4 Brain-based Class Tips

Here are four practical tips you can use in class to help your dancers improve their technique through brain-based strategies.

1. Explain the Importance of Changing Inputs

Our students perform better when they understand the why behind a suggestion or correction.

Remember the blog on Inputs vs Motor Outputs?

In my experience, students often visibly relax when they are given options for how to approach a correction. Many dancers are trying very hard to give you what you're asking for — and they can feel frustrated, or even like failures, when they don't achieve the correction right away.

Sometimes it simply takes repetitions for a correction to develop into a new neuromuscular pattern. But other times, offering a different approach is key to helping the student succeed.

Remember the famous quote by Albert Einstein:

"The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."

When a student is struggling, a simple way to reframe it could be:

"Let's give your brain and body a new way to approach _____ (turnout, pirouettes, stretching, etc.) and see how that works."

They don't necessarily need a deep explanation about sensory inputs and motor outputs — that's our job as teachers to understand. What matters is knowing that new strategies can create new results.

2. Change Their Place at the Barre or in the Studio

A very simple way to "wake up" your students' brains is to change their regular placement at the barre or in the studio.

Many dancers choose the same spot day after day, whether it's about proximity to the mirror, their friends, or simply habit. This comfort is natural — human brains seek what feels safe and predictable.

However, when you want to stimulate their brains and nervous systems, changing that comfort zone is powerful. You don't need to move students every single class, but changing placement periodically can make a big difference.

Other ideas for changing inputs:

• Start on the opposite leg. Tradition says left hand on the barre, working the right leg first — but what if you started the other way?

• Reverse the side for combinations across the floor. Teach the movement first on the left side instead of the right.

Small changes like these help dancers become more adaptable and responsive in their movement patterns.

3. Replace Passive Stretching with Dynamic Stretching

Remind your students: passive stretching is an absolute no before and during class — and this applies to professional dancers, too!

Passive stretching before training can:

• Decrease muscle activation

• Reduce joint stability

• Weaken balance

• Increase risk of injury

When you passively stretch, you signal the nervous system to relax the muscles and increase range of motion — but this comes at the cost of making the muscles less responsive.

A better warm-up includes dynamic stretching: movement that actively wakes up the nervous system and strengthens the body's ability to control position and balance under real-world conditions.

Example:​
Instead of sitting and hanging out in a cross-legged or static yoga stretch to loosen the rotators before class, guide dancers to move in and out of a stretch. Shift slightly, changing the position to place the stretch in different areas.

Save passive stretching (slow breathing, yin yoga-type stretches) for the end of the day, or after class — as long as a rehearsal isn't immediately following.

4. Include More Visual Cues During Port de Bras

The visual and vestibular systems are crucial to accurate, balanced movement.

One simple way to engage these systems is to incorporate visual tracking into port de bras or épaulement exercises.

Build in exercises where you encourage students to follow their hand with their eyes as they move.

• This is easiest when one hand is on the barre.

• It becomes more challenging when away from the barre.

• Balance is most tested when standing on one foot while moving the head and eyes.

You want your dancers to truly see their hand — not just gesture toward it.
You can also incorporate simple head gestures into combinations. (For example, during a tendu combination, look up, then right, then down, then left.)

There are lots of creative possibilities to explore!

To your success,

Deborah