As dance educators, it is our responsibility to employ a range of methods to reach every student who waltzes into our classrooms. Whether helping a quickly advancing dancer master a difficult pirouette combination or simply teaching a student how to engage in a learning process, it can be challenging to manage a classroom that holds both types of student.

Dance Teacher spoke with several experienced educators who work across multiple student levels to better understand how best to engage students with a range of abilities and interest in the same classroom.

Attentive Dancers Are Ideal

An ideal student comes in many forms. In recreational classes, this student may simply appear as somebody eager to be present. While in more pre-professional programs, it may be a student who excels beyond their peers.

Melissa Rector, director of the Koresh Youth Ensemble, shares: “For me, the ideal student isn’t what most people would expect. I don’t mind if a student is behind in their training, as long as I see passion, drive, and that they are putting in the work. They need to have a lot of heart!” 

Students who manage themselves earn Eric Hipolito Jr.’s attention in his classes as a faculty member at Pacific Northwest Ballet School. He notes, “A student who is willing to get out of their comfort zone impresses me. I expect dancers to be respectful, well-behaved, and take corrections with a grain of salt. When a student can direct their own work in the classroom, I’m impressed.”

Having accelerated students in class can be exciting. But an attentive learner is more often the ideal student, regardless of their abilities. 

Engaging Checked-Out or Forced-In Students

On the flip side of the dance coin, one may think a disengaged student who struggles to show improvement may be insubordinate. Yet, a student who appears to be checked out tends to be disengaged due to factors outside the studio. 

“You can tell when a student doesn’t want to be in class,” Hipolito Jr. says. “It can be a struggle just to get a dancer to laugh, let alone try something new. If a dancer is looking around and not really listening or they nod without responding to feedback, they may not love being in class.”

For Seth Robinson, founder and director of The Hive and its youth program, The Dance Colony, “The most challenging dancer to work with often has nothing to do with the student. Issues often arise when a parent is living vicariously through their kid and the child is being forced to take class. If a child isn’t fully understood or feels they have no choice, they are often less present.”

So what strategies can dance teachers use if a student puts up a barrier that gets in the way of learning? And how can they reengage a dancer’s interest?

For most teachers, the goal is to first instill a passion for dance and, second, to share the necessary skills to excel. Also, most educators feel inspired when their students are inspired as well. It can be disappointing if the opposite is happening. 

“I want those in my classes to enjoy dancing, so it makes me sad if they’re not fully present,” shares Rector. “Though, you really can’t pressure a student who may be checked out. You need to give them space. You can be stern, but you can’t get angry or yell. A classroom needs to be light and offer a safe space to learn, even if they are only learning to learn.”

Hipolito Jr. constantly employs different methods to get a student’s head back in the game. “Sometimes, I try to be more encouraging, while at other times, I’ll try to light a fire and get them to react. I’ve also had to take a step back and leave the kid alone. I am constantly trying different methods to get every student engaged.”

Having an open-minded approach when interacting with seemingly disinterested students appears to be the best way to tackle this issue in the classroom. But meeting with guardians to discuss a dancer’s loss of interest is usually the best route to address this issue overall.

Inspiring Accelerated Students

While less common, a dancer who naturally understands how to learn the art of dance may appear in the classroom. Prodigies often start in class with dancers their age and maturity level, but quickly excel beyond their peers. This can happen in a very short time, which may leave them bored if they have already mastered all of the lessons being taught. 

Getting to work with prodigious students is something Robinson gets to do every day. “Some of the most inspiring students are those who we started out teaching as younger kids. You can see their potential so clearly. They want to learn everything.”

In order to keep these dancers interested, he finds it important to mix things up. “We engage these students in conversation about what is inspiring to them. We teach them information outside lesson plans. We also love to give them opportunities to teach unexpectedly, giving them a creative moment to lead movement.”

Managing Classrooms With Diverse Learners

In larger-scale professional schools, where dancers have been vetted and placed into classes according to skill level, it is easier to teach to the group. But in many schools, students are mixed together more by age than skill. For this reason, classrooms can feel overwhelming as one navigates reaching every dancer in the room.

Rector is quite strategic when it comes to managing classes where some dancers are accelerated and others have fallen behind. “I have a range of students every year. Often, I want to pay more attention to the student who is behind, but it can be a difficult balance. I tend to choreograph to a student’s ability, so I break the class up. I have no problem teaching completely different combinations to two groups in the same class.”

When it comes to leading a classroom, it’s important to remember that teachers should feel empowered to adapt lesson plans to the dancers in front of them. Whether the entire class is on the same page or each dancer is coming in with a different skill set, the educator has the ability to make sure each dancer is engaged and learning regardless of any central expectation of ability.