Thread: Private lessons- how frequent?

During this coming up academic year, I decided to focus my training with private lessons only, due to schedule mostly (I'm a grad student). I've also been dancing on and off for the last 5 years and would like to go up another level and become better. Since money is kind of tight (I do have some flexibility), I am trying to budget now. I would like to know how frequently private lessons should be attended to do as well, if not better, than a normal group class. This is, of course, with almost daily practice on my part.

Also, I was wondering if it's less effective to go to two different teachers. One teacher would strictly be belly dancing; the other does fusion. Do you find it's better to focus on stuff with one teacher or that it doesn't matter? Thanks!

I would recommend concentrating on one teacher to start with, and having weekly lessons, or every other week if she gives you a lot of homework. You could always try a second teacher later on. I find that my private students learn best when they concentrate in one area, instead of scattering their attention in several areas.

Do you know what your goals are, and what you want to work on? The more time you spend figuring this out, the more you will get out of private lessons.

I can only manage privates 1-2 times per month with my instructor (and then, only when she's not on the road), but they have still been immensely valuable to e and resulted in a lot of improvement.

I think the key is to have a great instructor who not only knows his/her stuff, but teaches in style where you can really understand and take in what's being taught. And of course you have to go home and work on everything you covered, but it doesn't sound like that would be a problem for you. If you're going sporadically, you may want to do 1.5 or 2 hour lessons instead of just the 1 hour, because with a warmup and cooldown it goes by so fast!

I also agree with Bintbeled that it's also very effective to really know your goals and focus on a limited number of them instead of scattering yourself all over the place.

most of my dancers/clients come once a week.
i do have 3 that come twice.
z

Originally Posted by laura 2

I can only manage privates 1-2 times per month with my instructor (and then, only when she's not on the road), but they have still been immensely valuable to e and resulted in a lot of improvement.

I think the key is to have a great instructor who not only knows his/her stuff, but teaches in style where you can really understand and take in what's being taught. And of course you have to go home and work on everything you covered, but it doesn't sound like that would be a problem for you. If you're going sporadically, you may want to do 1.5 or 2 hour lessons instead of just the 1 hour, because with a warmup and cooldown it goes by so fast!

I also agree with Bintbeled that it's also very effective to really know your goals and focus on a limited number of them instead of scattering yourself all over the place.

Are your private lessons that you take an hour or 2 hours? I'm looking at going at least once a month

Originally Posted by indigostars

Are your private lessons that you take an hour or 2 hours? I'm looking at going at least once a month

Ideally, I try to do two hours. But sometimes depending on her schedule and mine, we can only fit in one.

For me, I like doing the lessons bi-weekly with daily practice on my part. With two kids, it's hard for me to practice everything that was covered in just one week. It gives you time to practice and digest what was covered. It's also more economical, too.

Well because of my accident i stopped doing privates. I can shimmy once again (yay) I have a couple things before raks east I need to work on get back to a few basics, i need work in. I usually have to travel into NYC so I make it 2 hours. My work schedule conflicts with most teachers class schedules. I find privates #1 I can work on what i need improvement on #2 If I need help with a cheography and critique. I try once a month if my schedule and teachers schedule allows. Privates and workshops are better suited for my schedule.

Alrana

I prefer to take weekly privates from one main Instructor. Then on occassion I will go to another instructor to learn something specific that I want to learn for a different flavor than my main Instructor. That way I don't end up being a clone and looking like this.....l;, ..l;, ..l;, ..l;, ..l;,

If you can't afford to go every week, try four weeks on, two weeks off. That gives you two weeks to practice on your own and come up with new ideas for things you want to learn.

Originally Posted by Nepenthe

If you can't afford to go every week, try four weeks on, two weeks off. That gives you two weeks to practice on your own and come up with new ideas for things you want to learn.

Hmm. DO you find this more effective for yourself than going every other week?

I never tried every other week. It was also easier for my person to schedule 4 weeks at a time (and in fact, she gave a slight discount to packages of 4).

my private students may come to me weekly or event twice a week if they're gearing up toward an event, but outside of that I usually suggest that they come every other week or every three weeks, so they have time to absorb what we've worked on and are ready to move forward. it's a waste of time and money to spend your lessons *practicing* - you should be doing that on your own! or in a weekly dance class.

I also tell my students that they're welcome to come early and stay late so they can warm up and cool down on their own - again, I'd rather you spent your time and money with me learning.

my lessons tend to run 90 minutes. I've been known to keep students for 2 and a half to three hours if we're really in the zone! I don't charge them for the extra time I make them stay. ;)

you might want to do some math and decide if you're more into time efficiency or saving money. if a group class is $10 and a private lesson is $40, if you go twice a month you're paying double what you were for group classes. BUT, you're also learning twice as much...

a good balance that I suggest for many of my students is to attend a weekly class (with another teacher as I don't have a group class) and come to me once a month to help fine tune things and accellerate their progress.

Unfortunately, being a grad student (evening classes) means my schedule is largely incompatible with a lot of dance classes. Being a grad student again means money is tight, so I have to figure out what is best use of my money. Thanks for your input

I hear you about time and money, I ususally only have private lessons once a month. I've start videoing "the meat" of the lesson, so that during the month I can continue to work on the class material.