Aisha Azar
New member
Certification, etc
Dear Rick,
If there is a point to certification in teaching, it should be that the teacher knows her business. In this business, that is not necessarily exhibited through the teaching of a choreography. Also, it takes the 50-50 equation out of the mix. In the teaching/learning mix, it is 50% the student and 50% the teacher. It is the responsibility to both to do the job.
Am I correct that the idea of keeping students is at the heart of the choreography thing for Helene? Does that in any way affect the integrity of the dance? I do not teach choreography and manage to keep a good percentage of students, though it may not be as high. I am worried about making sure the the dance is taught in a way that maintains the feeling, essence and spirit of the dance as well as keeping it interesting for the students. I found that in teaching a choreography, there is a limitation on complexity in response to the music because a choreography can often not describe what must be done. It is too layered, to subtle and too complicated.
Regards,
A'isha
Hi Sedonia,
Good point. There are a large number of skilled teachers who don't teach choreography either solo or group. And in a lot of ways the skilled dancer doing improv with live muscians is at the heart of our scene.
The problem is that for certification we can't certify what we can't see and so we need concrete examples of a teachers influence on her students and the best way is to see her students performing her choreographies. We have three certifiers reviewing each application and we want to make sure that at least two of them don't know the applicant so that the process is fair.
Helene has been following this thread and asked me to make this point. When she teaches choreography at her college the attendance stays higher than when she doesn't. For the record the first part of her class is a structured improv and the second half is choreography.
Another reason we ask for troupe or class choreographies is that we need to see that you're able to teach your students the basic moves. Go to: Syllabus and Course Outline on our website and you will see two examples of course outlines by Shadia and Desdemona. Most of you will recognize the basic moves as variations on those you teach yourselves.
We need to see a video of students performing their teachers choreography and doing the basic moves that she herself has taught them. This proves to us that she knows her business!
Take care, Rick
Dear Rick,
If there is a point to certification in teaching, it should be that the teacher knows her business. In this business, that is not necessarily exhibited through the teaching of a choreography. Also, it takes the 50-50 equation out of the mix. In the teaching/learning mix, it is 50% the student and 50% the teacher. It is the responsibility to both to do the job.
Am I correct that the idea of keeping students is at the heart of the choreography thing for Helene? Does that in any way affect the integrity of the dance? I do not teach choreography and manage to keep a good percentage of students, though it may not be as high. I am worried about making sure the the dance is taught in a way that maintains the feeling, essence and spirit of the dance as well as keeping it interesting for the students. I found that in teaching a choreography, there is a limitation on complexity in response to the music because a choreography can often not describe what must be done. It is too layered, to subtle and too complicated.
Regards,
A'isha