Category Archives: Reflective practice

Coronavirus and CPD courses

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Here in the UK we are in lockdown. We knew it was coming just as other countries have experienced this too. We have been told to stay at home unless we need to buy essential food or medicines or go out to take some exercise.

Who would have thought that we would experience a situation like this in 2020?

But with today’s technology we can continue to learn and develop despite classes being temporarily stopped in many places.

The current Short Online CPD courses for Dance Teachers are in their third week when usually teachers would be teaching their planned class to their chosen group of dance students and reflecting on them afterwards. However, as many dance schools have had to stop classes for the moment adjustments were made to the week 3 reflective task so that teachers could still complete their courses.

With the next group of courses starting in April adjustments will also be made for the week 3 reflective task for any teachers unable to teach a class or session. If you are taking a course in April you will be able to either do the usual week 3 task if you can teach a class where you are in the world or choose to do the adjusted reflective task instead. Whichever you choose you will receive the usual personal feedback for your weekly email tutorials which aim to contribute to your continuing professional development.

If you are concerned about being stuck at home with nothing to do then why not take a look at the April list of courses that you could take? It might be the ideal time for you to do some CPD. The list of three courses starting in April can be found on the Book a Course page.

Stay safe, take care wherever you are. Positive thoughts to you all.

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Exploring squats

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This video popped into my inbox today and I want to share it with you. Squats per se are not perhaps what many view as a dance move or step but we do dance versions of squats. Pliés may be viewed as a similar type of movement but clearly they are not the same as squats – we don’t want the angle of the body and pelvis as required in a squat to be the same for pliés but we can see how the basic squat strengthens the big muscles of the legs, for example, so dancers may use squats as a strengthening exercise for their dance moves.

I like the fact that the trainer in this video, Aaron Barnett, national trainer for Fitpro team, explains the functional reasons for doing squats – being able to sit down and get up again being a key functional reason for doing squats. He goes on to explore a variety of ways to perform squats, adapting them to take account of anatomy, injury, purpose of performing squat and so on. From a dance teaching perspective it is a useful video to watch and consider how this could be useful in dance teaching.

You might want to watch the video and give some thought to understanding more about the functional aspect of movements that you teach and how this could relate to your dance teaching practice. You may not want to teach squats in the middle of centre work in a ballet class, for example, but can you think of steps and movements that you teach where there could be benefits for both teacher and student from understanding more about functional aspects or adaptations that could be made to suit individuals and their needs?

If you teach dance to older people then you will know that many older people lose muscle tone and strength as they age. Considering the functional aspects and value of dance moves could help older people to continue to perform movements that will help them to retain dignity and independence as they age.

After watching the video you may want to think about some of the teaching ideas presented that you could make use of in your dance teaching practice. Why not share ideas that you have got from this post in the comments below.

Courses from January to May 2020

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CPD for Dance TeachersHappy New Year. There is always a lot to do at the beginning of the year and here at CPD for Dance Teachers it is a busy time. In response to requests for course lists to cover several months at a time the new course list covers from January to May. So you can book now for any of the courses on the list.

New courses coming later this year

There is preparation work being done on some new courses to add to the current  courses.  There will be news of them in the coming months. Watch out for announcements later in the year.

Course fees

Our Short Online CPD Courses for Dance Teachers are very reasonably priced especially as they include at least three personal email tutorials/feedback during each course. This personal feedback personalises the course to your teaching practice in a way that teachers report to be very beneficial.

We don’t often increase our course fees but it is necessary to do so this year. Current fees per course are £55 and they will increase for courses booked after the end of February 2020 to £59. In order to give you an opportunity to still pay the current fee of £55 you can book any of the current courses listed to May 2020 at £55 as long as you pay for them before the end of February 2020. Course bookings paid for after the end of February 2020 will be £59 per course. The courses will still offer fantastic value and a convenient way to get some CPD under your belt.

Course information

You can find information sheets to download about all of our online courses on the Short Online Courses page.

We look forward to having an opportunity to work with you this year.

 

Goal setting in dance teaching

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I have written about SMART goal setting before. Here I want to say a bit more about what it is and how we can use it in dance teaching.

Continue reading →

Closing date 31 October 2017

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You still have time to book your place on a short online course. The closing date is the end of the month, 31 October 2017 and you can book online.

If you need some CPD or just want to enhance your knowledge, skills and understanding then why not book your place today?

You can read previous posts below about the topics of the two courses coming up.

Mindfulness in dance teaching

Proprioception

Want to know about a course?  You can download information sheets about all of the short online courses here.