Category: Dance Curriculum Development
Stretching Pitfall #1: “Lack of Time”
A pitfall is a hidden or unexpected challenge! And here’s the thing…we all run into them from time to time. But when you find yourself falling into stretch pitfalls, you need to ...
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Five Stretches For Hip Flexors and Front Splits
Front Splits are a milestone for dancers and a foundation for success. The ability to do the front splits is a measure of flexibility and translates to achieving technical aspects ...
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Fun Ideas to Celebrate Thanksgiving with Younger Dancers
The holiday season is underway! With Halloween behind us, check these great activities, songs, dances, and fun costume ideas to celebrate Thanksgiving at your studio! ...
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Alternating Sides in Your Across the Floor Exercises
When going across the floor, it is important to practice the right and left iterations of skills. A few weeks ago in a jazz class, my students were reversing an across the ...
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Ballet Vocabulary: 3 Easy Lesson Plan Ideas
We've gotten great feedback about our article on Ballet Vocabulary Terms for Beginners, and have put together some ideas for easy class activities that teachers can include in ...
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How to Promote Productive Dance Practice
For studio dancers, input typically comes in the form of dance practice (rehearsals, solo lessons, cleaning sessions, technique, conditioning, etc.). Input = Output is an ...
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Teaching Rhythm in Dance: Ideas and Exercises
Growing up, I trained in all styles of dance and played a musical instrument, the piano. I could easily and proficiently count music, read music, and identify an upbeat or ...
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Tips for Teaching the Chasse Step to Younger Dancers
Chasse is a basic, fundamental skill for dancers. Here are some tips for teaching the chasse step progression. Chasse Step Progression 1) Younger dancers begin learning the ...
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Dance Instruction: Eliminating Sloppy, Floppy Fingers Through Specificity
To complete the arm lines on the body, the fingers must be placed and engaged. One of the most prominent and noticeable choreographic errors may be found in “sloppy, floppy ...
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Holiday Music! Song Lists and Playlists for the Season
With the Thanksgiving holidays coming to a close, the holiday countdown is ON! Here are some fun, culturally diverse holiday music tunes to incorporate into your classes for the ...
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Dancer Flexibility: Improve Your Students’ Développé Extension
When performed correctly, the développé is absolutely mesmerizing, but for many dancers the move is a source of constant frustration.
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Ballet Terms for Beginners
It's normal to feel a little overwhelmed going into your first ballet class. To get you started with confidence, here's an overview of some common terms first-time ballerinas will ...
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Making Creative Movement Lesson Plans
Creative movement is offered as a class at many dance studios and is designed to introduce children to the idea of expressing themselves through movement.
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How to Create Believable On-Stage Dance Chemistry
Here's what dance teachers should know about improving on-stage chemistry between their students.
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