Thread: How would you teach a tween?

My 11 year old daughter has shown some interest in belly dancing since I've gotten back into it. I've shown her a few moves once. But I think like a lot of kids her age, she wants to learn a dance.

Is there a piece of choreography that is short, sweet and simple? Or would you recommend just sticking to the moves first?

Also, she's terribly stiff. How do you get someone to loosen up? I tried grabbing her hips to help her through some moves but that didn't help at all.

There's no teachers in our area that teach bellydancing to kids so I'd appreciate any info you can give me.

Thanks.

I don't think it's any use teaching her a choreography if she can't even move her hips right.
After all, you write that you showed her the movements ONCE. Now how many grown ups can do perfect hip circles after that short time?
I guess she will have to practice like the rest of us

MEISSOUN

As the world's officially worst teacher of tweens, I can give you some pointers - though the tweens I have taught had already learned some belly dance in the past.

One, they learn *fast* and they don't have a lot of patience for drilling, so if you're teaching one, you need to keep it varied. They get distracted easily. Two, they are invariably naughty and I find it impossible to be suitably strict with them when they do, so I'm really pretty useless at teaching kids/tweens.

A tween who has never belly danced in her life before may also be particularly self-conscious about her developing body. It's good for them to learn how to use this new body, I think, but something like a shoulder shimmy is as likely to freak her out as it is an adult woman. The flip side of this is clueless enthusiasm - you've got to direct them as to more lady-like approaches to shimmying and undulating, for instance, and also (unfortunately) consciousness of when it's appropriate to do and when it's not. But that's just standard "raising women" material.

Anything beginners do, she can start to learn to do. Lifting the pelvis and keeping the knees soft are big ones.

In regards to being stiff, I think that's just practice. A few exercises that can help are big, sweeping movements that you wouldn't really do in ME dance but can help with flow. Enormous camels and exaggerated body rolls, huge circles, big shoulder rolls.

Just full body shaking and shimmying without worrying about controlling the movements can help too.

Hello. I teach a tween in my class. She does have a short attention span but I keep my class moving so she does not get bored.
She also started stiff and could not move her hips well. And talk about the poor girl having absolutely no rhythm. So, I gave her some "homework" to practice throughout the week. I concentrate on basic movements and through in a few challenges. For example, hip circles, bumps, hip ups and downs. She does these really well now. I will through in a figure 8 or 3/4 shimmy to challenge her but I don't focus on them. I also teach a basic choreography and let her have fun with the movements. She bought a veil and zills and so now I have her connecting and creating with the veil and I gave her some simple zill patterns to try at home.
When she comes to class, she will say "Yes, Helena, I practiced my hip circles but look what I do with my veil! And listen to my zills!" She even did a routine for her school talent show. I am so proud of her. She is really in the self discovery stages and the stages where the dance really is liberating and fun. I love nurturing her development and watching her grow. For her, it is about achieving physical goals by taking baby steps and just plain having fun.
The way I see it, we all don't start out with a perfect command of the English language but over time, it is refined and developed. That is what I am doing with her. Teaching her the basics and building her confidence and slowly I refine her newly developing skills.
Recently, she said to me: "Wow! If I keep doing this until I am 18, I might be a star!" Well ladies, the Diva thought process is beginning already! LOL!

My daughter started dancing with me when she was about 12. I think teaching your own child at home is a very different situation from having a tween in a class, or at least it was for me.

With my daughter, I avoided giving her anything like a 'lesson.' I just sort of danced with her at home. She liked to try to follow me when I practiced, and I let her do that without criticism. At that age, kids are being judged (and found wanting) constantly, by their peer, their friends, their teachers, the opposite sex, and their parents. So it seemed best to let dancing just be a fun thing, not something else where she had to measure up, meet some standard, achieve something, or face correction and criticism.

So, I showed her the choreos I'd learned and she learned them blazingly fast. Her technique wasn't perfect, but that was OK. When she got older, she came to class with me and I played the role of 'classmate' rather than 'second teacher.' In fact, her memory was so much better than mine that at home I could let her be the one helping me practice!

When she was 15, she was invited to join my troupe! By 17 she was tired of it all and kind of dropped out, but now at 20 she's back full force.

There aren't very many activities you can share with your daughter as she becomes a teenager & young adult, but if you can avoid focusing on doing it 'right' and focus instead on having fun together, bellydance can be one of them!

My 8yo daughter is very stiff as well. We have started relaxation excercises before class and that seems to help some. I think the key is just keeping them motivated to practice!!