Beginning to Teach
- Thread starter missa8301
- Start date
ireniecat
New Member
Take lots of time in advance to practice what you will say and demonstrate. At the beginning, it's very much like preparing for a speech. I only started teaching about a year ago, and this is what I do when I'm about to teach material that I've not taught before. Also make sure to review both lead and follow. I realized that I did not have a good grasp of the lead in many figures that I could otherwise do in my sleep as a follow.
If it's a developmental class where you learn more advanced figures as the class goes on, prepare an outline of what you will teach each class of the session. You will need to adjust as you go, but at least you'll have something to start from. I also make handouts for my students that list the names of the figures we learned and some basic info (like timing, if the figure ends closed or in promenade, etc).
There's also a good (but very dry and academic) book I recommend:
Teaching Dance: The Spectrum of Styles by Elizabeth Gibbons
It's not specific to ballroom, but has examples from all kinds of dance styles including ballroom.
ballroomdancertoo
Well-Known Member
I think the most important thing is to make the class as enjoyable as possible. Be creative and have a lot of interactive/interaction between you and the students.
Leonid Turetsky
Member
The best advice I can give is: practice teaching the class several times at home as if you were teaching the class for real. Write exactly the outline of your lesson is also a great idea.
Good luck
Good luck
Josh
Active Member
Rely on what you have learned in becoming an experienced dancer to guide you. Form your own mental picture of what things are supposed to look like, and try to convey that with your own body and words to the students. Use lots of illustrations/examples that are easy to relate to, those that your teachers have used with you before.
jump'n'jive
Well-Known Member
go at your own pace, dont let the class dictate how you teach them. dont get overwhelmed. if you forget something, dont let that fluster you, say great question we can review that next week. just have fun is most important. how you act and feel will transfer to the class.
mop6686
Member
Congrats missa!
Preparation, preparation, preparation - Practice how you're going to deliver everything. How will you count? There's 1,2,3,4 or, for example, forward, back, side, boom! Use words to count that are fun and memorable.
Prepare a playlist that you know has suitable music eg. a slow cha cha and a single time swing.
Think about what questions new students will ask and already have the answers prepared, eg. Where does my hand go? Is it meant to feel this way?
And here's my rule of thumb for all groups classes. Show the leader their part and have them dance it behind and with you 3 times. Then do the same for the followers. Then have them dance it in partners 3 times, then have them dance it to music three times. Then have them rotate and dance with another partner 3 times. This helps you to keep a flow and makes sure that there's regular dancing to music and switching of partners.
Preparation, preparation, preparation - Practice how you're going to deliver everything. How will you count? There's 1,2,3,4 or, for example, forward, back, side, boom! Use words to count that are fun and memorable.
Prepare a playlist that you know has suitable music eg. a slow cha cha and a single time swing.
Think about what questions new students will ask and already have the answers prepared, eg. Where does my hand go? Is it meant to feel this way?
And here's my rule of thumb for all groups classes. Show the leader their part and have them dance it behind and with you 3 times. Then do the same for the followers. Then have them dance it in partners 3 times, then have them dance it to music three times. Then have them rotate and dance with another partner 3 times. This helps you to keep a flow and makes sure that there's regular dancing to music and switching of partners.