The better dance teachers will teach for the different ways in which students learn.
Visual, Kinesthetic And Auditory
There are three main learning styles: Visual (learn by seeing), Kinesthetic (learn by doing and feeling), and Auditory (learn by hearing). Most people have a primary learning style; the one that works the best for them. They also have a secondary learning style; one that also allows them to learn.
The most common learning style for dance is Visual.
As dance teachers we each have our individual learning styles—a primary one, a secondary one. When we teach, we tend to teach using our primary learning style. This is great for those for whom it matches their learning style. However it doesn’t work for the rest. To be a better teacher, we learn how to present information in a way that works for each type of learner.
If you are not getting what your teacher is trying to teach you, you aren’t stupid. Your teacher just might not be communicating with you in your learning style. Things may seem fuzzy and you will figure that you have two left feet and are bad at dancing.
Visual
A lot of people can learn by watching a demo and then imitating it, without anyone needing to say a word. They learn dance moves by standing behind someone who knows the move, watching them, then copying their movements. You can give them an explanation but they don’t understand what it is until they see it.
Feeling and Doing
For some people, basically just grabbing your partners hand and doing it is best. If you have a partner that knows how to do it, then you get the feel of the movement from them, not by hearing or by watching.
Auditory
In contrast, some people won’t understand a move if it is shown to them, but do if it is explained to them. These people respond well to definitions, diagrams, theory, concepts and geometry.
Different frameworks for different folks…
But the key here is that a good dance teacher will combine a demo with an explanation. Sometimes in a group class, it is difficult to ensure that people will get the opportunity to get the feeling from another person, but they can certainly get the kinesthetic experience.
With personal instruction, it is easier for a dance teacher to customize the learning experience, even with a couple where the learning styles are different.
If your teacher isn’t using methods that are suited to your learning styles, it won’t be a comfortable learning experience and can be very inefficient and ineffective.
Many of us have experienced teachers who have said and done things that don’t work for us. Some teachers belittle students, act like drill instructors, keep giving the same instructions over and over even though they don’t seem to be working, and physically manhandle their students inappropriately.
One thing that is important for learning is that students be relaxed. Factors that determine this include tone of voice, method of presentation, ability to get people focused, patience, nonverbal clues, response to student’s mistakes, and the kind of music used.
It’s easier and more fun to learn the correctly in the first place than to have to unlearn and relearn it later. Simply repeating something that you don’t understand doesn’t lead to greater understanding, and may just confirm mistaken impressions about one’s abilities or bad habits.
A good teacher will:
- Explain verbally (and provide alternative explanations as necessary)
- Demonstrate with a verbal explanation
- Dance with the students to convey feeling
- Have the students do the movement
Of course, the theories about learning styles could all be bogus.
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