This week (week beginning 6th October) I asked me students to make a particular correction and had a lot of blank faces looking back at me. This lead to a conversation within that class, which I took studio wide based on my initial findings. It has become apparent that my students are lacking in anatomical knowledge and understanding of 'dance phrases', for example:
Where do you turn out from?
What muscles do you use to turn out?
What does "close your ribs"/"pull up" mean? - Do all teachers use the same "terms" or imagery?!
I found this interesting given the majority of the students have been dancing for many years, and do multiple hours in the studio each week. An additional note: this Studio is high achieving and competes internationally.
Having joined the studio in 2013 I have only been teaching these students for one year and had (wrongly) assumed much of this knowledge would have been covered in their foundations as it would have been if I was their teacher from day one. Or would it? Am I as good at passing over this knowledge as I think or hope? Either way, it clearly hasn't, or maybe it has and they have forgotten it, and this is obviously something I need to be aware of in my professional practice and address in class, ensuring I give ALL information in every class, despite this being time consuming.
Due to the community the studio is situated within, I believe some of the problem could stem from students constantly coming and going (many do two or three years in one country and move on). This transient international community is not something I have experienced before last academic year, having previously (on the whole) worked in schools where I have taken my students at 3 and watched them graduate at 18 with minimal comings and goings at levels other than beginners. That is not the case in my current situation.
I believe these findings are highly relevant to my inquiry, and as a result I started a conversation with some of my peers/colleagues regarding potential reasons for this. Below is a mind map of my thoughts following these discussions:
Having joined the studio in 2013 I have only been teaching these students for one year and had (wrongly) assumed much of this knowledge would have been covered in their foundations as it would have been if I was their teacher from day one. Or would it? Am I as good at passing over this knowledge as I think or hope? Either way, it clearly hasn't, or maybe it has and they have forgotten it, and this is obviously something I need to be aware of in my professional practice and address in class, ensuring I give ALL information in every class, despite this being time consuming.
Due to the community the studio is situated within, I believe some of the problem could stem from students constantly coming and going (many do two or three years in one country and move on). This transient international community is not something I have experienced before last academic year, having previously (on the whole) worked in schools where I have taken my students at 3 and watched them graduate at 18 with minimal comings and goings at levels other than beginners. That is not the case in my current situation.
I believe these findings are highly relevant to my inquiry, and as a result I started a conversation with some of my peers/colleagues regarding potential reasons for this. Below is a mind map of my thoughts following these discussions:
I believe these are industry/profession wide issues - I wonder if anyone else has any thoughts on this?
If a student does not know where a movement is supposed to be coming from (which muscles to 'fire'), and the mechanics behind it how can they improve their execution?
Really interesting read: I don't teach myself but I have friends who do. I recently had a conversation about the terminology used across different dance schools - she finds that often students are told to 'bend at the knees' rather than 'plie', or 'tap the toe' rather than 'pique' - she feels this is an example of teachers almost dumbing down the language to not put the children off: maybe children have shorter attention spans than previous generations?
ReplyDeleteIt also reminded me of this blog I read the other day that raised some interesting points: http://atthebarre.net/ballet-is-boring/
xx
Hi Dani!
ReplyDeleteThanks for taking the time to comment!
I'm not sure I completely agree with your friend, I think young children need the language 'dumbing down' as they have limited vocabulary, and as a result a lack of contextual understanding. I don't think it's so much not to put them off per se, but to speak in a language they understand - i.e. basic English, not (often nonsensical) French!
Additionally, children can also use their imagination to 'tap their toe' on something hot, but have no imagery concept of what 'pique' might look like (apart from that that their teacher is giving them). In order for the student to take forward valuable meaning they have to feel and understand the movement, not just copy the perceived action.
I think this is the same in every day life; I don't speak to my young niece in the same tone or with the same vocabulary as I use to speak to my sister (her mother), and I certainly dumb down my English in China! Often to one word sentences when either I'm speaking Chinese (as I don't know the full sentence) or I'm speaking English to a non-English speaker (and hoping for the best!)
Teaching, like conversation, is about engaging the other person/people whilst remaining as true to the end goal.
However I agree completely that the children of this generation have shorter attention spans, and it makes the job of both teaching and/or owning a business an increasingly difficult job. That said, I am lucky enough to work with students with an incredible work ethic, that I have not experienced in my 13 years teaching in the UK and it is so incredibly rewarding.
I loved that blog post - a friend sent it to me the other day. I found this too, which has been doing the rounds on Facebook and is just great:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/keesha-beckford/a-letter-from-your-dance-teacher_b_3319783.html
Hope things are going well for you on the course!
Take care
Megan