So I'm a new dance teacher this year.. not entirely sure if this is a common problem, but I thought I'd share it.
My students -- all of them, from my 6 year olds to my tweens -- love to perform solos for me. They volunteer themselves for it! They'll ask me if they can show me what they've learned in our combo by themselves, for me and for the rest of the class. They all take turns doing this, which is awesome. And as soloists, for the most part their tapping is great! However, when I combine them back into a group, everything sort of falls apart. Their sounds are not together (even though they aren't off the music when soloing) and it seems like they forget what they're doing. Any advice for me?

Now, here's my second dilemma. My older tap class is 8-13 and they all switched from their old studio to mine this year. They're all already good friends... which means they can get really sound and really disrespectful really quickly! It's a joy to have them, don't get me wrong, but I'm relaxed with them because we're just recreational, but I still want to feel like we accomplish more than 40 minutes of tapping and 20 or more of clowning around. I have a really hard time enforcing myself because I look young myself and I'm just as energetic. I think I made a mistake by not starting out stern and earning their respect... but I don't know how to be mean, and now they see me as a peer instead of a teacher. Any tips for that?

Thanks guys!!

becky280 wrote:

So I'm a new dance teacher this year.. not entirely sure if this is a common problem, but I thought I'd share it.
My students -- all of them, from my 6 year olds to my tweens -- love to perform solos for me. They volunteer themselves for it! They'll ask me if they can show me what they've learned in our combo by themselves, for me and for the rest of the class. They all take turns doing this, which is awesome. And as soloists, for the most part their tapping is great! However, when I combine them back into a group, everything sort of falls apart. Their sounds are not together (even though they aren't off the music when soloing) and it seems like they forget what they're doing. Any advice for me?

Basically, tell them that most dancers will never have solos in the real world and the best dancers are not just soloists, they are team players. They must learn to listen to each other and the music and be in unison like a singing group or chorus.

Just keep making them to sections over and over, without music, and learn to listen to each other, then with music. Each time they fail, do it again.

From now on tell them you are not interested in their solo dancing, that if they cannot dance in unison, it does not matter how they dance alone.

Now, here's my second dilemma. My older tap class is 8-13 and they all switched from their old studio to mine this year. They're all already good friends... which means they can get really sound and really disrespectful really quickly! It's a joy to have them, don't get me wrong, but I'm relaxed with them because we're just recreational, but I still want to feel like we accomplish more than 40 minutes of tapping and 20 or more of clowning around. I have a really hard time enforcing myself because I look young myself and I'm just as energetic. I think I made a mistake by not starting out stern and earning their respect... but I don't know how to be mean, and now they see me as a peer instead of a teacher. Any tips for that?

Recreational does not mean easy dancing, just that they are not training for a career. Does that mean no discipline? Absolutely not. They must be quiet and have respect. Just start cracking down and do not back down.

Once you get a reputation of being a pushover, you will never gain their respect. Where I work now, it is all recreational but they expect discipline in the classes and we, the teachers, do it.

I agree with everything JLL said.
For your first dilemna - I always have a set warm-up for my tappers which helps their brains start to work in the right way and obviously helps them warm up for class. This warm-up is ALWAYS a capella - it forces them, from the very beginning to listen to each other and learn to dance together. Even my advanced kids do this. I don't let them learn a new part of the warm-up until the section prior to it is clean. My adv. kids are still learning and adding on to their warm-up. The younger ones of course have an easier warm-up combo, but are still expected to tap together. I also play lots of rhythm games and have my students improv and count our loud to identify the weaker counters. Make them count together during their different combos either - might be easier for them to hear that way.

I do set tap barre, too, and we do it with and without music. It does help to make it a regular exercise to work on listening. If they struggle with it, I will get them to learn to do clapping rhythms together. Once they realize that it is the same, it helps.