Attendance:

Children will attend all classes they are enrolled in unless sick, injured or unique circumstances relating to school or family matters occur.

If a child is not at class, particularly in the lead up to an event, they are not only missing out on valuable practice but they miss any changes to steps, new content and corrections that occur during that time. For performances especially, the consequence of missed classes could be that they are not able to participate due to significant missed content.

Attitude:

Children will come to class with a good attitude, ready to learn and focus.

Having the right attitude is crucial to making the most of the time they spend at class. This means being ready to participate and engage in the activities and drills done in class, and doing those to the best of their ability. When a child attends class but is not giving their best effort, or is dancing but without focus and concentration, they are not able to progress and improve their skills in a way that will increase their abilities. To become the best dancer they can be, a child needs to give their best effort every time they dance so that their baseline for improvement is their personal best, not what is easy already.

At Home:

Children will practice the content for the events they are participating in outside of class.

Practice at home ensures that the steps, skills and corrections that are worked on in class are retained and reinforced. The most common issue dancers have when they get on stage is that they forget the steps of their dance. The likelihood of this occurring is significantly reduced when a child practices at home between classes, particularly when there is more than 1 day between classes. The practice done at home, when done correctly and with focus, allows for habits to be created and muscle memory to begin forming so that even when a dancer is performing and has to think of things they normally wouldn’t (eg. Other dancers in the way, the music is different, the floor is slippery, there is something happening in the audience) their bodies and brains have done enough repetition of the steps that they can still remember their dance.

The rate of improvement in dancers who are regularly doing focused practice at home is dramatically increased compared to dancers who only practice when in class.