Bad Teacher

The other day, a friend and myself were discussing dance classes and he said something that rang true to me: NYC is a bad place to learn how to dance as an adult! You know what....he's 100% right! I've been taking dance classes on and off over the past 15 years here and there are very few teachers that do much more than teach a dance combination, show an exercise, or have the star student demonstrate a move. Here's the thing, if you are an advanced student....you probably have all your technique DOWN and are just studying dance to stay strong and learn new choreography. If you are a beginner/intermediate dancer and your technique is not fixed....you are gonna grow more slowly. I've been very turned off lately by the bigger NYC dance schools (I will not be naming names but most dancers probably know which places I am referring to) because even though some of the teachers are really nice and teach some great choreography....they do not help a single student in their class. (This is a generalization.) When I take these classes I feel worthless! Stuck in the back, overwhelmed, with no one to help me with the steps I'm having problems with or the moves I cannot do because I'm not getting the guidance I need to incorporate them into my body..... because of this, I've started studying more pole/and aerial style classes. For one, the classes are smaller, the warm up is similar to a regular dance class, and the teachers tend to be more nurturing. Even so, this is all new to me and in some of the INTRO or Open level classes I have found that SOME of the teachers have little patience to fix the weaker students form or help them specifically with a problem we are having that maybe the rest of the class is not having. I also wonder if certain teachers think that because I am an adult...I have no chance of doing this professionally...hence who cares if I get better?

I guess I'm writing this post because I feel that a teacher...especially a dance teacher in my case, has the ability to change someone's life. Make them feel good! Help them grow into a stronger/better human being! When a teacher takes a moment to spot me while I do a handstand or push my hip down into the right position when I'm in ala second...it is the best feeling in the world because in that moment I KNOW I am doing something right, thus improving! Maybe I'm too old to do this professionally, maybe i'm not! But if I can climb a pole....why can't I conquer the world?

Comments

[Laurie Bloom]

Thanks for the comment Paul! I've taken basic beginning classes in the past to brush up on technique and they were definitely NOT for people with no dance experience ever. "Basic" should be for people with NO experience! Oy vay!

[Paul Woodson]

Man, I know what you mean on this front. I had never been a big dancer, and always felt that this was what cost me musical gigs in my early career. I took plenty of classes in NYC to improve and "catch up", but even the beginner classes were taught by dancers who seemed to assume some level of expertise without actually helping or telling me what I was doing wrong, or how to improve! :p