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Kailey Bunting
Corbett
AP Literature
October 12th, 2012
The Art of Dance
Over the course of hundreds of years the dance world has developed in several ways but
when it comes to the instructors of this art, many of them tend to get left behind. These old-
fashioned teachers simply continue the tactless teaching techniques from their time, which in
many instances fails to help the student improve at all. This can cause many dance students
serious problems, distress, and can even physical or mental issues if the problem with their
instructor goes unaddressed for too long. In order to prevent such issues from occurring and to
help keep students interested instead of afraid of the arts, a solution must be found and placed
into action immediately.
In the past dance teachers would use a number of cruel methods to force their dance
students to attain higher kicks and leaps, quicker turns, and improved feet. Sadly these students
would rarely walk away from a critique made by their teacher without an external injury, such as
a burn or a bruise, or an emotional injury from demeaning remarks and gestures made by the
instructor. When it comes to this type of dance teacher, not all criticism is meant to help the
student dancers grow (H.K.). These teachers make a habit of criticizing their students without
considering their well-being, ultimately humiliating them and possibly damaging them
emotionally or physically for the rest of their life (H.K.). Dance instructors such as this believe
that the students should always fear them in and outside of class, and that by attending their class
students are placing themselves in the hands of their instructor so that they can be crushed, and
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then remade again physically and mentally (Dunning). Some teachers have even openly pleaded
guilty to assaulting their students by dragging them across the ground, or hitting them because
they thought they deserve it for misbehaving in class (Teach Admits Assault on Student, 18).
Other teachers verbally abuse their students instead of physically by pointing out how the child’s
body appears unpleasantly deformed and explaining to them how because of their appearance
they will “never become true ballet dancers” (Dunning). Though dance does have a standardized
curriculum that can be seen from studio to studio, dance teachers do not have the right to treat
another individual, especially a minor, the way that some of them do (Hanna).
As a result of the horrendous teaching styles found in some dance studios today, many
dance students either give up on their dreams, starve themselves, or they become clinically
depressed due to the continuous torment they receive from their instructors. In most cases female
dancers are highly susceptible to developing eating disorders in effort to achieve what ballet
teachers consider the perfect body image (Schluger). Dance students who are not perfectly
skinny may receive criticism from particularly discourteous dance instructors, causing them to
begin believing they are overweight when in reality they are not at all. Perfectionism in the dance
teacher will relay over to the student, which will cause them to pick out everything that is wrong
with them in regards to their appearance, personality, social life, and more (Schluger). Their
obsession in combination with the lack of success will eventually lead the student into a state of
depression, where he or she will remain until action is taken to fix the relationship between the
instructor and pupil (Gibb).
In order to prevent such appalling situations, there are several actions that can be taken by
the student, the student’s parents, and the director of the studio. In order to help the student
prevent feeling poorly about themselves incase their teacher begins criticizing them about how
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they look the student needs to completely avoid “body bashing” (Bachko). The student should
evade partaking in conversations about food, dieting, and body weight to keep them out of a
potentially hurtful situation (Bachko). Students should also learn to look at the positives about
themselves more than the negatives. They should applaud themselves for accomplishing goals
and completing tasks assigned by the teacher instead of condemning themselves for finding
certain moves challenging (Bachko). The studio director, the teacher’s boss, should schedule
random classroom observation days. This will allow the director to observe the body language of
the students when they are in class, watch how the students respond to the teacher when he or
she directs them, and see if the teacher behaves appropriately and ordinarily; not as though they
are trying to cover up anything they may have been doing before the director’s arrival
(Waxman). By making sure the teacher remains unaware of the days of the observations, the
director may find themselves walking in on a teacher acting in a way that is not appropriate for
the classroom, giving the director a valid reason to fire them if they consider the instructor an
emotional or physical threat to the students (Waxman).
Unlike some teachers, because dance is an art which will continuously and automatically
change as time goes on and as pop culture adjusts with the time. The only problem is that after
several years the demand for dance instructors has barely increased at all, which means that the
art of dance has generally stayed at the same level for a particularly lengthy amount of time. In
fact, there is such a lack in demand for dance instructors that the number of them in highly
populated states is estimated to remain the same from the year 2008 to 2018
(Choreographer/Dance Instructor-Earnings). For the most part dance instructors are self-
employed, and they make $19,000 to $71,000 a year. Only choreographers who are extremely
popular and liked by a majority of the dance world make these higher amounts, which happens to
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choreographers and teachers very infrequently, making the career choice highly unpopular with
the world population (Choreographer/Dance Instructor-Earnings). According to the history of the
field and the number of people still holding a dance related occupation today, it is easy to
anticipate a drop in popularity when it comes to beings a dance teacher or choreographer. At the
same time, dance is a continuously changing field of art that can never be perfected, so it will
most likely continue at the rate of popularity that it has been at for the past several years.
Today’s society continuously changes each year. People come up with new fashion ideas,
companies come out with new electronics and toys for children, and musicians write new songs
which sometimes become enormous hits. Just like all of these aspects of the world, the field of
dance also changes. Dance choreographers adjust as the world around them changes, always
making their work relevant to the age. At the same time, the fine art of dancing it can never be
perfected. This makes society want to continue to attempt to do so all the more by continuing
the practice and staying well informed about the population’s likes and dislikes. Considering the
fact that it is generally impossible to perfect dancing, and that dance is a continuously altering art
form, it appears highly probable that this career will last through the 21st century.
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Works Cited
Bachko, Katia. "Mind Over Mirror." Dance Spirit 10.3 (2006): 56. Middle Search Plus. Web. 8
Nov. 2012. <http://proxygsu-
sche.galileo.usg.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db
=mih&AN=19820196&site=src-live>.
"Ballet Teacher Admits Assault on Student, 18." 2011: 9. Gale Opposing Viewpoints In Context.
Web. 8 Nov. 2012.
<http://ic.galegroup.com:80/ic/ovic/NewsDetailsPage/NewsDetailsWindow?displayGro
upName=News&disableHighlighting=false&search_within_results=&prodId=OVIC&actio
n=2&catId=&documentId=GALE%7CA279947628&userGroupName=cant48040&jsid=f16
43ccc4c669ee772c01b22afae0392>.
"Choreographer/Dance Instructor-Earnings." N.p.: n.p., n.d. Career Cruising. Web. 9 Nov. 2012.
<https://www.careercruising.com/Careers/JobDetails.aspx?LoginID=29df728c-97b6-
48a4-8421-665d8d4ef341-&OccNumber=594&field=Salary>.
Dunning, Jennifer. "Before Dancers There Must Be Dance Teachers." 2002: AR12. Gale
Opposing Viewpoints In Context. Web. 8 Nov. 2012.
<http://ic.galegroup.com:80/ic/ovic/NewsDetailsPage/NewsDetailsWindow?displayGro
upName=News&disableHighlighting=false&search_within_results=&prodId=OVIC&actio
n=2&catId=&documentId=GALE%7CA87298792&userGroupName=cant48040&jsid=61c
72a2aa715764fd8ceb92359161183>.
Gibb, Brandon E., and John R. Z. Abela. "Emotional Abuse, Verbal Victimization, and the
Development of Children’s Negative Inferential Styles and Depressive Symptoms."
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Cognitive Therapy & Research 32.2 (2008): 161-76. Academic Search Complete. Web. 8
Nov. 2012. <http://proxygsu-
sche.galileo.usg.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db
=a9h&AN=31141600&site=ehost-live>.
H., K. "When Criticism Goes Too Far." Dance Spirit 15.5 (2011): 35. Middle Search Plus. Web. 8
Nov. 2012. <http://proxygsu-
sche.galileo.usg.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db
=mih&AN=60270025&site=src-live>.
Hanna, Judith Lynne. "Dance Classes." Encyclopedia of Recreation and Leisure in America. Ed.
Gary S. Cross. Vol. 1. Detroit: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2004. 263-265. Gale Virtual
Reference Library. Web. 8 Nov. 2012.
<http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CCX3434800084&v=2.1&u=cant48040&it
=r&p=GVRL&sw=w>.
Schluger, Alice E. "Disordered Eating Attitudes and Behaviors in Female College Dance Students:
Comparison of Modern Dance and Ballet Dance Majors." North American Journal of
Psychology 12.1 (2010): 117-28. Academic Search Complete. Web. 8 Nov. 2012.
<http://proxygsu-
sche.galileo.usg.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db
=a9h&AN=48667756&site=ehost-live>.
Waxman, Hersh C. "Classroom Observation." Encyclopedia of Education. Ed. James W. Guthrie.
Vol. 1. New York: Macmillan Reference USA, 2003. 303-310. Gale Opposing Viewpoints
In Context. Web. 8 Nov. 2012.
