Heyy guys i am teaching the adult tap and jazz classes this year and i have never taught them before. I think i am okay with the tap class because there are a million steps to teach. I am getting very stuck with the jazz class. I only have 2 parents in the class and they have very limited movement. Anything with jumping is limited. I have kept it very basic. We have done chaisse(sp?), jazz square, pivot turns, pirouettes and lindy ball changes but i feel like the class is dragging on and gettign boring. Do you have any ideas of some basic steps i could do with them. I am open to all suggestions at this point!!

Thanks so much
Jen

I was coming on this morning to ask the very same question. Only exception is my adult students are not limited - they are talented dancers, but in other genres. Any help would be appreciated. Any fun jumps, turns, stretches???

Our ladies class is a wide range of levels and ages. We start with a 4-5 minute warm-up to music. Lots of isolations and stretching on the floor. We do a lot of kick combos across the floor, alternating the working leg each time we go across. We also do turns, Chaine'& pique', singles and doubles. Then combo chaine, chaine, pique. I have even thrown in a little hip hop moves. Our ladies love that. Last night we started our warm-up at the barre doing plies and tendus. They enjoyed that for something different.

With my ladies I do:
Chaines, Piques, Battements, Pirouettes, Pencil turns, Compass turns, Chasses, Single turning Chasse, Jazz walks, Pas de bourres, Double stags, Tuck jumps, Grande Jetes, Cross-ball-changes, and combinations using all of these steps.

I started with them more beginners, but I work on it and they progress pretty quickly. I have ages 24-63. Their leaps aren't great, but they have gotten better by working each week. Their chaines are awesome, their Tuck jumps are darn good.

Here's the outline for my adult jazz class. Its an hour and a half long and they have had previous experience but maybe it can inspire you.

We start with a simple cardio routine to get the heart going.That lasts one song.
Then I do a simple stretch combined with push-ups.
Then we do some plies in 2nd, and some easy stretches forward and back. Warming up the back and continuing the stretches from before.
Tendues, rond de jambe, grands battement, developpes, grade rond de jambe en l'air.
Kick combo with tricep push-ups.
Floor stretch, including downward dog.
Sit-ups.
Pirouttes (quarter turns x4, half turns x 2, single, double). That takes around 45 minutes.
Accross the floor, turns, jumps, walks etc in various combinations. I spend 15-20 minutes on that.
Routine that I change up every 3 or 4 weeks to get a different style with. The routine will pretty much use the rest of the class time up. I try and putin a quick cool down between 3-5 minutes right at the end.

Now. as I said, these are adults that have had previous dance experience and I've built them up to this over the course of a year. I use music from various ages, but they particularly like it when I use new music not stuff from the 80's/90's. As for routines, realize that going down to the floor and getting up off it isn't going to be as easy or quick as with teenagers. For choreography, I use pirouettes, chaines, pique turns, stag leaps, grand jete's, hitch kicks, fans, layouts, tuck jumps, styled walks, pencil turns. Play with different styles. Lyrical, broadway, street jazz, latin etc. By using a different style for a combo that will help with ideas for movements. Give a wide variety of music and styles for combos to keep them interested and learning new things, but keep the warm-up straight forward and routine, so they can feel the improvement in themselves. Most of all have fun. I've found that when I'm having a good time, they are.

Hope that helps.

I teach a casual Adult Jazz & Tap Class to 40 plus yr olds (eldest 60).
They love warm up and stretching so we do spend a good amount of time on this as well as cardio (most of them are there to get a bit of a workout and socialize so we get a sweat up)
I try to mix it up each week by introducing a new style eg- hip hop, latin, funk, cabaret, musical theatre, lyrical Jazz etc.
It keeps it fun and different each week.
I do know what you mean as it can get boring and drag on.
Another idea might be to ask them what they would like to learn and work on that each week. The difficulties i have found with this sort of class is different levels and abilities and creating a class that caters for all levels (some want be in the splits and others can hardly get on the floor).
At the end of the day it is an adult class and is so different to teaching a childrens class.
Good Luck

I asked the mums in my adult class what they wanted out of the class and they said for fitness so I used to run a cardio warm up, then a stretch but then set up a circut. I made a CD of songs that played the song for 1 minute and then gave a 10 second gap and I used to set up a stair for stepping, a hulahoop, a mat for situps, a couple of fit-balls for exercises etc and we would rotate through them. Id join in too of course! Then we used to do a routine that was simple but contained an attitude or was showy. Use of props is good, like chairs? Feather boas? Hats? You can make easy steps look a little more complicated with them. My parents were there for fun and weren't serious about learning a routine they intended to perform. If you've ever done barn dances etc, they can be a lot of fun to use as a warm up too!