how good are you

[quixotedlm]

is there a tactful way to elicit the response to the question 'how good am i' from my instructor (of one year, with whom i've been taking plenty of privates as well) ?

i want to find out where she think i am wrt a few other dancers who frequent the studio as students and/or social visitors during dances. some of them are friends with the instructor (and myself as well) - so i'm wondering if posing such a question would put my instructor in a tough corner where she might not be comfortable.

[squirrel]

In what terms "good"... maybe you should define that better.

As a teacher I can tell you it is hard to answer this vague question. "Good at..." would be better.

And how should she decide? What would be the standard?

[Sabor]

possibly,while having any kind of general talk about dancing for example .. thru the convo.. not so obviously and non-chalantly.. maybe ask something along the lines of.. ''so, how do u think i've coming along in my dance so far?.. any advice on things i need to focus extra on..?''

[SurfSalsa]

Another approach you might try goes something like: since I can't see myself dance, it may be useful to have a comparison with other dancers, so can you tell me how I rate with respect to X, Y, and Z? (people you know what they dance like).

But like has already been suggested in this thread, I would suggest poll for it in respective areas: music interpretation, clarity of lead, imagination of sequences (vs boredom), comfortability of lead, etc... whatever's your focus areas for your own development at the moment. (this sounds like the KPIs in a salsa appraisal form :grin: )

Sabor's suggestion is also very good IMO...

[Josh]

I would suggest poll for it in respective areas: music interpretation, clarity of lead, imagination of sequences (vs boredom), comfortability of lead, etc... whatever's your focus areas for your own development at the moment.
I agree. This is something you (quix) should be constantly doing anyway in your privates... your instructor of course should be helping you with whatever area of your dancing that he/she feels needs the most attention, or whatever you set for yourself as a priority (which will not necessarily be the same hehe). But if you have a concern, such as your lead, then get feedback on how it feels. Get specific. "How does my lead for turns feel?" "How does my CBL lead feel?" "Is this lead clear?" "Do you feel comfortable in this position?" etc..

[Josh]

Quix, keep in mind that comparing yourself to others is almost always a bad idea. If you find you're better, it can be an easy road to egoville, and if you find you're not as good, it can be discouraging. So do the best YOU can do, and compare yourself with your potential, not others.

[quixotedlm]

Quix, keep in mind that comparing yourself to others is almost always a bad idea. If you find you're better, it can be an easy road to egoville, and if you find you're not as good, it can be discouraging. So do the best YOU can do, and compare yourself with your potential, not others.

I'm competitive by nature. When I started dancing, I promised myself that I won't be competitive here, and I'm not. But the only manner of assessment that makes sense to my mind is a combination of absolute rating and a relative ranking in a curve. I know it is not possible to obtain either in salsa (or any art), but without trying to map the feedback to these concepts, i feel lost.

[quixotedlm]

As a teacher I can tell you it is hard to answer this vague question. "Good at..." would be better.


Thankfully, it is never the onus of growing children to know what it is that they need to do to grow up right. Likewise, it is generally not expected of students to know what metrics their own abilities should be assessed against - it is the job of the expert/teacher.

As a student, I can tell you it is hard to ask a precise question. "Good at.." is difficult to ask, because I would be asking the wrong questiosn then.

[Floyd]

After I'd taken lessons for a couple years, I asked my teacher how good I was, who responded, "You're doing well for the level you're at," which is a meaningless answer. The lesson I learned was not to ask that question. The more I learn about dancing, the more I realize how much there is left to learn, and my definition of "good" dancing keeps changing, so that it's always better than I am.

[thespina13]

Getting comments on the dance floor is the best gauge for me. I relish all the little pointers and criticisms my teacher has for me, because those are obviously the ways to get better. If, after I've internalized those pointers, I get good response on the floor, I can tell if I'm doing alright. Recently I got a cool comment..." ahh. It's so nice to find someone who can really DANCE! I mean, a lot of these girls know a lot of moves and stuff, but it's not the same." And consequently, I now have another partner in my salsero harem.

Also, if you can sort of tell how complex and subtle the teaching has gotten since the beginning, you can tell how far you've come. What I mean is, if your instructor has you working on minute technical details, or more subtle leading techniques, or is using sort of exclusive dance jargon or whatever, compare that to the first salsa lesson you ever got and how basic and broad the instruction was then. You can be sure, then, that your skill level has risen and you are refining and fine-tuning now, instead of hammering through basics. I would say that's an indication of progressing to being "good".

[squirrel]

Thankfully, it is never the onus of growing children to know what it is that they need to do to grow up right. Likewise, it is generally not expected of students to know what metrics their own abilities should be assessed against - it is the job of the expert/teacher.

As a student, I can tell you it is hard to ask a precise question. "Good at.." is difficult to ask, because I would be asking the wrong questiosn then.

As already said before by someone, you know what you ask for in your private lessons, don't you? Or do you just go there and let the instructor decide? When I ask for private lessons, I always ask for "technique", "styling" etc... (not so vaguely, of course).

Also, the answer "good enough for your level" is what you can expect from an instructor. Why would she dissapoint you and maybe have you leave the school? I would give a vague answer if I didn't know what you expect. However, more precise questions (as again suggested above) help me understand what you want exactly. And answer properly. Specialists or not, we are not mind-readers.

Of course, it is impossible to be compared with other dancers. Each has strong points and weak points, so assessment has to be precise again. I made once the mistake of asking my partner to make a comparison between myself and this other girl I was jealous with (dance-wise) at the time, asking "Is she better than I am?". He looked at me as if I were mad. He said we are very different and all he can tell me is to ask a more specific question. What was I referring to? Following, styling, femininity, expresiveness, connection, spinning etc? :) And to remember that he would answer according to his PREFERENCE (some prefer if she feels a bit heavier, some if she is extremely light, some go for a lot of arm tension, others prefer it if the tension is lower etc... - as for styling... oh my God! Everybody has different views).

Besides, as someone else pointed out as well, it's the feedback that you get on the dance floor / in competitions / in shows (depends of your interest) that can tell you how good you are - even though I would not rely too much on this, since one man's food is another man's poison. :)

[MacMoto]

Thankfully, it is never the onus of growing children to know what it is that they need to do to grow up right.
Well, if you ask "what do I need to do to be a good/better dancer?", I'm sure your teacher can give you plenty of pointers. But that's not what you are looking for, is it? When a child asks their parents: "am I better than my brother?", would the parents answer yes/no?

If you ask your teacher what, in their opinion, your strengths and weaknesses are -- where you are doing well and where you need work -- they will be able to answer much more easily than to the question "am I better than/as good as X?", and the answer you receive will be much more meaningful and useful to you.

[alemana]

brava.