Thread: dealing with a huge group

something else that has been discussed before, only i'm now dealing with it myself for the first time.

my beginners classes i say "full", at 20-30 max, depending on the size of the studio, and after, really, bad luck, come back next term. with people who have been taking classes with us already, i'm a wimp and cant say no... so

my lower intermediate class... now has 40 people enrolled.
this wasnt the plan, but for some reason many many more than usual wanted to come back after the summer holidays. at 35 i said, ok "full" on the website, but then a few more turned up who were with us last year, and i just could not say no. so we are now 40 strong.

the venue is not a problem, the studio is HUGE i've taught a taster workshop there to 70 and there's room for that... so i dont need to worry about people hitting each other in the face.

the mirrors dont cover the entire lenght though, so there the number is pushing it, but fortunately, at this level, i dont work with mirrors all the time.

sofar what i decided is that i will have a teacher assistant, or rather co-teacher, and i'm trying to organise how i will set this to work between the two of us. how to do this in practice.

i've got some ideas all ready, but would love to hear yours. does anyone else teach groups this big, and how do you deal with it?

oh, i really want to avoid needing to teach with a head set, i hate it.

thanks
Artemisia

I wish I had a TA! I teach to groups of 30-40. I do have a mic for those classes. I've tried walking round to correct during drills. It's okay, but drills run longer than they should. I have taught in circle formation with these groups. It's easier for me to eye every student this way rather than rows. But I honestly wish I had a TA or 2 for classes that large.

Nilaja

i mostly work in a circle anyway, and i was thinking for the warm up and stuff to actually make two circles of ca 20 students each, and maybe for explanations for new moves, i first explain to the whole group, and then to break into two groups for drills.

i've also been thinking to teach a choreo, but i'm not sure how that would work out, as i dont really have time to drill the choreo with the TA before the class..

At the Boz workshop that I just took, he taught combo's. Turns out, when you link those combos in order, the formed a choreo. You can teach 1 combo per class or even 1 per 2 or 3 classes. Then by the end of the session, have a full choreo. Just a thought.

Nilaja

I had this exact situation for a while. In the end, I simply wasn't happy teaching this way, but I did survive for a while.

For a while I paid a student to assist me. But then I mentioned to all my intermediate/advanced students that I'd love to have some 'bouncing booties' for the beginners to follow. 2-6 of them would show up every week, happy to be getting a free class to drill the basics.

The beginners told me they especially appreciated being able to see what the moves looked like on a variety of bodies, since they didn't all look like me. So that was an added bonus.

With the students in place at the front of the room so everyone had a booty to follow, I felt free to do a lot more wandering/correcting. I would introduce each move from the front of the room, then head toward an area where I saw the most problems and try to give feedback to as many individuals as possible. Some corrections I'd call out to the whole group, like 'keep your heels down, knees soft' other times a problem would only affect one or two students so I'd work with them individually. I couldn't use veils, travel, or spin with so many bodies. I tried to rotate the rows, but with beginners it's tough because so many of them WANT to stay in back, even if they can't see anything.

Sometimes I'd put an assistant or two in the center of the room so those in the back half could see, especially if we were working on something more complicated i.e. that involved footwork.

As an added bonus, the volunteer/assistants got used to being stared at while they danced, and challenged themselves to drill with their very best technique and nice posture & arms since they were setting an example.

One thing that works well around here is to offer an advanced student free admission to the beginner class just to get more dance time in. Then she's the "demonstrator"... really useful when you teach moves that turn to the back, too, because then the students have somebody to look at when facing back.

yes, i was thinking of asking several of the advanced class, but with the "big gig", they are all already dancing two-three nights a week, and i dont want to burn them out... maybe after the big gig i can give the TA a break, and ask one of the others to take over for a few sessions. also, it's not total beginners, the students have been dancing 1-2 years, so i dont want them to have to follow people who are just a little more advanced then them. seems bad for group dynamics to me...

so i'd rather have a second "real" teacher.

traveling and stuff no problem, it's really a HUGE room.

I second the thought of having an assistant in the back of the group to observe and be the bouncing booty for turned around moves. And as mentioned above, if you split the group, you can have her with one group while you work with the other.

Well, there had never been a cap on the number of students the city would enroll until the first summer session when I was handed my list with a "Oh this class is a little large" comment. There were 60 registered students!!!! That's not a class, its a workshop each week...lol. We ended up splitting into an early and a late class on the same night, which this year evolved into a third beginners class on a different night.

When I teach the larger classes I have everyone get in a circle for most of the class with me dead center. I am constantly turning around which gives them the advantage of seeing each movement from every angle as well as not having the "OMG the teacher is looking at me" panic at all times.

This lets me spot check a few gals at a time as we drill and by the time I hit the part of the circle where I started it's time to change sides or change moves. I also use the mirrors to do quicky glances at the gals I can see in the mirrors as I turn around. I try to keep starting each move facing a different part of the circle so I'm not always facing the same way. With traveling moves we move in circle and I alternate which way we go. When someone needs a one on one correction I just zip over and help them.

Occasionally with moves that it seems to take more one on one instruction for gals to get, like figure 8's, I will pull one of the gals who is a long termer and I know can do the move well to stand in the center of the circle for everyone to follow while I go and check each gal individually. I tell them this will take a bit more time than usual and if they need to stop for a minute, go get a drink, stretch, rest, that's fine. They realise there are a lot of them and only one of me so they will chat amongst themselves and such while they wait for me to get to them.


I do encourage them to come in early or stay a couple of extra minutes after class and use the mirrors to see what they are doing by trying a few moves facing them. Since our mirrors are a little warped, they work a bit like funhouse mirrors, some spots will make you look taller and thinner, others not so much, I find that the gals actually prefer not to face the mirrors as beginners. They have to develop a feel and awareness of how their body is working and how each move feels since they don't have constant visual feedback. This seems to work well for me although I keep joking with my boss that I need a small rotating platform to stand on in the center of the room...LOL!

When I have a big class (more like 20-25) and it's going to take forever to walk around correcting technique, I sometimes get students to pair up and critique each other. I'll demo the move and give 2-3 pointers they should look for (eg: big hip circle - is your partner 'tilting' the pelvis when they shouldn't? Is it even on both sides?), then get them to check their partner. I get them to raise their hand if they want me to come help.

Or sometimes I just get them in small groups to practice whatever they like, and put up their hand for questions. This way, they can all focus on the particular technique they're struggling with, and you're consulting in groups of 2-3, rather than one-by-one.

When doing travelling moves, I sometimes put everyone in lines and get them travelling towards the mirror one line at a time, so I can check everyone's technique without it having to be one person at a time.

I have had one 'advanced student' assistant who helped me do a walk-around correcting beginner technique so we could get through the class quicker, plus I thought it'd be good teaching practice for her.

The beginners told me they especially appreciated being able to see what the moves looked like on a variety of bodies, since they didn't all look like me. So that was an added bonus.

With the students in place at the front of the room so everyone had a booty to follow, I felt free to do a lot more wandering/correcting.

we had the same problem last year, with an absolute HERD in the dance studio...we ended up changing our beginner class system to once monthly workshops, and then hopefully next semester, a formal class through the university gym, so they can cap it. It's often so hard to say no, but in the end, when you do, you give a better experience to those who are in the class, as they can see more & get more personal attention.

And if they're already registered...the bouncing booties/wandering TA idea really does help a lot. Perhaps another idea would be to do a "section" for 1/3 of the class at a time once in a while where they would get a chance to have a little more time individually with you or ask some more questions that they may not want to ask in front of the group at large.