La Crusada

Mario7 said:
The more I dance with my practice partners and the more I see that they improve with every dance and the dramatic difference between what they can do after a month and what the general class-taker can do.... has led me to believe that Chrisjjjj is right; dancers learn best by dancing with more advanced dancers...
Click to expand...

In another thread, a few days ago, you presented your "practice" plan, which turned out to be more like a teaching plan. When you practice with your partners, do you offer advice? Do you not consider that to be teaching them?

Sure, there are good teachers and bad, just like every other human occupation. Sure, private practice sessions/lessons are better than classes, but that doesn't make classes bad.

I've known plenty of dancers who never took classes seriously or diligently and expected to learn by just dancing. Most of them were not adept enough to do that, and now they either no longer attend milongas or they spend lots of time sitting, because they haven't improved very much.
 
AndaBien said:
In another thread, a few days ago, you presented your "practice" plan, which turned out to be more like a teaching plan. When you practice with your partners, do you offer advice? Do you not consider that to be teaching them?.
Click to expand...
It was in a different thread, I believe, where I noted that what is blowing my mind is how my practice partners are working things out seemingly unconsciously without my saying a word. Problems in walking and turns that I thought would be ongoing until specificaly worked on point by point..these problems are disappearing with only continued dancing..hence my discovery that I don't have to yackety-yack so much as I was doing with one practice partner months ago...dancing alone is doing the trick...of course I go back to the problem areas and dance them but alas when returned to after several days of touching on them....they are smooth sailing!... this is the epiphany I posted on.:kissme:
 
Mario7 said:
It was in a different thread, I believe, where I noted that what is blowing my mind is how my practice partners are working things out seemingly unconsciously without my saying a word. Problems in walking and turns that I thought would be ongoing until specificaly worked on point by point..these problems are disappearing with only continued dancing..hence my discovery that I don't have to yackety-yack so much as I was doing with one practice partner months ago...dancing alone is doing the trick...of course I go back to the problem areas and dance them but alas when returned to after several days of touching on them....they are smooth sailing!... this is the epiphany I posted on.:kissme:
Click to expand...

I agree that teaching talk should be kept to a very minimum, and too often it isn't. Students learn to dance by attempting to do so, not by hearing descriptions. However, frequently some brief explanation can clear up a problem.
 
Mario7 said:
what is blowing my mind is how my practice partners are working things out seemingly unconsciously without my saying a word. Problems in walking and turns that I thought would be ongoing until specificaly worked on point by point..these problems are disappearing with only continued dancing..
Click to expand...

The danger though is that your lead is not improving but it is going more smoothly because the follower has memorized what you intend by certain things and therefore responds by rote. This is a rather common thing when people dance together a lot... the follower gets used to a leader (or leaders) and is able to dance well with them, but neither improves. The test comes when each of the partners dances with strangers.

There used to be a follower around here who looked great dancing with certain leaders that never danced with me. As couples, they looked so good that I was unhappy that these leaders never asked me. Then when they finally did, I couldn't follow them to save my life. I asked her how she could follow them so well and look so good dancing with them. Her reply?

"Oh, he's a terrible leader, but I've figured out what he's trying to lead when he does this or that."

Eventually, I also watched her dancing with other people and talking about other leaders she met in various travels, and it seemed she couldn't follow quite a few of them, even some of the teachers whose lead I knew to be sublime.

So basically neither she nor the leaders that she looked good with were doing all that well at lead and follow no matter how smoothly they danced with one another.

Just a cautionary tale....
 
AndaBien said:
I agree that teaching talk should be kept to a very minimum, and too often it isn't. Students learn to dance by attempting to do so, not by hearing descriptions. However, frequently some brief explanation can clear up a problem.
Click to expand...

That depends a great deal on the student and their best way of inputting information. Some people are visual, some are auditory, and some are kinesthetic. So I feel its best to mix it all up so that you cover all these bases.

Personally, I am very visual. If someone does something with me that I've never seen, my body doesn't know what to do. If they show it to me, I can do it much more easily than if they simply try to make my body do it "naturally".

It seems that a number of the leaders I've worked with are engineers... they seem to respond well to descriptions of the geometry/ physics and less so to simply being "placed" without any explanation. Their body doesn't remember it without some conceptualization.

Different strokes for different folks. No one way is the best thing for everyone. If it was, there would be an effective standard way of teaching!
 
Mario7 said:
Problems in walking and turns that I thought would be ongoing until specificaly worked on point by point..these problems are disappearing with only continued dancing..hence my discovery that I don't have to yackety-yack so much as I was doing with one practice partner months ago...dancing alone is doing the trick....
Click to expand...

Maybe because you did that practise months ago you are able to do it now.

There is no doubt practise within the dance is a great help for improvement but if you dancing incorrectly when doing this, the chances are you will continue to dance incorrectly.
 
ant said:
Maybe because you did that practise months ago you are able to do it now.
There is no doubt practise within the dance is a great help for improvement but if you dancing incorrectly when doing this, the chances are you will continue to dance incorrectly.
Click to expand...
You know, these things I too have thought of...and the recent gains made while dancing are with a new practice partner..believe me, there was soooo much going on (she a Salsa dancer) that I thought we had a lot of work ahead of us!
And yes, I know of couples who dance VERY poorly and it goes on for years...but (thanks to daily work?) thankfully I believe that I'm not dancing incorrectly. ..and so, the dictum "dance with more experienced dancers"...namely, me....hee hee:p:cool:
Afterall, It seems to be a majority view on this forum that taking only privates may well be not only more effective but more economical..and this has a lot to do with dancing with the teacher...I know from my own experience, the embrace was made real only when I finally was held by a male teacher...he said a few things but I can't remember them and only have the 'FEEL' of it etched in my memory forever. (Thanks Maxi)
....hint: the stomach is engaged in close embrace!... I think it also was Basett who mentioned this years ago in a post on the embrace...but until you actually FEEL it...it isn't real...yet...... an apology and a hope that some hijacks are worth the molestation..?
 
Mario7 said:
Ok..let me just say what it is that mystifys me..(Help with spelling JohnEm?)...
Click to expand...
Heck Mario - you're sharper than you look!

There's enough posts on here without me adding any more except
that it's quite a journey in public that you're on, one way or another.
The signs of a successful arrival at journey's end are much better now too.
 
Mario7 said:
Afterall, It seems to be a majority view on this forum that taking only privates may well be not only more effective but more economical..and this has a lot to do with dancing with the teacher...
Click to expand...

I think that taking lessons depends on what teachers are available in your area.

Where there are good teachers they are worth going to for both group lessons and private lessons. But if there are no good teachers then what is the point of having a private lesson off of them.

What I find is a good happy medium is to attend weekend workshops/ festivals being taught by good teachers. You will probabally have to travel and stay somewhere unless you are invited by a local attendee but then you get good tuition and as these type of weekends usually attract good dancers so you also get to dance with good and different dancers.
 
Temza said:
A very old English rule, heard from the mistress of a girls public school -

one Corset - two Stockings
Click to expand...
That.is.awesome!

I don't have a problem spelling that, but kinda wish I did, if only to keep that saying in mind.
 
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