Perhaps the single most important skill that dance teachers must develop in order to be good instructors is their ability to convey information effectively. During instruction, technical development is only as good as the quality of the information feedback that is provided by the teacher. As a result, consideration should be given to several areas related to effective information feedback.
Type of Feedback
There are three primary ways of conveying technical information: verbal, visual, and kinesthetic. The most common method is verbal feedback, which involves telling students what to do, e.g., the teacher tells the student to turn out or point the toe. Verbal feedback is, however, the least effective technique for teaching because verbal information does not transfer as quickly or effectively to the neuromuscular level as the other types of feedback.
Visual feedback is a more useful method for effective information feedback. This type of feedback consists of having the instructor demonstrate rather than verbalize the particular technical information or by having the students view the visual feedback on a video. Visual, as compared to verbal, feedback transfers more effectively to neuromuscular learning and, as a result, will produce better learning. This facilitated learning explains why dancers perform better after watching a performance of advanced dancers. However, a significant problem with visual feedback is that teachers can not be sure that their pupils are looking at the desired aspect of the demonstration.
The most effective technique for conveying information is kinesthetic feedback. That is, instead of telling or showing their students what to do instructors can physically place them in the appropriate position and run them through the desired motion. Kinesthetic feedback, rather than having to be transferred from the brain, provides direct information to the body at the neuromuscular level, thereby making the feedback and the learning process more effective. In addition, this type of feedback will enhance students’ kinesthetic awareness, enabling them to integrate the feedback that is provided by the dance teacher.
It should be noted that, though the effectiveness of the three types of feedback generally holds true, individuals have different processing styles, i.e., some people are verbally-oriented, others are visually-oriented, etc. Consequently, all three types of feedback will be useful in different situations and with different dancers. Dance instructors can be sensitive to these personal styles and provide the type of feedback that will best enable their students to process the instructional information.
Corrective Feedback
In providing instruction, it is important to not only indicate what students are doing wrong, but also to emphasize the correct technique. It must be understood that the appropriate corrective action is not implicit in the description of the incorrect action. For example, telling students that they are not turning out does not provide enough information for them to determine what “turn out” means. It is also essential to be specific in the corrective information. Returning to the example above, “turn out” could be considered corrective, but it does not provide feedback relative to how that can be accomplished. So during instruction, information feedback should convey “what” has to be done and “how” to do it.
Amount of Feedback
There is often a tendency on the part of dance teachers to give their students too much information. For example, an instructor may tell a pupil to turn out, drop the shoulders, and point the toes. This deluge of information causes dancers to be overloaded with information and are thus unable to focus sufficiently on any one piece of information in order for them to utilize it. Too much information inhibits the ability on the part of students to concentrate effectively on the most important information offered by the teacher. As a result, it is suggested that only a single piece of information that is most relevant to the particular instruction be offered at any one time. Furthermore, additional information should not be provided until students have demonstrated that they have integrated and utilized the prior feedback.
Positive-Negative-Positive Approach
Though there is no one prescribed method of conveying information, there is a teaching approach that has been widely accepted in the teaching community. It is referred to as the “positive-negative-positive” approach and it involves three steps. One, the correct execution of the skill is explained and demonstrated. This first step provides an initial positive orientation to the instruction and also gives students a correct point of reference for comparison in the second step. Two, how the pupil executed the skill, i.e., what the dancer did incorrectly, is explained and demonstrated. The second step allows students to understand what they did wrong and enables them to compare the improper with the proper execution of the skill. Three, step one is repeated in order to reinforce the correct execution and re-orient the student in a positive, constructive direction. It should also not be assumed that students readily understand the information that is provided. A useful method to determine whether the conveyed feedback is understood is to ask the students to explain and demonstrate the skill themselves.
