Why I Love Teaching Dance

On Wednesdays at 4:30 I teach the Tiny Tots, most of them are 3 or 4 years old. One of my students that I have had for the whole year named Kyla handed me the cutest "Valentime" she had cut out and wrote "Love Kyla" in her cute 3 year old handwriting. I often get little drawings and tokens from my 3 year olds. They are so sweet.

My BYU ballroom students had their waltz critiques due today. One critique particularly stuck out to me. This student is one of my "class clowns" I guess you could say, but I love how he truly wants to be a better dancer and wants to learn. Here is what he wrote:

My response to my dance performance filmed in class is really positive. I just have to start off saying how amazed I am that I danced the waltz. At the same time I know that it was not perfect.

             Three things you pointed out that I should work on is keeping my head up while I am dancing. This is kind of hard for me because I really like to see where I am stepping before I step somewhere. The next improvement is with the fluidity of the dance. “Your dance moves are clunky,” Christina.  This is something I really want to practice. I thought I looked like a robot out there on the dance floor. I am going to improve by bending my knees and raising to my toes. The third thing is keeping my should relaxed and at the same time in dance position.

            Things that I saw I should work on include being a leader. When I dance I need to have confidence so that I can keep my head up and lead smoothly. The other thing is I have to listen to the music. By letting the music into my heart I will be able to better express my Waltz skills. The last thing I saw was that when I come to bring my feet all the way together in between the different moves.

            What I saw that I liked was that I danced the whole Waltz. I never would have thought that one day I would dance.