Teaching Holiday Recital Dances

Recitals are an important tangible goal for our dancers. They are also crucial to our business success. 

This week, we are busy preparing for our upcoming Dancin’ Holiday Magic and Nutcracker shows. I make it my goal to get as many of my dancers to participate in two shows per season - holiday show and spring recital. 

Here are some teaching tips to prepare your preschool and school-aged dancers for the stage: 

Spatial awareness is as important as teaching the steps in the recital dance and will continue to be crucial in their dance training as they grow up. I recommend using the following:

• Single line marley tape in the studio

• Glow tape line onstage

• Have dancers hold hands and pull apart until their arms are extended

• Imagine a “Pretend dancer” in between each “real dancer”

• Dancers practice in the same space each week in class

• Practice entering and exiting stage in class

Sing the song with them with arms while seated before you stand up to teach the dance. Sometimes when they are standing and facing the mirror they become distracted and miss the choreography. They can only learn if they are focused. When standing they are also thinking about what their feet are doing. Learning the words with arms first is best.

When teaching them, talk through the dance until you see their attention start to fade. At that point do the dance with the music and continue past the section that you taught them. They should be able to follow along with you and do that dance. 

They will give half of what you give them. When you teach babies you have to give 200% energy and enthusiasm for the movement as well as exaggerate your arms and steps.

Only work on the recital dance for 10 minutes max in each class. This should be a part of what they are learning and running the dance 2-3 times in each class will keep them excited and eager to come back to class the next week. 

Free Webinar

On top of offering the Twinkle Stars and Showstars Curriculum and Choreography subscriptions, Tiffany strives to provide real-time business insights from her experience of owning and managing multiple dance studio locations. Each month she holds free webinars. Learn more: https://www.twinklestardance.com/webinars

Meet Tiffany Henderson 

Tiffany Henderson is an industry leader and dance business expert. Tiffany owns and operates multiple Tiffany's Dance Academy locations in Northern California. Her video-based teacher training system and curriculum, Twinkle Star Dance, is currently implemented in 300+ dance studios worldwide.

Nurturing your Studio Community

Happy November! Now is the time of the year when the number of new enrollments start to dwindle as we transition into the busy holiday season.

Not to worry, we know inquiries from new students will pick back up in January. We have exciting promotions to capture new friends to enroll in our Twinkle Babies and Twinkle Stars classes at the start of the year.

I like to remind myself the months of November and December are a great time to focus our attention on marketing internally to the dancers currently enrolled and help nurture our studio community. 

Over the next few weeks, I’ll share various programming ideas you can incorporate at your dance studio to keep your dancers and families engaged.

This one might seem obvious, but I like to use themed props to add fun to dance class!

For example, we have a class set of autumnal-colored scarves that our Twinkle Star Dance classes use along with “Colors of the Wind” a choreographed ballet center stretch and movement. 

This November we are doing a line dance to “The Git Up” in all of our classes. Then during Parent Observation week this month, we are inviting the parents to join in the fun with a Family Hoedown.  

December is a fun time to use jingle bells. Our Twinkle Babies love dancing to “Jingle Bells Opposites” and hearing the jingle of the bells and the tapping of their toes. 

Another great prop is a star wand. Our Twinkle Stars enjoy using star wands and dancing to “Twinkle, Twinkle Christmas Star.”

Learn more about Twinkle Star Dance and our live teacher certifications: https://www.twinklestardance.com/how-it-works. 

Meet Tiffany Henderson 

Tiffany Henderson is an industry leader and dance business expert. Tiffany owns and operates multiple Tiffany's Dance Academy locations in Northern California. Her video-based teacher training system and curriculum, Twinkle Star Dance, is currently implemented in 300+ dance studios worldwide.

Creating the Super Teacher

Let’s chat about the importance of your preschool and school-aged dance teachers in your studio. I’ll refer to them as “Super Teachers.” 

90% of dance studios are composed of a population of dancers ages 2 - 12. This is your largest pool of potential customers and the majority of your existing customers. 

As a studio owner, you are only one person. If you are teaching all the classes, you simply cannot manage the business in a way that it can grow. Super Teachers are the pathway to growth; they enable you to step away and improve your work/life balance. 

Super Teachers are the lifeblood of any dance studio and will make or break the future financial and emotional success of your dance studio business. 

So how do you create a Super Teacher? 

As a studio owner you are proficient in training dancers as young as 2 years old dance steps of many styles. 

This is proof that you can also train an adult in any style in dance with the proper resources and procedures. In my experience, it’s not that they don’t WANT to teach preschool and school-aged dancers, it is that they don’t KNOW what or how to teach them. 

Learn more about Twinkle Star Dance and get your “Super Teachers” certified at Spark Chicago. 

Meet Tiffany Henderson 

Tiffany Henderson is an industry leader and dance business expert. Tiffany owns and operates multiple Tiffany's Dance Academy locations in Northern California. Her video-based teacher training system and curriculum, Twinkle Star Dance, is currently implemented in 300+ dance studios worldwide.

Connecting to Preschool Dancers

Teaching dance is not really about the steps. It is about sharing joy and building a community through dance. 

There is a lot more than movement being taught because we are dealing with separation anxiety, etc. In our Twinkle Babies ages 2-3 class, for example, there are very few pauses. Keeping the dancers moving from one exercise to the next becomes very important, especially if you have a crier. 

That being said, it can be difficult to foster connections with your dancers if you are also trying to create the class as you go. You need all of your devices to be successful in a preschool dance class. You cannot be tending to the music or experimenting with choreography. 

As a preschool dance teacher, it is your responsibility to engage the dancers during class. A preschool dance curriculum such as Twinkle Star Dance will free you up to turn your attention to the delivery rather than coming up with the content. Instead, focus on making eye contact, use of voice, and learning the dancer’s names. 

It is equally important to engage with the families before and after class. I don’t mean to invite them over for a BBQ at your house. It can be as simple as “Susie is so close to getting her skips, keep up the great work.” 

Here are some tips and tricks to connecting to preschool dancers: 

• Eye Contact  

Always Be Scanning. Eye contact is important for developing social interactions, relationships, and even language skills. Some children may become overstimulated when you make eye contact with them so it's important to not force it. Instead be patient and invite them to engage in mutual gaze.

• Use of Voice 

Cue them with your voice prior to movement. Using a warm and affectionate tone of voice helps reassure and comfort preschoolers. This is especially useful when engaging a child who is withdrawn or shy. A warm tone's message can be reinforced by using words of endearment such as “friend.” Children are different from one another, so observe what works best for each child. 

• Names 

Know their names! Just as a warm and affectionate tone reassures and comforts, a calm tone creates a nonjudgmental environment where appropriate behavior can be promoted. This is also an effective tone to use when a child's attention wanders. Calmly and gently call children by name and guide their attention back to where it should be placed. 

Rediscover your light at Spark Mini-Conference Series.

Meet Tiffany Henderson 

Tiffany Henderson is an industry leader and dance business expert. Tiffany owns and operates multiple Tiffany's Dance Academy locations in Northern California. Her video-based teacher training system and curriculum, Twinkle Star Dance, is currently implemented in 300+ dance studios worldwide.

Be a Keen Observer

Being a preschool dance teacher is incredibly important and rewarding work. We often are a child’s first experience working with an adult outside of their parents, primary caregivers, family members, etc. This comes with its own set of challenges and responsibilities. 

Know that children arrive at your dance class with a variance of different “scripts” and “attachments” based on their unique interactions in the world so far. By having a set preschool dance curriculum, your class will lend itself to the instructor focusing on the delivery rather than creating the content. 

It is our role as preschool dance teachers to take time to learn as much as we can about each dancer. A successful preschool dance instructor teaches the dancer's individual challenges and strengths. 

Here are three things to keep in mind when teaching a preschool dance class: 

Learning Styles: 

We all learn things in a different way. Dance is typically taught verbally as well as the “follow me” method. That works for the majority of dancers, however, some dancers learn in a more “hands-on” way. 

While Teachers need to be careful when touching dancers, sometimes it is necessary to physically move the dancer through the movement. The use of analogies, and rhythmic exercises such as clapping the rhythm, etc. are good alternative ways of getting the material across to the students. 

It is the teacher’s responsibility to determine the learning styles of their students and use the necessary techniques to ensure the students learn the material to the best of their ability.

Keeping Class Notes: 

Keeping notes at the end of each class about what took place will help you keep consistency in your classes. You may also write down any ideas you have for new steps or ideas on how to teach a certain step in a more efficient way

Teaching the Whole Child: 

Remember that you are teaching the whole child. You cannot separate the child’s personality or life experiences from the dancer. Take an interest in your student’s well-being and make mental notes about background and family situations. 

Is mom pregnant with child number two? Is that why Susie is acting out and needing more attention in class? These are the things that are helpful to know when you are teaching young children.  

Rediscover your light at Spark Mini-Conference Series.

Meet Tiffany Henderson 

Tiffany Henderson is an industry leader and dance business expert. Tiffany owns and operates multiple Tiffany's Dance Academy locations in Northern California. Her video-based teacher training system and curriculum, Twinkle Star Dance, is currently implemented in 300+ dance studios worldwide.