Wednesday 15 August 2012

How I teach - a clarification

Someone wrote to me via Facebook the other day with reference to a statement in my previous post Challenging and Changing the Way I Teach that "for years I’ve only taught moves that are manageable for the least fit at any particular level." She was concerned that the way I had written the post gave the impression that I teach to the level of the least able students in class - the 'lowest common denominator' and that I was thereby not challenging the more able students enough. That's definitely not the case so I replied to her to explain and she suggested I write up a clarification in my blog so there was no confusion. So here goes...

Like most bellydance teachers, I have a very wide mix of ages and fitness levels in every class. When I started teaching in Croydon my oldest student was 84 (see Memories of Lilian in this blog) I also had a student aged 75 who had recently had two hip replacements and was walking with a stick and another who was, by her own admission, mortally obese.

It would not have been safe or appropriate to have taught deep stretches or a jazz-style warm up for those women. So, given that I was focused on creating a class that was accessible to all, rather than one aimed at preparing professional dancers for a career in bellydance, I tailored my teaching accordingly.

All my classes are challenging in terms of moves - at beginners level, learning upwards 8s or the Egyptian Walk is a challenge for anyone. At improver/intermediate level I bring in more complex step patterns, prop work and short choreographies as well as more challenging moves. And I make the class more aerobic to encourage greater fitness. If students get as far as my Croydon advanced class (and this is not for everyone - I have to be convinced that a student can manage it) then they get a far more demanding class with very challenging technique and choreographies. At this level I also introduce some physically demanding drills and latterly I've brought in half an hour of the dance conditioning that I teach in my London Project Lift Off class.

Oh and a clarification too for those people who have said they don't have time to teach body conditioning as they want to spend the time teaching dance. I agree it's hard if you only teach an hour's class, but early on I decided to make my Croydon advanced class one hour 20 minutes long, so with 30 minutes of conditioning we still have nearly an hour of bellydance technique etc. And my Project Lift Off classes are two hours - so 45 minutes of body conditioning gives us loads of time for everything else! However, it's fair to say that I currently go to a demanding jazz class at the Pineapple which is an hour long, of which 35 minutes is dance conditioning and only 25 minutes is taken up with 'dancing'. And it's packed to the gunnels every week with dancers at both student and pro level.

It's also fair to say that until recently even my Croydon advanced class was aimed at a fitness level that I felt everyone in that class could achieve. I was aware that several of the women were unable to get down on the floor (or as they say, they can get down, but they can't get up again!) So I didn't teach floor work and I also didn't do deep stretches or strength work such as press ups. But I've had such remarkable results with my London Project Lift Off classes that I decided I would go ahead and introduce those things to the Croydon class. The ladies that struggle with floor work do the moves standing up and everyone does as much of the body conditioning as they can cope with and then sits and laughs at the rest of us if they retire defeated at any point!

I should also point out (as someone also mentioned on Facebook) that I have decades of experience in this stuff. As well as having a degree in dance and education, I was one of the first teachers of stretch classes in London in the early 80s and I have been a dancer for five decades. I also have a decent understanding of anatomy and physiology as well as a good knowledge of safe exercise and a deep interest in current exercise practice, injury prevention and sports science. And, at a time when people can qualify to teach Zumba in a weekend, I care passionately about standards in teaching.

I hope this clears up any ambiguities in my previous post and please do feel free to comment on anything I write - I'm always really happy to answer questions or comments. Most people tend to comment via Facebook or by private message or email but it would be lovely to get them in the comments box below, so that the questions and answers are there for everyone to see and join the debate. A couple of people have said that they have had trouble adding comments here on the blog, so I've changed some of the settings and hopefully it will work now. Do let me know if you still have trouble posting here and I'll try to sort out what's going wrong.

But of course, do also feel free to comment via Facebook or email if you prefer!!

9 comments:

  1. A view from the other side...
    While I haven't been able to participate in dance classes now for several years, I did manage to make it into Charlotte's advanced classes for a few months before I had to stop dancing. For a long time I felt that I was running along barely keeping up with the rest of the group as the challenge of the class was a long way above the intermediate class that I was used to, but I love a challenge!
    However as I became more ill and less able to participate, Charlotte would always encourage me to do as much as I felt able to do and to just rest if I reached my limit. These rests slowly increased to the point where I couldn't get to the end of the warm up and had to stop, but while I was desperately wishing I could be joining in, I never felt excluded.
    The little things that Charlotte would change to help made all the difference without hindering the other dancers. For example, instead of making a shimmy drill part of the warm up, Charlotte would do it separately at a different point in the class if I was joining in on the warm up. Noone else in the class lost out as they still got their shimmy drill, but it meant I could get to the end of a warm up and still feel like I participated.

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    1. Thank you Sarah! And I fervently hope you'll be able to join us in class again one day xx

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  2. I am so glad you mention the laughter in your piece. As despite the fact that we work hard , ok really hard,in class we also have tremendous fun and a feeling of support and camaradery carries us through.

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    1. Absolutely!! I love teaching so much and I get so much joy from my students - I am one lucky lady! Thank you so much for saying that!

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  3. I did reply to a comment that was made in the JTA group which was about challenging students but I will add my comments here. I teach a number of less able students but after attending your 'Project Lift Off' I increased my strength,strength and flexibility and at almost 70 we know that is some feat. Until July I have been teaching 6 classes a week and 4 of them are really just mixed ablity where I have to be really careful that I keep the classes in a fun mode. However, I have taken some of the elements from 'Lift Off' and used them in various ways and adapting to give my class that fresh input and the ladies love it. At the moment we are all struggling with the 'Zumba' effect but by changing the warm to sets of feet patterns moves and arms and layering it is working really well.

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    1. Ann, you really are a massive inspiration to me. I can only hope that I have half your energy and enthusiasm for life when I'm your age (although that's not so far off I admit!!) Whenever I worry about how long I'll be able to keep teaching, I just think of you and I know I'll be fine!!

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  4. Just so gutted than your Tunbridge Wells class has stopped, I want to do body conditioning!! Thanks for the one class I did have though, it was great x Martha

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  5. Wish I could attend your classes! :) it makes such a difference when a teacher has your experience and consideration for students abilities - and I long for a good 2 hour class which can cover everything you really need without feeling rushed! Keep up the good work, one of the reasons I love bellydance so much is the amazing inspirational women I come across. :) xxx

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I really welcome comments and love to read them but I would ask you to please be kind! I really don't mind criticism but please make it constructive. And if your comment is rude or just downright unpleasant, I will delete it.