Heck yes! Suppose you went to your music lesson and your teacher said to you, “What piece were we working on?” Or what if your lawyer said, “What is your case about again?” These clearly are not professional responses and are likely to fill you with doubt about whether you hired the right person. Now,…
Your 6:00pm student is waiting for you, dance shoes on, notebook out—she’s been ready since 5:30pm. You greet each other and she mentions she would like to review figures 6 and 7 before going on to figure 8. You review the figures with her until she is satisfied that she knows them. Before the lesson…
How many times have you said to your students, “Put Your Shoulders Down”? A sure fire way to recognize an accomplished dancer is by looking at their upper carriage. Even with their arms up in a frame, good dancers’ shoulders are relaxed and down, their necks are long and their sternums are lifted. You know…
On Halloween afternoon, October 31, 1991, my student and I were practicing our student/teacher showcase routine. My student (I’ll call him Keil*), had been taking lessons with me for many years. Keil came up with an idea for a humorous routine called “Dance Student’s Revenge”. It was about a student getting back at his teacher…
Embarrassing things happen. They always have and they always will. There is no “Embarrassment Spray Guard”, so we’d best learn to expect it and be ready to deal with it in the best possible way. What would you do if: You pass gas loudly while doing a Paso Doble leap in your lesson with a…
Dear Diane, I love the idea of becoming a ballroom dance teacher. But how do I know if I have what it takes to be successful as a dance teacher? Wanting it to work, Alice Hi Alice, This is an excellent question and you are smart to ask it. Great dancers often assume they’ll automatically…
Gorgeous dresses and tail suits, bright lights, make up, music, movement, laughter…these are some things that may come to mind when you imagine the life of a ballroom dance teacher. While these are indeed aspects of a ballroom dance career, there is more to the story than pure enjoyment and allure. For those of you…
I love being a dance teacher. I think it is the greatest career there is. Here are my top 10 reasons why: You get to dance every day. Every single day. You sculpt people into dancers. They couldn’t dance, and now, because of your help, they can. For this they are happy, more confident, stand…
It’s very common for students to take lessons from different teachers at the same time. There are several reasons for this: Students assume the more teachers they have, the better they will learn. Frustrated with their progress, students hope a different teacher can take them further faster. Students are curious about another teacher because of…
I remember the day I was taking a lesson from a more experienced teacher. We were working on turns in West Coast Swing. He led me in a whip with a double outside turn and then barked, “You’re flipping your head around like a fish. You should know better, you’re a teacher!” I tried my…