Minute Masterclass Episode 44

Welcome to your one-minute masterclass. I’m Andrea Trench, founder of DiscoverDance. Your words have the potential to create a positive and cooperative environment. Praising the rule followers, saying what you want to see, and giving students choices of acceptable options eliminates the opportunity for undesired behaviors. By pulling the class focus on the dancers who are doing what you have asked for example, “I love how Ryan is sitting in ready-position”, instead of focusing on those not following directions, encourages all students to mimic the rule followers. Saying what you want to see during free dancing, such as “I see jumping and hopping, and spinning”, encourages the runners to jump, hop, and spin. If a dancer is not following directions, giving them two acceptable options like “Would you like to stand on the red spot or the yellow spot?” puts them in control of the situation. And, they can only make a right decision with the choices you provided. For more resources, visit DiscoverDance.com.