Teaching Dance Skills integrates the principles of motor learning and development with dance teaching strategies in order to optimize the learning environment for children, adolescents, and adults ranging in skill from novice to experienced dancers. In 12 chapters the book presents a blueprint for optimal individualized dance teaching leading to optimized learning. Specific topics addressed are: selecting and organizing the dance material, how to select the most appropriate instructional methods, and the role of various modes of demonstration as well as the type of feedback most appropriate for students? age, skill, and developmental levels.

With this one-of-a-kind book, dance instructors will develop the confidence and professionalism to quickly and easily go from being a good teacher to a great one, and gain the skills needed to skyrocket their careers.

Brenda McCutchen provides an integrated approach to dance education, using four cornerstones: dancing and performing, creating and composing, historical and cultural inquiry and analysing and critiquing. She also illustrates the main developmental aspects of dance.

Dance Teaching Methods and Curriculum Design, Second Edition, presents a comprehensive model that prepares students to teach dance in school and community settings. It offers 14 dance units and many tools to help students learn to design lesson plans and units and create their own dance portfolio.

Creative Dance for All Ages, Second Edition, has had a long history of providing a dance curriculum to teachers and students preparing to teach creative dance. Author Anne Gilbert demystifies expectations when teaching creative dance and provides the theory, methods, and lesson ideas for success in a variety of settings and with students of all ages. This one-stop resource offers dance teachers everything they need, including a sequential curriculum, lesson plans, instructional strategies, assessment, and other forms. It’s like having a seasoned dance teacher at your side offering inspiration and guidance all year long. Internationally recognized master teacher and author Anne Gilbert Green presents creative dance for everyone and tips on meeting the challenges of teaching it. She offers a complete package for teaching creative dance that includes the theory, methodology, and lesson plans for various age groups that can be used in a variety of settings. Gilbert also offers an entire dance curriculum for sequential teaching and learning. The second edition of her classic text has been revised, reorganized, and updated to meet all the needs of dance teachers. The second edition of Creative Dance for All Ages includes these new features: • An easy-to-navigate format helps you quickly access the material and find lesson planning and assessment tools. • Content reflects changes in the field of dance education to put you on the cutting edge. • Forty age-appropriate and brain-compatible lesson plans are accessible through the web resource, which save prep time and help ensure compliance with the latest standards. • Five downloadable video clips demonstrate the lesson plans and teaching strategies and how to put them to work in the classroom. • Suggestions for modifying lessons help you include students of all abilities. • Eight assessment forms and curriculum planning templates are adaptable to your needs. If you’re a novice teacher, the book also contains these features to ensure effective instruction: • The same conceptual approach to teaching dance was used in the first edition. • A sequential dance curriculum helps you systematically cover a 10-week quarter or 16-week semester. • Class management tips put you in control from the first day. Creative Dance for All Ages, Second Edition, is an unparalleled resource for dance educators who are looking for a conceptual creative dance curriculum that will support teaching to learners of all ages. Whether in a studio, company, recreational, or educational setting, you will discover a comprehensive and well-rounded approach to teaching dance, emphasizing the how as much as the why.

As dance training evolves and becomes more complex, knowledge of motor behavior is foundational in helping dancers learn and master new skills and become more efficient in integrating the skills. Motor Learning and Control for Dance is the first resource to address motor learning theory from a dance perspective. Educators and students preparing to teach will learn practical ways to connect the science behind dance to pedagogy in order to prepare dancers for performance. Dancers interested in performance from the recreational to professional levels will learn ways to enhance their technical and artistic progress. In language accessible even to those with no science background, Motor Learning and Control for Dance showcases principles and practices for students, artists, and teachers. The text offers a perspective on movement education not found in traditional dance training while adding to a palette of tools and strategies for improving dance instruction and performance. Aspiring dancers and instructors will explore how to develop motor skills, how to control movement on all levels, and—most important—how motor skills are best taught and learned. The authors, noted experts on motor learning and motor control in the dance world, explore these features that appeal to students and instructors alike: • Dance-specific photos, examples, and figures illustrate how to solve common problems various dance genres. • The 16 chapters prepare dance educators to teach dancers of all ages and abilities and support the development of dance artists and students in training and performance. • An extensive bibliography of sports and dance science literature allows teachers and performers to do their own research. • A glossary with a list of key terms at the back of the book. Part I presents an overview of motor behavior, covering motor development from birth to early adulthood. It provides the essential information for teaching posture control and balance, the locomotor skills underlying a range of complex dance skills, and the ballistic skills that are difficult to teach and learn, such as grand battement and movements in street dance. Part II explores motor control and how movement is planned, initiated, and executed. Readers will learn how the nervous system organizes the coordination of movement, the effects of anxiety and states of arousal on dance performance, how to integrate the senses into movement, and how speed and accuracy interact. Part III investigates methods of motor learning for dancers of all ages. Readers will explore how to implement a variety of instructional strategies, determine the best approaches for learning dance skills, and motivate and inspire dancers. This section also discusses how various methods of practice can help or hinder dancers, strategies for improving the recall of dance skills and sequences, and how to embrace somatic practice and its contribution to understanding imagery and motor learning. Motor Learning and Control for Dance addresses many related topics that are important to the discipline, such as imagery and improvisation. This book will help performers and teachers blend science with pedagogy to meet the challenge of artistry and technique in preparing for dance performance.

Teaching Children Dance, Third Edition, presents 31 ready-to-use lessons that bring fun and challenging dance experiences to elementary-aged children of all ability levels. The updated third edition includes 13 new learning experiences and two new chapters on teaching children with disabilities and making interdisciplinary connections.