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Hi all,
One thing I find hard when introducing beginners to the dance is that they often have extremely different levels of physical intelligence. So one person will be getting EVERYTHING I do, straight away - and the rest or a few others will take weeks and weeks, if not months to improve.
How do you keep a class interesting for everyone?
Sometimes I find i introduce new moves which might be too fast for the strugglers - but want to keep the naturals challenged as well. With small numbers in the classes its hard to keep everyone occupied as compared to bigger classes.
Does anyone have any good tricks on how to eeeeeek out moves and make them last longer in an hour long class?
One thing I find hard when introducing beginners to the dance is that they often have extremely different levels of physical intelligence. So one person will be getting EVERYTHING I do, straight away - and the rest or a few others will take weeks and weeks, if not months to improve.
How do you keep a class interesting for everyone?
Sometimes I find i introduce new moves which might be too fast for the strugglers - but want to keep the naturals challenged as well. With small numbers in the classes its hard to keep everyone occupied as compared to bigger classes.
Does anyone have any good tricks on how to eeeeeek out moves and make them last longer in an hour long class?
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Re: Beginners classes - how to make a couple of new moves last a whole class....
Wed, June 24, 2009 - 7:46 AMMaybe for the "natural" add in arms and/or zils with the moves. Or if it is something that you can layer a move on top of, add the layer for the naturals.
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Re: Beginners classes - how to make a couple of new moves last a whole class....
Wed, June 24, 2009 - 7:51 AMOnce the move is introduced and drilled I often have the students vary the tempo (from half to full to double time) Then everyone is practicing the movement AND timing. I also do something like, "when you're comfortable with the movement, try adding this arm movement-drop the arms if you begin to loose the hips."
Or maybe try a simple combo; new movement for 8, old movement for 8, simple turn to the back and repeat
Then as they work through the combo a few times you have a chance to give the stragglers a bit more attention AND they get the relief of interspersing the new, confusing move with something they already know and feel OK with (and offering some relief to frustration is always nice)
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Re: Beginners classes - how to make a couple of new moves last a whole class....
Wed, June 24, 2009 - 7:54 AMDear Indu,
This is where it is important to look at each member in the class as an individual and to see beginning classes as a time to drill each week, some of what has been covered in other classes. Each week my beginners get introduced to new concepts in movement, but we also go over old ones in order to make sure that the students are doing the movement well, rejoicing when someone gets something that they have had problems with in the past, and correcting little bad habits that might be trying to set in with older material. When introducing new material, give the concepts to everyone and those who get it quickly, make it a little more challenging on an individual basis for them by adding a tweak of some sort. Example: If someone is perfectly executing a fundamental shimmy, suggest that they try to lift their ribcage a little while doing so. It gives them a bounce forward into the world of layering and at the same time challenges them while others work to perfect the basic move. I hope this helps.
I know I have found that beginners are the hardest people to keep interested because often the class is made up of those who will develop a life long interest and those who are there because they like to take a lot of classes in different things, with belly dance being one of the classes they take for a time. Giving time to all as individuals is one way to help spark a life long interest, I think.
Regards,
A'isha -
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Re: Beginners classes - how to make a couple of new moves last a whole class....
Wed, June 24, 2009 - 8:09 AMYeah, a'isha - good pointers (all of you thank you too), and the part where you rejoice when someone really gets it is what i'm VERY into. I tend to accentuate the positive and try not to pick out one person in particular who is doing it wrong but say 'some of you are doing.....' but i want you to do '.....' - things like that. Although with a tiny class (one of them is only 4 people!) that one doesn't work!!
Then again, some people just wont' be corrected and seem to 'know it all' or for some reason just won't do what you ask. But like you say, everyone does it for different reasons. I find alot of women doing it becuase they just want to dress up!
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Re: Beginners classes - how to make a couple of new moves last a whole class....
Thu, June 25, 2009 - 2:09 PMMoving and levels, in addition to arms and simple combos. I think it's important to have students move with a move (that sounds funny) right away, so they don't get "stuck," and the same goes for levels, learning to keep one's balance, etc. I have my students do whatever level is currently comfortable for them - some go all the way down, some just bend slightly, but they're all working their quads and learning balance.