Thread: Teaching Delima- Aerobic?

I'm now teaching several classes a week which has been great overall but I have a problem. I'm losing students in one of my classes. It's a class of usually about 15-25 middle aged and older women whose last teacher quit for personal reasons. Well my style is heavy on technique and then I like to drill with combinations and do some lead and follow. I teach a choreography every six weeks and I end with some free-styling. My other classes really enjoy this format. However in this class they want a more high impact format. Their last teacher taught a very aerobic class with little emphasis on technique from what I can tell. (seems that what she did teach them is opposite of what I know as good technique, for instance she taught them to hold their stomach in all the time.) I have to spend alot of time correcting poor technique and so I have a hard time making the class more intense when the technique is so bad. Also alot of the older women have a hard time keeping up. Now I know that people like to be challenged and I thought that's what I was doing because some of them have to take breaks throughout. What's interesting is one of the older ladies with probably the worst technique and who has to often stop for breaks is the main one complaining.

So my delima is;
do I take up the level even tho they can't do it?
do I mix the dance with aerobics?
do I just stick to beginner technique and make it very repetitive and fast?

My style is not very aerobics teacher like, you know like the all the jumping and screaming and stuff.
I teach Egyptian style for goodness sake.

I don't know what to do about it, I know all this fusion sells but I don't want to kill these ladies or cause injury either.
What do you all think?

As long as they are not injuring themselves, go easy on the technique. Most people take up bellydancing for fun - unless they have plans to go pro, a technique heavy class will bore them and you will loose students.

I teach two "belly-robic" type classes, and I do not do "jumping and screaming" aerobics stuff - I just don't dwell on the technique stuff. Proper posture is important, anything beyond that (for hobbyists) is boring!

Make them do choo-choo shimmies for 10 minutes, that'll shut them up about taking it up a notch!

Rakgirl, I think your class format sounds great just as it is. If you modify it to make it aerobic, not only will it slow your students' learning of technique, it will probably make it worse. Nothing is worse for learning movement than repeating something wrong or suboptimal many times.

Anyway, a once per week class (assuming that is what it is) is not going to yield them any meaningful improvements in aerobic fitness. They'll just end up getting a bunch of nothing but poor dance technique pounded into muscle memory.

My experience is that basic belly dance drills, while not aerobic, are challenging and fairly strenuous when done correctly. Tell the whiners that if they aren't getting tired, they aren't doing it right!

thank you Daniella- I would agree except that my other classes seem to enjoy it emensely and they are improving alot. I think the biggest problem for them is that they think that the way their last teacher did it is the only way. in your bellyrobic classes who much actual ME dance technique do you use? I mean is it like grapevine with a hip drop then leg lifts and a shimmy at the end. I like the idea about the choo choo shimmy but that's what i already do. I took from Aziza doing alot more shimmying in my classes and they can't keep up. So I think it's more so that they want the same kind of class they had before with the party atmosphere.

Thanks Sedonia, I totally agree that if you can't feel it you're not doing it right. That's what they got before all that poor technique pounded into their muscle memory. I don't want to be the kind of teacher who's just like anything goes. I really love this dance and i'm so dedicated to it, I can't just teach it all whilly nilly. I don't want to lose this job but if that's the kind of teacher they want, I'm not the one.

Originally Posted by rakgirl

thank you Daniella- I would agree except that my other classes seem to enjoy it emensely and they are improving alot. I think the biggest problem for them is that they think that the way their last teacher did it is the only way. in your bellyrobic classes who much actual ME dance technique do you use? I mean is it like grapevine with a hip drop then leg lifts and a shimmy at the end. I like the idea about the choo choo shimmy but that's what i already do. I took from Aziza doing alot more shimmying in my classes and they can't keep up. So I think it's more so that they want the same kind of class they had before with the party atmosphere.

Here is what I do in my "belly robics" class:

Warm up: Snake arms, wrist circles, figure eights with hips (horizontal), some unduations, and some light streching

Drills: Each of these gets one song - chest isolations (pops, slides, circles - their abs are always killing by the end of the song), shoulder shimmies (with traveling), hip shimmies ("bent-knee" and egyptian "straight leg"), hip drops (singles, doubles, fours, and with a kick).

Then we work on a choregraphy. I teach them a little bit each week - I make sure each section can be done independently, because it is a gym with drop-ins who might be there for the first time. But when you put all the sections together, it's a real choreo.

Then a cool down, which is either follow-the-leader (me) or improv to a slow song.

Everything we do is actual bellydance moves. Not just a grapevine with a hip drop to make it "bellydance" (although we do use grapevines, but I can assure you that they are actual bellydance grapevines!). My students LOVE the class - and it keeps their attention. I've had some of the same students for four years, and I always get new ones too.

Originally Posted by danielabellydance

Here is what I do in my "belly robics" class:

Warm up: Snake arms, wrist circles, figure eights with hips (horizontal), some unduations, and some light streching

Drills: Each of these gets one song - chest isolations (pops, slides, circles - their abs are always killing by the end of the song), shoulder shimmies (with traveling), hip shimmies ("bent-knee" and egyptian "straight leg"), hip drops (singles, doubles, fours, and with a kick).

Then we work on a choregraphy. I teach them a little bit each week - I make sure each section can be done independently, because it is a gym with drop-ins who might be there for the first time. But when you put all the sections together, it's a real choreo.

thanks Daniella
that sounds like my class and I think that would be something they would be complaining about. It sounds to me like their last teacher didn't do half as much actual moves as you do. It sounds like they were just dancing however they wanted to and having house wife gab fest time.

Thank you guys for reassuring me I was starting to second guess my teaching.

I'm upfront about the fact that my beginner classes are not terribly aerobic. I choose to focus on a lot of technique and drilling, which promotes body awareness, muscle memory, flexibility and strength. I know a local instructors who teaches more of a belly-robic format, and if I know that's what a student is looking for, I'll refer them to her. I don't think that we should feel like we need to be all things to all of our students - sometimes it's just not a good student/teacher fit, and neither party is wrong or at fault.

That said, now that I've been taking Zumba regularly, I've been toying with the idea of teaching a specialized belly-robics class myself, which would be advertised as a fitness class, as opposed to a dance class. But I'm going to wait until I get my group fitness certification before I go there.

You said something about a "party atmosphere" with the previous teacher. Maybe the issue isn't that they want more aerobics. Maybe the issue is that they feel intimidated by all the corrections they are receiving from you. Or maybe they're struggling to memorize the choreography. Maybe they think that because they other teacher didn't correct them as much as you do, then what they're doing is fine and who are you to tell them otherwise...? Hard to say without actually talking to them.

Maybe you could eliminate the choreography from your format for now and focus on leading drills of step combinations? That will eliminate the intimidating need to memorize choreography.

If you do a lot of individual correction, that could be scaring them off. From their behavior, it sounds as though this group doesn't want rigorous training in dance technique. It can be a delicate balancing act. I don't think you can change the culture of this particular class instantly. I know it chafes at you to allow errors to persist, but you may need to be less aggressive about correcting them. It may be wise to offer general corrections to the class as a whole some of the time.

Sounds like an aerobic dance class would be a bad idea - they not only might hurt themselves but drilling bad technique makes it all teh harder to get good technique.

Drilling basic technique can certainly work up a sweat for most beginners. Do you have short combinations that they do for a full song (or two) then bang into another one? This way there is less likelihood of them doing too much damage to themselves. Lots of shimmies - if they can do them.

If this particular class wants more aerobic one way to do it would be shimmy drills. You can work on layering upper body work on top of shimmies, isolations and shimmies, walking shimmies, etc., etc. Throw in a few minutes of shimmy drills throughout the class. Work on building muscle control with isolations--snake arms with light weights, hip lifts and drops with unweighted leg off the floor, upper body isolations with lower body in sumo squat to strenghten quads and hamstrings while really, really isolating upper body to increase range of motion. These are all things that someone taking dance for fitness would appreciate.

Souzan

I took over a class recently and I had one woman drop-out because it was not "aerobics" based. My class is advertised as a "dance" class. The description states that focus on technique will be taught. Still, I had a few women bothered by this because they wanted this intense aerobic workout. I have decided to stick to my guns and have only lost 1 out of 25. After a few classes, the ladies in the class are getting it and having fun. I have toned down the drills a bit and the intense warm-up. You learn as you go I guess :-)

thanks ladies. here's what i do
warm up- basic fitness type focuses on arms torso hips wrists ankles legs and neck.
technique- break down of each basic movement done slow and then double time. This is the time where I give individual correction during the rest of the time I only correct in general terms.
drilling- combos to fast songs- hip drops and shimmies drills
then drilling with mid tempo songs for mmore smooth movements
then follow the bouncing butt- to get some more loose Egyptian flavor
then choreography we add each week until we finish a song
then a soul train line where they can free style in groups of two and do whatever they want technique or not
then a cool down with slow technique and then stretching

I've decided to try to make it a little more high impact by drilling shimmies for more than one song and by doing more repetition with the combos and less bouncing butt.
I'm going to call the owner tonight and tell her that I love the opportunity but i'm a dance teacher and i'm not qualified or interested in teaching aerobics. I'll tell her of the changes I want to make but that if it's not enough for her clients, I might not be the right fit. I know that alot of coming to the class is liking your teacher's personality. So maybe they just can't get with me. I'm definitely not a loud party girl type of teacher like they had before. And that's fine too. There are plenty of teachers out there who don't care about technique much but that's not me. My mission in this is to show this dance the respect I feel it deserves. I don't want to dilute it or make it seem like it doesn't matter if you do every move wrong. I don't want those students going somewehre later telling one of you they are my student if they are obviously doing everything wrong.

To play devil's advocate a bit...

Why don't you ask them what they would like to do? Maybe through a survey or just an informal class conversation. Perhaps you could meet them somewhere in the middle? For example, you agree to do a bit more [whatever they want] and they agree to work harder on their posture. I understand that you love belly dance and want to encourage the best technique in class but it sounds like these "housewives" (maybe you didn't mean to but that came across as a bit dismissive to me) may have other priorities. Are you sure that they may not sense something critical and/or dismissive in your tone towards them? You are, after all, a lovely, young, athletic dancer while they are perhaps a bit out of shape and older than you. Put yourself in their shoes. Imagine your mom, aunt or grandmother in your class. Would you expect them to want the same things as say your sister, a college gal majoring in dance or your girl friends?

I often have to remind myself, it's belly dance, not brain surgery. If there's no joy, I really doubt they will stick with the class. That may not be a concern of yours but it's one potential outcome of not listening to your customers.

I hope you find a happy resolution to your problem. ..g.: