10 Aug
2013
10 Aug
'13
11:25 a.m.
Thank you Tavi, Stan, and Laura for posting this.
It's been a long time since I danced in Glen Echo and I am delighted to
hear that they have moved beyond the four-separate-classes format. This
new approach takes several big steps in a very helpful direction. I like
the emphasis on getting folks moving and keeping it visceral and simple.
This approach starts with an assessment of what "skills" are needed. From
an instructional design perspective it might also be helpful to take one
more step backwards and start with a "problem statement" instead. What is
the problem that you are trying to address?
The goal of "teaching beginners how to persist under actual floor
conditions" assumes a lot about those "floor conditions." Consider the
situation if you had full integration of the first-timers into the dance
hall. (Meaning that every single first-timer was partnered with someone
who had danced for at least one night--*and *the first-timers were
distributed evenly throughout the hall.)
With a fully integrated hall--and clear, precise calling--your list of
skills needed by first-timers is reduced by about 80%, or more. Maybe our
efforts would be better directed at what we can do to achieve hall
integration rather than preparing first-timers to deal with a
non-integrated hall. How do we accomplish that? It may not require
separate lessons of any kind.
- Greg McKenzie
West Coast, USA
*******************
On Sat, Aug 10, 2013 at 1:57 AM, tavi merrill
<melodiouswoodchuck(a)gmail.com>wrote;wrote:
Hi all,
It was a real treat to utilize the lesson plan Stan Fowler and Laura Brown
developed for Glen Echo's Friday night dance. As a caller who's often more
comfortable with experienced crowds than one night stands, it was magic to
watch the simple concept behind this come to life and open a new way of
looking at teaching. In response to interest some caller friends showed on
a facebook post about the lesson plan, it is with permission of Laura and
Stan and thanks to Kevin Mabon that i share what they developed. It has
been published before, but i thought in response to friends' requests for
the document that sharing it in this forum would make it available and
archived for a new generation and wider audience of callers.
Stan (aka "Dance Ranger") writes: "As I recall we wrote this paper to
solve
a particular issues we were having at the time. If I recall at the time,
the caller was sometimes to teach the work shop, and their methods were all
over the board. Our dance was often the largest dance the caller had
worked. We wished to provide the caller a guideline for our dances. They
did not have to use the paper, but we wished the newcomers to come out of
the workshop with confidence to join the dance and have a good time and
want to return."
Whether or not you use it in a big crowd, the basic idea - keep them moving
to music *the whole time -* is, as Stan added, the key element. Applying
the "Create Chaos" technique was mad fun. Steps 2 and 3 may require for
some an ad lib about the flexibility of gender and role in your philosophy
dance community. But the document speaks for itself.
With gratitude for all our community shares,
tavi
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