To excel in the dance studio or on stage, dancers need to remain dedicated and committed to practice. They also require a ton of inspiration because rigorous training and practice can be both physically and mentally demanding.
So, how to inspire your dance students? The best way to inspire dance students is to give them a common goal and purpose. Hold friendly competitions, keep dancers engaged, make meaningful connections with your students, and improve the environment of your dance studio. If you’re looking for ideas on how to motivate and inspire your dance students, this article is for you.
8 Ways to Inspire Your Dance Students
1. Motivational Quotes
Dance motivational quotes have the ability to remind students why they love dance and how it feeds their souls. Words are powerful. Use them wisely to inspire your dance students to be resilient, show kindness to fellow dancers, believe in themselves, and many more life lessons. The words you choose to help inspire your dance students are important. It’s what they’ll take with them into the world.
The words you encourage your dance students to share with their peers are just as important. For an engaging experiment, ask your dance students to share their own motivational quotes in class. Try assigning a dancer to come up with a motivational quote of the month that everyone will look to for inspiration during class each week.
2. Set Long and Short-Term Goals
Sit down with your students and set daily and seasonal goals together. Want your preschool classes to master all five positions? Talk about it. Do your recreational students want to learn new leap progressions? Talk about it. Are you competitive teams searching for another national title? You guessed it. Talk about it.
At the beginning of each class, remind dancers of the objective for that day. Why? Because students tend to work harder and perform better when they have a goal in mind and know exactly what they’re working toward.
3. Celebrate Small Successes
Don’t just celebrate big wins. Celebrate the small successes that your studio experiences together as well as the small successes each individual experiences. Track, chart and measure how your dancers are progressing then celebrate improvements together.
You can also celebrate things like meeting personal goals, or wins outside of the dance studio. Here are some ideas for non-dance-related celebrations that will help inspire your dance students:
- Getting accepted into college
- Volunteering in the community
- Named a role model student at their school
- Demonstrating your dance studio’s core values
4. Give a Shout-Out on Social Media
When it comes to inspiring students, meet them where they are–on social media!
Recognizing and publicly acknowledging one of your dancers for all their hard work and dedication is a great way to keep them motivated, while also promoting the success of students who take class at your studio. If you notice that one of your dancers is low on energy or going through a rough time, give them a shout-out on social media and point out something positive they did recently as a morale booster.
5. Give Small Awards
As you’re working toward your classes’ common goals, give our notable awards that your dancers can work to receive. Did you hear one dancer lift up a friend in class? Have you noticed Suzie straightening her knees in her saute? Acknowledge them!
Whether it’s daily, weekly, or monthly, you can put together small achievement awards to help dancers stay inspired from class to class. In doing so, you’ll see a huge return when end-of-season goals are achieved.
6. Show Your Passion
As an instructor or owner of a dance studio, your passion is more contagious than anyone else’s. When you act with confidence and believe in your students, others will surely want to join in. Show your passion by participating in dance classes yourself, invest in tools for your studio and professional development opportunities, and attend conferences and conventions to expand your teaching and choreography skills. Adjusting your attitude will raise the bar for everyone around you, including your dancers.
7. Create Friendly Competition
Adding a competitive aspect to your dance classes can be a fun and pleasant drive for students to work harder. If your dance students are having fun while working hard, everyone wins. Encouraging a little friendly competition for bragging rights, choosing the class warm-up during the next class, or being the teacher for the day can go a long way to help the entire class be motivated and eager to work.
8. Keep Things Fresh and Moving
It’s crucial when working to inspire your dance students to keep the class moving. Don’t spend too much time on one part of the curriculum – warm-up, across-the-floor, choreography, and routine rehearsal should each have a time allotment. Dwelling on one part of class could lead to dancers losing motivation to stay engaged in class.
Create a cycle of inspiration by motivating your dance students using the tips above. By keeping your dance students motivated, they will learn everything from their routines to life lessons much faster. They’ll achieve more in and out of the studio, and become better dancers and young adults.
What are your favorite ways to inspire your dance students? Share them with us in the comments below!
