Month: October 2014

I Accidentally Found Myself Teaching 3 Year Olds to Dance

As happens in our field of dance and dance education, we find ourselves teaching in unexpected contexts. My roommate is a professional ballet dancer, recently moved to Cairo, and has been asked to lead a program for 3-5 year olds. She wanted a little advice.

So here goes. After 25 years experience teaching this age group in different countries and a number of childhood development courses, I have the following Top 11 Tips to offer.

1. Flashback:

Reflect on the early days of your own dance education, but never be a duplicate of your teacher. What were the strengths and weaknesses of those teaching methods?

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Scrapbook of me age 6 at Bohaty School of Dance in Saginaw, Michigan

 

2. Promote Order and Patience:

Have the dancers select props (scarves, bean bags, instruments, placement markers, etc.) one-dancer-at-a-time. Repeat over and over that “sometimes you get a color you like, sometimes you get a color you don’t like so much.” Then have dancers share with a buddy, cooperating to return props. Repetition is key.

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My pre-ballet class at Easy Talent Academy in Cairo, Egypt

 

3. Learn the local language for potty.

 

4. Safety First:

Kids like safety. It is cool. Explain why dancers warmup and stretch, why we wait for each dancer and use mats, why we dance on our places, and the ways we make sure everyone is safe and feels good.

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My 3-5 year old Boys and Girls gymnastics class at Easy Talent Academy

 

5. Different is Awesome:

It is okay to have differentiated instruction at this age and to encourage personality, even when teaching a shared position or movement. (It is my feeling that synchronization can start around age 6 or later.)

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My pre-ballet and tap class at Performing Arts Limited in Chicago, IL

 

6. Remember that non-verbal communication is a dancer’s greatest friend.

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Put on your glasses to watch the example.

 

7. Dance is Work:

Encourage lots of good and fun stretching, with visual cues for alignment. Introduce the concept of the barre, but no more than 15 minutes and just a few quick exercises. Don’t stay with any activity so long that the dancers develop irreversible, bad habits. Focus on balance, vocabulary, concentration and etiquette. If a dancer hangs on the barre, she goes and sits down for a quick minute. Do not force the turnout more than the dancer’s natural alignment. Laugh every 5 minutes.

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My pre-ballet class at Easy Talent Academy in Cairo, Egypt

 

8. Preschool Professionals:

Talk to the young dancers like they are professionals. Refer to them as dancers. If a student cries for her momma/daddy, stay patient and calm, hold the child’s hand, come down to her level and offer a Kleenex, and simply ask, “Where do the dancers go?” Dance with the rest of the class with the crying child by your side. Give it a few minutes. If the crying continues, then consider taking him or her out to the family. Try again. Try again.

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My pre-ballet class at Easy Talent Academy in Cairo, Egypt

 

9. Spotlight Solos:

Teach them to dance in trains, circles, lines, on their marked spots, and with partners. But also encourage them to step out on their own.

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My pre-ballet class at Easy Talent Academy in Cairo, Egypt

 

10. Nothing is Cute:

Try not to get distracted by the cuteness. Talk about beautiful movement but not beautiful people. Focus more on building trust, confidence, and independence, than on what the dancers are wearing (especially when talking to parents).

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A few dancers after class at Performing Arts Limited in Chicago, IL

 

11. Keep going to the joy.

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Recital Day for Performing Arts Limited in Chicago, IL

Open Windows to Social Practice Arts (33 links). Enjoy!

Social practice is making it big. Ever since I posted Am I a Dancer Who Gave Up? and the follow-up post, I have not been able to keep up with the response. This sector is not new. But we seem to be just now becoming aware of each other, across arts disciplines, definitions, contexts of working, nationalities…

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Dancing patients from 57357 Children’s Cancer Hospital Egypt

You can read about Social Practice Art as defined on Wikipedia, how social practice arts are changing the world, how social practice art is intended to nurture, how social practice art is gentrifying community arts, how social practice art is something else, and how social practice arts need to be looked at critically. Not nearly enough of this dialogue I’ve found involves dance, cultural diplomacy, cross-cultural or multi-religious work in an international context, work in hospitals, areas of conflict, etc. The definition is often visual arts in an urban American context. One of the best articles I’ve read on the subject is by Andy Horwitz, so I will not attempt to recreate what he eloquently details.

Opportunities are listed nearly daily on SPAN a social practice arts network. On-the-Move, Mladi, and Peace & Collaborative Development Network also list potential programs.

But I started to create a list of opportunities in order to organize my own life. And I thought, it might be great to share this.

Enjoy.

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Dancing patients at 57357 Children’s Cancer Hospital Egypt

Robert Rauschenberg Foundation: Artist as Activist letters of interest due October 13

FIELD, a new on-line, peer-reviewed journal devoted to socially engaged art practice: call for papers critical essays for its inaugural issue, deadline October 15

Americans for the Arts: 2015 Conference proposals due October 20

Surdna Foundation: Artists Engaging in Social Change request for proposals due November 12

Open Engagement: an international conference and platform to support socially engaged art, 2015 conference submissions due November 17

A Blade of Grass: Fellowship for Socially Engaged Art applications due November 24

Ariane de Rothschild (ADR) Fellowship: Social Entrepreneurship & Cross-Cultural Network applications should be due in February

Kala Art Institute: fellowship including social practice applications should be due in April

Caroline Plummer Fellowship in Community Dance (NZ) applications due June 1

Asian Arts Initiative: Philadelphia social practice lab applications should be due in January

 

But that’s not all…

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My students at Easy Talent Academy in Cairo, Egypt

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My students at Easy Talent Academy in Cairo, Egypt

Several educational opportunities in dance are opening-up in community dance, dance education, and teaching artistry.

University of Maryland: MFA for Dance Teaching Artists opportunities

University of Roehampton: post-graduate program in Community Dance opportunities

University of Bedfordshire: MA in Community Dance Leadership opportunities

The Foundation for Community Dance in UK opportunities includes educational resources.

Dance and Social Justice at the University of San Francisco opportunities

Many, many more…

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Dance as Diplomacy inside the U.S. Embassy Cairo

The educational opportunities in social practice are mostly fine arts based. We could bust these bubbles just by entering them, and thus create a more vibrant web of possibilities.

California College of the Arts: graduate fine arts concentration in social practices and visiting faculty for their Social Practice Arts Workshop opportunities

University of California – Santa Cruz: Social Practice Arts Research Center opportunities

Portland State University: MFA program in Arts and Social Practice opportunities

New York University: Masters program in Art, Education, and Community Practice opportunities

Arizona State University: Herberger Institute Socially Engaged Practice Certificate program opportunities

Carnegie Mellon University: MFA Contextual Practice opportunities

 

This is in no way a comprehensive or well-representative list. But if it helps someone out there, it was worth it.

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