First interview

I met my first interviewee at Costa today, I was really nervous about this as we are friends and work together, I wanted to make sure it was not awkward or for my interviewee to feel I was testing her. My interview went really well the only thing I would of done differently was time went so quickly! I thought an hour and a half would be plenty of time but the last few questions were slightly rushed which was unfortunate but I have many new ideas, ideas I had never thought of. Especially being more creative and keeping my warm-up more fun, lots more breathing exercises that will mentally prepare students. I'm very excited to start analysing and breaking down each answer more and working out how I can improve my teaching.
My next interview is Thursday and hopefully it goes just as well, fingers crossed!

Interview Questions

Interview

Before carrying out my questions for my interview please make sure each interviewee is aware you are NOT testing them, but simply gaining more knowledge. There is no correct or incorrect answer, I want to gather more information on this topic and each opinion is helpful.

Questions

1.       Why do you perform a warm-up during your dance classes?

2.       How do you make sure your students are mentally prepared for class? Do you have a certain exercise which helps their state of mind before class? Or after? Breathing exercise? Where did you come up with this idea? Were you influenced by anyone or anything?

3.       How has your warm-up been designed in a street class? (Street classes have a free warm-up designed by the teacher)

4.       What has influenced you with ideas during your warm-up or dance movements in your warm-up?

5.       How do you incorporate the aim of your dance class into your warm-up? Mentally and physically preparing your students for what is to come?

6.       Do you discuss your class ideas with other fellow teachers or friends you may know? Past experiences? What has made a differences to your teaching?

7.       How do you prepare for class? Where do you get the ideas for your dances from? Are you motivated by certain music or maybe a memory?

8.       All people have their own versions of a warm-up there is no right way to warm-up as long as you tick all the boxes for preparing the body for a dance class. Does your warm-up have a ‘stretch’ section? If so what type of stretches? Why do you perform these stretches and how does this effect your students?

9.       Do you perform stretches in a cool-down and if so how is this different to your stretches during a warm-up?

10.   Can you think of any way to make a warm-up or cool-down more creative? I want to improve my teaching and I do not want my warm-up to be effective but boring. I want it to feel like my students are dancing, 45minutes is not a long time so I want to make the most of it.

11.   How would your warm-up differ if you was teaching a ballet class? (Discuss cardio at the beginning of a class? Increasing the heart rate which leads to oxygen and nutrition to the working muscles.)

12.   Some research have come to the understanding if you stretch incorrectly during a warm-up this can have an effect on force production, power performance, running speed, reaction time, movement time, endurance, balance and jumping height etc. I was not aware of this until researching into my topic of inquiry but would you disagree or agree with this source? Have you ever come across this in your students? 

13.   Cool-downs are often forgotten about or a teacher does not have time to perform a cool-down. How long does your cool-down last for and when would you perform one?

14.   What does a cool-down prevent? Do your students understand why they perform a cool-down?

15.   What does a good cool-down consist of? Different stages?

16.   Many injuries can occur when students are stretching incorrectly. Normally because they have not warm-up correctly when, where and how is the most effective way for stretching?

17.   In what situation would you use…

 

a.       Ballistic stretch technique?

b.      Dynamic stretch technique?

c.       Static stretch technique?

d.      PNF stretching technique?

Is there any disadvantages you are aware of in these four techniques of stretching, maybe one you would not use in class, and why?

18.   There are many different factors that can affect a student’s flexibility such as tension, joint mobility, activity, gender and age how would you overcome some of these factors as a teacher?

19.   Also I have researched into when a dancer is already sore from a previous class the day before, if your students were to have aching muscles how would you advise them in this situation? If they answer by ‘stretching’ which stretches would you use?

20.   During your dance classes which type of full-range stretches do you use? Passive, ballistic and PNF stretching? Which do you find most effective and why or do you find it varies between students? How long do you hold these stretches?

21.   If you was in the correct position to perform full range stretches, what is the longest you would hold a position for, this is known as pro long stretching? (After they answer) Ask if they would prefer to use a different stretch technique or do they find this technique effective?

Please remember to thank your interviewee for their time, opinions and knowledge!

Learn the Benefits of a Winning Warm-Up

Dancers: Learn the benefits of winning a warm-up

Professional source published by ‘The Stage Casting’ in April 2014 by Dominic Antonucci, ballet master at Birmingham Royal Ballet. This article discusses warming up for professional dancers. I know my inquiry is based on primary school ages, but I found this article fascinating. We perform a ballet each year over the summer as a workshop for the children, and we have professional dancers come join us. The children love to watch the professional dancer’s warm-up and do their own routine to focus themselves before a performance.

Warm-up

A warm-up can vary depending on what type of person, there are many factors you need to take into consideration.  When you perform a warm-up there are certain changes you should see and feel in the body. For well trained professionals that do it every day should see a warm-up as a ritual and help prepare them mentally too. You should spend your time during a warm-up to focus yourself, and listening to the music, counting and using coordination’s.  Mentally people need that to time to collect their thoughts, forget about them, and focus their mind on the dance class or performance ahead.

How do Dancers Warm-Up?

When you get to a certain level of training and especially professional dancers you become to know your body and tend to find your own routine and set stages of warming yourself up. Dominic talks about professionals knowing their bodies, some like to go swimming before a performance, jogging on the spot, some like stretching and others think against stretching. But by the time you reach that level you know your body well enough and know what state their body needs to be in before a performance or class.

I found this section very interesting, should a warm up be changed or varied? Professionals tend to find a warm-up and if they feel they performed well after that specific warm-up they tend to stick with it. On the other hand if you have a bad performance you try a new warm-up the next day or whenever the next performance is. Dominic stuck to his 20-25 minute barre work over a 20year period because that worked for him.

How Should a Dance Student go about shaping their own Warm-Up?

Dominic talks about how most dance teachers will try and awaken their student with describing a certain feeling and self-awareness. Body conditioning exercises and pilates especially goes very much by feel. A dancer needed to analyse their body and how they are exactly feeling in that moment. If their back is tight? Or if it’s the hamstrings? You have to design the warm-up around yourself and how you feel. Dominic said he always warmed up but did not always cool down and I find this is many classes, teachers need to make sure they find the time to cool down before letting their students leave.

 How do your Dancers Cool Down?

After a performance Dominic talks about his dancer’s cooling down, backstage they spend time walking around and shaking their legs, jogging and stretching. They need to let their heart rate and breath slowly decrease and find time to relax after a performance. After those curtains go down dancers will practice certain moves that did not go well that night, and practice certain sections, this can all be adding to a cool-down, they are still moving but not as extreme as when they were performing. Chi Cao Birmingham Royal Ballet principal dancer who took the lead role in the film Mao’s Last Dancer spend a long time warming up and cooling down. He would stay on stage cooling down an hour or more after the performance, stretching and manipulating his body to get it just right to be prepared for the next day. Dancers are educating themselves more now which I agree, I was taught to know my body and make sure you look after it, dancer’s need to know their weaknesses and spend extra time on certain parts of your body. When you are younger you do the same as your friend next to you, but they are still developing and learning. It is important teachers try and explain that not everyone is the same.

 

Child Development in Practice

Ethics and ‘Child Development in Practice’

After reading ‘helping your child to get fit’ and especially one particular chapter on ‘School Sports’ I found the National Curriculum very interesting, and wanted to look into this more. Keeping a warm-up basic is a good idea, dancers need time to focus themselves, and firstly they need to increase their heart rate, so running and jumping is a good place to start. I then wanted to find out when children start jumping, hopping and skipping etc. I am focusing on the age group during a child’s time at primary school, there is a huge difference between the ages of 5-11 and their bodies develop and change all the time.

Age 5- At the age of 5 there are certain motor skills a child should be doing, or should be encourage to practice is skills such as running, climbing, jumping, hiding, chasing, throwing a ball, skipping. Being a dance teacher I know some children pick up skipping at different speeds, normally a child can only hop on one leg first and need to practice hopping or their weaker leg. Some children pick up skipping straight away, and other need to work on it, either way as long as you encourage children they will get there in the end.

Age 7- By the age of 7 which is only a couple of years older their coordination will have improved vastly. Their dance movements will have improved, they should be able to skip with a skipping rope, catching a ball, batting a ball in ball games. Also balance would have improved too so riding a bike or walking across a narrow width (for example the beam in gymnastics) will be much more likely by the age of 7. They will be stronger swimmers and hopefully would have had a go at skating which most children enjoy.

Looking into this topic was interesting, from personal experience I started riding a bike at 7, but my younger sister was very young to start riding a bike and on the other hand we had an older cousin who found riding a bike extremely difficult for a few years. All children learn at different paces, and again there is not a right or wrong way.

Cognitive development- having a general awareness of the world.

It is important to include many factors when teaching children to encourage cognitive development. Such as; discipline, repetition, fun, enthusiasm, praise, encouraging, good communication skills, allow the child to have a go themselves.

Age Related Issues- when children are under the age of 10 (which is normally before growth spurt) children’s bones and muscles still need to be strengthen, body proportions, energy stores and sweat mechanisms.

By the age of 11 and over more changes has happened once again, a child’s body is always changing and developing which is nonstop. Their bones and muscles will be stronger, after a growth spurt children can have loss of balance and coordination which is very common, during this period of time children can look clumsy but they are adjusting to their body. During this transition children will need to sleep more hours and eat more. Once again children are all different and this is not the case for everyone.

Professional source written by Pamela May, published Routledge in the USA and Canada (2011)

 

 

Observing Classes

Observing classes
Tuesday 1st March

Funky Cheer 16.00-16.30
1st steps Modern 16.30-17.00
Street Crew 17.00-17.45