5 Reasons You Should Be Teaching Dancer Wellness Skills
If you’ve spent any time around this blog, or hung out with me on Instagram, you know I’m all about dancer wellness (things like body kindness, growth mindset, and emotional / mental health). My passion for this topic is rooted in my own experiences as a former professional dancer, and as a teacher who’s worked with dancers from all abilities, ages, and backgrounds. I’ve seen, firsthand, through all these experiences, just how much wellness skills are needed, and how much better students feel, and perform, when they have them.
So today I want to share my top 5 reasons you too, should be teaching dancer wellness skills, and the benefits you’ll see when you start implementing things like body kindness, mindfulness, and gratitude into your dance classes.
1. Boosts Self Esteem
We’ve all had students who always doubt themselves, think they can’t do something, and hold back from trying new things. (Heck, maybe we were that student!) When dancers start learning growth mindset and mindfulness techniques, they can zoom out from the fear of failing, or looking silly, and become curious about what new challenges and experiences hold for them. So much of dance training is wrapped up in judgement - from others, and from ourselves, but judgement isn’t conducive to learning, growing, and building confidence.
If you have students that you’d just like to grab by the shoulders and shake some self confidence into, wellness skills are the place to start. I’ve seen my own students go from being so shy and afraid to make a mistake that they won’t dance even in front of their parents, to smashing solos in front of crowds. And it wasn’t rehearsing the dance over and over again, or watching videos of themselves, or hiring a master choreographer to work with them that caused that change. It was reframing negative beliefs about their dancing. It was encouraging curiosity over judgment. It was celebrating progress and helping them see perfection is overrated.
2. Creates Positive Studio Culture
Dance classes and spaces can get competitive, and kids will always have conflict. One of our jobs as teachers, and mentors, is to model for students how to reframe, and refocus drama causing feelings of jealousy, resentment and competition into more supportive and helpful feelings and actions. Because dance drama might sell on TV (looking at you, Abby Lee), but we all know it’s no fun to deal with in our own classes and studios.
When we learn to be kind and respectful to our own bodies and minds, that kindness and respect creates a ripple effect, and travels to our relationships with others. When we teach dancers that feelings of jealousy and competition come from a lack mindset, or black and white thinking, we open up a whole new world of possibilities for them: to try new things, to help others, and to take leadership of their own learning and actions. Learning these tools are great bonding opportunities for dancers as well. They lean on each other on tough days, and cheer for each other on the good days. And through all the days, they know that the goal isn’t perfection, but progress.
3. Students Become Self-Directed Learners
Have you ever had a student who is always looking for your approval or feedback? To the point where it gets annoying and frustrating? I know I have. And when I was a young teacher, I just chalked this up to the dancer being needy, but now I know better.
Traditional dance training relies on outside validation. Dancers are taught to look to others for approval, and to seek it out. But good teachers don’t give all the answers - they give guidance. The true power of learning happens when a student connects the dots on their own, and in Euro-centric dance traditions, that’s been missing for centuries.
Of course it’s good to praise and encourage students, but their learning will deepen and be more effective when they’re self-directed learners. We can empower students to think critically, and come up with their own solutions, so they don’t need constant outside validation from us. Wellness tools are great at facilitating this, as they help dancers lay a strong foundation in self worth (see above on also instilling self confidence), and help them realize that their worth isn’t based on how they look or perform.
4. Teaches Dancers How to Deal with Disappointment
Dancers won’t always get the role they want. They won’t always do well at the audition, and it’s likely that when they put themselves out there in the dance world, they’ll get some harsh criticism. This is true in settings outside of dance as well. Disappointment is a fact of life, but it doesn’t have to define us or keep us from trying again.
In an age where ‘participation trophies’ seem to be given left and right, and the common practice is to avoid hard and uncomfortable feelings by letting everyone win, learning how to deal with disappointment will give students a leg up - in dance and in life.
5. Reduces Injuries and Dropout
The business practicality of having more dancers in classes is a real one. Full classes pay our bills, and it’s natural to want more students. Of course, we want to keep all of our students as healthy and injury free as possible too.
When dancers are more in tune with their bodies and minds, they know when to stop. They respect the signals of their body and know when not to push to the point of injury. And when dancers are injury free, they can better do what they come to you to do - dance!
Wellness skills also do wonders for keeping dancers motivated and engaged. We all fear those first signs of disengagement and boredom in dancers, because we know that often leads to them dropping out. All of the benefits listed above (self directed learning, confidence, team bonding, curiosity, respect and kindness) keep dancers motivated, even during those season where they feel like they might not be improving. Wellness skills give us tools to lean on to set goals, focus on progress, and keep us motivated as we work towards them.
I hope you now see, beyond a shadow of a doubt, how beneficial wellness skills are for your students! And I’d love for you to start using these tools with them today, which is why I created my Wellness Workshop Series for Dance Teachers. These workshops give you everything you need to help your dancers with things like mindset and body kindness.