What is the role of a dance coach?

[pygmalion]

I just watched Faking It, the BBC America show about a kick boxer turned ballroom competitor, and it started me thinking. What exactly does/should a dance coach do? The star of the show had a coach who taught, another coach who disapproved, another coached who criticized, and yet another coach who encouraged her. So for a competitive ballroom dancer, what SHOULD a coach's role be? One of the above? All of the above? Some combination? why?

[SDsalsaguy]

Just in fairness to the coaches on the show, I think it important to realize that what was seen was (a) what they did knowing that it was for this purpose, and (b) edited for desired effects by the production team.

As far as Jenn's larger point, however, there's definitely a fertile field of questions open for discussion.

[KevinL]

I just watched Faking It, the BBC America show about a kick boxer turned ballroom competitor, and it started me thinking. What exactly does/should a dance coach do? The star of the show had a coach who taught, another coach who disapproved, another coached who criticized, and yet another coach who encouraged her.

Just in fairness to the coaches on the show, I think it important to realize that what was seen was (a) what they did knowing that it was for this purpose, and (b) edited for desired effects by the production team.

I agree with SDSalsaguy, everything shown on TV was edited for the desired effect. That is, if it wasn't directly scripted! A couple of friends (ok, acquantances, I've only met them a couple of times) were involved with a "reality" show that will be broadcast sometime in Jan. or Feb. They don't know the title of the show yet, and can't share any specifics, but they did say that almost everything people see is "scripted" by the producers. Who would have thought that those "reality" shows weren't real?

So for a competitive ballroom dancer, what SHOULD a coach's role be? One of the above? All of the above? Some combination? why?

A coach's role should be to coach the dancer in such a way that the dancer will win contests. A good coach will teach, disapprove, criticize, and encourage their students in fairly equal amounts. Although hopefully less of the "disappprove" catagory!

According to local rumor (I don't know her that well) the local competative instructor, Bobbi Davies, (mother of Wendi Davies who is presently competing) is a goddess. She was second ranked in the world for several years, and has danced/coached for the last forty years. Every competative dancer in Vermont takes classes from Bobbi. Earlier this year at the Nationals all of her students placed in the top 3 of at least one event, but most won first places. Well, except for Joe and Meg, (22 and 19?) who came in 19th in the Open division.

I spoke to a couple (David and Paula Schneider) who won firsts in the over 60 catagory. They've been dancing with Bobbi for several years, and compete in all ten dances. David says that he probably only knows about 5 patterns in each dance, but when they do those patterns they are _right_. Why? Because Bobbi drills technique, and then drills technique, and then drills technique again.

It is my impression that Bobbi teaches technique, then teaches patterns to use that technique. She critiques the students and encourages them in turns, I'm sure.

Is this successful? All six competative couples in Vermont are her students, and they all did incredibly well in National Competition. Vermont won more than 1/50 (50 states) of the medals available, and with only those six couples.

Kevin

[Vince A]

A coach's role should be to coach the dancer in such a way that the dancer will win contests. A good coach will teach, disapprove, criticize, and encourage their students in fairly equal amounts. Although hopefully less of the "disappprove" catagory!
. . . this is what my coaches did . . . and then you can add "technique" . . .

[Taita]

The best coaches I have seen consisted of....

one part masters of dance technique...
one part teachers of dance technique...
one part choreographers and performer....

and finally....

one part psychiatrist....

The other day I was watching our coach work with another couple. This couple was very young and very talented who looked great together. However, I noticed our coach consistently berate and put them down at every opportunity. Overall, I'd say he was pretty tough on them and I had some concerns about whether he was a bit too harsh with them. Then he started to work with us...

Our lesson was as it always was. Highly instructive, useful, and fun! He asked us what we wanted to learn, gave us elemental technique and broke down our technique, all while having a good time and joking the whole time! In the end, we learned more and felt better about our dancing. I then told him later that I noticed him working with the previous couple and I asked him why he was so harsh with them. He explained to me that we were different people. He sensed that the previous couple were young, had a lot of talent and large egos. In order to get their attention, he needed to bring them down a notch.

He also said that one day, he hopes he'll be able to slap us around just as much. But for now, he knows how driven we are and how hard we are with ourselves. He felt that a similar approach would have been detrimental to our development. There are many coaches who are able to dance and teach dance. There are very few who are able to help us reach just a little bit beyond what we thought possible.