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 Summertime
Samplers
By Tracy Bauer-Durso
Spice up the slow months with something new for your students
By the time June rolls around and the curtain has fallen on
the end-of- year show, everyone is exhausted. Both teachers
and students are ready for a break. But there’s no need for
that breather to last an entire summer. To keep your summer
enrollment brimming, consider enticing current students, as
well as new ones, back to the studio with classes you don’t
normally offer. By spicing up your summer programs this way
you can expose your students to new dance forms and other
kinds of classes that will expand their versatility as
dancers.
In addition to your core course schedule, offer an enrichment
program for a variety of ages that your students may not be
able to find anywhere else. Whether it’s a two-month focus on
one area or a series of short programs to whet your students’
appetites, the idea of exploring something new and fun may be
just what kids need to find the motivation to continue their
training during the slow, steamy days of summer.
Musical Theater Workshop
Do your dancers dream of performing on Broadway? Triple-threat
performers who can sing, act, and dance are most likely to get
those jobs. Consider a one-week, two-week, or three-week
program that includes classes in voice, acting, and
auditioning skills in addition to learning theater dance
repertoire.
Dancers as young as 6 can learn simple movements that support
the action and songs they are taught. More experienced dancers
can be exposed to an array of theater dance movements that
developed on Broadway stages over the last century. The 1920s
ragtime era featured the Charleston, cakewalk, sugars,
shimmies, and more, all of which can be set to music from
Thoroughly Modern Millie or Ragtime. The 1950s and
’60s introduced the pony, jerk, twist, stroll, hand jive, and
monkey, seen in productions like Grease and
Hairspray. The ’70s brought disco, which was showcased in
Saturday Night Fever. Even pop moves from the ’80s,
including the Roger Rabbit, running man, and moonwalk, were
recently brought back to the stage with The Wedding Singer.
Advanced dancers can learn the repertoire of legendary
Broadway choreographers like Bob Fosse, Michael Bennett, and
Jerome Robbins as well as view excerpts from musical movie
classics like Singing in the Rain. Perhaps an alumnus
who has made it in “the biz” can return to teach a master
class.
Offering a theater program at an advanced level will take some
research and preparation, but theater games and song-and-dance
numbers for beginner and intermediate students can be a simple
place to start.
If you or your faculty do not have much vocal or acting
experience, hire guest instructors to teach the voice and
acting classes. Your students can benefit from the expertise
of others in the performing arts. Make sure that the classes
offered allow students to improvise, pantomime, and create
scenes and characters. At the end of the program, stage a
workshop-style, in-house performance for the students’
families in which each age group performs a song and dance
from an age-appropriate musical. Some popular musicals for
kids include Annie, The Music Man, The Wizard of Oz,
Oliver!, The Sound of Music, and Peter Pan.
You can also use this opportunity to teach your students the
dos and don’ts of auditioning, including what to bring, what
to wear, what to prepare, and what to expect. Hold a mock
audition. Give the students numbers and have them quickly
learn a combination to perform for each other in small groups.
Judge them on a variety of criteria and show them how they can
improve their auditioning skills. Help them understand that
stage presence can sometimes score bigger than technique on
Broadway. It’s a good way to teach them to always
perform!
Choreography Workshop
Some students will jump at the chance to create dances of
their own, and in fact, some less-talented dancers may find
that they make great
choreographers. The demands of a technique-driven curriculum
don’t usually permit
us enough time to let our dancers be creative. One sure way to
allow them to grow as dancers
is by exploring their own ability to be creative through
choreography.
Start this workshop by playing a piece of music and having the
students draw or explain the images, concepts, and movements
the music brings to their minds. Encourage them to create
dance phrases that reflect these ideas. Pantomime and acting
can also
connect a dance to its music and lyrics. For example, you can
ask them to dance as if they are brokenhearted, floating in
heaven, using their legs for the first time, trapped in a
bubble, or lost and frightened in a forest. Teach them how to
use elements of choreography like time, levels, space, canon,
dynamics, and direction.
It’s one thing to crea te
a combination and quite another to stage it as choreography.
Help them learn about
the nuances of choreography by having them dance movement
phrases while facing different directions, at different
tempos, by adding levels, on different areas of the stage, and
in various formations.
A choreography workshop can also include an introduction to
music theory and dance notation. An understanding of time
signatures and how to identify 3/4, 4/4, 2/4, and 6/8 rhythms
is invaluable to a choreographer. Play music with different
rhythms and have the students write down how many beats they
hear per measure. Most dancers think in terms of 8-count
phrases, but musicians generally play in measures of 4 beats.
The more methodical thinkers among your dancers will also
benefit from learning to write their choreography on paper.
Dance notation can include how many counts of music they are
using, which steps are danced to those counts, which port de
bras are performed with those steps, and which direction the
dancers are facing.
The dancers will likely enjoy creating dance pieces to perform
at the end of the program. They could choreograph in small
groups, on themselves or each other. Perhaps you could divide
one piece of music into sections for each group to work on,
creating a completed piece for performance.
World Dances
Ethnic or folk dances are seldom taught in the classical or
contemporary dance studio anymore, but the popularity of Irish
step, hula, salsa, African, and Israeli dance make them worth
exploring. There are so many exciting folk dances from around
the world that are appropriate for girls and boys of all ages,
and they are very social and fun to perform.
While it may be difficult to find a specialized instructor in
these styles for a yearlong or seasonal program, it is
feasible to bring in someone who can teach for a day or a
week. Line up two, three, or four people to teach different
ethnic dances and you’ve got a complete program.
Make sure that the classes teach the dancers about the origins
of the dances, the music they are typically danced to, and the
traditional costuming for each style. You can even incorporate
a snack at the end of the day that relates to the culture the
students are learning about.
Getting Started
These three enrichment programs are just a few of the topics
that can make your summer an experience your students won’t
forget. There is no limit to the types of classes you can
share with your students, so let your imagination go wild.
Some other ideas include a modern-dance sampler that teaches
the basics of a few different techniques, such as Cunningham,
Graham, and Limón; a ballet program that explores the
differences between the Russian, French, and Italian schools;
capoeira (perhaps combined with hip-hop); and conditioning
techniques, including yoga and Pilates. You could even do an
informal poll among your students before planning your summer
offerings; that way you’ll know which types of classes are
likely to generate enthusiasm.
Another key to getting enrollment for these unusual programs
is to create promotional materials that grab your students’
attention and leave them wanting more. For example, for a
musical theater workshop, the headline on your flyer or
brochure could read “Would You Like to Dance on Broadway?”
That will stop your dancers in their tracks. Then go on to
explain the benefits of the program. Focus less on what you
are offering and more on what they will gain from being part
of the program. Make them feel like they will miss out on
something big—and fun—if they don’t sign up. Play video
footage from movie musicals in your lobby at summer
registration time and tape a flyer about the program to the
monitor.
Once you’ve decided on the programs, have your instructors
talk about them in their classes so that the enthusiasm
spreads among friends and classmates. Hand out flyers to your
students and explain that friends outside the studio are
invited to participate as well. Also consider sending a press
release to your local newspaper to attract new students. You
might even get some coverage in the paper since reporters are
likely to pick up on something that sounds original and
intriguing.
By adding unique enrichment programs like these to your summer
class schedule, you can accomplish four great things
simultaneously: You’ll expand your dancers’ versatility,
reenergize them for the upcoming school year, keep them loyal
to your school throughout the summer season, and attract more
community attention to your school.
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