Have you ever attempted "free dance" as an activity and had it totally flop? Kids running all over the place and you frozen (even though it's FREE dance not FREEZE dance) and not knowing what to do next? Or worse... the kids get bored before the song is even over and your attempt at a dance party is crushed before it began?

Sometimes putting on a song and saying "let's dance!" is just too open ended as an activity. It can also be a lot to keep coming up with dance moves in a way that feels organized or that motivates kids to follow directions… especially for young kids who mostly want to do their own thing…

Happy New Year!

I don’t know about you, but 2022 did NOT start off the way I dreamed it would. I ended 2021 with a enthusiasm and a plan, ready to jump into action. But 2022 had different plans which included me and the kids getting sick, car trouble, and a rocky return to routine and schedule and organization of any kind.

While I was recovering, the rhythm of our life felt jarring and uneven. At first I was just locked into rest, without the energy or ability to do anything but lie down. When I started to feel better I would have a burst of productivity, followed by the need to sit down for a long time. The stop-start-stop-start was so frustrating and made it feel like it took more work to do even the simplest things.

It’s really made me think about the need to create better systems and routines for myself and my family so that we have more ease in our lives.

Actually, it reminded me of the dance concepts of FLOW and ENERGY.

Maybe you want to be more active with the kids in your life.

Maybe you need some new ideas for encouraging cooperation or organization or FUN!

Maybe transitions are hard or… boring.

Maybe you know that a strong movement foundation sets kids up for learning in school.

Whatever your reason - you know you want to dance more. But… you don’t even know where to start.

Which is why I want to share 10 super EASY ways for you to get started…

Captivating the attention of a group of young children is no small feat. And it doesn’t matter how big or small the group is (I once had a class of 3 girls who ran circles around me for weeks). If you aren’t keeping things interesting, their minds wander off. It’s age appropriate. Actually, it’s human appropriate.

But there are ways to keep re-engaging your students…

Kids LOVE to play pretend. They especially love to pretend to be animals. Which makes animal imagery a great tool in dance class to get them engaged and participating with enthusiasm. But sometimes you add an animal activity to your lesson plan, imagining your students transforming into light, graceful butterflies and strong, fierce tigers only to have this happen:

Years ago I had a student who was constantly falling down in class. On purpose. Every time I asked the pre-ballet class to do an arabesque, balancing on one leg with the other stretched out in a straight line behind them, this student tumbled to the ground. And then the other kids laughed. And she laughed. And I got frustrated. Rinse. Lather. Repeat.

I was much newer to teaching then. I spent so much time and energy trying to gain control of the situation with very little success. If I were to teach that class today, my approach would be completely different. How?