With every year I teach, the more and more I realize how important it is for the fundamental building blocks of technique to be taught. It’s not the tricks or the flashy turns or the “advanced” lessons that are most important, but the basic things that sometimes go amiss.
These are the stepping stones that all else is built upon. While they may seem obvious, they are often the most difficult for young dancers to grasp. Below is certainly not an exhaustive list, but some of the most recurring I see in my own classes.
When I am confronted with these things, I make it a point to stop, go back and make sure dancers don’t just breeze by. I do this so that they are able to layer and pepper their developing technique with good habits and more importantly, have a concrete understanding and application of the abc’s and 1,2,3’s of dance.
1. Pirouette preparation: This is a HUGE one. I cannot tell you how many times I see students who are clueless as to how to prepare properly for a pirouette (especially going across the floor.) Whether it be in ballet class or jazz class, the preparation and knowing weight placement, which foot and arm goes where, etc. is crucial. Devoting time to teach this in different scenarios is key and will foster it becoming habit. From there, the type and number of turns then becomes infinite. Please spend time with your students on this.
2. Knowing left from right: Seems obvious right? Not so much all the time. Please take time with your young ones to teach this. Too many times I see young dancers just fake their way through knowing this and it’s just not something they are going to be able to get around. Basic exercises can start stationary and move to center and across the floor so that they are building a lasting knowledge and not just following the dancer in front of them.
3. Count yourself in: I am totally guilty of this and count my dancers in too often, especially going across the floor. If I count the first couple of dancers in and tell them they are to enter every two counts of eight, they should know how to do this independently. This enabling doesn’t help them with entrances and exits and their own sense of musicality as well as knowing their own counts for choreography.
4. Rolling to the floor and getting up: Level changes can definitely be tricky. How we roll to the floor, which foot goes where, which direction we’re rolling, etc. definitely takes some work because there is not one way to do it. But, understanding the mechanics as well as how to get to the floor and how to get up is so important in basic across the floor exercises. When a dancer feels confident, they can then apply this to floor-work in more complicated choreography.
5. Knowing Stage Directions, Facings, etc.: Dancers should be taught from an early age to know their stage directions and facings and the appropriate names for them. This should also go for turning bodies away from mirror when you rehearse. This can sometimes be very confusing for dance students, so the more you use the correct terminology the more they will pick it up and be able to use it freely and confidently.
If you have any fundamental basics to add to our list, please feel free to share! Would love to hear some of your own!
Good luck to all!
See you in the dance studio,
Jess
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