B Street Crew Program Aims to Attract & Retain Boy Dancers

When 3-year-old children hear music, is it just girls who get up and dance? No! So why aren’t more boys dancing in studios? One of the biggest obstacles studios have to starting a boy’s program is where to begin. Do you start with the teacher, or with the boys themselves? What do you teach them? How do you channel their energy? How do you keep them at the studio and help them feel part of the community?

The B Street Crew program answers these questions and more. It seeks to provide fun, consistent, and progressive content; create more diversity in studios; retain boys at the studio, and in dance; and to normalize boys in dance, all without the need to hire extra teachers.

Through her own experience, research, trial and error, teaching hundreds of boys along the way, listening to their guidance, and applying her counselling and coaching skills, Tanya Carne has spent the last 14 years developing B Street Crew.

“At first it was all about keeping boys at the studio – channeling their energy, giving them great performance experiences, and helping to increase their confidence. But then, encouraging more boys into dance turned into a mission. At the time, my daughter had been playing soccer for many years and it dawned on me that girls playing soccer was normal in our society, but there was this big disparity with boys and dance. Why weren’t there more boys dancing?” Tanya asked.

Tanya goes on to say, “I had been building my boys program to great numbers at my studio, and when we’d go to competitions my boys would be in the minority…I created CONNECT boys dance events in 2016 to bring together boys for a day of fun, support, inspiration, and dance. No competition or lots of workshops, just carefully crafted connection and comradery.”

The work Tanya was doing in the studio and at CONNECT, along with an approach to teaching derived from counselling and coaching studies, led to the idea of sharing her boy’s program with as many studios as possible. B Street Crew was born.

B Street Crew is a street dance program for studios designed to ignite engagement, connection and inspiration, and support studios in growing their boys’ dance programs. The backbone of B Street Crew is its unique approach – a physical and social focus, with the intent to engage boys, promote consistency and progression, nurture community, and build retention via four core components.

The B Street Crew program can be purchased by studios and implemented immediately by any committed and engaged teachers that studios currently employ. The program, delivered via learning platform Thinkific, includes core components, videos of moves, class plans, a private Facebook group, and expert help from Tanya. New content is constantly being added.

Studios across Australia are now growing their boys’ classes via B Street Crew with both online and face to face content. Jane Grech from DanceArts says, “The B Street Crew program is a great starter program, and it has attracted a fantastic boy’s class for our studio. It is easy to learn and has awesome teacher tips for running a fun, positive learning environment for boys. We love it and are so glad we started it at our school.”

Why start a boys’ program? Boys need programs beyond preschool classes. They need wonderful big dance studio spaces to express themselves; music to awaken their dance energy; warm and welcoming communities to support them; and great studio and performance experiences to boost their skills and confidence.

For more information, contact Tanya at info@bstreetcrew.com, visit the website www.bstreetcrew.com, or join the B Street Crew Facebook page to gain tips and inspiration for teaching boys www.facebook.com/bstreetcrew