Thread: Need Help on choosing students for a more advanced class

Hello Ladies,

I need some help here. You all now that I am in the process of moving back to the states. I have contacted a venue in my new town that is so far been amazing. (side note you will all be so proud. I was able to negotiate a $10 class 50% 50% to $15 me pulling $10. Thanks to bhuz for brainwashing me in a good way..g.:) Ok moving on, I have been asked to teach 1-2 classes. Things are still in the works, but one class is supposed to be geared to the students that have taken basic belly before, more of an advanced class. Though I will not be calling it that since I don't know how advanced they will or will not be. I am thinking of calling it Belly 2 and focusing on a 6-8 week choreo in a specific style while my other will be a drills/isolatins/fitness type class. There is a woman in town that has been teaching beginners in the area. I have NO idea where the students are in there dance, or even if they will have major problems (use your imagination you know where this can go) So my questions is how do I choose who can be in the Belly 2 class? or do I leave it open and just deal with what ever I get, and inturn open a 3rd class in the future for the more serious dancers? I have not had to deal with this since last time I moved and started up fresh. NO student that I had took BD before and So they all went into the Belly 1 Drills class then over time I moved people to private lessons or over to the harder class when they were ready, by then the students of other teachers had trickeled in and it was obvious where they belonged. Suggestions and warnings please, for moving to a new town and starting a Belly 2 class immediately. Also how to gauge who belongs where, besides the obvious, lack of isolations etc. And how to tell students you belong here, and NO you dont belong here with out hurting feelings. Should I hold auditions? Side note I believe I will be offering 2 classes at this venue, 1-2 (prefferably 1) at my home plus private lessons. I have been mulling this over and over, but I am thinking myself in circles.

Thanks in advance

Hmmmm....interesting dilemma!

First, I like the idea of calling it Bellydance 2 because that leaves room to later add a Bellydance 3 or Bellydance 4 or whatever.

I think if I were in this situation I'd make up a little checklist of what I want students in the level 2 class to have as their minimum basic skill set.

I might allow students to self-sort with the checklist, with the provision that I will return them to level 1 if I feel like they still need to work on these skills.

I'd do it this way because I feel like only about 2% of students are really deluded about their skill level and those students are going to give you trouble no matter HOW you handle it. This way 98% of the students can give themselves a clear idea of which level they'll be in and plan their schedules around that classtime well in advance -- without having to wait for you to audition them.

This way also neither you nor the dancers would have to give up a lot of time for an audition process. Students who are unsure can set up a 30 minute private lesson for an assessment.

Another option would a be group levels assessment, running through something like a regular drill class and assessing each individual in that context. It would save time and be less stressful for the students.

I think a lot of students would drop out rather than have to audition for you individually (or at the very least procrastinate until they have de facto dropped out).

As far as where to draw the lines, it depends on how advanced you think the incoming students might be (will there be enough of them who CAN 3/4 shimmy, for instance, to make that a requirement?) and what your priorities are as a teacher. At the very least, I think they'd need to be able to execute a basic vocabulary of ribcage, hip and arm movements while maintaining good dance posture. That's the critical element. Beyond that, it's up to you how advanced you want them to be before moving on.

Hi, Annwyn and welcome back home soon!

I've just started a new system for my classes in a location where I'm able to offer more than one level. What I've done is created a website that is strictly for the use of my students. This site currently lists the movements required for folks to be in my "belly dance basics: the next level" class. As I add levels of classes (crosses fingers) the prerequities for each level will be listed on the website, unless I have enough room on my regular teacher/performer site.

I did a separate site because my teacher/performer website wasn't up yet -- and still isn't!! -- and I needed this info to be available asap, but if you have space on your current website, of course you could put this information there.

If you'd like to check it out, it's www dot bellydancestudentinfo dot com. It's very simple -- no bells and whistles -- just the facts. This site is printed in the class listing for one of the parks & rec departments at which I teach, so prospective students don't have to contact me to get the info; they are welcome to contact me, of course, if they have questions.

As Lauren mentioned, having this listing out there allows folks to self-select; all I can do is hope that most of them will self-select correctly!

Deborah

I'm taking classes with Shems, and I like how she has divided up her classes/levels:

Baltimore Belly Dance Classes with Shems - Professional Belly Dancer serving Washington DC & Baltimore

I would think you may want to start with one round of only level 1, maybe a short session (4 instead of 6 or 8 weeks) so you can evaluate the students and adjust to a new dance scene. Then you will know better how to set up each level of your classes.

I like the idea of group lessons first. I have been both in the situation of disagreeing with teacher as to my level, and taking a second level class with 2 people who really didn't have much idea. Both were frustrating!! Let people try out a little work at the higher level, if they may be considering. Incidentally the 2 students in my current class who should have started in beginners, makes it about 12%

Also if you get people to dance together, you can revise your ideas. That is you may have origianlly decided that level 2 had to be able to do a very good camel (or something) only to find out that previuos teacher hadn't taught it properly.

I would anticipate going over a lot of basics, even with level 2 students- your vocabulary & execution will most likely be different than what they experienced whether they are advanced/intermediate dancers or not. I agree that most students, when presented with a list of items required for a level, will self sort pretty efficiently (as long as they understand the list, but that is another discussion!). Just leave it open so they know they may be asked to move up or down depending on how things shake out after a couple weeks. I have found that MOST of the time I have had to encourage folks to move up, & the only time I have had to talk to someone about stepping down a level, she was painfully aware that this was appropriate too.

honestly, I did lose one student at one point when starting a new level 2/3 class because I ran them through a vigorous session the first day to see what level they were at- despite my explanation, I don't think she realized that not EVERY class was going to be that intense, & I heard from another teacher that she just didn't think she was ready, even tho I thought she really held her own. Oh, well- at least she's still dancing! Now that my classes are more established & I can review new advanced students on a more individual basis, I do not do anything like that trial by fire session! I can see how it was a bit intimidating.

& even with established classes, I often wait to write out full semester plans until I know the capabilities of all the students, so I have an idea of what we need to focus on.

Originally Posted by kazoogrrl

I'm taking classes with Shems, and I like how she has divided up her classes/levels:

Baltimore Belly Dance Classes with Shems - Professional Belly Dancer serving Washington DC & Baltimore

I would think you may want to start with one round of only level 1, maybe a short session (4 instead of 6 or 8 weeks) so you can evaluate the students and adjust to a new dance scene. Then you will know better how to set up each level of your classes.

This is a good idea -- a short term mixed-level class where you and the students can get to know each other.

If for some reason you can't do a short evaluation course, another idea is to name the classes according to focus, such as Belly 1: Drills and Skills and Belly 2: Combos and Choreography or Props and Presentation or whatever. That way you (hopefully) only get the people who are interested in the Belly 2 curriculum in the more advanced class.

Originally Posted by nasila

If for some reason you can't do a short evaluation course, another idea is to name the classes according to focus, such as Belly 1: Drills and Skills and Belly 2: Combos and Choreography or Props and Presentation or whatever. That way you (hopefully) only get the people who are interested in the Belly 2 curriculum in the more advanced class.

I LOVE THIS! Can I steal the names?

Thank you ladies I am here reading, and thinking. This has helped clear things up in my mind....,r:;

of course! ;)

Originally Posted by nasila

If for some reason you can't do a short evaluation course, another idea is to name the classes according to focus, such as Belly 1: Drills and Skills and Belly 2: Combos and Choreography or Props and Presentation or whatever. That way you (hopefully) only get the people who are interested in the Belly 2 curriculum in the more advanced class.

I did that for my first year, and it worked out really well. We had technique for the first hour (required for everybody) and props & performance skills in the optional second hour. I called them "Move It" and "Putting It All Together", respectively, but I like Nasila's names better. :)

We did units on veil, zils, karsilama, and choreography in context (i.e., we learned a choreography and talked about the process: song mapping, why we were doing what we were doing, what principles went into it, etc.) It worked really well; those who were interested in going into more depth had the option.

This year, we split into two levels so I could start covering more difficult technique. Level 1 is a 60 minute class that is mostly technique. Level 2 a 90 minute class with both technique and performance skills.

If I ever add a second night of classes, I'll probably do it on the original plan.