Does anyone know any fun poems are "sayings" that follow basic dance and help kids remember basic dance terms? For example, like pretend the cat is chasing the mouse when you are doing chasses across the dance floor?

umm... I definitely use the cat chasing mouse visual. I really can't think of many more that I use except..
*think of an elevator for eleve....
*I use the birthday cake 'story' for 1-5 arm positions...
That's about all.. not really poems or sayings though

I use:
"out the door" for endeour
"In the pond" for endedan
"not tuche" when their rear ends are sticking out in plie, I call their backside tuch, reminds me of touche.
"jump over the pond" when teaching grand jete
I haven't used this, but have heard it:
"let your roots grow into the ground" to help with feet expanding and holding releve, makes the younger students grow
"clean the floor" to remind students to keep feet on floor when doing tendus
"push the penny" also to help wiht tendus on the floor, I actually start by having students push a penny under their middle toe when doing tendus.

I think that's all for now. I always am coming up with more, have to think about it some more...

I like the penny idea! I JUST started tendu last week with my little ones and they were having a hard time with the whole 'keep the foot on the floor' idea... so I had the girls 'draw a line with their pencils' and then 'erase' the whole line before closing in 1st again... the visual actually worked! I was proud of myself! But hmm... I might just bring in some pennies on Wednesday!
I also have the girls 'park their cars in the garage' for 3rd position feet... but if anyone has a better one, I'd love to hear it!!
(great post idea by the way!)

what is the birthday cake story for arm positions? Thanks

I also used "out the door" for En Dehors, Jump over the river for grand jete, touch your nose to your toes for butterfly stretches, Play your piano for straddle stretches.

Hands on your hips, Smile on your lips.

Thats all I can think about for now.

Miss Merry

Dancebear, the idea of the penny is not only that they have to push it, but it gets warm with friction. I learned this a few years ago through another teacher and love it. i use it with older students who think they are keeping their feet on the ground. Obviously, if the penny is not warm their tendus were not on the floor

I would also like to know what the cake for the arm positions is.
I also think that if you can make-up your own word makes the students associate the word with the action or step and helps them.
Thanks,

liv2dnz - thanks for the clarification! My little ones might like that one too!..
The birthday cake 'story' is as follows (how I talk the kids through it)

1st - set your birthday cake in front of you on the table (and I remind them it's a little table so they don't think it's a table taller than them) Blow your candles out (reminds them to "hide" their thumbs)
2nd - cut the cake into two halves - so we can share
3rd - put one half of the cake on top of the fridge and save it for later
4th - put your half of the cake on the table in front of you but don't let the other piece drop! (I let them take a little bite from their cake if they've been listening and then hurry it back on the table before anyone sees!)
5th - put the rest on top of the fridge so we can save it for dessert.

Now, it's not the BEST story but the kids remember the sequence, which helps. Also, be careful to know that all of the children in the class actually celebrate birthdays ( I have not had any students that don't) but, if you're worried, just bake a cake, doesn't have to be for a birthday!

this is a song...

suzy saute loves to jump, never landing with a thump, beginning and ending in plie, but in the air her legs are straight.

Thanks for the cake story! And Suzie's song!I want to hear more...

I'll try the pennies as well, thank you! I'd like to see how warm they really get.

Guess I should do some tendus myself then!

Another tendu 'image' is imagining a piece of gum stuck to the bottom of the toe and trying to stretch it out. We say "sticky sticky tendu" and it even worked with the little ones. They like the part where you chew up the "gum" and stick it to your shoe.

Out the door - en dehors
Come in John - en dedans
make a window for plie with the littles (ages 3 & 4) to get them to keep their knees open

We also talk about a little mouse who lives under your foot - if the students roll in on their feet, the will squish the mouse - helps them to keep the arches lifted in stationary positions.

My old ballet teacher used to tell us to pretend the barre was a cat - you don't want to hurt him, so you only put your hand gently on it (don't grip the barre).

Additional question then -- Is there a way you convince your kinder kids to not LEAN on the barre... when they hang from the barre I tell them we aren't monkeys we're ballerinas.. but, when they are working on plie and tendu at the barre facing it, they like to stand SO close they couldn't possible tendu and I can't get them out of the habit... any advice?

Sorry can't help with that, but if you maybe tell them to play that it's hot, like hot potato?
I forgot, but I also use ( borrowed from other teachers)
- diamond for plies, the legs look like diamond,
- pentagons for 2nd grand plie,
- For the older girls:
the floor is hot for piques at the barre (this helps them feel their leg light and accent up, vs. just leaving it on the floor)
- "reach for what you want"- so stundents do not cut under themselves for piques, I always tell them to imagine that one thing they really want, just away from their reach and they need to reach for it. Helps them understand how to move the hips over their leg.

Hope this helps!

If my kids lean on the barre when it's not for practcing or actually doing the exercise, they do push-ups, even the wee ones (though they're more belly-ups at that age). The whole class does them, even me, so after a few times of it happening they remember and remind eachother not to lean.

Also here's some of my anaolgies that I found myself using this weekend

To correct rolling feet, I named their big toe Bob and baby toe Henry and told them that they must love them equally and not play favourites in tendus and plies otherwise Henry would get sad.

To work on posture, I have them lie on the floor with knees bent like for a sit up. We then put a (pretend) screw on our bellybutton and (pretend to) screw our belly button into the floor. While holding that they open they legs into a butterfly (aka frog) stretch without their belly button changing (or their back swaying). Then when they stood up they had to keep their belly button screwed in.

Another one for posture for little ones is I tell them they are a grilled cheese sandwich and they don't want the cheese (their tummies) to spill out.

For thumbs tucked in, we kiss them goodnight at the beginning of class and tuck them into the bed.

For jumps, when they all jump at different times I tell them they look like popcorm so I'll have to cover them with butter and eat them.

As far as the OP's original question, I don't have a lot of hints to remember names of steps. The one I do have is echappe, which means escape, I tell them about the part in Finding Nemo when Dorie reads the word escape and says es-cap-ay and that helps them remember the meaning.

I'm sure as I get back into teaching I'll think of more

At The barre when doing plies. We are bread and if you stick you bottom or stomach out you get burnt. Sometimes it works.