Sure, when families visit class you can have them quietly observe a usual class and tell them their kids are doing great. 

But if you leave it there, you’re missing a huge opportunity. Huge. 

Think of it: you actually have the parents in your class as a CAPTIVE AUDIENCE. They’re watching, they’re listening! This is a fantastic chance to reinforce an expanded view of Tap dance and Tap dance study, so grab this chance! 

I just had a family observation day in my classes a few days ago, so I’ll share with you some of the main ideas I put out there that left the parents excited & impressed by what their kids are learning. 

WHAT You’re Teaching

I broke down a few key fundamental parts of the class - the history component, the musicality instruction, the footwork/technique, the improvisation, etc. 

I took each of the components and shared some detail about them. 

History: I shared the broad strokes of the...

Looking forward to the next in-studio workshop, convention, or festival? Let's think about how the student experience can be enhanced with dance history!

Looking for age-appropriate strategies for introducing dance history in your dance classes? Click here for info on my Roots, Rhythm, Race & Dance program for Dance Educators!

Since we turned 3 years old, we all had the question: WHY????? 

It seems to be a part of human nature as we grow. And as educators, it’s important for us to remember that the WHY question doesn’t go away, and it WILL show up in our classes in more ways than one.

In both the Tap Teachers’ Lounge training program & my Roots, Rhythm, Race & Dance course for dance history, I offer a concept called “framing”.

How do we “frame” any lesson or exercise?

To “frame” is to answer the WHY question, before it is even asked. 

What’s the point of this warm-up? 

What’s the point of this drill & repetition?

What’s the point of improv? 

And of course…

What's the point of learning dance history? 

If we aren’t able to effectively answer the WHY question, then our students can start to 

- disengage, 

- doubt the value of the lesson,

- doubt the training as a whole,...

As an aspiring performer in NYC, I realized very early-on how uninformed I was about Tap dance history and culture.

I couldn’t hold a basic conversation with anyone about a dance form that I had studied for YEARS. There were times when I was around Tap dance “greats” & had no clue who they really were. I felt a kind of quiet, but very real embarrassment inside. I knew so little, AND I didn’t know what I didn’t know. 

It just felt OFF, very “out-of-alignment”.  

This definitely affected my teaching. In my early days as an educator, I taught very little history I’m sad to say. I didn’t know what to tell my students about Tap dance history. On top of that, I was a novice Tap teacher who didn’t have the skills to teach technique & clean routines efficiently, so there wasn’t even TIME for history. So in those ways, many of my students were short-changed.

Over time, I gradually gained more knowledge....

Question: How can we help students to understand how valuable, how awesome, how FUN Tap dance can be??

Short answer: We tell them & we show them!

This article will focus largely on what we say. (What we SHOW/DO is a whole ‘nother big topic.)

So…What EXACTLY do we tell them? 

PICTURE JALEN & HIS MOM

Imagine that 5-year-old Jalen and his mother Jackie have come to your Open House and said that the kid wants to do Hip-Hop. 

You offer a combo class that is ½ Hip Hop & ½ Tap, but Jackie isn’t sure that Jalen will like the Tap part of the class.

How can you get them excited about Tap dance? 

Let’s play out a couple of scenarios.

SCENARIO ONE

You say: 

“In Tap class, Jalen will get to make noise/sounds/rhythms with his feet! Lots of fun!” 

OK. ‍ This is true…but what real value or benefit does this actually convey?  Does this tell...

August 10, 2022

Zoom in on this post screen shot...

There are just waaaaaay too many stories like this one, aren't there? ‍

This is a story fresh from the community of Tap teachers I’m working with inside my Tap Teachers’ Lounge online training program. 

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THE BACKGROUND LOW-DOWN

"L "is a new Tap teacher at this studio.

She has inherited students with ineffective Tap technique, so she is focusing on rhythm & rudiment fundamentals, as we are in the Lounge.  

And within a few weeks of the start of the season, here is a very negative response. It’s only one parent, but you know how loud that small minority of negative responses can be. 

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A LESSON IN DISGUISE?

Now, sometimes in dance teacher groups we might advise that, at this point, it’s simplest to maintain our boundaries by showing this parent the door. (I don’t know this parent, so...