How To Help Your Dancers Stay Motivated While They’re Dancing At Home
Here at Costume Gallery, in addition to preparing our new collection of competition, holiday and dance recital costumes for launch, we’ve spent the past few months getting to know our Dazzlers, the team of young, talented dancers who represent our brand.
We asked them about the biggest challenges they’ve faced, trying to hone their craft while dancing at home during COVID-19 quarantine. The overwhelming majority answered: “Staying motivated.”
Studio owners and dance educators have worked hard to adjust to social distancing and make remote dance classes productive and fun. However, once that Zoom video shuts off, how can you help your students keep their energy levels high? How can you encourage them to keep learning and growing outside of class, when they don’t have their friends around to push them?
Here are five tips for motivating dancers in these challenging times.
Stay In Touch
Check in regularly with your students, whether it’s via email or regular social media communication, just to let them know you care. It doesn’t even have to be about dance! Encourage them to contact you if they have questions about something you covered in class or need extra guidance to overcome a struggle. A little extra TLC can go a long way!
Assign Homework
Give your students new challenges to work on in between sessions. Whether it’s trying out a different genre, practicing a tricky combo, or anything outside their comfort zone, working to learn something new is a great motivator.
Encourage Collaboration
There’s nothing quite as powerful as the buddy system when it comes to pushing ourselves to work harder and accomplish more! Urge your students to schedule “dance dates” and collaborate with a friend, whether it’s one-on-one over Zoom or in a socially-distanced home or outdoor setting. You might even consider assigning them each a dance buddy to work with outside of class.
Foster Friendly Competition
Hold a virtual dance-off, asking each of your students to choreograph their own short piece and take video of themselves performing it. Use your studio’s Facebook or Instagram community as judges, allowing commenters to rate each video 1-10. Then, add up the points each video receives to determine the winner of the competition. The prize? Social media fame - and the pride and confidence that comes with overcoming a challenge, of course!
Take It Easy!
Remind your students that there’s more to life than dance, and pursuing their other passions will keep them fresh for when it’s time to hit the dance floor. They might be feeling a little burned out and need some time away from dance to rest their bodies, clear their minds, and have a little bit of fun!
“Movement” is the theme for Costume Gallery’s Season 21 catalog. We understand that in order to move forward and keep growing in dance and in life, we need a strong sense of purpose and exceptional leadership, but it also helps show ourselves some compassion from time to time.
As the fall season gets underway, dance teachers across the US will continue to grapple with the challenges of dancing through a pandemic. Whether it’s relocating in-studio performances outdoors or adjusting to heightened safety protocol at competitions, educators will have to find more innovative ways to keep their dancers safe, healthy, upbeat - and, of course, in step with the choreography.
With Costume Gallery’s stunning selection of contemporary dance costumes for competition, you won’t have to worry about finding the perfect looks for your upcoming performances. We invite you to check out our great selection of in-stock styles, AVAILABLE NOW right here on our website.
Stay tuned to our blog for more tips, tricks and inspiration, and remember to follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest to keep up to date on our latest styles!
