Maria shares how she’s made her way as a freelance dance teacher in New York City, providing tips for how to do the same. Her story encourages you to find your niche and build an umbrella, or brand, to create a place and set of guidelines you consider “home”.
teaching children
Making The Case For Barefoot Preschool Dance
Tie my shoes! My Feet Hurt! Sound Familiar? Maria makes a case for why teachers should toss the dance shoes aside and ask preschoolers to dance barefoot.
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.
Transition into Classroom Management Success
Transitions make all the difference in managing your class of young dancers. Use these creative ideas to get kids from one part of the room to another, or from one activity to the next while maintaining the focus and flow of the class and providing more ways to learn and explore.
Diversity Defines Dance Picture Books in 2010
Children’s books publishers are emphasizing diversity in their lists, and dance picture books are among those benefiting from this trend. These diverse books are a healthy mix of fiction and nonfiction, poetry and prose, and text and pictures targeting toddlers to tweens. Kerry Aradhya brings us this sampling…
Bringing Native American Dance into the Classroom for Thanksgiving
It is important that children understand that Native American people are not characters in a Thanksgiving story, but a people with a rich and deep culture. And one way to explore a culture is through its dance.
