by Loui Tucker
This article appeared originally in the December1997 issue of The Grapevine.
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Being a beginner at anything -- whether you're learning tennis or bridge or
French cooking or Russian -- is tough. A beginner's self-confidence and poise
can really take a beating during the first months of contact with the new activity.
I have had several discussions over
the past few months about beginning dancers - with teachers, with current dancers,
and with beginners themselves. What are teachers doing to make it easier for
beginners? What are current dancers doing to ease the way for their friends
who are starting to dance? What do beginning dancers feel is needed to facilitate
their learning and increase their comfort level?
Start At the Beginning. Most
dancers and teachers agree that if you want to encourage a friend to start dancing,
you should first try to find a class for beginners in the area. It is, however,
an ideal that is not always possible to attain.
If there isn't a beginners' class,
at least pick one of the smaller local classes where the energy level isn't
putting stress fractures in the ceiling beams. Beginners have told me there
is very little that is more discouraging than attending the most popular and
crowded night of dancing and stumbling over your own two feet while watching
the stars of the dance floor glide and twirl like Rogers and Astaire.
Beginners frequently have tender,
if not downright fragile, egos. We've all seen them retreat to the refreshments
table after a discouraging bout with pivot turns. After all, when they look
around the room, they can't tell if another dancer has been dancing 20 years
or 2 years. Everybody is a better dancer than they are, and the prospect of
trying to attain the same skill level is daunting. Besides needing large doses
of encouragement, beginners need a class that operates on lower level that will
decrease the perceived distance to the goal, thus increasing the likelihood
that the challenge will be accepted.
Multiple Exposures. Beginners
should realize that dance classes are like new shoes. Sometimes you have to
"try on" more than one class before you find a good fit. Each class
provides a slightly different learning environment, social atmosphere, and physical
ambience. Even the same teacher on a different night in a different dance hall
can create a completely different mood. Beginners need special encouragement
so they won't give up after the first try.
I also believe it's important to
give beginners more than one reason to dance. This way, if the first evening
doesn't provide instant gratification, they'll be more willing to consider going
a second time. If they're going to meet people [new in town or newly divorced],
mention the aerobic benefits of dance. If they're going to work off stress,
remind them that friendships are great tension-relievers.
Which is Your "Inside"
Foot? A first visit to a dance class is not unlike a visit to a foreign
country. Wouldn't you at least like to know the words for "please",
"thank you", "hello" and "goodbye", and a little
about local customs?
Before your friend's first evening
of dance, schedule a mutually convenient half-hour and introduce some of the
basic vocabulary and etiquette of dancing. Demonstrate the grapevine step and
the Yemenite step. Briefly practice step-hops and 3-step turns and pivoting.
Mention that most dances move counter-clockwise; show him/her how to join a
line of dancers and how to hold hands. Talk about standing behind the line of
dancers to copy the steps and avoid the shock of joining a line and having it
take off for Hora Mamtera. Tell them about wearing layers of clothing and proper
shoes. [I've seen so many women come to their first dance class wearing a dress
and heels.]
Dancers Hold Hands with the Nicest
People. A lot of well- meaning dancers hand a friend a flyer and say, "This
is a great class. You really should go one night." Most beginners I spoke
with agreed that it is far better if you can accompany your friend and act as
a tour guide. Introduce the other people at the class. If possible, talk to
the class members you know ahead of time and ask for their cooperation in dancing
next to your friend in the line dances and with him/her for some of the easy
couple dances.
If you know which dances a beginner
can handle, request a few of them. Enlist the teacher as well; if you've taught
your friend Tzadik Katamar and Mazurka, ask the teacher to play them early in
the evening. Of all the many nights you dance for your own pleasure, dedicate
this one evening to making your friend's night enjoyable.
A Time to Plant, a Time to Reap.
Beginners are often hyper-sensitive. They are aware and are hurt when a good
dancer, no matter how carefully and inconspicuously, slips out of a circle next
to them and joins in again elsewhere. If they get up the courage to ask someone
to dance a couple dance, rejection -- even a delicately worded one -- is doubly
hard because they attribute the rejection to their beginner status. I believe
there is nothing more damaging to the health of the dance community than an
advanced dancer who habitually rejects a beginner and then accepts the invitation
of another advanced dancer.
If you're an established dancer and
you become aware of a beginning dancer in your midst, take the time to introduce
yourself, and guide the beginner through a dance or two. I have heard so many
dancers -- both men and women -- lament the lack of eligible dancer partners,
while ignoring the potential that lies in every beginning dancer. I hear dancers
say, "I don't like dancing with beginners because then I can't enjoy the
dance and I go dancing to have a good time."
Just remember that beginning dancers
don't stay beginners forever. In six short months a beginner can turn into popular,
attractive, graceful partner, and if you were there in the beginning, encouraging
and helping and guiding, he/she can be your popular, attractive, graceful partner.
Take just ten minutes [time for three dances] out of your two hours of dancing.
Those ten minutes of cultivation can pay off in the future.
[I often think we should provide
beginners with buttons or T-shirts bearing Ashley Brilliant's line: "Appreciate
me now and avoid the rush...."]
Fresh Water. I remind myself frequently
that beginners are the fresh water that keeps our pool from becoming stagnant.
Drought puts a strain on the ecosystem. In the case of a dancer-drought, we
have the power within us to "make it rain."
Make it one of your New Year's Resolutions
to bring at least one new person into the dance community this year. Make another
resolution to dance at least one dance each evening with someone new, someone
you've never danced with before -- whether by initiating or by accepting an
invitation.