You can teach dance! Two “best practices” for success
Dance is a subject that tends to receive very little attention in schools. For one, it’s rarely taught in preservice teacher education programs or part of professional development training for inservice teachers. Consequently, most teachers don’t understand the value of dance education and feel ill-equipped to teach it. Additionally, dance is usually placed in the “not enough time” category, it receives the “students don’t like to dance” excuse, and there is a misperception that dance equals chaos. Sadly, dance is one of the least taught subjects within the scope of arts education (and across the curriculum as a whole).
While there’s so much I could write on every point I just made, this blog will specifically address two topics: 1) how to create an optimal participation experience for your students (and make teaching dance easier for you!) and 2) simple communication tips and tools you can use to take the chaos out of dance and replace it with calm. Let’s get started!
Participation
Students can often feel emotionally vulnerable and physically exposed when asked to move their bodies to communicate an idea, express an emotion, or interpret a story. While many students love to be physically active, such as running around the school playground or engaging in a game, it’s a different experience from dancing creatively. Therefore, it’s important that teachers introduce their students to dance through low risk steps that can increase participation and enthusiasm. Dance is fun! It’s also not that hard to teach once you know where to begin.
Props are a fantastic way to introduce students to dance as the emphasis to move is more on the prop and less on the body. This gives students the opportunity to warm up to the idea of creative movement, feel comfortable dancing, and experience the joy of moving in new ways. It’s more play than dance.
Scarves/Tulle/Ribbon: The possibilities are endless. This light fabric can dance up high or down low, it can move fast or slow, and it can twirl, swoop, or zap. Students can interpret dance vocabulary with these props before doing it with their bodies (e.g., can you show me how your scarf can wiggle?). These props can also be used for simple exercises like dance freeze where students have to control the fabric (and their bodies) while they stop and start their movement to music.
Hula Hoops: Hula hoops are excellent for exploring personal space. Students can perform locomotor or non-locomotor movements in the centre of the hoop as it lies flat on the floor. They can also travel through the general space (e.g., classroom, gymnasium) while being in the centre of the hoop as they move. They just need to hold the hoop up around their middle. The hoop can be transformed into a car, spaceship, or a giant bubble. It can move fast or slow. It can fly high over hills or float low into valleys. The hoop can wobble side-to-side, bump up and down, twirl around, or zoom in a straight line. Hula hoops make for tunnels to crawl through, ponds to jump in, lily pads to leap over, and so much more!
Deck of Cards: Assign a locomotor movement for each suit in a deck of cards. For example, hearts equal stomping. If a card is pulled from the deck with a heart on it, the students perform the locomotor movement as many times as the number on the card (e.g., nine of hearts = stomping nine times). This can be done as a whole class or in small groups if there are multiple packs of cards. An extension to this activity is pulling five cards from the deck and laying them side by side in a row (how many cards you pick is up to you). Choose a piece of music and have the whole class perform the pattern pulled from the deck. Do it once or twice through and then pick again! Here’s an example:
Hearts: stomping | Spades: jumping | Clubs: shaking | Diamonds: clapping
9 hearts: stomping x 9
4 clubs: shaking x 4
7 hearts: stomping x 7
3 spades: jumping x 3
6 diamonds: clapping x 6
Teacher Tip: remove the ace, jack, queen, and king cards from the deck
Communication
This section is all about classroom management and clearly defining guidelines within the dance space. A well managed class, with clear expectations and a timed lesson, keeps students safe and engaged. In other words, you don’t want to keep students guessing. Right from the start, make sure students know exactly what they need to know and do. That means you need to be clear with your own expectations! Communication is key.
Guidelines: As a class, create dance/movement guidelines that are posted on a wall where the majority of activities and lessons are done. These guidelines support a safe, inclusive, cooperative, and fun environment (e.g., we respect everyone's personal space, we stop moving and listen when we hear the signal, etc.). Make sure to create these guidelines as a class so everyone feels part of the process. The students will abide by the guidelines more readily when they help to make them rather than if they are just told to follow them.
Stop and Listen: Have a signal to let students know when they must stop and listen. You can use a hand drum, train whistle, kazoo, tambourine, or any other instrument that can be heard in the space where the students are moving. Create a signal that the students immediately recognize when they hear it. It will be the “stop and listen” signal. For example, I like to play “rea-dy stop!” on my hand drum. Not only do I play the rhythm on my drum but I also say “rea-dy stop!” I’ve used this signal for almost thirty years and it works like a charm! However, if the activity you are facilitating is quiet it might be more appropriate to play a chime or another soothing sound.
I hope this has been helpful! Is there something else you want to know? If so, ask away in the comments below. You can also call us! We offer FREE 30 minute discovery calls. Book yours now here.
If you liked this blog and found it helpful, we also recommend you read Teacher Tips to Get Students Hooked on Dance
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Traci L. Scheepstra, Ph.D., is the CEO/Founder of Embodied Learnings. Read here to learn more about her work in education.