PHOTO CREDIT: Above photo by John Rickman Photography, San Jose, California.

• Part One: Drop Outs
  • It's Hard
  • Slow Progress
  • Don't Like It
  • Commitments
  • Frustration
  • Can't Keep Up
  • Your Teaching
  • You

• Part Two: Disrespectful Students
  • Childish Students
  • Challenging Students
• Part Three: Demanding Students
• Famous Last Words

Reason 1: It's Hard

The Problem:

People don't realise how hard it is to learn Oriental Dance until they try it.

Solution:

When people inquire about classes, don't burst into a 2 hour lecture on the complexity of the dance over the phone. This will put fear into their hearts, and that is not our goal here.

It's no secret that Oriental Dance is not easy, so if a prospective student does ask on the phone tell them honestly: "it's like anything else: it's difficult to start with and takes time to learn". But ideally, let them come to class and tell the whole class (without terrorising them), that it's like anything new: it takes time, effort and regular attendance of classes in order to progress. You're not tricking them by doing this, simply telling them at an appropriate time.

So during your introduction in the first class tell the students that it won't be easy as ABC (I can feel a song coming on) and encourage them to give themselves the patience they deserve in order to learn over the time of the course, as opposed to overnight (as many will expect from themselves). In my own words: "Okay, the first rule is: don't freak out. Don't worry if you don't get it right, don't worry if you feel like you don't know anything. Because you won't get it perfectly right and you won't know everything in the first few nanoseconds you begin any dance, including this dance. It takes time. Remember, you're here to learn and have fun. Now let's boogie!"

Reason 2: Slow Progress

The Problem:

They expect to get good without attending classes and/or practicing or get disheartened when they don't improve radically after a short time.

Solution:

If someone pays for a course or set of classes, attends half or a third of them, never practices at home and comes to you complaining that they gave you their money and haven't learnt a thing, what do you do? Well, prevention is the best solution.

Once again, tell them in the first class what they can expect to gain throughout the course. Tell them, "In this course we cover 10 songs. We will do 2 songs per class and have a review every 3rd week. If you're serious about learning and come to every class and practice for a couple of hours a week at home, then you'll theoretically come out at the end of the course with 10 choreographed songs. If you're just here to have fun, then expect to learn some moves and get a feel for the music."

They know what to expect from the onset, so they can't complain to you later.

Reason 4: Commitments

The Problem:

Other commitments have arisen that are more serious or important.

Solution:

Again, this is something you can't do much about. And again, a phone call is your duty to them.

People see you as a business person and perceive the business world and the people in it as cut throat. Be the opposite - be a concerned human. The impact of being on the receiving end of your compassion will stay in their minds. If they don't come back to classes, then wish them all the best and welcome them to future classes. Believe me, if they want to continue in the future they'll definitely come back to you.

Reason 5: Frustration

The Problem:

They feel like they're the only ones not 'getting it'.

Solution:

Your words of advice at the beginning of the first class outlined in the solutions to Reasons 1 and 2 will sometimes prevent this from happening.

Another method of prevention is encouragement during class. Be very generous with your praise and back off or be gentle with correcting people. If the person is particularly lacking in co-ordination, don't keep correcting them with every move as they'll feel very singled out.

Reason 7: Your Teaching

The Problem:

They don't like your teaching.

Solution:

Sorry guys, but it's got to be said: not everyone can teach. Some people can dance like no one has danced before, have perfect technique and beautiful choreography, but they don't know how to teach it.

I've seen teachers who don't bother to explain moves to beginners. Dancing to the music is just not good enough - every single individual step needs to be broken down for beginners.

I've seen teachers teach individual moves and never put it into choreography. What is the point of individual moves on their own? They mean nothing - it's like having the ingredients to make a cake but no recipe to tell you how to put it together. Pointless.

I've seen teachers who choreograph and teach parts of songs and never get back to teaching the whole song. As far as I'm concerned, unless you're doing a class on improvisation and will improvise to the music, if you haven't choreographed an entire song to (at least near) perfection, don't teach it to beginners. Teaching students 45 seconds of a 3 minute song is of no use to anyone.

Scenario 1: Childish Students

The Problem:

Adults who act like children — giggling, mimicking and being generally disruptive. One will never act like this on their own, this kind of behaviour only surfaces in groups of two or more (usually teenage boys hanging out on street corners, but I've discovered to my dismay that this ugly phenomenon occurs in adult women too).

Advice:

Tackle the problem before it's too late to say anything. If you let it go twice without saying anything then you're basically saying that it's okay to act in this fashion. This works: Whatever you're doing - explaining, showing a move, dancing to music - stop immediately. Turn the music off if necessary and look at the disruptive students for 2 seconds (which doesn't sound like a long time, but it is when it's pure silence in a room full of people).

Ask: "is everything okay?" (I know you want to say: "what's yer damn problem??", but it's better to rise above their stupidity and be as mature as you can muster). They're likely to say: "everything's fine". Pause for a second and say: "[one of their names] could you please come over to this side of the room?" Yes, you're treating them like children by separating them from each other, but they deserve it. Then at the beginning of the next 2 classes ask one to go to the other side of the room before class even starts.

In the 3rd class see where they stand and how they act. If they start with their b.s. again, stop the whole class and say: "Is there a problem?" (a little more aggressive than last time). Answer, invariably: "No". At this point, you should definitely lose your temper slightly and demand: "Then why the constant snickering, mimicking and disruptive behaviour? There are X classes left. If you plan to continue acting like that I prefer to have you leave now, so how about I give you your money back for the next X classes so that you can go immediately?" while reaching for your purse.

If they stay, promising they'll behave, but don't straighten up after that (give them just one more class to redeem themselves), have the money for the amount of classes left in your hand and say: "I don't think this is working out. Here's your money back. Good luck". And walk away.

The Request:

"You should write out all your choreography and draw pictures of the moves and make a video of your choreography. I can't remember anything when I get home."

How To Respond:

What do you say? Well, basically my thoughts are that there is not one dance class (of any type of dance) that I've been to where the teacher hands out pictures and descriptions of the moves with a video to back it up. (And frankly I haven't the time to do the former or the money to do the latter).

Your answer: "Firstly, as time goes on you'll remember more and more moves. We will repeat the moves in different songs throughout the course. Also if you get the music I use and listen to it at home it will bring back to mind some of my choreography. Secondly, Oriental Dance is not about remembering how someone else interprets the music move for move. It's meant to be an improvised art. I use choreography in order to have the repetition necessary for you to do the same moves again and again so that you will eventually remember them. And you'll also notice that sometimes the choreography changes - when I change the choreography the message I'm trying to get through to the class is that there are different ways to dance to the same music. So give yourself time, you'll remember more and more moves and eventually be able to choreograph your own pieces."

• Starting to Teach Belly Dancing. By Shira.
• Teaching Finger Cymbals to Beginners. By Saqra.

• Keep Asking. By Saqra.

Originally inspired by the 1960's television show I Dream of Jeannie, Despina has been studying Oriental Dance since 1992. She studied with a variety of people, representing a variety of different belly dance styles, and through that acquired a broad perspective on the dance. She started performing professionally in 1995 and then teaching in 1997. Her mentor, Amera, has provided a great deal of valuable guidance over the years.

Since 1998, Despina has dedicated herself full-time to teaching and performing belly dance. In 2002 she completed Belyssa's Bellydance Teacher Training Course.

Despina has contributed several articles to this web site.

For more information about her dance studio in Australia and its activities, see her web site at:

www.despinarosales.com

Click on the photo to the right to see Despina's picture in more detail.