Beginners Review Class

[Gus]

Recently ended up in a Ceroc beginners review class (OK .. probably did need the help). From what I saw it seems to be just going over the moves again. Similar to what Blitz used to do. Is this a good use of this time?

Would it be usefull to use this tike to try to teach the principles of connection, balance, how to lead smoothly etc etc.? I realise this would be something of a challenge as few (any?) taxi dnacers are trained how to 'coach' ... but is this a missed opportunity?

[ducasi]

Most *teachers* aren't trained in how to teach these concepts to beginners. How could minimally trained taxi-dancers to do it?

[LMC]

Would it be usefull to use this tike to try to teach the principles of connection, balance, how to lead smoothly etc etc.?

IMO, yes.

If I was taking review classes I used to try to introduce some of this stuff - usually only one or at most two out of a bit of leading backwards and forwards (+ with eyes closed), in-and-out/tension, advice on spinning if there were any spinny moves in the beginners' class. But I learned all that from other dancers and the forum not in any Ceroc class. And I'd done coaching in other situations. Perhaps with the new regime there will be training for taxis in this? I dunno enough about it.

[Gus]

Most *teachers* aren't trained in how to teach these concepts to beginners.

Surely not

How could minimally trained taxi-dancers to do it?

I dunno .. how about training them?

[JonD]

Nelson Rose's coaches are trained and encouraged to try and get those concepts across though they all interpret that requirement in different ways. I always used to explain to the punters that my role wasn't to teach the beginner class again but to use a couple of the moves to try and pick out a few key points that would make their dancing easier and more fun. My focus with people in the first 3 weeks or so was on dance tension/lead/follow/connection and turns/returns while breaking down 2-3 moves from the routine so that they had some confidence dancing them. If I had a group with more experience then we'd sometimes drift off into more complex stuff but that was rare.

I'm "resting" at the moment but I still help out in the occasional consolidation class and the current coaches all seem to try to do the same but use different techniques including getting the beginners to dance together while the coach goes round and answers questions or corrects problems with individual couples.

The over-riding consideration in all consolidation classes has to be ensuring that the beginners have fun. Everything else is secondary to that; if they have fun and come back then you can start to build skills and technique. To my mind, encouraging beginner leaders to understand how they can lead with clarity is the key to them having fun - I used to tell them "Pretend that you know what you're doing" which helped a lot. If you get the beginner leaders doing that then the beginner followers will automatically have a better time.

[StokeBloke]

Personally I think if this is going to be taught, it should be taught by the teacher during the lesson. The review is about getting moves committed to memory and attended by people who have minds that are already generally overloaded. This way the whole class would benefit, not just the few who take the review.

Ceroc train teachers, let them teach

[FoxyFunkster]

Nelson Rose's coaches are trained and encouraged to try and get those concepts across though they all interpret that requirement in different ways. I always used to explain to the punters that my role wasn't to teach the beginner class again but to use a couple of the moves to try and pick out a few key points that would make their dancing easier and more fun. My focus with people in the first 3 weeks or so was on dance tension/lead/follow/connection and turns/returns while breaking down 2-3 moves from the routine so that they had some confidence dancing them. If I had a group with more experience then we'd sometimes drift off into more complex stuff but that was rare.

I'm "resting" at the moment but I still help out in the occasional consolidation class and the current coaches all seem to try to do the same but use different techniques including getting the beginners to dance together while the coach goes round and answers questions or corrects problems with individual couples.

The over-riding consideration in all consolidation classes has to be ensuring that the beginners have fun. Everything else is secondary to that; if they have fun and come back then you can start to build skills and technique. To my mind, encouraging beginner leaders to understand how they can lead with clarity is the key to them having fun - I used to tell them "Pretend that you know what you're doing" which helped a lot. If you get the beginner leaders doing that then the beginner followers will automatically have a better time.

2 Highly important points in the above post, firstly IMHO the most important thing is to make sure they have fun fun fun, then they`ll come back, giving them too much to absorb isn`t neccesarily a good thing but that does depend on the experience of the class, i held a review class last night which didn`t have any newbies in it at all so i could go dive straight through the routine but then i also had enough time to explain some MJ essentials like the importance of eye contact, smiling, dancing in a slot, and trying to explain tension etc etc but the truth is that the real learning is done on the dance floor....

[Gus]

Personally I think if this is going to be taught, it should be taught by the teacher during the lesson. The review is about getting moves committed to memory and attended by people who have minds that are already generally overloaded. This way the whole class would benefit, not just the few who take the review.

Ceroc train teachers, let them teach

Unless things have changed dramatically ... CTA trains teachers to be entertaining and teach moves ... not teach how to dance. Teaching from the stage is limited about what you can actualy teach. The smaller, more focused, revision class would be better suited.

I thought JonD's comments especially were very encouraging ... it ties in with some personal experience I've had.

[Cruella]

the importance of eye contact, smiling, but the truth is that the real learning is done on the dance floor....

Really who told you that then?

[FoxyFunkster]

Really who told you that then?

I used to get told all the time but to you Cruella for telling me in a nice way.....but now i`m Mr Smiley Face ....

[Cruella]

I used to get told all the time but to you Cruella for telling me in a nice way.....but now i`m Mr Smiley Face ....

Don't ruin my image by saying I was nice!

[FoxyFunkster]

Don't ruin my image by saying I was nice!

Naughty but nice then???

[Dan Hudson]

Unless things have changed dramatically ... CTA trains teachers to be entertaining and teach moves ... not teach how to dance.

Its just if you are one of the lucky ones that can be funny and dance

or is that look funny while dancing??