Dear Ela,
I teach workshops in the U.S. and Canada and I have been on both the teaching and studying ends of dance for the last 35 years. I teach teachers how to teach in a program called "Student Awareness" and I believe that the keys to a good workshop lie in an understanding that it is about the student learning the dance, NOT about the presenter demonstrating movement or teaching long, drawn out choreographies that no one will have the chance to really learn except perhaps at the most superficial levels. To that end, here are some things that I see as important in a workshop situation, whether I am a teacher or an instructor.

* Make clear in all advertising what it is that we are going to be doing in the workshop. Do not advertise that it is about shimmies and then teach a choreography that has only two of them in it.

* Start on time and keep warm-ups to a reasonable length, or even better, have participants come 15 minutes early to do their own if they like a longer warm-up, finishing up with what the teacher does to warm up. I HATE spending 40 minutes of a 3 hour class warming up.

*It is nice if the instructor starts the class by dancing a bit in order to show student where we are trying to go.

* Keep workshop attendance down to a reasonable amount of participants so that the instructor can see each person as an individual and give everyone at least a little personal time for their own needs. For me this means I need to limit workshops to 30 participants. Shareen El Safy seems to be able to do it with 60, but she is the only one I have ever studied with who can!! Maybe other people know others.

* Keep the workshop to a reasonable length so that participants do not go away so tired they leave with nothing. I once read studies that concluded that the optimum learning time in general is about 3 hours with a break about half way through. This is a general rule for practically any kind of study nearly as I could tell.

* Have a flexible teaching plan so that information does not have to be crammed down the students' throats to meet the teacher's agenda.

* I think this is perhaps the most important rule of all.... Recognize the student as an individual entity, with individual strengths and weaknesses. Each person has their own way of learning, their own rate of progress, their own expectations about what they want from a class. I have studied Howard Gardner's work in order to help myself be a teacher who is more aware of that and to better be of service to students in helping them get the most out of a class situation.

* Teachers need to be able to really LOOK at the dance and at students in order to determine when something is right or not quite right, and what needs to be fixed!

* When someone is doing something right, it is just as important to tell them as it is when they need correcting.

I am really looking forward to reading what others write on this as I learn a lot from these kinds of subjects as to what students want and need from classes, how that generally meshes or differs from what I see as far as student needs, etc.

Regards,
A'isha

It also helps if there is a way to either encourage the participants to take notes, or providing notes that outline the material to be covered. It is very helpful to have a widely spaced outline that participants can add their own notes to as the class goes on - and giving them a couple of minutes to write as well as get clarification.

Although I know it is not popular, I think it really helps to offer a video notebook of the material covered (I have seen this done at Country Western and Swing dance events and it is not only very popular but also provides extra income). The official videographer can tape the teacher going over only what she actually covered whether it was choreography, technique, steps or a combination. Alternately, if the teacher has video of what is actually covered and not just their current DVD release they could make those available for a fee.

I totally agree about not having an overlong warmup and I think it is important to realize that not all attendees will be in the same shape or at the same fitness level so doing lots of yoga stretches on the floor is not going to warm everyone up properly. Also, many of the places we have these events do not have clean floors and it is really obnoxious to have your face and hands close to them!

It will be interesting to see what others think.

Second everything Aisha said, from the student's perspective.

I don't like to use precious class/workshop time to do conditioning exercises. That's what the gym membership is for. I've also seen workshops where even the 20-somethings are worn out half way through.

The warm-up should relate to bellydance material, not yoga, pilates or whatever.

I've stopped going to choreography workshops even with dancers whom I love because I never retain enough of the choreo to be worth the money. Selling a no frills dvd of the choreo would definitely increase the value of the workshop. I never do anyone's choreo exactly as written so my main purpose for a choreo workshop is to see how someone else uses the music and movements. Being able to watch and think about why she used that particular move at that particular time is very valuable to me. And a home-made dvd is too poor picture quality to transfer well if the teacher is afraid of her material appearing on you-tube.

I am in disagreement w/ all of the posts on the warm up..... I love a Good warm up.... I figure it's part of the dance as a whole... if the instructor is sharing her favorite warms and part of her secrets I'm at the wkshp because I like her and will take anything I can get from her.... the way I see it warm ups can get your body geared up... pilates and yoga can help our posture and muscles....
I do like the workshop notes and the video idea is fabulous! or at least letting participants videotape the wkshp...
maybe it's the instructor, lots of repetition time..... learning something new to me I like to be challenged in a workshop... give me something to take home and play with....

So I wanted to add after thinking all night.... I love learning from people that have obviously studied and are complete geeks about BellyDance (in whichever form), dance and the body... people whom have spent their time studying.... I prefer workshops that are not going to appeal to everyone whom has ever taken a bellydance class....
I've taken a couple of wkshps w/ Aisha it's obvious she has spent many years and time studying and I appreciate people who are willing to share their knowledge..... In all honesty at this point for me personally it is less about doing combos and more about the nuts and bolts of how to..... let me get into your head of How you put things together... give me the bare bones basics
part of a great is the instructor's enthusiasm... are they burned out or are the charged ad reved about what they are doing....
And back to the warm ups.... Aziza for a while was doing a great warm up that was also saidi.... and I live out in the boonies and see Way too many dancers whom do not understand basic posture for living let alone dancing... so to me part of warm up is getting into the posture and basics of body mechanics