Giving students, teachers, and parents an edge in dance education
A passionate advocate for early childhood dance education, Maria Hanley Blakemore teaches ages 18 months to 6 years, 6 days a week. Maria currently designs and implements ballet programs for the young families and after school division at the Jewish Community Center in Manhattan. In Brooklyn, Maria teaches creative movement, creative ballet, and parent/toddler classes at Dancewave Center and The Mark Morris Dance Group. Maria holds a Master’s degree in dance education from New York University (2007) and a Bachelor’s degree in dance performance from Slippery Rock University in Pennsylvania (2005). She also serves on Dance/NYC’s Junior Committee and is a member of the National Dance Education Organization. Maria is the founder of Maria’s Movers, a program that offers dance, movement and yoga classes to boys and girls in their early years. She authors the blog Move. Create. Educate. (www.mariasmovers.com), where she shares her creative ideas about teaching young dancers.
Puppets are powerful to young children. They are magical, which could be why I like them so much too! A few years ago, I had to face it. I am not as cool as a puppet. It’s fine, really. Who wouldn’t like a colorful, soft animal that moves and talks? I have been incorporating puppets [...]
If I had a studio space to call my own I would have a lot of fun decorating it. Big empty walls and mirrors, windows and doors at my disposal. I would be in dance studio heaven. Since I don’t have my own walls, my refrigerator is decorated with splashes of color and drawings of [...]
Dance teachers teach a lot of classes to earn a living. Repetition makes it easier to organize but harder to keep things fresh. Maria has adapted these 5 ideas to stop feeling like a robot in her preschool dance classes. Try them for yourself to beat burnout and enjoy your classes again.
When young dancers are accompanied by an adult for class it’s not enough to just keep the child engaged. A dance teacher has the added challenge of keeping the grown-up active in their participation. In part two of this series on Grown-up and Me classes, Maria provides tips for keeping the adults happy, too.
Parent and child. Mommy and Me. Whatever you call the class, teaching tiny dancers comes with a unique set of challenges. Maria to the rescue! She’s been teaching this group for 5 years and has some fantastic tips to share.
