Thread: Classes and Illness

Hello Fellow Dance teachers

Id like some advice on what to do as a teacher if you are going to be out of commission for a while?
I have to have an operation which will need a long recovery time - about 6 to 8 weeks.

My problem is what happens to my classes in that time?
Do I cancel them till I can come back - which will mean loss of practice time on the choreographies we're been working on. Do I ask my most senior student to take over for me in the interim, which Im not sure she would be happy with.
Im the only teacher in my area teaching this style, there are no other teachers I can ask to fill in for me.

The option I've personally seen is that the teacher selects another teacher she trusts to fill in for her, with the expectation that students will not permanently "change allegiances" once the first teacher recovers. Sometimes this works--if you're that special a teacher, serious students will wait for you...as long as weeks don't drift into months or years. Other times, students may decide they like the new teacher better. A few may just find something else to do with their time and stop dancing altogether. The latter is especially a problem if you suspend classes without an alternative.

OTOH, promoting a student to teacher is not without its own risks. Sometimes a student who is at first hesitant to teach suddenly finds that the encouragement of being asked provides the catalyst to turn a pupil into a competitor. Depending on the student's personality, she might be relieved to go back and be a student again once you are better, or she may feel that this proves she is ready to strike out on her own. Promoting a student may also have repercussions among her classmates. Some may resent being asked to pay to learn from someone who was in the same class with them last week; others may be jealous that they were not the one picked to lead. These sorts of personality issues can be hard to predict.

Depending on the exact nature of your health issue and the level of your students, there may be other possibilities. Sometimes teachers cancel the first class or two, and then use the rest of their recovery time to teach another skill like costuming or drumming. If your students are farther along, and you have enough mobility to get to class, you could try a group project where they choreograph a song together with your supervision. This is a difficult situation, so best of luck with whatever you decide.

I haven't tried this - just brainstormin' - but:

What about encouraging your students to continue to meet at the same time and place to practice the choreography together? If space rental is an issue maybe they could pay a couple of dollars just to cover the rent. That way they stay in the habit of coming to "class," the choreography doesn't backslide, and you avoid many of the issues Tourbeau points out.

I dont have that big a studio so Ive e-mailed everyone with a list of suggestions so that everyone gets to have their say. So far the "choreography practice class" gets the most votes.

Originally Posted by alibellySA

I dont have that big a studio so Ive e-mailed everyone with a list of suggestions so that everyone gets to have their say. So far the "choreography practice class" gets the most votes.

if not all the recovery is in bed...you can "sit in " tword the last few weeks !

Can you attend and direct classes still, but not dance? I had an instructor who had a major foot injury - she still taught us choreographies, just didn't actually DO them for nearly a year. It worked out ok.

When I was learning with my first instructor, she was gifted with a major ankle smashup thanks to hiking.

She sat through lessons, basically 'voice teaching' with the senior student from the class acting as a manniken to demonstrate and lead where neccessary [I think she asked more advanced students to attend the beginners classes so it wasn't blind leading blind type thing]. It was nice, because it was still HER classes, her plans etc; and she was still able to offer criticism, advice and corrections....she just wasn't able to be participatory. Not sure if you would be able to accomodate this for at least some of your recovery period?

I do like someone above's idea of other lessons...perhaps a zill, a drumming or a sewing workshop in their class time for those first few weeks where you won't be able to do it at all...so they still have value fo rmoney guided lessons, just momentarily off topic.

If you do ask someone to sub, *especially* if it is a student, I would suggest perhaps issuing them with class plans/marching orders...so at least the others are still left with a sense of it being 'your' teaching and not a peer's fumblings. I must say I wouldn't take well to peer-led classes myself, either as said peeer or as one of the others.

I would actually do likewise for a no-leader class practice type thing...whoever is the most reliable/finicky gets a piece of paper with what you would like them to cover and acheive, so there is some guidance and it doesn't wander off into gossip and sitting down terratory...maybe even give them a checklist to work down and give back to you at day's end?

Its a tough situation- best of luck!

One of my former teachers went out for about 4 weeks. She specifically asked teachers of different styles to come in and sub for her so that students could get a taste of other types of belly dance. Her style was Cirque - esque based on AmCab. So she had an ATS teacher, an Egyptian teacher, a Fusion teacher, etc. I even subbed from time to time and we did a compare and contrast between Egyptian / Turkish and what our teacher taught. This helped people gain more perspective about styles across the board.

{{{HUGS}}}

Originally Posted by BELLA_BELLA

Can you attend and direct classes still, but not dance? I had an instructor who had a major foot injury - she still taught us choreographies, just didn't actually DO them for nearly a year. It worked out ok.

this is what I was going to suggest too.
you can still use your senior student as a demo. Spend some time together beforehand so she knows the routine and then other the students to follow along, while you direct the class.

Some feedback:

Most of my students chose the continue classes on their own option, taking turns to lead the drills, warm ups and cool down sections. A very few decided to come back when I do.

I typed up some drills, combo's and classplans with music suggestions for them to refer to and some guidelines for the choreography they are going to create on their own.

I'll keep you posted as to how it goes! Thanks for all the help!

How'd you work out the cost of classes?

Originally Posted by BELLA_BELLA

How'd you work out the cost of classes?

I suggested they just pay for the studio hire but they all insisted that other people get paid sick leave so theres no reason why I shouldn't. Obviously the ladies who've opted to return when I do wont be paying.

Originally Posted by tahiradancer

One of my former teachers went out for about 4 weeks. She specifically asked teachers of different styles to come in and sub for her so that students could get a taste of other types of belly dance. Her style was Cirque - esque based on AmCab. So she had an ATS teacher, an Egyptian teacher, a Fusion teacher, etc. I even subbed from time to time and we did a compare and contrast between Egyptian / Turkish and what our teacher taught. This helped people gain more perspective about styles across the board.

{{{HUGS}}}

I think this is a great idea, along with sitting in if at all possible, as you can do some GREAT critiquing if you're not dancing with them, and can just watch!!