Trying New Games.

I haven't been sure where to start with this blog since I'm a few weeks into the dance year already and I have learned a million things so far. But I decided to just start where I am, and fill in the blanks where necessary.

I have a particularly trying 4/5 year Tap/Ballet class. Not because they're not wonderful, but because I've never been great with small children. In addition, I have one sweet little dancer who is very chatty, wants to talk to me a lot, and has a hard time staying with the class and just wants to dance around on her own. These are the things I tried this week that seemed to help a lot.

• Simon/Teacher Says
• To review the ballet positions or moves we have already learned, I decided to play Simon Says. This is especially fun with this group of girls because they are still really learning how to play this game ie. they aren't too smart for it. :)
• Follow the Leader
• We also played Follow the Leader with one step in ballet and one step in tap. This is a great way to get them to practice steps, but also they are playing a game. In addition it is great to be able to pick those girls who are behaving well to be leaders, so it can be a good behavioral incentive. 
• Flower dance
• Instead of the cool-down I regularly do (I am a hawk about cool downs) I did this. I put on a pretty ballet song and they pretended they were seeds. Once I came over and watered them, they grew up into flowers and could dance however they wanted as flowers. Sometimes I would tell them the wind was blowing or the sun was shining, etc., so they could react to that. Then I touched them one by one to tell them to go to sleep. Then we all came together in a big flower (a circle with our toes pointed to each other in the middle) and we opened and closed the flower a few times before our ending bow. 

Another thing I have tried to do with my sweet dancer with a big imagination and a small attention span is give her clear options. She can choose to dance with us or sit down on a chair at the front of the room. She wasn't perfect, but she was much better than last week! She loves to dance so I know she will improve, she already has in three weeks! I think I will try to let them do more creative dancing, allowing them to move as they like, because she really enjoys that quite a bit. 

Also, I pretty much exclusively played Call Me Maybe for them today. Maybe that's why they were so good. :)