Minute Masterclass Episode 131

Welcome to your one-minute masterclass. I’m Andrea Trench, founder of DiscoverDance and creator of the Foundations Course for Early Childhood Dance Educators and the DiscoverDance Experience Membership. Today, we are exploring the sixth pattern of the BrainDance: body sides. This movement pattern consists of stabilizing one whole side of the body, while moving the other and vice versa. Repeating this pattern improves the coordination between the right and left sides of our body, and helps develop side awareness and dominance. 

In the body sides pattern, we can lay on one side while the other side stretches to the sky. Laying on our side, especially helps our youngest dancers stabilize that side since it’s on the ground under them. For our older dancers, we can draw a line down the center of our body to show the dancers that the left side is frozen while the right side is free to move. Perhaps we perform tendus with a port de bras, or battements laying on the floor. Each time our leg battements, we high five our foot with the same side hand. Repeating this pattern three or four times in our classes each week is all we need before moving on to the next pattern. For more information, to enroll in the Foundations Course or join the DiscoverDance Experience, visit DiscoverDance.com.