Structure of a good private lesson
- Thread starter pygmalion
- Start date
tsb
Well-Known Member
pygmalion said:
to me, any private is good when you learn something you wouldn't likely learn in any other setting, which may be a consequence of getting individualized attention or just getting something from an instructor that they would not be likely to discuss in a group class. i also videotape my private lessons, so i get value in that i can go back and review a visual record in terms of a particular move. but every once in a while i also like to schedule a private just to have someone advise me on where i might be getting sloppy.
Good question pygmalion!
For me a worthwhile private lesson is one that I come away from feeling like Ive acheived something.
Whether it be a new move, Finding a beat I could never find (espescailly in salsa!) making any sort of improvement on something I was finding tricky, putting my routine together a bit better.......even getting thru a routine without missing a step.
It doesnt matter how small my acheivement is , its one more step(even if its tiny) to becoming a better dancer........what more could I ask?
For me a worthwhile private lesson is one that I come away from feeling like Ive acheived something.
Whether it be a new move, Finding a beat I could never find (espescailly in salsa!) making any sort of improvement on something I was finding tricky, putting my routine together a bit better.......even getting thru a routine without missing a step.
It doesnt matter how small my acheivement is , its one more step(even if its tiny) to becoming a better dancer........what more could I ask?
bordertangoman
Well-Known Member
I've never had a private lesson. The thought fills me with dread. Getting all that attention, being assessed. i find it terrifying
dancin_feet
New Member
I would consider for me, a good private lesson would involve at least one of a number of things.
New steps
Work on and fine tune and problems with existing steps
New technique or ironing out problems with existing technique
Basically I want to finish a private lesson feeling that I have either learnt something new, identified something that I need to work on, or have worked towards ironing out an existing problem.
Oh ....... and had fun in the process! :wink:
New steps
Work on and fine tune and problems with existing steps
New technique or ironing out problems with existing technique
Basically I want to finish a private lesson feeling that I have either learnt something new, identified something that I need to work on, or have worked towards ironing out an existing problem.
Oh ....... and had fun in the process! :wink:
Bronzestudent
New Member
A bad lesson can make you feel very discouraged. Personally, I like to review ahead of time what I've learned in the past couple lessons, so my teacher won't have to take time reteaching that again. That's really the main thing. I don't like to spend precious time going over the same thing she taught me last week, or 2 weeks ago, or whatever.
As far as what the teacher can do, hmmm.... Ask me occasionally if there is a particular dance I want to work on that may not be in her plan for the day. If I was a teacher, I would appreciate my students showing enthusiasm for learning more, and even asking questions on old steps, it shows they take it seriously and enjoy dancing. Give your students time to warm up on a dance before expecting them to move right into new material. And use a variety of music from lesson to lesson.
As far as what the teacher can do, hmmm.... Ask me occasionally if there is a particular dance I want to work on that may not be in her plan for the day. If I was a teacher, I would appreciate my students showing enthusiasm for learning more, and even asking questions on old steps, it shows they take it seriously and enjoy dancing. Give your students time to warm up on a dance before expecting them to move right into new material. And use a variety of music from lesson to lesson.
DanceMentor
Administrator
As a teacher, Bronzestudent
I really appreciate your response. I promise to start using a wider variety of music and make sure my students are warmed up before I get into new stuff. Anything else you might suggest?
Thanks,
David
I really appreciate your response. I promise to start using a wider variety of music and make sure my students are warmed up before I get into new stuff. Anything else you might suggest?
Thanks,
David
dancin_feet
New Member
Bronzestudent said:
Do you not briefly review what was covered in the last lesson? I find it invaluable to go over what we did (briefly) to make sure that I remember it and build on it.
Private lesson testimonial (what worked)
I'm pretty much a novice at these things since I'm really used to small group lessons (no more than 4 couples) and focus on my leading by changing partners at my insistence. For me it's cost effective and I wanted to focus more on technique while racking up steps. I avoided private lessons because I didn't feel like it would help me without a partner.
So now, I have one. Yesterday I and my dance partner had a two-hour session of private lessons, which was for me just my second time to have a private lesson (the first time was only two weeks before, but it was with a different instructor and only one hour). In my case, we're preparing for a local competition next month.
Just to state it, I went into this lesson convinced that because I really didn't have more than maybe 4 hours of GOOD lessons in samba that I sucked at it. Every time I tried dancing to it, the usual bad problems would come up and it never felt right. It was at my partner's insistence that we compete in samba because it was her favorite and more accomplished dance. If we're competing in samba, I wanted a routine (having never had one before). [In return, she agreed to compete in rumba, with which I'm more comfortable but she was not.]
That being said, our instructor [Dan Calloway FYI] went through his standard routine (slightly abbreviated for me) for bronze samba and tried to point out to me what to do. Technique and all that was incorporated into learning the steps in the routine. Went through it each phase, and then the entire routine of 24 figures at least a couple of times.
In the end, he said, I have my homework (as does my partner), there's lots of potential, he wants to see it as polished as possible the next month he comes back. And we had 15 minutes left :!:
No one could have predicted that to me. Essentially a lot of steps that I have seen but had not done because I just didn't feel comfortable doing them... well the routine helped to get them out of subconscious storage (which since I guess they were associated with "painful" were really in deep storage).
And I'm practicing my own set of figures tonight solo; we're both getting together tomorrow to go over it all again and see how much I retained. She also said she'd give me a DVD with yesterday's lesson on it so I can watch it whenever I'm on the road this month.
So in my case, I needed a confidence boost as much as I needed a routine. I didn't quite expect that much of a boost, but I dare now say... I'm pretty excited to practice samba. You'd never hear me say or type that before the lesson. And I mean "never."
And I hadn't even gone over the previous hour when we did rumba.
I'm pretty much a novice at these things since I'm really used to small group lessons (no more than 4 couples) and focus on my leading by changing partners at my insistence. For me it's cost effective and I wanted to focus more on technique while racking up steps. I avoided private lessons because I didn't feel like it would help me without a partner.
So now, I have one. Yesterday I and my dance partner had a two-hour session of private lessons, which was for me just my second time to have a private lesson (the first time was only two weeks before, but it was with a different instructor and only one hour). In my case, we're preparing for a local competition next month.
Just to state it, I went into this lesson convinced that because I really didn't have more than maybe 4 hours of GOOD lessons in samba that I sucked at it. Every time I tried dancing to it, the usual bad problems would come up and it never felt right. It was at my partner's insistence that we compete in samba because it was her favorite and more accomplished dance. If we're competing in samba, I wanted a routine (having never had one before). [In return, she agreed to compete in rumba, with which I'm more comfortable but she was not.]
That being said, our instructor [Dan Calloway FYI] went through his standard routine (slightly abbreviated for me) for bronze samba and tried to point out to me what to do. Technique and all that was incorporated into learning the steps in the routine. Went through it each phase, and then the entire routine of 24 figures at least a couple of times.
In the end, he said, I have my homework (as does my partner), there's lots of potential, he wants to see it as polished as possible the next month he comes back. And we had 15 minutes left :!:
No one could have predicted that to me. Essentially a lot of steps that I have seen but had not done because I just didn't feel comfortable doing them... well the routine helped to get them out of subconscious storage (which since I guess they were associated with "painful" were really in deep storage).
And I'm practicing my own set of figures tonight solo; we're both getting together tomorrow to go over it all again and see how much I retained. She also said she'd give me a DVD with yesterday's lesson on it so I can watch it whenever I'm on the road this month.
So in my case, I needed a confidence boost as much as I needed a routine. I didn't quite expect that much of a boost, but I dare now say... I'm pretty excited to practice samba. You'd never hear me say or type that before the lesson. And I mean "never."
And I hadn't even gone over the previous hour when we did rumba.
dancin_feet said:
I also like the idea of refreshing my memory on the last few lessons. I learn by repetition so, i need to hear concepts repeated, even just briefly. It also gives you a confidence boost as you feel like you really learned and retained the information from previous lessons.
Another thought on private lessons. I hate it when an instructor wants to cover 6 dances during the 50 minute lesson, each with a new point for me to remember. He used to say that he gets bored easily and so needs to do something different every few minutes. So, the stuff he teahes me might be boring to him by now, but to me it is new material. Rather teach me 2 dances each with 2 new points each, i am more likely to retain the material. At home i would recall the lesson and all the thoughts, write it on paper on my refrigerator to stare at every time i open it, but there is no way i can practice and remember all the concepts in the space of 1 week, so i would pick 2-3 thoughts and think / practice that during the social parties.
cl5814 said:
Your teacher gets bored? What do you pay him/her for? To help you dancing I hope... you don't pay him to entertain him. If you have trouble with one dance, he should be able to help hack out the problem for you. After all, you're the customer, and if you do anything that looks badly, it reflects on his capacity as an instructor... especially for private lessons.
Bronzestudent
New Member
dancin_feet said:
Great Point, Dancin Feet!
Kudos for my teacher, she does plenty of review (dancing with her and honing in on School Figures), I was more picking on myself with that statement. Meaning that I don't like to have to relearn something that I could do 2 or 3 weeks ago. However, some moves are more involved, like anything in Quickstep, or WCS Swivels, and things like that, and you need to spend more time on them, spread out over a few lessons. There's so much to get right - timing, position, direction, heel or toe, you can't expect to learn it all at once.
* Dance Mentor, thanks for letting me know my input was helpful! I often think I would like to be a teacher, so I try to catalog things I appreciate from my teacher. She's good at throwing new things on, telling me she's preparing me for more advanced moves later on by teaching me something simple ahead of time. For instance, staying up on my toes on the QQ count of Foxtrot basic, and making the Waltz basic more elegant by adding to what I first learned in the group class I started in. Updating the Basic steps at opportune times is exciting!
delamusica
Active Member
Learning steps and coreography doesn't really make a lesson good for me - that's mostly just a matter of memorization and taking time to get used to the new movements. Even though I compete in the open gold category, I find that the most helpful lessons are going over the absolute basics of good technique and really perfecting the basic movements, as it makes all the new moves so much easier and faster to learn!