Last year, the Victoria Dance Festival’s (VDF) Vibrant Dance Teachers Conference launched a free online professional development course for dance educators to keep them “refreshed” during the conference.
This year, dance teachers are back with a refresh, offering two classes specifically focused on: you As a dance educator. After a recent survey of educators in partnership with Comdance, Dance Informa and Discount Dance Costumes, VDF’s Vitality found that the only thing keeping most dance educators up at night is their own health and wellbeing.
As professional educators, dance teachers are always student-centered and do their best to ensure students thrive and reach their potential. But at what cost? Many educators say their own pain and injuries often come second, followed by ensuring students are healthy, strong and recovering when injured. Their priority is also to ensure that the studio makes students feel welcome, nurturing and positive, often without considering the impact this has on their own mental health and wellbeing.
Vitality and VDF want to make sure you’re in the best shape to teach, so they’ve hired two leading industry professionals straight from the UK to provide you with expert advice and tips on mental and physical self-care this spring.
Sally Harrison is a well-known dance physiotherapist who received a warm welcome from teachers at the Vibrant Dance Teachers Conference earlier this year. Harrison will take part in the first of two free online courses hosted by VDF on Sunday 8 September at 4pm AEST. Those who know Harrison know her warm sense of humor, which she rather cheekily titled her conference “Please be sure to put the oxygen mask on your face first” – This is a nod to the pre-flight instructions on the plane, but is also an important reminder that if we are not at our best and taking care of ourselves, then we cannot best serve our students as teachers.
Harrison will provide teachers with practical tips and advice to maintain their own mobility and ensure they focus on self-care as well as the physical care of their students! please be sure Register online and secure your future as a teaching profession.
Over the next week, counselor and life coach Will Centurion will focus on teacher mental health and encourage you to seek and maintain professional boundaries with your studio community. He will also make sure you develop strategies to keep you mentally strong during challenging times and situations where boundaries may be blurred or crossed.
Register for the Centurion conference on Sunday 15 September at 4pm (AEST).
Thanks for the timely reminder Vitality! Teachers, your body is not only your vehicle, it is your tool and you must take care of it to preserve your career and extend your time serving your students!
Find out more about Dance Teachers Update on the VDF website and be sure to lock in your place at next year’s Vibrant Dance Teachers Conference at VDF25 to invest in even more professional development.
