Congrats! You are an Artsy Advocate! You are a teacher who loves trying new things and challenging your students’ creativity. You don’t like the mundane routine for class- you like taking risks, surprising your students and sometimes, even surprising yourself! You take your responsibility as a dance educator seriously and like to experiment during the creative process. You believe that dancers should have their own unique quality to their movement. You LIVE for improvisation and like to give students prompts to guide them to find their own voice. You help dancers own their movements to be confident in the studio, on stage, and in life.
Your dance class might look a little different as an Artsy Advocate. You probably love having a whiteboard to jot down ideas so your dancers can visually conceptualize things. You also love posters and anything around your classroom that can inspire movement and creativity- especially during an improv, sesh! You may even have a curtain to hide the mirrors so your dancers don’t get glued to looking at themselves or comparing themselves to others. You value each dancers’ movement, mindset, and purpose. You also have a sense of freedom in your classroom. You push for intention in every movement choice that they make! No movement is “wrong.” It is unique to the individual dancer in that moment in time. You give your dancers the space to move, explore, and discover their strengths independently and in groups.
We love Artsy Advocates at Dance Ed Tips and believe you are a vital part of a child's dance education. We have designed many resources to support your unique values as a dance teacher. As veteran dance teachers, we’ve often been met with the deer in headlights look our students give us the first time we ask them to improvise. We at Dance Ed Tips believe that improvisation doesn’t have to be scary and know that it’s possible to slowly and safely guide dancers to becoming outstanding improvisers. Some of our favorite (and best-selling) tools are our Dance Cards, especially the Movement Cards & Laban Cards. They are perfect for beginners and advanced students! These cards prompt your dancers and challenge them to create out of their comfort zone. They are also great for you as the teacher when you have choreographer’s block. Put down a few cards, dance it out, and you’ll have a new class combo in 5 mins! (You can thank us later!) We also have seasonal activities and dance games- Summer Dance Cards, Summer Freeze Dance, & Summer Mad-Libs, which are always a hit. We are confident these cards will inspire your dancers and expand their movement qualities in a fun and safe way!
As you plan for the upcoming dance season, we charge you to continue being a Artsy Advocate! We know the work can sometimes be hard and tedious, but the outcome is worth it! We at Dance Ed Tips are always ready to be part of your teaching journey and support you as you impact your dance community.
