It helps of course that the lovely Sara is both a great great dancer and teacher
I was very interested to see that Sara White's Jive Nites are starting up 1:1 lessons as part of their standard offering - after a class - ie at 9pm. This will be done on the basis of 30 mins at a cost of £12.50.
Fantastic idea in my opinion. If Jive Nites were a bit closer I would definitely go for this. I think the one thing I would want to be sure is that it was not in an open area - with other dancers walking through.
A good innovation imho.....
It helps of course that the lovely Sara is both a great great dancer and teacher
Wasn't this suggested a while back? Possibly by Gus? I vaguely recall a discussion about mini-classes or whatever; from what I remember the idea was a 15-minute "taster" for £10 or something...?
30 minutes sounds a bit more reasonable, and yes, it's a good idea - assuming, as you say, that the classes can be done in a private area. And the price is quite reasonable I think.
At what point does a short 'help' session after the class turn into a paid 'private' lesson?
Surely it is a teachers remit to help people after a class? What then happens to punters who may want to ask the missing teacher questions?
Is this not an example of profiteering?
I think that'd be a valid critique of a 15-minute session, but 30 mins is a more significant investment.
Is it? Yes, I agree teachers should be available to answer questions etc., but I wouldn't expect a half-hour of a teacher's attention exclusively on me.
Yes, that's actually a good question - does the teacher disappear immedately post-class to do privates, or is there a general "Time for Q&A" session?
Is private teaching profiteering? I assume you've never done that then?
Anyway, blimey, you're not going to get very rich on £12.50 a time. At the very most, you'd be able to fit two sessions in per night I imagine.
I see what you mean but my concern is for the other people in the class.
I make a point, whenever I teach, of telling people that I will be available for any questions and help I can give at x point in the room. This way people know they can reach me. Ok, yes it sets me up for spending a good deal of time answering questions but that is a good thing.
If I were to use this time to go off and teach someone privately instead of assisting others I would feel guilty of possibly being seen as putting those that want to pay above everyone else.
The demands on a teachers time in freestyle is in very short supply. To make financial gains in this timeframe is, to me, profiteering.
Edit - lets not forget that, to many people, one dance with the teacher that night makes all the difference
I think its a great idea but it does depend a lot on the dynamics of a class.
If its a great big class Paul, you can't possibly hope to give everyone who asks, some individual attention, it might take all night and you might end up disappointing all the girls who just come there wanting to dance with the sexy teacher!
But if its a small group, like we have for WCS, we're usually able to give everyone who asks a little bit of one to one attention, throughout the evening, during freestyle!
In principle, I think Sarah's got a brilliant idea and maybe she'll let us know how it works out in reality!
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That's what I mean. I may not get to help everyone in a big class but at least people can then see the teacher is engaged in helping. If I dissapear off to teach a private during freestyle time then they don't even get that visual stimulus to maybe ask again in future. All they see is a room without a teacher (depending on if that is how it works)
I agree though it all depends on how each teacher makes it work.
In principles it sounds great, reinforced by my dancing experience last night. couple of good beginners with real potential. Taxi dancers doing their best but what these lasses really needed was some coaching from the teacher ... who manged to avoid dancing all night £12.50 from a professional teacher could be money well spent!
.... though any amount of 'coaching' from some of the "was-a-dancer-now-I'm-a-teaching-god" brigade could well cause more damage than good
I agree with Paul F
No problems with a teacher doing this, but as a punter, if I saw the teacher, whoever it was, disappear right after teaching the class to teach a private, that would be a big negative to me. Quite damaging I would think, in both the short and long term. Pretty much the same as when a teacher does the class and just whizzs off home afterwards. It doesn't make a good impression.
The teacher who teachs the class should be available afterwards. If other teachers who are there but didn't take the class want to offer privates at that time, no problems.
IMO
Just to clarify...
We have 2 hours of freestyle after our classes - but would never want to use those 2 hours for 4 private classes. We wouldn't want to exhaust our teachers nor limit their dance time!
We also have more than 1 teacher present on any given night, usually one male and one female, so we are able to offer whichever perspective is required on a 1:1 basis.
In addition we have a third teaching assitant available for Beginners enquiries/help etc.
We feel we are in the position of being able to offer 1:1 help whilst not neglecting the dancefloor in general - but obviously if we are proved wrong, then we can always revert back. Change for the better is what we are after, not to short change our dancers - but to be able to address their individual needs more attentively. We already offer private sessions outside of our dance evenings, we are just aiming to make them easier to access.
We have a seperate room/area available at each of our venues for this to happen to ensure that the individual/couple do get total attention.
All of your thoughts and concerns are greatly appreciated, it gives me the opportunity to ensure I'm looking at the bigger picture and not neglecting our dancers, teachers or team!
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