Am I disloyal ?

D

dancingirldancing

Member
Currently I have 3 teachers in 3 different studios.

One latin teacher and 2 standard/new vogue teacher.

In total I am doing 3-4 private a week.

Am I being disloyal to all of them ?

It is just that every teacher give me different perspective.

For example one of my standard teacher teaches me the feeling of the dance and musicality as he is an active competitor more of a RB approach, the other one has more emphasized on technique and placement more of a LB approach, and when I was overseas recently I took 1 month of intese lesson with a teacher that just teach me how to 'lower' and 'free my leg' (apparently I had 'stiff' legs) and 'flow'. When I came back from overseas I have noticed that my dancing has improved a lot !

So I really learned from each a lot however neither of my current teacher know I have another teacher. Am I obliged to tell them ?
 
of course not...when you take lessons with someone you aren't taking vows....certainly there can be pitfalls as a reuslt of too many cooks in the kitchen....but there can also be benfits...it isn't a question of loyalty unless they have asked you to be exclusive and you have said that you are
 
Nope, no obligation at all. Now your Latin teacher knows you're getting your S/NV somewhere else and your S/NV teacher knows the same about your Latin.

A teacher that cares (and I mean really cares), might be disappointed that they didn't hear it from you (once they find out). IMO it's not a matter of if they will find out but when (if not already). Are you sure they don't know there's another teacher (perhaps not who)?

We told our teacher (the one that we would be concerned about finding out NOT from us). It was a long time ago that we said so, but they can never claim we didn't say anything.
 
Well this is how we went about it. (Sorry in advance I'm usually not into long posts.)

In our neck of the woods it's quite common for couples to have two teachers. In fact our teacher in question was originally a '2nd' teacher for us until we lost the first (another separate and long story). So we asked ahead of time... "so what other teacher could we go to that wouldn't make you upset?" Didn't get much of a response (and we hadn't decided yet) so we said "how about so-and-so" and got an opinion of how a lesson with that teacher would go. Upon hearing that we paid more attention to private lessons of that teacher (same studio) and came to the conclusion that our current teacher was right in that case. So next lesson when asked what we'd decided, we said we valued the previous opinion stated and weren't going to go to that teacher. I feel this impressed our teacher... such that when we finally mentioned (weeks later) who we were going to add as a 2nd teacher, it wasn't a problem.
 
I don't think you are but at the same time I would tell them all and just say it in a way that shows you are just having fun learning. Not in a grave serious way. We all have the right to look for what we want, and if you are having fun and learning a lot, then that is great! I also would say I do not know any politics behind this but they all seem separate, not like you chose one's arch-rival in the same studio or anything, lol
 
No problem at all, so as long as you don't use each teacher's techniques or beliefs against the others.
 
I think it is important that your teachers all know about each other. It is obvious that you are doing different styles. Wouldn't it be great to build a "team" where they do talk to each other about "what you are working on" ?
When my teacher is gone (long trip)--he always asks the person I will be working with to deal with specific issues.
Works for me!
 
They will know even if you don't tell them. They may not know the specific other person you are going to, but they'll notice what you're getting from the other people.

I doubt the Latin instructor will care, at least from the standpoint of pedagogy. The best coaches tend to be specialists in their styles, so they'll mostly care about their own style, and not about the other styles.

The others ... it's up to you whether you want to tell them. Telling them could avoid awkward situations - for example if you want to get confirmation about something a different person told you.
 
Thing is they are all principal from different studios. I am not quite sure whether the relationship between them are normally good or not.

I do not think that any of them will drop me IF I tell them.

If any of them actually ask then I will gladly tell. I just don't really want to volunteer the info.

Actually, my latin teacher might have ask once, so HE may know. I just can't remember, he may not even remember. I don't think he cares as they are teaching different styles. Plus I am not competing in Latin.

It is my 2 standard/new vogue teachers that I am worried about.

Looks like I may be pairing up with one of the boy at 1 teacher's studio so I may need to spend more time there but I still don't want to drop the other teacher thus may continue to have solo lesson with him ?

I just don't feel good to 'poach' boys off the that teacher.

It is all convoluted and confusing sometimes !
 
Reading your blog I take it you are based in Australia? Which city are you in?
Understanding the "studio" system there, I thought it had opened up and most top couples were freelancing with different coaches anyway.

Go ahead and tell your coaches who you are seeing, the most important thing is that you understand what each is saying and there is no conflicting ideas on how to develop your individual style that is developing.
 
the issue of whether or not it is good for the dancing for them to not know and whether or not it is loyal, are two different things IMO...and to my mind that is largely based upon what sort of "loyalty" you think they percieve to be required...and what you think constitutes loyalty...and whether or not loyalty is in fact something you owe them to begin with....
 
My teacher encourages me to learn elsewhere - any teacher with confidence in their training should not be threatened from this. If I do take a lesson elsewhere (not very often) I usually report back on what I learned and the discussion becomes a great teaching tool. So my strategy is to yes, take lessons where you choose and yes, also tell the teachers that you do and also what you've learned if its relevant.
 
agree...FP was always very supportive of that ...I don't really see the need w/NP and I would certainly solicit his opinion if an opportunity came up that I was interested in...but I do find that teachers who are confident in their own skill tend to be open to their students accessing any info that would be beneficial...obviously there are times when a pro might find someone's perspective too far afield from their own POV for them to be excited about their student being engaged with that particular person...but I think that is the exception rather than the rule with most good teachers most of the time
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Dance Ads

Advertise on Dance Forums Reach dancers, teachers, studios, event organizers, and dance-friendly brands. View ad options
Back
Top