Teaching Snack #6Your struggleYou try your best to encourage your students, but you still wish they would practice more, show up to class more consistently, and focus on applying what they learned to their dance so they could grow.My storySee my little creeping ivy plant in the title image? He gets plenty of water and […]
Teaching Snack #5 Your struggle You get people in the door for their first class. Yay! But the enthusiasm of the first class dies out quickly, as students bow their heads, staring at the feet, trying to remember if their foot is supposed to cross in front or behind, cursing themselves when they “get […]
Teaching Snack #4 Your struggle You want to attract more dancers to WCS! You need more bodies walking in the door, and then you need them to come back after their first class. Of course, the way you teach the class will make a huge difference: traditional methods are proven to be limited in […]
Teaching Snack #3 Your struggle Your students have some stubborn bad habits: having bad posture lazy, shuffling footwork lack of stretch poor eye contact being rigid, selfish, or not adaptable giving unsolicited feedback rudely demanding or refusing a dance not thanking partners after a dance being grumpy about dancing with lower level partners being […]
Teaching Snack #2 Your struggle Sometimes you may feel like you’ve lost your raison d’etre (purpose) as a teacher. You go through the motions, collecting money and counting to 8. You forget what inspired you to teach in the first place, and you forget what a powerful impact you have every day on students […]
In every skill-based activity there’s a difference between the beginners and the veterans. This makes sense – the longer you work at something, the better you get at it. Notice I said work at; just because you hack at something longer, doesn’t mean you’re improving. But the dance community is full of distinctions, divisions, labelling…ways […]
Teaching Snack #1 Your struggle Your students seem to be hungry and motivated to progress, but they whine and moan when you try to teach them technique. They either get overwhelmed and intimidated, or they get impatient, waiting for you to hurry up and get to the next pattern. They think that improving their dancing […]
I am simultaneously appalled and entertained by some of the things my students say in lessons. I don’t blame them for ignorance and I’m not disappointed in them in any way. But sometimes they report “facts” about the WCS scene that they have heard from their peers (and sometimes unfortunately from a teacher) that are […]
Since dancing tends to slow down during the summer and winter holidays, it can be stressful wondering how you’re going to pay the bills before classes start up again. You also may fear losing the momentum and enthusiasm that you worked so hard to foster in your community during the regular season.So how can a […]
Are you curious about what it takes to do a Rising Star routine? Are you an event director interested in supporting and promoting the next generation of routine competitors? You probably have a lot of questions. This article is aimed at answering them: Who should compete? What is the purpose of the tour? Who’s […]
