Teaching Beginners
Dave O
of newbies to go to a dance. I've never really taught a group to
dance, and certainly have never called one. We're going to have a pot
luck supper and then I want to give them a lesson before we take off
for the hall. I hope to have two or three other experienced dancers
in the group, which should number about 10 people. Most likely more
women than men, too.
This dance (November 20 at the Scout House in Concord, Mass BTW) is
beginner friendly. What I think they need to learn is basic
orientation and etiquette, plus the following figures: circle,
allemande, star, courtesy turn, moves through (as in R&L, or pass),
hey, balance, swing, gypsy, do-si-do. Am I missing anything?
Can anyone recommend a dance or two for me that would be include
some/most of these figures so that they could dance at least one real
set to get the feel of progression?
I'm considering doing the teaching without music, too, but only
because adding music presents some additional logistical
considerations. Like, I don't have anything I can think of that's
suitable. How much of a problem will the lack of music be - or will
it be an advantage?
Any thoughts or comments are most welcome.
Noemi Ybarra
Try telling them about the basic 8-counts that frame every move.
If you're not a caller, I wouldn't try to call an entire dance. That
timing that callers work on is quite important, and might just screw up
what sounds like a pretty good beginner's workshop. Unless you DO have
enough experienced dancers to form a foursome - you might have them
demonstrate a whole dance.
I don't feel strongly about the "do a dance/don't do a dance" part,
though.
Have fun!
Noemi
Alan Winston - SSRL Central Computing
>I am a moderately experienced contra dancer who is organizing a group
>of newbies to go to a dance. I've never really taught a group to
>dance, and certainly have never called one. We're going to have a pot
>luck supper and then I want to give them a lesson before we take off
>for the hall. I hope to have two or three other experienced dancers
>in the group, which should number about 10 people. Most likely more
>women than men, too.
>
>This dance (November 20 at the Scout House in Concord, Mass BTW) is
>beginner friendly. What I think they need to learn is basic
>orientation and etiquette, plus the following figures: circle,
>allemande, star, courtesy turn, moves through (as in R&L, or pass),
>hey, balance, swing, gypsy, do-si-do. Am I missing anything?
(Ladies') chain.
>
>Can anyone recommend a dance or two for me that would be include
>some/most of these figures so that they could dance at least one real
>set to get the feel of progression?
What leaps to mind, with ten people, as including a lot of those figures, is
"Levi Jackson Rag" (circle, grand chain, right-and-left through, promenade,
balance, swing, do-si-do). But that's really the wrong answer - it's a mixer
in an unusual formation.
But I think that's the wrong question. If you want them to get the feel
of progression, find a low-piece-count dance that won't be too hard to
execute the figures of, and let them do it until they understand traveling
up the set, down the set, waiting out, etc.
(Sometimes I teach ECD beginners the historically-accurate Early American
"Yankee Doodle" dance:
A: right-hand-star
left-hands back
B: 1s down the center and back and cast off as 2s move up.
This gives them the important ideas of
* progression
* phrasing action to the music
* listening to the caller
and if they want, they can sing or hum the tune.)
>
>I'm considering doing the teaching without music, too, but only
>because adding music presents some additional logistical
>considerations. Like, I don't have anything I can think of that's
>suitable. How much of a problem will the lack of music be - or will
>it be an advantage?
Well, see above.
>
>Any thoughts or comments are most welcome.
I genuinely think you'd be better off with something simple and
straightforward like my "Yankee Doodle" example above, coupled with
strong encouragement to all your first-timer friends NOT TO DANCE WITH EACH
OTHER UNTIL AFTER THE BREAK; then use whatever suasion you might have with
additional experienced dancers to dance with your friends in the first part
of the evening.
Trying to teach them all the figures they'll need in advance for
contra-dancing in vacuo, especially without music, is going to make the
whole thing seem like it's harder than it is, and they'll nonetheless end
up not being letter-perfect when the music starts. (Not to mention being
confused if the caller decides to include a give-and-take or a "mad robin"
figure.) They need to know the very basic structure and that the caller
and/or other dancers will tell them (or otherwise communicate to them, with
eyes or pointing or whatever) what they need to know, and also that nobody
expects perfection from them.
-- Alan
Mean Green Dancing Machine
Alan Winston - SSRL Central Computing <win...@SSRL.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU> wrote:
>In article <a931076c.04102...@posting.google.com>, dogl...@shipley.com (Dave O) writes:
>>
>>Can anyone recommend a dance or two for me that would be include
>>some/most of these figures so that they could dance at least one real
>>set to get the feel of progression?
>
>What leaps to mind, with ten people, as including a lot of those
>figures, is "Levi Jackson Rag" (circle, grand chain, right-and-left
>through, promenade, balance, swing, do-si-do). But that's really the
>wrong answer - it's a mixer in an unusual formation.
Very wrong answer at tempo. ;-)
--
--- Aahz <*> (Copyright 2004 by aa...@pobox.com)
Hugs and backrubs -- I break Rule 6 http://rule6.info/
Androgynous poly kinky vanilla queer het Pythonista
Iraq's missing explosives: 380 tons of reasons to vote Kerry
Isiafs5
> How much of a problem will the lack of music be - or will
>it be an advantage?
Count be an advantage. The best teachers that I have seen often have us clap
the beat. This is good for the rythmically impaired such as myself.
Sling Skate
My recommended reading for body fat control:
http://www.geocities.com/~slopitch/drsquat/fredzig.htm
Alan Winston - SSRL Central Computing
>In article <00A3A141...@SSRL.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU>,
>Alan Winston - SSRL Central Computing <win...@SSRL.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU> wrote:
>>In article <a931076c.04102...@posting.google.com>, dogl...@shipley.com (Dave O) writes:
>>>
>>>Can anyone recommend a dance or two for me that would be include
>>>some/most of these figures so that they could dance at least one real
>>>set to get the feel of progression?
>>
>>What leaps to mind, with ten people, as including a lot of those
>>figures, is "Levi Jackson Rag" (circle, grand chain, right-and-left
>>through, promenade, balance, swing, do-si-do). But that's really the
>>wrong answer - it's a mixer in an unusual formation.
>
>Very wrong answer at tempo. ;-)
Well, yeah. (I know you didn't mean anything by it, but I wish you hadn't
snipped my serious suggestion of doing some incredibly simple dance like
"Yankee Doodle" to teach progression, phrasing, and listening to the caller,
rather than trying to give them the all-the-figures-you'll-ever-need class.)
-- Alan
Donna Richoux
wrote:
Which I thought was an excellent suggestion. It reminded me of a
workshop I took part in once with very simple English dances, easy
enough for children, mostly longways like that Yankee Doodle, but fewer
figures than normal so each time through the dance was short. They were
quick to learn and fun in their own right. Does anyone have a list of
such dances?
I also saw Carol Blackman do something similar to teach a crowd of
German square dancers the contra progression -- we did some very simple
sequence over and over until everyone had been up and down the whole
set. I don't remember if we did it to music. Probably.
--
Best -- Donna Richoux
Karen M.
...
> I'm considering doing the teaching without music, too, but only
> because adding music presents some additional logistical
> considerations. Like, I don't have anything I can think of that's
> suitable. How much of a problem will the lack of music be - or will
> it be an advantage?
It's pretty easy to find a dance-length version of a decent contra
tune on a CD. (It's not so easy to read the mouse-print agate-size
type on the back of the tray card.) Or you can dub a tape with
judicious editing to make a tune be dance length. (I did this, back
before dirt was invented, to make my ONS recordings. Now I'm using a
digital editor to preserve my cassettes.)
One you could use (it's not like you have to have it tomorrow,
right? there's time to order it!) is "Full Swing." My favorite fiddle
player says it's "the best contra dance recording I’ve ever
heard." (Hi Jim!)
Reasons to use music:
--easier to grasp the "find the phrase" concept
--more fun than just a regimented drill would be
--takes a bit of pressure of you as they learn what comes next
--if a musician happens to hear your efforts, they'll use those tunes
on the play list
HTH
--Karen M.
Bruce Freeman
"beginner friendly," why do you need to teach this session at all? I
don't doubt you do, it just makes me wonder...
I'm VERY opinionated about teaching (as a search of this group will
reveal). ALL of what is MY OPINION. No one need chime in with that
observation!
Unlike some (who don't seem to have spoken up yet), I favor the
teaching of figures. However, it is a mistake to overemphasize the
teaching of figures. No teaching session is going to make a beginner
an expert. What a beginner needs to know is enough about the dance to
understand what the caller is telling him in the walk-through. Hence,
you teach the figures mainly so that the beginner knows what FIGURES
the NAMES refer to. (NOT the exactly correct way of DOING the
figures. Do you get the distinction?)
DO teach the progression. How else will they know? This is often
omitted in teaching sessions.
If you teach a dance, teach one in which the ONLY interactions are
amongst the two couples in a minor set. No "shadows," "trail
buddies," "last neighbors," or "next neighbors." Don't teach a
"beginners dance" which does not use the normal two-couple minor set,
and instead progressess the entire set one couple at a time. (I think
the Virginia Reel might be one of these, but it's been years since
I've danced that and don't remember.) No promenading around the ring,
etc. Mention these things, "proper" and "improper," Becket formation,
and all the other complications that can ensue, ONLY in passing at the
end of the session, if at all.
Be sure to teach courtesy. Before your beginners even show up for the
session, PLEASE tell them to shower, to wear clean clothes, and to use
no scents, perfumes, perfumed soaps, aftershaves, or strongly scented
mouthwashes or chewing gum. (One would think, with all the TV
commercials, that everbody would know this stuff already. Common
experience at contra dances tells me otherwise. Maybe I have a better
sense of smell than most?)
Also tell them to dress very lightly and bring changeS (plural) of
clothes, and to bring a sweater if afraid of getting cold. Suggest
they bring multiple bandanas for use as sweat bands, handkerchiefs,
etc. They'll thank you for it. Women will probably feel more in
place if they wear skirt and blouse, but remind them to twirl in front
of a mirror as they select the skirt. (They may show off as little or
as much as they want, but they should know what they're showing
off...)
In the session, teach them the proper hand hold. In brief - no thumb
grips. Some beginners use a death grip on their partner of the
moment. I frequently transfer my grasp, in a swing, to their wrist,
so they won't crush my fingers! More specifically, watch those damned
allemand grips! Beginners frequently try dancing off with my thumb!
"More experienced" (hah!) dancers frequently flat-palm me (which at
least doesn't hurt) or use the "flipper grip", (palm at 90 degrees to
forarm, weight taken on the wrist) which is murder on the wrist.
You will probably do better teaching without music. Someone suggested
"Yankee Doodle." Great choice. Right meter. Everybody knows it.
You can sing it along, interrupt when necessary, pick up again. It
has a clear AABB structure and you can count the beats. Don't waste
time finding appropriate music. That's why you go to the dance. (It
STILL amazes me that contra dancing is so blessed with such wonderful
LIVE music and bands!)
Oh, yes! Teach "One step per beat." I don't know WHY callers NEVER
tell beginners that!
When I started contra dancing, I was overwhelmed! I sat out and
watched for two months! (That was NOT shyness, it was part of my
learning curve.) I read books about contra dancing. (Heresy, I know,
but Ralph Page will forgive me because he wrote one of them. A very
nice one too...) In my naivity, I actually wondered HOW I was going
to LEARN ALL THOSE DANCES!! When I got shed of THAT foolishness, I
still wondered how I could possibly remember the sequence of figures
in the current dance.
What many people don't seem to consciously understand is that almost
NO ONE remembers the entire sequence of moves in the dance they're
dancing. EVEN THE CALLER FORGETS, half the time. A large part of
what keeps us dancing correctly is "muscle memory" (as opposed to
conscious memory). This accounts for our remembering without being
able to list back the figures.
But What keeps the dance moving is a wonderful thing that I call
"group memory." Each person (excpet rank beginners - which is why
they can screw up a dance sometimes) remembers SOME of the dance. He
then signals the people he's dancing with with appropriate hand
gestures. These are NOT those asinine wiggling of hands or pointing
over shoulders that some "experienced" dancers engaged in. Rather,
these are the normal, necessary motions of the dance. If I am going
to allemand, my hand goes up for the allemand grip. If I'm going to
swing, my arms go out for the ballroom dance frame. Etc. These
constitute communication to the other dancers. Bottom line, TEACH
BEGINNERS TO WATCH THE OTHER DANCERS AND TO UNDERSTAND WHAT THEY'RE
BEING TOLD BY THESE MOTIONS.
(If you doubt this thesis, BTW, just try, for example, putting your
hand up for an allemand when the proper figure is a hey! Most times,
you'll end up doing an allemand...)
Teach women how men lead a twirl (raising the hand), and how to
decline it.
If you want more from me (hah!), do a search on "unsolicited advice"
and you'll get reems of arguments.
Best of luck. Bring in lots of new dancers for us to share!
Bruce Freeman
The editing gremlin must have got in there. That paragraph should have read:
>
> I'm VERY opinionated about teaching (as a search of this group will
> observation!
kgold
Teach how to swing. It's IMHO the only figure that can't be learned
during a walk through.
Everything else can be picked up at the dance. It's really not that
hard. If anything, too much advance teaching can send the message
that it is hard, and can be intimidating.
Donna Richoux
You must dance somewhere where the evenings have a gentle pace. There
are dance series (for example, Cambridge MA VFW) where the pace is fast
and furious from the outset, with no provision made for beginners.
People who are athletic or experienced at other forms dance can pick it
up, without extra instruction. Average klutzes can't. Some people need
more practice than others.
I can't really knock the VFW, though -- on my last visit, last summer,
the hall was crowded and there was a large contingent of late teens and
twenties folks, next to the oldsters. I just hope there's someplace more
forgiving to bring newcomers.
default
news:4187a...@news1.prserv.net...
Different people learn differently; I'm sure your advice doesn't apply to
everyone (a LOONG time ago I got a confused guy through a hey by saying "you
always pass women on the left and men on the right IN THIS HEY" -- the
pattern of movement just hadn't registered, but he was really confident
about left and right and would put the correct shoulder forward based on
gender. Not that I recommend this in principle, but it was a desperate
moment). But there is certainly advice that applies to everyone -- to smile,
to keep the feet moving, to be assured that there IS a recurring pattern and
that most of us learn the pattern in increments. And that sitting out and
watching really is a good way to get intimidated; it's not as hard as it
looks.
Even the fastest, highest level dances can absorb some percentage of new
people and move them through the line, as long as they aren't balking and
being deer in the headlights -- and maybe if the dances weren't written by
Seth Tepfer ;-).
--Shawn in Seattle
Dave O
ideas, and the quality of the teaching session will be the better for
it.
And I'd like to beg your indulgence to plug the dance once again:
Every Saturday and Monday night, at the Scout House in Concord, Mass.
My group is going on November 20. We will probably not have a good
gender balance, so guys are specially encouraged to come for that
night.
Seattle Eric
> Be sure to teach courtesy. Before your beginners even show up for the
> session, PLEASE tell them to shower, to wear clean clothes, and to use
> no scents, perfumes, perfumed soaps, aftershaves, or strongly scented
> mouthwashes or chewing gum. (One would think, with all the TV
> commercials, that everbody would know this stuff already. Common
> experience at contra dances tells me otherwise. Maybe I have a better
> sense of smell than most?)
People -make that MEN- still wear white socks, nerd-shorts, and sport
comb-overs too, so media penetration isn't the problem.
Michael
>
> This dance (November 20 at the Scout House in Concord, Mass BTW) is
> beginner friendly. What I think they need to learn is basic
> orientation and etiquette, plus the following figures: circle,
> allemande, star, courtesy turn, moves through (as in R&L, or pass),
> hey, balance, swing, gypsy, do-si-do. Am I missing anything?
I teach a lot of beginners workshops.
I frame most of what I teach in terms of connections. When I teach
anything else, I apologize for it.
Here's what I teach:
- It's easy dancing and I won't teach you to dance and the caller
won't teeach you to dance. Community connection is learning from
other dacners.
- Switching partners and learning from the other dancers.
Sometimes I have women practice asking me to dance.
- Quick re-partnering between dances.
"Your partner will probably rapidly thank you and leave at the end of
the dance. That doesn't mean they don't like you"
"You take your time to look around and find the person you would MOST
like to dance with? You sit out..."
-Dance the first few dances.
It's easier than it looks and the early dances will be slower and
simpler (I hate it when I have a large workshop and then the caller
proves both of these to be incorrect.)
-Listening to the caller and watching the other dancers.
"If a caller says 'Gentlemen, put the woman on the right' three times,
he's talking to SOMEONE. Check to see if it is you. But if she is on
your right, don't change that. No matter how many times he repeats
himself."
-It is all walking moves. Point your feet in the direction you are
moving and put your heel down when you walk.
-Making a good frame while circling/ 2hand turn.
I give feedback to each person about their two hand turn. Had a
caller freak once - "But I dont' have any dances that USE a two hand
turn." and forbid me to teach it. But now she recognizes what I'm
doing.
Then I circle in a group again and talk about the connection.
-Getting signals of where you should be through your hands.
-Listening to the music, phrasing.
Once I told a workshop that the caller stops calling. Most of the
people got scared, sat out the first dance "to watch" and left
without dancing. Now, I say "The music will tell you where to be in a
way that is almost magical."
The moves start on a "One" (I usually skip that SOME will start on
the "five")
I show them with "Circle left, circle right, into the center with
shout. Circle left, clrcle right, into the center." (repeat until
they get it without me calling each thing and then
'bop-badop-badop-badop' a tune to demonstrate or sometimes count to 8.
Buncha computer scientists and engineers? I count to 8.)
-Everyone makes mistakes. "Mikhail Baryshnikov will not be coming
tonight, so it will probably be OK."
-Eye contact.
Dizziness, finding where you need to be, and social mores.
-Couples
"The woman is always on the right. If she is over /here\ and I'm
holding her hand? People will think it's because we like each other."
-Swinging. The heart of a "Beginners workshop."
Individual feedback.
"You are beginners. Beginners learn from everyone they dance with.
This is a beginners workshop - I am trying to teach you to be
'beginners' as long as you can be. With the swing this is most
important."
"Sometimes I forget to be a beginner. There's name for that: 'Bad
dancer'. NONE of you will be bad dancers tonight, but *I* might be,
once or twice in the evening." [and, (sigh) I usually am a bad
dancer at one point or another.]
" I've been dancing 20 years. If I decide that my swing is perfect the
way it is, in a month or two you would hear people say 'You know,
Michael USED to be such a fun dancer...' "
-Balances.
They confuse beginners who wonder what to do with their feet.
"The feet are unimportant. The arms and the connection are the move."
OTHER MOVES:
With enough time and enough beginners, then yeah, I'll start teaching
moves.
Any move I teach, I want to have them do 4 times or more. Better to
skip some moves than not do this.
Even a do-si-do - if you show it, you want them to do it a few times.
Until they can, for example, "Do-si-do your partner. Do-si-do your
neighbor. Do-si-do your partner..." up to roughly dance speed.
If you show them and don't have them do it at all, well... hmmm...
A good first dance might have five moves. Showing them 8 or 9 moves
before the first dance will NOT make those 5 moves easier.
If there are enough for a contra line and the gender balance in the
workshop is close, I'll have them line up, hands four, ones rasie your
hands, two raise you hands and one's cross over.
Than have them do something that progesses. Maybe the first dance.
Maybe "Circle left, circle right, pass through to a new group of 4."
I do this until everyone ahs bee to the top or the bottom.
Beginners almost never have a problem with this, but there are few
experienced dancers that mess it up when they take part in it. (shrug)
If I don't have time for this, I strongly resist having them line up.
Then maybe circle left a place and do either a chain or a R&L. Chain
back. Circle, chain, chain back, etc. If I know the first dance,
maybe teach that, whatever.
Sometimes the first dance is better than my "circle left, circle
right, pass..."
In a long workshop, review the swing, with feedback at the end, if you
can. Worth giving up teaching 4 or 5 other moves to do. If the first
dance has a neighbor swing, that's the way to review the swing.
At the end of the workshop, tell them to have fun.
Michael Young
Pitsburgh, PA
Karen M.
> I teach a lot of beginners workshops.
> "If a caller says 'Gentlemen, put the woman on the right' three times,
> he's talking to SOMEONE. Check to see if it is you. But if she is on
> your right, don't change that. No matter how many times he repeats
With my groups of beginners, I like to engage all the brains in the
room. When I invoke Title IX, the gals remember it, and sometimes the
guys do too.
Locally a lot of callers have started saying, "because women are
always right." (So it's not just me; put down that keyboard already!)
HTH
--Karen M.
charlie seelig
Which is exactly what I say when I'm dancing with a beginner and we
have come to the top or the bottom of the line. It's something that
they tend to remember and as long as it is said in a humorous way, no
harm is intended.
Charlie
Duh Martins
couple of easy but catchy dances and let the fun be the teacher. If
you wear your beginner friends out with a lot of information and talk
then why would they ever want to try a public dance? Its bad enough
they pull that crap in the beginner's workshop at the regular dance.
You can counteract that nonsense by introducing your pals to the party
aspect of contra dancing.
Progression, the difference twixt active and inactive, and courtesy
turn are the things that trip up beginners. And balance and swing is
so much fun to do that you could include that in the instruction. I
often use the combination of "Ellen's Green Jig" for a first contra
dance because it has a fun and rock bottom simple progression and
Lanny Melamed's "Le Set A Crochet" mixer for its easy intro to
courtesy turn:
ELLEN'S GREEN JIG
A1 dosido neighbor
dosido partner
A2 actives balance and swing
B1 circle left and right
B2 duck fer the oystcher, dive fer the clayam
duck through the hole in the ole tin cayan
(Without dropping hands in the circle, actives duck partially under
inactives arch and back, the inactives duck under actives arch and
back, then actives drop neighbors' hands and dive through inactives
arch and all face new neighbors. The original version has a handshake
with neighbor before dosido.)
LE SET A CROCHET
A1 Couples promenade in any direction on the floor with arm around
partner's waist rather than skater's hold
A2 Find another couple and gent's hook left elbows, keep arm around
partner and sweep the floor like a big propeller
B1 Release elbows and couples face. Ladies chain over and back
B2 Ladies chain one more time and swing that guy, their new partner
Bill
andrea rose
we just got finished with our folk dancing section. The class was
actually split up into groups and had to research and figure out the
dance by what was written on the paper. Then the group had to perform
and teach it to the rest of the class. We found that starting out
teaching in lines and then moving into the formation that the dance is
supposed to be done was a lot easier (for example, a circle). An
excellent way to get students to remember is teach the first 4 or 8
counts and then repeat it until everyone has it. Next teach the next
section of counts and repeat it until everyone is comfortable. Then,
start at the beginning and put the pieces together. Also at the
college level with education majors, I felt that learning it,
researching it, and teaching it was a good way to practice and get a
little experience.
Ears
> I am a moderately experienced contra dancer who is organizing a group
> of newbies to go to a dance.
> Any thoughts or comments are most welcome.
Ah, beginner's workshops. Interesting topic. Much thought, some experience
in leading same, some experience inviting novice friends and trying to give
them a head start. If the following sounds off the wall, please forgive me.
Or maybe we just get a different mutation of "beginner" out here in the
flatlands. It seems like everybody arrives knowing how to do a do-si-do,
usually with firmly and confidently crossed arms (where do they ^get^
that?). But I digress.
It works a little differently with groups and individuals. You asked about
groups. I think the best thing you can do for a beginner, the most help
with the fewest complications, is to teach the concept of weight, or "giving
weight.". First. And standing still. Why? If I'm a beginner and I know
nothing about what's happening to me, but I'm able to give weight with those
I encounter in the dances, they will be able to help me with no additional
teaching effort by simply doing the dance. I could rhapsodize about the
wonderful subtlety of tiny directional suggestions from the hand of a more
experienced dancer to the hand of a novice and what that does to the
novice's feeling of confidence and "not messing up everybody else," and
compare that to the train wreck for ALL when a lost non-weight giver comes
along, but again I digress.
With a small group of beginners, I've gotten everyone into a circle,
alternating gender if possible, and then demonstrated and talked the guys
into an "elbows bent, palms up" position, have the gals do "elbows bent,
palms down," and join hands, and then get everyone to lean back, take a
little step back, stick their butt out, whatever language works to get
everyone to do their part in holding the circle together. It's usually
pretty apparent when someone hasn't got it yet. Keep talking, even to
specific individuals, until everybody is tuned in and doing it. "The
tension is in your arms, not your fingers or thumbs." In less than a
minute, the whole group understands and has successfully created the feeling
of giving weight. And we haven't moved! The instant learning is frequently
so much fun that people want to overdo it just to show off. How's that for
getting rid of beginner inhibitions? Sometimes circles of four seem to work
better, and I join each group briefly to make sure it is going well.
Next step is to be able to do that whilst walking, and it's not always an
easy transition. This part keeps getting revised. Current "best way" is to
keep hands joined in the circle but relax the tension, limp arms, and circle
left. "Do it wrong." Stop. Recreate weight with everyone participating,
while standing still (one needs to know how to turn it on and off in a dance
anyway). Keep that tension and connectedness, and circle left. Usually
everyone is smiling by now, and it's pretty obvious which way is more fun.
Then if we're not already there, I suggest circles of four, and don't move
until the weight is working. Circle left, circle right, into
the center and back with continuous tension (keep those elbows bent!).
It's time for couples. I start with allemande right position, standing
still. If you aren't giving weight, moving isn't going to help. Do a
little bit too much, then not enough. Try to find the right range.
Allemande left. Allemande right (start and stop practice).
Now face opposite directions, put your right little toes close to each
other, and join both hands. Get the weight thing going and circle left,
with both people going forward, and you're doing a two hand swing. Stop.
Keep his left hand and her right just like they were, but have the guy put
his right hand in the middle of her back, with her left hand on his
shoulder, and if
you turn together like that, you're swinging. I know everybody doesn't
swing like that. I don't either, all the time, but it's a good teaching
tool for demonstrating the importance of both people giving weight in the
swing. Change partners and go back to "It's time for couples." Change
partners several times.
So, in a few minutes you've taught a whole group of beginners how to give
weight and how to swing, and they probably had fun doing it and are charged
up and ready for the dance!
There is a small downside to this approach: novice dancers with "weight
training" tend to present as more experienced than they really are to other
dancers, and other dancers may expect too much of them as a result (the
upside to ^this^ is that they are assimilated more quickly).
Maybe I should have said this first, but teaching figures seems to be a
little counterproductive for me. It gets the novices to the point
of recognizing the names of the figures, but during the program some get
rattled because they don't remember, or stop (moving and listening) to try
and figure it out ('course, there are a lot of engineers around here 8^).
If I had to choose between teaching weight or figures to beginners, weight
would win every time.
None of the preceding attempts to suggest that this is the right way, the
only way, or even a better way, just that it works for me. Viva la
diversity!
Wishing you much success,
Ears
"Dave O" <dogl...@shipley.com> wrote in message
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