Could someone lend me some advice to give someone?

[Backstreet]

Normally I would ask this question to one of my teachers at the studio but my studio is closed this week due to the Summer > Fall transition. Hopefully someone here can give me advice to give.

Anyways, my friend has been wanting to learn dance. Unfortunately, he is somewhat shy when it comes to dancing and does not want to take a studio class yet due to him thinking he'll make a fool of himself. He asked me if I could teach him some dance moves or routine to get a feel for dance before he would embark on a studio class. (NOTE: This is hip-hop dancing but the question I will ask later on is general enough to fit into any dance category)

I took it upon myself to teach him some basic hip-hop movements he could work on. He then asked me to teach him how a hip-hop studio class would function. Thus, I began teaching him routines I learned in my past and this started the problem.

While my friend can do the movements on a one to one basis, he has a lot of trouble memorizing the routine. I even go over it with him really slow and he still cannot seem to get it. The problem is at my dance studio, we learn a new dance routine every week. (Generally around 100+ counts... though beginner classes go a lot slower then mine)

He is planning on starting with a beginner class in the Fall semester, but I know he gets VERY frustrated that he cannot memorize the routine. I am afraid that because of this weakness it might shy him away from dance when he could really enjoy it.

Is there any advice I could give him to help him memorize choreography better? I told him one kind of bad habit was always watching me when we'd do a routine to music. If I wasn't doing it with him, he'd forget the entire thing. (He'd still sometimes forget it while doing it with me)

Since I am not a teacher myself, I'm not sure what advice to give. Does anyone know any advice I could give him on this?

Thanks

 

[macha]

We have the same problem. Jack will say "Ok, it's like this, this and this. Yes?"

We're like...

OMGWTFTHOUGHT!!!!

So, what we do, is just try to do all we can- kind of shuffle through it, but memorizing as much as we can all the way. Jack inevitably comes over with the "you peons" look :wink: (not really, he's fun as heck) and goes over it slowly. It's THEN That it sinks in, but it's also three minutes before time to quit, so we take it immediately home to my driveway or livingroom, and work on it there until we at least have it memorized and are armed for the next lesson. We practice wherever we can in between times.

I have a HORRIBLE memory, so your friend is not alone.

 

[lynn]

Just about every single one of the beginner classes I've attended are very considerate of new students. They always repeat patterns learned from the previous week because let's face it, beginners are not used to the rhythm and the patterns, it takes a long time for them to get used to the body movement and yes, not everyone has photographic memory!

 

[yola]

tell your friend to perservere and he'll be allright:
first: as with actual dancing, you have to practice memorizing too. I've noticed that my capability for memorizing steps has grown considerably the past years. His will certainly too.

second: learning dance/patterns is like learning how to read: first you have to learn the letters. In this stadium, when you read aloud, you do it slowly, thinking about each letter, pronouncing all the letters seperately and than you understand the word (like: d---a---n---c---e...dance)
than you learn to recognice syllables or small words. but when you have to read a sentence, you still pronounce all the words separately (like: this----is---a---gr...eat --great----forum.....this is a great forum). As you keep practising you start to recognize longer words, parts of sentences etc, and your reading becomes more fluent.
The same it'll go with dancing: at first you'll have to think of each step separately.. (side close side hip) later you'll start to dance the whole step without thinking (oh.. bachata basic :wink: ). Before you know it he'll be dancing the nigth away!

Takes some time though! good luck to him!

 

[tacad]

I write it down on paper immediately after the lesson ends. Then it's there and I can practice it during the week.

 

[Sagitta]

I write it down on paper immediately after the lesson ends. Then it's there and I can practice it during the week.

I have been bad and never followed through those good intentions. End result? I don't remember too much now.

There are some people who learn faster then the others and some who learn differently. It is up to you to do what you need to learn. The ones who follow through and are consistent are the ones who really get the most out of what they want to do.

In terms of shyness...by facing our fears we learn to manage them rather then letting them control our lives.

Hope that this doesn't sound too much of a lecture.

 

[Backstreet]

I should have been more specific in my post -- My studio (even in the beginner classes except during recital session) teaches a new hiphop dance every week. ( Ballet, Jazz, Tap, etc go over the patterns but he isn't interested in those) While I have seen some beginning hip-hop classes that will teach a routine for several weeks and keep adding on. My studio does not do that.

To do a more specific question, is there a way to help him memorize things better?

Someone made a reference to language -- To put it in those terms of what I am asking, Ed can speak the language decent but if he were to memorize a speech for a presentation he couldn't do it.


On a side note, I am pushing him to take Ballet -- My persuasive technique is telling him he'll get massive calves. (He's always concerned his legs are small heh)

 

[Sagitta]

Much clearer. Thanks.

Writing down what is done during class, practicing after class and doing so during the week before the next class would help. But, the critical thing is noting down either directly after class or during class what is taught. Is your friend allowed to videotape? That would be one aesy way to do it. My group usually videotapes when we get a coach come to work with us.

 

[Backstreet]

Video taping is allowed (At least I never heard the studio do anything against it... in fact we had news crew here the other day filming us) I just am not sure if he has a camera or not.

I'll pass along these suggestions.

One thing I noticed (I stated in my original post too but no one addressed it) was that he seems to have a bad habit of following. When I would teach him a routine, he'd use me as a crutch per say. He'd follow with his eyes and not his mind (If that makes sense).

How can I break him out of that too? Experience?

 

[africana]

I think you might be too hard on your friend. A lot of people, myself included, take many tries to remember choreography (In fact I'm terrible at remembering without footage and lots of repetition) so it's not that unusual to just visually mimic the teacher or fellow students for an entire session, especially if the moves don't have names attached to them

Be patient, suggest the suggestions here so he can find out what works for him. If you think you can modify his learning method (learning with "his mind instead of his eyes", whatever that means) then explain that to him and demonstrate, but hitting over the head does no good

I've used videotaping most successfully in the past, if that means anything

 

[Sagitta]

One thing I noticed (I stated in my original post too but no one addressed it) was that he seems to have a bad habit of following. When I would teach him a routine, he'd use me as a crutch per say. He'd follow with his eyes and not his mind (If that makes sense).

How can I break him out of that too? Experience?

I didn't mention anything because as africana said that will drop off with experience and as your friend gets confidence.

 

[yola]

hmm. i know it can be difficult teaching friends. My advice would be: show him some moves and work with him, but better leave the actual teaching to the studio.
Please don't take this personal, It has nothing to do with your ability to teach or something ... Its just that your friendship can be compromised it the heat of the lesson... :wink: ; and sometimes it's more difficult to take advice from a friend, than from a relative stranger (like a teacher).

As for the 'following': some tips:
- take small parts of the routine and practice first standing in front of him, than to the left, than the right and finally behind him.
- practice on 1 song. That way your brain has more ways to store the routine. it fits certain steps to certain parts of the music.. So the music will help trigger certain steps (like your brain knows when it hears the chorus, your body has to slide etc).

 

[HM]

yola, I like your comparison very much.

I'm also very bad in shines and thought I'd never learn. But now I realize that if we learn new routines the parts with steps I'm familiar with I pick up fast enough and only the ones I don't know how to do are really hard to incorporate.

Backstreet, I understand you different following concepts. It is the same with me. One thing is to follow just the move of the instructor but doing on my own without template is so much more difficult for me :roll:

But one day... 8)

 

[tsb]

if you're doing a routine are you performing it to a certain song? routines are easier to learn when you know when moves are done in relation to the music. we had that problem this morning walking through a swing/lindy routine. when we all started humming the song the routine fell into place.

 

[Backstreet]

hmm. i know it can be difficult teaching friends. My advice would be: show him some moves and work with him, but better leave the actual teaching to the studio.
Please don't take this personal, It has nothing to do with your ability to teach or something ... Its just that your friendship can be compromised it the heat of the lesson... :wink: ; and sometimes it's more difficult to take advice from a friend, than from a relative stranger (like a teacher).

As for the 'following': some tips:
- take small parts of the routine and practice first standing in front of him, than to the left, than the right and finally behind him.
- practice on 1 song. That way your brain has more ways to store the routine. it fits certain steps to certain parts of the music.. So the music will help trigger certain steps (like your brain knows when it hears the chorus, your body has to slide etc).

No offense taken -- I still consider myself a learner. I didn't really take it upon myself to teach him. He had an interest in learning some hip-hop but was too shy to start at the studio. He came to me to ask him to show him and teach him things so he'd feel more comfortable later on.