beginners lessons

[djtrev]

Perhaps that's the usual reaction to one of djtrev's sets?

There's nothing wrong with a little Perry Como or Alma Coogan.

[Andy McGregor]

I haven't heard that since I was a teenager!

Nor "I found these magazines at the back of your wardrobe"

[Prian]

I have a feeling that I may have touched on this subject before but nevertheless I will rant on.
Let me set a little scenario first.

Typical class night.About 80/100 people possibly 10/12 true beginners.The rest are all seasoned MJivers with about 5 years dancing under their belts.


With about;I believe;20 core beginners moves these seasoned vets have been taught these moves every week,sometimes 2 maybe 3 times a week,for the last 3/4/5 years.
Why then do they still have to be taught these same moves with explanations of every twist and turn and also,as a dj,I have to play the right track,not too fast,not too slow,preferably one the teacher recognises,if its new,dont play too many and then when you go into freestyle,freedom reigns and you can play anything and of course they carry on doing beginner moves to tracks that they 'couldn't' dance to in the lesson.
During my previous stint as a independant MJ DJ it was all very straight forward with no real music issues but now that I have got my foot in the door of Ceroc,the music for beginners lessons and to a lesser extent that of the intermediate lesson seems to have taken on such an importance that I find myself actually as nervous as hell before a class.That cant be right.

Why not take the small number of true beginners to wherever you have the refresher class and let the intermediate(?) have longer freestyle before the intermediate lesson.

Sorry for going all the way back to the beginning, but I only just picked up this thread.

Trev, you should be glad you weren't Dj'ing at Ceroc in Janie Cronin's classes. She banned bump and grind songs like the Hot Stepper. And there were also double beginners classes in the 90's

[purplehyacinth]

I can't really comment on the aspect of this thread which relates to music selection.

However, on the "mixing intermediates with beginners aspect" - I do not think it should be discouraged.

The beginners' classes are open to whoever pitches up and pays the admission fee whether they have been dancing for 0.5 of a second or 5 years. The more experienced people are there presumably because they want to be there (otherwise they wouldn't have come).

As someone who was a beginner not so many years ago, and is now having to revert back to near-beginner status after a break of the best part of 2 years (for various reasons I'm not going into) IMHO it is beneficial for a beginner to have the opportunity to dance with someone who has some experience. If you segregate the newbies, then you risk them not progressing as fast.

Speaking as a follow (as I can't really speak from experience as a lead), I have always found it beneficial to dance with more experienced leads. When I started out, it was the more experienced leads who were more able to point out to me where I was doing things like anticipating.
Also, as a follow, you learn to have the confidence to trust your partner and to follow (as opposed to just going through the beginners' routine of the week) where your partner can lead and is giving you a lead that you can trust. Newbie leads - simply because they are new and not experienced in leading - are less able to inspire that confidence quickly (and before anyone pounces on me, I'll accept that yes, there are newbies who are good from the word go, especially those with experience of other lead-follow dance forms, but on the generality of leads who are complete newbies, they DO need time to learn how to lead).

Also, going to the beginners class can be beneficial for the more experienced dancers - whether because they want a refresher on the moves, want some extra dance time, increase their own dance experience by dancing with a wider range of people, or because they are altruistic enough to want to dance with and help along the newbies.

[whitetiger1518]

Totally agree with you PH - lovely to see you back here too.

As a follow, I use the beginners class partly as warm up, partly to say hi to well kent faces and welcome new people, partly as a refresher for moves and to stop bad habits (ulp so many to stop), oh and if I get moves that I am already comfortable with and I haven't got corrections to do, then I might try a little styling - particularly if I have a patient well kent lead

Cheers WT

[DJ Andy]

well kent faces.... patient well kent lead...

Apologies whitetiger1518, but please could you translate that for us Sassenachs.

[firefly]

Apologies whitetiger1518, but please could you translate that for us Sassenachs.

kent=known

HTH