Exciting news!
Courses for March and April 2017 are available to book now.
General information is available about courses on the Short Online Courses page. The brand new course Mindfulness in Dance Teaching will have an information sheet available shortly.
Dates for the first group of short online cpd courses for dance teachers in 2017 will be published on the site next week.
You will be able to book your short courses then too.
So don’t forget to check back here next week to find out about short courses coming up very soon.
You can find general information about the Short Courses here. The new Mindfulness in Dance Teaching short online course will be added to the list shortly. Why not read the recent article about this topic?
Start date: Friday 11 November 2016
Finish date: Thursday 1 December 2016
Closing date for bookings: Monday 31 October 2016
Learning and Teaching Dance: Tension & Rigidity in Dance
Bookings for this course have closed.
Dance Teaching Ethics: an introduction
Bookings for this course have closed.
Further information
Further information about each course is available on the Short Online Courses page – once there scroll down for individual course details and links to course information sheets to download. This is also where you will find the general information about the Short Online CPD Courses for Dance Teachers.
Each course takes 10 hours of your time over a period of three weeks and only costs £55 (GBP) which is fantastic value.
If you want to take two courses at the same time (and some teachers do) please ensure that you have time to do two courses together and can teach two classes (one for each course) in week three of the courses. Please read the Short Online Courses page for further information about the courses.
There are two courses running next month in October 2016. They are available to book and pay online until Monday 3 October 2016 (the closing date for October course bookings). If you want to take either or both of these courses then don’t forget to book by the closing date as bookings cannot be accepted after Monday (UK time).
The two courses for October are:
I thought it was time to point you in the direction of some of the previous articles from cpdfordanceteachers.com.
Feet are very important for dancers (and dance teachers) so I hope you will download the Focus on Feet exercises as well as reading the article and watching the short video about alignment of the Achilles.
I get enquiries from dance teachers in training asking if it is possible for them to take the Short Online CPD Courses for Dance Teachers. these enquiries arise because they are still training to become a dance teacher and wonder if trainee teachers are welcome on the courses.
The answer is, yes, trainee dance teachers are very welcome to take these CPD courses. If you are a trainee dance teacher and want to take these CPD courses then as long as you can plan (as part of the course) and organise the class to teach in week three of your course then no problem. If you are in training them you may need to teach a class that is not actually your own class but for the purpose of the courses and your development this should not be a problem, as long as you check with the school or institution that they are happy for you to teach a class as part of your course.
Trainee teachers who have already taken these courses have found them useful for their training because they explore aspects of dance teaching that are not syllabus and touch on topics not necessarily covered in basic dance teacher training.
If you are a dance teacher in training, why not check out the current course dates?
Start date: Friday 11 November 2016
Finish date: Thursday 1 December 2016
Closing date for bookings: Monday 31 October 2016
Learning and Teaching Dance: Tension & Rigidity in Dance
Bookings for this course have closed.
Dance Teaching Ethics: an introduction
Bookings for this course have closed.
Further information
Further information about each course is available on the Short Online Courses page – once there scroll down for individual course details and links to course information sheets to download. This is also where you will find the general information about the Short Online CPD Courses for Dance Teachers.
Each course takes 10 hours of your time over a period of three weeks and only costs £55 (GBP) which is fantastic value.
If you want to take two courses at the same time (and some teachers do) please ensure that you have time to do two courses together and can teach two classes (one for each course) in week three of the courses. Please read the Short Online Courses page for further information about the courses.
The October courses are now underway
Start date: Friday 14 October 2016
Finish date: Thursday 3 November 2016
Closing date for bookings: Monday 3 October 2016
Learning and Teaching Dance: teaching dance to older people
Bookings for this course are now closed.
Safe Dance Teaching Practice: proprioception
Bookings for this course are now closed.
Many congratulations to the dance teachers around the world who have this week, completed the Teaching dance to older people, short online CPD course.
As always it is exciting and rewarding to see just how much development happens over the three short weeks of the course. Continue reading
Today older people enjoy a whole range of dance activities. Older adult classes are increasingly available with more dance teachers realising that there are lots of older people who want to dance and be active.
There are differences between teaching say, children’s ballet and teaching ballet to older adults. Equally, with other dance genres such as tap, Jazz dance and the other theatre styles there are adjustments to be made to suit the needs of the people you teach. Social dance genres such as ballroom, Latin, sequence, Salsa and so on have been offering dance classes for older adults for many decades but even these genres need to consider the needs of their participants when choosing appropriate dances and dance content for them.
Another social dance genre that many older adults enjoy is Line dancing and just as with all the other dance genres, it is vital to consider the needs and abilities of those you are teaching when choosing dance content, pace of teaching, tempo of music and so on. Making dance classes for older people inclusive and not exclusive is important to avoid them feeling that they cannot join in. As our older adults getting older, their needs and abilities change and if we respond to these changes by adapting how we teach and the dance content we give them we can help our older dancers to enjoy and get the benefits of dancing for longer.
I like to think about the health and social benefits of teaching dance to older people and we will explore these benefits and much more during my short online CPD course for dance teachers – Learning and Teaching Dance: teaching dance to older people. The closing date for booking this course is Monday 25 April 2016 and the course begins on Friday 6 May 2016. Don’t forget you can pay online now so easier to pay for your course especially if you are outside of the UK.
Why not join me in exploring this exciting area of dance teaching?
Are you intending to book one or both of the April 2016 courses? Then you need to get your booking and payment in today Wednesday 6 April as it is the last day for accepting bookings/payment for these short online courses.
If you have sent in your booking form and have not yet paid then please note that payments for April courses must be received today (UK time) in order to confirm your booking/s. If you want to pay online and have not requested an invoice with the online payment link then please ask for this now so you can make your online payment in time.
Already booked? I am looking forward to working with you on the Aspects of Anatomy: exploring basic anatomy and function in dance and/or Dance Teaching Ethics: an introduction.
The April courses begin on Friday 22 April 2016. Further details are available here.
The next course is the Learning and Teaching Dance: teaching dance to older people that begins on Friday 6 May 2016. Closing date for the May course is: Monday 25 April 2016.
Depending on the sort of dance teaching you are involved with do you set an overall goal for each class or group of classes that you teach? What I mean is do you have an overall focus of learning and development beyond the specific content for one class?
An example of this could be in say a ballet class where you are teaching some dance technique aspects of the syllabus. The focus of the session is to develop the technique but what about a more general or overall focus that you can transport from one session to another? What about the bigger picture? An overall focus might be to add to each student’s understanding of safe dance practice (SDP). When you reflect on the class you would be able to identify not only how you introduced the technique but also how the class helped to develop the student’s understanding of safe dance practice. You can use this overall focus for a number of weeks, terms or determined length.
In an older adult class you might have set dance pieces that you want to teach or review and in addition to these you may also have an overall focus of encouraging participants to interact with each other. So in this situation the dance class has dance content goals but there is also an overall focus of increasing socialisation within the class. Over several classes there may be different dance content goals but the overall goal for the classes might be to promote wellbeing through increasing socialisation.
In a Highland class you may be working on say, the sword dance but an overall goal for the class might be to improve the use of the shoulder joint for improved carriage of the arms and upper body throughout all the Highland dances. And you bring this focus into whatever aspect of the sword dance that you are teaching. Or it may be that you want an overall focus of improving breathing and stamina. Again something that can be a focus in your Highland classes no matter what dance or steps you are teaching at individual classes.
A beginner ballroom class may being introduced to basics from the various dances but could an overall goal perhaps be for the dancers to become comfortable dancing as a couple no matter which dance they are dancing?
I am sure you get the picture whichever dance genres you teach. What are your overall goals for the learning and development of your dancers/students in addition to specific dance goals at each class or session?
You still have about 24 days to book your place on the April 2016 short online CPD courses for dance teachers. Please remember that the closing date for bookings is Wednesday 6 April 2016 with the courses starting on Friday 22 April and completing on Thursday 12 May 2016.
The two courses running in April are:
Dance Teaching Ethics: an introduction
and
Aspects of Anatomy: exploring basic shoulder anatomy and function in dance
Further details are available here or click on the image in the sidebar to the right.
