One of my favourite ways to mix up a warm up or actually just to engage play in the dance classroom is to make a dance obstacle course. For little dancers, I include lots of balance and jumping onto or over activities, walking on tip toes, standing on different textures etc.
For middle sized dancers I tend to focus on dance conditioning activities but make them playful using different equipment to build balance skills (with eyes closed is an extra challenge), using upper body, using core by getting low on the floor and precision work. I might also include some basic plyometrics too. For my senior dancers my favourite obstacle course is actually to get them to do it blind and barefoot (with a fellow student guide) to really hone in on their proprioception and get them to use their feet for feedback. I love this as it really makes them concentrate but can also link back to theatre skills of entering and exiting the stage in blackout. Obviously keep things safe and simple and exploring different textures is great for this. Also let them see what they are doing first before they negotiate anything eyes closed and keep a guide (another student) in arms reach as they move through the obstacle course.
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Okay, dance educators, let's turn the spotlight back on ourselves this week. We all know that teaching, whether studio or school, is a demanding profession. So, my question this month is: how do you fill your own creative well? What do you do that lights you up and is just for you, not about your students at all?
In the past, I've totally been guilty of calling the things I was doing as professional development my creative practice and if I'm really honest it wasn't a creative practice - it was for my students or my business or my teaching practice and not for me at all. After experiencing burnout at the end of last year, I made it a priority to fill up my own creative well in 2023. It has made the biggest difference - such a simple thing has been so revitalising. So, I'd like to share with you some of the things I've found that fill my creative well and maybe they will fill yours or maybe they'll just inspire you to think about what your own creative practice could look like. Here's the list: Dancing with others/performing again: earlier this year I joined a mature womens' performance group and I honestly love it so much. We have an hour and half class each week and, just recently, I got to perform on stage again with them for the first time in, well, a very long time. The group I've joined is filled with dance and drama educators, so I'm totally in my element. Going to the theatre: I am starting to go to the theatre again to see things that I want to see, and not just because I am taking students or have students performing in something (though of course that too). I'm lucky enough to live in Wellington with so many amazing theatres around. I'm also trying really hard to support theatre written, choreographed or composed here in Aotearoa. Journaling: this has been my absolute game changer. I love both morning pages and visual journaling. I'll be honest, my morning pages often end up as evening pages, but I've found them really good for supporting sustained focus, especially in this fast paced digital world we live in. Visual journaling, for me, is about capturing small moments during the day and I do this through text and collage at the end of each day to wind down and reflect. I keep it small; each day is just an A6 size page. Doing something badly for the pure joy of it A.K.A learning to draw: I love colour and texture so learning to draw and let myself play with colour has been a great way explore the arts in a less physical way more abstract way. I know that I'm not great at drawing but because I set it up in my mind as play, it's allowed me to try stuff and experiment and not care whether the outcome is "good" or "bad". I'm finding this willingness to experiment beyond my boundaries is spilling into some really awesome stuff in my creative professional life. Deep diving into inspiring music and literature: Letting myself be inspired by music (hello sweeping orchestral scores) and literature has felt quite indulgent but also a really wonderful reprieve from screen-based media. The things I've been reading and listening to are definitely influencing my creative work at the moment. I've really enjoyed the novelty of finding new material and the familiarity of diving into my literary favourites. The upshot of all of these things? I have more creative energy for myself and therefore for my students, and that in turn feeds theirs. It's not foolproof but it's a good start. I'd love to know, how do you feed your creative well? This is such a fun little game that came about from conversations with my students about internet/Tiktok aesthetics. It's probably a best fit with your senior students.
If you don't know much about internet aesthetics, it's worth a quick google or pinterest search, but in a nutshell an internet aesthetic refers to a particular style or design trend that has emerged from online culture, such as memes, social media, digital art, fashion, and even TikTok. Internet aesthetics are often associated with youth culture and are continuously evolving and influenced by the constant changes in online culture, with TikTok being a major platform for showcasing and popularising new aesthetics. Onwards to the activity! Basic Activity Ask your students to brainstorm well known internet/tiktok aesthetics together on the whiteboard. Check that your students all know what these are and ask them to explain any that any of the students are unsure of. Brainstorm different dance genre or sub-genre - activating students' prior knowledge of previous studied or researched genre. Randomly assign your students different dance genres in pairs and then ask each pair to identify the aesthetic most they feel best fits the genre. Students then share back, justifying their choices. Animated discussion usually ensues. I've found this is a really useful tool for getting students to understand the wider context of a genre or sub genre. It also helps the students make the links to the social and cultural contexts and features that inform and influence the genre. I often use aesthetics to help explain changing focuses in society that have influence the way a genre has developed. These serve as cultural reference points for the students and present the ideas in a language they are inherently familiar with. For example, when my students were study Romantic ballet, making initial links to cottagecore and fairycore helped the students form a visual reference point for what the romantic movement might have looked like compared to the more knowledge driven enlightenment that came before (I linked this to dark academia). Of course, we built on this from here, delving into the political ramifications and the technological developments that spurred on the development of the genre, but it was a much easier discussion after making the links. It's easy for us to dismiss the aesthetics as an online fad or a superficial visual theme, and they can be, but there's also a lot more to some of them as well. Plus it just makes for a really fun discussion! Variations
As we all know, dance is a physically demanding activity that requires strength, flexibility, coordination, and control. Warming up properly is essential to prevent injuries, but it can be difficult to know what a good warm-up should include. To shed some light on the matter, we've consulted the research and our dance science educators have put together the highlight reel for you below.
A proper warm-up helps to increase blood flow, warm up the muscles, reduce the risk of injury and should activate the cardiovascular, muscular and nervous systems. A comprehensive warm up not only prepares the body for dance but also readies the mind, providing a way for students to transition from the busyness of their everyday lives into a focused space for dance. What should a warm up include? According to the IADMS resource paper, The Importance of a Good Warm Warm Up, (Kozai & Surgenor, 2017) a warm up should include:
Neuromuscular Warm Ups Recently neuromuscular warm ups have become increasingly commonplace in sports training. A recently published pilot study (Kaufmann et al., 2022) in the Journal of Dance Medicine and Science exploring the efficacy of neuromuscular warm ups in a ballet setting suggests that these may decrease the risk of injury for dancers and are certainly an effective warm up tool. A Neuromuscular warm up focuses on priming the nervous system and proprioception for movement and in addition to the above also includes exercises that target balance, alignment and strength. There are many great resources available online that can introduce you to these ideas in greater depth, including well known sports protocols like the FIFA 11+. A word about Stretching This is often a student go-to for warm ups but it's important to remember that not all stretching is the same. Static stretching, where a stretch is held for a prolonged period, is no longer recommended as a warm-up before dance, as it can actually decrease performance and increase injury risk. Instead, dynamic stretching that involves movement is a better option. In my experience, this is a concept that students need to have explained but respond well to once they understand. A Couple of Final Thoughts In addition to the overall structure of the warm up, there are a few other things to keep in mind to ensure a safe and effective warm-up:
While these ideas serve as a guidelines, there's no one perfect warm up, but with explanation and encouragement our students can start to deepen their understanding of what is safe warm up practice and what will hinder their dancing. After all, educating dancers is what we're all about right? References Kozai, A., & Surgenor, B. (2017). RESOURCE PAPER FOR DANCERS AND TEACHERS The Importance of a Good Warm-Up: Are you warm enough to start dancing? With the IADMS Dance Educators' Committee. IADMS. Kauffmann, J. E., Nelissen, R. G. H. H., Stubbe, J. H., & Gademan, M. G. J. (2022). Neuromuscular warm-up is associated with fewer overuse injuries in ballet dancers compared to traditional ballet-specific warm-up. J Dance Med Sci, 26(4), 244-254. https://doi.org/10.12678/1089-313X.121522 Further Reading The Australian Ballet. (n.d.). Strength beats stretch. Retrieved February 25, 2023, from https://australianballet.com.au/blog/strength-beats-stretch Quin, E., Rafferty, S., & Tomlinson, C. (2015). Safe Dance Practice. Human Kinetics. Wilmerding, M. V., & Krasnow, D. H. (Eds.). (2017). Dancer Wellness. Human Kinetics. |
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