Dance Science Behind Our Classes
We at BCMCD take our roles as arts educators seriously and we offer programming that we believe reflects our values. Much of this is reflected in our teaching style, the types of classes we offer, and how our studio classes are formatted. This page shares some professional sources reflecting our values and methodology as an arts education institution.
Impacts of Competitive Dance
& Early Specialization
Competitive dance has become a popular form of training in the past few decades. Like any training approach, there are positive and negative impacts imprinted on dancers through competitive dance environments. One element to consider is the impact of early sport specialization associated to competitive dance. Early sport specialization has been discouraged in many sports for a wide variety of reasons including the frequency of overuse injuries, anxiety, and burn out due to the extensive imposed time commitments, physical, and cognitive demands. Suggested instead is that young children participate in a variety of activities to develop a wide range of physical and cognitive skill sets. The skills developed in all of their experiences can then be transferred into a selected sport of specialization later in the child’s development. As a result, children are seen to be more engaged, engage in sport longer, avoid psychological burn out, and have less overuse injuries.
Also noted for many sports is that competition should not be integrated until the child’s skill development and psychological level of readiness meet a certain point. In many instances, dance studios begin entering children as young as four years old into competitions. However, the recommended age to begin where dancers are ready to tackle the physical and psychological demands of competitive dance is between the ages of 9 and 12. Some positive qualities that competitive dance can teach dancers are the importance of teamwork, commitment, and how to be proud of accomplishments regardless of winning or losing. In contrast, some elements of competitive dance can have negative impacts on the dancer’s psychological development of the ego, body image, and financial anxiety.
In an effort to guide our young dancers on a physically and mentally healthy dance journey, we educate our dancers and their families of the impacts of competitive dance and only provide competitive dance options for advanced students over the age of 14 in our Senior Choreography program. Along with this, we prepare and encourage these dancers to attend summer dance programs, workshops, and auditions to provide them with different training and performance environment experiences. To foster qualities such as the importance of teamwork, commitment, and how to be proud of accomplishments regardless of the outcome, we have an optional recital in June annually where each class learns a piece of choreography and performs it in the show at Market Hall Performing Arts Centre in Peterborough.
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Here are some articles that assess the impacts of competitive dance and early specialization of sports:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36353394/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3871410/
https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/232874938.pdf/
https://digitalcommons.chapman.edu/e-Research/vol3/iss2/3/
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Our Use of the Mirrors
At BCMCD we use a mirror as a learning tool for technical corrections only. We have one mirror at the back of the room that we use with dancers for visual feedback if the instructor believes it may be useful in that circumstance. Many dance studios have large mirrors at the front of their studios being used as a learning tool. However, research shows that using a mirror for this purpose is not as beneficial as originally believed.
New studies show that dancers are able to perform choreography with more confidence without the use of a mirror as a visual tool during the learning process. Dancers must trust themselves when rehearsing without a mirror as there is less visual feedback to rely on. Much of dance is engaging and focusing on outwards into the space as a way to connect with the environment. Taking away a mirror allows the dancers more freedom to experience this.
Similarly, dancers when learning technique must rely of the feeling associated to correct technique when not dancing in front of a mirror. Too often dancers abuse mirrors in class by using it as visual reassurance or confirmation of their technique. Dancers only using the mirror to address technical concerns outside of performing exercises are better able to transfer the skills they have acquired into performative settings and situations.
Research also shows that dancers that do not use the mirror for all of class also have better mental health related to body image.
Here are some articles that shares impacts of mirrors in dance studios:
https://iadms.org/media/3586/iadms-resource-paper-mirrors-in-the-dance-class.pdf
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4102331/
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