Will "one more time" REALLY help? Insights on Repetition in Tap Class

We all know the sayings, don't we?

Practice makes progress! Practice makes perfect!

But is it really true?

 

In a word: SOMETIMES.

 

We all loooooove to say “Again! One more time!” in our classes. So HOW we use repetition in our Tap classes is an important topic, especially when it comes to our Tap class lesson plans, and how we manage each class as our students are working to make progress on any exercise or piece of choreography.

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I remember an aspiring professional dancer taking my open Tap class at Broadway Dance Center in NYC, and saying:

“I tried for like 10 years at my home studio, but I still can’t do wings. Can you help me? I have a big audition coming up and I need to be ready.”  

 

So this dancer practiced wings for YEARS.

Rep after rep. Week after week. Year after year. 

Years of reps. 

Years of practicing that didn’t work. 😩

 We all know of situations like this, where practice did NOT make perfect at all.

Honestly, ineffective reps can be worse than not practicing at all, because muscle memory is created and reinforced with every poor rep. We know how hard it can be to turn things around when a student has poor technique habits. 

So how do we ensure that our Tap students are doing EFFECTIVE PRACTICE? 

In your lesson planning, I suggest you consider a few things.

 

1: Plan for quality over quantity. 

One cleanly executed wing is MUCH better than 8 consecutive wings where the sound and technique are off. Do not aim to teach a bunch of the choreography steps in one class without the rhythm, and think

“They’ve got the steps; they’ll get the timing later.”  👀

Why?

Because the number of phrases/bars/8-counts that you taught doesn’t matter if you taught a bunch of steps without clear rhythm and timing. Every rep counts. Reps of steps without clear rhythm & timing are poor reps, establishing poor habits. And because we often are lamenting how we don’t have enough time for Tap, we cannot afford to waste ANY rep.

OK, let me get off my soapbox 😅 and make this suggestion: 

 

Aim to teach a shorter section more fully & effectively, so that each rep is as accurate as possible. 

 

2: Give clear instructions to your students BEFORE they start the first rep. 

In my Tap Teachers’ Lounge teacher training signature framework, I focus heavily on the idea of INSTRUCTION. “Instruction” is the other way, besides demonstrating, that we get our students to understand our goals, standards, and approaches BEFORE they start to dance.  

💥 It is a very common mistake for Tap teachers to demonstrate, let the students try it, and then course-correct. This mistake causes a lot of frustration, confusion, and wasted reps. 

So with any given exercise, before they try, tell them:

• What goals you want them to reach
• How will they know when they’ve reached those goals
• What are the easiest ways for them to reach those goals

With clear and effective instruction, you set your Tap students up for much more success from the very first rep.

Need help building your instruction skills? Get on the waitlist for my online tap teacher training program, to get game-changing teaching skills.

 

3: Don’t settle; adjust.

 

We’ve all been there as Tap teachers…

The taps sound like popcorn 🍿 popping in the microwave. 

Their ankles are tighter than the front row of a dance convention class. 😅

You try to help - 📣 “Stop rushing!” “Relax your ankles!” 📣 - but the reps are still the same.

 

🤔 Do you move onto something else? Or do more reps? 

Here’s what I suggest.

 

Don’t leave an exercise on a sour note. If you do, it means that the time you spent on that exercise only established poor reps without progress. This can leave you and your students feeling discouraged. 

 

Adjust the reps so you focus on quality over quantity. Aim to make progress on a smaller quantity of work - a shorter section of the combo, fewer consecutive wings. If you make real progress, even on a smaller goal, that counts big time.

 

Improve your course-correcting skills. Saying things like “stop rushing” are common for Tap teachers, but not very effective. Give your students clear, tangible corrections, and watch the progress unfold before your very eyes. If you need help building your skills, get on the waitlist for my online tap teacher training program, The Tap Teachers’ Lounge.

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With these strategies and teaching habits, you can truly turn practice into progress & perfection! 

❤️ Progress is key to keeping our students encouraged and enthusiastic, so let’s set them up for the best chance to improve by giving them the most effective kinds of practice that we can! 

Choose a strategy from this article, try it out, and let me know how it goes!