Teachers of young dancers are always looking for creative ways to ease the separation anxiety children feel when their grown-ups drop them off for class. Maria shares what’s worked best for her and acknowledges those times when a child just isn’t ready to separate.
Choices, Choices: Growing Independent Dancers
Yellow or Pink? Maria teaches life lessons and manages behavior by giving her young students a balance of direct choices and free choices during dance class. Apply these tips for growing independent dancers in your own classes.
Performance Formula: Successfully Showcasing Young Dancers
Forget the costumes, backstage, and the tickets. Maria gives a formula for showcasing young dancers and building a community that can get excited about dance.
Engaging Preschoolers with Puppets
Puppets are a wonderful way to add depth to a dance and back you up when you need help. Discover the benefits of adding puppets into the preschool dance room.
Celebrating The Arts: Decorating The Dance Room While Connecting to Class Content
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 […]
5 Ideas That Will Make You Feel Like Less Of A Teaching Robot
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.
