What is The Holistic Approach to Play in the Dance Studio?

 

One of the turning points in my career as a dance teacher was when I learned to embrace play in the dance studio as a teaching method. Early in my teaching career, play felt frivolous, to be honest. Yes, I threw the occasional dance game into the mix as a reward for good behavior or to placate a rowdy class. But I always treated play in the dance studio as a sort of “extracurricular” thing – not a valuable learning tool in and of itself.

That all started to change around 2011, when I studied dance teaching methods and pedagogy as part of the MFA Dance program at the University of Maryland. I learned about child development, higher order thinking skills, and social and emotional learning through dance. I quickly realized there was much more to dance education than simply teaching technique, and I decided change the way that I taught in order to instill these other important skills in my dance students.

After a lot of trial and error, I began to embrace the idea of incorporating play into my dance classes as part of a more holistic approach to dance training. Through play, my dance students discovered a better understanding of dance technique, expressed themselves and grew as performers, and learned valuable social, emotional, and life skills. Most importantly, play helped my dance students become more comfortable in the dance studio, stay engaged in their dance training, relieve stress, and find more joy in dance.

The Holistic Approach to Dance Education was born from these formative teaching and learning experiences, with play becoming an important part of how I approach my classes. The Holistic Dance Teacher Approach recognizes that dance students learn through play, and incorporating play into our dance classes can help dancers grow in dance technique, develop their artistry, and improve their overall wellbeing. Play is one way that we honor the individuality of each student, celebrate community, and work to cultivate a more positive dance culture.

In this blog post, you’ll learn all about play in the dance studio: what it is, the benefits of incorporating play and dance games into your classes, strategies for using play and dance games in your classes. 

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What exactly is play in the dance studio?

 

I believe that play is the number one tool that you can use to create an encouraging, effective, and joyful dance experience for your dance students, all season long. Playful dance teaching methods and class activities encourage creativity, imagination, personal expression, teamwork, and the development of new skills in enjoyable and entertaining ways. Play in the dance studio may look like: 

• gamification of traditional class activities
• dance games
• imagination-based activities
• creative movement and improvisation
• story dances
• experimentation
• visualization and imagery
• races, challenges, and competitions

Play is described by the Encyclopedia on Early Childhood Development as “a spontaneous, voluntary, pleasurable and flexible activity involving a combination of body, object, symbol use and relationships.” Growrie Early Education Centers reminds us that: “Play isn’t just one thing. It changes over time as children master new skills and reach new stages in their development. Play is chasing a butterfly around the garden as much as it is dressing up as a lion. It’s building a tower with blocks or making music with a box.”

Throughout childhood and adolescence, children engage in different kinds of play, such as independent and group play, structured and free play, constructive and creative play, imaginative play and competitive play. In the dance studio, dancers can engage in these same kinds of play:

• Independent play can look like improvisation and creative movement exploration
• Dance games involve structured group play
• Choreography exercises are an example of creative play
• Gamification involves competitive play
• Story dances are an example of imaginative play
• Visualization and imagery incorporates elements of independent and creative play
• Constructive play is used when solving movement problems

 

What are the benefits of incorporating play in the dance studio?

 

As Fred Rodgers once said, ““Play is often talked about as if it were a relief from serious learning. But for children, play is serious learning.” Research indicates that students of all ages learn through play, and play can help children can develop important social,  cognitive, and emotional skills. The benefits of incorporating play into your dance classes include:

• Fostering creative skills like open-mindedness, making observations and connections, imagination
• Promoting social skills like communication, compromise, conflict resolution, and teamwork
• Cultivating cognitive growth and healthy brain development
• Offering emotional benefits, such as resilience, persistence, and agency
• Encouraging independence, personal empowerment, and leadership
• Helping dance students learn and review dance skills and concepts
• Empowering dance students to develop their own understanding of dance technique, beyond repetition
• Keeping dance students motivated, engaged, and interested in their dance learning throughout the year, especially during stressful times and holiday seasons
• Helping dance students gain self-confidence as they engage in new experiences and meet new physical and mental challenges.
• Giving dance students a way to relieve stress and fight burnout 
• Introducing novelty, which has been linked to the production of dopamine that can support learning outcomes

 

How can you incorporate play in the dance studio?

 

The National Institute for Play states that “Play is a biological state that arises when we are freely engaged, curious, and absorbed in an activity for its own sake. It is defined not by what we are doing, but by how and why we’re doing it.”

I believe that we can incorporate play into the dance studio both through our state of mind AND through intentional, thoughtfully designed activities like dance games and gamification. A playful state of mind in dance is one that is open to exploration, experimentation, and process over perfection. In the dance studio, this might look like a focus on learning through dance improvisation over drills, trial and error over rote repetition, and student-guided discovery.

In addition to a playful state of mind, you can also use structured dance activities like dance games, creative movement prompts, and challenges. It is important to note that dance students may respond better to certain kinds of play, depending on their age and development.

• Younger dance students generally respond to playful lesson plans that use story-telling, imagery, and pretend play.
• Elementary dance age students can be highly competitive, and may respond well to challenges and friendly competition.
• Middle school dance students often appreciate the use of technology and references to current pop culture trends.
• High school dance students like the nostalgia of throw-back games and activities that tap into self-expression.

 

Examples of play in the dance studio

 

Gamification 

Gamification is defined as “the application of typical elements of game playing (e.g. point scoring, competition with others, rules of play) to other areas of activity.” In the dance studio, gamification involves turning traditional exercises or activities into a game. For example, you might have the dancers see who can balance the longest at the end of a barre exercise in ballet, or see who can travel the fastest across the floor.  Here are some fun and easy ways to “gamify” your lesson plans to incorporate more play in the dance studio: Using Gamification in Your Dance Classes

Dance games

Dance games are trendy these days, but many dance teachers only use them as a reward for good behavior or a way to fill time at the end of class. The reality is that thoughtfully crafted and designed dance games can help dancers learn through play. Educational dance games can be used to help students:

• • Learn new dance skills and concepts
  • Review material that they have learned throughout the year
  • Develop their own understanding of dance technique
  • Cooperate and collaborate with others
  • Develop leadership skills

In The Holistic Dance Teacher Resource Shop, you’ll find a variety of dance games to use in your classes through the year, including the Celebrate! Seasons and Holidays Collection, Classics Reimagined: Dance Games and Activities Collection, and the Team-Building and Team Bonding Dance Games and Activities Collection.

 

Creative movement explorations

We often think of creative dance as the domain of the preschool crowd, but creative movement explorations are a great way to incorporate play into dance classes with dancers of all ages and skill levels. In creative movement explorations, dancers use  prompts to explore dance elements like space, time, force, body, movement, and form. Creative dance offers dancers freedom of choice and personal exploration, contributing to a sense of playfulness and fun that keep students engaged and learning in new ways. My favorite strategies for using creative dance come from Anne Green Gilbert. Check out her book Creative Dance for All Ages!

 

Story dances

Story dances are another hallmark of preschool dance classes. But, like creative movement explorations, they can be a fun addition to classes with dancers of different ages. They are ideal for developing the skills that dancers need to create and collaborate on their own choreography. Story dances may involve:

• Reading a children’s book and exploring the story through movement. Some of my favorites include How Do You Wokka-Wokka?, Boogie Monster, and DANCE! (which was my kids’ personal favorite!)
• Dancing to a follow along song like “We’re Going on a Bear Hunt” or “The Goldfish Song” (or just about anything by The Laurie Berkner Band!)
• Creating a story as a class and acting it out with movement

 

Imagination-based activities 

Imagination-based activities, similar to creative movement explorations and story dances, use elements of imaginative and creative play. These kinds of activities can help dancers develop artistry and performance skills. Dancers learn to express a mood and embody a character through imagination-based activities. Examples of imagination-based activities include:

• Exploring great narrative ballets and dancing like the characters (The book A Child’s Introduction to Ballet can be a helpful tool for this!)
• Using improvisation prompts that involve imagination, such as “Environment Dances” found in The Holistic Collection of Dance Improvisation Prompts and Activities
• Playing games like Charades that encourage dancers to dance like different characters or dance as if they are in different situations

 

Visualization and imagery

I consider visualization and imagery to be play-based teaching tools that help encourage a playful state of mind in dance. While these methods may not be play in the traditional sense, I believe that they are tied to the concept of play and can be considered one important way that we use play in the dance studio.

BetterHelp describes visualization as “the process of picturing in your mind the things that you want in and out of your life,” and states that “During visualization, you focus on attaining them and think about what it would be like if you achieved those goals.” This process relies on imagination, creativity, and a playful mindset. Visualization helps dancers to unlock the potential for their own performance, make connections between dance and the world around them, and imagine the possibilities in choreography. This article from Dance Magazine offers strategies for including visualization in your dance practice.

Dance teachers use imagery in different ways. For example, I encourage dancers to use a specific movement quality with metaphors like, “Move as if you are dancing through a cloud.” I try to help dancers understand anatomical cues with imagery like, “Imagine the top of your head floating up to the sky,” to help them lengthen the cervical spine. With young dancers, I describe plié as our charging port, where we power up our jumps and turns. Irene Dowd’s book Taking Root to Fly is one of the pivotal texts on imagery in dance. Erik Franklin’s Dance Imagery for Technique and Performance can be another helpful tool.

 

Let’s connect!

• What are some of the ways that you incorporate play in the dance studio? I’d love to learn from you … share your thoughts and ideas in the comments!
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