To many of my students and parents I am just Miss Mel…Director and Dance School teacher. But there’s another side of my life beyond dance of which I am equally proud. I have a BA in Disability Studies and enjoyed a rewarding pre-dance career in the disability sector focusing on community development, inclusion and capacity building with organisations like Scope and DHS.
My time in the disability sector has given me tremendous insight into the NEEDS of those in our community with special needs. It also opened the door for a unique opportunity to ensure my business reflected this, and that our door would remain open to students with disabilities.
My school has a range of participants on the autism spectrum who enrol in dance classes. We have been privileged to share the dance journey with children with hearing impairments, speech delays and mobility issues. All of our students have been welcomed in our studio because they want to do one thing – dance!
Dancing can be challenging for kids with special needs, but it can also be rewarding and very validating. It can lift them up. And through facilitating special needs dance opportunities, we can also experience that joy as a community.
Disability is just a different style of dance
When I first met Sam at a community event, she asked me outright: “How can my child be involved with dance when she can’t speak?” My answer was simple “She doesn’t need to speak; she just needs to have fun without feeling frustrated”.
Two years on and Sam’s daughter Rose continues be an enthusiastic dancer. And we continue our journey with her encouraging her to express herself and be celebrated.
Dancers with a disability move to a different beat. It’s a tune that we as teachers have to read differently, and to understand how to best interpret. Just as the joy of dance presents itself through several different genres, so too can we recognise the value of the diversity of a young dancer with special needs
For dancers with a disability we have so much to celebrate and learn from.
Dance helps special needs students with their development
Dancing for 6 year old Rose helps her with focus and structure. As a young girl with special needs, dance lessons has become an ideal extracurricular avenue to channel her energies, while ensuring there is a repetitive formula that she can take cues from.
“For us it’s important that we help Rose grow more spatially aware…physical activity helps her with this. In the dance studio I know she is safe as she tries new things out, she can balance without injury, and she can twirl and not hurt herself,” says her mum Sam.
Organisations like Dance Advantage in the USA talk about the freedom young dancers with disabilities feel when being allowed the opportunity to express themselves through movement.
“Many autistic students have hurtful experiences being compared to other students in dance and sports environments. Their coordination is not the same as another student … (dance allows them to have a) safe space to move and dance and not be judged,” says Dance Advantage Founder Nichelle Suzanne.
Many of my special needs students have responded very positively to tap lessons.
Research suggests that some forms of dance helps young people better communicate and express themselves, unlocking new forms of communication which has frustrated them at other times.. I’m no expert but I am coming to understand that in the instance of tap dancing it has something to do with the mathematical process and its structure.
The family of an autistic boy called Michael has difficulties with communication and social interaction. His family notice how tap dancing has helped him learn how to think in patterns and remember sequences.
There are also the social opportunities of dance lessons – highly valued by many of our parents with special needs children. Dance is just another opportunity for their kids to learn how to communicate. Additionally its therapeutic approach provides wonderful respite for some students from the demands of day to day learning.
Other students learn acceptance and empathy
I can honestly say I have been immensely proud of the tolerance and empathy many of my dance studio families have toward students with special needs. And this is as it should be. Our studio is just a microcosm of the rest of society, made up of people of all different shapes and sizes and abilities.
Many of my young students come to see differences aren’t to be feared, overlooked or ignored. Dancing alongside one another many of our kids are innately learning acceptance and tolerance of all abilities. I recently heard one of my 6yo students talking about the Para-Olympics and asking why people who are different have to have different Olympics. This naive view made me smile…..this child didn’t see the difference. This child has grown up in kindergarten and dances each week with a student with special needs.
Things aren’t always tickety-boo on the dance floor, sometimes we need to change tact to accommodate a special needs student. Some days it’s hard to encourage them to focus or for their body to respond to new moves. But that’s Ok…we all have those days.
I hope that in seeing me adapt my style and techniques my young and more senior students and assistants are also learning the value of working together to encourage results.
We can’t tell our kids to be accepting if we don’t exercise tolerance.
Special needs families need the support of other families
I’ve been prepared to wear my heart on my sleeve with encouraging special needs families into our school, and to have them dancing alongside other kids as part of the norm.
I feel immense pride in seeing all my students develop. As our special needs student achieve new milestones and abilities this joy becomes infectious, and I’ve enjoyed seeing other parents offer support and encouragement to our special needs families.
Sometimes it may have appeared to be a hard thing to do from a business sense. But that challenge is merely short term. The long term goal is that I am encouraging community interaction and providing support to families who need it from us most.
And I’d like to think all of my dance families are right there alongside me nodding vigorously too.
Two way communications
Every special needs student is different. Communication with our parents is always the key – it’s a case of working together and being adaptable.
“It’s not always say to get Rose out of the car and into the studio. Some days are better than others”, Sam said recently.
But Sam and her family continue to put activities like dance in front of her as positive options for her physical and social development. And I take my cues from them, and from Rose.
I recognise that it’s important to work with individual families to best handle scenarios, together we can make changes to how we approach a lesson. The key is adaptability.
Recently we experienced a HIGH FIVE milestone in class where Rose danced and completed a routine which had taken us some time to workshop. My young dance assistant looked at me, beaming “We did it…We got there… we just had to find another way”. There was a wonderful feeling of accomplishment on her behalf as a young trainee teacher, and on my behalf as an advocate for Rose’s success. I couldn’t wait to tell Rose’s mum as she also needed that feedback that sticking at it was worth it for Rose. It was a great night for us all!
Training and specialist knowledge is important
It probably helps that my own training and pre-dance career afforded me an understanding of what it means to have a child with communication barriers or frustrations. It probably helps that I am a parent who also wants the best for my own kids and to find places for them to thrive.
Not everyone is equipped to handle special needs students or young dancers with disabilities and it’s important that a school recognises this and has that conversation with a parent.
Training and specialist knowledge do go a long way in helping me talk about the individual needs of each student with their parents, and what needs to be considered when helping manage their abilities on the dance floor.
What’s most important is that we accommodate special needs students who passionately love to dance. That surpasses everything else. That is worth plugging away for as dance teachers. Kids like this who want to dance inspire me. Kids like this, and their parents should inspire us all, because there’s no such thing as different on the dance floor.
PSD is a dynamic little dance studio and peninsula business with successful community and business connections. Learn more about us at www.peninsuladance.com.au
A celebration of a boutique dance school’s family friendly community. Miss Melanie shares her passion, skill and knowledge in nurturing young dancers as they express themselves through the joy of dance. Offering tips, how-to’s, a dance teachers reflections and connections with the on-line dance community. Peninsula School of Dance is located on Australia’s Mornington Peninsula.
Melanie Gard is a respected Licentiate with Cecchetti Ballet, an affiliate of the Australian Teachers of Dance and the Director of the Peninsula School of Dance. www.peninsuladance.com.au