Budding Prima Donnas, Show-offs, etc.

[Amarise]

This question is directed at instructors.

We have most likely all had at least one in our teaching career. The student who is basically nice and not too obnoxious but gets an attitude after a couple of performances. She may begin to think she is better than others in the class and may even refer to newer students as something less than herself. Maybe she tries to find ways to show-off in front of the other students. Or maybe she tries to verbally express that she thinks she is really something important in a bit of a passive aggressive way to other students to show-off. Etc., etc...


Thanks for your suggestions.

Amarise

 

[Reen.Blom]

Sorry Amarise I dont have advice, just wanted to say you got a pretty website!

*hug*

 

[Amarise]

Sorry Amarise I dont have advice, just wanted to say you got a pretty website!

*hug*

Thank you for your kind compliment.

Amarise

 

[Mosaic]

Other suggestions may come your way, but maybe when you are correcting other students you can occasionally find something to correct the student, thus allowing her to see she is far from perfect. If that has been tried then I don't know, other than have a one to one talk with her. Sometimes one is forced into the one to one situation, she may get her nose in a knot for a while, but generally they come around. You can offer platitudes like 'yes you are getting there, and I am proud of the work you do and effort you make .. but..'
~Mosaic

 

[fatinah]

Im so new to bellydance and I hope I would never think I was better than I was. I had that in ballet so often people thinking they were stars of the troupe...its very annoying for fellow students so it must be a nightmare for the teachers.

Students can pick their teachers but to an extent I guess teachers cannot pick their pupils which must be a nightmare!

 

[Shanazel]

I have one right now. She is a nice woman, but is not as skilled as she'd like to think. I just correct her the same way I correct all of my students, and try not to single her out in anyway except to say, "I can tell you are very motivated to dance. That's great, but in order to successfully tackle more complicated moves, you really have to get the basics right, and right now you need to work seriously on (fill in the blank)."

Fatinah, every time I walk into a new class, I feel like it is Christmas and I am about to receive a lot of gifts. I never know what I am going to get, and part of the satisfaction of teaching involves successfully dealing with whatever students come to me. Some of these gifts I like better than others, but I have rarely had one that I simply wanted to throw back.

 

[Aisha Azar]

Students, etc.

Dear Amarise,
I think that every now and then such students do pop up. Some of them get over it rather quickly when they realize just how much there is to learn, and that it will be a lifetime endeavour. Others seem to seem to make it their life's attitude. Most dancers that I know have gone through a little phase of it at about five years into their dance life, and then they get over it. It could be called the "teen age" phase of belly dance.
If she is doing ANYTHING whatsoever to intimidate or discourage or in any way make your other students feel badly or think less of themselves in their efforts to learn the dance, you will have to have a serious talk with her about how she affects them.
On your part, actions speak as loudly as words. You need to treat her exactly as you do any other student and not single her out in any way, hoping that she will get the point that she is one of the group. This may or may not work, depending on just how hot she thinks she is. Some people eventually go their own way, start teaching before they are ready, etc. (I had one of those about 4 years ago.) Others get the hint and settle down and realize that there will always be way too much to learn for them to get on a high horse about how good they are.
I have been fortunate in my life not to have too many dancers in my regular classes or even in workshops who act like that. Part of it is being very human and real yourself in the classroom setting so that your students understand that being the "teacher" or the "star" might be nothing more than having a few years of experience that the others in the room do not have. You never know who is going to turn out to be one incredible dancer, so you want to be careful who you act like a big shot in front of!! You might bring that up as a general thing to the whole class.
Best wishes with this.
Regards,
A'isha

 

[lizaj]

As long as a "show off" is prepared to work hard as well, they can be a winner.
Confidence isn't always counter-productive.
Of course delusion is.
I can't say I am as concerned about students as I am about some of the quality of the teachers and teaching.:shok:

 

[fatinah]

I think there is definatley some strange teachers out there...theres a certain lady a friend of mine went to once or twice and when my friend innocently asked where she learnt bellydance and where she trained as a teacher she got her head bitten off. IE she was not even technically good or experienced enough or qualified to teach...very scary!!

So far my teacher has been brilliant and I think its because she has an excellent teaching style and she is a great dancer so im lucky but I know alot of people via forums and stuff that have bad experiences.

 

[Suheir]

I think there is definatley some strange teachers out there...theres a certain lady a friend of mine went to once or twice and when my friend innocently asked where she learnt bellydance and where she trained as a teacher she got her head bitten off. IE she was not even technically good or experienced enough or qualified to teach...very scary!!

:lol: :lol: :lol: There are plenty of those about, sadly.

 

[Eshta]

Not much to add that's not been said before except to please tread carefully - sometimes/oftentimes the ones with the ego in class are the ones with very low self-esteem in normal life, it's a little tragic

 

[teela]

I'm going to throw this in. It is possible the Prima Donna's, showoffs etc may not see themselves as that. It may be that they are like "wow, look how fast I learned the move, so now I can help others" not realizing that they don't have it quite right, or the form is a shade off or whatever. They just may be sooooooo enthusiastic that wow they have to share. I think sometimes it may be part of the natural progression for certain people as they learn. It is also quite possible that people who learn quickly sometimes may want to move faster and not understand they are not ready to progress as quickly as they think they are.

 

[jenc]

Ok I have done this..............when I saw people doing move entirely wrong and teacher saying nothing............although my first teacher told me beginners didn't want/need technique. This when I asked her about posture. Ok so I may have asked her why she didn't mention it to us and I may have been a little know-it-all............

 

[Amarise]

Ok I have done this..............when I saw people doing move entirely wrong and teacher saying nothing............although my first teacher told me beginners didn't want/need technique. This when I asked her about posture. Ok so I may have asked her why she didn't mention it to us and I may have been a little know-it-all............

I guess I would not term this know it all from your basic description. And when it comes to something as fundamental as posture, I think this is very necessary for a beginner. Not only to look good in the dance, but for physical safety.

But it is all how you mention things or ask questions in class that can make a difference. It is always important to be respectful in your approach to one's teacher.

Amarise

 

[Amarise]

Teela and Eshta, I would agree with both of you.
Amarise

 

[jenc]

I think she perhaps needs more special treatment eg more criticism..............mind you I was myself happy to get more criticism in class cos I thought this meant the teacher thought I was further ahead and needed technique refinement. Perhaps she was just squashing me!!!
Seriously they have to know they are not all that!!-

 

[Aisha Azar]

Dance

Dear Gang,
From an instructor's point of view, there really ARE problems when people in class who are just learning themselves try to correct other students:

* It can sometimes undermine the confidence of those that other students try to correct. It can make others feel like they are the only one in class who is not "getting it".

* Sometimes the student who is doing the correcting may see that something is wrong with another student's movement, but not really know how to fix the problem, further adding to the student's confusion.

* If the student who is trying to fix another student were paying attention to the instructor and to her/his own movement, she/he would not have time to be so critical of others. There are always things every dancer can work on to perfect their own movement if they feel that they are ahead of the rest of the class.

* And this happens VERY often. The instructor may see things that the untrained eye does not see, as far as if someone is doing the movement "right" or "wrong". As an example, one of my students studies with me and another teacher. She says the the teacher does not fine tune movements in individual students the way that I do. I tweak from individual accomplishment and my reason is that movement has levels of expertise and innate ability just like playing the piano or any other thing. I must look to help students build on the foundation that they come into class with. So, Student B might be ready to see movement at a whole different level than student A. I will be happy to see Student A use her pelvis, shoulders and whatever other body parts to move a hip circle around, just to have her feel her body make that move and connect with it at her level of ability. She has not yet built on this basic skill and may not ever if she does not have the dance skills innate in herself. She might be there for reasons other than to learn to be a professional belly dancer and I need to be in touch with that. On the other hand, student B has got it going on already and is in touch with concentrating on specific areas of movement (isolation to a degree). I will want her to engage her muscles to pull that circle around with real depth and core strength. Students may not be in a position to see what the teacher sees.

* When I go to another instructor's workshop or dance class, I do not correct even my own students in that class. If someone comes to me with a question, I refer them to the instructor. This is plain courtesy for that other instructor, and this holds true even when I disagree with what that teacher is saying. Outside the class, I may talk to my own students about the information, but in class, I am there to do what that teacher is telling us to do. I work on my own dance and often do not even see what the other students are doing.

I hope this clarifies the situation a little more for the instructor's point of
view.
Regards,
A'isha

 

[jenc]

Oh I agree I realised I shouldn't have done it straight away!!!

 

[Amarise]

Dear Gang,
From an instructor's point of view, there really ARE problems when people in class who are just learning themselves try to correct other students:


* When I go to another instructor's workshop or dance class, I do not correct even my own students in that class. If someone comes to me with a question, I refer them to the instructor. This is plain courtesy for that other instructor, and this holds true even when I disagree with what that teacher is saying. Outside the class, I may talk to my own students about the information, but in class, I am there to do what that teacher is telling us to do. I work on my own dance and often do not even see what the other students are doing.

I hope this clarifies the situation a little more for the instructor's point of
view.
Regards,
A'isha

A'isha,

I totally agree with you. What my earlier statement was about was I do not mind if a student requests extra help with a detail I may not have gone into enough for their needs.


Amarise

 

[dreamkitaro]

I am a student dealing with a prima donna student in my class. She is very talented. She is just a natural dancer. Unfortunately, she lets everyone know she is. During class and rehearsal for recitals she will talk or rude noises while others are practicing. She is already trying out for the teachers group. She will gossip during rehearsals with girls from that group making snide comments about the other students who are not as talented as she. The teacher is so nice, she doesn't correct or say anything to her. It stresses out the rest of us students and frazzles us. Our classes when that prima donna is not there, flows and is much funner when she's not around. The rest of us are very encouraging to each other. We don't need that prima donna around.:naghty: