The Dance Masters of America Teachers Training School Program is a multi-grade, multi-year program. Attendees are not permitted to accelerate without completing each Grade Level and the entire program Grade I through Grade IV must be competed within a seven-year time frame.

GRADE I (All first time attendees)
Focuses on the curriculum and teaching skills for beginner and beginner/intermediate students.

GRADE II (Successfully completed Grade I)
Focuses on the curriculum and teaching skills for intermediate level student.

GRADE III (Successfully completed Grade I and Grade II)
Focuses on the curriculum and teaching skills for advanced/intermediate and advanced student.

GRADE IV (Successfully completed Grade I, Grade II and Grade III)
The fourth year allows the attendees to take required and optional classes, review the material taught and take the Dance Masters of America Teachers Training School Examination of their chosen discipline(s).

ADVANCED
Is an attendee who has successfully completed Grade I, Grade II, Grade III and Grade IV without testing.

ASSOCIATE
Is an attendee who has successfully completed Grade I, Grade II, Grade III and Grade IV curriculum successfully passing a minimum of 2 Core Subject examinations. Associates receive a Dance Masters of America Teachers Training School Certificate of Achievement.

GRADUATE
Is an attendee who has successfully completed Grade I, Grade II, Grade III and Grade IV curriculum successfully passing a minimum of 4 Core Subject examinations. Graduates will receive a Dance Masters of America Teachers Training School Diploma.

POST GRADUATE
A graduate of the Teachers Training School who returns to advance their dance training and teaching skills throught the Advanced Curriculum and/or audit Special Study Courses in the Masters in Dance Direction Program without credit.

Core Examinations are those TTS Examinations in Tap, Ballet, Jazz and Modern. How much dancing is involved in the program is a question frequently asked. Attendees dance in just about all of their classes but the emphasis is not on the improvement of your own personal technique but more importantly on the teaching techniques required to teach the material presented in the classroom. Attendees are required to participate in class and to keep a notebook on hand to take notes when they learn something new or hear something that they think will aid them with their own students. Attendees learn and perfect their teaching skills by performing them in class, often by working with the other attendees. Besides the practical experience and dancing, classes are also supplemented with rap sessions, study guides, lectures, and demonstrative classes. For the Grade II attendee, TTS offers a unique learning experience.

Teachers Training School is not a dance workshop or convention where one goes to dance as a “dancer”, improve your technique as a “dancer” or learn routines as a “dancer”. The Teachers Training School Program’s curriculum teaches the teacher how to teach. The program provides the knowledge and training to know what to teach a student at different age and technical levels, the correct way to do the step, what constitutes good technique, what common errors are made by both students and teachers, how to improve your student’s technical level, how to get your students to do those thing necessary to advance, and to incorporate the other things you learned at TTS, such as choreography, musicality, etc., into your everyday teaching so that your student will be better dancers.

Yes, at Teachers Training School you will be learning by taking class, you will be learning by participating in choreography and you will be learning by just dancing. However all of these activities will take on a whole new meaning to you because you will no longer be doing them just to improve your own dancing ability, you will be taking these classes as a Dance Educator.

As a Dance Educator you will be able to pass on to your students:

  • Your ability to teach the skills and techniques you learned
  • Your ability to make the necessary corrections in poor technique and form
  • Your ability to teach your student the warm-ups you learned so that they can prevent injuries
  • Your ability to teach the floor progressions, and new combinations you learned to motivate your students throughout the year.

The Dance Masters of America Teachers Training School has a comprehensive curriculum, where master teachers instruct classes in teaching techniques for most disciplines of dance. The curriculum includes the teaching techniques in ballet, tap, jazz, acrobatics, gymnastics, lyrical, musical theatre, children’s work, and modern. Specialty classes in folk dance, ballroom, and interpretive dance supplement the core disciplines, along with courses in music theory, dance notation, nutrition, alignment, dance history, kinesiology, choreography, studio business, costume design, and lighting. Recent additions to the Post Graduate curriculum are the Musical Theatre Dance Intensive and Choreographers Workshop.

Our Teacher Training School Program implements a well-balanced approach to the teaching of the core material, utilizing a variety of class formats. Classes effectively use a combination of dancing, exercises for hands-on teaching skills, lectures, rap sessions, group study sessions, video, and individual practice time. Attendees take up to seven classes per day, consisting of core and non-core classes during the day. The curriculum for both core and non-core classes varies with each grade level. In addition, optional evening classes are available to all attendees who make their selection, dictated by their own personal preferences and interests. Optional classes have been offered in Latin, Swing, Partnering, Projection, Comparative Jazz Styles, Tap History, and both the Cecchetti and Vaganova Schools of Ballet.

Dance Masters of America’s slogan, “Excellence in Dance Education – Generation after Generation” and the Teachers Training School’s slogan “Excellence in Dance Education – From Teacher to Teacher” both exemplify the concepts and ideals behind the Teachers Training School Program. The program at the Dance Masters of America’s Teachers Training School is completely about learning, acquiring knowledge, and the enhancement of our teaching techniques so we may pass this knowledge on to others. At the Teachers Training School the faculty and attendees network with each other both in and out of the classroom. This sharing of information and ideas allows everyone involved to improve, themselves, their students, their profession, and their businesses.

Topics often discussed during class include:

  • What are some effective techniques for teaching this particular dance principle?
  • How do I correct this problem that my students are having difficulty with?
  • What material do I teach to the beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels?
  • How do I properly construct a class? What material do I include and don’t include? What do I teach first?
  • What do I need to do during class so that can I communicate to my students and make my point?
  • Where did this dance step originate and what is the history behind it?
  • What suggestions do you have for solving this particular problem?
  • How do you handle this situation?
  • How can I improve my business?