Comments on: Baby on Board — Teaching While Pregnant

By: Nichelle (admin)

Nichelle (admin) — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 15:59:09 +0000

Hello europeteacher and congratulations! I know this can be an uncertain time.

Early on in my pregnancy, I continued jumping without much worry. Though during morning sickness there were days that jumping wasn’t terribly enjoyable. It was well into the pregnancy I felt in my body that jumping was a strain on some of the pelvic muscles and tendons that supported my growing belly. I can understand your hesitancy to jump though, given your irregular periods and having not been examined yet by a doctor.

Since you mention that you are teaching teens, full-out demonstration might be avoided simply by challenging your students to absorb a combination from the given terminology alone. There are reasons other than your pregnancy for doing this. It is good mental exercise for your students and encourages their use and understanding of dance vocabulary. This works well for ballet especially (it’s easy to say “4 sauté in first, 4 in second, 4 changement, entrechat quatre, for example and challenge them to get it right without watching).

However, students in all dance forms sometimes rely way too much on their eyes – not all choreographers or teachers they encounter will demonstrate full out and it is good preparation to practice using their ears and imaginations to comprehend and retain choreography. Present the material in a way that shows you want to challenge them to hear and understand what you mean when you say “I want your first leap to look and feel like it is floating on a cushion of air and your second leap to look like a firecracker just went off in the core of your body and exploded through your toes and fingertips.” Because the point isn’t necessarily for them to look like you doing the leap, but encouraging them to convey the quality of the leap – what it looks and feels like – in their own body. If they are beginners, this is also a good opportunity to describe the mechanics of a leap – watch them closely as they do it and tell them (rather than show them) what exactly they need to do to improve it.

If you are not used to teaching this way, it may take a little extra preparation to decide how you will get what you want from them without full-out demonstration. However, if you do this I don’t think anyone will consider you a lazy teacher.

I hope that helps. Best of luck to you! Try to relax and enjoy this special time – this is important to you and your baby’s health as well!

By: europeteacher

europeteacher — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 13:02:19 +0000

Hi!
Thanks for the article, it was really helpful. I have just found out that I am pregnant as I have very irregular (almost non existant) periods, and I think I am about 6 weeks. We don’t want to tell anyone until 12 weeks, so do you have any tips for how I can get away with just marking jumps etc? I’m starting a new job as well as continuing with running my school, and I really don’t want to give the impression of being a lazy teacher, whilst also not wanting to have to justify myself to a bunch of teenagers before my own parents even know that I am expecting!! I also do not want to put my baby at risk-we thought I was infertile and only got married last month so this is the biggest miracle and I want to do everything to make sure baby is safe…
It’s also interesting to note that I got pregnant during the two month summer vacation, so my body is very out of touch with dancing (I feel that giving my body a break from exercise may also be what made it want to become pregnant) and so I am scared to jump back in to the start of term with all the bouncing around etc. I can’t even get a doctors appointment at the moment so I really am confused about everything!!

By: Pas de Deux: Two Career Dancers On Pregnancy | Dance Advantage

Pas de Deux: Two Career Dancers On Pregnancy | Dance Advantage — Thu, 06 May 2010 17:55:28 +0000

[...] tips and touched on how it felt for me to dance and teach while pregnant in an earlier article, Baby On Board. However, every pregnancy is different, as Sarah corroborates, “I am sicker, more tired, and [...]

By: soullldiva

soullldiva — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 16:59:26 +0000

Thanks so much for posting this information, Nichelle! This is a great article. I danced (although I did not teach, much harder) while pregnant with my son until I was 8 months along. I maintain that this helped him in his early love for dance now, he’s always wiggling to music. I just never danced out of my body’s ability, didn’t jump or take any unnecessary risks. In fact, my dance teacher said that my dancing actually improved during my pregnancy! Cheers!