Many teachers briefly use the ballet barre or chairs in their Tap classes to help students work on wings, pullbacks, etc. It’s not the only way to teach those kinds of steps, but definitely a common approach. This is a quick and temporary use of the barre.  

In this article, I am more focused on the use of the ballet barre for more significant amounts of time in Tap class - for warmups, etc. 

If you use the barre in this more extended way, I want to offer this food for thought that might challenge the way you think about barre use, or it might make you feel more confident in your use of it! 

Here are several factors to consider, for Pre-K students, adults, and everyone in between. 

The Class Structure & Management Factor

Tap classes can feel especially tough to manage, especially when dealing with a class full of kids just straight-up making noise with their shoes!

And if teaching Tap isn’t the dance teacher’s strong suit, it can be easy to get on board with ANY tool or plan that...

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, or 

- doubt us as teachers. 

The more effective we are in "framing" our class activities,

the easier it is to get o...

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 ...

In your Tap class, are you telling your Tap students what’s “right” and what’s “wrong”? 

🤔 If you are…are you absolutely sure that YOU’RE correct?

Is “right/wrong” the ideal way to keep your students clear on the standards of Tap, and open to new ideas and approaches? 

As you consider ways to support students who are struggling to get used to the way you teach,

I want you to consider a wider range of vocabulary, beyond “right/wrong”, as you introduce new things, so that when that new student is stuck on “their” way of doing things, you have more language you can use that can validate their past experience, while also opening them up to the new approach you're offering. 

Here’s what I mean.

“Right/Wrong” vs “Effective/Ineffective” vs “Common/Uncommon”

Inside my training program The Tap Teachers’ Lounge: Comprehensive Online Tap Teacher Training that Works, one thing that we focus heavily on is “Tap Student Development”. This is all about how we help our students beco...

You got new Tap students…yay!!

But right away you realize that they have some habits from their past teacher(s) that you find questionable or problematic. 👀 Tight ankles, wonky rhythms, straight legs…oh my!

This can happen within a studio/program with multiple Tap teachers and their individual approaches, when you start teaching at a new studio, or it can happen when students join your program after studying elsewhere.

No matter which way, this can feel like quite the pickle, right?

The situation can get even more awkward if the students insist on their way over yours.

Arms folded. Confused faces. Awkward silence. Yikes.

I know I’ve been stumped by this in the past. 

A few things that I encourage fellow Tap Teachers to do are 

1. Frame “new training” from the beginning,
2. Show respect for the students’ past experiences no matter what they are, and
3. Avoid leaving too much time for “debate”. Count ‘em in…5-6-7-8! 😅

ONE: “Frame” new training from the start. 

There w...

We've all gotten these Qs. NOW, be prepared to anticipate & answer with clarity & confidence that truly supports your students!!

(looking for online tap teacher training? click here for info) 

Instead of feeling caught off-guard or anxiously dreading the questions (like I used to), start the season off with proactive communication about your Tap program’s class levels, standards & goals!

Answer the questions before they're even asked! Be the "go-to" guide ❤️ for your awesome Tap students and their families by providing the clarity they want and deserve. 

Need help putting your thoughts together?

This video is for you (captions available if you want to watch on mute).

 (looking for online tap teacher training? click here for info) 

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 Jackie something that she didn’t know about Tap dance? Does this intrigue Jackie, who is the final decision-maker in this...

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 that might be the best response.), and I get that…

BUT!