Hello, lovely dancers of the world, and welcome to another beginner’s article. This article is targeted more towards instructors, but any dance student is welcome to read it. It will unveil many misconceptions about what happens in practice. 

Often teachers are faced with the obstacle of interacting with people who are simultaneously passionate about dance, but also shy when they need to interact with a large group. There are certain dynamics in the dance room that beginners are unaware of, so introduce them to this world and you will see them shine faster than you anticipated. This post is split into two parts – psychological and practical.

Most beginners struggle with the thought of dancing alongside others. They have the impression that everyone is ‘’better’’ than they are (even though for some reason they are all stuck in beginners class), so their confidence plummets and everyone tries to hide in the back row. Beginner practices should be a perfect mix of comfortable and challenging environments, so let’s talk about comfort first. 

Spend time at the beginning of the season to talk to everyone in the room. Let them introduce themselves, who they are, where they come from, and what experience they have with dance. This will set a very friendly environment, but more importantly, most of the people will have to say out loud that they have little or no experience. This way you destroy the false notion that there is some secret hidden pro in the group and everybody realizes that at the end of the day, they are all on the same page. This is the first step towards gaining confidence.  

The second step is to briefly explain the dance group dynamics. Everyone works alongside each other, everyone struggles with the same challenges at any given time, and while some will learn faster than others, they will have to face their limitations sooner or later. The instructors themselves should consciously try not to pick out ‘’favorites’’ - people whom they mention often throughout practices. Find positives and strengths in each of the dancers and encourage them. Once encouraged and knowing that they do have a strength, people will work even harder to meet and overcome the next challenge.  

Explain to your dancers that calling out a correction and mentioning their names means that you are willing to work with them. Corrections are not given often to those who are completely hopeless in advancing and most of the time corrections are there to prevent the beginners from hurting themselves by repeatedly performing the wrong movement. 

Now that you have set up the comfort levels, here are two practical exercises you can do with your students. 

 Dance in the dark. Well, I say this because most of my practices happen in the evenings, but you can improvise any way you like. During the last 5 min of practice, turn off the lights (close the curtains, ask them to close their eyes, and take care not to bump into one another) and play some music. It should be a mix of songs that most people enjoy.  Then, ask everyone to disperse and just dance, as they would in the club or at home. Without judgment, without being seen by the others in the room or by you, people will slowly relax and start dancing, revealing their way of movement. For you as an instructor, this is an invaluable moment, because the dancers will slowly start to associate your dance room with a place where they are free and happy to move. I know, it might sound odd to dance around in the dark with a bunch of strangers, but it really helps. The other option would be to ask them to bring their own headphones and play their own music while dancing. 

The second suggestion is: dance together. After your beginner class starts feeling more relaxed, you should put them up for another task. Let them perform for each other. Do not warn them that the exercise will take place, just play some music and let them improvise. It is hard for most dancers, but it also gives people the opportunity to be silly, to pick a person from the class and do a slow dance, or to bust out some hip-hop moves. Even if you are teaching a beginner ballet class – do it, let everyone find freedom and joy in dance, play various music, and observe their personalities. This exercise will help your group dynamics, will bring people close,r and no matter how poorly or strongly people perform, everyone will be joyous and applauding because the task is not to impress, but just to be comfortable in your dancing body.