Balancing Technique, Choreography, and Creative Exploration in a K–12 Dance Class
To be a K–12 dance teacher is to be a master of time management, multitasking, and adaptability. Often teaching hundreds of students of all ages and skill levels every week for sometimes less than an hour at most, it’s a juggling act as you need to figure out what to fit into a 45-to-50-minute class. Should creative movement and improvisation be the priority? Or should students learn choreography? And what about technique?
Here are 9 tips for structuring a dance class for K–12 general-education students that strikes just the right balance.
1. Get to know your students.
Unlike a studio, university, or conservatory environment, students taking dance in school aren’t necessarily asking to be signed up and may not come with any dance experience. The range of skills will probably be huge, so taking the time to get to know who your students are and what they bring to the table is essential.
Bella Vista Elementary School dance teacher Ashley Crockett remembers stumbling a bit in her first year teaching in public school: “I had expectations that they already knew how to stand in one spot and move safely,” she says. “There is a big scale of spatial awareness.” She ended up having to let go of some of the initial activities and exercises she had planned, pivoting instead to cover some of the basics of how to move around others safely.
2. Start with safety and etiquette.
Because the structure and expectations of a dance class may be new to most students, grounding students in dance-class etiquette and expectations for safety and procedure is key. Don’t skip this to get to “more fun” things faster. “All grades are required to learn etiquette in my classes,” says East Oakland Pride Elementary School dance teacher Angela McConnell. “We want to make sure that manners are implemented because that is how we show respect for each other and the art form.”
McConnell spends time explicitly teaching students how to enter the room, where to sit and stand, and how to take a break, among other protocols and procedures. Once the foundation of classroom culture is in place, students can then feel safe to take physical and creative risks.
3. Build trust.
Establishing a culture of trust and safe risk-taking is paramount for young dancers of all types, but especially for those in K–12 schools who may not have been in a dance class before. “The first step is building a community culture and an appreciation for dance,” says Crockett. “A lot of these kids just needed to feel safe in the space, safe to move their body.”
Both Crockett and McConnell do short check-ins with students at the beginning of class—no more than 5 minutes—typically sitting in a circle on the floor. It’s an opportunity to gauge where students are at mentally, physically, and emotionally, and go over the agenda of the day, which is typically written on the board in the classroom. Having visual cues for the day and a routine that is consistent each week goes a long way towards ensuring students feel safe enough to open up as dancers.
4. Keep your notion of technique broad.
There’s no denying that technique is important to the study of dance. It’s what ensures safety and efficiency of motion and lays the foundation for developing artistry. However, when it comes to the emerging dancers you may find in your K–12 classroom, it’s important to recognize that technique may need to look a bit different than your typical studio class. “Technique for these dancers is a lot more about vocabulary and language, and embodying those ideas,” says Crockett. “Last year I did a whole unit on energy words. It felt like a Laban class—walk, hop, skip—with different energies on top of it. Technique feels different to these students.”
McConnell recommends getting creative with your language, especially with younger students, to pepper in technical concepts. For example, try using imagery to encourage proper alignment. Dancers can be blooming flowers, long-necked giraffes, or city towers—whatever captivates their imaginations.
5. Take one concept and adapt it for all classes.
If you’re like most K–12 dance teachers, you’re teaching every grade level and age group in the school. That’s a lot of planning! Make it easy on yourself and don’t overplan. A theme or concept can be adapted for all grade levels, and your class structure can remain the same as long as you’re making the activities developmentally appropriate. Crockett notes that with her youngest students, imagery and creative movement work best, but her older students often ask her “why” they’re doing certain things. “They often ask me what this is for,” she says, noting that language can be a powerful tool for thought-provoking discussions about why technique is important in dance. McConnell recommends three or four technical concepts per class at most. “Don’t overdo it,” she says. “And make it fun with a story. Demonstrations and drawings really help too.”
6. Let state and national standards guide you.
Jessy Kronenberg, who teaches dance at El Cerrito High School in California and serves as co-president of the California Dance Educators Association, notes that the National Core Arts Standards, which guide her lesson-planning and curriculum development, have four pillars that provide a generous amount of room for interpretation for teachers: Creating, Performing, Responding, and Connecting. Within that framework teachers can adapt the curriculum to suit the needs of their students. “It is my goal that every dancer that leaves my program identifies themself as an artist or dancemaker,” she says, noting how she prioritizes student choreography. “Within the framework of ‘Create. Perform. Respond. Connect’ there are benchmarks built inside that give teachers an opportunity to dive in and stretch out. Doors and possibilities are open to you.”
7. When it comes to performing, take your cues from students.
Performing can be so rewarding, but be mindful that it could also be extremely anxiety-producing for students who haven’t had much experience with it before. Take your cue from your students. Rather than insisting on an end-of-year show, try offering an optional talent show in which students can sign up voluntarily. Crockett holds two a year and hosts after-school rehearsals in which she helps students shape their ideas.
She laughs when she remembers her last fifth-grade class “boycotting” doing a graduation performance. However, she did have a group of 10 create their own dance and opt to perform it at the graduation ceremony. The student-driven approach ended up being both incredibly rewarding for those who chose to perform and reassuring for those who felt anxious about doing so.
8. Don’t forget culturally affirming units.
There are many entry points for new dancers, but one of the most rewarding and meaningful can be the cultural dance forms that they’ve had exposure to through their families and local communities. Even though there’s a lot to cover in an academic year, don’t neglect these. Though trained primarily in Western concert-dance forms, McConnell makes an effort to include styles such as Bollywood, African dance, and even capoeira into her dance classes throughout the year. “I really want to expose them to other dance forms,” she says. “I hope to bring in other teachers as well.”
Crockett has called on students and their parents to bring their cultural funds of knowledge to the classroom. “I had a student teach the class salsa, which broke a barrier in that class,” she says. “The kids were more willing to share how they danced in their own homes after that.” Later this school year, around Lunar New Year, she plans to have a student’s parent teach the Chinese Dragon Dance, as well. Don’t underestimate the assets you have at your fingertips; tap in to your school community.
9. Know your goal, stick with it, but be flexible on how you’ll meet it.
Ultimately there’s no one right way to structure your K–12 dance class, but at the end of the day know what you want students to walk away from class with. It will guide your planning and provide the foundation for their learning. At the heart of their teaching, both McConnell and Crockett want students to walk away with an appreciation for, if not love of, dance.
Similarly, Kronenberg incorporates performance, choreography, professional skills (such as resumé building), and technique into all her dance courses, but she’s clear in her vision and priority to inspire students to identify as dancemakers and storytellers. “Of course there’s technique, because you have to have control over your body to say what you want with it,” she says. “I hope they leave my program with a well-rounded exposure to different forms, as well as skills and knowledge they need to be successful.”
“I think if I could start my first year of teaching over, I would stress less about the curriculum,” says Crockett, advising educators to “stress less about the lesson plans and be true to the kind of teacher you are and the teacher you know you want to be.”
Know what your desired outcome for your students is, but be malleable in your approach to getting there. “If you have an idea, stick with it,” says McConnell. “Try it, and keep going. They are going to get it eventually!”
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