To Teach Or Not To Teach

Often it’s not the best of the best, but dancers that have suffered through severe injuries, struggled with their technique, have been tormented by self-doubt or have started late that often make for good teachers. The reason being that a lot of dancers start their training very early in life and so often they’re unable to articulate their craft well as it’s become ‘natural’ and a wholistic feeling. Ironically, it is this very ‘naturalness’ and ease that makes them great performers, yet might hamper their progress in becoming a great teacher.

Such dancers are able to demonstrate well, but good teaching is as much about, indeed often more about, being able to clearly articulate how to do something. This is made more complicated because that articulation often needs to be able to speak to the many diverse types and modes of learning in a classroom. Some students learn best by watching, others need words to help make sense of what they’re seeing, some need visual metaphor while others might require some kind of sensory stimulus.

It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge – Albert Einstein

Understanding these diverse and complicated needs and how to keep children engaged, not merely for a class or a weekend, but over weeks, months and years is a hard won skill and requires the same level of commitment and a similar approach of consistent, dedicated practice as does being a professional dancer.

And so while newly retired professional dancers or young, highly enthusiastic, energetic teaching can be wonderful and is necessary at times, it can not replace and should not undermine nor de- value our appreciation for years of persistent practice.

From Teacher to Entrepreneur

And just as the transition from being a professional dancer to teacher can be fraught with surprising hurdles, challenges and learning curves, so too is the transition from teacher to Studio Principal.

Again, running a studio well also takes years of conscientious practice to be good at. And again, while some will have a more natural capacity for it; a love of structure, systems, good time management and person to person skills, typically these things must be learned, practiced and honed to achieve optimum results.

None of this should be surprising. Indeed it should be obvious. Yet again and again I hear of professional dancers assuming that moving into teaching will be a ‘natural’ progression and relatively easy, which is to undervalue the nuances of good teaching. And likewise I’ve heard of teachers – particularly young ones – who mistakenly assume running a studio will be easy and a ‘natural’ progression, yet soon find out how difficult that can be, as that is actually the step of becoming a small business owner. Something quite different again.

Part of MDM’s Value of Dance campaign is to more clearly articulate, not only the value of dance in and of itself, but to better understand the value all those whose lives have been touched by the muse of dance and whose energy and passion continue to nourish the spirit of dance.