Hi everybody,
I'm about to start teaching at a new studio, and something occurred to me recently. I taught my last classes at a gym, and had about a 50/50 divide of women in their late teens and 20's with some dance experience, or at least pretty adept coordination. The other half were older, middle aged women, who were mostly out of shape and had a much harder time catching on. I created a second intermediate class for the girls who were more advanced to stay challenged in. Even so, in my beginner class, it was sometimes hard to balance between helping the older women who were struggling, and challenging those that learned faster, but were still beginning dancers.
I've been reading a lot about health concerns for women as they reach menopause lately, such as arthritis and osteoperosis, etc. What I'm wondering is, would it be appropriate to cater a class just for older women? I would want this class to move at a slower pace, and address some of the movement limitations, that most younger dancers are not faced with. Is there a respectful way to go about this, without creating a segregation mentality? I don't want to exclude anyone, but I'd like my students to get the most out of my classes, and I like for everyone to have the most positive, healing experience of belly dance that they possibly can. Thanks for your feedback, loves.