So many things can sometime get generalized, glossed over, breezed by and given half-hearted attention to. Time in any given class is always a factor and often, there simply isn’t enough time to cover everything we’d like. There’s only so much we can do and we try to deliver as much information as possible to our students. But, we can glimpse, we can glance, we can move it along. This long-term approach however, trickles down to our dancers. What we need to get back to is a mindful practice of attention to detail. To specificity. Clarity. Intricacy. Painstaking accuracy. And sometimes, we do need to prioritize. These important details in dance education are slowly slipping away. Over time this can become habit. Even more so in today’s current dance teaching climate, it’s crucial to pause and think about our delivery of information.
We can notice this everywhere. In preparation, organization, how people relate to one another and speak to another, how they work with each other and present their own work, and in regards to dance technique as well. There used to be a time when something as fundamental as how we point our foot had artistry to it. If trained well, the development of something as simple as the stretch of the foot from the top of the calf, through the ankle, foot and toes had a beauty to it? It had its own nuances. Now, it sometimes seems like dancers initiate that movement as they do everything else in this fast paced world, just getting to the end result.
It is imperative for us dance teachers to take notice. Specificity of movement is part of the training we are providing them. It is our job to make sure students understand detail and clarity and why things move as they do, not just how. It starts with us. It is essential for dancers to understand that preparation, landings and transition are just as, if not more important, than the leap in the air, or the actual fouette or trick. Students need to be taught this mind-set from a young age; taking pride in how they articulate their movement, how they slide down the barre during a stretch or roll up or roll down from a releve. We need to be cultivating a generation of “thinking dancers” who can talk about and verbally articulate how something is done properly as well as executing it. Dancers need to understand their bodies are truly their precious instrument and it’s up to them whether they make beautiful music or just hitting random notes.
So next time while it may seem boring or tedious for your dancers to take a half hour breaking down a correct pirouette preparation or spending twenty minutes on the execution of a complete and thorough tendu, don’t feel rushed or eager to give into the need for their instant gratification. You do know best and this is in their best interest. Pace yourself and them and hold firm that time and process are the making of a professional and detail-oriented individual who takes pride in their work; whether it be in dance or any other field. Those that have the awareness to specificity and accuracy demonstrated to them as an important asset are the ones that will have it eventually engrained in them instinctually for a lifetime….So, be specific in your delivery, be specific in your demonstrations, be specific in your explanations and be specific in your process…..your students will be the ones to benefit!
See you in the dance studio…
Jess
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