Spring is here, but don’t leave all of the fun to the flowers. Dancers can bloom, too. In fact, using B.L.O.O.M. as an acronym can be a fun way to keep some essential ideas in the minds of your students. Once they know what it means, you might even take time once a week to ask them how they’re B.L.O.O.M.ing in that moment.
Believe
One of your goals should always be to encourage your students to believe in themselves and their art. Encouraging self-confidence will make them emotionally stronger people. Using self-confidence as a way to teach them to praise themselves for their successes will also push them to work on their art because they believe in it.
Love
Extending confidence outward is important for nurturing a dance community that shares kind feelings and supports everyone’s progress as athletes and artists. Encourage your students to give the same love to their teammates that they receive and from them. Dance friends are forever, they should show each other a forever kind of appreciation.
(be) Optimistic
Something every dancer should work toward no matter their age is looking for solutions, not excuses. Making excuses lets us hold ourselves back and lets us teach ourselves that there are things we cannot do. Push your students to see the sun behind every cloud and to find a solution to every obstacle.
(be) Open
Feedback. Feedback. Feedback. Giving and receiving feedback is essential for any artists regardless of their medium. When you’re a dancer, your medium is your body, and the limit of that medium is that you cannot remove yourself from your body and watch it in motion the same way another person can. You can use mirrors, but even that has its limits. Do exercises that let your students work to give feedback and be receptive to receiving it. There is always room to improve!
Move
Don’t think of “dancer” as a noun. Try to think of it actively. When you are dancing, you are a dancer. Moving and working on your art is the only way to improve. Remind your students that their hard work and all of the hours they put into dance are the things that keeps them moving forward to newer and more exciting things no matter their style.
