Minute Masterclass Episode 164

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 talking about formations inside your choreography. My number one system for teaching formations is to incorporate formations into your weekly classes. Consider assigning spots for your dancers during class. These class spots become their performance spots. Since they have been moving on their spot, around their spot, and back to their spot all season long, they will have no problem finding their spot when it’s time for choreography. Perhaps you begin in two lines and move into a circle during your warm-up. This formation change can then easily be incorporated into your choreography, because you have been practicing it all season long. In addition, consider the following across the developmental stages. New dancers stay on their spot. These are your youngest dancers. Keep them where they are. I promise, they will still steal the show! The next stage of development can perform on and around assigned spots. Dancers may move around their spot, hug a friend and move back to their spot, or slide off their spot and back to it. If you find success there, you can begin to travel through class formations. Whatever you do for warm-up, that’s what you include in your choreography. 

For more information, to enroll in the Foundations Course, or to join the DiscoverDance Experience and access our full training on Improving the Choreographic Experience, visit DiscoverDance.com.