|
 Never
Too Late
By Anne L. Silveri
Strategies for accommodating late starters
It’s the rare 14-year-old who decides to quit studying the
violin and start taking ballet classes.
It wouldn’t be too uncommon for that teenager to decide to
study watercolor painting, but dance is usually started at a
young age. Then there are the empty-nesters who finally have
time to take that tap class they’ve dreamed of for years.
These late starters may not be large in number, but studio
owners do need to be able to accommodate them. How can they
put first-timers at ease and still fit them into the dynamic
of the school’s existing students?
There’s much to consider in keeping a school’s doors open to
all levels of learners. Everything from the look of the lobby
to the times of beginner-level classes can help put both adult
and child novices at ease. The message a school sends to these
possibly timid newcomers is critical. Ads and websites need to
make it clear that beginners are welcome, and a lobby filled
with homegrown
photos of students of all ages (instead of intimidating photos
of ballet stars) welcomes every kind of student. Certainly an
environment that puts newbies at ease is desirable, but going
too far with that idea could turn away serious students. Is it
possible
to run a studio that opens its arms to both kinds of students?
For three school owners on the central East Coast, the answer
is yes.
Joy of Motion® Dance Center (JOM) in Washington, DC, appears
to take its name seriously. Founder Michelle Ava wrote the
book on recreational dance when the school opened its doors in
1976 as a studio primarily aimed at adult students. She
started with the notion that dance is for everyone, and that
inclusive atmosphere
persists nearly 30 years later. The school has grown to four
locations and offers full programs for youth and adults. But,
says executive director Doug Yeuell, who didn’t start dancing
himself until age 22, “adults are still our core following.”
JOM has weathered several trends, from aerobics classes to
Pilates and yoga. “Right now belly dance classes are huge for
adults and teens,” he says.
With 350 classes per week and a faculty of approximately 100,
JOM is big enough to keep these populations
apart. “Our adults like to be by themselves,” says Yeuell, who
sets the age cutoff at 18. “Adults learn differently, have
different needs,
 and
can be intimated by younger dancers in class. It just works
for us to keep this population separate.
Adults want theory and concepts; the way you [explain] dance
to an adult is a different experience.” With teens, he says,
rules, regulations, and discipline are more of an issue and
need to be clearly spelled out.
Once-a-weekers flock to the studio, which is known in the
community as a cool place to hang out. Because JOM is not a
competition school, there’s no stigma in keeping dance as only
one of many things a child does as extracurricular activities.
JOM also offers outreach classes in the local school system.
And with seven resident youth companies, plenty of serious
dance is going on, too. Several professional companies are
also housed under the JOM roof, including CrossCurrents Dance
Company, Dana Tai Soon Burgess & Company, and Edgeworks Dance
Company.
Hip-hop is a popular entry class for late starters. Yeuell
says that dance dabblers are more likely than not to slowly
start taking more classes. “It’s exhilarating,” he says. “And
once you get hooked, it’s hard to take class just once a
week.” He’s amazed at how fast teens catch up. They learn more
quickly and understand the concepts at a higher level than do
5-year-olds.
Although he says that teaching beginners takes more than a
little patience, Yeuell enjoys it. Not every teacher belongs
with beginners, though, and he handpicks the faculty for these
classes. He also makes sure that entry-level classes are
scheduled during after-school slots rather than relegated to
the dreaded 8:30 hour. “We try to create a warm and welcoming
environment,” he says. “Dance can enhance your life at any age
and at any intensity. That’s our motto and we stick to it.”
Not too far from Joy of Motion is Dance Harrison Street in
Easton, MD, owned by Constance Walsh, who opened her first
school in 199 1.
Walsh discovered dance as a junior in high school at the New
Jersey School of
the Performing Arts, then went on to major in dance at the
University of Maryland and study under scholarship at the
Martha Graham School. As a dance studio owner, she finds that
certain challenges come when a 12- to 15-yearold suddenly
decides to dance. Those are the years when children are the
most self-conscious and generally do not want to be with
younger students.
“I want to give every child that opportunity to dance,” says
Walsh, who is committed to providing quality dance education
for anyone, regardless of age or ability. “I want to offer
serious training without it being intimidating.” She mandates
the same dress code for all students and finds that it helps
promote a feeling of inclusion within the school community.
Adult beginners have needs as well, and keeping everyone happy
can be a challenge in a small studio with an enrollment of
140. Walsh agrees with Yeuell that adults don’t do well with
teens, at least not in the beginning.
“Adults
start with huge T-shirts,” she says. “Gradually those layers
start coming off, but at the start they want a place of their
own.”
Walsh has discovered that a musical theater class serves as a
great gateway for new dancers.
Open to all levels, it serves recreational students well.
Because it involves
acting and singing, some beginning dancers can gain confidence
by using already developed talents. Tap also makes a great
first class. “We try to put beginning tap in a primetime
slot,” Walsh says. She places late-starting children in
classes with children who are a year or two younger; any
younger than that spells trouble. Gradually they transition to
taking class with the younger group a few days a week and with
their age group one day per week. Most kids understand that
they are in catch-up mode.
Walsh notices several traits common to late starters. Often
they are mature enough to understand why they need to be
placed in classes with younger children. Also, they are not
burn ed
out, which can happen when children have been taking class
several days a week, year after year. “Late starters bring a
certain energy into the studio,” she says. “They really want
to be there. It’s their idea to try dancing, not their
parents’.”
At Dance Harrison Street, everyone dances in the recital.
Recital time can be particularly exciting for beginners.
“Their enthusiasm is contagious,” Walsh says, and she works
hard to make it a positive experience for all. She also notes
that recital time can be a turning point for
some. “They see the advanced students and want to be like
them,” she says. “Next thing I know they’re taking ballet
three times a week.”
According to Walsh, with enough persistence, late starters can
catch up. It takes determination, but she has seen it happen
over and over with the right combination of talent and will.
“It’s a determination thing,” she says. Late starters are
often highly motivated, and they go full force into what they
love regardless of the situation. To optimize these students’
chances of success, she says she tries to “make sure they are
in a class that is comfortable for them both in terms of
difficulty and age level.”
For Amy Grant Wolfe at Manassas School of Dance, creating a
welcoming experience for beginners is a calling. “I love
dance,” says Wolfe. “And I want anyone, at any
stage of their life, to feel that dance classes are available
to them.” Nestled
in the small but artsy town of Manassas, VA, Wolfe’s studio
primarily offers ballet classes,
along with jazz and tap. The best entry points into her studio
are through yoga and stretch classes, notes the school owner.
Once students get their feet wet in a yoga class, a dance
class doesn’t seem like such a big step. Wolfe places yoga and
beginning ballet classes back-to-back to encourage newbies to
take the leap.
Manassas is not a huge city, but it boasts an orchestra and a
ballet company—Wolfe’s. She started dancing at age 5 and still
performs in the studio company at age 49. Dance is a lifelong
activity and she sees no reason to qu it.
She even encourages some of her adult students to go on pointe.
“Once they get strong enough, we start pointe,” says Wolfe.
“Why not? It’s wonderful for their strength.”
Wolfe characterizes late starters as take-charge individuals
who realize that the cost of starting late means sharing a
class with people who are perhaps not their age. In placing
her beginners, she puts the teens with adults—a much better
choice than putting older children with little ones, she
thinks. “My students know that I do the best to accommodate
them, and I don’t have enough of each group to warrant
separate classes,” she says. “And they are usually willing to
do what it takes to study dance.” She notices that having
teens and adults in the same class spurs the adults to try new
things. “They enjoy dancing together,” says Wolfe. “[The
adults] get motivated by the teens’ gusto.”
There’s no prescription for the best way to bring late
starters into a studio, but for Wolfe, Yeuell, and Walsh,
success seems to ride on a love for dance that is inclusive
and contagious. Each has stories of late starters who went on
to dance careers. It’s possible. Many will not, and that’s
good too. What is most important is that teachers keep
the door open for all who are willing to give dance a try.
Photo captions (from top to bottom):
Joy of Motion Dance Center student Jessica Atkinson shows how
seriously the school takes its name—and why most latecomers
decide to dance. Photo by Enoch Chan
Manassas School of Dance offers beginning ballet classes for
adult newcomers that are also open to teens. Photo by Cecile
Wolfe
Constance Walsh of Dance Harrison Street helps newcomers to
ballet feel comfortable, and soon, she says, “they’re taking
ballet three times a week.” Photo by David Hamburger
Joy of Motion Dance Center students Joanna Rothkopf and
Stephen Naimoli enjoy a ballroom class, popular with both male
and female newcomers to dance. Photo by Christine Stone
Martin
Dance Harrison Street school owner Constance Walsh places
newcomers in classes that are comfortable for them both in
terms of difficulty and age level. Here she teaches an
introductory ballet class. Photo by David Hamburger
Send
Page To a Friend
|
