Students Aren't Robots or Obvious Things I Miss

So I was getting concerned that my students were getting bored or at the very least getting tired of doing my across the floor combos each week. Or maybe I'm the one who was getting bored - either way i wanted to spice some things up.

I'm not a particularly social person and I've been guilty of treating my students somewhat like robots at times, forgetting they are each individual people with their own thoughts, feelings, etc. When I was younger my mentor, Gregg Russell, had to call an end to a rehearsal I was conducting for his tap company because it was 1 or 2 in the morning and I was so focused on making the dance perfect I had lost track off the fact that I was working with real humans who get tired - especially that late.

So I thought of a fun across the floor idea to try out. I told my students they would be creating their own across the floor combination. Now this is not a big deal - I've done this before - nothing new here. But wait! The catch was that the combination had to express who they are. HA!

Talk about throwing a wrench in things. Many of them weren't sure what to do with this, but by and large they rose to the occasion. I saw a side of some of them I had never seen. 

And the very best part was seeing the smiles on some of their faces as they went across the floor doing their own thing and expressing who they were through their combo. It was so cool to see those smiles.

If you've never tried this with your classes before you might give it a shot. It was well worth it!

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