Giving students, teachers, and parents an edge in dance education
Words of encouragement and a positive atmosphere helps students think more positively about themselves. Our guest writer offers some suggestions to help instructors foster a healthy self-esteem in their students. Plus there’s lots more related reading linked in the text so that you can start your new dance season on a positive note.
The mindset plays a very serious role in how we dance. Negative self-talk is damaging and has a way of oozing out to the people around you, actually affecting the performance of others. For instance, a little joke, a negative or sarcastic comment about your dancing can lead to another dancer feeling worse about any [...]
Dancers are an interesting sub-species. Observing dance students in their natural habitat (the studio) reveals that they tend to revel in their strengths and dwell heavily on their weaknesses. Dancers maintain a detailed mental list of their shortcomings as they wistfully pine for the “natural” abilities of another. Meanwhile, a dancer will redundantly practice the [...]
What does a bully look like? We tend to picture a bully as a big, tough, boy that picks on those smaller or younger than himself. However, there has been a lot of discussion lately within educational circles about bullying and we are slowly learning that bullies come in many forms. Although dance can foster [...]
