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The Minimum Requirements Before
Handing Out Your Card
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Partner dancing is a complicated art. No matter what form of
it you are doing, you are essentially bringing two separate people, with their
own physical, mental and emotional strengths, gifts and weaknesses… together.
And they must trust one another. One must trust him to lead. One must trust her
to follow. And both must trust each other to dance in sync with the music.
And so, as in marriage, partner dancing can bring out the
best and the worst in us. As all that we are unfolds in the arms of another on
the dance floor, so must the teacher be aware of this delicate situation. And
that’s just the start.
When it comes to teaching partner dancing, in this case West
Coast Swing – What makes someone eligible to teach? In an ever increasing
self-promoting society, where people will hand you "their card” within a
month of learning the dance, it’s becoming more and more important to know what
the requirements are for prospective instructors. What makes them worth
investing your money and your time with? Just because someone says they are a
teacher, or starts a class, doesn’t mean they should be teaching or should be
gathering students to them.
It is now in the hands of students, clubs and organizational
leaderships to evaluate and determine who is truly worthy of the title “Dance
Instructor.” The following are the minimum standards that I believe every
teacher who is worth an hour of anyone’s time must meet:
Well trained aerobic instructors are required to understand
the music they are playing for their classes. It is a well known and accepted
practice. Since partner dancing generally requires a much more diverse library
of music, it makes charting the necessity of this skill for any dance teachers’
training even more important.
Dance teachers should be able to chart and phrase both 3/4
music as well at 4/4 music, and must understand the “dancers count” instead of
the “measures” that musicians use. They must understand the difference between
the 1 and the 5 in 4/4 music and they must understand that the mini-phrase in
3/4 music is not 3 beats long, but 6 beats long, etc. They must know the
difference between the mini-phrase and the major phrase, and must understand
how to chart bridges, etc. I have seen numerous ways to chart music, and though
I love my current method, I have never seen the other methods steer anyone
wrong. A teacher should choose their method wisely, and then learn it well.
This ability to "chart" music is essential for
every teacher who is in charge of bringing the music to light for students who
are in the position of leading or following. Even if they don’t train the
students in phrasing themselves, the mere knowledge of it lends to better
instruction… from waiting for the intro of a song to pass before starting the
call of a pattern, to ensuring they “finish” the complete phrasing of a
pattern, instead of leaving the students half-way through a step, as so many do
in say, Rumba, and ensuring the students are “off-time” as a result.
And if an instructor ever intends to choreograph, then it is
simply impossible to do so correctly without charting out the music. I am
consistently stunned at the errors current "choreographers" have made
because they did not chart the music, leading their students into utter chaos,
confusion and failure.
No matter what, this knowledge is a must.
Too often basic patterns are only taught or shared in the
context of footwork. For some students and classes this might be enough, such
as group lessons for entertainment at weddings, or perhaps a free introduction
course. But a trained instructor, who is expecting to teach such things as
weekly classes or private lessons, should most certainly know more than just
the general footwork.
First let me say that it is essential that any teacher
should at least know the basics for both the leader and the follower, no matter
what gender the teacher is. They don't have to know their counterparts'
patterns and techniques as well as they do their own, but they should
definitely know all of the following when it comes to their counterparts'
basics.
A trained and worthwhile instructor should not only know the
footwork of the leader and follower during all basic patterns, but also their
accommodating center movements, frame and hand positions. For example, all
teachers should know where the hands go, where the center faces and where the
feet go during each beat of every basic pattern. Obviously such positions can
be delved into with great detail when it comes to higher levels of training,
but for most teachers, a basic understanding of where the hands should meet (in
the hold of Waltz vs. the hold of WCS , etc),
where the bodies should face, etc should be enough for most classes and
students.
Of course, the higher the level of the student, the higher
the quality of the instructor should be. Advanced instructors should definitely
have a much deeper knowledge of the positions above. For example, I, as well as
a few other master instructors in WCS , can
break down hand positions literally to the exact bone in the finger of
someone's hand. We can explain the 'whys' behind each position and advanced
technique.
I should also mention here that when it comes to the
specific training for each of the basics, the parts, done correctly, will
strengthen and improve a person's body, not wear down, feel uncomfortable or
strain anything on one's body. When I give a student a hand position, and they
say they've been given another, I always ask them to dance a few basics with
each technique, and decide for themselves which technique feels better on their
body. I have yet to find a student that didn't chose my technique- and that is
a reflection my skill, my background and my in depth training. I encourage all
students and instructors, before training with someone they know little about,
to first ask who they have trained with as well as who they currently train
with.
A good instructor is always a
student too.
If they do not have a chance to do so, I encourage them to
always ask themselves after a lesson... "Does this feel really good on my
body?" And adopt or drop the technique accordingly.
Some teachers only call a pattern in "quicks and
slows." Some teachers only call a pattern by its numbers, or
"count." Some teachers even swear by calling a pattern by the
phrasing in the music. And others, in addition to numbers, only call in rolling
count "& a 1 & a 2" or a straight count "& a 1 e
& a 2 e."
For this reason, I believe all teachers should at least know
about all of these calls, and what they mean. In my experience dancers look
like stiff robots when they dance to a straight count call, but that's because
I know the difference between a straight count and a rolling count. No matter
what student I get, I can tell by their dancing which one they are doing. This
is, of course, quite an advanced sort of eye, but still, I believe every teacher
should at least be trained in the terminology, even if their eye is not
developed.
It has also been my experience that, when teaching classes
of about 100 students or so, 40-60% of the class will snatch up their Foxtrot
or Rumba pattern when I call out the "count." Then I alternate to
calling in "quicks and slows," and the other 60-40% instantaneously
gets the pattern as well. After a while, I found myself consistently
alternating between the two calls.
Most students do not notice at all, but it is always a
purposeful choice on my part. If I call out 8 basics in a row of the Rumba,
then I literally call out four of them using the "count" and four of
them using quicks and slows. I alternating between the two at a rate that I
find works for each particular class.
Sure, every once in a great while, I find a class in which
98% of the students respond only to the "count" call (engineers,
anyone?) and sometimes I'll get the exact opposite. I never know, and therefore
I never assume, and therefore I am prepared with an arsenal of tools and
vocabulary that will work with no matter what kind of class I get.
And finally, when it comes to knowing the various calls, an
instructor will be lost if they do not fully understand all of them and how
they relate to one another. For example, every teacher should be prepared with
the knowledge that a "quick quick" equals two weight changes during
two beats of music and a "slow" means one weight change during two
beats of music. And they should know how it’s different with a Waltz, etc.
A teacher should know exactly what "count" that
single weight change occurs on, etc. For
example, when someone asks what the "count" is for a Country Two Step
when the teacher has been calling "quicks and slows," then the
teacher should be able to say that it's a 6 count pattern, and can call those
counts in numbers as they dance, etc, etc.
Essentially, because there are so many ways of teaching out
there, a true instructor should know what they all are, their differences and
their relation to one another. I am not saying an instructor must absolutely
teach in only one format, nor that they absolutely must teach in more than one,
but I do believe that they must be trained in what all of them mean in relation
to the basics of the dance they are teaching.
I certainly have my opinions on which produce better
dancing, but that is for another article. For now, the vocabulary and the
ability to switch between the calls of a dance’s basics is quite enough.
It is my honest and heartfelt opinion that any teacher who
intends to charge for their lessons, especially private lessons, must have
mastered the art of changing weight. In essence, I mean that they have mastered
the ability to lead and follow with their centers, and not their arms.
This is perhaps the most difficult thing a teacher must
learn to do, but it is essential. "Arm" leads & follows are
almost always at the heart of partner dance injuries, along with hand holds
(why I mention them in #2). There is no excuse for an instructor to put their
students in harms way.
Yes, I'm saying that a teacher must be trained in
"centering." In many ballrooms, instructors and students are trained
to move their "core." In WCS , I
was trained to narrow my body's center of movement down to the size of a golf
ball in my solar plexus, whereas my friends who teach ballroom have narrowed
their core down to the span of their ribcage.
Either one works for me when it comes to instructor
training. If someone is leading by moving their "body"- i.e., their
core, their solar plexus, their ribcage or their center... then they are
usually using it to move their body's weight from one foot to another, allowing
their frame to follow along.
Also, along with knowing the counts of the patterns I
mention in points 2 and 3 above, a teacher must know that the counts and calls
relate directly to weight changes. Again, if I call "quick, quick" in
a Country Two Step, then I am aware that I am calling for two complete weight
changes, occurring on counts "1" and "2" in the pattern,
and often times, in order to help the class, the "1" and the
"2" of the major phrase in the music.
All of these things... centering, weight changes, counts and
calls... they relate to one another on almost every level. This is why it's so
important that a trained instructor should understand them in regards to the
dance they intend to teach.
I know I'm going out on a limb here, but to be honest, this
requirement comes as a result of the dancing and instruction that is inundating
all partner dance communities today, especially West Coast Swing. 15 years ago,
I never would have said that a teacher who wants to teach WCS
would need to learn two other dances in order to be a good instructor.
But it is not 15 years ago. All partner dance communities,
whether it be tango, ballroom or swing... they are all being affected by
YouTube, TV Shows (DWTS, SYTYCD, etc) and the Millennial
Generation. I talk about the cause & effects of these in great detail
elsewhere, but for now, let's focus on the ever increasing results of these
influences: 1. Dancers are no longer dancing "on beat" in many
communities, 2. Dancers are unable to identify what music lends to what dance
and 3. Dancers are increasingly dancing split weight.
In WCS , these three
erosions are found worldwide. In other dances, such as tango, they are only
occurring in certain cities or countries. But there are communities that seem
much more "immune" to these three erosions... and all of those
communities have one thing in common: the dancers in those communities all
dance more than one dance.
Let's take Country Western for example. Country Western
dancers are much more immune to Abstract Improvisation, a dance that is more on
the Modern Dance side of things than a "lead & follow" partner
dance. Why? Because CW dancers go to a dance and listen to every song that is
played, and have to decide whether it is a Cha Cha, a Cowboy Cha Cha, a certain
Line Dance, a Two-Step or a Waltz, etc. To survive in their communities, they
must know what music lends to what dance.
Not only that, but their music tends to be faster, requiring
a higher level of lead and follow, and therefore they are more
"immune" to the other two erosions- split weight and off time
dancing. For example, if you dance a
line dance and ignore the music, you will be completely run over in no time.
And that is why I believe all prospective instructors should
learn two other dances. When a dancer knows more than one "lead and
follow" dance, it "immunizes" them from the three common
erosions. It prevents them from losing the character, the counts and the basic
patterns of each dance once they start teaching, and helps them avoid the
dangerous road of "do your own thing" no matter what the music or
your partner is doing. I suppose if a teacher is being trained in ballroom, it
is perhaps not as important to know another two dances, but it doesn't hurt,
especially since erosions tend to spread like wildfire, especially with
YouTube, etc.
But it is my absolute firm and resolved belief that anyone
going into WCS , in the current climate, must
absolutely know two other "lead and follow" dances. (I personally
suggest one Latin and one Smooth, but that's just the educator in me.)
6. A prospective instructor will be able to identify Soft
(Lyrical) Abstract Improvisation, Hard (Club) Abstract Improvisation and West
Coast Swing when they see it and when they feel it in their partner.
Many local communities have already separated into their
different dances... Abstract dancers go to one club and WCS
dancers go to another. And this is good. This is healthy. They are two
completely different dances with completely opposite goals, technique,
mechanics and music. Abstract does not have basic patterns and it is not lead
and follow and it is most certainly not centered.
Unfortunately, though, thousands of new dancers are going to
YouTube to learn more about WCS , and
Abstract Improvisation is almost all they will see and learn there
instead. As such, if an instructor wants
to teach WCS nowadays, especially if they
live near a large city or have a demographic that is very much
"plugged-in," aka, "online" all the time, then an
instructor should know about all three dances and how they are danced, so that
they are prepared when students ask questions or want to learn certain
"things" they've seen online.
In California ,
where I live, most students are traveling to different dances with different
instructors. As such, they are learning a variety of dances, Abstract, Zouk and
Swing, all at the same time, and with everyone calling is WCS .
They have been and are... utterly confused. And so, WCS
teachers today, I believe, should be "in the know" when it comes to
the dances out there on the floor.
And if you're a ballroom instructor? Well, I think you
should know about what's going on in WCS
too, because your dance might be next. Our "Abstract" instructors are
waltzing their way in (no pun intended) to your studios worldwide. Sometimes
your students see it for what it is right away... "Really? You want us to
squat??? Really????" But not all students think for themselves or have as
much training outside of WCS as you would
think.
So in my opinion, anyone who teaches a partner dance should
know what Abstract Improvisation is... because it's incredibly easy, incredibly
deceptive and incredibly NOT in the bounds of any basic concepts held in any of
the partner dances.
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And there it all is. My basic requirements for prospective
dance instructors. Of course, I certainly welcome students to learn and master
all of the above as well. There is not one thing here that will not make you a
better dancer, a greater success and a more powerful person. I wish you the
best. And partner dancing really can feed your soul better than much in this
world... but only when you learn it right, when you learn it well, when you
learn what works...
From a truly trained instructor.
'o Be a Teacher is copyrighted material. It can be found the collection of groundbreaking articles
found in Telling the
Truth: The Foundational Articles for Today's WCS, available in both Kindle and Print on Amazon.com.
