When your teacher says something inaccurate
- Thread starter Moon
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Caroline_afifi
New member
:lol::lol::lol:
To all of it!
another thread decending into the depths of madness....
To all of it!
another thread decending into the depths of madness....
LLAIMA
New member
I always thought according to an article I read somewhere that Oriental dance is the translation to the phrase Raks Sharki, and that It was being called that way because at the Cabarets in Cairo they would have Western music: Waltz, Foxtrot, Tango Etc and when the Egyptian music was played, they would anounce it as Raks Sharki: Dance of the East. So, my impresion was always that oriental dance is a general term....
Well, someone was promoting a teacher at her studion by saying that she does not do Egyptian style, but her style is "oriental". I expressed my confussion to her but it seemed to me that she did not get what I was saying...or just ignore my remarks.
If I'm wrong and this person is correct, would someone please let me know, I'm in the process of re-educating myself and for that reason I'm not promoting myself as a teacher for the time being but one day I would like to teach again and don't want to misslead anybody.
Well, someone was promoting a teacher at her studion by saying that she does not do Egyptian style, but her style is "oriental". I expressed my confussion to her but it seemed to me that she did not get what I was saying...or just ignore my remarks.
If I'm wrong and this person is correct, would someone please let me know, I'm in the process of re-educating myself and for that reason I'm not promoting myself as a teacher for the time being but one day I would like to teach again and don't want to misslead anybody.
Aisha Azar
New member
Madness
Dear Shanazel,
It has been long since I have read one of my all time favorite poems, which Alice was made to recite, and I may have it a bit wrong, but it goes something like this:
How doth the little crocodile
Improve his shining tail
And spread the waters of the Nile
On every golden scale
How cheerfully he seems to grin
How neatly spreads his claws
And welcomes little fishes in
With gently smiling jaws
An apt sort of poem, of course, since we ARE after all discussing Egyptian dance and that's someplace by the Nile, ain't it???
With love, salaamat and lunacy,
A'lice
Dear Shanazel,
It has been long since I have read one of my all time favorite poems, which Alice was made to recite, and I may have it a bit wrong, but it goes something like this:
How doth the little crocodile
Improve his shining tail
And spread the waters of the Nile
On every golden scale
How cheerfully he seems to grin
How neatly spreads his claws
And welcomes little fishes in
With gently smiling jaws
An apt sort of poem, of course, since we ARE after all discussing Egyptian dance and that's someplace by the Nile, ain't it???
With love, salaamat and lunacy,
A'lice
shiradotnet
Well-known member
Is it safe to comment on the original post, considering that the thread has drifted quite far off topic? Oh well, I'll take the risk and do so.
I agree with everyone who recommended discussing the situation privately with the teacher.
In some cases, the student may indeed have encountered a credible source that the teacher has not yet discovered. In such cases, a *good* teacher will welcome being steered to valuable information, but will appreciate not being made a spectacle of in front of other students.
In other cases, the student's source may be one the teacher is familiar with but considers to be flawed. The teacher may have made a conscious decision to reject it. For example, there are certain books claiming to present a history of belly dancing that I consider to be inaccurate. If a student who has read one of these sources wants to challenge why I have said something that differs from what she read, I'm willing to discuss why I feel the source is mistaken, but again I prefer that conversation to be private.
Of course, no matter which of the above scenarios may apply to a given situation, it's important for the student to use a respectful attitude when telling her teacher about the fact that the student obtained conflicting information elsewhere. "Gotcha" attitudes rarely succeed in persuading people to accept new information!
I agree with everyone who recommended discussing the situation privately with the teacher.
In some cases, the student may indeed have encountered a credible source that the teacher has not yet discovered. In such cases, a *good* teacher will welcome being steered to valuable information, but will appreciate not being made a spectacle of in front of other students.
In other cases, the student's source may be one the teacher is familiar with but considers to be flawed. The teacher may have made a conscious decision to reject it. For example, there are certain books claiming to present a history of belly dancing that I consider to be inaccurate. If a student who has read one of these sources wants to challenge why I have said something that differs from what she read, I'm willing to discuss why I feel the source is mistaken, but again I prefer that conversation to be private.
Of course, no matter which of the above scenarios may apply to a given situation, it's important for the student to use a respectful attitude when telling her teacher about the fact that the student obtained conflicting information elsewhere. "Gotcha" attitudes rarely succeed in persuading people to accept new information!
lizaj
New member
To return to topic. I would personally be very careful before criticising a teacher.
First make sure you have your facts straight...and are they facts? Do you have any more evidence than she might.
Second do it privately not in front of the rest of the class. She will thank you for extra knowledge but not given in such away as to undermine her.
Third be diplomatic eg "You know you said .........but I was the reading the other day...........What do you think?"
No teacher minds the smart-ar$e pupil as long as they are imparting their knowledge at the right time and in the right way.
And not all teachers either feel the need to look at the background and history of this dance and different nations have different takes- all kinds of things you need to consider before you go shooting off your mouth.
Equally I feel that a teacher should not bring down another publically. So if a student says to me but my previous teacher says this ............there are ways to answer in a sensitive manner.."Oh interesting..tell me more after class" And watch the sarcasm girls and boys:lol:
Far better than shouting "Bo$$ocks! What an ar$e idea!"
First make sure you have your facts straight...and are they facts? Do you have any more evidence than she might.
Second do it privately not in front of the rest of the class. She will thank you for extra knowledge but not given in such away as to undermine her.
Third be diplomatic eg "You know you said .........but I was the reading the other day...........What do you think?"
No teacher minds the smart-ar$e pupil as long as they are imparting their knowledge at the right time and in the right way.
And not all teachers either feel the need to look at the background and history of this dance and different nations have different takes- all kinds of things you need to consider before you go shooting off your mouth.
Equally I feel that a teacher should not bring down another publically. So if a student says to me but my previous teacher says this ............there are ways to answer in a sensitive manner.."Oh interesting..tell me more after class" And watch the sarcasm girls and boys:lol:
Far better than shouting "Bo$$ocks! What an ar$e idea!"
lizaj
New member
Hey Shira,
Great to have you here - your site and this one were the first two i found when i just started dancing which were and continue to be invaluable to me!
Don't worry, we don't bite people who try to go back on point after a thread has been hijacked, you're safe.
Rhubarb Rhubarb......
Sita
New member
Don't worry, we don't bite people who try to go back on point after a thread has been hijacked, you're safe.
I DO !!
And Ai'sha as no cream has yet to be mentioned in my planned assassination
I have now not only pipped out my ride but hired my own bodygourd's and their willing to take a bullet for me - so do your wurst !!!Pomegranate till I die - ya hear!!
Sita
Aisha Azar
New member
Etc.
Dear Sita,
Oh God.... how we end up spoiling those whom we intend to make swim with the knishes! Shanazel is usually in charge of the dairy products, except butter) but what the hell. Anything for you, Baby. Right in the brain pan a with sig-sauer cream!!! Them coppas ain't taken us alive. ( God, I DO love to sound like a 1930's gangster once in a blue moon or so.)
Regards,
A'isha
I DO !!
And Ai'sha as no cream has yet to be mentioned in my planned assassination
Pomegranate till I die - ya hear!!
Sita
Dear Sita,
Oh God.... how we end up spoiling those whom we intend to make swim with the knishes! Shanazel is usually in charge of the dairy products, except butter) but what the hell. Anything for you, Baby. Right in the brain pan a with sig-sauer cream!!! Them coppas ain't taken us alive. ( God, I DO love to sound like a 1930's gangster once in a blue moon or so.)
Regards,
A'isha
Aisha Azar
New member
!
Dear Aniseteph,
The Gourdfather! Yeah, sister, his name is Al Capon!!
I gotta go. I'm getting a very strong gag reflex about now. I am literally making myself sick.... When will I learn that puns are the very wurst form of hummus. Oh my god when will it stop?? It's spreading to all the food groups across all nations. It's turning into a panfriedemic. Oh, ick.. I gotta go lay down or something.
Nauseatingly your's,
A'isha
Gangsters huh? Careful, or the Gourdfather might make you an okra you can't refuse....
Dear Aniseteph,
The Gourdfather! Yeah, sister, his name is Al Capon!!
I gotta go. I'm getting a very strong gag reflex about now. I am literally making myself sick.... When will I learn that puns are the very wurst form of hummus. Oh my god when will it stop?? It's spreading to all the food groups across all nations. It's turning into a panfriedemic. Oh, ick.. I gotta go lay down or something.
Nauseatingly your's,
A'isha
walladah
New member
you can see it the other way
The teacher is there to teach you some things. It is interesting to have a teacher that knows or at least tries to know about details of the culture where the dance she/he is teaching emerged from.
But, what if you did not have a teacher and you made an ethnographic research alone? I suppose you would hear many opinions about the "acceptable" movements, smiles, dresses, of the woman that dances. Why? Because dance, as everything beautiful is a living entity. Social features can vary according to the place, people, time, social structure.
So, you would better collect several opinions, instead of being shocked by a "teacher's saying", because teachers are not authorities, and thankfully, there are no authorities in dance and in all nice things in this world.
Teachers are people to open routes for others. So, be happy if one of your teachers or some of them try to give you information about cultural things or even technical things, because they do not mean to keep you at this information only, but to make you open the discussion for yourself; to make you search on the web, ask people, ask other teachers, watch dancers more carefully and then decide what is fine and what is not (please, remember, it is not written "correct" but "fine"), what is fitting the music and your feeling, and what is not.
So, you should not blame teachers for "wrong" information - Are you sure it is really wrong? You should blame yourself for just staying at the first given information, instead of searching more.
Suppose now, that your teacher has given you "proven" mistaken information. So what? Was it enough an incentive for learning more?
Would you like to tell your teacher about your findings? Tell her/him. Would you like not to tell? Dance your findings! The teacher will appreciate it. If not, then and only then, consider about your teacher and the knowledge she/he gives to you.
The teacher is there to teach you some things. It is interesting to have a teacher that knows or at least tries to know about details of the culture where the dance she/he is teaching emerged from.
But, what if you did not have a teacher and you made an ethnographic research alone? I suppose you would hear many opinions about the "acceptable" movements, smiles, dresses, of the woman that dances. Why? Because dance, as everything beautiful is a living entity. Social features can vary according to the place, people, time, social structure.
So, you would better collect several opinions, instead of being shocked by a "teacher's saying", because teachers are not authorities, and thankfully, there are no authorities in dance and in all nice things in this world.
Teachers are people to open routes for others. So, be happy if one of your teachers or some of them try to give you information about cultural things or even technical things, because they do not mean to keep you at this information only, but to make you open the discussion for yourself; to make you search on the web, ask people, ask other teachers, watch dancers more carefully and then decide what is fine and what is not (please, remember, it is not written "correct" but "fine"), what is fitting the music and your feeling, and what is not.
So, you should not blame teachers for "wrong" information - Are you sure it is really wrong? You should blame yourself for just staying at the first given information, instead of searching more.
Suppose now, that your teacher has given you "proven" mistaken information. So what? Was it enough an incentive for learning more?
Would you like to tell your teacher about your findings? Tell her/him. Would you like not to tell? Dance your findings! The teacher will appreciate it. If not, then and only then, consider about your teacher and the knowledge she/he gives to you.
Aisha Azar
New member
Shanazel
Moderator
Rep from me, too, Walladah. When students don't branch out and research topics of interest for themselves, I am reminded of what a very irritated history instructor once said to an honors history class that was cruising by on less than full brainpower: "Do you think I am nothing more than a mother bird dropping bits of knowledge into your gaping mouths without you ever needing to seek beyond what I have to offer?"