Anyone Can Teach Me to Dance, Right? Part 1

What Difference Does The Teacher Make, Anyway?  

Recently a dance student commented to me, “I don’t think the teacher makes much difference when I’m just beginning.  Maybe when I get up to the intermediate level the teacher will be important, but not now.”

Whoa! -- That’s exactly backwards.  The most important time to have a really good teacher in anything -- dance included -- is in the beginning.  And it’s entirely possible that without a good beginning in dance you’ll never get to that “intermediate” level, no matter how many fancy moves you think you’re going to memorize.

Why?

Because it’s in the beginning that...

...you have the steepest learning curve.

...you create the foundation for everything else you will understand and learn about how to dance. 

...you form the habits -- good and bad -- that will carry you throughout your dancing life.

...you’ll decide whether you “love” or “hate” dancing.

...you’ll decide whether you “can” or “can’t” dance.

...you’ll be most influenced in all of this -- by your dance teacher.

About That Learning Curve

Learning to dance isn’t easy at first.  It’s FUN! -- but not necessarily easy in the beginning.  That’s because there’s lots going on -- lots to remember, coordinate and practice for both partners.  And it takes a bit of concerted effort.  Remember when you learned to ride a bike?  Or play the piano?  Or roller blade?  Or speak a foreign language?  Or any of hundreds of other things you’ve learned in your lifetime?  They all took some concerted effort in the beginning to get over that “hump” -- past that steep early learning curve to where things evened out and you started to get the sense that, “Yes!” you could do this!  Well, learning to dance is like that.  A good dance teacher can organize that early process in a way that makes sense to you and then feed you little chunks in a consistent order that builds upon itself until you have an understandable mental and physical connection that is the beginning of dancing.  A good teacher will introduce appropriate new material at just the right time while bringing previously introduced material along with continued practice and integration into the whole.  And all the while s/he can present it to you in a way that is coherent and easily assimilated and reproduced, so that you can quickly gain new skills -- often even “on the fly” -- that is, while you are dancing!

 Whew!  That’s a tall order, and to be able to do that well takes a special talent and skill.  It’s what makes a good teacher good.

Creating a Foundation

Besides the steps -- (where you put your foot) -- a solid foundation in the basics of any dance gives you a feel for the music and the dance so you can begin to get the style into your body and connect to your partner and back to the music.  Without that feel for the music and the style of the dance, students end up just counting steps and walking robotically through memorized moves or patterns -- which isn’t dancing -- it’s walking robotically in circles or in crazy lines in a big room with a flat floor.  Entertaining for awhile, but ultimately crashingly boring.  A good dance teacher has a deep feeling for the music and style of the dance and an excellent ability to clearly transmit that into your mind and body, and s/he can help you get the whole dance into your body so you learn to really dance.

A solid foundation in the basics of dance also gives you techniques for dancing your role (lead or follow) making it easier and more fun -- and partnering skills -- techniques, tips and timing so you can become a truly good partner, no matter which role you dance.  There is a secret language to partnering that, when you know it, can make dancing a hypnotic/transformative/soulful/exhilarating/euphoric/exquisite -- you-choose-the-adjective -- experience.  A good dance teacher has a solid command of both roles, is fluent in this secret language and can help you learn it so that you can become fluent in it, too. 

Forming Habits

It’s also in the beginning that you form the habits -- good and bad -- that you’ll likely practice throughout your dancing life.  It’s much easier to learn something the “right” way the first time.  “Right” being the way that is the easiest to do, produces the most successful results, feels best, is nicest to your partner and others on the dance floor, looks cool, makes you the most fun and interesting dance partner, etc.  That said, understand that social dancing is an art, not a science.  There is no one “right” way to dance.  But there are ways to dance that are more effective, safer and feel better for everyone, than other ways.  It’s much easier to learn these good habits from the beginning than to learn ineffective or unsafe ways of dancing and then struggle to unlearn them later, or run the risk of becoming an unwelcome or unsafe dancer or dance partner.  A good dance teacher understands all this and can help you learn good habits from the beginning -- and avoid those bad habits so you never have to deal with them.

Love It or Hate It?

It’s in the beginning that you’ll decide how you feel about dancing.  Remember that traumatic childhood experience that put you off lima beans -- or something?  Or that favorite teacher who inspired you to become  _________ (you fill in the blank)?  Well, your first dance lessons could easily become your next lima-beanly or inspirationally transformative experience.  And your teacher will be very influential in that.  If s/he makes it seem easy and helps you over the hard parts, if you like the music, if the teacher and the others are welcoming, encouraging and friendly, if you have fun and feel successful at your first few lessons, you’re more likely to decide you like dancing.  And you’re more likely to continue doing it -- giving yourself a great new hobby (and skill) and the world another welcome new dance convert.

Deciding you “Can”, Declaring you “Can’t” -- Dance

As a general rule, people in this country no longer grow up dancing in their families and in their communities like they do in other parts of the world.  So we’re deprived of the opportunity to learn this gloriously fun communal activity when we are still young enough to know that we can learn anything.  This makes the role of the dance teacher all the more critical in your decision about whether you “can” or “can’t” dance. (Or in retrieving a self-proclaimed, “Can’t”  from the dance-dust-bin and establishing that new dancer on the dance floor.)  There is a natural dancer inherent in each and every one of us.  Some day I’ll write about this, for now, try to trust that it just might be true.  A good dance teacher can see that natural dancer in you -- even if you can’t -- and s/he will be able to bring that dancer out onto the floor in ways that will amaze and delight you -- if you let that happen.

The Beginning Teacher’s Influence

The chances are that if you’re reading this, you’re an adult, fully in charge of yourself, sophisticated in life and able to negotiate the world quite well.  However, no matter how sophisticated and worldly-wise you are in the rest of your life, it’s in the beginning of any new endeavor -- and dance is certainly included in this -- that you are at your least knowledgeable and sophisticated point -- and those around you have the most influence over your experience.  Since s/he is the authority figure that you are turning to, it is at this point that your dance teacher has the most influence in determining what you will learn, what kind of experience you’ll have, what habits you’ll form, and what kinds of decisions you’ll make about dancing.  A really good dance teacher is your favorite adult/parental figure, best primary school teacher and high school coach, most fun friend, and most respected and inspirational college or university professor -- all rolled into one.  And s/he has to be.  Teaching is tough.  Teaching adults is challenging.  And teaching adults to dance -- in our culture -- takes a particular combination of skill, insight and generosity of mind, heart and spirit.  Bless the good dance teacher when you find him/her. 

So you see, for all of these reasons the most important time to search for a really good dance teacher is in the very beginning.  That’s also when it’s the most difficult, because you have the fewest resources from which to draw and the least information upon which to make a decision.  In part 2, we’ll discuss in detail what makes a good dance teacher and what to look for in finding the right teacher for you.

Happy dancing!

Linda Townsend is a dance instructor and owner of Dance! Eclectic.  She teaches many kinds of Waltz, Swing, Blues and other social dances.  She also gives private lessons and teaches a Dance Movement series where social dance students learn to go beyond the steps and dance with their whole bodies. She has a unique talent for connecting with people of all ages, and her passion for dance is infectious.  She’s been teaching people from 9 to 90 to dance for over 10 years.    Click here to find her profile and more about her classes.