Hi Everybody! After our conversation yesterday, I would like to reflect about dance pupils and their focus on learning dances/performing in relationship to learning technique and having technique classes. I firstly, teach classical ballet which we know has a strong focus on technique. As a pupil, learning dances in classes were only in connection with an exam or performance, so learning a routine weekly was never the norm.  Society has changed, and I wonder if children today do not want to work on the “boring” stuff.  I see my pupils changing from ballet to other forms, could it be that ballet´s progression is too slow or that it is too repetitive? Do pupils today expect results quicker maybe? Have genres such as hip-hop and street, where there is less focus on technique, and certainly more “freedom” and individuality, contributed to pupils´ expectations of a dance class?

Has society today created a generation of “quick fixers”? Pupils today certainly do a lot more activities and swap from one to the other. Could this contribute to the lack of patience to hold out and learn technique? I wonder too, if programmes like “So You Think You Can Dance” also contribute to the focus on performing and not class work.

I know the respect I have for the dance as an art form, but maybe my ideology needs to be more up-dated. I´m wondering if it´s me who needs a shake-up and change my teaching to today´s society and youth….. a lot to think about! Would love to hear some views!