desertdaughter
New member
Hi, since two of my friends, who are also members of this forum, told me that people here friendly and helpful and that I should post what happened to me, I decided to do that and would now be interested in your opinions and advice...
Ok then: I am teaching BD for many years now and something like the following hasn't happened to me so far.
It all started with one of my students asking me if I also would like to teach at the suburb where she is living. Until then I was mainly teaching at my home based studio but since many people here in and around our area are not really willing to drive, even to the next suburb, I thought it might be worth a try.
I was able to organize a hall in that student's suburb and she told me, she already had been asking around and that many people there would be interested and waiting to start... but as it turned out I ended up with only three "regulars" and one or two "on and off's" each time. I hardly got enough money to cover the rent for the hall, I even had to pay "on top" for one lesson. One of the "on and off" students even tried twice to "escape" without paying at all....I decided to stop asap but wanted to finish the term because I am usually sticking to what I said and I had to pay for the hall anyway.
And during those last weeks this "on and off" student I mentioned above, who was also taking classes with another teacher, started telling my students about the way her other teacher was/is explaining movements and techniques. One of that other teachers methods of explaining included how to do an Umi: she wanted the students to imagine or to actually place a golf ball next to or even into their most private part, hold it there and then start to do the Umis without dropping the ball.... Maybe it's just me? but I found that really out of place...
Sorry for that long story but I must explain how it came to the part which bothered me most.
After finishing a term I am usually informing my students about the start and costs of the next term and ask for confirmation of participation. But I didn't hear anything back from this particular student"group" I mentioned above, even if I had offered them to continue the lessons at my studio. So I cancelled the hall and handed the keys back to the responsible guy.
And he, suddenly, started to apologize to me for being "backstabbed" so badly from that student I mentioned before.
At first I didn't know what he was talking about but then I found out that this student is now "running" the class at the hall. I don't know yet exactly if she herself is "teaching" or if she got her "golf teacher" to do it...
In both cases the quality of teaching will suffer because that student is certainly not ready and experienced enough to teach others and the teaching methods of that other teacher seem to be a bit dubious and not really good for the reputation of belly dance if people should hear about them, I guess.
As many other teachers I have worked and am still working pretty hard to help building a good reputation for BD and did put a lot of effort and money into becoming a good teacher with solid background knowledge - it simply disgusts me if someone who has no experience at all or doesn't care about the public appearance of BD goes out there and starts teaching.
My friends said to me I should simply go to one of their lessons, sit down and watch - just to be there and to show them that I know what they are doing. What do you think about that and what would you do if you were in my shoes?
Please don't be too angry with me for writing such a long post but I needed to get this off my chest and to hear, or better read, how others think about that.
Thanks and lot
Desertdaughter
Ok then: I am teaching BD for many years now and something like the following hasn't happened to me so far.
It all started with one of my students asking me if I also would like to teach at the suburb where she is living. Until then I was mainly teaching at my home based studio but since many people here in and around our area are not really willing to drive, even to the next suburb, I thought it might be worth a try.
I was able to organize a hall in that student's suburb and she told me, she already had been asking around and that many people there would be interested and waiting to start... but as it turned out I ended up with only three "regulars" and one or two "on and off's" each time. I hardly got enough money to cover the rent for the hall, I even had to pay "on top" for one lesson. One of the "on and off" students even tried twice to "escape" without paying at all....I decided to stop asap but wanted to finish the term because I am usually sticking to what I said and I had to pay for the hall anyway.
And during those last weeks this "on and off" student I mentioned above, who was also taking classes with another teacher, started telling my students about the way her other teacher was/is explaining movements and techniques. One of that other teachers methods of explaining included how to do an Umi: she wanted the students to imagine or to actually place a golf ball next to or even into their most private part, hold it there and then start to do the Umis without dropping the ball.... Maybe it's just me? but I found that really out of place...
Sorry for that long story but I must explain how it came to the part which bothered me most.
After finishing a term I am usually informing my students about the start and costs of the next term and ask for confirmation of participation. But I didn't hear anything back from this particular student"group" I mentioned above, even if I had offered them to continue the lessons at my studio. So I cancelled the hall and handed the keys back to the responsible guy.
And he, suddenly, started to apologize to me for being "backstabbed" so badly from that student I mentioned before.
At first I didn't know what he was talking about but then I found out that this student is now "running" the class at the hall. I don't know yet exactly if she herself is "teaching" or if she got her "golf teacher" to do it...
In both cases the quality of teaching will suffer because that student is certainly not ready and experienced enough to teach others and the teaching methods of that other teacher seem to be a bit dubious and not really good for the reputation of belly dance if people should hear about them, I guess.
As many other teachers I have worked and am still working pretty hard to help building a good reputation for BD and did put a lot of effort and money into becoming a good teacher with solid background knowledge - it simply disgusts me if someone who has no experience at all or doesn't care about the public appearance of BD goes out there and starts teaching.
My friends said to me I should simply go to one of their lessons, sit down and watch - just to be there and to show them that I know what they are doing. What do you think about that and what would you do if you were in my shoes?
Please don't be too angry with me for writing such a long post but I needed to get this off my chest and to hear, or better read, how others think about that.
Thanks and lot
Desertdaughter