I am a firm believer that we, as dance teachers, need to develop life skills in our students that will not only last a lifetime but enhance the students day to day way of life. Dance can and will be a great tool to help these students gain a knowledge of how to listen and apply the directions that are given. If we can teach them how to listen and I mean really listen and then apply what they have been told then they will have learned a skill that will take them far in any endeavor in life that they choose to pursue.
Improving How They Listen Is The Key! As teachers, we face the constant challenge of getting our students mindset ready to learn. I like to say to my students that when they get a correction something happens in their brain. They listen and a thought happens after they process what they have just heard. This is where the student needs to be in tune with their thought process. Thoughts lead to feelings, feelings lead to actions, and actions lead to results! Many students say they want to learn or improve and think they are learning. They get stuck after the feelings part of the above equation. The truth is that they really dont want to put in the time, effort and focus necessary to improve or fix what needs to be corrected. So, how can we get them to cross the bridge from just thinking about the correction to actually putting that thought into action? How can we get them in the right mindset? How can we make the challenge something not to be feared or dreaded? I have found that one thing that holds students back is fear. They are worried that they may never get it right or they are concerned about being made fun of by their peers. Fear, doubts and worry are among the greatest obstacles, not only to success but to continued improvement.
Todays society is so focused on not failing that a lot of the children are concerned about taking that step out of their comfort zone. I like to give my students one thing to work on. Let them focus on that and then proceed from there. Here is an example: Lets say that a student is having an issue with dropping their elbows as they turn. I will have them not make a turn and just place their arms in the wrong position and then the right position. I will have them close their eyes and really get the feeling ofl what it feels like in the right and wrong position. That will be their focus for that class. I will encourage them not to turn for the rest of the class. I just have them go up on their releve or mark out the turn but using the arms full out. This is helping them feel first and then giving them an action plan that will help them to find the results that they are looking for. I believe that if they are having a technical issue and continue to do the whole process over and over again, they will get the same results over and over again. If they bend their back knee in their leaps and they continue to practice their leaps in that manner they will most likely never fix what is wrong. Have them go up to the barre and practice doing grand battements in arabesque. Start with the leg low and then build up from there. Have them feel how it is right and how it is wrong. It really does begin in their minds. If they think they feel and if they feel, they can act to fix what is wrong.
The key is to have your students work in a focused manner. Work in a way that they can focus in on a small detail. Most technical flaws are usually a little detail that is difficult to fix unless the focus is on that one detail. Once the students learn to do this they can apply this technique to all of their corrections and find how to us these little details to improve. Once they master this skill they can learn to apply this to other activities that they do. It can also be used for school work, projects and improving their overall coping skills. That is something every child can improve upon.
