| Article | : | Dancing Tid-bits Issue #145, Thursday, May 29, 2003
Today's Topic: The First Lesson
Believe it or not, several years ago, when I took my ISTD Associate
examination, this was the first thing Mr. Billet wanted to test me on. What do you do
with a student on first lesson? I am talking here a student who has come to you
for the very first lesson in dancing. It goes without saying that this is
perhaps the most important event for this student and either you can break
him/her or win him/her.
Leave aside first few minutes of introductions, shake hands etc.; where does
one start?
1. Preferences of the student, not you the teacher. Is he/her inclined more
for Latin or Ballroom or may be just Salsa. This is no time for a teacher to
give a lecture on his personal liking or otherwise. Gear up the first part of
the lesson exactly to student's choice, good or bad, Period.
2. Assume that like most students he/she says "I don't know. I just like to
try ballroom dancing, so I will leave it upto you". That is a good start. You
will of course tell him/her two main classifications, in other words Ballroom
(Fox, Waltz etc.) and Latin (Rumba Cha Cha , etc.). Don't burden him/her with
too many details.
3. "Let's us do 1/2 and 1/2 Ballroom and Latin (1/2 hour each).
Ballroom: I picked Foxtrot (not the Slow Fox but to be exact the Foxtrot,
American Style or so called Rhythm Dancing) and my examiner said, yes that is a
good choice. It is a walking dance and easy to interpret. He asked me how do
you teach Rhythm to a an absolute beginner. My answer was SSQQ and 12, 34, 5,6
etc. That was a bummer. Not that he expected a straight answer but really it
was his intention to give me a little education and rather not harass me. He
told me that a beginner's ear responds more to "down beat" which is like a "boom"
An upbeat sounds more like a "chick". So the student can appreciate "boom
chick, boom chick" (accented beat is boom and the other is chick, so accent in 1
and 3). This way is better than to explain 1234. I said to myself but my
students do understand 1234 quite easuily in music and Slows and Quicks are not
that difficult but this was no time to be too smart so I said "Great". Similarly
Waltz will be Boom, Chick Chick for 123 with accent on 1.
We spent at least 45 minutes on rhythm dancing and luckily I was relaxed and
showed him a smooth flowing simple combination with my partner Jane. I even
did a little dip and he was happy to see that I was not too stiff or too "hung
up" and was enjoying myself. He cautioned me to emphasize "Movement" more than
the "Technique"Â in first few lessons. I always remember that.
Latin: We did not go into many details but he reminded me to keep the steps
short and again don't drill too much technique. I usually pick American Rumba
Box, SQQ for the first few lessons for two reason. If you dance in a typical
american studio, you must know American Style and I also feel that teaching SQQ
box rhythm is so much easier than 2,3, 41 which I save for more keen students
at a later date. Do only one category of student's choice if you feel, that
that is all he/she can handle in one hour.
Any Comments? With Best Wishes, Max |
