What a fabulous three weeks of the new year we have had! Everyone has adapted to the virtual classes brilliantly and on a personal note, we have loved creating the new lesson plans to suit this world and to continue bringing smiles to the faces of our Star Dancers.

Introducing visual aids

We strongly believe in using story-telling during classes to capture the imaginations of our younger students. It also strengthens the learning as dance steps then become relatable when they can link them back to a character or a story.

'Shrek in Fairyland'

For our younger preparatory students, the theme of this term is 'Shrek in Fairytale Land' and already we have introduced our Star Dancers to amazing skills, including:

• Walking and running to strengthen the use of insteps as well as coordination.
• Mime gestures to enhance expression and storytelling.
• Pony trots for developing power to the leg muscles.
• Pre-skipping skills development to work both sides of the body equally.

The ballet alphabet

For our older preparatory students, the approach this month has been the ballet alphabet. The first letter we introduced was 'A' for 'articulation' and used this to strengthen the use of the legs and feet. We also introduced 'B' for 'ballet positions'. There are 5 ballet positions of the feet and 7 of the arms and the children were very excited to learn all of these.

We then introduced a fairytale element to describe the correct terminology of the classical ballet technique and covered the following skill sets:

• Walking and running to strengthen the use of insteps as well as coordination.
• Arabesque lines to introduce them to the adage section of a ballet lesson.
• Mime gestures to enhance expression and storytelling.
• Pas de chat for developing power to the leg muscles.
• Skipping skills developed to work both sides of the body equally.

Rhythm and musicality

You may have heard, but we have also introduced rhythm work within the theatre craft part of the lesson. 😊

No matter the age, or skill level, teaching and instilling musicality is an integral part of dance, it deserves a place in their training. The aim of the rhythm work so far has been to count the number of sounds the children can hear, which in turn will help them count their movements when performing to music.

Exam technique

As soon as we are able to return to the studios, our preparatory members will be invited to take their IDTA rosette awards in ballet and theatre-craft. The rosette awards are a wonderful way of rewarding our little dancers with their efforts as they demonstrate two key skill areas for each genre of dance.

These awards will take place during their regular timetabled lessons and will be filmed and then emailed to our allocated examiner.

2021 show choreography

Our preparatory members also have their show work to look forward to starting after the half-term. This year we will be filming the show in two parts to allow the exam work to continue throughout the calendar year. Filming of the theatre craft routines will take place in June 2021 as we work to create another DVD spectacle.