Dance skills

Introduction

Dance communicates ideas through movement and is an expressive art form. Students need to learn how to use their body in a safe and healthy way, whilst developing a wide-ranging movement vocabulary. This unit introduces some key skills and suggestions for how to develop these skills with students.

The use of different dance techniques can be an effective way of building vocabulary and developing different kinds of skills and abilities. Technical dance skills can form the foundation on which to develop and enhance each individual's performance.

As dance teachers, we may have a range of skills, but it isn't always possible to possess expertise in every type of dance style and technique.

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Learning outcomes

After studying this course, you should be able to:

• understand and have practical experience of creating opportunities for learners to develop dance skills

• understand safe dance practice

• understand and have practical experience of giving feedback

• promote discussion and debate about dance issues throughout the dance curriculum.

1 Safe dance practice

1.1 Safety and dance

As with other physical activities, consideration must be given to aspects of safety when teaching dance. Safety is paramount and should underpin all dance education.

Here is a checklist of basic safety procedures that dance teachers frequently endorse. Can you identify others for your particular teaching situation or context?

• The body should be free of all jewellery and watches, including navel piercings.

• Bare feet are required to prevent slipping.

• Appropriate clothing should be worn that allows freedom of movement and which is free from zips, buttons or buckles that could cause harm.

• Long hair should be tied back from the face to prevent it falling into the eyes whilst moving.

1.2 The warm up

The importance of an effective warm up to prepare the body for physical exertion cannot be emphasised enough.

Warm-up activities for dance should:

• mobilise the joints;

• increase the internal temperature of the body;

• increase the heart rate and blood flow to the muscles;

• make the muscles warm and pliable;

• increase the range of movement around the joints;

• increase the speed of transmission of nerve impulses;

• prepare the mind, as well as the body, by focusing on oneself.

1.3 Warm-up activities

A variety of actions might be included in warm-up activities, and there is good reason for keeping these simple and repetitive. If the brain and muscles have to concentrate on learning new and complex patterns of movement, then this takes attention away from raising the core body temperature by 1 or 2 degrees and increasing the heart rate enough to perspire.

Movements might include:

• walks gradually increasing in speed to a small run;

• shoulder rolls, arm circles and simple stretches of the torso and arms;

• gentle flexions (extreme flexions should be avoided in warm-up activities), extensions and rotation of the joints, including knee bends (plié);

• movement of the torso in all directions, swings and sitting rolls;

• simple continuous patterns of movement to increase the pulse rate and warm the body.

The benefits of an effective warm up are that:

• The body will be prepared for movements needing speed, strength and more complex neuromuscular co-ordination.

• Oxygen will reach muscles more efficiently and this will aid muscle contraction and relaxation.

• The body and mind will be prepared to concentrate.

All of the above help to minimise the risk of injury.

1.4 Myths and facts

• Myth – Warming up and being warm are the same thing.

• Fact – Warming up the body requires physical movement that should gradually increase in speed and intensity over a period of around 15 minutes.

• Myth – It has to hurt to be doing any good.

• Fact – Pain can often be a warning sign that the body has gone too far – students should learn to listen to their bodies and interpret the signs in order to avoid pushing themselves too far.

• Myth – Dancers can never be too flexible.

• Fact – Too much flexibility in the joints can lead to injury if dancers do not have adequate strength in the muscles surrounding the joints.

2 Posture, alignment and balance

Posture and alignment are the key to balance and moving through space. It can be tempting to overlook such things when faced with 25 students, of whom a third want to do a routine to their favourite chart song, another third want to have a go at breakdance, and the other third would rather sit and watch everyone else!

Posture and alignment are fundamental to dancing, just as they are to other kinds of physical activities, such as martial arts. Learning how to hold and move the body in alignment is something that is beneficial throughout life, and not just in a dance class.

Students need to become aware of their alignment through feeling and not just through looking, although being able to see the changes in the body through the use of mirrors is helpful to start with.

As teachers, we need to guide the students' alignment through the use of general and individual verbal prompts, imagery and, where appropriate, the use of touch. A light touch, for example using the fingertips to demonstrate lengthening in the lower back or to prevent the shoulders from dropping behind the line of the hip bones, can make all the difference to some students.

Developing this kind of body awareness will help students to balance, to recover safely from off balance, and to move the body through space.

Balance is all about holding the body still and using opposing muscular energies to achieve this. But, if the head, upper torso and pelvis are out of alignment, then this places unequal stress on muscles, ligaments and joints. The body will tire easily and it will become difficult to maintain balance.

The centre of gravity for a dancer is in the pelvis, just below the navel. It is important to try to keep the line of gravity within the base of the support to help the body's stability.

The body is more stable when the centre of gravity is lower and the base of support larger. However, dancers usually want to balance on precariously small supports, such as the ball of one foot, and so the body will be less stable in this position. This is why body awareness is crucial.

When we are maintaining a balanced state we are using our:

• eyes for visual clues;

• middle ear for our sense of equilibrium;

• receptors in our joints and muscles.

Balance is a skill that can be developed and needs body awareness, practice, muscular tension, control, concentration, focus, strength and stamina.

3 Dance combinations

Movement and dance combinations enable students to make physical sense of the exercises and movement material that they are given in class on a regular basis. In dance, repetition and recapitulation are vital ingredients in the learning process, and so being presented with phrases of movement that progress and develop in complexity will allow the individual to progress and develop too.

Did you know that it takes around 180 repetitions of a movement for the muscle memory to retain that particular pattern?

The purposes of dance combinations are:

• to increase and develop movement vocabulary;

• to develop movement and muscle memory;

• to increase the range of movement;

• to increase and develop understanding of physical capabilities;

• to develop an awareness of anatomical principles;

• to increase mobility in the body;

• to improve co-ordination and performance skills.

4 Performance skills

Performance skills are those aspects that set dancing apart from mechanical movement. Often, our attention is drawn to the dancer who is using a range of performance skills effectively, because they stand out from the rest.

Performance skills are aspects such as:

• focus;

• projection;

• musicality;

• timing;

• emphasis;

• expression.

All of these aspects are connected to the way in which a dancer interprets the movements and the meaning of a dance. Some of these may be prescribed by the choreographer, for example where the focus should be at a given moment.

These skills can be taught in class through the medium of the simple dance combination. If students understand from the outset that dancing combinations of movements is the process through which they learn how to perform, then their performance skills are less likely to be elements that are added on once the movements have been learnt.

5 Giving feedback

In order to develop and improve dance skills, students should also be involved in evaluating one another's, and their own, work.

Performing for one another in class as part of an evaluation and feedback process can be beneficial to both the students and teacher.

When done on a regular basis, students can become less self-conscious about performing in front of others; this is important in terms of building confidence in young performers.

Feedback is an important part of the improvement process because it can provide statements and questions that enable the students to see their own work with an outside eye.

Once engaged in the evaluation and feedback process, students will be developing skills in observing, listening and applying comments to their work – in the same way that they do in the choreographic process.

Feedback can come from the teacher or fellow students – and through the use of a video camera.

Giving written feedback can be done in a variety of ways, ranging from using a simple blank piece of paper to a more complex pro forma. It all depends on what you want to focus on at that point in time.

Conclusion

This unit has highlighted some of the fundamental aspects of dance skills, and given you ideas as to what to include and possible approaches to developing such skills in class. It has also looked at the development of performance skills and the use of feedback. You might like to use the Unit Forum to discuss and debate any dance-related issues, share ideas or ask questions.

Further reading

Dance UK, ‘Warming Up and Cooling Down’, Information Sheet 3, Articles by Caroline Marsh.

References

Acknowledgements

Amanda Burrows is a graduate of Laban and gained an MA in Education from The Open University. She has taught dance in secondary schools, FE colleges, universities and in community settings. Amanda is currently Head of Curriculum for Visual, Performing Arts and Media at Grantham College, and has produced materials for the Open Univerity's Teachandlearn.net, repurposed here for openlearn.

Except for third party materials and otherwise stated (see terms and conditions), this content is made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 Licence

Grateful acknowledgement is made to the following sources for permission to reproduce material in this unit:

All photos by Fausto Dorelli, from Cohan, R. ‘The Dance Workshop’, 1986. Gaia Books Ltd., Octopus Publishing, Hamlyn.

Rist, R. ‘Dance Science’, Dancing Times, December 1991.

Every effort has been made to contact copyright owners. If any have been inadvertently overlooked, the publishers will be pleased to make the necessary arrangements at the first opportunity.

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