As I mentioned in an earlier post, I recently took over teaching the popping classes put on at Vibestreet Dance. The story behind this is that our existing instructor fell into a wormhole and is now selling potted meat at Zarglon-7. Or something to this effect. Whatever he ended up doing, he sent Brooke a text message saying "Sorry, I can't teach any more. Good luck", and that was the last we heard of him. Pretty flakey.
Taking over for Dillon is/was pretty intimidating. Dillon is, by my standards, a pretty good dancer. His technique is simply much cleaner and refined than my own. Although I believe that I have a lot of innate dance talent, I've struggled to motivate myself to practice, because Victoria has never had a culture surrounding the styles (we're working to change that).
While Dillon's ability on the dance floor certainly surpasses my own, it's my own belief that his teaching ability is severely lacking. This isn't a diss on Dillon or anything, as I've already stated that I have great respect for his ability to bust out; It's simply an observation. Some people are good at breaking things down and explaining them, and some people understand things on an intuitive level but are unable to share that knowledge with others.
The main thought I try to hold in my head each time I start to doubt my own ability to teach is to remind myself that while I may not be a super advanced dancer, I do spend a lot of time thinking about dancing, and I am naturally inclined to break things down and think about the fundamental units that make up each technique.
Yesterday marked the last of the six classes that I initially signed up for this term, and the last of two lessons that I was due to teach after taking over for Dillon. This term, I've taught a total of four classes: two of them to teens, and two of them to adults. The adult class is the one that I was previously taking, but both classes are roughly operating on the same skill level.
This post is simply an opportunity for me to reflect on the experience so far, talk about some of the things that I've learned, challenges I've had to overcome, mountains I've had to climb, and other clichés too numerous to mention.
Taking on the role of an instructor instead of an annoying student that asks too many questions has not been without challenges. The least of which simply having the confidence in myself to accept the fact that I know enough to break down and teach the styles of dance I've been pursuing casually for all these years.
Fortunately, I've got some experience to draw upon, mostly from teaching friends tricks here and there. Teaching Michi to pop when we first met has given me valuable experience to draw upon, and helped me appreciate the fact that everyone learn things at their own pace and in their own manner. Incidentally, be sure to check out some of Michi's videos - the student has truly become the master!
Lesson Plans
Putting together lesson plans has been another challenge to overcome. Figuring out the right number of exercises to review with a class is something that I think will only come with experience. The first class I completely underestimated how much time we would need to take to review the Fresno. As an example, I started off with the assumption that we could go right into covering both leg and upper body hits. However, as we started this, I realized that we would probably be better served breaking things down even further, focusing first only on leg hits, then on upper body hits, and then bringing them both together into the Fresno.
The second class, I had put together some more work for our Fresno, but this time overestimated the amount of time that we would end up spending working on this (based on my observations from the previous class). After covering off the basics thoroughly the previous class, we blew through the other stuff I'd put together, and sticking to it for longer seemed like it would only frustrate students who wanted to progress and tackle something new.
What's the lesson here? I think basically the best approach is to underestimate how much time will be required to cover each technique, and plan more stuff than will likely be needed for each lesson. I can then move anything in excess over into next week's lesson, and will have ample material to iterate over if the class progresses faster than I anticipate.
Quantity over Quality
Another item that I'm still learning is how much should be covered in a class (quantity), versus how much time we should spend on drilling each technique (quality). The longer we spend practicing each step, the better the class will grasp the concept and technique, and the easier it will be for them to practice that technique later on their own. However, the longer we spend, the less new material the class are given to work on, and the more likely they are to become bored with the class and what we're working on.
This too feels like something that will come with experience. I have a reasonably good grasp of how the class is responding to what we are working on, but I would really like to tighten this up. I suppose my desire is the same as most teachers - I want to see my students get stoked, really improve, and become great dancers. Finding a balance between drilling good technique and keeping things fun is going to be one of my main goals throughout this summer.
Tediousness
One of the things that has always been challenging for me, and for people that I have attempted to teach, is the fact that some of the techniques in popping are difficult and take time to learn. And when I mean they take time, I mean they require putting some effort into drilling basic movements that initially will not immediately be obvious as to how they connect with the end result.
The most prominent example of this occurred last night when I was teaching the class gliding. Gliding is a very popular technique, and for a number of reasons. First, it looks ridiculously cool when it's done well. Second, gliding is a technique that is easy to integrate into whatever other techniques you are doing. You can Fresno for a while, glide over to a new space on the dance floor, and then start your Fresno up again. Lastly, when done well, gliding appears effortless and graceful. The dancer just stands there and moves gracefully around the room.
These three elements combine to make the perfect storm. The student sees how smooth and graceful the glide looks, and immediately wants these results. Unfortunately, gliding is not a technique that comes easily, and it requires practicing some basic drills and honing your balance before you are able to see the results that you want.
The biggest problem I felt I was encountering was taking the class through the fundamentals and the basics while maintaining their interest and avoiding discouraging them. Becoming discouraged means that the student gives up hope that they will be able to glide with practice, and that puts an end to their progression. A discouraged student is always going to be a signal to myself that I have failed in some way and need to adapt my learning plan.
I have not yet figured out the best way to work with the class towards learning gliding, but this is something I will definitely be working towards. It may be the case that it is better digested in small chunks, having the class learn only floating in one class, then moving on to the sliding transition the next class, then the transfer of weight the following class, and so on.
Planning
For both classes, I've put a fair amount of preparation in beforehand. When I am anxious about taking on something new, my experience has shown me that the best way to calm those nerves is to spend time preparing. The more I think about something, the better I can wrap my head around it and don't have to worry about unknowns popping up and turning everything on its head.
However, preparation is an iterative art, and preparing to give lessons is something new that I haven't done in the past. In the past two weeks, a couple of events have popped up and thrown me off.
Last Saturday, our studio's amp/stereo died on us, meaning that I had to play music out of my laptop's speakers, or not at all. Popping without music is akin to simply doing moves (thanks for the feedback Graham!). If you're not moving to the music, you're not dancing. Without music, it's much more difficult for student's to connect what they're doing to form an actual dance, and doing drills starts to feel like only that - just doing drills, rather than building up a foundation from which you'll drawn upon when it's time to get out there and dance.
As a result of the faulty stereo, I didn't put as much time as I should have into the music I'd pulled out for our class on Monday. The first class was easier, as I simply searched through my playlist and found good hiphop with slow beats. However, given that I couldn't really roll with music on Saturday, I neglected to find new appropriate music for what we were going to work on this Monday. As a result, I had to forego the music and stick to counting out beats. This is okay at first, but it rapidly gets old, and it's not really dancing, it's doing drills.
To accommodate for better planning, I've started booking time off each week to sit down and plan things out. With the time slotted off in my calendar, I'll make a point of doing the work and ensuring that everything is up to shape.
Next Term
So that's it! The end of our Spring term at VSD, and the end of the first series of classes that I've taught. Unfortunately it doesn't sound like we have enough students to keep a kid's class going, but I'm hoping that we get enough together to maintain adult classes. We're working towards some other ideas as well, and those will get posted on the VSD website (here), as well as here. If you're interested in any kind of popping instruction, write me a comment, send me an e-mail, or sign up for a class!
Keep it locked, and get out and start dancing!
Taking over for Dillon is/was pretty intimidating. Dillon is, by my standards, a pretty good dancer. His technique is simply much cleaner and refined than my own. Although I believe that I have a lot of innate dance talent, I've struggled to motivate myself to practice, because Victoria has never had a culture surrounding the styles (we're working to change that).
While Dillon's ability on the dance floor certainly surpasses my own, it's my own belief that his teaching ability is severely lacking. This isn't a diss on Dillon or anything, as I've already stated that I have great respect for his ability to bust out; It's simply an observation. Some people are good at breaking things down and explaining them, and some people understand things on an intuitive level but are unable to share that knowledge with others.
The main thought I try to hold in my head each time I start to doubt my own ability to teach is to remind myself that while I may not be a super advanced dancer, I do spend a lot of time thinking about dancing, and I am naturally inclined to break things down and think about the fundamental units that make up each technique.
Yesterday marked the last of the six classes that I initially signed up for this term, and the last of two lessons that I was due to teach after taking over for Dillon. This term, I've taught a total of four classes: two of them to teens, and two of them to adults. The adult class is the one that I was previously taking, but both classes are roughly operating on the same skill level.
This post is simply an opportunity for me to reflect on the experience so far, talk about some of the things that I've learned, challenges I've had to overcome, mountains I've had to climb, and other clichés too numerous to mention.
Taking on the role of an instructor instead of an annoying student that asks too many questions has not been without challenges. The least of which simply having the confidence in myself to accept the fact that I know enough to break down and teach the styles of dance I've been pursuing casually for all these years.
Fortunately, I've got some experience to draw upon, mostly from teaching friends tricks here and there. Teaching Michi to pop when we first met has given me valuable experience to draw upon, and helped me appreciate the fact that everyone learn things at their own pace and in their own manner. Incidentally, be sure to check out some of Michi's videos - the student has truly become the master!
Lesson Plans
Putting together lesson plans has been another challenge to overcome. Figuring out the right number of exercises to review with a class is something that I think will only come with experience. The first class I completely underestimated how much time we would need to take to review the Fresno. As an example, I started off with the assumption that we could go right into covering both leg and upper body hits. However, as we started this, I realized that we would probably be better served breaking things down even further, focusing first only on leg hits, then on upper body hits, and then bringing them both together into the Fresno.
The second class, I had put together some more work for our Fresno, but this time overestimated the amount of time that we would end up spending working on this (based on my observations from the previous class). After covering off the basics thoroughly the previous class, we blew through the other stuff I'd put together, and sticking to it for longer seemed like it would only frustrate students who wanted to progress and tackle something new.
What's the lesson here? I think basically the best approach is to underestimate how much time will be required to cover each technique, and plan more stuff than will likely be needed for each lesson. I can then move anything in excess over into next week's lesson, and will have ample material to iterate over if the class progresses faster than I anticipate.
Quantity over Quality
Another item that I'm still learning is how much should be covered in a class (quantity), versus how much time we should spend on drilling each technique (quality). The longer we spend practicing each step, the better the class will grasp the concept and technique, and the easier it will be for them to practice that technique later on their own. However, the longer we spend, the less new material the class are given to work on, and the more likely they are to become bored with the class and what we're working on.
This too feels like something that will come with experience. I have a reasonably good grasp of how the class is responding to what we are working on, but I would really like to tighten this up. I suppose my desire is the same as most teachers - I want to see my students get stoked, really improve, and become great dancers. Finding a balance between drilling good technique and keeping things fun is going to be one of my main goals throughout this summer.
Tediousness
One of the things that has always been challenging for me, and for people that I have attempted to teach, is the fact that some of the techniques in popping are difficult and take time to learn. And when I mean they take time, I mean they require putting some effort into drilling basic movements that initially will not immediately be obvious as to how they connect with the end result.
The most prominent example of this occurred last night when I was teaching the class gliding. Gliding is a very popular technique, and for a number of reasons. First, it looks ridiculously cool when it's done well. Second, gliding is a technique that is easy to integrate into whatever other techniques you are doing. You can Fresno for a while, glide over to a new space on the dance floor, and then start your Fresno up again. Lastly, when done well, gliding appears effortless and graceful. The dancer just stands there and moves gracefully around the room.
These three elements combine to make the perfect storm. The student sees how smooth and graceful the glide looks, and immediately wants these results. Unfortunately, gliding is not a technique that comes easily, and it requires practicing some basic drills and honing your balance before you are able to see the results that you want.
The biggest problem I felt I was encountering was taking the class through the fundamentals and the basics while maintaining their interest and avoiding discouraging them. Becoming discouraged means that the student gives up hope that they will be able to glide with practice, and that puts an end to their progression. A discouraged student is always going to be a signal to myself that I have failed in some way and need to adapt my learning plan.
I have not yet figured out the best way to work with the class towards learning gliding, but this is something I will definitely be working towards. It may be the case that it is better digested in small chunks, having the class learn only floating in one class, then moving on to the sliding transition the next class, then the transfer of weight the following class, and so on.
Planning
For both classes, I've put a fair amount of preparation in beforehand. When I am anxious about taking on something new, my experience has shown me that the best way to calm those nerves is to spend time preparing. The more I think about something, the better I can wrap my head around it and don't have to worry about unknowns popping up and turning everything on its head.
However, preparation is an iterative art, and preparing to give lessons is something new that I haven't done in the past. In the past two weeks, a couple of events have popped up and thrown me off.
Last Saturday, our studio's amp/stereo died on us, meaning that I had to play music out of my laptop's speakers, or not at all. Popping without music is akin to simply doing moves (thanks for the feedback Graham!). If you're not moving to the music, you're not dancing. Without music, it's much more difficult for student's to connect what they're doing to form an actual dance, and doing drills starts to feel like only that - just doing drills, rather than building up a foundation from which you'll drawn upon when it's time to get out there and dance.
As a result of the faulty stereo, I didn't put as much time as I should have into the music I'd pulled out for our class on Monday. The first class was easier, as I simply searched through my playlist and found good hiphop with slow beats. However, given that I couldn't really roll with music on Saturday, I neglected to find new appropriate music for what we were going to work on this Monday. As a result, I had to forego the music and stick to counting out beats. This is okay at first, but it rapidly gets old, and it's not really dancing, it's doing drills.
To accommodate for better planning, I've started booking time off each week to sit down and plan things out. With the time slotted off in my calendar, I'll make a point of doing the work and ensuring that everything is up to shape.
Next Term
So that's it! The end of our Spring term at VSD, and the end of the first series of classes that I've taught. Unfortunately it doesn't sound like we have enough students to keep a kid's class going, but I'm hoping that we get enough together to maintain adult classes. We're working towards some other ideas as well, and those will get posted on the VSD website (here), as well as here. If you're interested in any kind of popping instruction, write me a comment, send me an e-mail, or sign up for a class!
Keep it locked, and get out and start dancing!
Leave a comment