Teaching class....

[Nutcracker-x]

I'm hoping somebody on here will be able to give me some advice on the about topic.

Since about January I've been helping at my local dance school with the grade 1 ballet and modern class as my volunteering for my Duke of Edinburgh award. Today whilst I was there my teacher asked me if I would like to teach either the ballet or modern class in a few weeks time. I obviously accepted her offer To do the ballet class and she told me to come up with a few exercises to teach them (ie, spotting) however now that I'm out of the class and back home, I'm suddenly panicking in what to do and how to do so. So my question really is does anybody have any ideas on what exercises I could do and how to approach teaching them to the girls? Thanks ????

[drdance]

Think of what you want them to be able to do / or be better at by the end of your class. Have 2 or 3 goals/targets/outcomes. Then work off those. Once you've decided on this, if you're still struggling with exercises to work towards the goals/targets/outcomes give us another shout!

[youngatheart]

If it is a syllabus class, start off by making sure you know what steps, positions etc are in the syllabus.

 

If you have already helped out in the class you should have a good idea of what they already do well and what still needs work. Then try and come up with one or two exercises to improve a couple of these things.

 

Most importantly, don't be too ambitious! Just stick to one or two things, don't plan a whole class of new things for them - you won't get through it in the time, and they will get confused by too much new information.

[Ellie]

Don't panic ! (although I understand that it's nerve wracking !) As drdance and youngatheart have said, focus on a couple of things. So if they need to work on spring pointes, get them to demonstrate a nice tendu devant with turned out legs. If it's petit jete, maybe take them back to the barre and check their placing. Break things down to the basics. Good Luck x