I'd suggest private lessons. If she is already willing to take 2 classes a week, she can probably afford it, and she would get a more intensive course of study really tailored to her needs.
That said, I have had experienced dancers come to me as the most frustrated in the class because they THINK they should be getting it faster. One of the local ballroom instructors is taking classes with a friend, and although she dances beautifully and has progressed quickly, she also commented how hard she found Raqs. Stick to your guns and don't let her progress faster than she is actually going to be able to assimilate the information. I constantly tell my students it is as much about retraining your brain as retraining your muscles, and sometimes coming out of other kinds of dance can be HARDER because it is such a total mental & physical shift from most western dance.

I agree with the other posts. If after she completes a beginner session with you, YOU think she's ready to move up - then fine. I've had dancers with extensive backgrounds in other dance forms, including a couple of professional ballerinas and I don't find they progress fast enough to skip my beginner series. Although, they do usually pick up the arms faster. :)

Only once in 17 years of teaching have I had a student walk into my beginner session and be ready to move up after one 6 week session - she was/is a phenomenum unto herself - as sweet as a button to boot. She also went home and worked her tush off!

Stick to your guns. She'll figure it out or go away on her own.

Halleyah :)

NO matter what a persons dance background is they need to have a solid foundation. You dont make it on stage at Lincoln Center in a dance company with 6 months of ballet classes - why should this dance be any different

When I came to this dance form I had 20 years of dance training and 7 of those years were as a working professional NYC dancer. It took me a solid 6 moths come to grips with my turnout issue & years later I still fight it. I would say to this girl if she really wants to excellerate her studies, then she needs to do private classes and stay in her foundation classes for a year. If you do not have time for private classes - send her to another instructor who you respect. Also , do you teach zils in your beginner classes? I have found this will humble many a hot-shot :o) Another tact is to have a newbie who has an over inflated view of their abilities attend a workshop w/ a master teacher. Nothing like a class w/ Yousry Sharif to make any dancer realize where they are in their studies (I use Yousry only as an example - there are a lot of wonderful dance masters teaching seminars)

I would also ask her what her goals are for this dance? Does she want to be a professional dancer? Is she a working dancer in her other forms of study (meaning does she make a living as a dancer?)

Good luck!!!

When I started belly dance, I came in to class with over 2 decades of ballet experience, including performance experience with a ballet company, over a decade of modern dance experience, some jazz, tap, flamenco, and hip hop. That experience really helped me a LOT with belly dance, but there is such a difference between western dance and eastern dance that I had loads and loads to learn. Your student may well be ready to move on after just one session - it depends on how easily she picks up the isolations that are worlds apart from ballet and most jazz and how serious she is with her practice at home. But she'll also have some problems that she'll have to work hard to overcome. Ballet is drilled into a students muscle memory so thoroughly that it's very hard to get rid of it if the dancer has been at it very long. If she was en pointe, it means she was a serious student, and she'll have more habits she'll have to unlearn to do belly dance movements correctly. On the other hand, it also means she has an innate aptitude for learning patterns and choreography and that she has a fine tuned control over her body including exceptional balance and body awareness that will help her learn the new movements.

There's nothing wrong with ackowledging her dance background will help her learn this kind of dance - my current troupe mates who were advanced students when I began taking my first classes said they just assumed I had taken middle eastern dance classes somewhere because I picked up the movements so quickly and had a knack for remembering choreography. They said they just figured I had one of those horrible teachers, because I was doing some of the movements wrong when I first tried them out. She'll learn quickly enough, though, that knowing ballet and jazz doesn't mean she'll be ready to get the advanced movements in belly dance after a couple classes.

I can almost guarantee there will be specific movements that will be tough for your super motivated student to "get" because they demand muscles that ballet never touches and jazz only glosses over briefly. If she's at all like I was, she'll be using her previous dance experience to try to translate new movements she's learning into familiar movements, and she'll need your sharp eye to pick out when she's putting too much western dance into a belly dance movement. I still have to work at keeping my feet turned in - I automatically have that duck walk leftover from ballet unless I concentrate on turning my hips and feet in and that alone gave me fits for a long time when I was first in middle eastern dance class.

It's great that she's motivated, she'll need you, though, to help her learn new ways to engage her muscles and move. Be up front with her. If she's not ready for a certain class, tell her that. If she's ready for a class and it's full, tell her that. I took a lot of private lessons with my teacher so that I could unlearn ballet habits and learn proper middle eastern technique. If she's really dying to learn more, you can always offer her the option of private classes to help her with her unique needs.

If she turns out to be one of those "I can do nothing wrong" students, that's another can of worms and then it may be time to have a serious talk with her about your expectations for students and how you decide who is ready for what class level.

Good luck!

If there isn't room, tell her so. Definately offer privates if they are available and every here has had good advice. If you can refer her out, encourage it. Or, suggest she continue with beginners at the same time as starting intrmediate. Or tell her to try intermediate and you both can test it out and chat after class.

I am a little surprised how many instructors here say they keep people back. It's entirely dependant on how your run your classes but I've found that the students that are taught quickly either learn fast or drop out.

I would say, as long as you feel she's not being disruptive because she's so far behind, let her in (if there's space). Generally if a student really is far enough behind that they are disruptive, they'll feel uncomfortable and not want to go back to that level class anyways. Also, she may have a learning style that requires her to go as fast as possible, it would be nice to just let her in instead of forcing her to hang back and learn slower than her attention span would allow.

I'm currently taking classes at Bozenka's Belly Dance Academy and am always surprised that their ongoing beginner's class is an equivalent level as my previous teacher's Advanced class. According to their class structure, students are meant to take an 8 week intro course that covers the basic movements, then go into ongoing beginners. After 8 weeks of ongoing beginners, they are welcome to join lvl 2 intermediate. Most students stay in lvl 1.5 or 2 for long periods of time. Advanced is harder than many master classes that I've taken and Master classes are setting students up to become internationally respected performers. I take their Advanced classes regularly and their master classes when available, but lvl 2 is still an excellent class to attend.

Ok an update on this student. She's signed up for a different beginners' class with me, one that's slightly ahead of her previous Tues night class because a lot of the students are repeats. I am also teaching veil in this class.

Some things, such as torso movements, ie. undulations, shimmies, she picks up quick.
The footwork, she has trouble with. We did paddle turn and the forward and back step (basic arabic from the Salimpours?) while turning in a circle. (Same move that Raqia Hassan calls Pas de Barre). She has trouble with footwork. Hmmmm...
And while doing moves her posture SUXXXX!!!! Hunched forward somewhat. For someone with 8 years of ballet I'm not seeing any good posture, ballet or otherwise.

And of course the veil is a challenge for anyone's arms whose not used to it. :)

For now, I won't move her up and she hasn't asked.

I do know that this student has signed up with a friend who is teaching a mini-intermediates' class focusing on drilling moves (including layers) this summer. My friend said she's not going to break down basic moves, only correct form.
This student also emailed my friend when she signed up for the class and told her she'd been taking for awhile, not 1 six week session!

Personally I think she's going to be overly challenged in this intermediates' class and with any luck she'll come to the realization that belly dance isn't quite as easy as she thought and she'll realize that the basics are important.
Or maybe not.

I kindly and gently remind my students that even I still attend beginning class, and even when they move on to intermediate level, they should too. Drilling basics only makes you a better dancer.

Well here is the ending to this story.
The above mentioned student has told her classmates that she'll not be returning to my beginner classes because she is bored. She wants to learn new moves and does not understand why I have not moved her up to intermediates yet. She ALSO told her classmates that she didn't want to spend time in beginners perfecting the moves/technique, she just wanted to learn new moves.
When they told her that might be why she is not being advanced to my intermediates' class, she did not "get" it.
She has decided to continue with the other instructor that did a drills class so she can learn new moves.

She still doesn't get footwork, she still stands in poor posture even when we're in our warm-up with me reminding them and correcting them of what lifted, shoulders back, lower spine elongated posture should be. It is definitely for the best.

I personally don't think she'll stick with belly dance much longer because her current boyfriend wouldn't come watch her in our recital.
He does not like belly dancing because her ex-husband did.

Lots of psychological problems going on here.
~Z.

I have had some with previous background excel but just as many struggle. I love ballet but I will say that it is very different in form and energy as we all know. My most recent experience was similar...a girl who took ballet and tap. She felt that the beginners class was too slow and I was repeating myself...I finally had to tell her that a lot of it was meant for her. I feel that her previous training in this area is actually hindering her. I had dinner with Eva Cernik the other night and we were talking about similar experiences....we all need the basics and the posture. Previous training may help but not always. This one student is very stiff and has a lot of trouble with upper body movement and keeping her knees bent......she does some moves very wonderful but many are very stiff. I am not sure that you want to take my advice as she became very upset with me and said how much training she had -- I then had to explain the difference in the posture and movement.

I agree with all the postings here -- the basics of belly dance are the basics. If she has them then great -- she moves up. If she does not - then - well - she is a beginner just like all the rest. I have seen some learn really fast....just natural... but they had the basics down first and understood the importance of that. To me that is the key.....

I bothers me that many feel what we do is just 'shake it'....that is a discussion for another time and we all know that there are many variables that feed that idea. So stick to your values as a teacher....her previous dance experience may help, hinder, or not make a difference really.....

Being a bellydancer with 8 years of Ballet/Jazz experience myself, I have to add my 2 cents. When I first started this dance I moved almost directly into advanced. (I know sounds terrifying. please keep in mind that not all advanced classes are at the same level) In general this was perhaps more exciting than beginners and I certainly didn't get bored but anything that I didn't understand was never broken down so my growth curve was very low. Eventually I chose to enroll in a beginners class and an intermediate class with a different teacher that helped a lot. I didn't really start to get some of the more technical things till I moved and had a whole new set of teachers. This is changing the topic a bit but bellydance can be quite frustrating as many of the teachers are very disorganized and do not have systematic curriculum to the way that they teach. In general the dance needs to be systematized more but I digress. Anyway even though I dance with a group that is far more systematized than other groups I previously danced with it still feels like the schools in my neck of the woods are way behind schools in other parts of the country. This is a struggle for me as I really want to provide quality bellydance and it can be so difficult without teachers who are truly gifted and knowledgeable and who truly know that the dance is more than just "skaking it"

Of course you shouldn't teach to stroke your students' egoes, but you also shouldn't teach to put them down.

As a student, I would expect my teacher to be realistic about my progress, try to place me where I belong and try to get me where I should be.

Each situation is unique and I am sure there are students who think they are ready for more when they really aren't, but I think when a student thinks they are ready for the next level, they shouldn't be afraid of approaching you about it... because some of them may be right. In a belly dance class there are many students, a teacher is focusing on showing and explaining the moves on top of having to watch everyone... the teacher's opinion is the professional perspective, but the student's opinion is the perspective of the person who has watched them 24/7 :P

I realize I am not a teacher, but I couldn't hold my tongue after reading so many of you referring to "overly motivated" students as if it were a bad thing in and of itself. You guys are teaching, for god's sake! To get where you are now, weren't you "overly motivated" at some point?

I just have to say, I LOVE enthusiastic students, those who show an interest in learning.
But this is not that. This is an attitude of, well I have ballet background and should be moved up because of it.
I have moved other students up after 2-3, YES!, 2-3, six week sessions with me because they could execute all the basics that I taught them cleanly, with good technique.
This student can NOT.
Nor does she wish to invest the time to learn good technique and posture, she has already told her classmates she just wants to learn new moves.
Just because she can shake her butt does NOT mean she is doing a shimmy!

I truly hope, as another poster indicated, that I am not judging her thinking "you're not good enough". But what I do require is clean technique on certain moves before moving them on to intermediates because they then layer moves, for example shimmies over hip circles.

And if they're doing a hip circle that is really an omi (not maintaining a flat hip circle to the back), and they're also sticking their butt out to shimmy and not really executing a clean shimmy, I personally see the recipe for a lower back disaster.
And I am the one who is ultimately liable.

I completely understand :)
I wasn't trying to say this particular student should be moved up. From what you've described she most certainly shouldn't. If she wants to learn more than she has been getting in class; there are workshops and DVD's always available. I don't expect my teacher to be my only source of information on belly dance, and if this girl really wants to learn neither should she... because even if you did move her up, you can only teach her so much in the time that you have with her.

What I was trying to say is just that I don't think being overly motivated is a bad thing in and of itself. I'm sure it's a pain when the person has no clue of her level and just won't listen, and/or is arrogant... but without these issues, I would consider it a virtue. I think you will all agree with this, but I just had to point it out because I was getting a different vibe from a lot of posts here.

I currently have my beginner class set up as 3 rotating sessions (7 weeks each) that covers basic moves. I ask my students to complete at least 3 sessions of beginner so they have seen ALL the beginner moves at least once (some of them multiple times) and recomend they not move up unless they feel proficient in at least 75% of the material covered in beginner. If asked I will let them know how they are doing, but I let each dancer decide when they think they are ready to move up.

If they move up to Intermediate, they do so with the understanding that we are going to building on what they have already learned and that I am not going to back track because they moved up and aren't really ready. I also let them know that if they try a week or two of Intermediate and find it too difficult, they are welcome to drop back to the beginner class which takes immediately before it. My intermediate classes are set up in 4 rotating sessions (also each 7 weeks) with again a different focus during each session. I make it clear that attending at least one 7 week session of each of the 4 different sessions is required to move up to Advanced, PLUS 100% proficiency with all of the beginner and intermediate moves. I encourage two (or more) times through all four sessions and keep it interesting by teaching different choreographies each time through, so even if they have seen the moves and are getting more proficient with them, they have something new to challenge themselves with as well.

Again, in Intermediate if they ask how they are doing, I will provide feedback, but if they decide they are ready to move up to advanced and have completed all three beginner and all four intermediate sessions I won't stop them, but I also won't modify what I am teaching because they didn't figure something out in a lower level.

I explain the layout of the classes at the start of each session in both beginner and intermediate, just in case someone has "forgotten" that they need a certain number of sessions under their belt before moving up. I've only ever had one dancer decide she could just jump straight to Advanced. She showed up for one class, said she was turkish so therefore new how to bellydance but wanted to perfect her shimmies. When I explained that in advanced we were actually working on gypsy technique, and that she would be better off in Intermediate where I was focusing on shimmies, she claimed up and down that she was an advanced dancer (even though she could hardly get through my warm up). Unfortunately she was still refusing to take intermediate at the end of the first advanced class and dropped out because it "wasn't what she was looking for".

Original post snippet:
How to handle a student who already knows everything?

Response:

I used to have a real problem with this...mainly because I'm aware that even though I'm teaching and have learned quite a bit about the dance form, and kinesiology (and musculature), and the music, and various other things...that I still haven't even covered the tip of the iceberg...much less the giant mass beneath the surface.

Because of that, I like to let me students know that there is more than one "correct" way to do things. This led to me getting students occasionally who had former training and wanted to let me know that the way THEY did it was different and better than what I was teaching.

At first it really confounded me, and I would back down from the confrontational students. Now, I've learned to be firm but nice. Here's essentially what I say:

"That is definitely a legitimate and correct way to do that move and it looks very nice how you're doing it. However, today in my class we are doing it my way. This will help you learn to do moves in multiple ways and increase your knowledge and ability as a dancer."

I know this was kinda off-topic, but seeing the line that I snipped above kinda triggered that thought of mine.