Giving students, teachers, and parents an edge in dance education
I’ve had days, sometimes weeks, when it seems my personal pirouette pixie has gone on vacation. May Day! May Day! Every single turn crashes and burns. Maybe you’ve experienced this too. Or maybe you feel your own little sprite hasn’t shown up for a single day’s work, ever. Either way, here are some tips to get you through that don’t involve magic fairy dust.
What to do and think for an improved second position de bras (of the arms), and the importance of proper alignment for creating the pictures we make with our bodies in dance.
“Get up on your leg”… Teachers have a habit of saying this when students are “sinking” into their supporting leg while balanced on one leg. How can you correct a sinking hip and what are some ways to rephrase this common dance teacher-ism.
Imagine the relatively light/easy press and bend of a paint brush that allows the painter to evenly distribute paint but still glide the brush smoothly. Imagine a layer of velvet or velour beneath your foot and enjoy the feeling of your foot moving through the plush carpet, leaving a trail in the fibers as the foot moves outward and returns. Imagine light or streaming air radiating from the hip and out through the toe, as well as upward and out through the top of the head.
Most teachers likely agree that demonstration and practice are critical to the success of dance students, but to what extent should the instructor encourage doing over watching or vice-versa? Two research studies involving young children learning complex dance movements support every dance teacher’s belief that modeling as an instructional tool is especially important in learning motor skills, especially with younger children. Furthermore, it’s a good idea to demonstrate as fully as possible, especially with beginners and young children, if you want them to get the most out of your demonstration.
The secret to jumping is not so secret, it is the same hard work that goes into most everything in dance: proper alignment, solid technique, and practice, practice, practice! These thorough, step-by-step pointers, however, will help you as you practice vertical jumping and can even be applied to traveling jumps or leaps.
The terms sickling and rolling in are often used in dance classes to define issues with ankle alignment. However, I have found that many students do not have a clear understanding of the actions of the ankle and foot and, therefore, do not know how to correct these issues when asked. I hope this post [...]
I’m sure that students reading this blog have used or heard the term battement before. If grand battement immediately comes to mind, I’m not surprised, as the word battement is commonly dropped from the name of other familiar terms. A mother, father, brothers, grandparents, uncles, all share a family name. In a similar way battement [...]
I was recently asked about some tips on how to improve at multiple pirouettes. I know that lots of students are wanting to know the same thing, so here is my answer: 1. Engaging your abdominal/core muscles is necessary for maintaining good alignment during the turn. 2. Every turn is a balance, so work on [...]
What is my centre? An article called Dancing from the Centre, talks about this sometimes confusing term and offers several tips for “finding” your center. This bit that gives some insight about what a teacher usually means when he/she talks of the centre. I have discovered there are several terms used to talk about this [...]
