Setting Up a Dance Space At Home, Part 1 – The Space Itself

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In this age of sheltering in place, we all want our dancers to continue working on their craft.  Let’s face it: we parents have spent a great deal of time and money on our children the opportunity to pursue their passion, and we’re hoping that they can at least maintain the level of technique they’ve worked so hard to acquire. It would be a shame for their skills to diminish as we are being encouraged to spend more time at home. With studios around the world closing their doors, many are taking advantage of the amazing technology available (like Zoom, Google Meet, Instagram, etc.) to deliver high-quality dance instruction to their students at home. But without the proper tools and other resources, your dancer may not be able to make the most of his or her at-home dance experience.

The Place in Your Space

Space – The room to move is arguably the most important thing you can provide to your dancer.  I long for the days when I had a full basement and an entire mirrored wall for my girls to use.  But alas, the times, they did change…we have downsized significantly and have much less square footage than we used to in our new home.  So it has been challenging, to say the least, to find space in cramped quarters.

Necessity is the mother of invention, so we rolled up our sleeves and got creative.  We pushed our entire dining room set into the living room, wedging the table in between the L-shaped chaise and loveseat (my mom was wrong – she said all those hours spent playing Tetris during my teenage years were a waste!).  We flipped up all the chairs and put them to one side of the table to get them completely out of the walkway. Adding those little felt stickies on the bottoms of all the legs was a game-changer; it made sliding the furniture around so much easier.  Now our dining room space was clear, and the girls had some room to move. It definitely isn’t an at-home dance space that you would see on Pinterest, but it does the job.

You may have some unique challenges in setting up an at-home dance space.  Be creative and flexible, with the understanding that your efforts are for your dancer’s benefit.  You can enlist their help with this; they may come up with new solutions that you might not have thought of on your own!  

Adding Flair – An easy, low maintenance way of sprucing up the space is to add a backdrop (like ours).  You really don’t have to buy the whole setup (frame, lighting equipment, etc.). Ours is currently being held up with painter’s tape!  There are several benefits to adding a backdrop. First, having a less jumbled background can help the instructor to see your dancer better during virtual learning.  If the instructor can’t distinguish your dancer’s leg from the clutter in the background, it will be hard for her to give accurate feedback! Secondly, you can snap a few cool pictures in front of the background for your dancer’s social media account; the backdrop will give them a more polished, professional look.  Lastly, a fun, funky, or cool backdrop can make your dancer feel better about having to practice at home; she or he might get some compliments from friends when they spy it in the background. My girls’ faces lit up when I pulled ours out of the package, and they got a bunch of positive feedback from their teammates and teachers!  It was one of those “I don’t know if this will work” purchases that turned into “I’m so glad I got this!”

Post a comment if you have any other tips on improving your at-home dance space!

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Work hard, have fun! – Danielle

To read about setting up flooring for your at-home dance space, read Part 2 – Flooring.