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.
Dance teacher, Nants Foley created a special 70-page book for her students. Called A Dancer’s Steps it includes space for recording class work and progress as well as content like checklists, quotes, ballet vocabulary, foot care, and more. She has published the journal and workbook, making them available beyond her own dance school so we talk with Nants about the book and how she encourages journal-writing in her own ballet classes.
Art Intercepts’ Lauren Warnecke is taking some of your dancesolutions head on this year. You’ve expressed a desire to improve your technique, avoid injury, and increase flexibility. Look for tips and solutions to help you achieve your goals. Here is a sneak peek and a chance to let Lauren know what you’d like to see covered.
You may still have concerns about your investment in dance training. Your child is busy, taking hours of dance class per week, and you are wondering, “Is all of this money going toward the right things? Is my budding dancer getting what he or she needs for the best value?”
If your child is asking, investigate the reasons she wants to take a new or additional dance class. Costume style, choreography, musical accompaniment, or maintaining friendships may be no less valid or less important to her than the desire to enhance her skills. Dance should be fun, too! Do not devalue or brush away these motivations, they are part of the equation.
As I begin my third year of blogging, I recognize that what I really want is to give you what you need. It’s a funny thing about leadership, that it demands the willingness of both “followers” and leaders to be led by the other. But I don’t really like the word followers. I’m not looking for disciples, devotees, or minions, but compatriots. Fellows not followers.
![[image] Click this Goal Page image to download the pdf [image]](http://danceadvantage.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/GoalImg-310x400.png "Goal Page Image")
January is a great time to take a little time out to guide students in setting goals and planning how they’ll achieve them.
I begin with the goal, the endpoint, the ideal, and then decide how to get there. If I am designing curriculum for a workshop the aims may be fewer and less grand than if I’m planning curriculum for an eight-year course of study.
Opinions on the characteristics of a good dance studio or school abound. In previous posts I have outlined what I feel are important qualities to consider when assessing where you are currently or potentially studying dance.
