Firstly, eisteddfods give our kids a great opportunity to perform on stage building their confidence and the more times they can get on stage, the better. We enter eisteddfods, not to win prizes, but to get out there and have a good time and that is the most important thing we want to get from eisteddfods for our students.
For our dance mums eisteddfods are a great opportunity to share the experience with your dancer and your fellow dance mums. Some of my favourite memories from my child are from eisteddfods and being able to share that with my mum. Make the most of this valuable time because it is so special and your dancer will remember it forever.
There are so many other things to learn from eisteddfods such as learning responsibility by making sure they are packing their owns bags & making sure they have enough bobby pins, stocking, shoes etc. They also learn to work as a team as they get ready together, pin each others head pieces and bond as a team. Sportsmanship is another great skill our dancers learn as they congratulate each other & dancers from other dance schools.
An important take away from eisteddfods for you as a parent of a dancer is to make sure you are continuing these conversations with your dancer. It’s no good if the dance teacher builds up your child’s confidence and takes the focus away from winning prizes and then the child gets in the car & is told “you did this wrong” or “you should have won that section”. Please remember your important role as role models to your dancer and give them the positive affirmation to build their self esteem. The classroom is the place where us as teachers can continue the conversation and tell your dancer where they could have improved in a loving, working environment. It is important to ensure that the car trip home after the eisteddfod is that same positive, reassuring converstaion that we as teachers work so hard to build.
You may notice that your child’s dance routine is not perfect, and that is okay! At PMPA we try to make sure we have an even mix of dance content & dance tricks. We try to make sure all routines are challenging, with lots of steps. This helps our dancers to improve through practice and repetition. Don’t worry if your dancer can not perfectly perform a step, especially at the beginning of the year or for the first time your dancer is doing a particular routine on stage. This is all part of confidence building and preparing your dancer to learn even harder steps.
Eisteddfods are all about learning and pushing your dancer to the next level. We don’t mind if our dancers get 1st or don’t place at all, as long as they are being challenged, working as part of a team and are having fun, we are happy.
