Parents are always amazed when young dancers are able to get out on stage by themselves and remember their dance without coaching from the sidelines or the front of the theatre. I’m talking about the youngsters in the 3 to 5 age group who study once a week, not children who are taking multiple classes. Helping this age group become independent as dancers will also help them to be independent in school and life at home. Very often small children cling to their mothers, which of course is natural, but they are totally capable even at 3 to be able to follow direction and remember steps and combinations of steps when they come to class. With the very young dancer, it is sometimes necessary to let the mother enter the class with the child if he or she is experiencing anxiety, and I always encourage the mother to gradually withdraw herself from the room once the child is fully engaged in the activities. Generally speaking the child’s anxiety is a direct result of the mother not wanting to separate from their child; however, whatever the cause is, the end result we are looking for is for the dancer to feel happy and confident with their teacher. As we know, each child is unique and can present a different set of scenarios.
Repetition in class is extremely important. One thing to keep in mind is that, while you may be teaching many classes over the course of a week, the student is only taking one of them and so what might become slightly tedious to you is not at all tedious for the student. This is not to say that the class plan shouldn’t change. Of course it should—it is important to constantly be adding new material in order to keep the dancer captivated and challenged, but we must never underestimate the value of repetition. Students build their confidence through knowledge, so if they are constantly being spoon fed and not challenged to perform their steps by themselves, they will never really know whether they know what they are doing and will become more and more insecure. Obviously, with very young dancers who are taking one class a week, the building of steps will take time. Enabling the dancer to have a thorough knowledge of age appropriate technique is the best way to help these students have the confidence to stand alone.
Offer the opportunity for each dancer to show what she has learned. I have found that once the dancers know their warm-up exercises and have a small vocabulary of center steps, it works very well to have each dancer stand up and execute the step by herself. Giving lots of applause and encouragement—plus extra stickers—for a job well done will help to motivate the student to get up and do it again. Each time they improve upon what they now know adds to more bits to their confidence level.
Give your dancers technique that is suitable for their age and strengths. As an adjudicator on the competition circuit for many years, it always worried me when I saw extremely young dancers desperately trying to attempt technique that would have been challenging for a fifteen year old. As a child develops she needs to gain strength in her body and be able to mentally assimilate the knowledge that she is being given—that is why it is so important that the technique is presented in a way that the younger dancers can really understand. Dancers will never feel secure in a performance if they are trying to do steps and a level of technique that they haven’t mastered in the studio.
Even with small children you will almost always find 'leaders' and 'followers.' The leaders will help the followers have courage initially, but I have found that by switching it around and making the 'followers' into 'leaders,' all of a sudden they find it in themselves to assume that role and it does wonders for their confidence.
When it comes to rehearsing for a performance, use material that the dancers are familiar with. If you suddenly spring new steps on them, they will feel insecure about their performance. Let them know that you will do it with them a couple of times and then they are on their own. Have them do the dance facing the mirror and then away from it. Try to do this every time you run the number—or just do it in class sometimes—so that they can get over that feeling of disorientation that is commonly felt.
All of these ideas will help your young dancers build self-confidence so that when they have a performance, or even if you just have the parents in to view the class, the dancers will be able to perform beautifully without you standing on the side cueing them.
