19 Jul
2023
19 Jul
'23
11:13 p.m.
I like to teach a beginners’ session before dances and sometimes have
experienced dancers join in to help out. Generally that works out pretty
well, but sometimes the experienced dancers want to give their partners
advice and demonstrations beyond what I’m teaching. It’s disruptive and I
think rude sometimes as well. Lesson time is short enough without
distractions. I would rather work with a group of new dancers on my own
rather than have experienced dancers teaching twirls and other
embellishments that new people don’t really need to know yet. It’s enough
to learn 5+ figures and remember their unfamiliar names (chain, allemande,
do si do, promenade) without extra, and at this point, unnecessary
alternative or additional add-ons.
I’m wondering if anyone has tried inviting intermediate beginners to help
out at beginners’ sessions? They have been to maybe 5-10 dances and should
be somewhat familiar with basic figures, but still need some refresher
training. They should be able to act as models for the new people, provide
them some assistance getting through courtesy turns, allemandes, do si dos,
etc., and get some additional slow-time dance experience for their own
edification.
Jim Thaxter
Columbia, MO
On Tue, Jul 18, 2023 at 2:39 PM Heitzso via Organizers <
organizers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
Chiming in to note a pattern in our area that differs
from what some of
these other dances report, which is that at Sautee, Atlanta, and
Gainesville (all NE Georgia) dances it is common for most new dancers to
arrive on time and for there to be about as many experienced dancers that
come early and help out with the beginners' lesson as there are beginners.
In Sautee this Saturday for ContraForce they'll probably have so many
attending the lesson that the lesson circle (at the start of the lesson)
will have trouble fitting around the perimeter of the large old gym, with
some half of those being experienced dancers.
I don't know why that is (on time, roughly as many experienced coming
early). Cultural pattern? It just tends to happen so I don't think about it.
Other notes ... re socialize before the dance ... Sautee established
itself over decade(s) as a family friendly dance. For many years they
hosted a pot luck before every dance until the core folks who did most of
the work got exhausted. I don't know their current post-covid pattern, but
pre-covid they still did pot lucks but just for the talent and volunteers
helping setup.
-Heitzso
Gainesville, Georgia
The idea I have been cogitating on for a while is to somehow change
people's perception of the starting time causing a bit of a cultural
shift. Our dance lesson is at 7:00, dance at 7:30. I would really love it
if we could get the majority of folks to embrace the idea that everyone
come at 7:00. At our last dance we had about 2-3 experienced dancers
participating in the beginners lesson. That's a challenge with about 30
new students. I imagine new folks could easily feel like "a tribe apart"
with beginners at 7 and everyone else come at 7:30. If we could get the
majority of our experienced dancers to come at 7:00 and help teach the
lesson that would be so grand.
Have any of you been successful in making that shift? Changing the
attitude to.... "dance starts at 7:00 and we spend the first 30 minutes
welcoming and teaching the beginning dancers because we all know the dance
will be much more fun that way". If we could make that leap, I think
newbies would feel more welcome and likely to return. It's unrealistic to
expect everyone to show up at 7, but I am planning to reach out to several
experienced dancers to see if we can get more of them on the floor for the
lesson.
Also considering "doors open at 6:30" to give folks time to socialize
before beginning the lesson/dance at 7:00.
On Mon, Jul 17, 2023 at 4:11 PM Don Veino via Organizers <
organizers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
A thought on the topic of dance angels...
Would it be helpful to try matching age groups of the beginners and
angels? Having a shared social reference frame (for lack of a better
phrase) could help incorporate those dancers more comfortably? I mention
this as we had a slug of incoming students from an area private school
arrive at our dance as newcomers and our friendly and helpful older crew
did the community thing - which was great but slightly put them off. The
lack of folks in their age group came up in my later conversation with them
- they had a great time but were looking to mix more with folks of their
own age. Of course that's a chicken/egg thing (I encouraged them to bring
more of their friends next time), but...
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