Thread: Left and Right

Wow, I think I've found a topic we haven't already discussed!

Those of us who've been in dance classes and workshops for years have had to learn how to respond quickly when the instructor tells us to go left, go right, weight on the left, etc.

But students who are new to class may rarely have thought about right and left in years (outside of the drivers' seat of their car) and it's REALLY hard for the average person.

No, Not That Left, Your OTHER Left! : Krulwich Wonders... : NPR

I did pretty well on the test in the article, but before I started dancing I suspect I would have failed miserably!

So how can we help our students? Here are my initial thoughts, I'd love to hear yours.

1) Just be patient when they keep mixing it up. Reassure them that it's a normal part of the learning curve.

2) Use landmarks in the room to help them the first couple of times you give directions. "Turn to your left, towards the windows" "Swing your hips way over the left, like you're trying to touch your car in the parking lot"

3) Maybe it would help to put up "left" and "right" posters on each side of the mirror in the studio?

Pointing!

Pointing in the direction of travel.
Pointing to the working hip/shoulder/leg/whatever.

But also referring to class landmarks, looking in the correct direction.

And also a lot of getting it wrong myself. I'm ALWAYS self-correcting, often far too late!

Personally, I think exactly the opposite- dance classes have ruined my already fragile ability to remember which is left and which is right. So often I am mirroring for someone, or trying to figure out which way an instructor or video really wants me to go, my L/R spacial orientation is shot. I know which is left and right in a car, so driving directions are okay, but somehow this doesn't translate into physical knowledge when I don't have that fixed frame of reference.

I absolutely rely on lots of pointing and classroom landmarks most of the time. My son's dance teacher has color coded each of the walls. In Tae Kwon Do, the walls are numbered.

i have several who are dislexic..sp one mirror's me...on one side of the studio, there are curtains
the other, the speakers..so i say, yell...turn to curtains..turn to speakers etc.

Pointing and landmarks and having people touch/point to/pinch their own personal left and right sides are all really useful. Another reminder is a clock face: left is 9, right is 3. Signs on the wall are a fun idea -- never thought of that!

My favorite trick is to have them put their hands up in front of their face, palms out, with the thumbs pointing at each other, and say "Left is the one that makes the L." I use this trick to correct myself all the time. It works well unless you're dyslexic. :)

I used to be in marching band, and left vs. right was always an issue. I once had a director who had everyone put their right thumb to their temple (like a kid making a nyah-nyah-nyah gesture, except with just one hand, or like one moose antler) and open and close it. He then informed us that this was our right-turn blinker, just like a car.

He also did "Which one makes the L?" like Suzana.

It was also suggested that we try wearing different-colored socks on the left and right feet.

That whole post is just adorable, Nisreen. Moose antlers and odd socks!

I struggle with the left/right thing myself. What works best for me in a class is to be behind the instructor and watch his or her body, ignoring their image in the mirror. If they turn around to face the class, I'm lost.

I'm not dyslexic when it comes to reading, but I have something like that when it comes to left/right/spatial orientation in general. I can get completely turned around backward and be going the wrong direction (in a car, for example) for quite awhile sometimes before I figure it out. Maybe it has to do with being left-handed (right-brained). I'm not sure.

I have trouble memorizing dance sequences in general, perhaps because I usually dance improv and I know there are a thousand different ways to move to the music, why would I want to do the same one over and over, LOL?

I think I drive my poor students to distraction sometimes. In a teaching situation I sometimes stumble with saying the right words and doing the right movement at the same time! Luckily they are patient with me.

Although I do call out Right & Left myself it doesn't work for me (Right? That's the leg on the other side of my body which would be wearing a watch if I was wearing a watch .... oppps - now they are several moves on) For me muscle memory works best repeating and repeating until I can analyse what is going on - and explain to someone else - but it is not how I learn.

Worse - now that I teach my "Right" can be either side depending on whether I'm facing the class or facing away.

(As a student) I'm a spatial type of learner, but left-right challenged - ITA with you Kashmir, by the time you are thinking about watches etc it's too late!

So I like landmarks, and I think it's a great idea for teaching, but I think you have to be careful if you are teaching choreography. When I was a beginner I once got very reliant on landmarks (all by myself, not my teacher's doing), and had the choreography we were learning pretty sorted, or so I thought until we turned and faced the other wall...

I've learned to take my landmarks with me in my head now.

To this day I can only remember which is my left foot by thinking about which leg is that has the scar on it from when I slipped in the park, I think I was five?



Anyhow it's easier for people to get stuff in class by getting behind you I think, I have an awful time trying to pick things up if the teacher or choreographer is facing me. Then it's total confusion.

I am terribly left-right challenged. I will say "left... no, left.... no, LEFT... oh hang on, actually meant right." This way-that way is best for me, and I too learn best if I am behind someone, or copying what is in the mirror. If I learn choreos from DVDs I often learn them round the wrong way because of this.

Cassandra Shore impressed me once when she was teaching with her back to us and then, when someone asked about a particular movement combination, she did it facing the student - but swapped sides herself so she had become the mirror. It's awesome if teachers can do that.

And how often do you find yourself, as a student, taking the same place in each class? I tend to stand to the right of my teacher 95% of the time but once in a while I'll challenge myself and go to her left or directly behind.
At our last hafla the audience was at the back of the classroom and I was at my usual spot but when I turned to face them found myself to her left and guess what? while everyone spun to the right I went left
So teachers, don't just rotate back to front, try also left to right.

I am horrible...I keep threatening to tattoo a big L and a big R on the appropriate appendages. I always teach into the mirror to help with this issue. This, of course, has created it's own problems.

I have the same problem with left and right. Sometimes I'm convinced I'm going right or using my right hand/foot/hip and it's my left - like you all I teach and I am sitting there going, ya, start on the right and eventually my kind students correct me. oi! It's been like that since I was a kid. Also not good at clock wise and anti or counter clock wise. I really have to stop and visualize. Must be a sign of brilliance in some other area right? ;)

And actually this has been discussed at least once before, because I remember chiming in way back when.

I used to need the hand L. It's gotten better with time and because I teach a few lessons to my elementary school students using Left and Right (I always write them in the corners of the blackboard on those days...for me...but I claim it's to start reading recognition for them).

I have been known to write H and M on my feet to remember before teaching dance...because I have to remember the Japanese words (hidari 左　migi 右) and keep them straight. I do a lot of "weight...HERE...foot...HERE" in Japanese.

I am famous for calling out "Turn to the right!" as I turn to the left. Followed by "I meant your other right!"

This also reminds me that the first time I went to Cairo, I got used to helping direct taxi drivers back to my tiny hotel on an obscure side street. But I could never remember the word for "right" so I would direct drivers to turn "left" or "not left" while furiously gesturing to the right.

Oh it was hysterical to see their faces as some American girl is yelling at them "Not left! Not left!"

So glad to know I'm not alone in the left and right issue. At one point my gals put signs up in the front and back of the room so no matter which way I was facing I could call out the right direction and I still would call one and go the other. They gave up and just wait to see which way I will actually go before moving....lol.

Another issue is which left or right. One student forever moved the wrong way. I tried saying "left" and tapping my (right) leg (I was facing her) and she still went the wrong way - because the left leg did a left touch and then crossed behind and moved right. She was concentrating on the movement and weighted leg - not the one that was moving.

Originally Posted by Lauren_

Wow, I think I've found a topic we haven't already discussed!

Those of us who've been in dance classes and workshops for years have had to learn how to respond quickly when the instructor tells us to go left, go right, weight on the left, etc.

But students who are new to class may rarely have thought about right and left in years (outside of the drivers' seat of their car) and it's REALLY hard for the average person.

No, Not That Left, Your OTHER Left! : Krulwich Wonders... : NPR

I did pretty well on the test in the article, but before I started dancing I suspect I would have failed miserably!

So how can we help our students? Here are my initial thoughts, I'd love to hear yours.

1) Just be patient when they keep mixing it up. Reassure them that it's a normal part of the learning curve.

2) Use landmarks in the room to help them the first couple of times you give directions. "Turn to your left, towards the windows" "Swing your hips way over the left, like you're trying to touch your car in the parking lot"

3) Maybe it would help to put up "left" and "right" posters on each side of the mirror in the studio?

Lauren - Thank you so much for starting this thread!!!!

I've been asked to take over class, for a short time.
This was one problem, I was concerened about!!!!

(((Hugs)))

A few things that work for me...

I use the words "left" and "right" as minimally as I can. I think they're necessary ONLY when teaching a choreography that you believe everyone will want to perform together someday. Most other belly dance teachers use these words a lot more than I do.

I always choreograph so that the free foot is the one that begins the step. So I don't have to tell people "Do __ with your left foot." Instead, I point down at the feet and ask them to notice which foot ended up the previous step combination wtihout any weight on it. I then explain that's the one to start the next combination. So I steer them to think in terms of how they ended the previous step and what they feel in their bodies, NOT words like left/right.

Likewise with finger cymbals, I don't bother trying to tell my students to play RLR RLR RLRLRLR. Instead, I just have everyone practice alternating, and once they have that, I have them count - and-a-ONE, and-a-TWO, and-a-THREE and so on.

In my "Belly Dance for Exercise" class, I tell my students I really don't care whether they're on the same foot as me or not. I tell them they should just make a point of changing sides when I say to.

Originally Posted by *Shira*

A few things that work for me...

I use the words "left" and "right" as minimally as I can. I think they're necessary ONLY when teaching a choreography that you believe everyone will want to perform together someday. Most other belly dance teachers use these words a lot more than I do.

I always choreograph so that the free foot is the one that begins the step. So I don't have to tell people "Do __ with your left foot." Instead, I point down at the feet and ask them to notice which foot ended up the previous step combination wtihout any weight on it. I then explain that's the one to start the next combination. So I steer them to think in terms of how they ended the previous step and what they feel in their bodies, NOT words like left/right.

Likewise with finger cymbals, I don't bother trying to tell my students to play RLR RLR RLRLRLR. Instead, I just have everyone practice alternating, and once they have that, I have them count - and-a-ONE, and-a-TWO, and-a-THREE and so on.

In my "Belly Dance for Exercise" class, I tell my students I really don't care whether they're on the same foot as me or not. I tell them they should just make a point of changing sides when I say to.

Amen to the free foot. Way back when my teacher told me that a friend told her (lol, thus the scientific transmission of knowledge!) that "the whole secret of belly dance is weight shift," and honestly I haven't found a more succinct analysis.

It's completely logical when you think about it, this also of course means the hip on that side is free, so everything flows from there.

Plus of course, as you say, us directionally challenged people don't have to worry as much:)

I am so glad I am not alone with this. As a kid I felt like a complete idiot in my jazz ballet class and spent most of my adult life trying to cover it up as best I could. I don't always get it wrong, but I do get it wrong enough for it to be a problem.

I can only learn turns in choreographies by thinking about which way makes the most sense to turn based on where my weight is.


Also, the whole look at your hands and see the L never worked for me because to me they are both L shapes!

When driving GPS only works for me because I can follow the purple line on the screen. Even then, recently i was in a car full of dancers on our way to a show and I was yelling left! left! LEEEEFT! when I meant right....

Fired as navigator

I gotta be honest. I can not even imagine having left-right-issues. Maybe that's something to do with being good at maths/geometry.
But I remember aerobic classes where the always used "the window side", "the mirror side"... If it comes to turning you can use descriptions like the free leg back- or forwards. And aren't there socks with "L" and "R" on them?

good topic Lauren -
Sooooo many people have R/L issues - as you see once you start teaching.

I've never put up signs but I do use the landmark concept and also "audience" side, or inner/outer side of circle, or direction of travel, or some reference to body part.

It's actually a plus that we have to do this because it can open up thinking from just R/L to viewing movements in a different context. So it's a good problem in the long run

My husband and several members of his family all have dyslexia, and one of its most easily-identifiable symptoms is left/right confusion. It actually has many other characteristics as well, but since left/right is the focus of this thread, I'll stick with that.

Left/right confusion CAN be overcome by dyslexics, but not easily. My husband overcame it by realizing that an arm he'd broken as a child had a lingering long-term sensation in it that did not exist in the other arm. So he learned to distinguish left/right by associating left with "the arm that had the odd sensation from the old injury" and right with "the normal arm". Over the years, when someone would give him directions (or if he would give someone else directions), he would stop, think about the sensations in his arms, and then consciously say, "If it's left, I turn to the side with the wonky arm." After doing this conscious thought process consistently over a period of years, he eventually reached a point where it became automatic. Today, he has no difficulty with left/right confusion.

So, based on what I learned about dyslexia from many conversations with him, as I said in an earlier post I do avoid using the words "left" and "right" when I'm teaching, unless I'm teaching a choreography that I expect the group will want to perform together.

Now, when I'm teaching a group choreography, I will ask students with right/left confusion to tie a ribbon on their right arm, and I'll tell them that "ribbon" and "right" both start with "r", and therefore when I say "right", that means the side with the ribbon. I try to tie it tightly enough so that they can FEEL it as well as SEE it. You could do the same thing with a hair scrunchy over the arm. Dyslexic students have told me they find that helpful.

Also, as mentioned in my earlier message, whenever possible I try to reference "the weighted foot" or "the free foot" or "the working hip" instead of saying "left" or "right". For example, instead of saying, "Turn to the left" I'll say, "Begin your turn by taking the free foot and crossing it over the other in the front." Because I'm careful to construct my dances in a way where movement logically flows according to where the weight is, my students usually only need to think in terms of left/right at the very beginning, when they're deciding which foot to start on, and from there they usually are fine.

Other issues you may see with dyslexic students: Part 1 of 2

Please be aware that these are some general observations and you should NEVER assume that all of these apply to any particular individual:

Questions

They may ask a LOT of questions.

Usually, those questions seem to be predicting what you're going to teach next, such as, "So, we just did this thing here, does that mean that next we'll do it on the other side?"

Or, they may be asking you to fill in the blanks on some stuff that you glossed over, delving down to a greater level of detail than what you really wanted to present at this point.

Best way to handle this: try to answer the question at the time it's asked - it drives them nuts if you tell them, "We'll cover that next week." If they're asking NOW, it's because they feel the need to know NOW. You can be brief to avoid getting too far off-topic: "Yes, that too is a valid dance move, and you could do it that way when you solo. But for now, let's rehearse it the way it appears in the choreography...."

Sensitive to Sensory Input

They may be extra-sensitive to sensory input - ie, uncomfortable with too-bright lights, too-loud sound, the strong perspiration odor or perfume of their classmates, etc. You can make a better learning environment for them by trying to minimize such potential issues.

Non-Linear Thinking / Learning

They often tend to learn by having their brains jump around all over the topic, whereas other people may tend to learn by having their brains follow a more linear path.

If you ask a dyslexic student to create a choreography, she might start in the middle instead of at the beginning, and she might jump around to different parts of the song. The rest of us would be more likely to start at the beginning and systematically go through to the end.

Written Instructions Problematic

They may find it impossible to learn from written instructions.

Your written choreography notes probably won't help them much. Let them bring a video camera or audio recorder (or their smart phone) to class to videotape a run-through or an explanation.

If the instructions are regarding requirements for a performance, a troupe costume, etc., be sure to go over them verbally as well as in writing.

If you must provide instructions in writing, break up the page with short paragraphs and headers - the way I broke up this post!

Other issues you may see with dyslexic students: Part 2 of 2


Misspellings

They may misspell words in ways that are logical, but incorrect. For example, they may type "pleeay" instead of "plié".

This probably won't cause issues in a belly dance class, but it's something you may notice as you get to know them over time. This probably means they're not the best candidates to create your promotional flyers, troupe web site, or press releases. If you do let them do so, proofread carefully - including carefully proofreading stuff like street addresses and phone numbers.

Social Behavior
They may seem shyer than other students, more socially awkward, nerdier, or less able to read others' emotions/reactions to them. They may be more direct/blunt than others in how they express what they're thinking. Probably not an issue in a normal class, but could become an issue if they join a troupe or do some other thing that involves collaboration. This tends to apply more to men than to women, but I've seen it in women.





Symptoms of dyslexia tend to be more pronounced in men than in women, so you'd probably see fewer of the above traits in a particular female dyslexic student than you would in a male.

You may see fewer symptoms of dyslexia in some people than others, because some people may have only a light touch, whereas others have a very strong dose. I see a lot of differences in how it manifests itself among the many dyslexics in my life. (I know a LOT of them, both friends and family members. The Silicon Valley, where I used to live, is FULL of them - lots of them end up in computer programming.)

A middle-aged person may show fewer dyslexia symptoms than a younger one, simply because as dyslexics grow through the years they figure out coping mechanisms to help them deal with it.

I'm not sure it makes sense to teach any other way than left and right as defined by the reference frame of the student's body, One major problem that students have when performing is making the transition from doing the choreography in the studio facing a mirror to doing it somewhere else facing an audience. Doesn't using physical landmarks of the studio increase the chances of disorientation if they've been encouraged to think, "When I get to this part of the song, I turn to face the window"? One could argue that students aren't sufficiently rehearsed to be performing if they still have to recite the description of the choreography in their head as they're doing it, but I think it may do more harm than good to encourage them to frame things in terms of the geography of the classroom unless they're never going to dance anywhere else.

I don't have a LOT of right and left problems, but there is one I fear I will never overcome, and that is which way to TURN. I often get mixed up on whether I am turning inside or outside, that is to say, turning left while on the right foot or turning right while on the right foot. When I have a choreo to learn that includes both I'm often in a lot of trouble!