Teaching Dance with Ms. Caitlin

A place to discuss dance and how we're teaching in the studio.

[mscaitlinb]

Let's Get Certified!

This post will be all about my experience getting my ABT teacher training certifications.

All during my last semester in college, I badgered on about working at the new ABT school in Costa Mesa, CA. I knew there would be an opportunity, just had to wait for the right one. Sure enough, March of 2016 rolled around and I had my chance! They were in need of classroom assistants and I accepted the position!

After I graduated from college, I would go into ABT a few times a week to assist ballet classes for Pre-Primary and Primary age groups. For those unfamiliar with the structure of ABT Curriculum: Pre-Primary is for ages 3-4 years and Primary is for ages 5-7 years. I’d help demonstrate classes, and attend the needs of the students and lead instructor. 

I grew fascinated with the school as I never trained in a ballet conservatory. It wasn’t just technique we were teaching the children, but respect, etiquette and proper demeanor with everyone in the school. I was raised and trained in a cutthroat commercial dance environment, so this was a nice change of pace. I loved getting to know the kids and learning more about the ABT curriculum everyday.

Come spring semester 2017, I get my chance to FINALLY go to a training course to learn the curriculum, take the exams, and hopefully become certified. I went to Salt Lake City, Utah for the Pre-Primary to Level 3 course. I did not expect to learn as much as I did while I was there. Disclaimer: I did take the Levels 4 & 5 course the following year, but will focus mostly on my first course for this post.

First day there, the nerves are stirring a big ‘ol pot in the pit of my stomach. Our teacher trainers walk in and give their introductions, let’s call them Bill and Frank (forgive me as I’ve been very into The Last of Us on HBO). They give us a friendly welcome with their confident and well-poised demeanors, something I quickly became self-conscious of, and explain the nature of the course we’re about to take. This would be nearly 10 days with 8-hour seminars, discussions, presentations and of course exams. I felt confident enough that I would at least be able to make it to the end for exam day, but as I looked around me for the other trainees, I felt as if I didn’t belong and had to prove my worth at the same time. 

We had the same structure for every level we covered: discuss the curriculum, watch a class, take a class, and present an exercise. This allowed us to get a full range of understanding for each level, and helped prepare us for the classroom. I felt most intimidated by the presentation aspect. While I kept reminding myself it’s all for the learning process, my insecurities bubbled up and I began to overthink everything. Bill and Frank would alternate for the exercises presentation as there were so many of us, and very little time to give everyone the feedback we all deserved. Out of the two, I felt the least comfortable with Bill. I’m not completely sure why. At first, I thought it was his blunt and ruthless nature, but Frank had those qualities as well. Perhaps I’ll never be able to pinpoint the exact reason, but I digress.

One exercise presentation did not go well. I had inconsistent timing, the sequence was messy and the intent was unclear. Bill did not hesitate to tell me these sentiments with his own direct feedback. I felt embarrassed as I didn’t know what to say or do. He was not wrong in giving me these criticisms, but I had already low self esteem as a teacher, it began to emotionally and mentally affect me. I worried all night long I wouldn’t be good enough to get certified and teach students of my own in a ballet setting. While these feelings carried into the next day, I didn’t let them defer me from going on with the course. 

Getting close to exam day and I am feeling all the stress! The oral exam would trigger my anxiety more as I struggle with speaking in front of the exam proctors, but it would only help me in gaining my confidence and comfortability as a ballet instructor. I studied hard and made sure I knew how to approach the oral exam to a T.

EXAM DAY!! Cue the nerves! I walk in with a similar pit in my stomach knowing today will decide my certification status. But at this point, I can only do what I know and show what I have learned over the past 9 days. The written exam was administered and easy breezy for me as I finished it in less than 10 minutes. Now, I get to wait around and go over my oral exam answers. My time slot is up and I’m in the room. Going through each step of my exam I felt ok. The proctors are also there helping me out along the way, and making it less of an intimidating environment. Before I know it, 30 minutes is up and I’m out of there. I felt like a solid 7 out of 10 on my performance. Not the best, but I came in prepared ready to go. I could leave Salt Lake City with a clear head knowing I gave it my best shot. Now comes the waiting game.

A few months go by, and I get a large manila packet in the mail. It’s arrived! My exam results and OFFICIAL CERTIFICATION! I couldn’t believe I had done it! It felt extremely validating to know my work had paid off, and I had shown I learned enough to start teaching the ABT curriculum to my own ballet students. 

Reflecting on this crash course of ballet pedagogy, I learned so much that I carry into my classroom today. One of the biggest lessons I took away is not necessarily the ‘what’ to teach the student, but how to teach them. With slow and steady progress, comes good results and a boosted confidence of the dancer. I’ve also learned a lot about the characteristics of young students in different age groups. What they’re capable of, and what they need of me to help them grow. But while I was more stressed than I should’ve been during this course, I’m forever grateful it helped catapult my teaching career. 

Would you partake in a crash course for the purpose of dance education advancements? How would you have handled a course this intense? What are the catalysts of your own teaching career? 

[mscaitlinb]

Slow and steady wins the race

Let’s talk about teaching philosophies.

It has taken me years of training and teaching to come into my own. If you’ve read this far, you must understand that as a young dancer growing up, I was pushed to my limit and then some. While I was training to be a professional dancer, I found myself at the end of my ropes time and time again. Overworked, burned out, and beaten down. Not to mention the psychological trauma of it all too. 

Going to college allowed me to push the reset button on my training, and therein I found a fresh start. I was supported, encouraged and enlightened to be my best version with the most efficient of practices. I didn’t have to push myself past my ceiling of mental and physical capacity. I was allowed to let out the giant exhale I had been holding in for the past 18 years of my life. This propelled me into my young career post grad, which meant teaching dance. 

As I made my way into studio environments, I saw a lot of the same red flags I had personally grown up with in dance: long hours at the studio, constant fatigue and nagging injuries. And this was all happening to children 18 years and under. I knew something had to change, for the well-being of these young dancers. 

Now under equal positive and negative influence from my instructors, I knew forcing results is not ideal. It’s important for a dancer to not only understand the basic fundamentals of their dance technique, but how to efficiently move through it as well. I developed my own curriculum within my classes to properly progress the students in class. We would go from point A to point B to point C and so on. This would mean moving the class at a measured pace. We would be working on the same steps and concepts of movement for weeks to a month at a time, sometimes longer if the class needed extra practice. This idea doesn’t sit well with some studio owners, and particularly some parents. 

Let me tell you about the first group of parents who were visibly upset and confused by my teaching methods. Let’s call them The Susans. Now The Susans were a group of moms to their  4-5 years old children. They were all competitive students and I was their Ballet teacher, who they saw twice a week. Seeing as they took about 5 other classes for technique, and outside rehearsals for their competition dances, I figured what they needed was a slower paced class to focus on the fundamentals of their technique. After all, they needed to learn not only the “what” of their dancing but also the “how”. 

We would do simple exercises in the center, very little at the barre, and work on repetitive movements rather than complex sequences. What I looked forward to the most, was the fact I was going to start with a group of dancers this young and build healthy training habits early. This elated me because the older students I worked with, we toiled to weed out the bad habits and try to start fresh while still training. That wasn’t the case with these girls. My managers and fellow coworkers could see the benefit of what I was trying to do with these kids, and would go to bat for me consistently. The only group of people who had a problem were The Susans. 

They would hover outside the classroom, stare down their children and often grimace at what we were doing in class. They would ask questions after every class, which I had no problem with. I’d rather be transparent with you to let you know my methods of teaching and how I like to manage my class, pedagogically speaking. This never seemed to be enough for them to understand though. In their eyes, they wanted to see results right away. I mean, how could you? When you watch every single class week after week, you only see the slow progress working as it should. They would go straight to my managers to complain, although no action was ever taken on me because I had the full support of this company. True helicopter dance mom fashion for The Susans.

They eventually came around and could see after a year of training, their children improved their technique and continued to grow on these quality habits. They would compliment and praise my teachings at this point. While I wished I didn’t have to go through the headache of this first year training these kids, I’m glad they could see what these children gained in these ballet classes. But this is perhaps where I see the end of my studio teaching career. 

I believe I thrive in environments where I am encouraged to teach my students the way I see fit, and I feel my philosophy just doesn’t match with a studio environment, generally speaking. While most studios have changed to be more progressive in health-conscious ways, not all of them embrace it with open arms. It will always feel like an uphill battle to me, and I’m not going to give up on my professional ethics to fit in with any dance school. I’ve not only seen great results with my pedagogical practices, but great processes too. I have the power to turn my students into hard-working, curious, intelligent and mindful dancers. 

My teaching philosophy will forever and always be: slow and steady wins the race. What’s your teaching philosophies? How have they changed your students for the better? Who influenced you for your methods of practices?

[mscaitlinb]

Work Smarter Not Harder

Let’s talk about one of the college professors who had a positive impact on my career. Let’s call him Taran.

Taran was my Ballet professor for nearly all 4 years of college. And wouldn’t you know it, I would be in his class for my very first semester of Ballet technique. I have just moved from Austin, TX to Long Beach, CA and didn’t know a soul in my Freshman dance major group. There’s about 30 of us in Ballet level 1, and I’m feeling the nerves in my stomach start to stir around as class begins. Taran steps up to take the floor. There was a quiet yet captivating demeanor to him from that very first day. He walked with poise, charisma and conviction; three qualities I wished I possessed at the time.  

I quickly became intimidated by his presence. I had it in my head that I needed to put more effort into my dancing in class to impress him. I focused real hard on my technique, and did my best to do every step as perfectly as I could. Weeks would go by, and no corrections were given my direction. I put more and more work into my dancing, and still not even a glance. I thought something was wrong with me. How could I show how serious I am as a dancer enough to get one stinking correction? The day finally came, just a little before midterms. Taran talked to me about my pirouette turns across the floor. I can’t recall exactly what the correction was, but I finally felt seen. My hard work was finally paying off, but soon I would see a new light that would change my perspective on training forever. 

All throughout the semester, he opened my eyes to a different way of approaching my technique training. One lesson in particular clings with me to this day, “work smarter, not harder.” I could feel a heavy weight elevate off my shoulder as I began to see with clarity. These words would affect how I would use efficiency in my dancing, not just in Ballet class. I’d see more value in simplistic effort. It’s kinda funny. I always thought simple effort meant “lazy”, but I saw more progress in my dancing than ever before with this mentality. 

One quality I loved about Taran’s teaching methods: he was always patient with his students. I never felt like I had to get to an end point right away. I could enjoy the process just as much as the end result. This stood true with another lesson he gave in our Ballet Pedagogy class our senior year, “Sometimes you have to plant the seed in a student’s mind, and the concept will bloom on its own time.” He was referring to the idea that a student may not execute a correction right away, but with time and patience, they would find their own way. 

Because of this idea, I always tell my students, “Good process over good results.” If they can achieve the dance step with minimal error right away, great! But if not, working the right way will help achieve this goal over time. 

I have a lot to thank Taran for. He showed me how to move with ease in my dancing. I learned how to work efficiently to achieve my goals, short term and long term. I also learned how to be patient and trusting of my students as they go on their own journeys through dance. It is also because of him I made connections with the ABT school to gain my teaching certifications in levels Pre-Primary to Level 5. As I will likely cite in another post, I learned quite a bit from these two courses 6 years ago.

Who impacted your dancing in a positive way? Do their teachings stick with you still? What kind of ways did you find yourself moving in a more encouraging direction for dance?

[mscaitlinb]

The teacher who broke me

As a teacher, I draw my inspiration from my instructors growing up. And for me, a lot of that inspiration came from what NOT to do in the studio. I’ve had wonderful instructors who have left a great impression upon my teachings, but so many that didn’t. There’s one in particular who sticks with me to this day. Let’s call her Rita. 

She came into my life when I was around 13 years old. She would come into our studio every now and then to set some choreography and travel back to LA afterwards. After about a year, she moved down to Austin and joined the faculty of our studio. We started to take regular classes from her, as well as perform her choreographic pieces. My first impression of her was that she’s tough, but tough was what I thought I needed for my training. And for some reason, she took a liking to me. 

I had some natural charisma at this point, and proved to be a hard worker in class and rehearsals. Perhaps that’s why she took a liking to me. My 2nd year at the studio, she choreographed a piece for our small Teen company, and she made me the lead. I had a nice little solo in the beginning part. That’s how it was for a bit, getting leads and special parts in almost every piece, and proving to be a strong and reliable dancer at the time. 

A few years later, Rita decided to leave and open up her own studio in Austin. As I was approaching my junior year of high school, I needed to start thinking about my training and goals for post high school. Seeing as I wanted to do more concert dance, and Rita was offering more Ballet and Modern classes at her studio, I figured this was the best move for my dance career.

A small group of us had migrated over and became her first pre-professional dance company in Austin. We had more than half of our classes with Rita, and she also choreographed a majority of our routines for the year. This is where I began to see more of this ugly side of her. 

The first thing I noticed was how she phrased certain corrections given to me and the other students. For me, she had a “special” one for my ballet technique. Anytime she wanted me to engage my core, she’d point to my stomach and say, “pork chops!” Insinuating that my belly was hanging out as if I had just eaten pork chops. I heard this everyday in Ballet class for 5 years that she taught. Slowly this would eat away inside of me, and begin to plant seeds of negative body image that would last all the way into my mid 20s. Of course, these weren’t the only comments made to us regarding our bodies. 

I recall a time where a bunch of us were at a dance workshop of hers in Tampa Bay, Florida. It was one Summer and we were taking classes all day for one whole week. We all stayed at a Best Western hotel, with a continental breakfast every day. One morning, we were down in the dining area grabbing food. I was well on my way to the waffle machine, my favorite breakfast staple. I had grabbed a banana on my way there when Rita stopped me. “Caitlin, you look so thin today!” She said with a pleasant grin on her face. “Oh thank you very much.” I replied. She glances down at my banana and asks, “Is that all you’re going to eat?” I look up and gesture towards the waffle machine, and before I can say anything she pats my hand holding the banana and says, “Oh no, I think that’s enough for you.” She walks away leaving me in a state of shock. Now being a 14 year old girl with low self esteem, I take her word as is, and eat only the banana for a full day of dancing. These instances happened far too often where I wanted nothing but to please my dance teacher, and believe what she has to say will help me make it into the dance industry. I truly believed she cared for me when she made comments like this, but I see now that it was wrong.

Another thing to know about me, is I have a ridiculously great memory when it comes to choreography. I can even recall some choreographic routines from when I was 12 years old. It is a blessing and a curse. A blessing because I know what I’m doing and can help my fellow peers out while working on a piece. A curse to me because of Rita. This means that I’m held to a higher standard of knowing every detail, and can’t fall anywhere below that. If I did fail, I would be susceptible to several repercussions. I’d be in more trouble than my peers if I couldn’t remember every little piece of choreography. That’s how it worked for me. These criticisms would translate into attendance too. If I missed one class to stay home and finish overdue homework, I would be reprimanded and threatened with different consequences, such as being dismissed from certain routines. 

One semester, Rita noticed I had missed some classes due to a multitude of reasons including homework, physical therapy, familial obligations etc. One day she pulls me aside to let me know I have an ‘outstanding’ amount of absences and unless I can get to the 4:30 PM ballet classes on time to make them up, I would be removed from an upcoming dance, set by a professional choreographer coming into town. This would become a logistical nightmare! At the time, I got out of school at 4:10 PM, and to get out of our high school parking lot took 15-20 min, and to get to the studio took another 10 min roughly. Even if I got out of there right on time, I’d still be late to class, which isn’t tolerated with Rita’s standards. One day, I get there late and Rita asks me why I’m running late. Before I know it, I’m breaking down in tears from all the accumulated stress of trying to be the perfect student for her. I couldn’t take it anymore. She sees me crying and consoles me to let me know it’s ok and ‘of course’ I don’t have to stress about making it on time to a make-up class. She gives me a hug and we move on from there. As I looked back on this exchange years later, it bothered me immensely. I had come to realize the emotional manipulation that took place from being under her authority. She stresses how important it is for me to get to class on time, and once I break down, pretends it doesn’t matter. No apology. No accountability. Nothing. It’s almost as if she enjoys the power of bringing me down, just to be the one to build me back up again. 

I stayed with this instructor all the way up until I graduated high school. I went off to college, one she recommended to me, and began to undo a lot of the damage she had done to me for years in training. By the end of my tenure with Rita, I was mentally, emotionally and physically burned out. I thought I had lost my passion for dance after being beaten down day after day under her leadership. I rediscovered that passion again in college. I thrived in a more encouraging environment, and saw great strides in my technique and personal growth throughout those 4 years. I didn’t know it was possible to feel good about myself and improve my dancing at the same time. Years later when I began therapy, I begun to unpack a lot of the trauma inflicted by Rita, and came to terms with the emotional and mental abuse I faced from her. I allowed myself to start healing, and recognized I don’t have to let her teachings and words weigh heavy upon me for the rest of my life. I could be happy and live free once again. I can successfully say I’ve been able to do that for the past 5 years. I have been healing from those wounds. I live a better life knowing she has no power over me. I can use this motivation to help build a nurturing environment for my students, something Rita could never give me. 

What about you all? Do you have someone who negatively influenced you? How did you overcome it? What are some hard lessons you’ve learned in the process?

[mscaitlinb]

[mscaitlinb]

My first teaching job

Welcome back!

I’ve come here to discuss what it was like working my very first teaching job out of college.

This was shortly after I realized I wanted to teach more full-time and leave performing on the backburner, for the time being. I wanted to jump right into the teaching scene and gain some experience. 

What’s funny is I remember telling myself back in my last semester, “The one thing is that I never wanna teach young children. I don’t have the energy or patience for it.” And what was my first job out of college? An instructor position at a preschool mobile company… surprise! I figured a job is a job and I needed money now to pay the rent!

What is a preschool mobile company? It’s a company that hires contract instructors to travel to several preschools, and even elementary schools, to teach a fun creative movement class for their students. I taught students as young as 18 months to 7 years old. Let me tell you, I learned a lot from this job!

The first thing I learned was how to approach a dance class with a different tone and structure. I had to turn on that Disney princess persona and make the whole class seem like a giant game to keep the kids interested and engaged. It wasn’t enough to tell a child to perform a plié in warm-up, but rather engage them with an imaginary crown we had placed on our head, and couldn’t drop as we bent our knees in first position: aka “pizza pie feet”. This method of creativity allowed me to dive into the mind of a child and opened up an imaginative way of dancing/training. I felt like a kid once again, as this gave me the chance to find the fun in dance!

Something else I learned is how to properly use discipline in a preschool dance class. As the kids are learning positive behaviors and weeding out the negative behaviors, it’s important to give these kids the right motivations/incentives for learning and successfully participating in a dance class. For instance, using punishments, such as timeouts, should be rarely used, if at all. I’ve come to see that a child wants to do good and be good if you give them the chance to be. If I needed a class to quiet down, instead of yelling or shushing, I’d turn to someone who was sitting quietly and give them praise for following my instructions. That child would have received an extra sticker or special prize for being quiet while I was giving instructions. Oftentimes, that would help complete the domino effect of getting the whole class in order. I started using this positive reinforcement method as a way of not only handling classroom management, but later using it as a tool for encouraging correct technique execution. 

Another lesson I learned is how you can change a child’s whole day with a 30 min dance class. This I can illustrate better with a little story:

Just a regular Friday as I am about to teach my last class of the week. It’s a Montessori school in Cypress, CA. There is one child in the class I’ll never forget, let’s call him Julian. Now Julian was very energetic and outgoing as a 5 year old. For these school teachers and administrators, I believe they viewed it as a misbehavioral problem. Therefore, he would always be in trouble when I arrived. One day, he was very much in trouble with the staff, for reasons I still don’t know today, and he seemed very down about the whole situation. I gathered all the kids to the class space and he immediately sat down by one of the tables, visibly upset and unwilling to participate. I tried to talk him into joining, but seeing as he refused to talk, I told him that he can sit at the table and join the class when he’s ready. We finish warm-up and start one of his favorite dances, The Lion King’s I Can’t Wait to be King. I knew he couldn’t resist. Sure enough halfway through the dance he joins in and is all smiles. We move on with some across the floor work where the kids get to navigate through a fun obstacle course of dots, tunnels, and hula hoops. I call up a child one-by-one to have a turn. After the first few, Julian raises his hand to ask for a turn. I told him if he sits quietly and still on his spot, then he’ll have a turn next. He followed through still as a statue and lips zipped the whole turn. I called him up next, and with a big grin on his face, he completed his turn across the floor. We finish up with some freeze dance and I start to take the kids back to their classrooms. As I am walking Julian back, he looks up at me and says, “Did I do good today Ms. Caitlin?” I look down on him with a comforting smile and say, “Yes. You did a very good job today Julian.” He gives me a tight grip hug before he goes back to class. I’ll never forget that class and that kid, seeing as he probably needed a positive highlight to the day, and I certainly hope that was it for him. 

If these children are not having fun in a dance class, then what’s the point of going? I felt these kids learned better from an encouraging and well-nurtured environment, rather than one where I’m standing over yelling at them to do something right. These were some of the most valuable lessons I learned as a young 23 year old instructor. Lessons like these were catalysts in my teaching career 7 years to today. 

How many of you have experienced teaching preschool children? Did you enjoy it? What did it teach you about structuring a fun class environment?

[mscaitlinb]

Let's talk dance education!

Being a dance educator is one of the most rewarding anchors of my life. There are a fair share of hardships when it comes to being in the industry of dance, but It’s something I have wanted and studied for since I was a little girl. 

I’ve had all kinds of highs and lows in my career, but an incredible amount of knowledge I learned about myself. Now I’ve had all kinds of experience with what it takes to be a successful dance educator to aspiring dancers. I’ve taught ages 2 to adult in Ballet, Jazz, Contemporary, Tap, Hip Hop, Aerial Silks, in all different levels. I pride myself now on the versatility I can teach now, but had to learn through those opportunities given to me. 

As a little background, I was born in Houston, TX and took my first dance class at age 3. My parents noticed how active I was as a child, and immediately put me in gymnastics. Safe to say I did not care for it. I cried and cried and cried until the gym gave my parents a full refund. They then enrolled me in dance and I fell in love with it. Right around ages 5-6 is when I started training more seriously. We moved to Austin in 2000 and that’s where everything really took off. I trained several days a week, began weekend rehearsals for shows and competitions. That’s when I knew I wanted this to be a career. 

After doing competitive dancing for quite some time, I began to fall in love with concert dance. So I went to a studio that focused more on Ballet and Modern dance at the age of 16 years old. It was enough to help me get into California State University, Long Beach. An incredible 4 years of opening my eyes up to the world of dance, and giving me a plethora of opportunities to go into after graduation. I decided late in my tenure in college that dance education is where I wanted to project my career into. I worked for a preschool mobile dance company where I fell in love with teaching young children dance. I also began working my way up at a ballet conservatory school. In 2017, I landed this job at a studio in South Orange County, CA. Years later, my tenure in California was coming to an end, and I made my way out to Colorado. This is where I continue to teach and figure out what I’d like to do with my teaching career long-term.

The type of teachers I had would be considered old school dance instructors. They showed a lot of “tough love” with how they were training their dancers to be professional. Now they weren’t necessarily wrong in trying to make us strong within the cutthroat dance industry, but they surely could’ve been more nurturing in the process. A lot of what my teachers had done was not ideal nor healthy for our mental and emotional well beings. Their motivations were rooted in making us fearful of disappointing the instructor. What I want to continue pursuing is to build the confidence of the child not only to increase their skills, but to enlighten them. We are here not only to train dancers, but human beings. 

The point of this blog is to help change the conversation with teaching young dancers. We’ve seen how our teachers taught us. We’ve seen new scientific data come out regarding safe and healthy practices. We know what works and what doesn’t work. It’s time to make that change all across the dance industry. I’m here to bring some of my own experiences to light and start a discussion between other dance educators. Let’s use our past to build a better future, not only for us but for our students.