Thread: What are doing with your classes for the New Year?

As I prep for my new year classes, I was wondering what other teachers have planned for their classes for the new year?

I've been working on:

New combos for my "Basics" class

"Essentials" is working on finger cymbals and improving clean hip work, extension and technique

In "Technique" we will be starting on Oriental entrances taking inspiration from the stars of Oriental dance. It should be great fun.

What are you all up to?

I'm adding a "BD Fitness" class and am working on Holistic BD workshops.

I was trying to get a "Techniques Level II" class going but there were enough students. I'm having a hard time getting students who are serious about technique as opposed to those who just want to have fun. Which is fine, but I feel like I'd like to push myself more as an Instructor.

Originally Posted by shems

As I prep for my new year classes, I was wondering what other teachers have planned for their classes for the new year?

I've been working on:

New combos for my "Basics" class

"Essentials" is working on finger cymbals and improving clean hip work, extension and technique

In "Technique" we will be starting on Oriental entrances taking inspiration from the stars of Oriental dance. It should be great fun.

What are you all up to?

What a coincidence! My first sessions of the new year are

Monday Class - Fundamentals of Raqs Sharqi
Begins January 4: Precision Hips and Shimmies.
Learn to control your hip movements with strength and purpose. We'll be working on a lot of precise movements and shimmy variations over the next 6-8 weeks!

Wednesday Class - Combining the Elements
Begins January 6: Orientale Show
Part 1: Entrances in Egyptian and American Styles
Learn the parts of the American Orientale/American Cabaret and the Egyptian Orientale full show. In these classes you will learn the theory behind these show types and combinations to fit each style. We will start at the beginning with entrances!

Your students are very lucky! An inspired teacher = eager students ; )

As for me, I'm starting something new as a forum for all the things I want to say during class and can't fit it in. I'm way outside the box but I want to give it a shot. "Cafe Bellydance" will be an evening at a local cafe where I speak/facilitate discussion about a particular aspect of bellydance. Here are some of the topics I'm working on (i.e. legendary dancers with video clips, Sol Bloom, friend or foe of bellydance? Bellydance book discussion group, etc..). I teach a class at a college that touches on a lot of this but none of my other students really get this info. We'll see what happens or they stay interested.

Happy New Year.
Tava

Let's see, at the moment:

Trying to put together a couple beginner choreographies, since I currently don't teach one in the introductory class and it was asked for on prior class evaluations. So hard not to complicate things!

Putting a list together of some new beginner drill music.

Contemplating a drop-in drill/technique class now that I have a studio-like room in the new house... if nothing else it'll give me a defined practice time :)

I had my 'New Year' class on Tuesday and I asked each of my students in turn 3 questions.
1. What first brought you into belly dance, captured your attention and made you want to learn?
2. What brought you to me as an instructor and what brings you back?
3. What are your short term/long term dance goals?

It sparked some interesting conversation and got my wheels turning for how I can address their goals and interests in future classes.

In the beginner basics classes we'll be starting anew with some basic techniques and a mini-choreo to combine the moves to music, the session after that we'll start with some basic veil and combinations
In the lower intermediates we'll be working on traveling steps and zills
In the upper intermediates we'll be time traveling with the stars :) We'll be going over some typical movements and stylizations of the famous 40s-50s dancers like Samia, Naima and Taheyya in the first few weeks/months and then we'll be traveling further in time over the coming sessions

In Basics and Drills we'll be continuing, well, working the basics and doing drills. ..l;, Lots of refinement, working on posture (of course), working with some combinations (maybe), focusing on mechanics and technique.
In Performance Skills we're working on beledi progression and sagat (Egyptian one holed finger cymbals and traditional technique). This will of course cover musicality appropriate to beledi progression, emoting, a little audience technique, combinations... and as always technique.
I love my students! They work HARD! ... but so do I, so it all works out. ..l;, Just call me the Taskmaster Tinkerbell!

Khalida, I would love to take your time travelling class! Awesome idea!

I was able to meet the enrollment to begin an intermediate class for the new year. We'll be doing veil combos and working on layering drills.

I'm going to begin incorporating choreography into the beginners classes as a result of the "retaining students" thread, too.

Having taken some time off - I'm looking to begin classes closer to home (really NOT into driving an hour each way like I have these past 2 yrs). I've also been re-writing my syllabus for every level and working on beginner & intermediate choreos...

total beginners: our usual programme includes some new technique every week, drills, traveling steps. all this combined with some dance "guided impro" excercises in pairs or group, stimulating practicing and using the movements themselves and awareness of body in space, some following the bouncing butt and some simple choreo near the end)

Improvers we give them some new technique per "style", they get a few weeks of folklore, a few weeks of baladi and a few weeks of raqs sharki/oriental. in every of those blocks it's new, style specific technique and arms, and some basic cultural explanation/background about style, music. this term we are experimenting adding some info about the rhytms.

Lower Intermediate I: they get some new technique every week, work on polishing everything they know already, add variations, arms arms arms, and they some new combo's every week, with emphasis on using the new technique, transitions and adding arms, direction.

Lower Intermediate II/Upper Intermediate I. this term i've combined those levels and they can choose between a technique class and a choreo class or combine both. the technique class is more of the same as lower intermediate I but i get to make it harder. the choreo is an intermediate level solo sharqi.

Upper Intermediate II are getting a dose of "songs every bellydancer should know" this term. i'm still working on the short list, but right now i'm thinking Tahtil Shebak, two ohm kalsoum classes (alf leyla wa leyla, inta omri, ana fintezarak, havent choses wich one yet), something from abdul halim hafiz, something from mohammed abdul wahab, and either ala nar or ana saidi. emphasis will be on understanding the music, on how to impro/choreograph. some performance info. i'll work on the eyes/face/arms, use of space. but also some background on the composers/singers, the importance of knowing what the lyrices are about etc.

advanced i didnt have an advanced class last term, it's going to be a small group but we'll give it another go. its a small group of dedicated students and (semi) pro's. i've called it kaleidoscope, and we're going to run through stuff that i currently want to work on myself. difficult technique, drills, arms, phrasing, intent, high and low energy centres, etc

at the same time, i'm going to start prepping upper intermediate and advanced for NEXT term. i want to get them off their butts and make their own choreo, and i want to start telling them that NOW, so they have plenty of time to choose music/prepare. cause after easter i'll have a "solo choreo therapy" class for those levels. the lowel levels will get "intro to props" then, and something else but havent decided yet.

i do however also slowly need to start thinking about choreo's for our big student show next year.

this year i'm taking a holistic approach, especially with my beginners, posture and musculo-skeletal synergy, and breath control, ALOT of focus on breath control to build and retain stamina, and serious focus on proper engagement and alignment.

fitness was always a focus in my classes, but also building on line, and grace, balance, etc....so while i'm still informal and easy-going, for the first time i'm applying sessions, so adding more structure with a goal by the end of each session, especially as they progress in skills

i've always been careful to be a safe, responsible and fun teacher, but there is a new focus this year, a slightly different approach, thanks to all my past teachers and current mentors

artemisia, reading the description of the classes is making me get even MORE excited about classes starting again wednesday :):):)

Originally Posted by artemisia_danst

Upper Intermediate II are getting a dose of "songs every bellydancer should know" this term. i'm still working on the short list, but right now i'm thinking Tahtil Shebak, two ohm kalsoum classes (alf leyla wa leyla, inta omri, ana fintezarak, havent choses wich one yet), something from abdul halim hafiz, something from mohammed abdul wahab, and either ala nar or ana saidi. emphasis will be on understanding the music, on how to impro/choreograph. some performance info. i'll work on the eyes/face/arms, use of space. but also some background on the composers/singers, the importance of knowing what the lyrices are about etc.

That is a brilliant idea - I'd love to attend a session like that!