Candid Report on Teaching My First Class

You can buy the above gorgeous art by Martha League Here.


Well, guys, here is a story.
I used to go to camp every year as a teen. I loved it, and there was a group of "elders" ( people in their mid twenties), who took us. They were there for us, we cried with them, played games with them, they prepared all of our meals, and the whole experience was, well, great. Then I turned 19 and was too old to go as a teen, so they asked me to go as an "elder".
   It was disorienting, being on the other side of things. Not bad,just weird switching roles. It took some time for me to get used to it.
     This is how teaching my first bellydance class went last night. It was strange. Not bad, just weird being "on the other side of the classroom".
    It was odd watching 8 strained faces trying to imitate what I was doing. You gotta understand that for 13 years ( this year it will be the magic 13), of being a student, I am now a teacher. I have been the one giving the bewildered looks, now I am the one watching them being given. Weird. I am sort of still digesting it.

      The structure of the class went well, I was uber-prepared. I had handouts, playlists for warm up, dance circle, straight beledi, and cool down. I got there early, I had all of my ducks in a row.
I started the class by introducing myself, explaining a bit about bellydance, cabaret in particular, and then PUSHING Basic Bellydance Posture.

    
   As a student you are one person looking at one person ( the teacher, and you really don't pay attention too much to the other students). As a teacher you are looking at ( and trying to evaluate) bunches of people at once. I know I cannot in any way help the way people feel, but I do try to evaluate where people are in terms of comfort level. I think that is the basic responsibility of any teacher. But it was challenging to try to maintain a status quo, when I knew that Student A was having a much harder time than Student B, who seemed o.k., while Student C was barely keeping up, and Student D looked like they wanted to bolt for the door. I think you need to have a lesson plan, but then be ready to scrap/re-tool it based on the status quo of the students. I think you have to sort of have a medium level of where everyone is at, and base what you do on that. This was my very first time doing this and it was interesting. I have never taught dance ( just a bit of bellyrobics, and a few witchcraft classes), and trying to gauge and then evaluate at a moments notice, was, well, an experience.
    After my introduction we learned snake hips/reversed, and then figure 8 hips/ reversed. Then we did hands. I knew hands would be easy and accessible to everyone and a nice empowering way to end the class.

      Things I learned....

1. I underestimated how hard this would be for people. I have been doing this for so long I forgot that this kind of movement is completely different than anything most women have ever done. We warmed up super well, and I made them stay tucked, but I KNOW those ladies are gonna be soreeeeeee today. They also looked really challenged by the move,so I question that maybe I should have started with something easier.

2. I am really good at this. I am always looking ahead and trying to be better, without really gauging where I am, and a room full of beginners will make any bellydancer feel like they are the Queen, but starting at the beginning again is a good measurement of exactly where you are as a dancer. I am always trying to be better, but never taking stock of where I am. Teaching the basics helped me see the journey, from the beginning. Like a graduate looking back at what it felt like to be a freshman.

3. If the students looked like they were struggling it made me feel bad. Not for myself but, I don't want anyone to feel bad. I know this is completely unrealistic, and people are going to feel the way they feel, but in my happy- flower- rainbow-world everyone loves everything all of the time, and no one feels bad. I guess the only thing I can do is explain the hell out of everything, and encourage encourage encourage.

4. My goal of wanting to inspire them seemed to work. At the end when we were "playing" with our hands, there was one woman who was clearly having a good time. When I pointed at her and said "you got it, girl", she said " I am just expressing". ( this taken from my speech at the beginning of the class about wanting to help them have another means of expression-dance).

5. I am decent at explaining things, but that doesn't account for muscle memory. Someone who plays tennis for a living could be fabulous at telling me how to play, but since I have never played, I would probably still suck pretty bad at it until my muscles figured out how to do it.

6. I had an almost overwhelming respect for each woman that walked in the door. Not only because it was a butt-ass freezing cold January night, when most of us would rather be on the sofa, but for trying something new. Trying something new is always a little scary, especially something kind of intimidating like bellydance.

So all in all it was a good experience. I know that I will probably learn more than I teach, and of that I am glad.
    Even though I have a clear direction I want to go with the classes, I appreciate any advice or insight any teachers want to offer.