Advice on choosing male or female instructor

[lemonade]

Hi everyone,

I have finally joined this after reading it forever:)! I would like to take the next step and start privates for International Latin with a competitor/instructor. My question is, as I am a female, is it better to take them with a male or female? I could choose either but cannot figure out which one would help me to develop the very best technique. I should add that excellent technique is the goal, even if it takes weeks to get a great new yorker or hockey stick or rumba walk, etc. Figures are fun but I want the basics to be the best that I can do and then progress with that solid base. Also, following better (which makes me think a male would be advantageous but I know that female teachers can teach this as well) Those of you taking privates, any thoughts on the advantages of same sex or opposite sex instruction would be very appreciated. Best to all for a great new year!!

[latingal]

Welcome to DF lemonade!

as I am a female, is it better to take them with a male or female? I could choose either but cannot figure out which one would help me to develop the very best technique.

Well great technique can be taught by either a female or male. It would be a matter of finding a teacher with the knowledge, experience and leaning for latin technique and teaching students.

I should add that excellent technique is the goal, even if it takes weeks to get a great new yorker or hockey stick or rumba walk, etc. Figures are fun but I want the basics to be the best that I can do and then progress with that solid base.

ummm....weeks? You're a better girl than I...try years.

All kidding aside, being a follower myself, I take from both a male and female for privates. Most of my privates are with a leader (male) because I compete pro-am and need to have the dance time with my teacher. He does the majority of work on my technique and partnering skills. The female instructor helps me with general technique and the styling/performance specific to the followers part.

[White Chacha]

I am male and take lessons with both male and female coaches. My primary coach is male.

I'd suggest a search of the forums, I recall writing in on a similar thread regarding male vs. female within the last year.

Cheers.

[cornutt]

I assume the OP dances follow... There are certainly many female instructors who are perfectly capable of leading and of teaching proper following technique. But consider that when you compete, you will most likely be dancing with a male partner. So I'd start with a male instructor. At some later point, though, you will definitely want to take some lessons with a female instructor who will be better able to help you with a lot of fine points of movement and style, since they know better what it's like to be you, so to speak.

(My advice about choosing a male instructor assumes that all other factors are equal. However, if you are faced with a choice between a female instructor who understands your goals and whose teaching style meshes with your learning style, and a male instructor who does not, you're better off with the female.)

[BasicsFirst]

I agree with the previous 'advice' in parenthesis concerning all things being equal. Likely circumstances will dictate whether your first choice in instructor is male or female, i.e. the right one for you will happen to be what they are (and there will be time to change or add to that later if you need to). If you have it narrowed down, you'll want to look at how well each instructors' students are doing, possibly by comp results OR even better by your own judgement. You probably have seen what you want your dancing to look like and hopefully at least some of that in some professionnal's student.

By the way, I've seen this couple of times now (and I know I'll kick myself) but what are 'OP dances'?

[NielsenE]

OP = Original Poster

[reb]

Welcome to Dance Forums BasicsFirst!

OP is shorthand for Original Poster, I believe, in this case referring to lemonade who started this thread.

Also, 'dances' was being used as a verb as part of "OP dances follow" - which is to say the ladies part. Since a lady can be a very good lead(er), this is used to separate gender from role.

[jwlinson]

We have both a male and female coach, and I get valuable insight from both equally.

[etp777]

I'm with Latingal. While I work with both, being a male, I primarily work with a female teacher (actually, female for main teachre and female for buddy teacher, as we work with two teachers at our studios). So I susggest you go with a male teacher.

But, I work with both male and female teachers, and male and female coaches. And once so far, even had female teacher make me follow while she lead. :)

[elisedance]

Hi lemonade (love the name!) welcome to DF! While is fun to revisit issues (different perspectives always come up) you may want to look at a thread on this here that is quite recent -
http://www.dance-forums.com/showthread.php?t=19808&highlight=male+female+coach

and you can find other infor searching DF (the top search button) with the words 'male female coach' (no quotes).

[Chris Stratton]

Much as basicsfirst suggested, initially it is most important that you find someone who can teach the core ideas - their knowledge and teaching style matters more than 'what' they are.

Later on there are times you'll benefit both from having a coach you can fully dance with, and also getting advice from someone who does your job.

A special treat can be both at once... dance with opposite role teacher under coaching of same role one... Most of us can't do that regularly, but it can be quite interesting as the teacher who is dancing with you can simply dance, while the one charged with coaching can often see more of the overall effect from being outside the picture rather than inside it.

[Joe]

IMO, unless you have a partner, your primary coach should be the opposite gender. This is the person you will be spending a lot of time dancing with. Dancing with someone the same gender is totally a different feel then dancing with the opposite.

[Peaches]

A special treat can be both at once... dance with opposite role teacher under coaching of same role one... Most of us can't do that regularly, but it can be quite interesting as the teacher who is dancing with you can simply dance, while the one charged with coaching can often see more of the overall effect from being outside the picture rather than inside it.Absolutely. It's rare, but when I've gotten the chance at that kind of instruction it's so unbelievably helpful.

[cornutt]

(actually, female for main teachre and female for buddy teacher, as we work with two teachers at our studios).

Slight hijack, but I'd like to hear more about this system.

[elisedance]

we (AM partnership) seem to be transitioning from one male and one female coach to video and incidental coach, at least for an interim period. However, i should point out that which kind of coach you have depends greatly on the stage you are at. Consistenw with Joe' above, I started with a male coach and I doubt I could have had such a great experience with a female one. However, once you are working on a partnership it seems to switch to who knows what best and gender may be irrelevant.

[lemonade]

Hi everyone,

Thank you so very much for the responses and the welcome!! This advice means the world to me and I am so glad I asked. I think that I am going to try very hard to do both....as much as I can afford to anyway, but after reading all of these responses I do realize that I need the experience of learning female stuff from a female and then how to do it with a male. So, now just have to figure out how I am going to do it!!

Thanks so much to everyone and Happy New Year:)!!!

[waltzgirl]

Will you be competing pro-am? If so, your main instructor should be the male teacher you will compete with. If you are just starting out, he can probably teach you all you need to begin competing. If it's not convenient to start with both teachers at first, you can add a female teacher as you progress and your part becomes more complicated and you need advanced styling. I'd also ask my main instructor for a recommendation for the female instructor. You want someone whose approach is compatible with your main teacher (and whose styling he likes--you don't want to be taught a bunch of styling moves he hates!).

[Tangoqueen]

Hi everyone,

I have finally joined this after reading it forever:)! I would like to take the next step and start privates for International Latin with a competitor/instructor. My question is, as I am a female, is it better to take them with a male or female? I could choose either but cannot figure out which one would help me to develop the very best technique. I should add that excellent technique is the goal, even if it takes weeks to get a great new yorker or hockey stick or rumba walk, etc. Figures are fun but I want the basics to be the best that I can do and then progress with that solid base. Also, following better (which makes me think a male would be advantageous but I know that female teachers can teach this as well) Those of you taking privates, any thoughts on the advantages of same sex or opposite sex instruction would be very appreciated. Best to all for a great new year!!

If you are going to compete pro/am, I would suggest a male instructor, however, you should also have a female instructor available because you will need somebody to emulate. She will help you with arm styling and shaping, etc. Having both is definitely beneficial. I know it can get expensive, but once in a while, take a coaching lesson with both: dance with your male teacher and let the female watch and see how you interact and match each other, she'll see what you and he might be missing. Another set of eyes always help.
Happy dancing! ;)

[biggestbox]

As far as technique, men are usually the better technicians. why? because 1 they are stronger, 2 they generally have more time to think about their technique. a male dancer can compete when he is 30-40, while a female one generally has a 21-30 range for being a top pro. Honestly, you can find good teachers who are both male and female. Turning is a great test of technique and strength. Usually pro male dancers (ballet and even some latin ones) can execute at least 5 turns on one leg, while exceptional dancers are able to do 7-8. There are a few females who can do just as many, but it is rare, and they usually posses more than extraordinary technique.

Before I get a slew of angry responces, this is not to say that females are worse dancers, they just have different strengths. It is generally considered that shorter dancers have better technique than taller dancers (it is easier to control a shorter muscle), but Bryan Watson is still freaking tall and freaking amazing.

Unless you are already fairly advanced technically, you shouldn't worry about this. It is true that male, female, tall and short dancers dance differently, but the basics are the same.

[elisedance]

I see what you say - but you have probably not tried being a follower and taking a lesson. While most of my training has been with a male instructor and he has taught me well what he wants to feel when it comes to actually following the advice from my female coach has been invaluable and includes things that he would never have thought of. So, maybe you should have preceded your statement that 'for a leader....' since I have a pretty good idea that that is your primary (and personal) experience. So that I do not do the same ;) let me add that this has been my experience and I have little doubt that there are followers here for whom learning from a male coach has been entirely sufficient.