How do you teach kids to count (in dance)? Anyone have any good ways or activities to teach this. I will tell them the counts and say them while they are dancing but they just don't get it. What do I do?

I play different rhythm games with them. One is that I clap a pattern and they must copy me. I will change the pattern every few times, getting them to learn to listen. Then, when teaching the beats, I do it the same way, that they must copy, by listening, not just counting. Most kids eventually get it.

Google 'rhythm stick songs' and a bunch of pre-made rhythm songs will come up. Especially nice when they're little, but some of the songs transition to older classes to. With my tap classes we do what JLL does, we play call and repeat. I clap a rhythm, they copy. I'll make them interesting by not just changing the pattern but using claps, snaps, patting the legs, banging on the floor and tapping their feet. For instance: clap...clap...clap,clap,snap or pat,pat,pat...clap,clap,clap, stamp, stamp. It makes them think about the rhythm and also keeps them from getting too bored. We'll also pass the clap. We sit in a circle and I clap 4x, the dancer next to me claps 4x, etc and then when it's back to me we do two claps, then we do 1 clap and the idea (and I explain this) is that if someone had their eyes shut, they'd hear a steady rhythm and wouldn't know that x number of people were taking turns.

As they get older you can pas the timestep. Start with R side single stomp timestep, next person L side single stomp, next person R side single stomp, next person break, next person start with R double stomp timestep, etc... Helps them learn their time steps and keeps them focused on the rhythm and timing. Also more advanced students can do a nursery rhyme. Using shading and clear sounds they pick out a nursery rhyme and the other students have to guess: flap flap (done as brush step) shuffle slam (twin-kle, twin-kle little star). It's interesting to hear what they come up with.

I do clapping exercises at the ends of my tap lessons too (mostly for the younger ones). Start by making sure they can clap to the beat, then encourage them to say "one two three four" in time to the claps.

Once they've got that, I get them to clap on only one count - one, or three, or two etc. I switch this around so they need to watch how many fingers I'm holding up.

Then I split them up into groups - group A might count on 1, group B might count on three. If I have enough I split them up into 4 groups so each group claps on a separate beat (this is my kids' favourite one!)

With the 8's and up, I start using "ands" - eg 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and. I also quiz students in class by asking things like "what's the timing for a tap step heel?" (A: "and 1, 2").

I'm having this problem more with older kids like 9-12 year olds not really the younger ones. They used to have a different teacher and now I have them and I'm stuck.

I'm not sure how these exercises aren't helpful then? Call repeat and basic clapping on the beat isn't just for little kids - drill them on finding the beat, finding 1/2, finding 1/4, double time, triple time, triplet rhythm. Give them a simple rhythm combo across the floor - four pt riff, five pt riff, six pt riff clap (1 2 3 4, 5 6 7 8 1, 2 3 4 5 6 7,8) or 3pt crawl clap, 3 pt crawl clap, 3pt crawl, 3pt crawl, 3 pt crawl, 3 pt crawl, chug chug chug, snap (1 2 3, 4, 5 6 7, 8, 1 2 3, 4 5 6, 7 8 1, 2 3 4, 5+6, (7), 8). Use your hip hop playlist and give them a strong downbeat to follow. I love using Frank Sinatra and swing and big band, but sometimes it's also fun to pull out something that hits a little harder.

Sumayah wrote:

We sit in a circle and I clap 4x, the dancer next to me claps 4x, etc and then when it's back to me we do two claps, then we do 1 clap...

Along the same lines as this, pick a count 1-8 and have the kids clap only on that count. Usually I start with clapping on counts 1 and 5. So it goes "CLAP hold hold hold CLAP hold hold hold". Then pick different counts to make it harder. It forces them to count in their head. You can also start by saying the counts out loud together if its too hard.

Once they get the hang of this, start a song and then turn the volume down, but let them keep clapping and see if they are still in rhythm when you turn the music back up.

I forgot to mention^^ You can do this same sort of thing with just walking. Have them walk on the beat to a song (sometimes that is hard enough). Then pick a count (1-8) that they have to freeze on.

So say you pick count 3. They would go 'walk walk FREEZE walk walk walk walk walk' (1 2 FREEZE 4 5 6 7 8).

Make it a game. Add more freeze counts in. See who can last the longest.

I learned a great visual exercise to explain counting when I was in college as a dance ed major:

Use 3 different colors of construction paper. Leave one paper whole--this represents one beat of music. Cut another in half--this represents "1&". Cut another into 4 equal pieces--this represents "1e&a". From looking at the papers, the kids can easily see that the papers that are cut up still end up being the same size as the whole one; this helps them understand that the counts are just ways of dividing up a beat of music, but that each beat is the same duration.

You can then have them clap the different counts. You can also mix up the pieces of paper to create different rhythmic patterns, & have them either clap or tap them. Yet another exercise can be to do a step, say an Irish in tap, and have the kids assemble the pieces of paper that represent that pattern "a1&2."

I've also drawn what looks like a ruler on the wipe-off board, & labeled the 1-inch marks with numbers, which represent the beats. The half-inch marks are the "&'s," and the quarter-inch marks are the "e's" and "a's." The we'll take different steps that we all know (again, this is usually a tap lesson) and draw dots under the appropriate marks on the ruler to show the pattern in a visual way.

Hope these suggestions make sense & are helpful! That said, I do believe that some brains take to counting naturally, & others do not. I stress to the kids that although counting is very helpful, it is not used by all instructors or choreographers, so it's good to learn from many teachers so they can adapt to those who count as well as to those who don't.