strathspey@strathspey.org:27656

Anselm Lingnau

Re: What do you think about this?

Oct. 2, 2001, 1:20 p.m. (Message 27656, in reply to message 27615)

Lee Fuell <xxxxx@xxxxxxxxxx.xxx> writes:

> So the challenge remains - how do teachers balance the need to 
> maintain the fundamental character of SCD (i.e., proper technique) 
> with the need to develop (or keep) lots of dancers on the floor 
> dancing SCD?  Striking the right balance is, I expect, far from 
> easy.

It also depends on the type of class. I have met teachers who are really
excellent given a group of people who are keen to learn, in a workshop
setting where there is essentially nothing to do but dance, eat, sleep
and socialize -- but who I would not be convinced I would ask to have as
my weekly teacher in a `general' class.

It is always more difficult for a teacher to inspire enthusiasm and the
will to excel in people who have a full day's worth of their daily job
behind them, especially when these people are the kind of mixture of the
ambitious and not-quite-so-ambitious that one tends to have in a
`general' class. I agree that this is something which is touched upon
very lightly in RSCDS certification classes -- it would be exaggerating
unduly to claim that the subject was completely ignored, which at least
in my class wasn't the case -- but it must also be appreciated that the
ability to do this is not something which is (a) straightforward to
teach (or learn) in a 2-week course of instruction, or (b) easy to
examine fairly at the end of said course.

It must also be reiterated, at the peril of preaching to the choir in
this forum, that having passed the RSCDS certificate does not of itself
make you a great teacher. If anything it is a vote of encouragement that
the certificate holder may one day become one; it's part of the
foundations rather than the cap-stone. I'd say that there is much more
to a great teacher -- having been fortunate enough to meet a few
individuals that, to me, deserve the title -- than can be learned in a
certificate class. Which is not to say that certificate classes are
useless, only that there are some aspects to SCD teaching that can't
really be taught during 80 hours of formal instruction.

Anselm
-- 
Anselm Lingnau .......................................... xxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxx.xxx
When I am working on a problem, I never think about beauty. I think only how to
solve the problem. But when I have finished, if the solution is not beautiful,
I know it is wrong.                                    -- R. Buckminster Fuller