help my students become creative problem solvers and leaders in the world they live in.

Contributor Janet Rothwell 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.

Dance: Teaching Beyond Technique

May 2, 2014 by 4dancers

by Janet Neidhardt

Dance is such an amazing medium and practice because it allows us to be challenged physically, mentally, and emotionally. As a dance educator it is easy to feel successful (or unsuccessful) based on how well my students improve in their physical technique. Days when I see my students finally spot a turn or find their balance on one leg, I give myself a pat on the back because they finally got it! But what that physical accomplishment gives students is so much more than coordination. It provides for them a challenge to try, fail, try again, and succeed. At the end of the day what I really want my students to leave my class being able to do is feel confident and love their individuality a little bit more.

I recently received an amazing thank you letter from a senior student whom I have had the privilege of teaching dance to this school year. This letter did not say thank you for teaching me to do a perfect (insert any dance move/trick here) instead it was a thank you letter that talked about personal growth and discovery. My student wrote about making new friends in my class and what it felt like to be a part of a team. I often refer to our class as a team to help build a safe environment for risk taking.

The greatest section of the letter stated: “One piece of advice that I am always going to remember is you telling me not to judge myself based on peoples dance skills and focus on myself. This stuck with me because for a long time I always focused on other people and how to be like them. You taught me originality and to stop comparing myself to other people and I am thankful for that.”

This wonderful thank you letter was a great reminder to me that what my students leave my class with is so much more than new found physical ability. To be able to teach students self confidence, the ability to take chances, and to not give up when things are challenging is a wonderful gift. Dance offers the opportunity for students to learn these life lessons so easily because they embody movement challenges, emotional challenges, and internalize personal growth.

When I approach teaching movement, giving corrections, coaching performance, etc., I keep in mind how I go about doing these things because I know that my words hold great weight in effecting how my students feel about themselves and their abilities. I try to be encouraging and emphasize effort most of all. Yes, it is important that my students grow within their physical abilities, but I know that everyone will grow at different rates and what is most important to me is that they have fun and embrace the challenges posed to them and do not feel defeated.

We walk a thin line as teachers between challenging students and overwhelming them with difficult objectives. As teachers we too can get caught up in competition of who does it the best in class or whose class has better dancers. We must keep in mind that we set the tone for what is most important in our class, be it work ethic or something else.

It is essential, no matter if you teach in a studio or school, to always remember that as a dance educator we have the ability and responsibility to teach dance in a way that will strengthen our students’ characters. I have never had a student thank me for teaching them a pirouette or tricky movement combination but I have had many thank you’s regarding emotional self growth. I hope this inspires you to see yourself as more than a teacher of dance movement.

I know I will hold on to this thank you letter forever as a great reminder of what I can and should be teaching beyond technique.

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.

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

Modern Dance History In Today’s Classroom

March 14, 2014 by 4dancers

Loie_Fuller — Portrait of Loïe Fuller, by Frederick Glasier, 1902

by Janet Neidhardt

Every year I teach my students about the history of modern dance. Each student researches and presents to the class the story of a modern dance pioneer. During this process of research and presentation I see various light bulbs pop on in my students’ minds as they come to the realization that movement has origins in history. They say things like “We do this movement in class!” and “This dancer had similar concepts about dance as we do in here.”

It’s so wonderful that videos of pioneer dancers like Loie Fuller, Ted Shawn, and Mary Wigman (just to name a few) are available on the internet for free and with such easy access. Watching videos of old dances and dancers is eye opening and creates great discussion among students about how dance has changed and how it has remained the same.

I find that my students appreciate learning and studying dance movement as an art form with greater depth after they learn about the history involved in the evolution of modern dance. Part of their assignment is to reflect on how their pioneer dancer connects or relates to our class. This often starts a conversation about the various dance forms I’ve studied that I am now passing on as well as what and how dancers study movement today.

I ask my students, what does it mean to research movement in the body and devote your life to it as opposed to learning movement from others? Can you do both at the same time?

It is difficult for them to understand the idea of researching movement in the body because they are so used to learning movement from others. This is one of the many reasons I value teaching movement improvisation and choreography in high school. I love to see students discover that they can make up and create movement that is their own. They start to understand that if they really want to be original they need to evolve from what they already know and ask questions about what they don’t know. It is this curiosity that leads them to great creations of authentic work.

We also discuss studying one technique of dance verses studying them all and how that can change a dancers’ understanding of movement.

When talking about studying one technique verses studying many we can see that as dance has evolved there is more of a trend to be able to do it all. This is clearly a huge topic all on its own, but within the context of modern dance history my students always seem surprised that dancers would study with one teacher for many years and then branch out on their own after only learning one way of moving. They are impressed with the commitment and passion for dance that the pioneers had and they realize that is what they need to have to fully embody all movement they learn and create.

I encourage all dance educators to teach their students about modern dance pioneers and relate them back to their own classroom work. Students’ appreciation for dance and movement is expanded and their perspective about what it means to study dance is altered in profound ways.

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

5 Choreography Resolutions For The New Year

February 3, 2014 by 4dancers

by Lucy Vurusic-Riner

Over the past 15 years, I have choreographed over 30 high school dances. Everything ranging from the 3 minute, pas de bourree heavy jazz dance to the Basement Jaxx (most of us high school teachers have been there) to the epic (meaning long) 10-minute modern piece about feminism. How do we keep it fresh?

So I have compiled some thoughts on what has helped me keep things fresh as I embark on making dance 37 this month.

Resolution #1:

Find a classic. This is my own advice that I have never taken. I have never re-staged the same dance twice.

I’m not saying that this is smart. After all, if you really feel you have made a “classic” than allow it to grow into that! But as each new school year starts, and I begin to think about what I could possibly try to come up with next, I still can’t bring myself to recycle dances. It’s not that I don’t think it’s a great idea. It’s more that I just don’t have the memory to recall old work. I hate trying to remember movement from video and although I’m sure I have students that can video learn circles around me I hate to ask them to do that. I really enjoy the process of teaching them a dance and seeing what they bring to it. Sometimes we lose that bit of magic when they have to learn someone else’s part. Nevertheless, we all have that one dance that we look back on and say, “Dang, that was a high school masterpiece.” So one of this year’s choreography resolutions is that I will go back and dig through the good stuff!

Resolution #2:

Allow my students to shape the work more! It’s no secret to my students (and husband) that I am a control freak. I’m always amazed when I’m in a process where the choreographer gives the dancers a large amount of artistic freedom. I teeter back and forth on this point. If I give them too much material to make on their own they’ll think I’m lazy or don’t know what I’m doing; but if I don’t give them any artistic license they don’t feel any ownership over the final product….plus, I get crazy trying to do everything myself.

The latter is what generally happens to me. I just can’t let go of what I want to see and how I want to see it. The problem with this is that I sometimes end up not satisfied because the end product doesn’t look like I thought it would. So this year my students will get to put themselves into my work in some way (let’s hope it’s not in the form of a toe touch to the splits)!

Resolution #3: [Read more…]

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