Garret

In order to run a day care or nursery school, one needs to be certified. To teach in the public schools, one needs at least an undergraduate degree and preferably a masters degree. So, what do you need to run a dance school or to teach at one: nothing. The result is that anyone can throw up a shingle with Dolly Dinkles Studio of Dance and be in business.

Is there a need for standards in dance education?

Dance is a physically demanding activity. Taught incorrectly, it can lead to injury. More seriously, improper training can cause irreparable long-term damage to the ankles, knees, hips, and lower back. Most of these problems do not show up immediately, leading the uninformed student, parent, or teacher to believe no harm is being done. However, these injuries appear years later, long after the dancer has become an adult and has given up their passion for dance.

In addition to the damage it can cause physically, poor standards in dance education leads to low expectations and even lower opinions of dance in the eye of the general public. Exposed regularly to low quality dance, students and their parents grow to see dance as something trivial and frivolous. After sitting through never-ending recitals of fringe and sequins, they are unlikely to voluntarily see a live professional dance concert.

Even if they do venture to a professional performance, they are often disappointed. After being accustomed to the sequined recitals, a professional dance performance can seem mentally challenging, overly intense, and dull. Every dance school, show, or organization that adheres to low standards diminishes the larger dance community by turning potential audience members, supporters, and emerging dancers away from dance.

So, why not create national standards for dance schools?

Well, the American psyche is still very much a cowboy (or cowgirl). We do not want rules and regulations encroaching on freedoms. There are many dance studio owners and teachers whose jobs would be threatened if they were required to meet standards. To their credit, they point out outstanding individual teachers who had amazing performance careers, then became excellent teachers, but never received degrees. The fear is that standards would not only regulate poor teachers, but also punish good teachers.

Where the United States fears to regulate itself, England and Canada have voluntarily adopted standardized dance education. From my experience working in Canada, I found the dance education in the country to be consistent from studio to studio. On the positive side, they do not have the plethora of inadequate dance studios that we have throughout the United States. On the flip side, they also do not have nearly as many exceptional, innovative dance education organizations as America does. America, and New York City in particular, remain the center of the worlds dance scene.

We need regulations but were too stubborn to accept themwhat now?

There is a group of individuals that unknowingly sets the standards for dance schools: parents. Parents drive the level of quality in our market driven society. But it is difficult for a parent, uneducated in the field of dance, to make an informed choice.

If you pick up your local yellow pages and flip to the dance school section, you will find ads for a number of dance studios. Chances are, the majority of those ads claim to provide quality or professional instruction. Of course they do, who is going to be honest enough to admit below average or highly amateur instruction. As a parent searching for a dance school, you want the best for your child. Nevertheless, how can you decipher one school from another when they all claim to be excellent?

It takes time and energy to research which dance schools live up to high standards. Unfortunately, most of the public views the dance teacher on par with the little league coach or the cheerleading coach. Most coaches for childrens baseball, soccer, and cheerleading were not professionals or professionally educated. And even fewer have been educated in how to teach. This is fine for sports. What they are not taking into serious consideration is the fact that the demands of dance training on the body, at even the youngest level, can create great growth or great damage. The seemingly harmless decision of finding a dance studio for your child can be causing damage to their joints that go unrealized for years.

What can we do?

I believe the education of the public is the dance communitys top priority. We must teach students and parents of students the importance of proper dance education. Teach them about proper fundamentals that do no harm. (The old knees over toes rule.) Teach them the value of a progressive, structured curriculum. (Slow and steady wins the race.) Teach them respect for themselves and for dance. (Age appropriate themes and choreography.) Educating students and parents on what real quality means in dance education is the only way to ensure a future of healthy, happy dancers, audience members, and a new generation of qualified teachers.

James Robey is Founding Artistic Director of the Bare Bones Dance Project, Artistic Director of Ridgefield Conservatory of Dance and Adjunct Faculty member at The Hartt School at University of Hartford where he teaches Horton Modern technique and Jazz Dance. James is active in the Connecticut, New York, and National dance communities as a guest artist, master teacher, independent choreographer, and lecturer.