Win It! Capezio Boatneck Leotard
courtesy of Capezio
American dance educator Shannon Oleson was teaching recreational ballet and street-dance classes in London when the pandemic hit. As she watched many of her fellow U.S. friends pack up and return home from their international adventures, she made the difficult choice to stick with her students (as well as her own training—she was midway through her MFA at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance).
Despite shutdowns and shelter-in-place orders, she was able to maintain a teaching schedule that kept her working with her dancers through Zoom, as well as lead some private, in-home acro classes following government guidelines. But keeping rec students interested in the face of pandemic fatigue hasn't been easy.
Courtesy Oleson
Courtesy Oleson
Courtesy Oleson
Whether you're in need of some wintertime inspiration or searching for new material for your classes, these six titles—ranging from personal stories, classroom materials, detailed essays and coursebooks—are worthy picks to add to your pedagogy bookshelf.
Jill Randall
<p>Blackburne's book opens up her classroom to fellow middle school and high school teachers. Composed primarily of notes, assignments, forms and rubrics, the information is practical and applicable—you might end up using some of the forms yourself or allow the book to inspire your own material for your classroom. Blackburne emphasizes that written material is integral in teen classrooms, from syllabi to self-reflection forms.</p>Jill Randall
<p>Author Maricelle Peeters, a ballet and character-dance teacher from the Netherlands, first published <em>Ballet Recipes</em> in July 2018 in Dutch. Now available in English, this delightful and fresh take on ballet pedagogy describes the key "ingredients" of ballet classes, including themes, imagery and vocabulary.</p><p>Using playful text and sprinkled with illustrations, Peeters' book caters to the enthusiastic ballet student in grades 5 to 7. But Peeters' text is also a perfect offering for dance teachers to help distill key concepts and practice how to introduce ballet vocabulary—it almost reads like a script for educators. Part 1 of the book is one of its highlights, exploring the broad themes of posture, muscle tension, turnout, weight distribution, placement and lengthening/counterpull.</p>Jill Randall
<p>Longtime dance educator Dawn C. Crouch's book includes personal essays on what she believes are the essential components of pre-ballet classes. As Crouch emphasizes, pre-ballet classes with 3- to 5-year-olds are some of the most rigorous to craft and teach, and are essential to the growth of your student enrollment and school program. Her essays convey her love of this age group, and cover a wide range of concepts, including class size, helpers, class rituals, physical awareness and class format.</p>Jill Randall
<p>Best for seasoned dance teachers and graduate-level courses, <em>Ethical Dilemmas in Dance Education</em> uses fictionalized case studies to present scenarios that cover a wide range of dilemmas—those tricky moments and ethical binds we encounter as dance educators. Case studies in the book range from advocating for a student's IEP plan and participation, to a sexual harassment allegation in your class, to pedagogical concerns involving guest teachers.</p><p>The book is divided into four sections: "Early Childhood and Elementary Dance," "Middle School and High School Dance Education," "Dance Teacher Preparation and Postsecondary Dance Education" and "Community Dance," and includes reflection activities after each case study.</p>Jill Randall
<p><em>Dance Teaching Methods and Curriculum Design </em>is a hefty 500-plus-page textbook, with additional online content—perfect for an undergraduate dance pedagogy course or for dance educators without formal training. The text covers everything from child development, class formats, teaching styles, and scaffolding learning for K–12 dance education classes, and includes a variety of unit-plan examples in various dance styles.</p>Courtesy Human Kinetics
<p>Useful in both high school and college-level courses, <em>Dance Appreciation </em>offers an introduction to dance productions and Western dance forms. Covering the history of ballet, modern, jazz, tap and hip hop, plus information on what happens behind the scenes to make dance productions come to life, the text offers digestible, bite-sized information for new students and audience members. Also included are additional dance forms from around the globe, photos and artist spotlights, vocabulary lists and reflection questions.</p>The day that your class of young dancers learns they're going on pointe can be just as exciting for you as it is for them. It's gratifying to be able to announce that their—and your—hard work has led them to this milestone moment. But what if there's one student who's not as ready as her peers? The one who's not yet strong enough physically or technically, or whose foot structure may make pointework extra-challenging or dangerous? Having to deliver disappointing news is never easy, but there are ways to make the conversation positive and motivating.
Pointe students at The Washington School of Ballet
Kelsey Arrington-Ashford, Courtesy TWB
Steps Youth Programs instructor Gretchen Gunther teachers a beginning pointe class.
Alexandra Fung, Courtesy Steps on Broadway
Jody Schissler (center) poses with her pointe students at Skye Ballet Center.
Jan Hanus, Courtesy Skye Ballet Center