Amanda (was Aziyade)
Well-known member
Spin off from the Amora thread:
So we often complain about the ill-prepared student or the 6-week wonder who tries to get the job at the restaurant. Many of the posters here have been working professionally for 10+ years, and have studied the dance for more.
What is the absolute bare minimum of knowledge a dancer needs to know in order to be a SUCCESSFUL professional performer? Let's say her goal is to dance in a nightclub or hotel. And let's say she wants to dance for a primarily Arab audience, rather than an audience of Westerners. Let's say she's a raw beginner with no formal dance training, and no special musical training.
We'll assume she's going to pick up a certain amount of knowledge on-the-job and with performance experience, but what would she need to know (if you were the hotel owner) in order to get that first job?
(In other words, is there a lot of stuff that we expect dancers to know that isn't really NECESSARY? A lot of us are fascinated by history, culture, music, region-specific folk dances, etc. But how much of that knowledge is TRULY relevant to the job of dancing?)
If you were creating a syllabus to train professional dancers (NOT teachers -- just dancers) what would be on it?
Another topic for discussion:
It has been suggested that we teachers spend too much time teaching students the basics, and that a professional course could be much shorter in length.
Teachers and students -- in your experience, how long does it take information given to really "sink in" ? Do you feel that an intensive course (where you were lectured or given instruction for 6+ hours a day) would allow the student to absorb more than if she were getting weekly shorter lessons? What is the shortest length of time you could expect for such a professional training program to take, assuming you started with a raw beginner?
So we often complain about the ill-prepared student or the 6-week wonder who tries to get the job at the restaurant. Many of the posters here have been working professionally for 10+ years, and have studied the dance for more.
What is the absolute bare minimum of knowledge a dancer needs to know in order to be a SUCCESSFUL professional performer? Let's say her goal is to dance in a nightclub or hotel. And let's say she wants to dance for a primarily Arab audience, rather than an audience of Westerners. Let's say she's a raw beginner with no formal dance training, and no special musical training.
We'll assume she's going to pick up a certain amount of knowledge on-the-job and with performance experience, but what would she need to know (if you were the hotel owner) in order to get that first job?
(In other words, is there a lot of stuff that we expect dancers to know that isn't really NECESSARY? A lot of us are fascinated by history, culture, music, region-specific folk dances, etc. But how much of that knowledge is TRULY relevant to the job of dancing?)
If you were creating a syllabus to train professional dancers (NOT teachers -- just dancers) what would be on it?
Another topic for discussion:
It has been suggested that we teachers spend too much time teaching students the basics, and that a professional course could be much shorter in length.
Teachers and students -- in your experience, how long does it take information given to really "sink in" ? Do you feel that an intensive course (where you were lectured or given instruction for 6+ hours a day) would allow the student to absorb more than if she were getting weekly shorter lessons? What is the shortest length of time you could expect for such a professional training program to take, assuming you started with a raw beginner?
