At Creative Dance and Music Studio, we’re sometimes asked by parents if we can “challenge” or “push” a child more in class. The answer is not as simple as you might think, which is why we’ve brought the answer here to our blog!
The first part of the answer is that it’s a misconception that dancers must be pushed by someone else in order to succeed. We believe a teacher should encourage, instruct, support, and inspire … but not push, which implies that they would force a child to do something they are unwilling or unprepared to do.
When it comes to being pushed in dance class, our goal is to teach that it comes from within. In our experience, dancers who push themselves will see much bigger, brighter results than those who expect to be pushed by someone else! That inner drive is what’s most motivating.
So how do our teachers make a difference when it comes to challenging your children to do more? If the push comes from within the dancer, what are the teachers doing to develop each student’s progress? How do they respond to the push?
They pull.
Rather than prodding a dancer along, our teachers nurture the spark that has already come from inside. It’s a spark that every child already has—and they ignite it themselves.
Each teacher on our team is trained in pulling the best out of each dancer. When the students are pushing themselves to work hard, this allows the teachers to hone in on all the amazing qualities that shine through. They also strive to strengthen each child’s growth areas, inspiring new directions for that inner push to go. This is the push/pull effect in action!
Every push from the dancer results in a harmonious pull from the teacher. And its cycle continues over and over again throughout a dancer’s journey at CDMS.
We strongly believe that this philosophy gives our students the healthiest possible dance education. Rather than wait for someone else to push them forward, our dancers are discovering their inner drive. And at the same time, they’re experiencing the instruction and positive influence of our teachers to grow their skills and character qualities.
Over the years, we’ve seen the proof that this push/pull effect truly sets our students up for success. We thank you for trusting us to teach these lessons to your child and help them reach their fullest potential in dance and in life!