As a dancer or teacher, you will know from experience that there will always be a place for live teaching, and yet, there are certainly things that digital do well, or better, than liveness. Online offerings are becoming more tailored to individual skills and needs, and can be a way to conveniently try something new. Many elite and heritage companies and organisations are experimenting and driving change in modes of teaching, learning and participation.
“In comparison to live offerings, people can pause, rewind, stop and repeat classes as and when they need,” says Clare Thomas-Powell, Participation and Community Manager at Rambert. Rambert, a touring contemporary dance company based on the South Bank, London, has an online platform, Rambert Plus, that offers on-demand classes, alongside behind-the-scenes footage, short films and soundtracks to enjoy. From beginners to experienced dancers, Rambert offers a variety of classes for all ages and abilities such as ballet, contemporary, Indian dance, and popping and locking, to name a few.
“Rambert Plus offers unlimited dance classes on a pay-per-month basis,” says Thomas-Powell. From bite-size 10-minute stretches to 60 minutes, the classes are delivered by Rambert dancers. People comment on how much they love this engagement with the company dancers.” says Thomas-Powell.
At RAD@Home, ballet students now have the option to participate in digital exams. “Teachers hold the exam, record it and submit via our digital platform Planet Estream,” says Mary Keene, Director of Exams at Royal Academy of Dance UK. “It is a big part of our exam offering, and last year we had just over 79,000 filmed exams, which is roughly 35 percent of our total exams. They come in from all over the world.”
As well as digital exams, RAD@Home offers dance classes on demand and a distance learning program. Lee Davall, Head of Learning and Teaching at RAD, says, “The Faculty of Education’s distance learning programmes allow students to work in a variety of teaching settings such as private dance schools, public schools and in community settings.” RAD@Home is reaching out to the serious ballet students and teachers.
Pineapple Dance is focussed on the emerging and established professional dancer. Pineapple Dance has always offered an extraordinary range of styles and genres of classes. Since the pandemic, Pineapple has utilised hybrid delivery in styles from hip hop choreography to professional level ballet. Lara from Pineapple Dance says, “All our classes are live streamed from Pineapple. We have about 70 a week. We don’t offer any recorded classes. Some teachers interact a lot online, other teachers interact only with the students in the room and the online students learn from their example.”
At The Royal Ballet School, you can subscribe to an on-demand program where you can refine specific techniques such as épaulement, arabesque, or retiré with Royal Ballet School teachers and students. There are also tutorials on psychology and supplementary training. The Primary steps program for primary school aged children seven to 11 years old is a ‘teach the teacher’ program for educators already working in mainstream schools, inviting them to integrate dance and creative movement into the curriculum. There are lesson plans, webinars and resources for the students. Teachers and students can explore all subjects through the OnDemand classes, including maths and sciences, not just the traditionally expressive subjects of dance and art. These are great resources for mainstream teachers wanting to innovate.
Dance-Masterclass.com aims to make elite dance training available to everyone. High production values make dance tutorials like watching blockbusters movies. Rather than focusing on an entire class, Dance Masterclass films follow a theme or a technique. Find out how to make perfect turns, work on turnout or musicality. Using well-crafted metaphors and beautiful visuals, methods and techniques are taught by professional ballet dancers. These videos will be useful for dancers and teachers alike.
For more information or to trial a class, check out:
ondemand.royalballetschool.org.uk
By Tamara Searle of Dance Informa.
