Can’t get your body to do what the teacher expects? You could be dancing in the wrong profile. I’ve got good news for you:It’s not your fault – there’s nothing wrong with you, but you need different tools.You are not alone – most dancers are struggling to conform to an ideal.There is a solution – it’s […]
Enjoy these rare but super-effective teaching tools from our massive collection:GamificationTrained Feedback podsThe Missing W’s Good teachers are collectors, tinkerers, and experimenters. They hunt and gather for nuggets of tips and advice to scuttle home to their students in the hopes that it will entertain them and help them improve.We know, because we are master collectors. […]
No one wants to be the person that everyone complains about. It’s easy to make the assumption that since you “never get any complaints” that your partners are satisfied enough. But since people don’t usually complain to your face, how do you know if people are complaining about you or not? One method is to […]
It’s hard to see the forest for the trees. When you were a beginner, overwhelmed by this amazing dance, all you knew were your local classes and dances. Slowly, you became more exposed to the big, wide world of West Coast Swing. Between events and competitions and routines and levels, it’s quite daunting to navigate. […]
Teaching Snack #7Your StruggleYou’re teaching new material, and the students are focused, motivated, and capable, but you find that they are confused and learning slower than you would like.One critical piece of the puzzleWe help students every day who are lost and confused. We help them step back and focus on the skills they need […]
“One day, I hope to speak Egyptian Arabic well enough to visit Egypt” This makes no sense, right? You don’t need to be fluent in Arabic in order to visit Egypt. In fact, the Egyptians would probably be pleasantly surprised if you even tried “Hello” and “Thank you”. When it comes to language, skill proficiency […]
Girls*, let’s chat. The boys had their turn with Guy-Guidance and Dude-Dilligence. Now it’s our turn. I’d like to address some of the common concerns and complaints I hear from women in my Feminine Styling Intensive, private lessons, and in personal conversations. It’s a bit of tough love specifically for women, whether they lead or […]
Last week’s Part 1 featured concerns that women have about their own dancing – things that women should take personal responsibility for, as opposed to blaming outside sources. This week, I need to shift the focus to more serious concerns: things women should NOT take responsibility for, and ways women can and should take a […]
Ah, the eternal competitor question… “What are the judges looking for?” Consider that judges are not necessarily “looking for” positive elements of your dance as much as they are “looking to eliminate” negative elements. We call these “red flags”: bad habits or errors that prevent judges from giving you a callback to the next round. […]
There are so many great teachers out there! You might be one! But even great teachers will have limited success with the wrong tools. Let’s be logical about this and take emotion out of it: “Wrong” in this case, simply means “less effective”, or “with negative side effects”. It doesn’t mean “bad” or “useless”: […]
