Going From one to another. A good idea?

Rania

New member
I was wondering what everyone thought of going from one belly dance teacher to another. For example take beginner one with Teacher. S and take beginner two with teacher K. The Intermediate with Teacher S and and Intermediate with K. Advanced with S, and same with K.

I though it would be a good idea to learn differnt styles.

Give me you input.

Thanks
 

SeeJaneDance

New member
Our studio actually has currently two different teachers who alternate, plus a tribal teacher (there used to be a third who did general classes). We definitely learn slightly different styles from each of the two, but because they're with the same studio, they coordinate their sessions, at least some. I've also taken class at another studio, and while I think the beginner classes would translate from one to the other, anything higher than beginners wouldn't coordinate well with one another. I'd rather take a whole series of beginner-advanced with each studio. That's just my personal experience in this town, though.
 

Kashmir

New member
Assuming they are all reasonable teachers, I'd say it almost a requirement. To grow as a dancer you need to experience different approaches and styles.
 

Rania

New member
SeeJaneDance
I never seen I studio do that. But it sounds great.

Darshiva, and Kashmire thanks for your imput its greatly apriciated.
They are very resonable. lucky for me Canton, Ohio has a handfull of belly dancers
 
Last edited:

SeeJaneDance

New member
Rania, there are three studios in town that all teach belly dance, and they're all run that way...I understand that other places are not like this at all, though.
 

Shanazel

Moderator
Twenty+ years ago (OMG, can that be true? :shok:) another teacher and I team-taught. Students would get me one week and her the next. We always attended each other's classes so knew what had happened on our off-week. It was a lot of fun.
 

Duvet

Member
I think its a great idea to change teachers, or have more than one at the same time (meaning in the same style - it can be difficult to be learning different styles at once, especially as a beginner). Its almost a requirement for your own advancement.

It lets you see the bigger picture, and see how things can change and evolve with different teacher's own experiences. It helps you discover different things about yourself, you learn different ways of thinking about the dance,you learn new techniques and moves, and you meet different people. No one teacher can provide you with everything.

The down side is that the teacher you first learnt from, admired and idealised, might turn out, in comparison, not to be have been very good at all!! It can also be hard if one tutor has a philosophy or technique that is very different from another that you've become used to.

Sometimes you can outgrow your teacher, but always try to move on in an ammicable way. Bad blood has a way of following you around; its not good for yourself, and you might end up having to share a dance space with them sometime in the future.

I've had a few teachers over the years, and I'm grateful for everyone.
 
Last edited:

Safran

New member
When I started studying, our studio had classes arranged the same way as SeeJaneDance's example - first half of the week was taught by one, the second half by another teacher. They did come from an almost identical training background, but still had a rather different approach to teaching, which I found very beneficial - if one explanation did not work for me, there was a good chance the other instructor would come up with a different way to look at things.

I also had a chance to co-teach when I started teaching regular classes, and it was with an instructor who has studied with completely different teachers than me. In general, it went quite well, only the different terminology caused a bit of confusion at first :D
 

Habiba

New member
Until you feel like you aren't getting any benefit from it anymore.

That I agree with. One of my teacher's students though has been with her for almost 10 years. She (the student) dances semi-professionally but relies on the teacher for all her choreographies, costuming etc. Each to his own for sure, but I did think it a long time.
 

Yorkshire Lass

New member
Until you feel like you aren't getting any benefit from it anymore.

Definitely. I've been learning for 3 years or so (I can't keep an exact count) and I've stayed with the same teacher for most of that as my main teacher because I like her style and I benefit from her still. That said over the past year I've tried workshops with other teachers and they've taught me some things about dance and a lot about the sort of teaching style I like.

Now I'm taking regular classes with a different teacher to try and broaden my technique and dance practice and stretch me in different ways. I still go back to my main teacher for some things (like her awesome veil technique workshops) but I'm really enjoying the difference. It was actually my main teacher who encouraged me to try a different instructor.

I think for me I'd stick with one teacher for the first few months as otherwise it might get a bit confusing for a beginner, and then diversify once the basics sink in.
 

Shanazel

Moderator
I'd stick with one teacher for the first few months as otherwise it might get a bit confusing for a beginner, and then diversify once the basics sink in.

Yep, what the lassie from Yorkshire says. :dance:
 

Rania

New member
I think its a great idea to change teachers, or have more than one at the same time (meaning in the same style - it can be difficult to be learning different styles at once, especially as a beginner). Its almost a requirement for your own advancement.

It lets you see the bigger picture, and see how things can change and evolve with different teacher's own experiences. It helps you discover different things about yourself, you learn different ways of thinking about the dance,you learn new techniques and moves, and you meet different people. No one teacher can provide you with everything.

I agree more then one at a time would be a little much. switching back and forth every so many months is what I had in mind.

Another thought to add, it may give a dancer her own unique style instead of being a routine copy of his or her belly dance. However even if you learn from one teacher your way of dancing and style will be slightly differnt. I might switch by leval.
 

Daimona

Moderator
Another thought to add, it may give a dancer her own unique style instead of being a routine copy of his or her belly dance. However even if you learn from one teacher your way of dancing and style will be slightly differnt. I might switch by leval.

Or it makes the student a great copy-cat being able to do teacher x y and z's styles if the student don't play around to make her/his own style from what she/he learns. ;)
 

walladah

New member
Yes, it is a very good idea

actually, it is the best a student can do, but it is not usually done, because it requires a lot of time, effort and money to cope with several teachers at the same time (same season). Another solution is to have a series of lessons (you know how many those will be, they might be a year, or several, or a series of lessons to learn something specific etc) and then stop and go to another teacher to have another series.

Good teachers are those who enable you to be able to attend other teachers' classes without you feeling like a beginner again, but with body abilities to learn more. Very good teachers are those whose lessons you attend again, after you have made your round in other teachers and seminar instructors, because in the meantime the very good teacher has also added/improved in her lessons or topics taught.
 

Rania

New member
Or it makes the student a great copy-cat being able to do teacher x y and z's styles if the student don't play around to make her/his own style from what she/he learns. ;)

hahahahahaha, yes perphaps it would. Your right, each should figuire out how they can make it their own.
 
Last edited:
Top