Health & Well-Being for All Dancers
Rhee Gold's DanceLife is proud to support dance educators in caring for the mental wellness of both themselves and their dancers with these free resources. We have partnered with Mindful Dancers Wellness Studio and Danscend to bring you new products, free resources, information, programs, certification and more; all designed to assist you in prioritizing mental wellness both in and out of the studio. Together we can make a difference!
Additional Information & Resources
How to Vary Your Feedback in Dance Class
One of the most powerful tools dance educators have to help their dancers improve is feedback. Many of us call this tool “corrections,” but at Danscend, we like to use the word feedback. Why? Because the things we say to dancers in class shouldn’t always be corrective. There are many, many ways to encourage students and help them adjust their technique for the better.
The Center for Teaching Excellence at the University of South Carolina says, “Providing feedback means giving students an explanation of what they are doing correctly AND incorrectly, with the focus of the feedback on what the students is doing right. It is most productive to a student’s learning when they are provided with an explanation as to what is accurate and inaccurate about their work.“
So, when we give feedback in dance class, we want to make sure that we vary the types of feedback we give so we make sure students know what they’re doing wrong…and what they’re doing right.
There are many, many different types of feedback that can be shared with another individual, but here are three different tactics to try this month in your classroom:
- Appreciation - “Great job engaging more in that performance!” Sometimes we can get so wrapped up in fixing technique that we forget to give our dancers praise for the good things they’re doing.
- Questions – “What are you thinking when you step into that jump?” Questions can give you insight into how they’re approaching their dancing and give them an opportunity to speak up.
- Sharing personal experience – “When I do this kind of turn, I like to think of…” This can soften the blow of a potentially difficult piece of feedback, but it can also give dancers the opportunity to get to know you better.
The more we switch up the way we speak to dancers in the classroom, the more likely they are to take our words to heart and become better, more confident dancers.
Want to support your dancers’ and educators’ mental wellness all year long? Check out Danscend’s studio memberships here.