I have a class of competitive dancers ages 8-9. Most have been dancing competitively for 3 years but only dancing 1-2 hours a week. Anyhow, I'm really struggling with them and staying in their formations and lines...help...?? any suggestions?
thanks in advance.

Do you have any type of markings on the floor? I would try that. This age has trouble making a straight line! LOL!

Yes we do..lol...but than we get to competition or a performance and they are lost ..lol ohh goodness

I always use the other dancers to make windows. So Suzie stands between Marcie and Lisa in a window. I always make sure to turn my dancers to face the back of the room and will sometimes have them dance it in the parking lot so they are used to dancing in a lot of different spaces. It helps them become more spacially aware of their surroundings. Hope that was understandable.

^^^ Exactly. Try to make all of their formations in relation to the other dancers, not to floor markings.

I also flip my kids around and disorient them so they can adjust to different settings.

^^^ Agree also. I found out who was actually learning the choreography and who was depending on the dancer in front of them by having them dance the combinations to the back, the side. The dancers who pushed themselves to know the steps could attend to their position in relation to the other dancers.

I also do the windows thing to help them, diagonal lines are "stairs", in a circle they look at the outside shoulder of the person in front of them to keep the circle round and big enough.
What I find that helps is start them in class in formations, when you work in the center spread them out into two or three lines every time and have them see their windows and in the mirror and lines side to side with the other students in class. They will work on it in class and then be more accustomed to it when they are onstage.

Same as above but also you can make a game out of it...run the dance and stop and start the music randomly like freeze dance. Everyone has to be in their place...if not they have to adjust and start over. I wouldn't eliminate like the freeze dance game because the weak ones won't learn but instead make it a team building game. Set a goal...If they can get through 1 minute of the dance start and stopping and not having to fix everyone they get an extra sticker, etc. Practice formations for the section you play the game for prior to playing so they are all thinking really hard about it. That way the formations are really being focused on but also the group is trying to get through something together. I find it also makes each kid aware of the big picture because they are looking not only at their spot but also concerned all of their friends are right as well. They tend to understand the whole formation because of it.

I just tape them together in the right formation.
(KIDDING!)

Once I saw at a recital of a competitor that the stagefloor was covered with several big white taped lines (to get the kids in the right spot). It looked like a gymfloor.
I knew the technicians of that theatre well and later I told them how amazed I was by that taped floor. They said: "Yeah, we considered to put a net on stage so we could play some volleyball."