What makes a great dance teacher?
What makes a great dance teacher?
How do you teach your youngest age groups? And if you’re a studio owner, how do your teachers teach them?
The best dance teachers I had when growing up were ones who saw each student as an individual—regardless of what curriculum, school, or method of dance they taught.
All of our students are different. Some pay great attention, others have difficulty with that. Some are visual learners while others may be auditory, kinesthetic, or tactile learners.
Some are great turners while others are great jumpers—even at a young age.
A dance curriculum can do wonders when it comes to your teaching and/or your studio. But I want to stress that it needs to be used as a tool. A curriculum guides teachers through what to teach at various ages and levels. And while I do think there is value in standardization, we should take care that we don’t take it too far.
A curriculum should help a teacher become a better version of themselves when it comes to teaching their students. It shouldn’t restrict them with a one-size-fits-all, cookie-cutter approach.
I think the best approach to learning—whether in a traditional school or in a dance school setting—is a strong curriculum combined with great teachers.
So what makes a great teacher great?
1. Great teachers tell stories.
Stories inspire us. They make things stick with us when it comes to learning. I’m not saying you need to sit around telling stories in your dance classes. I am saying you should use the art of storytelling to help keep your students’ attention and
The Once Upon A Ballet dance activities and lesson plans are designed to take your students through stories when they come to dance class. Why? Because this naturally helps with attention spans (which we all know are quite short—especially with young children). It also helps with learning by making class more fun and interesting for students.
And we don’t have to stop there. When your students get older, you can still weave stories and images into your classes. Describing images and feelings for combinations and corrections can go a long way just like stories. I had a teacher tell us we wanted to hold our turnout and stretch our foot and ankle in attitude devant so that we could place a teacup on it and not tip and spill it. Twenty years later, I still think of that. Stories and images stick.
2. Great teachers know their students.
I’m not saying you need to know each of your students’ personal lives. But you do need to know how each of your students learns. Know what they struggle with. Know what their strengths are. Some students need to hear a correction and they make it. Others need to see a step demonstrated. Others will need you to place them in the correct position to be able to feel it.
Also, notice what motivates each student. Some students are motivated more when challenged. Others are motivated more with encouragement.
Even in my own home—my oldest son could care less about encouragement. But the second I question whether he can do something, he does it with care and pride. He likes to prove me wrong.
My youngest son needs encouragement. He needs me to tell him he can do something, then he bravely follows through.
Know each student. Know their learning style. Know their motivational style.
3. Great teachers ask questions.
Great teachers ask their students questions to help them learn.
Let’s say you’re teaching a preschool dance class. If you say, “This is a plié,” then show your students a plié in every single class, they won’t internalize it in the same way as if you ask them, “Can you show me a plié?”. Or show them a plié and ask them, “Do you remember what step this is?”
Pliés may be an overly simplistic example. Maybe you want your students to keep their elbows to the side instead of dropping them back (and therefore tilting their hips and arching their backs) as they plié. You could tell your students to keep their elbows to the side in every class. You could also ask your students, “When we stand tall like proud princesses, do we have lazy elbows that fall backward?” Pause to let your students think and answer. “No! (Said with a smile, not sternly—remember these are preschoolers. :-) We stand tall with our elbows pointed to the sides.”
You could evolve the question further and ask your students which way their elbows should point when their hands are on their hips.
Notice a couple of things.
First, there’s a progression. We teach and show the step or corrections. Then, we ask our students, giving them more of a multiple-choice or yes/no answer choice. Then it’s more of a fill-in-the-blank answer kind of question. You don’t always have to go through this progression. You could for example, go straight to teaching a concept with an open-ended question. But if you do so and your students are having trouble figuring it out, backtrack.
Second, did you notice “proud princesses” and “lazy elbows” in my second example? Being descriptive and using images goes along with the concept of telling stories. While it’s not telling a complete story, it gives students just enough to spark their imaginations.
There you have it! Three things most great teachers have in common.
Is there more to teaching than these three things? Yes. There’s a lot more. Patience, knowledge, demeanor, the list goes on. But I think if you apply these three concepts to your own teaching—teaching through stories, knowing each student, and asking questions, you’ll be happy with the results you see!
Happy Dancing!
Ashley Hartford
Founder + Owner, Once Upon a Ballet
Want to know more about me?
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What We’re All About
At Once Upon a Ballet, we want to help you teach dance in a way that sparks your students’ imaginations, keeps their attention, and has them leaving class excited for what’s next.
DANCE CURRICULUMS
Our complete curriculums for toddler and preschool dance and children’s ballet give you a full year of lesson plans for each age group. Our lesson plans are rooted in child development and teach dance through imagination and play. We strongly emphasize correct, age-appropriate ballet techniques for young children, as well as building self-esteem, creativity, problem-solving, and classroom skills.
CERTIFIED TEACHERS
If you teach toddler or preschool dance, our teacher certification course gives you the tools to better connect with your littlest students, keep their attention, and have better classroom behavior.
LICENSED STUDIOS
For our licensed studios, we provide branding and marketing support to help them grow their classes that use our curriculums.