TutuToday

A Look at Psychology and Dance

If you are unable to obtain copies of these journal articles, contact me and I will help you find them.

The Student Dancer - Julia Buckroyd (text)

This paperback which can be purchased through Amazon deals with the psychological as opposed to the physical aspects of dance training. In "The Student Dancer" Julia Buckroyd brings together the fields of education, welfare, counselling and psychology in relation to dance teaching and training. She considers the ways these can deepen our understanding of the human dimension of dance training, and how they can be practically applied in vocational training schools. Following the substantial body of evidence which shows a high incidence of illness, smoking, injury and eating disorders among dancers and trainees, Buckroyd argues that current dance training is damaging to the welfare of students and needs to change. With examples of good practice, and many ideas, arguments and proposals, she looks at questions such as: the self and the body; adolescence and dance training; learning in groups; male trainees; eating disorders; and career transition. This book is aimed at teachers, students and administrators involved in professional dance training, and professional dance companies. It is also useful for parents of dance trainees as well as for students and teachers in other performance disciplines. See Amazon.com Paperback: 254 pages

An investigation of the relationships among performance anxiety, perfectionism, optimism, and self-efficacy in student performers
by McQuade, Christina Marie, Ph.D., Fordham University, 2009 , 108 pages; AAT 3361368
Abstract (Summary)

The purpose of the study was to investigate the relationships among performance anxiety, perfectionism, optimism, and self-efficacy. The sample included 139 undergraduate students who were studying one of the following performance arts: theater, acting, music, musical theater, dance, or speech arts. The majority of participants were matriculated students at a four-year college or university, while a smaller group was attending a postsecondary performing arts institution that specializes in musical theater.

All participants signed an informed consent form and completed a background questionnaire, the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, the Frost Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale, the Life Orientation Test-Revised, and the General Perceived Self-Efficacy Scale. Participants received all of these documents in person or in the mail. There was one principal researcher who administered and scored all of the questionnaires.

Correlational analyses revealed significant and negative relationships between performance anxiety and optimism, and performance anxiety and self-efficacy. The results of a standard multiple regression analysis indicated that perfectionism, optimism, and self-efficacy were predictive of performance anxiety. These findings highlight the importance of understanding how intrapersonal factors may be influencing students' experiences of performance anxiety.

Disordered eating attitudes and behaviors in undergraduate dance majors: A study of female modern dance and ballet students
by Schluger, Alice E., Ph.D., Capella University, 2009 , 125 pages; AAT 3359054
Abstract (Summary)

This study investigated disordered eating attitudes and behaviors in undergraduate female dance students from a large metropolitan area. A quantitative, non-experimental ex post facto study design was used to explore differences between modern dance majors and classical ballet dance majors. Data collection was accomplished using two established eating disorder measures: Eating Attitudes Test (EAT-26) (Garner, Olmsted, Bohr, & Garfinkel, 1982, "The Eating Attitudes Test: Psychometric Features and Clinical Correlates") and Eating Disorder Inventory Perfectionism subscale (EDI-P; Garner, Olmsted, & Polivy, 1983, "The Development and Validation of a Multidimensional Eating Disorder Inventory for Anorexia and Bulimia"). The questionnaires were administered to study participants on-site at three colleges and universities.

Five variables related to eating disorder symptomatology were examined:

• diet concerns,
• bulimia and food preoccupation,
• oral control and social pressure to eat,
• self-oriented perfectionism, and
• socially prescribed perfectionism.

Multivariate analysis of variance and subsequent univariate analyses were performed to compare the two groups of dance majors and determine which variables were most predictive or relevant to eating disorder risk. As anticipated, the results showed that modern dance majors had, on average, lower levels of diet concerns, bulimic behavior/food preoccupation, and oral control than ballet dance majors did. Unexpectedly, however, no statistically significant differences were found between the two groups for the measures of perfectionism. The findings contribute to research in health psychology regarding disordered eating risk factors in athletes and dancers. New information obtained on eating disorder susceptibility in modern dance students helped to address this deficit in the current body of literature.

Exploring the relationship between risk and resilience factors for eating disorders in ballet dancers
by Estanol, Elena, Ph.D., The University of Utah, 2009 , 215 pages; AAT 3370968
Abstract (Summary)

The purpose of this study was to examine the risk and resilience factors that may enhance or decrease the risk of eating disorders (EDs) in dancers. Participants were recruited from three states (Utah, Ohio, and Oklahoma) that had highly competitive college dance programs and professional dance companies. Two hundred forty questionnaires were collected, but the final sample was 207 due to missing data.

Risk factors were measured by self-report instruments assessing anxiety, depression, weight pressures in dance, and perfectionism. The outcome variable was measured through three subscales from the Eating Disorder Inventory-3 (EDI-3): (a) pressure for thinness, (b) bulimia, and (c) body dissatisfaction--which comprised the ED-risk composite. Resilience measures included social support, self-esteem, proactive coping in dance, hope, optimism/pessimism, sense of humor, and spirituality.

The data were analyzed in three phases: (a) Phase I included hierarchical linear modeling to tease out differences among sites; (b) Phase II included correlation analyses, hierarchical regression analyses to test for moderation effects, and confirmatory factor analyses to test the theoretical cluster factors to be utilized in the last phase; and (c) Phase III included structural equation modeling to test three models of the possible interrelationships of risk factors upon ED risk and the possible compensatory role that the resilience factors played.

The analyses yielded the following results: Weight pressures in dance was the risk factor most highly correlated with ED risk, followed by depression, anxiety, and perfectionism, respectively. Resilient factors most highly associated with ED risk in a negative direction included self-esteem, optimism, and dance-specific coping skills. No significant moderation effects were detected. The results of the structural equation modeling analyses suggested that negative affect mediates the relationship between environmental pressures for thinness and overall ED risk. Further, the results supported the idea that resilience factors serve a compensatory function in total ED risk. Sadly, resilience factors did not completely compensate for the impact that specific weight pressures have in the overall ED risk in dancers. Perhaps, further studies should investigate similar environmental or cultural pressures for thinness in the regular population and how they impact the overall ED risk after resilience factors are considered.

Parental influence on disordered eating habits of female adolescents who participate in aesthetic sports versus nonaesthetic sports
by Blusewicz, Erika Annell, Psy.D., Alliant International University, Fresno, 2008 , 118 pages; AAT 3300292
Abstract (Summary)

This study examined the relationship between the disordered eating patterns in female adolescents who are associated with the family environment and sport affiliation. More specifically, this study explored the relationship between the athlete's participation in aesthetic sports (ballet, gymnastics, cheerleading, etc.) versus nonaesthetic sports (soccer, basketball, softball, etc.) and how that choice plays a role in disordered eating patterns when parental control is also examined.

The primary analysis of the specific research hypotheses included independent sample t tests, correlation, and regression analyses. The participants in this study included 28 female adolescent athletes in the following sports: gymnastics, cheerleading, Irish dance, track and field, water polo, basketball, swimming, and soccer. Athletes were mailed (n = 22) or were directly handed ( n = 6) questionnaire packets that included the following: a demographic questionnaire, the Eating Disorder Inventory-3 (EDI-3), and the Family Assessment Measure-III (FAM-III). The most involved parent/guardian of these athletes was also included in this study ( n = 28).

Findings included a positive correlation between parent- and adolescent-rated control and rate of disordered eating patterns regardless of participation in either an aesthetic or nonaesthetic sport. Findings also included a positive correlation between perceived parental control and perceived adolescent control.

Project seeks to improve dancers' health
Jacqui Wise. British Medical Journal. (International edition). London: Jul 12, 2008. Vol. 337, Iss. 7661; pg. 70
Abstract (Summary)

A new research project aims to discover why dancers have such a high rate of injuries and to examine ways to keep them fit and healthy. Matthew Wyon, reader in performance science at the University of Wolverhampton, said that dancers have a huge injury occurrence: 80% of dancers incur at least one injury a year that affects their ability to perform. The dancers' health pilot scheme has been devised by Dance UK in partnership with the Olympic Medical Institute, the University of Wolverhampton, and the Laban, a contemporary dance training center in London. The pilot scheme will take place over two and a half years, and the findings will be published in 2012. The 100 professional dancers taking part will receive an in-depth screening comprising a history of their injuries, a health questionnaire, and assessment of their physiological fitness, biomechanical and muscular function, and nutritional and psychological health.

The Psychology of Dance - Jim and Ceci Taylor (Text)

Psychology of Dance is a guide to helping dancers of all ages and abilities reach their fullest artistic potential.   This reference attempts to focus in an understanding of the psychological issues that most influence dance performance and provides techniques to address the psychological needs of dancers.The text provides a Psychological Program for Enhanced Performance (PPEP) which attempts to provide a format which:

•   builds motivation and develops self-confidence;
•   presents techniques for maintaining optimal performance intensity;
•   shows how to improve concentration and use dance imagery;
•   provides strategies for overcoming slumps and avoiding stress and burnout; and
•   helps the injured dancer through the physical and psychological rehabilitation process.

I am neither endorsing nor critiquing this work.  I simply explain that it is available.  I was left wondering if either of the authors were actually dancers? See Amazon.Com

Psychological Profiles

Included in this resource are psychological studies of ballet dancers. While the focus of this website is ballet tutu construction for "Moms" the fact that we are mothers of dancers is relevant. The psychological studies were cited with reference to non-professional dancers and high school and younger dancers. Generally speaking the psychological profile for these dancers is good and dance enhances their lives.

As parents of dancers, and some of us former dancers -- as opposed to psychologists studying dancers, we recognize that an interest in dance, particulary an interest that lasts no more than three or four years is not identical to the ten to twelve years of dedication to dance that is required for entering most University Dance Programs. Typically students found in these programs will be exclusively those students with both intellectual and physical aptitude and these are the calibre of students that remain with dance.

I think this is the component these psychological profilers miss. The profilers indicate that a dancer's success in dance translates to other areas of success in their lives. My belief is that only the successful students, and by that I mean across the board success, remain in dance. The true merit of these psychological profiles lies in their analysis of the professional dancer -- not of the dedicated secondary and university level dancer. It is my opinion that only the brightest and best of students have the necessary mental and physical abilities to accept the challenges of advanced ballet and naturally these talents of these students will appear in other aspects of their lives. I do not believe ballet makes the student successful in other areas of their lives I believe it takes a successful person to master ballet. And so I disagree with many of the profiles of the dancers in their analysis of whether ballet creates a student who translates that success into other areas of their lives (which is the position of the profilers) or whether only the successful students succeed at ballet -- which is my opinion. See The Exeter News-Letter for an article which addresses successful students who are also involved in ballet. The clear impression that can be drawn is that successful students are attracted to ballet. Ballet does not make successful students.

However, the psychological profile for the professional dancer is quite different from the profile of the non-professional. There seems to be universal agreement that overall students are not harmed by the non-professional study of ballet and these students tend to be the more successful students in other areas as well. There also appears to uniform agreement that the psychological profile of the professional dancer presents a grim psychological reality. Study these articles so that you can understand what your child really faces. They are so young, they cannot begin to understand the realities of the dance world. They think they are invincible. They are not.

Professionals have a need for self-determination, control of their professional lives, security for their future and remuneration to enhance their non-professional lives and the lives of their families. Professional dancers for the most part do not have this. Their sense of success comes from one source, the director of the dance. Their self-determination lies in the hands of another. Their professional future is limited generally speaking, their remuneration is relatively small, and they have little or no time for families. Their self image is based upon abnormal thinness and they must engage in deprivation to retain this image. Parents must understand these constraints before encouraging a professional career for their daughters. These articles are essential to review if your daughter or son is considering ballet as their profession.

The articles below were located through Ebsco Host. Your public library may participate in this program.

Alter, Judith B. Why dance students pursue dance: Studies of dance students from 1953 to 1993. Dance Research Journal, Winter 97, Vol. 29 Issue 2, p70.
This article investigates why students pursue dancing as a professional career based on studies of dance students from 1953 to 1993. The article indicates there is a growth trend in the pursuit of dance and in the growth of the audience.

Bakker, F.C. Personality Differences between Young Dancers and Nondancers. Personality and Individual Differences. Vol. 12, Issue 7, p. 671.
Bakker studied junior ballet dancers training for a professional career and spending fifteen or more hours a week on ballet. He noted this training appeals to a distinct subculture: relatively introverted, emotional, and strongly achievement motivated. He states the atmosphere might to some degree strengthen this profile. Those who have dropped out of professional ballet school choose dancing as a hobby and are attracted by the sub-culture of dance.

Barnes, Clive. Dressing Up Dance. Dance Magazine, Nov. 99, Vol. 73 Issue 11, p110.
Prior to 1929, and the death of Diaghilev it was di rigeur for ballet costumes to embellish the atmosphere of the ballet and was a major part of the expression of the dance. In this article Clive Barnes laments that dressing for dance has become almost as anachronistic as dressing for dinner. He gives credit to the minimalist costuming in instances where it has been effective i.e. Balanchine's need to rustle up a new ballet on the cheap with his black and white ballets and his experimentation with neoclassicism. He applauds Martha Graham's ability to design her own costumes for her own dances and expertly mesh the two. However, he notes, not all choreographers are Balanchine or Graham and even points to several of Balanchine's costuming mistakes, implying that Karinska was there to save him from himself.

He laments Frederick Ashton's weak sense of costuming, which clearly has been generally overcome in the restaging of the popular Cinderella. He praises the contemporaries and often times collaborators of Diaghilev, Alexander Benois and Leon Bakst and their obsession with costume for the dance. He calls them, innovators, and revolutionaries in a way, who wanted among other changes in the whole art of ballet, to bring costumes into a symbiotic relationship with dance. He noted the influence of Isadora Duncan and her simple flowing gowns used to enhance her movement. He praised Louie Fuller, and the diaphanous multicolored veils which became an integral part of her expression.

He paints a portrait of ballet costuming spanning his long career which few have had the opportunity to view first hand.

Daley, Amanda J.; Buchanan, Joanne. Aerobic dance and physical self-perceptions in female adolescents. Research Quarterly for Exercise & Sport, Jun99, Vol. 70 Issue 2, p196.
This article indicates that the benefits adolescent dancers receive from dance will keep them coming back. The growth of adolescent dancers inevitably leads to ballet audience growth.

Kalljopuska, M. Empathy, self-esteem and creativity among junior ballet dancers. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 69, 1227-1234.
Kalliopuska studied non-professional dancers. The results from non-professional dancers differ significantly from the studies of professional dancers.

Kalliopuska defines self esteem as the fact that one appreciates, accepts and respects oneself. A very low self esteem may reflect feeling s of inferiority, self blame, or even self hatred. To be able to express the direction that feels right requires strong self esteem of the dancer.

In this article Kalliopsucka evaluates dance as medium which combines the physical, aesthetic, and intellectual aspect of personality. She found that empathy is an important tool for a ballet dancer because dancer must be able to express the language of the art, dance, with the whole body. In projecting a role, a dancer has to try to convey to the audience what is central and essential in the role.

She evaluated the self esteem of dancer from the ages of 9 to 17 and found classical ballet promotes development of sound self esteem positive self respect and increased self confidence in the young. The years of dancing and self esteem correlate. Classic ballet as a hobby promotes the development of a person's sensitivity and empathy because empathy is expressed through emotions, kinesthetic expression and intellectual understanding. Generally, the hobby of ballet seems to develop strong sense of empathy in junior dancers. The ballet students manage normal school work better than average students.

She found that ballet demanded both psychic endurance and strong self-esteem. One learns to judge critically one's own achievements. A goal for dancers is a mastery of dance technique, gaining profound knowledge of the history of dance and of music and of the place of dance in the culture. Accomplishing these goals developed self-esteem.

Murray, Louis. Dancing in the Millennium: An International Conference. Dance Research Journal, Winter2000/2001, Vol. 32 Issue 2, p. 144.
This article focus not on the past of dance but its future which is strong. It indicates that dance schools will grow by 15-20 percent in the next twenty years With this growth forecast it appears that more and more mothers and dancing daughters will be interested in ballet tutu construction. There is no indication that classical ballet will loose dancers to other forms of dance. Dancing in the Millennium was the topic at the international dance conference.

Sussmann, Leila. Dance audiences: Answered and unanswered questions. Dance Research Journal, Spring98, Vol. 30 Issue 1, p. 54.
This is the definitive study on the nature of the dance audience. It was sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts and looks at the various qualitative and quantitative studies of dance audiences. It examines the changes in the educational composition of the ballet audience from the traditional norms, the educational composition of the modern dance audience and perceptions of modern dance and ballet. As the middle class in our country has grown so has the involvement in dance whether at the audience level of the level of participation through a family member. This is a growing segment of our society.

Taylor, L.D. The MMPI-2 and junior ballet dancers. Personality and Individual Differences. Volume 22, Issue 4, p. 521 526.
MMPI-2 was given to ballet majors at an accredited midwestern university which indicated that dancers may have a unique MMPI-2 profile. The ballet pre-professionals were found to have higher physical complaints, sensitivity to criticism, strong sense of femininity, higher creativity, and perfectionist tendencies. Taylor notes that the timing of the test was not the best in that a class ballet requiring hours of work had just been completed with three weeks left to prepare for the Nutcracker.

A thin line; Dancer/psychologist combines roles to examine eating disorders;
Elizabeth Cooney. Dec 24, 2007. pg. E.1
Abstract (Summary)

During her four years at Dartmouth and the while earning her Ph.D. in psychology at Yale, she continued to dance professionally. Now 26, she combines her two roles with the focus of her research: eating disorders among ballet dancers. She joined the Boston Dance Company's production of "The Nutcracker" in Worcester last week, where she was a candy cane and a snowflake in the Christmas confection.

"It's not just the ballet environment," she said. "Dancers with eating disorders might self-select that environment."

Jennifer J. Thomas sees patients by day, part of her psychology internship at Harvard-affiliated McLean Hospital.

Evenings and weekends, especially at this time of year, audiences see her.

A ballet dancer since she was 11 years old, Dr. Thomas has performed with several professional dance companies and had to choose between training with the Boston Ballet after high school and enrolling at Dartmouth College to study psychology.

During her four years at Dartmouth and the while earning her Ph.D. in psychology at Yale, she continued to dance professionally. Now 26, she combines her two roles with the focus of her research: eating disorders among ballet dancers. She joined the Boston Dance Company's production of "The Nutcracker" in Worcester last week, where she was a candy cane and a snowflake in the Christmas confection.

Young women can face the double whammy of contemporary culture valuing thinness compounded by an art form that urges being even thinner.

"There's pressure in any kind of activity where you are using your body for aesthetic reasons, not just athleticism, but also something to watch as an art form, like ice skating or ballet or gymnastics," she said.

But she wants to be clear: Eating disorders are more common among female dancers than among the general population, but many factors can contribute to the higher prevalence.

"I wouldn't want to give the impression that ballet is bad and causes eating disorders," she said.

People who pick ballet can include dancers with a family history of eating disorders, which have a genetic component. Or individuals with perfectionist traits might gravitate toward such a demanding profession.

"It's not just the ballet environment," she said. "Dancers with eating disorders might self-select that environment."

Sometimes that environment can be a powerful influence, with different companies having different cultures. Ms. Thomas has seen firsthand the sway a powerful person can hold over young women hoping for a big part.

"I danced with some companies where the artistic director would take dancers aside and tell them they needed to lose weight to improve their chances of getting a particular role or not have a job anymore," she said. "These women were pretty normal or slightly underweight."

Dating back to its history in the court of Louis XIV, ballet has reflected the tastes of the day. When being overweight was a sign of wealth, dancers followed suit. It wasn't until the 1940 and '50s that George Balanchine of the New York City Ballet promoted the ideal long line of tall, thin dancers with one leg high in the air and one arm outstretched, Dr. Thomas said. That line would appear longer in thinner dancers.

Some companies she's danced in have directors who defy the thinner-is-better model, she said.

"They'd bring food backstage at performances and talk to us to make sure we'd eat enough and drink water to avoid dehydration at the athletic level we needed to perform at," she said.

Then there are the dancers at the top of the company. If the principal dancer is reed thin, that can send a message of what it takes to succeed.

Dr. Thomas hopes she can be a role model.

"I like to feel I can contribute at a pretty normal weight," she said. "You can be at a relatively normal weight and also be dancing at a high level, working really hard on technique and still get good parts."

While she never mixes therapy with dance, she does bring her observations of ballet culture as an insider to her academic work. As an undergraduate at Dartmouth, for example, she won a grant to study eating disorders among dancers at five different types of schools, hypothesizing that adolescent girls training at highly competitive national schools would be more likely to show such behaviors as not eating or bingeing followed by purging, as compared to girls at less pressure-packed regional schools or more relaxed local dance programs. Previous research compared girls at ballet schools to girls in general.

Dr. Thomas' premise was borne out: Dancers at national schools had higher rates of eating disorders than dancers at less prestigious regional schools. But she also found out something different: For girls at local dance schools, where roles were more plentiful and the stakes appeared to be lower, the rates of eating disorders were also high. Her paper, published in 2005 in the International Journal of Eating Disorders, advanced an explanation based on individual personality traits of perfectionism that carried across the school type. Male dancers were not included because there weren't enough of them to be statistically significant in her sample, she said.

Ms. Thomas found that 15 percent of the 239 dancers had an eating problem, according to their answers to a questionnaire. That's considerably lower than the rate found in a smaller study of dancers published in the same journal last year by Rebecca Ringham of the University of Pittsburgh. Interviews were conducted with 29 young women, 24 of whom, or about 83 percent, reported some form of eating problem, although not as many met the clinical criteria of an eating disorder.

Earlier studies using the stricter diagnostic measures reported that 2 percent to 7 percent of ballet dancers suffered from eating disorders. While that may seem low, that range is still up to seven times higher than would be found among girls of the same age.

For anyone with an eating disorder, whether a dancer or not, she'd like them to know there is help. Hospitalization can be necessary at first for anorexia. Later, cognitive behavior therapy, which helps the person to examine the thinking style that has led to a disordered body image, is helpful, as well as family-based therapy in which parents get involved in controlling an adolescent's diet.

Dr. Thomas has just been accepted into a post-doctoral program next year for which she will split her time between McLean's Klarman Eating Disorders Center in Belmont, which offers inpatient treatment for young women from 13 to 23 with eating disorders, and Massachusetts General Hospital, where she will work with adult patients.

"Eating disorders are definitely treatable," she said.

Cliques and Dance - Most Parents will confront this issue if their children remain in dance

From Performing Arts Media LLC Apr 2010

Mary and Betty,* dance students at Howell High School in Howell, New Jersey, had been good friends for as long as they could remember. They stood next to each other at the barre every day, and Mary even chose Betty to be in her piece for a student choreography class. But when Betty skipped some of Mary's rehearsals, Mary replaced her with another girl. A furious Betty then announced that the two were no longer friends, starting a social war that eventually grew so severe the parents of the two girls demanded that the school's director intervene.

Sound familiar?

Every teacher knows that there's a social aspect to dance training, whether students are choosing barre buddies or hanging out in the dressing room after rehearsal. But serious problems can occur when these friendships start to affect what's happening in class.

"Friendship issues always happen. Every year. It makes me a little bit crazy sometimes," says Lisa Twamley, the director of the dance program at Howell High who was in the middle of the Mary and Betty situation. "It's usually among the younger students here at the high school. They're at a vulnerable age, and there's a lot of insecurity. A lot of the problems with cliques and people feeling left out stem from that."

Dr. Jim Taylor, a California-based psychologist and lead author of The Psychology of Dance, says that dance classes also have an inherent competitiveness that can take cliques to another level. "Separating into groups is a normal part of forming identity, a part of feeling accepted," says Taylor, who has worked with many dance organizations, including the Miami City Ballet, the Hartford Ballet and the DanceAspen Summer School. "In most teenage situations, groups are based on things like attractiveness. But in dance class, skill level and body type are often additional factors-and added pressures."

DT takes a look at how teachers can avoid and address toxic classroom friendships.

Preventive Measures

While it's almost impossible to eliminate cliques, dance teachers can lessen their negative impact by laying some class ground rules. "A teacher can build a culture in the studio of support and encouragement and establish that certain behavior is not acceptable," Taylor says.

"We start with our 5- and 6-year-olds, letting them know that cliques will not be tolerated in the classroom," says Pattie Beller, director of Beller Dance Studio in Overland Park, Kansas. "We tell the kids that we are all friends in dance class. They grow up with that philosophy and understand from an early age what is expected of them." Teachers can reinforce these ideas by hanging posters encouraging friendship, teamwork and positive attitudes around the classroom.

As students get older, a few deceptively simple rules can go a long way toward preventing the most common problem scenarios. "We don't let them pick who they go across the floor with-so basic, but so effective," Beller says. "We tell them who's in each across-the-floor group." She finds that assigning spots at the barre is equally helpful.

Making a point of offering corrections and praise for every student also helps students feel that there is no "out" group. "I've learned that sometimes I unconsciously made my classes feel that certain students are slower than others by inadvertently devoting less attention to those students, and that can encourage exclusion," says Donna Farinella, director of Dance World Academy in Clifton and Passaic Park, New Jersey. "Showing that you value everybody by consistently giving everyone equal attention sets an example for the students to follow."

Incorporating team-building exercises into class is another way to help prevent clique problems. "One thing I do at the beginning of the year is have my students form a circle, with everyone sitting next to someone they don't really know," says Michele Larkin, co-owner of Larkin Dance Studio in Maplewood, Minnesota. "I give them 15 minutes to come up with 10 non-dance-related things about that person they didn't know before." Exercises of this kind foster an "everybody's friends" mentality, which makes classes more resistant to clique issues.

Damage Control

But the biggest problems, Twamley says, usually have roots outside the studio. "We can control what they do in class, but what they do with their social time is beyond our control-and when we have problems, that's often where it comes from," Twamley says. "So-and-so didn't get invited to a party. This group hangs out together all the rime outside of class and this other group hangs out apart from the first group."

The worst thing a teacher can do in this scenario is to look the other way. "You never want to appear to choose sides, but you can't ignore social problems once they become severe," Taylor says.

Larkin says she often asks other students to help if a student complains about feeling left out or if she sees a problem brewing. "I have captains for each of my performing groups, and whenever there are any friendship issues, I make sure the captains sit down with the group and discuss them. I may ask the captains to go out of their way to make that person feel better, too," Larkin says. "I'll say to a captain, 'This girl is feeling left out. Can you help make her feel included?'" When the captain, a natural role model, leads the way, the rest of the group is likely to follow in her footsteps.

Diane Gudat, director of The Dance Company in Indianapolis, says she tries a different approach: She talks to the leader of the clique directly, but without casting blame. "I try the approach of saying, 'I have a problem with so-and-so in class. She is feeling left-out and a little sad lately, and I know that you are very outgoing and that the kids all like you, so I would really appreciate it if you would help the others be nice to her and make her feel better," Gudat says.

Twamley has had more success talking to students who are not involved in the conflict-students she knows are more accepting or mature. "Sometimes it's best to go to the student who is a little more approachable and empathetic-maybe even someone a little bit older," Twamley says. "A lot of times, those kids are your leaders anyway, and once everyone sees that person include the one who felt left out, they'll follow along."

The Bottom Line

Ultimately, the ability to work effectively with a group is bigger than dance class-it's a life skill. Remind your older students that in professional situations, dance-related or otherwise, they'll need to be able to work with many different types of people to achieve success. Dance class is the perfect place to start practicing.