10 ways to rehearse a dance

I am in the midst of rehearsals for Jump2it, a new dance festival that I have set up in conjunction with the South Charnwood School Sports Partnership.  I am working with 7 primary schools who will learn / choreograph a dance that they will showcase at the event.  Some of the groups have already created their dance, but will have to wait quite a while until the actual performance date (which is at the end of March).

So I’ve created a ’10 ways to rehearse a dance’ suggestions list to help the teachers keep the choreography fresh, without ‘over-rehearsing’ it.  I thought I’d share it here as it may be useful for you too.

1. Rehearse the whole dance, but as fast as possible
2. Rehearse one section of the dance in slow-motion
3. Do a ‘top and tail’ version of the dance, where the children stand in each of the positions / spaces they need to be in for the dance, without actually dancing any of the content
4. Use a section of the dance as a warm up for a PE lesson
5. Ask the children to teach another class some of the choreography
6. Perform the dance in an assembly
7. Video the dance and watch it back – what can they make better?
8. Rehearse the dance backwards (start at the end and reverse it!)
9. Get them into pairs and ask them to perform the dance to each other
10. Play follow my leader – each person at the front has to demonstrate a move from the dance

I’d love to hear from you, so if you have any other tips please add them in the comments box below.