How to teach swing dancing to high school students
Anne and I taught Charleston to 9th grade students at St-George’s high school today, and this reminded me that teaching a partnered dance means teaching people to lower their physical barriers and allowing someone else in their space. Teaching high school students is especially challenging, because not all teenagers are used to the intimate contact of partnered dancing.
The major barrier to swing dancing at this age is the awkwardness of being close to someone of the opposite sex. As a teacher, you need to make them feel comfortable. The easiest way to do this is by having them work towards a common goal, which in this case is to help each other learn the steps.
To keep them focused, move fluidly from one step to the next move in your teaching. Don’t give them time to be shy.
At first, it may seem hard to get them going - they get easily distracted, don’t pay attention, even disturb the class. However, once you get the whole class dancing and enjoying the music, I can guarantee warm and fuzzy feelings.
February 17th, 2008 at 3:17 am
And so, you have started the high school swingilisation! lol That’s great! Was it a one shot, or is it regular?
February 19th, 2008 at 12:59 am
It was interesting to see how the psychological barrier tagged along closely behind the physical one at the beginning. When we were introducing a new move that “seemed” flashy, you would hear students instantly go.. no way! I cant do this! And then five or ten minutes later they were all proud of being able to accomplish something totally new. I like Alain’s strategy of not giving them time to be shy or thinking that they cant do it by continuing to move on fluidly, practicing over and again instead of breaking down and analyzing too much.
February 25th, 2008 at 5:49 pm
I’ve taught high schoolers and this is some excellent advice that I’ve used as well. High schoolers while shy can often get stuff shaped out pretty quickly; youth is good for that.