Dancing Tips for Children’s Choir Directors
Choir Choreo is unique
Children’s choir directors have specialized needs for dance choreography. Here you’ll find my guidelines for choosing movements that are quick to learn, easy to memorize, look great from the audience, and highlight the children’s voices. This is what has worked for me – feel free to pick and choose, find inspiration, and then do what works for you and your students.
But First, Should your elementary students dance at their Choir concert?
Why have dancing at all at a choir concert? Isn’t singing enough? Yes, the children’s voices often speak (or sing) for themselves. However, I’ve also found dancing to be a very beneficial part of the learning process:
Dancing helps with lyric memorization.
Dancing helps students who have a lot of energy to have somewhere to focus that energy.
Dancing helps students who are nervous or naturally more stiff to loosen up.
Students love to move, and dancing helps make concerts engaging and exciting!
Don’t Worry, You don’t have to be an expert
My background is in teaching music, and I definitely do not consider myself a professional dancer! Movement memorization is difficult for me, which has turned out to be a strength while teaching dance. If a move is too hard for me to execute or remember, I scrap it because how could I possibly expect that from my students?!
We often have limited rehearsal time, most of which we’d probably like to spend practicing the music. There’s no point in drilling a complicated dance move over and over that simply doesn’t come naturally to the students - let’s instead aim towards choreography that looks great and everyone can master!
Let’s begin… 5-6-7-8!
Top 10 Dance Tips for Children’s Choirs
1. Choose Symmetry
I don’t care if you’re 5 or 65, we all sometimes get our lefts and rights mixed up! Whenever possible, I opt for symmetrical dance moves. This way, it draws a bit less attention to the students who will inevitably go in the opposite direction. As a baseline, try having both hands doing the same thing as one another.
2. Repetition is Key
No need to reinvent yourself for every single phrase. If certain moves look great and are working during the chorus for example, repeat them for every chorus. Same goes for intros and instrumental transitions, or even 16 bar phrases. We want to reignite our choir’s confidence every time they return to a familiar section.
3. Follow the Lyrics
Sometimes the obvious, low hanging fruit is the clearest and best way to communicate an idea. It can also be the easiest to remember! Let the students put their hands on their hearts for “love,” point to the audience for “you,” and end a triumphant song with straight arms in a giant “V.” Since we are often teaching students with a diverse mix of comfort levels, dance moves have to be straightforward enough for every students to feel confident.
4. Star Hands
It’s all in the details, and defining hand shapes will help the group look unified. For every move, specify whether students should have “star hands” (straight, extended fingers), flat hands (fingers together), fists, or something else.
5. No Noodle Arms
I like to use the phrase “no noodle arms!” as a silly way to remind students to straighten their arms and eliminate any noncommittal or unfocused flailing. Strong, intentional movements give the most impact performance. Same goes for us as instructors!
6. Open Postures
Since this is first and foremost a choir concert, we definitely want to prioritize healthy singing voices. This means we’ll want to keep open postures and limit any crouching or concave chests to avoid constricting the lungs. Borrowing a term from drama class and teaching students to “cheat out” will be beneficial here.
7. Plant Your Feet
Choir concert dancing has to be safe and appropriate for risers or a crowded stage. Risers are noisy, so any stomping or fancy footwork might overpower students’ voices. Also, multitasking is hard: changing standing formations has always been difficult for my young students and usually results in students looking down or not singing altogether! Therefore, I opt for as little foot movement as possible and instead focus on upper body movements.
8. Spot Markers
Spot markers solve so many logistical and classroom management issues. Students have assigned seating in the classroom, so why wouldn’t we transfer that to the stage? When students have a defined spot, it takes out all of the guesswork by saving time practicing entrances/exits, spacing, and making sure Johnny isn’t standing directly in front of Susie. I love using colorful velcro spots on carpet and gaffer’s tape on other types of flooring (affiliate links).
9. Fists On Hips
It’s helpful to have strong, go-to “default” positions. It’s even more helpful if these positions have memorable, quippy names. One of my favorites is “Fists On Hips” with bent elbows and, you guessed it, one fist resting on each hip.
10. Limit the Swaying
A common go-to choir dance move is to have students sway from side to side for a verse or longer. In my experience, young students have trouble swaying together in the same direction, no matter how many times you rehearse. Limit swaying from side to side to just a phrase or two at a time before switching to a different (ideally symmetrical) dance move. That way, students have a chance to “reset” their swaying direction.
Bonus Tip: Join in the fun!
Positive modeling is a helpful tool in all aspects of teaching (as well as parenting and working with kids in general!). Just as we have a deep knowledge of the songs we’re teaching, we also have to know the choreography inside and out. When I first started teaching, I was so overwhelmed that I had parent volunteers choreograph and teach the dance moves so I could focus solely on the music. If I got preoccupied doing something else and never learned the moves, then I wasn’t prepared to help the students once the volunteers had gone. I’d be asking students what they remembered from the previous rehearsal and they wouldn’t always agree… you get the idea – total leadership breakdown! This led to unsure students, musical mistakes, and sloppy performances. Now I’ve learned to try and be a stronger model to better prepare my ensembles.
I hope you’ve found some useful tips for teaching dance moves to your children’s choir! If you would like to use any of the choreography in my videos, check out our Music Library for downloadable lyric sheets, sheet music, and accompaniment tracks. Enjoy!
