Teaching dance is not something that is new to me. My first experience with teaching dance was when I was 15 years old and I was working at the dance studio I was a part of my entire life. I was teaching ballet and jazz to little kids who wanted to be there to dance, and many of them had already taken other dance classes before.

That was easy! Teach something to a bunch of kids who really really want to learn and are excited about it. However teaching dance in a school would be a lot more difficult. Dance is one of those subjects that students are either really into, or really really not into at all.

How was I going to motivate students to learn something that they were embarrassed to try, thought they couldn't do, or thought they were going to suck at? 

The Ontario Ministry of Education (2009) states that students are expected to learn the creative process to help them learn and apply knowledge and skills in the arts. All students have the ability to be creative and as educators we must support and guide students into reaching that potential, despite their previous notions about a subject.

According to the Ontario Ministry of Education (2009) "sometimes it is more about asking the right questions than it is about finding the right answer" (p. 19).

Dance is a subject that many students feel uncomfortable with at the start, but by going through the steps of the creative process, they will gain the confidence and the skills they need to succeed in dance. One of the most important things that an educator can tell a group of students in a dance class is that there is no right or wrong answer, everyone's movements and ideas count.

The creative process is something that is crucial to an arts lesson or unit, but it can be implemented within many subject areas. The creative process is so student centred; students are free to move from one step to the next within the process as they see fit, even moving backwards if they need to, all while receiving feedback and support from the teacher. This process is useful as students work through a dance lesson, but could also be extremely beneficial in an inquiry based literacy lesson or social studies lesson.

By guiding students to create their own answers and lead their own learning, teachers are allowing students to build the confidence and enjoyment in dance that may not have been there before.