Most of our students take classes with us because they love to dance, they enjoy the camaraderie that is possible with their fellow dancers and they just want to move! A large majority of them never look at a Ballet dictionary and a lot of them really know little to none of dance terminology. Perhaps it is considered "old school" to actually know the names of steps and be able to spell them and know what they mean and if that is so, I suppose I must confess that I am definitely someone who strongly believes in dancers understanding what steps they are dancing. Today it is so easy to have access to a Ballet Dictionary. No longer do you have to go to a public library to find this information, it is literally at everyone's finger tips, and in fact it is so easy to find that many dancers never bother to look for it! The computer has given us access to so many things, Ballet dictionaries being one of them and it constantly amazes me that the thirst for knowledge doesn't seem to be so evident. Perhaps it is because it is too easy, I don't know but whatever it is I do think that it is important for us to teach our dancers their dance terminology.

With my dancers I have them write down one or two words that I give them at the end of each class. I ask them to look up the definition in the dictionary and come back to me the next week. I have found that if I insist that they look it up for themselves they are far more likely to remember. Once they have the answers I will then ask them to show me what the word means and exactly how each particular step is used. At the end of the semester we have a test where each dancer gets up and demonstrates the words that they are asked and it ends up being quite challenging but fun at the same time. There is always a sense of accomplishment and pride once they have been successful. Just as in school they will have some kind of a work book for each subject they need their terminology book for dance.

Of course there are a number of different Ballet dictionaries published and on line and that makes it even more interesting as the dancers learn some of the differences between the different Ballet styles. Really anything that I can do to stimulate my dancers' interest in dance I am happy to do. Some of them spend hours each day in class and yet know nothing more about the particular style. It just makes it so much more interesting as a student if you know your vocabulary, read about famous dancers and how they got where they are and understand where the style of dance originated from.

For my older dancers I will ask them to put together a short variation including certain components, for instance: Battement tendu, glissade derriere, pas de chat and pas de bouree. If they have no idea what any of that means then I will ask them to revisit their dictionaries, however, generally speaking they will come through and do the correct steps much to my delight! Plus it gives them an opportunity to use their choreographic flair which they almost always enjoy. As they become more proficient I will give them a more complex variety of steps. One dancer asked me, "Do we have to know how to spell the words?" I'm sure you know what my answer to that one was!!

In the times that we live in students are so accustomed to cramming for exams and not really absorbing a good part of what they are learning because the test result is what counts. As a result they have a tendency to not go too deeply into anything. I try to get them to understand that with more knowledge they will just become better dancers and if they should ever become a teacher knowing their vocabulary will be vital to them.

For younger dancers posters work really well! Each month we take our words and put them on a poster and put them up in the studios so that the dancers can see them and each teacher can refer to them during class. This is a great way to keep repeating the words but makes it fun too. Sometimes the dancers will make the posters up themselves sometimes the teacher will do it for them. I also have poster competitions for vocabulary and that also works well because it generates excitement and yet at the same time encourages the students to learn their terminology.

I always tell my students that not only are they learning to dance but they are getting the bonus of learning to speak another language! Of course that always makes them laugh but it really is true. What a fantastic opportunity to broaden their knowledge and help them to be better educated dancers. Encourage them to buy a Ballet dictionary and then use it so that they have a clearer understanding of the steps that they do in class.