Your classes? Help with with a survey.

lizaj

New member
I am interested in finding out about the content/nature of people's classes.

1.Do you advertise as teacher of a specific style of belly dance?More than one?
2.Do you teach more than one level?
3.Do you have performance troupe?
4.Do you drill technique every class?
5.When or if do you teach choreography?
6.When or if do you teach impovosation?
7.Do you follow a specific "school-method" eg Suhalia,JWAAD,FCBD?
8.Do you offer extra specialist workshops?
9.Do you teach another dance ?
10.If so is it within existing BD class or seperately?
11.Do you change your "curriculum" to suit students?
12.Do you teach day-time or evening or both
13.Are you self-employed or employed?
14.Is belly dancng your sole income? (dancing and or performing or allied business)
15.Which country are you in?

Help me out folks where ever you are as long as you teach in a non-ME country. I'd love to get a really good sample and make it worthwhile to put together some conclusions/trends and variations.And if I do all results will be anonymous and I'll "publish" back to you.
I'll also be repeating on Shira's tribe and Bhuz.

Thank you.
 

Shanazel

Moderator
1.Do you advertise as teacher of a specific style of belly dance?More than one? One: American Oriental
2.Do you teach more than one level? Two: beginning and continuing
3.Do you have performance troupe? Yes, but it is informal and limited in scope
4.Do you drill technique every class? I'd call it practice rather than drill. Dentists drill; so unpleasant.
5.When or if do you teach choreography? The continuing class works on creating at least one choreographed dance per semester together, with final approval staying with me.
6.When or if do you teach impovosation? From the first night of class- improv is the heart of my style
7.Do you follow a specific "school-method" eg Suhalia,JWAAD,FCBD? no
8.Do you offer extra specialist workshops? haven't for several years
9.Do you teach another dance ? no
10.If so is it within existing BD class or seperately?N/A
11.Do you change your "curriculum" to suit students? yes
12.Do you teach day-time or evening or both evening only
13.Are you self-employed or employed? employed to teach by the city rec dept.
14.Is belly dancng your sole income? (dancing and or performing or allied business) no
15.Which country are you in? USA
 

blackwillow

New member
1.Do you advertise as teacher of a specific style of belly dance?More than one? Yes, Middle Eastern Dance and Improvised Tribal Style
2.Do you teach more than one level? Beginners/Improvers
3.Do you have performance troupe? Yes, only for small local events
4.Do you drill technique every class? Yes, I'll pick a move that is proving difficult and then we do it over, and over, and over....and I correct posture and technique until if begins to "click" with an individual
5.When or if do you teach choreography? Each 2 terms we learn a choreography relating to the theme of the classes. This may or may not be performed at a small Hafla and this only applies to the Middle Eastern Dance class, the Improvised Tribal Style is ...well, improvised!
6.When or if do you teach impovosation?Each class we have at least 5 mins of "free-dance" time where students are encouraged to dance in their own way using the moves they have learned.
7.Do you follow a specific "school-method" eg Suhalia,JWAAD,FCBD? Noooo, mot as such although I am a member of ASMED in the UK. We are encouraged towards professionalism but with our own style of dance. For the Improv tribal class I use Fat Chance Belly Dance, then Gypsy Caravan as the foundation moves.
8.Do you offer extra specialist workshops? Yes, but rarely due to family commitments
9.Do you teach another dance ? No
10.If so is it within existing BD class or seperately? n/a
11.Do you change your "curriculum" to suit students? Yes - I might have an absolute newcomer to the class, so after the warm-up I'll spend some one-on-one time with them, whilst giving the more experienced students the same thing to do but with extra layers. The newcomer then has to accomodate what I want to get across to everyone else. If the class numbers are small because people are unable to come then I'll concentrate on something more suited to those who are there.
12.Do you teach day-time or evening or both I teach on a Sunday afternoon
13.Are you self-employed or employed? Self-employed
14.Is belly dancng your sole income? (dancing and or performing or allied business) Yes, teaching and tribal costuming
15.Which country are you in? UK
 

Kashmir

New member
I am interested in finding out about the content/nature of people's classes.
1.Do you advertise as teacher of a specific style of belly dance?More than one? I advertise as Middle Eastern belly dance - most of what I do is Egyptian based with a little Lebanese - and western veil
2.Do you teach more than one level?
Yes. At the end of last year I had 6 classes at 4 different levels
3.Do you have performance troupe?not any more
4.Do you drill technique every class?at least some technique every class - but sometimes short
5.When or if do you teach choreography?after 8 weeks of basics
6.When or if do you teach impovosation?second week :D
7.Do you follow a specific "school-method" eg Suhalia,JWAAD,FCBD?no
8.Do you offer extra specialist workshops?occasionally
9.Do you teach another dance ?no
10.If so is it within existing BD class or seperately?
11.Do you change your "curriculum" to suit students?Intro course is fixed, past that curriculum targeted to students in the class
12.Do you teach day-time or evening or bothmostly evening, just started daytime beginbers
13.Are you self-employed or employed?I run my own dance school
14.Is belly dancng your sole income? (dancing and or performing or allied business)No, day job as a software engineer
15.Which country are you in?New Zealand
Good luck
 

athansor

New member
1.Do you advertise as teacher of a specific style of belly dance?More than one?
Not right now, but when I have interest, I do a Classical Egyptian class.

2.Do you teach more than one level?
Yes

3.Do you have performance troupe?
Yes

4.Do you drill technique every class?
Yes

5.When or if do you teach choreography?
I teach choreography for students interested in the troupe

6.When or if do you teach impovosation?
At all levels, we finish up the class with discussion and practice of improvisation.

7.Do you follow a specific "school-method" eg Suhalia,JWAAD,FCBD?
No (but I'm hoping to someday get certified with Hadia or another teacher when my kids get older)

8.Do you offer extra specialist workshops?
Yes

9.Do you teach another dance ?
Not currently, have taught Flamenco

10.If so is it within existing BD class or seperately?
When I taught Flamenco it was a separate class

11.Do you change your "curriculum" to suit students?
Yes, I often modify things

12.Do you teach day-time or evening or both
Mostly day time

13.Are you self-employed or employed?
Employed

14.Is belly dancng your sole income? (dancing and or performing or allied business)
No

15.Which country are you in?
USA
 

Shahrahzad

New member
1.Do you advertise as teacher of a specific style of belly dance?More than one? - Egyptian primarily although I first learned Pan Arabic North American style so I can teach floorwork, etc.
2.Do you teach more than one level? - I teach Beginner, Beginner II, Intermediate (and an Advanced class that is just beginning and has only 2 students so far).
3.Do you have performance troupe? - Yes
4.Do you drill technique every class? - Every class except Advanced (who have to take Intermediate too)
5.When or if do you teach choreography? - I teach a little choreo or combination at the end of class.
6.When or if do you teach impovosation? - I start to teach it in Beginner, and more as the classes go up.
7.Do you follow a specific "school-method" eg Suhalia,JWAAD,FCBD? - No
8.Do you offer extra specialist workshops? - Yes: Sagat, Technique, Choreographies, Arabic Rhythms, How to Choreograph, Costume Making and Beadwork.
9.Do you teach another dance ? - At present I also teach Tap, Modern, Ballet and Musical Theatre (I am a full time dance teacher).
10.If so is it within existing BD class or seperately? - Totally separate!
11.Do you change your "curriculum" to suit students? - I ensure the class does not bore or over challenge the students.
12.Do you teach day-time or evening or both - Evening.
13.Are you self-employed or employed? - Self Employed
14.Is belly dancng your sole income? (dancing and or performing or allied business) - More or less although I also do graphic design/web work. It says Dance Teacher on my passport...
15.Which country are you in? - Canada
 
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Darshiva

Moderator
1.Do you advertise as teacher of a specific style of belly dance?More than one?
Yes. I advertise as a teacher of Egyptian Dance, as that's what I'm qualified to teach. ;)

2.Do you teach more than one level?
Yes.

3.Do you have performance troupe?
No.

4.Do you drill technique every class?
Yes.

5.When or if do you teach choreography?
I teach choreography right from the beginning as a skill base for the benefit of those who wish to attend choreography workshops so they know how to learn choreography. It's a skill I wish I'd learned as a beginner instead of needing to teach myself how to learn as an experienced dancer, so I'd have wasted less money on workshop choreographies. ;)

6.When or if do you teach impovosation?
I teach improv right from the beginning as it is integral to Egyptian style dance to know how to improvise.

7.Do you follow a specific "school-method" eg Suhalia,JWAAD,FCBD?
I did. I used to teach Shemiran Ibrahim's Belly Dance From the Heart format. However I have rewritten my lesson plan so that it's a little more flexible to the comings & goings of casual students.

8.Do you offer extra specialist workshops?
I host guest teachers about 3-4 times a year.

9.Do you teach another dance ?
No. I'm not trained in any other dance, nor am I qualified to teach one, so I would never disrespect other dance forms by teaching something I know little about.

10.If so is it within existing BD class or seperately?
As above.

11.Do you change your "curriculum" to suit students?
Oh yes. You have to. If you don't you'll lose students, along with the freshness that keeps you motivated!

12.Do you teach day-time or evening or both
I teach evening for term classes and anytime for privates.

13.Are you self-employed or employed?
Self-emplyed - I registered myself as a business to teach & perform.

14.Is belly dancng your sole income? (dancing and or performing or allied business)
My sole income, yes. Fortunately my household doesn't rely on my income. ;)

15.Which country are you in?
Australia
 

jenc

New member
This is very interesting - I wonder if it proves that those who teach improv are more likely to join the forum. I have had 6 teacher for a term or more - and no teaching of improv or encouragement at beginner level. One was going to run a class for intermediates which would be improv and self choreo but did not return after baby, and my latest teacher did a 6 week balaldi class for improvers. But the whole other 4 years worth was learning teacher's choreos (most likely without knowing name of music, or any cultural details)
 

lizaj

New member
Brillian. A member here and one on Bhuz has told me about the monkey survey tool so I am off to discover and also other ways to deliver.
I have no hidden agenda folks
I am looking at wether or not people can teach to another level other than beginner or mixed, wether training scemes are having an impact, wether teacher specify a style and which seems to be the prevelent, the balance of employed/self employed.

PS email me at jarrett(underscore)liz(at)hotmail(dot)com if you prefer. But meantime off to look at monkey.!
 
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Khalida

New member
1.Do you advertise as teacher of a specific style of belly dance?More than one? they are advertised as belly dance/oriental dance
2.Do you teach more than one level?four levels: L1:beginner basics, L2:beginner 2, L3:intermediate, L4:advanced, and a drills/conditioning class(L1-4) Sometimes classes are mixed or in between levels, so I advertise them as 'L2/3' for instance
3.Do you have performance troupe? no
4.Do you drill technique every class? there is some technique in every class, the drills/conditioning is most drill-heavy
5.When or if do you teach choreography? it depends on the term and group, we sometimes do improv, sometimes choreo, sometimes in between
6.When or if do you teach impovosation? see 5
7.Do you follow a specific "school-method" eg Suhalia,JWAAD,FCBD?no, but I use elements of methods that I find helpful eg. some of Suhaila's technique drills for layering
8.Do you offer extra specialist workshops?yes
9.Do you teach another dance?no
10.If so is it within existing BD class or seperately?
11.Do you change your "curriculum" to suit students?yes, a bit, beginner basics is pretty standard mostly, but I do look at the students' needs/what they have already learned/where their interests are when making a class plan for the next term
12.Do you teach day-time or evening or both evening, tried a day-time class before but did not have enough enrolments
13.Are you self-employed or employed?parttime self-employed, parttime employed in IT
14.Is belly dancng your sole income? (dancing and or performing or allied business)no
15.Which country are you in?germany
 

Gia al Qamar

New member
1.Do you advertise as teacher of a specific style of belly dance?More than one? "Middle Eastern Nightclub Style"
2.Do you teach more than one level? Yes, beginners, intermediate, intermediate-advanced & open level classes.
3.Do you have performance troupe? Yes
4.Do you drill technique every class? Oh yes
5.When or if do you teach choreography? I focus primarily on short combinations as a way of showing newcomers how to get from one movement to the next. More advanced classes sometimes learn an entire choreography to assist with memory skills, then they're asked to perform it solor or in small groups to work on performance skills.
6.When or if do you teach impovosation? At the advanced level
7.Do you follow a specific "school-method" eg Suhalia,JWAAD,FCBD? No.
8.Do you offer extra specialist workshops? Yes
9.Do you teach another dance ? No.
10.If so is it within existing BD class or seperately?
11.Do you change your "curriculum" to suit students? If my beginner class is filled with more intermediate level beginners then we'll kick it up a notch...but the curriculum is the same.
12.Do you teach day-time or evening or both Both
13.Are you self-employed or employed? Self-employd
14.Is belly dancng your sole income? (dancing and or performing or allied business) Yes and I am currently supporting my family with only my income.
15.Which country are you in? USA
 

Gia al Qamar

New member
I saw the same thing and thought the same thing! Fantastic! What an inspiration!

OMG...you're seriously both going to make me cry!
Thank you!
I had the luxury of earning a nice living in the creative arts for years (I was working in TV, for magazines and newspapers out of college, then spent a decade as a sculptor and sculpting teacher) and being supported by my husband's income so I didn't have to worry if I was 'making enough'.
But my husband lost his job last January and so...it was time for the tough to get going. I put all my effort into making my talent work FOR me and I've been blessed with regular performances, bookings and consistently filled classes.
It's been an exceedingly difficult year of 15 hour days, 6 days a week...but...we're 'ok' and holding out hope that, this year, a great job will come along for hubby!
Thank you...truly...for saying that...
And...sorry for momentarily hijacking this thread!
 

lizaj

New member
Hi all
I have had 15 responses..a small sample but it does give me somehting to get my teeth into. I'd love that to double.
I've looked at survey mnkey and I don't think it would allow for some of the open ended comment I'm getting and which is useful so I may just plough on this way.
I am aware that samples need to be big and I am looking at putting it into our magazine and maybe contacting othe organisations. The thing is then...what to do with what I find out. :rolleyes:
If you think it's useful I will report back on trends although plough on until I have a fair sized sample.
Again thanks it's interesting reading and any more?
 

Aurelia

New member
1.Do you advertise as teacher of a specific style of belly dance?More than one? I advertise what I teach as "bellydance" -- then tell students they are learning basic movement families that are interpreted differently depending on the style, which I will demonstrate in class on occasion. I also give "homework" assignments that ask students to look at several video examples of a particular style (I change the style every session) but most don't do this. If I had a group of students at an intermediate level, I would offer instruction in tribal fusion, ITS and American Caberet
2.Do you teach more than one level? I teach basics (drilling fundamentals), Level 1 (beginner choreographies + technique drills), and a company class (intermediate/advanced). I have tried to offer a Level 2/Intermediate class, but rarely have enough takers.
3.Do you have performance troupe? Yes
4.Do you drill technique every class? Yes
5.When or if do you teach choreography? At all levels above basic
6.When or if do you teach impovosation? It is part of intermediate classes, but it scares about half of my students away :( I talk a lot about musical structure and musicality in my company classes, and work in some space for improv in our practice choreographies and some of the troupe members have embraced improv, but others are terrified of it.
7.Do you follow a specific "school-method" eg Suhalia,JWAAD,FCBD? No; I "borrow" instructional techniques from all over -- if I think it will help students understand something, I use it :D
8.Do you offer extra specialist workshops? I don't know if I'd call them specialist, but I do half-day workshops either to learn a whole dance at once or for introductions to various props (veil, cane, etc.)
9.Do you teach another dance ? No
10.If so is it within existing BD class or seperately?
11.Do you change your "curriculum" to suit students? Yes and no. I do have lesson plans for every class and I try really hard to stick to them, especially for choreography classes, but if students are stuck on a move, I will spend more time on it, whereas if they're getting it, I might throw in an extra layer or complication
12.Do you teach day-time or evening or both both
13.Are you self-employed or employed? self-employed for dance instruction; employed for my day job which has nothing to do with dancing
14.Is belly dancng your sole income? (dancing and or performing or allied business)No
15.Which country are you in?
US
 
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