As a dance educator and dancer, I’ve always thought that tap dance is the easiest form of dance to learn at any age. Even if you’re not a tap dancer yourself, you can still help your tap dancing kiddo improve by doing a few simple things at home, in the car, or wherever you happen to feel the need to dance!
Imagine, if you can, bored, blank faced orphans in “It’s a Hard Knock Life” from “Annie”. Or, Donald O’Connor trying to “Make Em’ Laugh” in “Singin’ in the Rain” without his hilarious and skilled facial expressions throughout the show-stopping routine. It would be a pretty bleak world if musical theatre dancers didn’t use acting skills to tell their story. If your child is studying theatre dance, there are a few things you can do to help them level up their acting abilities from home!
In order to be a well-rounded musical theatre dancer, you really have to have a wide variety of training in all aspects of musical theatre – dance, vocals, and acting. While not all young dancers want to be professionals, even dancers who participate in musical theatre classes for fun can benefit from learning the different facets of the art form.
The best way to help your dancer improve at hip hop is to practice at home! Games that develop personal style are a fun way to work on individual movement quality, and exercises that focus on the basics of hip hop will help with consistency.
Improving transitions and technique is something that every Acro dancer can make improvements on, even when they’re at home. You don’t have to be an expert to be able to notice when their transitions aren’t as smooth as they could be, or to notice that how they’re doing it doesn’t reflect good technique. Sometimes Acro dancers get overly focused on what they’re doing, instead of how they’re doing it. That’s where you come in!
Helping your child improve at a skill you may not be familiar with can feel like a daunting task. I know I would be lost if I was asked to help anyone improve in, say, chess! But when it comes to assisting your dancing son or daughter with their hip hop dance skills, there are plenty of easy and fun ways to level up their abilities from home!
Dance and choreography camps are a fun way to keep up dance skills over the holidays, as well as make new friends. Dance camps can be overnight events or may be held only during the day and may range in length from a day to several weeks.
By Danielle Pierce-Master, MA Dance / Edited by Samantha Bellerose, B.Ed, Dip.Dance (Performing Arts) Cross-training is important for dancers to develop strength, improve balance and flexibility, and prevent injuries. As …
Pilates and Yoga are both wonderful mind-body practices that help to develop strength, flexibility, and balance. For a dancer looking to cross-train, Pilates and Yoga both offer opportunities to develop their minds and bodies in ways that complement their dance training.
Yoga has a number of benefits for dancers seeking to cross-train for general wellness. The way Yoga trains the mind and encourages non-judgment and a shedding of things that don’t serve us is incredibly important in the preservation of a dancer’s mental health.