Dance Educator Emporium

I know some teachers are fabulous at keeping track of online articles, videos, vocab lists, and projects they find, but I am definitely NOT one of those teachers.  I wish I was because I find that I frequently have to go back and look for things I used in past.  This page is designed to help other teachers like me hold onto important information that teachers can use year after year.  We know that dance educators don’t have tons of easily accessible teaching materials available, and the curriculum, posters, cds, etc…that we can purchase can be expensive.  If you have something every teacher can use to impact their teaching year after year, post it here!  Let’s create a Dance Educator Emporium full of great information teachers all over can use.  Links to great vocab lists, videos, assignments, projects, choreographic techniques, etc…

2 thoughts on “Dance Educator Emporium”

  1. Here’s a link to another blog that summarizes Ballet body alignment.

    Proper Alignment for Ballet

    I used something similar to create my own list:

    Mrs. Martinez’s Alignment Rules for Ballet Technique

    1. Head erect straight on top of spine, ears over shoulders chin up
    2. Diaphragm lifted (breathing muscles in rib cage)
    3. Spine held straight up and lengthened.
    4. Shoulders squarely over hips.
    5. Eyes forward and focused.
    6. Pelvis centered with the hips placed directly over the feet.
    7. Abdomen (lower abdominal muscles) tightened and lifted.
    8. Gluteal muscles contracted to pull down tailbone.
    9. Thighs (quadriceps and hamstrings) pulled up with knees (hinge joint) straight.
    10. Feet must bear weight primarily over the metatarsals (long thin bones in the foot).
    11. turn out from hip joints (ball and socket joint).
    12. SMILE!!

    I then have students label a skeleton identifying these 12 things. They are pretty basic but for beginner dancers that are second language learners I find that this list helps many students understand parts of the body we will be using in class. I keep the skeleton up all year and refer to it often as they working in class.

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