Introduction
Have you wondered if your current dance teacher is not right for you? You might be thinking that the reason why you are not progressing as fast as you could is because of your dance teacher. Maybe you think the reason why you're not enjoy dance as much as you hoped is because of your dance teacher. Certainly couples dancing, the amount you enjoy it and how quickly you learn, is all heavily dependent upon your teacher. In this article I will go over the nature of the student teacher relationship and how understanding this relationship can help you work out if you need a new teacher.
The student teacher relationship
The first thing that is most important to realise is that there really is no such thing as a good teacher or a good student. There is really only such thing as a good student teacher relationship. Admittedly, some people can teach in many different types of relationship and some people can learn in many different relationships. We might be inclined to say these people are good teachers and students respectively, but it is still the relationship that is important. This is important to realise because it allows us to deal with the relationship and not any individual.
What do you want from dance?
I recall talking to a fellow student who danced because she wanted a break from work. She was an executive woman who was thinking all day and taking on many challenges. The last thing she wanted as another challenge in her life. So when her instructor said to her 'If your dance is not improving, then I am failing as a teacher', she felt a lot of the fun in dance evaporate. In truth, she probably wanted to be pushed around the dance floor for an hour a week by a man who knew what he was doing and maybe who would offer the occasional pointer on how to improve.
I also recall another fellow dance student who started going to technique classes because he felt the his usual classes, while being enjoyable, were not helping him develop as much as he wanted. He definitely needed a challenge in his life and dance was what he wanted to provide him with that.
The above two examples show to extremes, but even that might not cover what you want. Do you like learning about lots of dances; do you like to know about their history; do you simply want to dance better than others; do you simply want to be able to say you can dance; have you reached a new level that needs a new approach to teaching (this is often the hardest one to realise because it happens slowly)? Chances are you want a mix of these and some other things out of couples dancing.
Before you can determine if you need to change instructors you need to be clear about what you want. It's also worth noting if this is different from what you once wanted too. Things change. If your teacher is not suitable for what you want out of dance, then that is a reason to change.
Changing your teacher first
You will be surprised how responsive a teacher might be when you talk about what you feel you're not getting. Step one is to tell them what you want, but feel you're not getting. How you word this is up to you, but I good start is 'I feel like I can't.... as well as I would like' or 'I feel like we are not... as we could be'. See how in each case you actually never said anything directly about the teacher. This can help you raise a concern without feeling like you are criticizing anyone, which we sometimes have troubles doing. Then see what they say. Typically, they will want to accommodate you, and you might find that they will start to ask if you want things to change.
Another option is to take advantage of their wisdom. Sometimes they forget what they know. Try this line 'I have a question: how can I...?' This will open up the dialogue, and you will possibly find that it will allow you to raise many other concerns that can be dealt with. This will then potentially lead to a better relationship for you.
When it is time to change
If you feel that the above just hasn't helped, then you need to change. You are now clear about what you want, and you have determined that you dance teacher is not giving you want you need.
The first thing to do is make sure that you do not go from bad to worse. Make sure that you have some idea of who you would like to change to. If it's a teacher at another school, then it's easy to check this out behind the scenes. If it's at the same school, then you need an excuse. The easiest one is saying you feel that you're not as skilled at dancing with a diversity of partners as you should be and ask how you could organise a lesson with another instructor. This should be easy to do. Next say that the change has helped and you would like to stick with it for a while. There, you've made a change and left the door open for a return.
The fallout
In reality, you might be a bit disappointed that your dance teacher is not more upset about losing you than they are. They have many students and have been teaching for years. They have seen it all before, and they know that sometimes students just need to move on. I have seen a few people change and there has been no issue. Actually, if anything it seems to form a friendship and you get one teacher plus another free consultant.
One last thing to remember
Most dance schools have good management that can deal with this. If the teacher has seen a lot, then you can imagine what the manager of a couples dance school has seen. Management is usually another place you can go to talk about your desire to change. They will also often manage it for you too if you would rather that. If you feel that the management can't, then you do not need to change teachers; you need to change studios.
ExperTrans language - multilingual services
ExperTrans voice-overs services
ExperTrans interpreting translation services
No comments:
Post a Comment