The desire to dance is natural, but the manner in which this desire is expressed depends upon the responsiveness of one’s body. The former is inborn, although it may be latent. The latter can be trained.
Children have few inhibitions. They don’t care how they look when they are moving to the music. The teen-ager may want to dance but because of the awkward age, he may find trying to dance cumbersome and difficult. Those with previous training in dance or sports are more apt to move more gracefully. Their self confidence makes learning to dance easier for them. Adults, on the other hand, may have many more problems, inseeurity, fears and many have mental or physical disabilities.
If difficulties arise before knowledge is crystallized into habitual responses, it is because we can think of only one thing at a time. But the sense of confidence is ample award for mental and physical effort. Standing still is more tiring than walking. There is no contraction and relaxation in just standing; there is no letting go by the muscles in just standing. The greater range of movement, the better the circulation and more relaxation.
Learning ability changes little with advancing years. What an older person lacks in energy, he makes up in reasoning power. A person should exercise a little beyond what is required in his every day routine. If not, movement and life will soon close in on him. Watching people run, one notices very quickly how lack of exercise has shortened their steps. If corrective measures are not taken, joints and ligaments will become set in a strained, awkward energy-consuming position. What one eats determines his weight, what he does determines his shape. One cannot live long when not active. Trained bodies can relax much quicker and more thoroughly than untrained bodies.
So – dance, dance, dance and keep active in your mind and body regardless of your age. Anyone can learn to dance but it does take practice and patience. –From Kelly Gellette’s Notes.
What Makes A Good Dancing Teacher
These comments were made by several teachers during NTA Meetings & Training sessions.
“A teacher should have a sincere desire to give each student a new life of fun and happiness through dancing by being friendly, attentive, and teaching with enthusiasm and vitality. She must be eager, pleasant, and persistent in conquering a student’s dancing difficulties. Wholesome and have a healthiness appearance as well as personal neatness are also good qualities to have.
“Elusive qualities taken from a composite of many personalities go to form the ideal for which we strive – the perfect teacher. A well groomed, alert and enthusiastic teacher not only finds her students are proud of her and eager to learn from her, but she also adds to the general prestige of the place where she is employed.
“In order to teach intelligently and well, a good teacher wins her students’ confidence by being quick to sympathize with them and slow to show anger. She is patient, tactful, understanding and sincere. She must have a good sense of humor. She must be easy to get along with because of her real liking for people. Pronouncing each word clearly, using good English in terms her students can understand so she can help her students to be at ease makes learning for him that much easier. Learning will be a pleasure and not a chore. She may not be the best dancer, but more important, she knows how to get her instruction across to her students so they become good dancers.
“Being sold on her dancing, and her job as a teacher, she must be punctual, and have a well planned, up to date lesson plan, She must give a little more than is required of her on every lesson. This gives her inner satisfaction and well satisfied students will come back for more lessons. He usually tells his friends and this benefits the teacher by getting her more students.
“Although we would like to think we are perfect, all of us at one time or another fall down in some of these requirements of our job, but in order to think how to satisfy a student we need only to imagine ourselves in the student’s place. This will require us to use the Golden Rule: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”
“To give a description of a good teacher? It should be simple, but it would need a complete analysis of social and cultural background as well as one’s own philosophy of life.”
“A teacher must know his product, whether it be dancing or arithmetic. The teacher must be sold on the importance and potentialities of his subject. Therefore, it is necessary that the teacher have an inherent love for dancing, and be equally interested in people and what dancing can do for them.”
“A teacher should have a smooth, even disposition and be tolerant and easily adaptable to any circumstances. A good teacher never stops at teaching mere step patterns and turns. In his own mind he would probably prefer to call himself a doctor of social skills! He must have an innate desire to help people, whether by listening to their troubles, or just setting an example by being friendly, and congenial. A happy personality and sunny disposition are contagious. A good teacher’s enthusiasm will carry through and show in many ways. He needs to learn and progress in his own field to improve his teaching methods as well as his knowledge of dance.”
“A good teacher must be proud of his work and must be thrilled by knowing that he has played some part in bettering a fellow human’s life by giving his students confidence to enjoy life more fully. He has given his students an enjoyable recreation, something they can take pride and can use for the rest of their lives, wherever they go.“
“Just how far reaching a good teacher’s influence can be is, perhaps, something he will never know. He knows only the wonderful changes that he has seen in his student’s personalities. This spurs him on and keeps one thought uppermost in his mind – not only to be a good teacher, but to become an outstanding one.
Kelly Gellette is the President of NTA. The NTA (National Country Western Dance Teachers Association) is a nonprofit organization with over 3,000 members. For NTA information call Bill Teresco, 2nd VP, 615 379-4564. for specific information on your membership, write or call the NTA office at PO Box 39, Ekron KY 40117, Phone 502 828-8887.
