Smile Productions have been coordinating memorable dance student group trips to some of the most popular performance destinations in the world like New York, Las Vegas, Salou and Benidorm for more than 5 years now. Creating unmissable dance holiday experiences for all types of dance schools, students, families and squads is our speciality!
You may be asking yourself, why take your dance squad on the holiday of a lifetime? What are the benefits and who is involved? Well, read on to find out our top eight reasons to take your dance school on a performance trip across the world.
1. Taking Dance Families To A New Level
Whether you’re travelling to Las Vegas, New York, Salou or Benidorm the moment you step foot into the airport ready for your dance holiday, you’ll begin to build relationships like never before.
You may not realise it at the time, but a dance holiday provides the perfect opportunity to strengthen, or indeed build new relationships between everyone in your dance school, right from the very first rehearsal. Research shows only 1 in 4 children talk to their parents about “something that matters” more than once a week. A dance holiday gives you the time to chat about things other than day-to-day chores, homework or what’s for dinner.
Although technology means we’re more ‘in touch’ than ever before, nothing beats physical time together. Spending close time with your dance squad, friends and family members gives you the chance to develop a much closer understanding of each other through body language, subtle nuances, gestures and facial expressions that just aren’t possible via text or Whatsapp!
Spending time together as a dance family on holiday simply provides you with the opportunity to enjoy each other’s company, giving them reassurance that they are loved and creating fabulous memories for you all.
2. Increase Loyalty To Your Dance School
Many dance schools do not even consider taking their students on a performance holiday. You can set your dance school apart and stand out from competitors by offering something completely new. If you don’t, you just become any old dance school and it’s much easier for your students to leave.
The prospect of a school trip can be used to encourage good behaviour, increase loyalty in students and in turn, increase growth and ongoing success for the dance school as a business.
Once you return from your dance trip, thanks to the improvement in relationships experienced during the holiday, students will have more respect for you as their dance teacher and for their fellow dancers. This will help to improve behaviour and performance in class, making for a positive environment for all to enjoy.
Plus, thanks to a better understanding of the importance of what they’re learning, as well as a greater sense of community, you may even find attendance improves in some dancers that were not previously motivated.
3. Parent & Teacher Thrills
Whilst it is all about the children, the parents and teachers also benefit greatly from dance performance holidays. It’s the perfect opportunity for parents to get away and enjoy time with their children as well as socialising with other adults that are interested in similar things. Whether you are a single parent, family or teacher, spending time with other similar adults can often feel like a million miles away.
Enjoying the holiday with other adults can help you feel more relaxed and cope with stress better. People who spend time with family and friends find healthier ways to cope with stress. It can also improve your psychological well-being. The emotional support provided by social ties enhances your psychological well-being. One study found that people who spent time with other similar adults and friends reported a greater sense of meaning in life and felt like they had a stronger sense of purpose.
4. Rewards They Deserve
Whether your dance school has just smashed a competition, aced their latest show or have taken on a lot of stress with exams, a reward or treat may be just what they need.
Planning a dance holiday creates something positive and exciting to talk about in the run up, building motivation and encouragement amongst your dance students. The main aim of the trip is to have fun, enjoy yourselves, perform on stage and make memories for a lifetime.
The belief that hard work and dedication ultimately leads to mastery and a sense of accomplishment should deserve rewards. Help students set short-term and long-term goals with clear rewards. Setting achievable targets can help your dance students see their own progress and get excited about hitting the next benchmark. Booking your performance holiday can be a good way to give students something to work towards and you can inspire them to constantly strive for better results by challenging them to beat their personal best.
5. Development of Social Skills On Dance Holidays
Whilst your class may be born performers, some students might be social introverts. These students will be shy and potentially have mixed feelings towards their dance mates. Others may have varying learning abilities or disabilities. Dance holidays allow your troup to develop social skills that will support them in adult life.
Dance performance trips never discriminate between any students and welcomes children of all ages and abilities. This inspires them to open up to people they otherwise might not speak to during the dance lessons. Holidays encourage children to interact at all times of the day, they learn how to share food with their peers, be polite in public spaces and ask questions.
6. Development of Performing Arts Skills
Not only will your children develop social skills that will stay with them for life but they will also improve their dance and performance skills.
Performing on stage in Las Vegas, New York, Salou or Benidorm will build on massive skills that can truly be life changing. Performing arts demands a level of self-expression that is deeply personal and unique to the individual. Children who perform, be it in dance or theatrical arts, find themselves exploring the richness of their expressive abilities.
Those who wish to pursue a career in the performing arts industry need to display certain skills and talents. Without these skills and talents, an actor, dancer or musician may fail to progress in the industry. Performing in front of other people requires a lot of confidence. Although it is natural for performers to be nervous before they go out in front of a crowd, a performer should be able to use their nerves to better their performance.
When travelling to new countries, they also have a chance to be exposed to styles of dancing previously unfamiliar. They can experiment in a range of dancing styles such as country, ballroom, Latin, Flamenco and more. This allows your dance break to diversify their skillset and to explore new niches.
In as much as performing arts inspires our creative nature, it is also a confidence builder. Performing on stage in front of an audience takes the courage to accept whatever reactions come from sharing this part of ourselves. Part of building confidence in performing arts is being able to let go of such expectations.
7. Investment in a Child’s Future
Focus, problem solving and collaboration are other crucial life skills that come with performing on stage and being part of a solid dance family. Producing anything in the field of performing arts, whether academically or professionally, usually requires the support of others around us. Very rarely can we do it all on our own. The skills and memories made on these dance trips are real investments into the child’s future.
If you don’t invest in your child’s future in this way, your child could be missing out on potentially developing a range of skills that other students are taking hold of. There is a clear difference between the success of those that perform on stage and those that are shy and introverted. You don’t want your child or pupils to miss out of the emotional, physical and personal development they can build on these dance holidays.
Recent studies have found that arts experiences has a positive impact on students’ academic, social, and emotional outcomes. Students who received more arts education experiences are more interested in how other people feel and more likely to want to help people who are treated badly. These students also experienced a reduction in disciplinary behaviours during school.
8. Creating Unforgettable Memories with Performing Arts Trips
Not only do dance performance trips equip students with social skills, team-spirit, enhanced communication skills and motivate them to perform better, they also create unforgettable memories!
Research from the Family Holiday Association has shown that 49% of Brits have created their happiest memories whilst being on holiday. Holidays take you out of your usual routine and this tends to mean your surroundings and experiences make a deeper impact on your consciousness. Furthermore, positive memories are scientifically proven to stick around for longer than bad ones. Time to start having lots more fun it seems!
Get in touch with us today if you are ready to take hold of all of these amazing benefits. Performance group travel is such an amazing way to develop dancers and enhance their dance portfolio. Create an unmissable dance holiday experience for your dance school today!
