Creative Movement classes exploring space with scarves. Teenaged students competing in groups to test their knowledge of ballet body positions and other terminology. Adults experimenting with pirouette tricks in independent class time. These are all ways that “play” can contribute to ballet pedagogy.
Play-based approaches can encourage experimentation, engagement, and self-discovery—and not just for the youngest dancers. Here are some reasons why you might consider incorporating play into your ballet classroom, as well as some ways to get started.
Why Use Play in Ballet?
Deborah Damast, clinical associate professor and director of dance education at New York University’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development, recommends linking play with creating. “If young dancers in technique classes see choreography as the result of someone or a group of people who played, tried things out, experimented with form and content, and explored the creative process, then they can connect to the creativity in the art form in a personal and meaningful way,” she says.
That can help students see themselves as artists. Technique is the tool toward the end goal: creation. “Technique without creativity, play, and innovation is missing the essence of what it was designed for: art, communication, and culture,” Damast says.
Elizabeth Portnoy, who teaches youth of various ages in studios and public schools in New York City, notes a practical advantage of play: classroom management. “As teachers, we need to be the most interesting thing in the room,” she explains. “Play with props, for example, can limit distraction—and keep students interested and engaged. Then half your job is done.”
Ramona Maria Schmid of Let’s Play Ballet Mentoring coaches adults who she believes crave experimentation. There’s a natural human instinct to problem-solve. “Play can help satisfy those longings because there’s not so much a ‘wrong’ or ‘right’,” she says. “It’s just figuring it out through trial and error. It’s okay to ‘fail’—that’s how students find out what doesn’t work and become more independent.” Further, play can send the message that “learning isn’t linear, and lightbulbs can emerge at any time,” Schmid adds. All of that helps build adaptability and self-efficacy, vital skills in dance—and in life.
Kate Loh often teaches professional dancers, both in open classes at studios throughout New York City and as a private coach. “The art form being their job can be stressful, and it can be easy to forget what first made them fall in love with it,” she notes. Playfulness can help remind them. “There is a lot of pressure in the professional dance world, but the end goal is to transport an audience. To do that, the artist needs to continue to love dance, and it’s my job to encourage that,” Loh says.
Tactics to Try
Depending on the age of your students, you might incorporate one or more of these play-based tactics into your classroom:
Use props.
Toys like baby dolls, stuffed animals, and scarves work well for younger students. Exercise balls, TheraBands, and other tactile items can facilitate learning in older dancers.
Incorporate age-appropriate imagery.
Ask young students to point an imaginary wand with magic that can help them point their toes. Show older dancers spirals in nature to help them understand spirals around the spine. Analogies and metaphors can engage students’ imaginations and help them understand technical concepts.
Play with music.
Music can help in creating a fun, upbeat atmosphere in class. Loh works with accompanists to mix pop music and television/movie themes into classical repertory. “It brightens the mood and helps dancers relax, to remember the joy of movement to music!” she says.
Portnoy suggests incorporating musical games, such as asking a student to secretly instruct the pianist to play a piece of music associated with a particular color; the other students have to guess what the color is.
You might also allow dancers to perform a combination in their own timing, to dance in a canon, or to try out different musical dynamics, Damast suggests. Or have students accompany their dancing peers with small instruments, such as hand drums, shaker eggs, and triangles.
Use games to teach terminology, etiquette, and more!
“Kids do learn by repetition, but it’s also important to engage them by bringing in some novelty,” Portnoy says. At the same time, “you want to challenge them beyond their current abilities.” Games can provide an ideal blend of fun and rigor.
For example, Portnoy asks students to choreograph according to the basic meaning of a term, so they can feel the action of specific terminology: “jump” for sauté and “stretch” for tendu. Damast suggests having students, in groups, create phrases incorporating recently learned vocabulary.
You could also lead literacy integrations and cross-media explorations (for example, writing poems about combinations) to playfully investigate how movement intersects with other art forms. Even proper class etiquette and process can be gamified; Portnoy awards points to students who properly prepare for barre combinations. Other options include scavenger hunts, dance maps, and notation: The sky’s the limit!
Change things up.
How can you shake up the classroom routine? Damast recommends having students improvise movement to a new spot in the room during the 16 counts between each side of a combination. You could also change the formation of a particular part of class, or have students face each other and mirror each other’s movement. Playing with spacing in the studio can enhance adaptability when it comes to staying in formation onstage.
Use a “task-based” method.
Schmid gives her adult students a task or framework and independent time to work on it. “Give clear guidelines so that you won’t need to intervene often, and so students feel secure, trusting you and the process,” she says. Use “neutral observation” as you respond to what students have come up with—in which feedback is constructive, just part of the trial-and-error process.
Making It Work
Will play-based techniques take up valuable class time? Will students lose focus or become too raucous? Not if you utilize these tools with care. “There are many ways to incorporate play and creativity into a technique class that enhance learning, engagement, and joy and still allow the content to be fully delivered,” Damast says.
Teachers do need to project calm and capability in order for that to happen. “When asked to work in play-based approaches, sometimes students panic—and we can’t have teachers panicking too,” Schmid explains.
An environment of productive play is fertile ground for experimentation, which can in turn grow richness of execution. Play isn’t just about having fun; with it, students can find the nuance and self-knowing that brings them from good to great in their artistry—and have a great time doing so. Teachers may enjoy the journey a whole lot more, as well. Why not give it a shot?