Leaders vs. Followers

A question we should ask ourselves as educators is:"What is our purpose?" Is our purpose to train leaders or followers? The answer should be:"Our Purpose as teachers should be to train All so that they have the Potential to be leaders." The only way that we can be sure that All have the potential to be leaders is to listen and observe the participants and not be in too much of a rush to "get through" a dance.

As teachers, we know the material we are teaching and it may be hard to put ourselves in the place of the beginner. A phrase that is frustrating to a beginner is: "This is an easy step." From the view of the learner, it may not be easy at all. This is very true for those who do not have a large movement vocabulary.

Granted, most people are happy being followers and they don't ask questions or practice the movements between sessions. For those who do want extra instruction, our teaching videos will be available through a link to our group and by special request. The purpose of these videos is to review the dances to solidify in the learner's mind the steps of the dances taught.

I found another group that performs many Recreational Folk Dances. The site is www.dunav.org.il Due to the weather we did not meet this past week.

Another Day, Another Dance!