Times have changed Martin, what Caz says is true.
Times have changed Martin, what Caz says is true.
Just out of curiosity, are Ceroc taxis now taught how to teach? I remember trying to help out at a review class at Blitz Bowdon some years back and say a whole raft of basic mistakes and misconceptions taught by the taxi dancers. Not their fault. If someone doesn't explain to you the key points its easy to get the wrong end of the stick. Having said that, some crew are just naturally very good coaches.
We had a training day prior to starting duty going over the main issues for all beginners moves for both lead and follow (my first experience following ^_^). But what comes out of the mouth of a taxi isn't religiously scripted or rehearsed. But taxi should know how to do the moves by the book and be able to show/teach conections and tension etc. After all, that should be common sense to a more experienced dancer.
(blimey, how did I get to be a taxi)
After an extended period of absense I went back dancing last night and had my first 3 move lesson with Trampy as the teacher.
I have to say I enjoyed it. he concentrated more on some key skill/sytle points, Emphasising the role of the lead and follow, and generally running over each move more times with many more dancers.
I for one think the 3 moves thing is a good idea.
no Taxi dancers are not trained teachers
having said that most have had a raft of dancing experience or they should not have been picked to be taxis in the first place secondly there is a huge amount of info on what to do, what to say, how to say it and how to generally conduct themselves as taxis on the ceroc intranet the username and password is freely available to those that need it
I wasn't saying that they were trained to be teachers, just if they were trained to be taxi dancers. Not trying to cause offence but I've seen a number of very experienced dancers who, when taxi dancers, were teaching points that ran contrary to what was being taught on stage
Can I make an observation.
As far as the (limited scoped) poll goes, the only people against the 3-move beginners lessons are punters, although only at a ratio of 1:2 to people who like it.
So then 100% of teachers are in favour yet only 67% of punters are in favour.
So then, are teachers misconceived as to what the punters want?
I asked the 40 punters in our beginners review yesterday and they all said they preferred 4 moves as from the first night with a little practise they can then dance.
The chances are those that dont get 4 beginners moves would not get 3 either especially as the one left out last night (our first time with three moves only) was the back pass when the teacher taught the armjive swizzle, the octopus and the first move push spin all hard moves to teach to a brand new beginner apart from the backpass which as we all know is a simple change sides and change hand behind the back
By the way we have a good retention of people at chelmsford since we got a reasonable teacher and a friendly crew a couple of years back
absolutley no offence taken Gus
and the taxi dancers are there to compound what the teacher says on stage not run contrary
if they disagree with what has been said on stage they should take this up with the teacher who after all has trained to teach the dance if they are still not satisfied they need to talk to their taxi manager, venue manager or franchisee
To be honest, I'm not sure if punters should get a vote - especially beginner punters. They don't get a good view of the learning process, and they usually have misconceptions - for example, "more moves = better dancer". So of course beginner dancers will want to learn more moves.
good point but this all started with ceroc asking people who didnt come back to classes after a couple of lessons why and from what i can gather their answer was it is too hard
These are people who either didnt put enough effort into it, didnt listen or were not listened to when they were struggling
I feel after all these years (i have been going to chelmsford for 9 years) to change something that in my opinion worked well ie 3 normal moves then perhaps one change hand or side type is simply mending something which is not broken and as i have said various times in this thread will not help as all the better dancers will not do the beginners class if they find it too boring then the beginners will not learn as quickly
Depends what you're trying to achieve.
But even if you're trying to improve retention, asking people who are used to one system to comment on that system (compared to another unknown system) is not really helpful. You always prefer the system you know - that's why change management is so difficult.
To me, the fact that all the teachers who've voted like it, speaks well of it.
the teachers probably do like it as it makes the job they are being paid to do easier ie they dont need to work so hard for the same amount of pay
the punters wouldnt like it as they are getting less for their money and dont forget the beginners lesson really is about placing down the building blocks for the later classes not about teaching style etc
Wrong!
I like the 3 move system because it works, I've taught at various venues using the new 3 move system in class and it works, you can see the beginners getting it more and more, the smile on their face tells a thousand words, much more than you can see on the floor, from on stage, I can see everyone who is getting it and who is struggling, even those beginners who couldn't step back in time with the music in the warm up can keep up with the 3 move routine.
Oh and the whole "don't need to work as hard"... Give me a break
Sing a new tune Martin, this ones getting old.
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