As we head into month number two of this challenging and unprecedented time, it’s easy to focus on the scary thoughts. It’s easy to get bogged down by the many things that aren’t happening. It’s easy to wish this all away, and trust us, we’ve been there!
However, our Prestige team takes great pride in being a positive force for our dance families and our community. Even in the most difficult of times, we always find a way to look on the bright side. Or shall we say, DANCE on the bright side? 😉
Between live virtual classes, digital storytime, and recorded videos, we’ve been busy over here making sure our dancers keep at it! As we put together these online dance classes, we couldn’t help but notice the incredible positives of our new learning structure. It’s been shocking to see how such great things can come out of a seemingly awful situation!
Check out these 4 Benefits of Online Dance Classes:
1. Discipline
Ask any dancer and they will tell you that us teachers are not always big on words. At the studio, we are constantly offering hands-on corrections to show a dancers’ bodies how to execute skills. On Zoom, it’s a bit of a different story!
Our teachers are still seeing their dancers and offering up verbal corrections, but we can’t do it FOR them anymore. It’s up to the dancers to take our feedback and make it happen for themselves. Challenging? Yes. Something that EVERY dancer must learn how to do? ABSOLUTELY!
We are thankful that this challenging time has forced us to focus on teaching our dancers how to be disciplined and make progress happen on their own.
2. Spatial Awareness
When you dance in the same place each week, it’s no surprise that you get used to it. Your brain starts to memorize landmarks in the room to help you remember your dance.
For example, a student might know that they start their routine by the blue wall. But do they know that the blue wall is stage right? Do they know how to take that SAME spacing and orient themselves in ANY other dancing space? Like….a huge recital stage? As you can see, being able to orient yourself in different places is an essential skill for dancers!
It’s a skill that doesn’t come easy for young ones, which is why we always have dress rehearsal. We are considering these zoom classes as rehearsals FOR our dress rehearsal! It may be a little early, but our students are learning how to orient themselves and take their routines into a brand new place!
3. Self-Reliance
Even though we preach all year long that our dancers should practice at home and not rely on other students to know their dance, we know that doesn’t always happen! In a studio with 10 other kids and a giant mirror in front of you, it can sometimes be easy to slide by without memorizing the dance until the last month before recital. During online dance classes … think again! YOU have to REALLY know that dance!
4. Adaptability
We saved this for last because it’s definitely our favorite. The popular saying, “the show must go on” is ringing true now more than ever. And in the dance world, every young dancer has to be ready for ANYTHING!
A hair-piece falls off on stage, you forget your routine in front of a huge crowd, or the music stops in the middle of the dance? You KEEP DANCING! A pandemic hits the entire world and stops us from coming to class? You KEEP DANCING!
If you love to dance, nothing will stop you. And we absolutely LOVE that our students are learning this important lesson during this difficult time.
Amazing right? Once we took a second to think about all this, we knew we had to share with our dance families. A shift in perspective can make such a difference, especially right now when the bad news seems to keep on coming!
Are you a current Prestige family? Be sure to check out our Virtual Class Schedule to find your Zoom Link!
We know one thing for sure, no matter how long this lasts, we will continue to stay positive. More importantly, we will continue to DANCE on the bright side with you all.