Something doesn’t add up….How many WCS patterns do you think you’ve ever learned?Just calculate how many patterns you learn per week, then multiply that by how long you’ve been dancing.Now, how many of those patterns have you actually adopted into your social or competition dancing?Oof. That’s a big difference.That’s a lot of money and time […]
Do you hear feedback from teachers and judges that you need to work on your timing? Being off time could be referring to 10 or more different issues. Whenever a teacher or judge tells you you are off time, you need ask them to elaborate so you know where the problem is. Without knowing the […]
Do you know how to do the Electric Slide? The Wobble? The Tush Push? If I asked you to show me Waltz box step, could you? Can you join in on the Horah? Do you remember how the Shim Sham goes? How about that Go, Johnny, Go square dance? These are “dances”. They are sets of choreographed […]
And now for a little practical philosophy.Ask yourself: What do you really want in West Coast Swing? Take a moment before answering: your readily available answer might be keeping you from being honest with yourself, which might be sabotaging your ability to have your needs met. Many dancers approach us seeking advice, from all […]
Before you get all scared, let me clarify: I’m referring to a diet of dance, not a diet of nutrition. This sadly misrepresented word is technically supposed to refer to a regular balance of fuel, not a short-term restriction of it. So, using the original intention of the word, ask yourself how your “dance diet” […]
You get lots of people in the door for their first class. Yay! But getting them to come back? That’s another story… You managed to attract people to come to your intro class, or maybe even sign up for a Beginner series. But the enthusiasm of the first class died out quickly, as students started […]
Even the best teachers with the best intentions have moments of unintentional subliminal teaching: when their teaching habits or advice accidentally deliver a completely different, counterproductive, undesirable lesson. Check your habits here! In this article, I’m going to talk about why certain advice backfires. Then I outline 14 typical teaching habits or advice that […]
Do your students pester you with questions? Do you you wish they would ask more questions?Do you wish you could always find the right answer to give them?Do they distract each other and then ask about something you just said? How a teacher handles students’ questions proves their credibility, their maturity, their empathy, and their trustworthiness. […]
Enjoy these rare but super-effective teaching tools from our massive collection: Gamification Trained Feedback pods The 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 […]
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 […]
