A dance lesson may be anything from a warm-up and stretch to learning new moves and choreography. The most common dance lessons last 45 minutes to two hours and follow a basic five-part structure: a welcome, introduction, learning through practice, creative exploration, and concluding with a cool down.
The Welcome introduces the students to the class and helps them feel at home. This is a great time to share the mission and values of your studio, allowing the students to build trust with you.
Introductions can also be an opportunity to teach new vocabulary and dance concepts. This can be done through a review of previous classes, using a short video clip, or by playing games. This is an important part of the dance lesson as it allows students to engage with the material in a different way than just watching a teacher perform the steps.
In the Exploring the Concept portion of the dance lesson, students are given opportunities to use full body movement to express ideas and emotions. These activities can be high energy, such as a group dance that incorporates locomotor skills, or low-energy, such as a shape activity in self space that requires less force.
This is an important aspect of a dance lesson because it gives the students a chance to work on new skills with your supervision. The students need to know that you are there to help them and will be patient with them if they do not understand or get something right away.
