Teaching Dance is a really easy way to help students feel positive about exercise. Dance also allows your students to express their feelings and emotions.  It is a great way to see students in a different light, as some will love dance: it will give them the chance to excel in something that suits them. Dance also works as an effective tool to develop balance, coordination and control.

On the other hand, some students may not enjoy the prospect of dancing. Therefore, when teaching dance it’s important to go with the most appropriate style for the students in your class. 

Dance is becoming more popular thanks to TV shows such as America’s Got Talent. that should make it slightly easier when convincing certain students to take part!

Delivering dance lessons

Teaching dance should not make you feel overwhelmed. Delivering a Dance Unit is actually easier than you think.

A Dance Unit should always follow a story, just like a book; with a beginning, a middle and an end.  Then all you need to do is break up each chapter.  A different Dance phrase for each chapter.

The beat of 8

The ‘Beat of 8’ is an important element when teaching Dance.  All music is broken up into beats of 8, and all parts of a dance (phrases) should be too….

Click your fingers… 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8…

Each time you click your fingers, move your head from one side to the other.  Congratulations, you are dancing!!

Dance lesson plans

Before you begin to teach dance to your students, download a lesson plan for a Dance Unit. You’ll find them in our PE lesson plans section – just scroll down to the Dance Lesson Plans. Then, read through lesson 1 of your chosen year (you don’t need a subscription for this).  As soon as you have cracked the ‘Beat of 8’, you will be well on your way to delivering a quality Dance lesson.

This website also has a useful ‘Dance Overview’ and dance videos to give you a visual of how each dance should be performed.

Good luck!