teaching dance

Dance In A Box

February 11, 2011 by 4dancers

Today we have a guest post from Tricia Gomez, the lady behind “Dance in a Box”…

1. How did the idea for Dance in a Box come about, and what is it?

In 2004 I got diagnosed with Lupus and I was teaching 21 classes a week. I had to cut back and was having trouble finding teachers that could teach hip hop to kids as young as 3. I had a very specific method and terminology that I used and I kept saying “I wish I had something with the steps on it that I could just give to the teachers and say ‘Here, teach these steps and make up a routine with them'”. That’s how the idea of the hip hop choreography cards came about.

I started cataloging 10 years worth of material and, with the help of a student’s mom who was a graphic artist, we designed 100 cards. Each card has it’s own hip hop step on it, complete with pictures, a verbal description and modifications! Hip Hop In a Box was the first choreography kit that we mass produced. It had the 100 mix-and-match hip hop cards, a DVD showing how to do each step, an Instrumental music CD and the “Teaching Tips Workbook”. It became so popular that teachers were asking for more steps.

We recently released 1-2-3 Dance, a 50 card kit! At www.danceinabox.com, we also offer original music CD’s that help a teacher’s teach rhythm and explain how to count 8-counts and find the “1” beat.

The mission of Dance – In a Box is to create products that make teaching easy. Hip Hop – In a Box and 1-2-3 Dance are so easy to use that teachers who are not hip hop “experts” are able to teach it to young children with confidence! [Read more…]

On Teaching Dance…

November 29, 2010 by 4dancers

I don’t think my students know how much I love teaching.

There is something almost magical about imparting your knowledge in a way that it comes out in someone else’s technique. It is an amazing feeling that is hard to describe. When you are a dancer, you are self-focused. When you are a teacher, you are other focused. Different mindset.

Catherine L. Tully in 1987 — Catherine L. Tully, 1987

It is both challenging and freeing to have this shift in focus. The challenge is in figuring out how to take what is in your head, heart and muscles and translate that into something that makes sense to your students. Not having to focus on your own technique is the “freeing” aspect. You are free to spend that energy helping someone else perfect theirs. It’s a wonderful thing!

I always thought I would love dancing more than teaching. Truth is, I love them both, but teaching is the perfect fit for me at this point in my life. I’m older, and quite frankly, it hurts to do much of what I enjoyed doing in dance. Now I get more joy out of helping others reach their potential–whatever that means for them as an individual.

I love teaching for so many reasons, but probably the biggest one is its similarity to performance in terms of concentration. When I was on stage, I couldn’t concentrate on anything other than what I was doing. I never was aware of the audience–I never saw the conductor. Much like that, when I am teaching, the outside world drops off for me. The only thing that exists for that hour and a half is my students and the music.

And there’s nothing quite like that feeling.

And I’d love to know if anyone out there can relate to that.

Teaching Tip: Reversing Combinations

July 5, 2010 by 4dancers

When I was a child, my dance teacher did something wonderful–she had us reverse combinations. Most of the time she would do this with small jumps, and it really made us think quickly. At first it was very hard, but after a while, I began to understand how to break things down into pieces and do them in reverse.

This helped prepare me for complex combinations later in my career. I was always able to pick things up fairly quickly, and I truly think that this is one of the reasons why.

One caveat–don’t do this with beginning students. They have enough work to do in terms of doing things properly. Reversing combinations is something best left for intermediate and advanced classes.

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. 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.

Teaching Tip: Beating Burnout

December 22, 2009 by 4dancers

If you are feeling burnt out and wonder if your dance students are able to tell…guess what? They already know.

Chances are good that by the time you are feeling fried, you have been teaching on auto-pilot for a while already. Students are the first to notice. What is the best remedy? It’s different for everyone, but here are some simple things you can try to shake off the blahs:

+ Take a class. Mine some ideas from another teacher. It’s ok. You’ll put your own stamp on them. It’s good to get new perspectives and we can all learn from each other. This is a great way to find new things to do in class.

+ Take a break. Get a substitute and go to the movies for the day. Sometimes just clearing your head is all that is needed to refresh yourself. This can be especially true if you teach multiple classes. It’s hard to give your all when you are constantly going. [Read more…]

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