Yep, Hula again, sort of, it's more about dance instruction in general.

[kistha]

I just want to see if it's my previous dance experience that is making me crazy. I also am curious as to what other's think would be best for a non-pro class.

I'm looking for answers, and certainly wouldn't mind extrapolating or explaining further in the comments -

I'm hoping for dialog people, this is driving me nuts.


[Poll #758398]

Comments

[xlana.livejournal.com]

Practical: I think it's entirely up to the teacher. When s/he deems the student ready to move up, the student should be invited.

Balanced: Having structured guidelines, for me, is good. My mom used to have these little cards the RedCross handed out to swim instructors to fill in for each student. If you didn't get all of the little boxes checked, you couldn't advance to the next level of instruction. It was very helpful to see: "okay, i can swim 10 yards with my head down, but not 25. I stay in Advanced Beginner. Next session, I'll work on swimming that much farther." Now granted, dance is more subjective than swimming. But there should be standards. Intermediates should know the basics of the dance - the ummi, the hand positions, some of the chants, basic steps, etc.

When I start teaching, I will have a list of moves that Beginners learn. Once they've demonstrated ease of those moves, I'll let them go to Intermediate, where they're learn more complicated moves.

Personally: in the beginning, Alex would ask dancers who were getting everything easily to move up to the intermediate class. towards the end, anyone who wanted to, was allowed to perform with troupe. that did get frustrating. I think she got tired (she was a new mom by then) and a bit burnt out.

Sweetling, I hope this works out for you. I saw your face Monday night, and I've been listening to you. You *love* hula. I don't know if it was because you were concerned about the upcoming performance, but you made the hand motions part of your conversation all weekend. You've got it bad. (-: I don't know how far you're willing to drive for classes, but I think there's a studio in Shoreline. The store where they used to be held is gone, but I can ask the one person who works at the winglets' school who used to take lessons there.

[shellyinseattle.livejournal.com]

I second the idea of considering another studio for hula to continue on. I know that the instructor/dojo makes the number one difference for martial arts, and I imagine it's the same for dance.

I know that I did this as a piano student long, long ago. The switch of instructors made the difference in enjoyment as well as keeping me from quitting at the intermediate level before I could play the classical pieces that I could at the time I actual quit to go to college.

[kistha.livejournal.com]

I think switching might make me happier with the progress, which is what's killing me, but then I'd lose all of my current hula sisters as well...which is one of the biggest things keeping me interested.

I don't know how much of the bug I have. I love a lot of things, a large number of which are dances, but I've left them all at one time or another. I miss wildlife rehab, but I don't have the time to do that with out missing time with family and friends. So I don't, but I still miss it. I don't know how much I'll miss hula. I suppose this summer will give me an idea of how bad I have the bug.

Thanks for the input I'll keep it percolating.

[twilight2000.livejournal.com]

OK -- I checked 2 choices (which should bolux up the whole thing) for a couple of very good reasons.

1. I know martial arts better than dance -- in my MA experience, it's "pass the required elements" and after a minimum set time at a level, you may take the next level. The minimum set time, which varies from dojo to dojo, is there to assure that a level of maturity in the art is reached before moving on. In my experience, it's tradtionally been 6 mos to a year, depending on the dojo. Most of the instructors I've had contact with suggest that allowing to many "degrees" in too short a time, leaves one with a technically capable student who neither understands the art nor is capable of teaching, something many brown and most black belts do (or their equivalents in arts that have other colors at the top).

2. I honestly think that spending that "minimum time in rank" makes sense in terms of maturity in the art. It's one of the few things that almost all "rank" oriented arts seem to agree on. Even schools with pre-req's that let you test out limit how much you can test out of at a time to make certain you really *are* ready for the next level, not just technically proficient.

[kistha.livejournal.com]

I'm with you - and my biggest issue is that I think if you are not challenged you should be moved up, but that the relative skill levels should still be equivalent within groups.

For example, I don't particularly think I'm ready for the Advanced class, but my skill level is several notches above the rest of the Intermediate class now that the Beginning class is more of "an introduction to hula" than an actual Beginning class. So now, Intermediate is really the Beginning class.

I don't know if there is a way out of this particular situation. I may have to just let it go and move on. *sigh* It was nice hearing it put another way.

I'll be thinking on it.