Dance Facilitator

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A facilitator of a creative dance workshop should consider many things while planning a creative dance workshop. They must prepare for having dancers with different learning styles, capabilities, and backgrounds. A dance workshop should always promote equality, confidence, and creative development. Flexibility of teaching styles as well as flexibility of behaviour are key skills for a facilitator to have, so they can provide the best possible experience for everyone taking part.

To successfully promote equality, it is important to understand the inequalities that may arise in a workshop. Once the facilitator knows what techniques to use to avoid alienating anyone it becomes far easier to create an equal safe environment for their dancers. …show more content…

Promoting this is very important because one of the main keys to being a successful dancer is confidence. A facilitator must ensure they create a welcoming class ethos so everyone is at their most comfortable. The students must feel confident enough to ask questions and make mistakes, so they can grow and develop as dancers. When dancers start to become more confident this spreads through the class, and it is important to maintain this “buzz” as it promotes a “can-do” attitude in the workshop environment. When dancers know they can develop their talents through commitment and perseverance this is a growth mindset (Dweck, C. 2006). In a dance workshop it is important to promote a growth mindset so the dancers can develop to their fullest potential. In addition, a facilitator must also work to ensure the confidence levels in their dancers grow, to the point where they no longer feel their education should happen purely during class times (Brookfield, S. 2013). However, if a teacher is not comfortable during a workshop then this attitude will catch on. To successfully develop the dancers to their fullest potential the facilitator must also be confident. They must be well prepared and sure of the lesson and the direction they want to take it in. As Marion Gough …show more content…

Often many dancers will shy away from dancing in front of others, both adults and children alike, and some will even refuse to perform alone and in front of an audience. To tackle this a teacher should make sure their students understand why and what they are doing. The easiest way for most people to learn is through repetition. The aim is to transfer the choreography and rhythm from the short-term memory to the long-term memory. After time the dance will start to become engrained in the muscle memory, meaning the body already knows what to do without help from the brain in response to the rhythmic stimulus. This repetition helps to increase confidence and wellbeing levels in dancers because the fear of forgetting choreography goes away. This in turn should result in more dancers willing to perform. To further build confidence it is important for dancers to perform regularly. In a workshop for young children it could be as simple as inviting parents into the class for the last five minutes, giving the children the opportunity to show off their hard work. In an adult class, it could be as simple as splitting the dancers up into smaller groups and having them perform for each other, or dancers could film themselves performing which aids positive self- confidence. As dancers increase with confidence a facilitator could start to make groups smaller and smaller until they are dancing

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