Why is fun so important? Dance artist Monica Caldwell taught more than 50 dance genres—she was incredibly versatile. You always learned a lot and felt accomplished in her classes. AND they were loads of fun.

Monica figured out something really important—people come to dance class to have fun. So fun is the best way to have class. Besides, people learn so much about how the dance works in their own bodies through self-expression, a sense of accomplishment, and free social dance.

Most of us teach class as though our lives depend on it, either terrified of boring the students or determined to cram in as much hard info as possible. I have been to many beginner classes where all we did was drill or learn choreography. These classes were not fun, and my body hurt after the drilling.

So how do we make class fun?

1. Encourage the students’ self expression.

This may seem like a horrible idea, since the students have no clue what they are doing, and our job is to teach them. But it’s easier than it seems. You can have any group, even if they have never danced before, dancing happily in 5-10 minutes.

Let the warmup be silly and fun.
Avoid stylization and let the dance be folky and easy. Even people who have never taken a class can shimmy and do step touches.
Strut around in a circle, and have the the students echo your actions. Just dance around.
Keep it simple, yes, but have fun. If you have fun, they can have fun.

This happy opening sets the tone for the rest of the class.

2. Ensure that the students feel successful

A lot of teachers want their students to feel needy, so they will come back. But you will have better return rates when your students feel accomplished and happy in your classes. You do this by facilitating their success.

Focus on the music, listening and responding.
Value student interpretations. Allow variation from the norm.
Get student input on which steps to use in a choreography. The resulting dance will be at their level, and they will feel more ownership.
Rather than showing a complicated combination and then breaking it down, build it up, instead. Show them something easy. Then another easy thing. Then a third. Start combining the easy things, but not all at once. Sahra Saeeda uses this method to great effect.

3. Include lots of open floor dancing

Many teachers assume their students dance at home. But most students do not. So take the last 10 minutes for open floor. Putting the new learning in context right away empowers students, and combining moves in a relaxed environment helps them feel comfortable expressing themselves, which, after all, is the basic idea.

Put on some fun music and make a circle.
Everyone dances, all around the circle.
You take the first turn in the circle. Feel free to clown around and have fun. Then choose one of the students to dance in the circle.
They may pick a friend to dance with them.
When they are done, they pick the next center dancer.
Everyone gets to dance.

Students can also dance in small groups, pairs, etc, regrouping or switching partners every couple of minutes. You can circulate through the groups, joining and moving on so that you dance with everyone.

Art is about communication

Dance is art. When students feel the value of what they do, when they dance with others and feel the joy of it, they nurture themselves and spread light out into the world. Social dance is the backbone of our art form, people enjoying themselves together, feeling good about themselves and each other.

Joy.

Isn’t that what we all want?

I sure do.

Want to know more?

Check out bellydance soul.

Love,
Alia

Walk the Line: How do you represent the dance and give the people what they want?

When I started teaching, my students wanted choreographies, something they could take home and show off. So I made them. Because the students were beginners, I needed simple, repetitious music. Do you know how hard this was to find? These days, there is a plethora of Egyptian pop (plenty of which is horribly boring, synth, repetition), but back in the 80s it was almost impossible to find a song that kept the same structure all the way through.

But that’s what I looked for, because, being self-taught, as everyone was, I didn’t know any better. And I made some fairly charming dances for my students. Even back then, I tended to have a lot of emotional and narrative elements, but most folks do not have this component. Additionally, I had the benefit of a superlative dance education through several years with Ibrahim Farrah, one of the most highly-regarded teachers of his day.

As I became a better teacher, my choreographies got more interesting and fun, and I encouraged my students’ creativity as well. It was important to me that their own voices come through, that they be creators in their own right. I encourage and make space for a lot of creativity and personal style in my classes. We free dance regularly, there are new combinations, and very little drilling.

But the minute I started teaching a choreography, the students’ creativity dropped like mercury in a polar vortex. Suddenly, they were anxious, careful, and narrowly focused, where the week before, they had been open, graceful, and free. They couldn’t remember, they were overly focused on symmetry, and they argued about their spacing. Their own dances suffered, as did the overall easygoing atmosphere I treasured in the classroom. Hmmm….

Why can’t the students make the group dances? Already, when my students traveled to events, other students were amazed that my folks made their own dances. Even my beginners are trained and encouraged to make their own dances. So this is what I set out to do.

I began by having each student present a move that went with the music, which they then taught to the other dancers. I merely sequenced the steps with the music, usually in the same order as the students presented them. We let the music tell us how many times to do the move and what floor patterns we would take.

SHAZAM! Suddenly I had fully engaged students who remembered the moves, counts, and transitions, came up with floor patterns, and filled in any blanks without even being asked. Our focus was on feeling and expression rather than stylization. We had far more elaborate and complex interactions than before. Cooperation soared. The dances were great. And rather than passively accepting material, everyone was learning and doing.

Don’t get me wrong, I love making dances. It is a great, great, pleasure to craft something just so. It is a great way to present new material in a concise way. But I love happy, productive, creative, engaged students even more.

My college classes–absolute beginners– now create, remember, and execute a beautifully, engaging dance, all within their final two weeks. A group of experienced dancers can do this in one hour.

WIN-WIN.