Theory vs. Practical in Dance Class

Theory vs. Practical in Dance Class

You send your child to dance classes to keep active, healthy and to learn the art of gliding across the floor in ways you can only imagine, perfectly synchronised with the music.   They manage to do all this while their dance instructor counts to 8 and calls out crazy corrections like, “Listen to your music.” or “Stretch your legs!” and one of my personal favourites, “Hit the accents!”

I mean, at least that is what you expected they would be doing.  Instead, when you look through the window and see all the dancers seated as if its story-time and notebooks have now become a staple in your child’s dance bag, you are left wondering if theory really is all THAT necessary in your child’s dance education.

I’ve never really given it that much thought to be honest.

Let’s think about it for a second.

We want our children to dance, mainly because we don’t want them to awkwardly ‘step-touch’ when they are forced by their friends to step away from their hiding spot at the snacks table and onto the dancefloor when the hottest new song blasts through the speakers at their first school social, leaving them forever scarred and refusing to dance at their own wedding.  We send them to dance class because we want them to have a hobby that doesn’t involve hanging out at the mall with friends we don’t really know (and aren’t really sure we like) without adult supervision doing who-knows-what.    That is the REAL reason we send our children to dance class.  Right?

So how important is theory in dance class really?

If we are completely honest with ourselves and dig a little deeper, we actually expect so much more than this from the teachers in our children’s dance classes.

What we really want out of dance class, over and above the obvious act of dancing, is a little more of the following:

  • Understanding their body and how to use it to its full potential.
  • Developing a good relationship with their body.
  • Developing a real sense of understanding of health, what it means and how to achieve it.
  • Building relationships with like-minded people, based on a shared interest and common values.
  • How to carry themselves with poise and elegance through life.
  • Learning about discipline, commitment and responsibility.
  • Developing an attitude of perseverance.
  • Learning about how to give constructive feedback and receive criticism (even if it is not so constructive) with grace and humility.
  • A true appreciation for all kinds of music.
  • Developing a culture outside of the one in your home.
  • Learning how to respect others, and most importantly, THEMSELVES.
  • Having a creative outlet.
  • To get in touch with their emotions, learn what they mean, where they come from, how to efficiently and successfully deal with them, and most importantly not to be ashamed of them.
  • Having a place and a means where they feel free and comfortable to express themselves.
  • Learning how to pay attention to detail.
  • Understand the importance of good nutrition and how to look after themselves.
  • Find something they love and are good at, work hard at it and feel a sense of achievement.
  • Learn the skill of Goal Setting.
  • Learn how to plan.
  • Learn about teamwork.
  • Learn about hard work and how satisfying the results can be.
  • Develop a skill that they could possibly ‘fall back on’ if the need ever presented itself.
  • Create an opportunity to bond with your child over something other than a funny meme or a new movie.

This list could quite literally carry on forever.  When we really sit down and think about it, we subconsciously expect a plethora of character-building habits to be introduced, formed and nurtured along with a handful of the more obvious and generic skills.  When we give it a little more thought, we start realizing that maybe ‘Coach Gym-Clothes-Not-A-Real-Job’ plays a bigger role in your child’s life than you anticipated.

Come to think of it, maybe some theory isn’t all that bad.

When you type the question, “Why is dance theory important?” Google has the following to say:

It explores the communicative, physical, mental, emotional, and artistic aspects of dance as a medium of human expression and interaction. As dance is a ubiquitous element of culture, dance theory attempts to determine the instinctual nature of dance, and what makes various movements appear natural or forced.

As a dance teacher, I love teaching theory relating to dance, its history, music and the human body.  My students love it when I tell them it’s time to grab their ‘Dance Books’ and jot down notes of what I am about to tell them.  They love it when I show them where the muscle is that we just focussed on and where it attaches and the other functions it has.  I am bombarded with questions as they try understand how history has influenced the dance trends they are watching on social media.  There is something so special about explaining something about music and a student coming back a few weeks later to declare something about a song they enjoy listening to and you just know that they finally understand the difference between crochets and quavers.  Or when they stop you in the middle of class to declare that they are in fact dancing to 3/4 timing.

The Proof is in the Pudding

I have done an experiment in one of my younger classes with choreography.  I put on some music and told them to move to the music the way they felt their bodies wanted to move.  Then, a few weeks later, I taught them about some elements in choreography.  We took notes on how to play with the timing of the music, the relationship of the dancer in the space they have and certain techniques that are commonly used to portray a specific feeling or idea. We discussed and explored them until I was sure they really understood them.  I then put on some music and gave them the same exercise as before: Move to the music the way you feel you wanted to. The difference in what they produced was subtle at first, but still noticeable.  They were suddenly not just throwing in a bunch of steps at random, as they popped into their minds. There was a bit more understanding and purpose behind their movement.

I have done an experiment in one of my younger classes with choreography.  I put on some music and told them to move to the music the way they felt their bodies wanted to move.  Then, a few weeks later, I taught them about some elements in choreography.  We took notes on how to play with the timing of the music, the relationship of the dancer in the space they have and certain techniques that are commonly used to portray a specific feeling or idea. We discussed and explored them until I was sure they really understood them.  I then put on some music and gave them the same exercise as before: Move to the music the way you feel you wanted to. The difference in what they produced was subtle at first, but still noticeable.  They were suddenly not just throwing in a bunch of steps at random, as they popped into their minds. There was a bit more understanding and purpose behind their movement.

I remember craving information as a younger dancer.  I didn’t want to just be taught how to string a few movements together and make them look perfect.  I wanted to understand why it hurt when I did it one way and not the other.  Or know why a certain piece of music made me feel emotional.  I wanted to learn how to get this feeling out of my chest before it exploded, and simply copying what the teacher did in front of me was just not enough.  When I started learning (like ACTUALLY learning) and understanding concepts and techniques, about my anatomy and how to get the most out of my body, or understanding music and why the composer or writer chose that specific note, or the tempo, it was like a door opened up in front of me.  A door to a room full of possibilities beyond the ‘step kick step-ball-change’ I was doing.

In the end, I think the answer to this question is a very personal one and is completely dependent on what it is you want out of dance classes for your child.  If you just want them to go to class a few times per week, move from point A to B on the floor to a song and compete in a competition or two a year, then no, theory is not an integral part of their dance experience.

If on the other hand you want it to give them more of an education on themselves, their bodies and the history of the art form, if you want them to have access to and have a wealth of knowledge in something that is not necessarily taught at school, if you want to build a person that is confident and knows how to carry themselves in different situations in life and if you want to open up an entire industry for them to one day explore in their pursuit of a career, then YES!  In order to have a strong foundation as a dancer or dance instructor as an adult, there is a huge amount of information involved in the process leading up to that point.

There are education institutions that focus solely on child education, early development, the study of the human body and anthropology.  It is also a known fact that dance is an integral tool and factor in all of these fields (just to name a few).  If this is the case, we need to start accepting the fact that passing on the knowledge a dance teacher has to his or her pupils in the form of theory is a very necessary part of the process.


“A true teacher would never tell you what to do. But he would give you the knowledge with which you could decide what would be best for you to do.”

― Christopher Pike, Sati

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