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From Basics to Mastery: Your Dance Guide (S05 Ep55) · ZoukNerds • Learn | Build | Belong

0:00
Giving them time and challenging people in class to combine the
0:03
things that they already know how to do is maybe one of the
0:06
most powerful things that you can do.
0:09
Try not to plan every minute and every day and every week,
0:12
because if you just follow your script, you're not teaching the
0:17
students in front of you if. You stick to the script too
0:21
intensely. You stop looking at what's
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happening around you. The problem is weekenders don't
0:25
even make sense together. The Friday class is a spin class
0:28
and then the Sunday classes are connected class like hello, you
0:32
know like shouldn't we work on connection before we work on
0:34
spins? I have a ginormous pet beef with
0:37
naming things advanced ginormous.
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I really don't like it because it really sells an idea that
0:44
people are going to buy. That's not the thing.
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It's not the thing at all. The advanced there may be the
0:49
advanced for the community, for that studio, for that teacher,
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but that word means nothing. It just means nothing.
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Have you ever wondered if you're learning or teaching dance the
1:00
most efficient way? What should we focus,
1:03
prioritize, and learn more of? Well, let's find out.
1:08
Hello. Hello everyone and welcome back
1:11
to Zuck Nerds. In this episode, we are talking
1:14
about something we are incredibly passionate about,
1:18
designing a dance curriculum. Whether you are a teacher
1:22
structuring courses or a dancer planning your own learning, this
1:27
episode is for you. We'll provide a guide to help
1:31
you assess your journey and understand the key concepts and
1:35
goals for each level of dance. As teachers, we believe it's not
1:40
just about what you teach, but how and why.
1:45
So join us as we discuss the goals we set for our learning
1:49
and teaching, from essential rhythms and body movement to the
1:53
critical skills of combining movements to build a natural and
1:58
effortless dance. So let's go.
2:09
Hello, hello everyone and welcome back to another episode.
2:13
My name is Alison Sanji and let's welcome back our beautiful
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and amazing Co host Ghee Brother.
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Hello Ghee. Hello, Alison.
2:21
Hello, everybody. Good morning.
2:23
Good evening, good night. Welcome back.
2:26
And today we want to be talking about curriculum or syllabi or
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however you structure your dance courses, or for those of you who
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are learning as a dancer, however you want to plan your
2:40
learning. This is something that we are
2:43
very, very, very passionate about and we have lots of people
2:48
that comes to us very often whether we are in DC or wherever
2:54
we are, because it's something that we really spend most of our
2:59
time on. And maybe just a disclaimer here
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to start the episode, we want this to be a guide.
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OK? So this is not going to be the
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Brazilian Zook Ultimate curriculum that you can write
3:15
from week 1 to Week 32 and you're going to follow it
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because that's not what we do now what we do, it's more about
3:23
the concepts and the ideas and the goals that we have for each
3:28
level. So we do believe that this is a
3:30
nice guy that you can come back to every now and then to just go
3:34
like, OK, how is my dancing learning experience journey
3:39
going or as a teacher, how am I teaching?
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And why is my beginners struggling with these in my
3:47
level 2 or intermediate, however structure it going and how can I
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do better? So let's talk about first, what
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kind of student do we have? Because different communities
4:01
will have different students, right?
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We might have crossover dancers, which are people coming from
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different styles, so they already have some movement.
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They already have some understanding of timing,
4:13
connection. And then you have what we call
4:17
the Muggles, the ones that they can walk because they learn how
4:21
to walk when they were babies. But that's about it, you know?
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Yeah, left and right. It's a whole journey to figure
4:29
those things out. And let's not even get to count.
4:32
And music, because they were never introduced to these kind
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of things, or maybe they were if they were musicians or if they
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had some gymnasts or martial arts training.
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They have some movement background, but not exactly in a
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partner dancing format. So Kia, I have a question for
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you. What are the things that you're
4:54
looking to achieve when you're teaching your beginner's course
4:58
at first? What are the qualities, what are
5:01
the criterias that you'd like your students to achieve by the
5:07
end of that course? Very good question and before I
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respond what is this thing that I want the students to achieve
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is important thing to give another disclaimer.
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My experience so far has been with district Zook and the fact
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that we organize our classes, our courses in cycles of few
5:25
months, so 8 weeks cycle. So what I'm going to say here is
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what are likely students to achieve at the end of a 2 month
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cycle. I think if I had more time,
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maybe the expectation would be different for the beginner
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students. But with the time that we have,
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our goal is that they arrive at the end of that journey, of the
5:47
initial steps of the journey, knowing the timing and knowing
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the basic principles of President Zook in what comes to
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dancing together and dancing in the opening, for example, simple
6:01
direction changes. So they have some understanding
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of floor craft, of traveling with the direction changes,
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understanding of floor craft with the idea of position in
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relation either and follower in lateral position, for example,
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that we are perpendicular to each other and the leader
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navigating those tracks around the follower and opening the
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desk, closing the nest and timing.
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So we don't have anything related to movements, the
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patterns that we want them to know necessarily.
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It's more like what structures we like them to know.
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And then structures include some patterns, but they are not,
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let's say, the main focus priority.
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I think the timing, getting the rhythm down doesn't happen every
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time. We still have students going
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from basics one to two still, you know, not fully comfortable
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with the timing, but we give some slack if they at least get
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like 80% of it. Yeah.
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What is it for you guys? Well, on top of what you said,
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because I think we agree on most things when it comes to
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teaching, I'd say I like to always dive into what they
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already know because a lot of the communities that I've worked
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with before, like in Perth, Australia, Melbourne, in DC and
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now in Taipei, they have a lot of crossover dancers.
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So I'm trying to look at that specific group and understand
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what did they do before. In the warm up, I can already
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tell. I can already kind of like see
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the hips moving, the upper body moving and how they step and
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little ticks that some people have, like people from ballroom,
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they like to snap their fingers and people from bachata, they
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kind of move with their chest 1st instead of with their feet
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and their hips first. And West Coast Wing, they love
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to go with their heel first. So transferring on the hill and
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just in the first week of warm up, I'm already kind of like
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figuring those things out and then thinking about how to
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structure the classes as the weeks go by.
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Because one thing that we do is to have a set amount of
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movements and concepts and goals to achieve by the end of that
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course. Sometimes the course moves very
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slowly and we achieve all of those things.
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Sometimes the course moves very fast and we achieve all of those
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things and more. Now when I say more, I don't
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mean that I teach them new movements.
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I don't move them into the next level.
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What I teach them is more details, more variations, more
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change of directions, like he said, more things in a
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horizontal level of learning instead of a vertical or
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diagonal. So whenever the students are
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like picking things up very quickly, cool, no problem, let's
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keep going, let's keep going. And then I stop the class and I
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go like, OK guys, look, you guys are doing great.
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I think you guys can see that you understand this very nicely.
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So what I want to do is actually something that usually we work
9:22
on a much higher level, but I think we can give to you guys
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which is a detail about this or that, instead of like, oh, let's
9:31
do a new move. Because yes, they kind of got
9:35
the basic step for Davila Junior, but they're still
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dancing like a different dance style.
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They still have that thick, heavy accent.
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Or maybe they don't have an accent.
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They don't have anything from another style because they've
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never danced before. So then we go into the quality
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of movement, into this is how we move the hips, this is how we
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hold our upper body and how it touch our partner and diving a
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little bit more into that. Then when things are getting
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good and we've already covered that, if we still have time,
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what do we do with the combinations?
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And I know you might be thinking, oh, so you just do
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some combos. No, combinations is not exactly
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what normally we refer to combo. What I'm saying combination is
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actually trying to go from movement A to B to C to D OK,
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good. Now let's go from D to B to C to
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A Good. OK, now let's go from B to C
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back to A and then to D and combining the movements that we
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already learned in that course in different ways.
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But why is that? Well, because that's what we do
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in social dancing, right? We don't choreograph things.
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And that's one of the things that people don't learn until
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they are like, well, passing the three, six months.
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And some schools don't actually do it ever.
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You know, they don't go into like how to put this after this
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and how to go from here to option A, option B, option C.
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So even then at that very early stage of a beginner's course, we
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can dive into that. So summarizing the timing,
11:25
weight transfer, basic movements, change of directions,
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small things like this in the course, and then we move into
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quality of movement, ease of movement, principles of
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connection and floor craft. If that's good, then we move
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into let's combine it. Let's get the body responding,
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not just thinking, but responding to things in
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different ways. Because just as an example, a
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simple turn into a basic, a simple turn straight into a
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Vitajinga, and a simple turn into a lunge will feel very
12:06
different. The combination of those
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movements will feel very different.
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So we already kind of start giving that little teaser there
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for the next levels. And the thing that is cool about
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what you're saying, Alison, is that that can be all in the
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course of one level or one course, let's say like that.
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So we have your Level 3 course, everything that Alison just
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said, in the course of more Level 3 or in the course of
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several levels, you do that over time with the students.
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So you have the thing that you do in a span of two months, four
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months, I don't know how long, the thing that you do in the
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span of a year, a year and a half.
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So when planning the curriculum, these aspects that Alison just
12:55
mentioned are there constantly, all the time.
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You have the moment to present something, to clean the thing,
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to go deeper into the principles, to combine stuff.
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And I think the difference between combinations in combos,
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for us, the combination is putting together pieces that
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they know how to do individually.
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The combo is a whole new pattern.
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It's a whole new thing that you need to break down step by step.
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The combination is after the simple turn, a bonus into a
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lateral. It's a combination is 3
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movements that people know how to do, but the challenge is to
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place them together. And that's, I think my people,
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one of the most important parts of putting a syllabus together,
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putting a curriculum together. What we learned is the biggest
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difficulty, especially for the leaders, is combining the things
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that they know. Oh yeah.
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So giving them time in class and challenging people in class to
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combine the things that they already know how to do is maybe
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one of the most powerful things that you can do and is going to
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take you away. At least it helps us a lot on
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that front. It takes you away from that
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mindset. We are moving too slow.
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We're not teaching anything new. It's been 3 weeks.
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We're still doing this thing when you work combining the
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movements that they know the act of combining is itself self
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completely new to the students. Like Allison was saying, simple
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turn to Viragina, simple turn to lunch.
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Simple turn. Just a basic step.
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Just a basic. Step.
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The leader needs to position themselves in different places
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in order to do that transition. The follower needs to arrive at
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the end of the simple turn with a certain balance and structure
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in order to go through the transition.
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So the transition becomes something new.
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Yeah. And that's one thing that here
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at District Zook, we needed to almost like do a work of
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convincing people in a way that that's OK, that that's the stuff
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in you. When we say horizontal, it just
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means that we are not teaching a new pattern, but we are still
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teaching something new. The transition is something new,
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so big recommendation. Dedicate time in your curriculum
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in a syllabus, a big chunk of time to combine stuff.
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So if you have been teaching in your course, you taught the
15:33
bonus, you taught the traveling turn.
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Traveling turn we call the simple turn that travels forward
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and a yoyo. For example, on the next week,
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why are we going to teach something new?
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You know, you could, or you could take time and say, OK, now
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yoyo traveling turn, I don't know, bonus.
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So bonus into yoyo into travel, simple turn, travel simple turn
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into bonus into yoyo from the yoyo.
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You know, mix these things and see how people figured it out.
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This might be most important part of the learning, especially
16:10
in the early stages. And I do believe that it's
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harder than the actual movement that we are working on.
16:19
Oh yeah. Yeah, it is.
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I remember back maybe 15 years ago when I was doing a lot of
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shows, I started doing gymnastics training.
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So I used to go to this gymnasium and have a private
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lesson with this coach teaching me trampolining and floor
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things, bar things. I don't even remember the name
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of the things. So for, like, months, I was
16:43
going there and doing this single things, very technical,
16:48
very mythological single things. And I'm like, yeah, I can do
16:52
this. Yeah, I can do this.
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Yeah, I can do this. Cool, cool, cool.
16:55
Every time was something new, and I felt good about it.
16:59
And then we started combining things, Bro.
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I didn't know my left to right when I was like, in the
17:06
trampoline. Oh now you're going to start
17:09
from your feet and then bounce on your back and then bounce on
17:12
your throne and then land on your feet.
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No we're not. No we are not.
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Because honestly once I do feet to bump, the next one is
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whatever happens. Honestly, I had 0 control of
17:26
what was coming next because the transition and the awareness of
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the body, the mass, the momentum, the speed of when I go
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down a little faster, when I go down a little slower, when I go
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down, my body's a little sideways.
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All of those things were completely something that I
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should spend another six months on.
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So as we were talking about this, I almost had an idea here
17:50
that is not fully realized. But what if we did a transitions
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level in between levels? You know, a transitions course.
17:59
Let's say you have 3 beginners level, 3 intermediate level.
18:03
So in between the beginners and the intermediate, maybe you have
18:07
like 1 level that is transitions.
18:10
Just working the transitions from every single angle and
18:16
every single option that we can possibly think about.
18:19
That would be so helpful because that is exactly what a lot of
18:24
people struggle with when they go to a class or especially when
18:29
they go social dancing. When they go to a festival or
18:32
Weekender. They know how to do things
18:35
separately, but they don't understand how to connect them.
18:39
Other than basic lot that our bonus traveling turn basic.
18:44
That's it. Like the standard number one
18:48
meal of Brazilian Zook or the standard #2 meal.
18:52
Standard #3 meal. And that comes as a set meal.
18:56
Let's mix those things up. You know, let's kind of go
18:59
buffet style and start from the salad.
19:03
Next time we start from the hot food.
19:05
Next time we start from the dessert and let's go.
19:09
Yeah, it is a super interesting idea because we created a moment
19:14
in our evolution in our curriculum.
19:18
That is the variations that you learn, the movements, the basic
19:22
execution, the classic execution.
19:24
Then we go into variations. Having the transitions embedded
19:29
in the courses themselves. A course of just transitions
19:32
would be incredible. You know, I think that's
19:36
something that I'm going to recommend to those who are
19:39
listening, which is the curriculum.
19:42
The evolution has a moment to learn the piece individually,
19:47
moment you connect the pieces, a moment you vary within the
19:52
pieces so you have the pattern, the combinations and the
19:57
variations. And that, my friends, takes away
20:01
a lot of the anxiety. Of having to teach something new
20:06
all the time. And that is something in the
20:08
back of the head of every single teacher in this planet, I think.
20:13
Or for a time. And then and then it goes away,
20:17
which is I need you to do something new now.
20:20
I need you to do something new now.
20:21
They have been on this for a long time, you know.
20:24
So this is something that can bring you a lot of peace when
20:27
you realize when you do it in class that what you thought was
20:32
a simple transition. Oh, simple turn bonus.
20:36
There is one that I call the Brazilian Zook hocchino
20:41
obrigatoria gonna translate this In Somebody Got Fiera, one of
20:45
the Brazilian dances, we have the hocina obrigatoria, which is
20:48
mean a combination of three fundamental steps that you
20:52
almost like to learn as a one single piece.
20:56
So in Somebody got Fiera we have the round hook gunshuhedon.
21:00
We have the pledging, which is like very similar to the
21:04
Brazilian Zook track and Chipena, the leg switch stuff,
21:07
and PIO, which is a pio. So you have Ganshu, Hadon, Pola
21:12
Jin Pio. These three steps is our Ho Chi
21:15
Nobliga toilet. Ho Chi Nobliga toilet means the
21:18
mandatory sequence or routine. Yeah, any Zook for me is simple
21:26
turn bonus elastro. You're combining these three
21:30
things and you see people crumbling in front of your eyes.
21:34
You know, dear Lord, when you realize that that's not as easy
21:41
as it sounds for the person who is learning from you, you have
21:45
almost like an awakening. Oh my God, I can do more of
21:48
this. I can do much more of this.
21:50
Another one, Sochi, you start with Sochi and transition from
21:55
Sochi into the bonus. Try that new class.
21:58
Just ask people, people from the Sochi, a bonus, let's go.
22:02
And then what's going to happen? They're going to go back to La
22:04
Terrao. Say no, no, no, no, don't go
22:06
back to La Terrao from Sochi, straight into bonus and watch.
22:12
You might surprise yourself. Be like, Oh my God, you guys did
22:15
it. And you might learn from how
22:18
they do it, which happens to me all the time because I was
22:21
thinking of a transition and they find out another one.
22:24
So I asked the person she come to the center like show us what
22:27
you did. Or you might be surprised by how
22:30
hard it actually is for the students that is learning the
22:33
pieces individually. Yeah.
22:35
When you look at those things in Brazilian Zook, well guys, I'm
22:40
going to get a little nerdy here, but in Brazilian Zook you
22:43
have movements that move with your partner and movements that
22:46
move in opposition to your partner.
22:49
Yes, right. And the movements that move in
22:52
opposition to your partner, they're really hard because a
22:57
lot of the times the track is going to mess everything up.
23:01
The distance between the two bodies will mess everything up.
23:06
And like the availability of the line, where the line is, where
23:12
the line can go, which is like the followers track can mess
23:16
everything up. So in that Sochingo, let's say
23:19
you finish the Sochingo, the leader is too close to the
23:21
follower. He's not going to get the
23:23
connection to send the follower to a bonus.
23:25
Exactly. Finish Sochino, The leader is on
23:28
the line of the follower. Well, the line is not available,
23:31
we can do bonus. Finish Sochino, the leader is on
23:34
the opposite line that they should do to do a bonus.
23:39
Technically they can do a bonus, but not the bonus they know, not
23:43
the bonus they know they can do a sort of a different type of
23:46
bonus. Still works like bonus if you
23:49
look into it, but it's not the bonus that they know.
23:52
So now they're like Oh my God, 3 tracks, which one am I?
23:56
Distance? Or even being like turning your
24:01
body early enough to indicate to your follower that you need the
24:06
hand and then creating enough intention for the follower to
24:12
travel down the line instead of just going around them.
24:16
Oh my God, guys. And that's just 30 seconds of me
24:20
nerding out. But there's so much more, so
24:23
much more that can happen. Exactly.
24:26
I think you mentioned everything.
24:27
Actually, I think you mentioned everything in the sense of
24:30
everything that the transitions work.
24:33
The transitions work on a lot of new things positioning like
24:39
where is the leader in relation to the follower distance, how
24:43
close it is, how far it is free leg, What leg is free Because
24:48
some transitions, the leaders or the follows then choose keep a
24:51
step, hold one step so the other leg is free and they don't know
24:55
what to do, you know. So when you work on transitions,
24:59
you the teacher find out a lot of stuff to talk about that you
25:03
didn't realize before and the student as well realize, Oh my
25:07
God, I'm too close, my arms just close to my body.
25:09
How can I reach a bonus from here, which is like what you
25:12
were talking about? Or elastical like from bonus to
25:15
elastical. Most of the times the leaders
25:18
are to close. Yes, yes.
25:21
Oh, and guys, for us the elastical doesn't include the
25:26
howl by default. Now the elastical is the the.
25:30
Reverse body movement forwards, yeah.
25:33
The reverse body, the elastical is the follower in the basic and
25:38
the leader crossing or walking around while the falls in the
25:41
basic and then we add the reverse body roll later as an
25:44
addition. So this might be one of the most
25:50
magical things and was the decision that we needed to make,
25:53
I think. And a decision that we invite
25:56
everybody to make when they are planning their curriculum is do
26:01
you want to be a one stop shop, studio or school in the sense
26:05
that they're going to learn everything from you?
26:07
Or do you want to be the person who is going to teach them the
26:11
essentials and let them learn the rest in the workshops, in
26:16
the weekenders, in the socials? Because for some time I think we
26:20
wanted to be subconsciously a one stop shop.
26:23
We want the students to get everything from us.
26:27
Therefore, the curriculum was getting more or less packed
26:32
because there will be a voice in your head or someone saying, oh,
26:37
but we didn't include this, It's missing this.
26:40
We didn't talk about the hammerlock.
26:42
We didn't talk about this thing. We didn't talk about the other
26:45
thing. And then we need to say, guys,
26:47
we only have 8 weeks. We have to choose a priority
26:50
here. What we're going to talk about.
26:52
If we talk about all the things, there is no time for repetition,
26:55
there is no time for transitions, there is no time
26:57
for variations. We just keep going.
27:00
And I think a lot of us, teachers and the students as
27:04
well, when they come into the school, there might be some sort
27:08
of expectation existing somewhere in your being that you
27:12
need to give it all that exists about this.
27:16
And I truly think that you will need to find a harmony between
27:22
how much time you have to teach in terms of how long is your
27:25
class, how long is your, let's say, course and what is the
27:32
essential that you want to give to your students.
27:36
And plan based on these three principles, how much time you
27:41
have for your class, how long is your course, and what are your
27:44
priorities, you know, and then from there you go.
27:49
Yes, yes, yes, plan, but don't plan too much.
27:54
Try not to plan every minute and every day and every week.
27:59
Because the reality is whoever is going to show up is going to
28:02
show up. And guess what?
28:04
If you just follow your script, you're not teaching the students
28:09
in front of you. Being adaptable to the moment is
28:14
one of the most important things.
28:16
I like to say that the students tell me or let me know by how
28:22
things are going, how to teach them, at what pace to teach
28:27
them, and a lot of the times by what they ask in class.
28:32
Sometimes I'm in a class or a workshop and the student has the
28:36
courage to put their hands up and ask a question.
28:40
Then the teacher goes and answer that question, but then doesn't
28:44
address this question in the class.
28:47
Does it incorporate that amount of information in the class?
28:52
Because let's always remember, if one person asked, multiple
28:57
people might be thinking about it.
28:59
So, oh, I'm struggling to see my partner in this moment that I
29:05
need to see their hand here and there.
29:07
Yeah, sure. You answer the question.
29:09
Oh, OK, it's because you're doing this and because your
29:11
partner is doing this. But take that into
29:14
consideration. Why did that happen?
29:16
Did I not talk about something earlier?
29:19
Should I talk about something later?
29:21
Should I do a different exercise?
29:24
Sometimes we stop the class and we go like, OK, everybody, let's
29:28
just pause. Everybody face this way.
29:31
Do this because we do a whole different drill about that one
29:37
thing or about that connection about something very specific
29:40
because we see that it's a problem that is happening with
29:43
the entire group. And it's not in my plans.
29:46
It's not even in the level or in the script.
29:49
Maybe it's something I teach in a private lesson, but I felt
29:53
strongly this is something that we should do now.
29:56
And yeah, of course, we're not changing like the entire class,
29:59
but for a couple of minutes, give them a different sensation
30:03
and experience that can make them feel like, oh, how do I put
30:07
my shoulder in place? You know, maybe just ask another
30:11
person to pull the shoulder. OK, now put the shoulder back in
30:14
place. OK, good.
30:16
Just do this a couple of times and then we go, OK, everybody,
30:19
let's go back to partners and let's focus on that feeling of
30:22
keeping your shoulder in place. We don't know what we don't
30:25
know. Sometimes we don't know what
30:27
does it feel like bending our knees?
30:29
We just do. But if we put an exercise, we're
30:32
feeling attached to it, then people are going to be a little
30:36
bit more connected to it as they're dancing and practicing.
30:39
Yeah, things to create contrast now show them what you are
30:44
wanting them to feel and the opposite of it.
30:48
So like creating some sort of contrast is always helpful for
30:52
teaching purposes. And I think some what you were
30:56
mentioning is really powerful as well, because if you stick to
31:02
the script too intensely, you stop looking at what's happening
31:05
around you. And of course, we have all done
31:08
that. We have all done that.
31:11
Our curriculum for many moons was on a weekly basis.
31:16
So we divided by week. And the decision was made to
31:20
just be a order of content. We're going to teach the content
31:24
in this order. So the curriculums bought a
31:27
guideline and less of a rule book.
31:31
Yeah, because you need some time and space for you to look at the
31:37
students and see that you might need to make some changes and
31:40
you might need to talk about stuff that is not in the
31:43
curriculum. It might be the most difficult
31:45
thing for teachers who are beginning their journey a little
31:51
bit more insecure and wanting to prove that they know what
31:56
they're talking about. And once you prove their
31:59
knowledge to those who are more senior than them, like in the
32:03
school or the owner of the place or something like that, you want
32:07
to do a good job. And then you want to make sure
32:10
that you talk about everything that is to talk about.
32:13
And sometimes, because it's not in the curriculum, there is this
32:17
hesitation in talking about the thing.
32:19
Oh, but it was not in the curriculum, you know, So we
32:23
invite people to say what they want to say.
32:27
And if you're seeing something that is important to mention,
32:29
mention the thing because for the person learning from you,
32:34
they don't know that they don't know, they don't know that is
32:38
not in the curriculum, they don't know any of these things.
32:40
Just we know these things. So if you are this personal
32:44
position of reference points and you are giving the permission to
32:49
teach a group of people, go ahead and do your thing, you
32:52
know, And if it's not appropriate at the time and this
32:57
thing of appropriate at the time that I mean is mostly like this
33:00
might have been a little bit more advanced or a little bit
33:03
more detailed than this group is ready to receive.
33:06
For example, This is the appropriate that we are meaning
33:08
it's more like gauging how much detail you give to how much
33:13
understanding the student has at that particular point.
33:16
We talk about it later, but in the time if you felt, oh, this
33:21
is good to talk about the thing then and another thing too about
33:24
what you said, Addison, which is the difference between planning
33:29
the class and how the class is going to go individually and
33:32
planning the whole curve of learning.
33:35
So at times, I think these two get mixed up on this, two get
33:39
confused in some way and another invitation.
33:43
But this is harder. And it comes back to what we
33:46
mentioned I think in one or two episodes ago about the
33:49
engagement of the teacher. One episode we talked about
33:52
this. I think it was how to find a
33:55
good teacher in it, like the great teacher episode, the
33:58
engagement of the teacher. Many times we have seen that the
34:03
teacher can think of the course as a group of individual classes
34:10
that sometimes don't necessarily connect to each other, and that
34:13
sometimes happens. So it's really important that we
34:17
try as much as possible to see the classes of the course, for
34:22
example, as one very long class that is divided in, I don't
34:27
know, 810, whatever. So you don't think I have one
34:30
hour and a Tuesday, one hour and the next Tuesday?
34:33
No, you have 8 hours. But they were divided in eight
34:37
portions. But they are continuous, you
34:41
know. So that's so hard to do guys,
34:43
because if you have, for example, what is the goal of the
34:47
course to get people more comfortable with, let's say, the
34:50
reverse body roll? And that's something that you
34:53
want to achieve by, I don't know, week eight of your ten
34:58
week cycle. Let's say your cycle is 10 weeks
35:00
and you go by week 8. On week 1, you were starting to
35:05
talk about it, but not necessarily breaking it down,
35:08
but you're starting to get people going through the
35:10
motions. Week 23456, you were talking
35:15
about the topics that you need to talk about, but you have in
35:18
mind we 8. I want them to be able to do
35:22
how? And then you build that way.
35:25
So thinking systematically, thinking your syllabus as a
35:30
system might be one of the most incredible things in the world
35:34
because when you do need to introduce the harder movement,
35:37
the harder pattern, you see them just doing it in like 15
35:41
minutes. What was took two classes for
35:45
you to introduce? Yeah, they happened with us in
35:47
the Sochi. They happened with us in the S
35:50
Sterns in the latter S or whatever name the S has for you.
35:55
That happens to us even like in the direction changes in the
35:59
basics doing together, the fact that we were doing separate in
36:03
the warm up for like weeks and weeks and weeks when we put
36:06
people together. It just happened, you know.
36:09
So this system of the curriculum is something really important.
36:13
So thinking about each class, why are you having in mind what
36:19
is coming next? And I say it's hard because it
36:22
requires you to be in a level of engagement with the process that
36:26
might be hard to connect right away because you might forget.
36:31
Especially if you have several classes to teach, you might
36:34
forget what is the thing of this course.
36:36
So you might need to go back every time to do syllabus
36:40
document that you have and consulted from time to time and
36:43
not necessarily just look at what is the topic of the day.
36:48
You know, Scroll down and see what is the topic of the next
36:51
several weeks and then go back to the topic of the day and go
36:55
like that. Scroll down, scroll up, Scroll
36:56
down, scroll up. And then you're going to have, I
36:59
think, more of the systematic view and approach to the
37:02
curriculum. And that's something that we
37:04
also do in our weekenders. And for those of you who teach
37:07
weekenders or organize weekenders for your community,
37:11
please do that with your guest teacher, Guy and I.
37:14
For example, when we have weekenders, we always coordinate
37:18
with the local teachers and with the local organizers.
37:22
Sometimes there is like a set program, like he has set
37:26
programs, but still there's some adaptability there and sometimes
37:30
it's very custom. So we have a meeting and we go
37:34
like OK, what do you guys feel like your community needs this,
37:36
this, this, this, this. Cool.
37:39
OK so on Friday we start with this and then on Saturday 1st
37:42
class we do this and 2nd class we do this.
37:45
Sunday we do this and then Sunday we do this and it's 1
37:48
long class. I also usually request the
37:54
organizer to make only full passes.
37:58
Oh, but people don't like it People, these people that I have
38:03
to disagree because people like what they're used to, right?
38:08
So changing is difficult, but every community that I've worked
38:12
with and we've managed to change the idea of the Weekender being
38:17
as one journey, once they experience that one journey from
38:22
beginning to end, they understand it.
38:25
The problem is usually weekenders don't even make sense
38:28
together. The Friday class is a spin class
38:31
and then the Sunday class is a connection class.
38:34
Like hello, you know, like shouldn't we work on connection
38:37
before we work on spins? Oh, but Friday night is better
38:42
to do spins because more people are going to come, No, Or
38:45
because I want to sell the weekend or so I just do a spin
38:48
class on Friday and then maybe people are going to sign up for
38:51
Saturday and Sunday. No, I'm sorry, it doesn't work
38:54
that way. I wouldn't do that because it's
38:56
not good for the experience that I want the student to have for
39:01
the end of the weekend. So as an organizer and as a
39:04
teacher, let's really think more about this.
39:07
Let's meet with the artist before we release the schedule,
39:12
organize a video call or maybe write things down and get their
39:16
recommendation or approval. Some artists are very much like
39:21
you. Plan however you want.
39:22
I will just show up and teach. I'm cool with anything.
39:25
I like to be involved. And some artists, they have just
39:29
a list of things. Hey, these are the classes that
39:31
we normally like to teach. So then you can think about the
39:35
progression of it and make it a nice, beautiful journey for your
39:38
students. Because then people are going to
39:41
get more used to the journey and they're going to get more used
39:46
to signing up for the full weekend instead of just a
39:49
Sunday. Because, you know, I'll just do
39:51
the Sunday ones because the Sunday ones are the ones that
39:54
are going to challenge me. You know, you're actually not
39:57
going to get the Sunday 1:00 because the Sunday 1 needs
40:01
something from Saturday and this Saturday needs something from
40:04
Friday. So it's all or nothing.
40:07
So it's not just. Courses, but boot camps,
40:11
weekenders, anything that you can plan, try to plan as a
40:15
journey. Yes.
40:17
So these that you mentioned that is really remind me of something
40:21
that I am really particular about in what comes to aligning
40:26
the expectations of the students and of the teachers in what
40:31
comes to what level is this class you mentioned Sunday in
40:34
it, everybody wants to speak Sunday because that's going to
40:36
challenge me more because there might be a label there say
40:40
advanced, you know, or later intermediate or something like
40:44
that. And sometimes people create
40:48
expectations and say people in general, the teachers, the
40:50
students, everybody creates by looking at the name of the level
40:54
of the course, for example. So your curriculum has a level 4
40:58
people like, Oh my gosh, level 4.
41:00
So 4 means experienced, advanced.
41:04
I align expectations and say, guys, our higher level courses
41:09
just mean that people have been in our structure all dancing a
41:13
little longer. It doesn't mean that they are
41:16
fully embodied in the things that they learned.
41:20
And that's a distinction that's really important because so many
41:23
times when I got to a place and I was like, oh, you're going to
41:26
teach our Level 3 or you're going to teach our level 4, our
41:30
Level 4 students are going to be there.
41:32
Then I make an assumption, Oh, these are the experienced
41:35
people. And then during the warm up I
41:37
see. Ah, yes, no, no, no, no, no, no,
41:40
not yet. You know.
41:42
So it might be that the higher levels, they might have just
41:45
learned more patterns and have the deaths more in the body, but
41:49
they do have more experience, But they're not necessarily
41:52
higher level of understanding of the dance of embodiment of the
41:56
dance that you can say connect to simple torrential bones that
42:00
you are life. And they're going to be like,
42:01
OK, Bah, Bah, Bah, Bah, Bah. Done you know that has rarely
42:05
happened because that became my test when I get to a place we
42:09
say we're going to begin with these three movements here and
42:12
PP and sometimes works amazingly well and then we go from there.
42:17
Sometimes it doesn't. So aligning that expectation is
42:21
something that in my soothe you are so so much, especially if
42:25
you are a teacher. We were preparing our teachers
42:28
here to take over our fundamentals One course.
42:33
So we have 3 basics courses, 123, they're two months each.
42:38
So if somebody does these three courses in a row, they've been
42:41
nasty for six months, then the Fundamentals One course begins.
42:45
So Fundamentals 1A1B1C and then Fundamentals 2, there was a
42:51
training that we did was to align expectations of what a
42:54
fundamentals one student knows how to do.
42:58
Because the assumption at first was that, oh, they got the
43:01
basics down. And I said no, no, no, they
43:03
didn't get the basics down. They learned the basics.
43:07
If they are now or not, that's a whole different story.
43:11
So that's another piece of your curriculum, my people, is
43:14
aligning the expectation of what that student of that level
43:19
actually knows how to do and knows what to do.
43:23
And then you go from there, Allison.
43:25
Now, we had so many frustrations on that regards whenever it
43:29
would go to a class that was labeled this thing and we had
43:33
this idea of what a student of this thing should be able to do.
43:36
Then we get the class. Several things are not there
43:40
yet. And it's like, come on, people,
43:42
we are in this level here, you know?
43:44
So like, knowing what your level actually means is really, really
43:49
important. So when a student comes, you
43:52
understand, oh, OK, this is expected.
43:56
That's another part of the work of designing your curriculum.
44:01
And it might be something that you will realize after you start
44:07
putting the curriculum in practice.
44:09
And then you're going to realize, ah, OK, so when a
44:11
student gets from this place to this place, this is how much
44:14
they know. So we are very careful naming
44:17
things as advanced. I have a ginormous pet peeve
44:22
with naming things advanced ginormous.
44:24
I really don't like it because he really sells an idea that
44:29
people are going to buy. That's not the things, not the
44:32
thing at all. We see this in weekenders and
44:35
workshops and festivals and things, and in your regular
44:39
class, in your weekly stuff. Oh, the impact I think is much
44:44
bigger. So keeping that in mind, align
44:47
the expectations of your students in your own, in your
44:51
teachers, in what comes to what is this level?
44:55
What is it that the student of this level actually knows what
44:59
to do and how to do? And then when it comes to
45:03
looking at what are the things for each level and how the
45:07
student passes from each level, we like to think about minimum
45:11
requirements for entry and for completion.
45:15
So to enter this level, these are the things that you need to
45:19
know minimum and they are a combination of moves,
45:23
techniques, concept, soft skills, all of the things to
45:28
enter and to move on. So it's very rewarding and at
45:33
the same time reassuring for the student when they understand
45:37
what those things are. Sometimes we have to ask the
45:40
student, hey, you need to do this class one more time before
45:44
you go to the next one. You're like, well, but I can do
45:46
all the moves. Well, that's one of the
45:49
elements, one of the elements, you know, maybe the posture is
45:53
not up to scratch for the next level.
45:56
Maybe the quality of touch and connection is not up to scratch
45:59
on that for the next level. Maybe it's something else,
46:03
right? So we need to be able to tell
46:06
the students and if you are good with writing and with printing
46:13
things out or maybe creating online documents and websites,
46:17
put that somewhere where people can see these are the things
46:21
that we're going to cover in this level.
46:22
These are the things that we're going to cover in this level and
46:25
in this level. To enter this level, you need
46:27
this. To complete this level, you need
46:29
this. To enter, you need this.
46:32
To complete, you need this. So then people really
46:34
understand. I think in this social dancing
46:37
world, most of the times we are learning very blindly.
46:42
Oh, my teacher tells me, or whatever course I sign up.
46:47
Therefore I am. I sign up to intermediate level.
46:50
If the teacher doesn't kick me out, that means an
46:52
unintermediate. No, dear Lord, But yeah.
46:57
And let's not forget the beginner level in your community
47:02
and the beginner level in another community.
47:05
Completely different. Oh yeah, yes.
47:08
Completely different. How many times talking about the
47:12
advanced pet peeve, how many times people are like, oh, but I
47:16
do the advanced classes from so and so in this school and I'm
47:21
like, OK, so Chino Bono is elastico.
47:25
Yeah. Then nothing.
47:27
Just nothing. Crickets.
47:29
Because no, the advanced, there may be the advanced for the
47:34
community, for that studio, for that teacher, but that word
47:38
means nothing. It just means nothing.
47:41
So I think it's much better for the students education and also
47:47
accountability. They can become more accountable
47:51
for their own learning. Like, OK, so this is what I need
47:54
to do for the level one, for the level 2, for the Level 3.
47:57
Oh, damn, I'm going to miss three weeks of the Level 3.
48:01
Go to your teacher and ask them, hey, can I do a private lesson?
48:03
Because I want to make sure that I covered these things that
48:05
you're going to cover because I want to go to the next level.
48:08
I don't want to have to do this one again just because I missed
48:11
two or three weeks. Like people take more
48:14
responsibility for their own journey when they know what the
48:17
journey is now when the teacher is just like, whatever, show up,
48:22
whatever, show up. And then at the end of the
48:25
course you say to them, no, you're not good enough.
48:29
And they're like, but why? How?
48:31
I didn't know I was supposed to be good at this.
48:33
I didn't know I was supposed to be good at that.
48:35
Oh, but I told everybody, every class that this is important.
48:39
That's not enough. Yeah, that's nice.
48:42
And we just have to do better as teachers, as communicators, as
48:45
somebody who wants to reinforce a certain level of
48:49
accountability and organization. Then we need to do better in
48:54
promoting and communicating. That yeah, that's true because
48:59
there are two different scenarios that I'm thinking
49:01
about here in Anderson. As you mention all of that.
49:04
There is a scenario of those who have like a good amount of
49:09
students, they have like a good structure.
49:12
They are teaching twice a week, for example, so they have enough
49:16
classes. And the scenario of those who
49:18
are starting, they have one day of the week to teach, for
49:22
example, the class are one hour long.
49:24
They need people in the door and they should do stuff.
49:28
So it is different scenarios. I can see the difference in
49:32
letting people progress through your levels.
49:35
And there is one thing here that is important too, which aligns
49:39
with what you're seeing on this, on that I also think is really
49:42
important is the fact that the student did the full course.
49:47
It came to all the classes. It doesn't mean that they
49:50
completed the course. Nope.
49:52
That's a distinction, my people, that I think is very important
49:56
to make for you and for the student themselves saying to
50:01
complete this course, you have to meet a combination of a
50:06
certain percentage in attendance coming to this many classes and
50:12
know how to do these things. Which like you're saying like
50:15
something should go in and something should go up and
50:18
aligning that earlier and that it comes again to what you're
50:21
saying, Addison, be better communicators, be better at
50:24
setting that expectation because how many times we set the
50:29
prerequisites, for example, have completed this course here and
50:34
the person did come to all the classes but did not absorb the
50:38
content. So haven't they completed the
50:40
course if we didn't communicate that there was some
50:44
prerequisites on top of doing the course of coming to the
50:48
classes, yeah, we cannot say, oh, you didn't complete it
50:51
because we didn't say anything before.
50:53
So is being more mindful. That's why we are talking about
50:57
systematically, like planning the curriculum systematically.
51:03
So when you also tell the student how the progression
51:06
goes, you also mentioned that it's a combination of attendance
51:11
and having these things here. So at this Rezook, we have the
51:15
assessments where to know if the student can go to this course.
51:20
We need to dance to attest that this prerequisites there are
51:26
like techniques that we want them to know are met, they meet
51:30
the prerequisites. Good to go.
51:33
Yes, at 10:30 PM there were people coming to do assessments
51:38
like they were arriving like, oh, I'm new here.
51:41
I just arrived. I was told that I need to do an
51:43
assessment, blah, blah, blah. And they always like, it's very
51:47
common that people come to do an assessment and they look at our
51:50
schedule and they see head movements to and study group,
51:56
advanced training team, 99% of the time they want to be
52:00
assessed to see if they can go to those courses 99% of the
52:03
time. And then we make this assessment
52:06
and say, oh, basics 3. And the person is like, oh, OK,
52:12
but because I was doing like you said that Addison, because in my
52:16
city, I was in this thing here. And then I say, no, I totally
52:20
understand. And then I explained, because
52:22
our curriculum here, we work in a system and I break down and I
52:26
show in the websites the curriculum and all the things.
52:29
And then they'll OK when I show them the pieces that we need to
52:35
be connected in order for a person to go to that particular
52:39
level that they wanted, they tend to understand.
52:42
But we need to break it down, you know?
52:45
So again comes back to like this broken records thing of the
52:50
engagement in the process and the system, the ecosystem of
52:57
your progression of your curriculum.
52:59
One last example before we end this episode.
53:02
In some communities, an advanced level, maybe six months.
53:08
When you get to six months. So you might be doing like a
53:12
level 1, level 2, Level 3, and the Level 3 is the advanced
53:16
class two months of each. After six months, you've
53:19
achieved and you've completed the advanced level in that city
53:24
in the way I structure learning for maybe somebody who comes one
53:30
hour and a half per week every week of the year.
53:34
I would say you finish intermediate after three years
53:39
in the way I think about it, in the way I structure and the
53:42
amount of things that I'm going to teach you in those three
53:44
years, you finish intermediate. But intermediate compared to
53:47
what? Compared to what I think an
53:50
intermediate dancer is globally, including Brazil.
53:55
OK, I see dancers from every level, every country, every
53:59
location, and I'm like, OK, an intermediate needs these
54:03
qualities. An intermediate from anywhere in
54:07
the world have these qualities, regardless of how long they've
54:12
been dancing. Sometimes people reach that
54:16
level of intermediate in nine months, sometimes they take more
54:19
than five years. So the amount of time is not
54:25
necessarily how well you dance. Some people have been dancing
54:28
for 10 years and other people have been dancing for one year.
54:32
And that person who's been dancing for one year may have
54:36
put 10 hours a week, and because of those 10 hours a week,
54:40
because of how much they've trained in such a short time,
54:45
they may be as good or better than somebody who's been doing
54:49
an hour or two a week for 10 years.
54:52
So really, I think in the end of the day, there's so many things
54:57
that needs to be taken into consideration.
55:00
It's not white or black. It's a very difficult thing to
55:03
deal with. But the best we can do our job,
55:07
the better it's going to be for the community to understand that
55:12
there is a certain expectation and a certain plan and journey
55:17
and that everybody goes through that.
55:19
And we respect that, not because we are crazy tough teachers, but
55:25
really because we want everybody to have a great time during the
55:30
journey, not just, you know, sell your class and you figure
55:35
it out. Whatever happens in the social,
55:37
it's none of my business. That's not how we see things.
55:40
You know, we see as the whole community holistically, not just
55:45
my class. That hour with you and then the
55:47
rest, it's up to you, you know. So it takes a lot of time.
55:53
It takes a lot of time and with that, I hope that this was a
55:57
good episode for all of you who are learning to dance or
56:01
teaching dance or maybe interested in someday starting a
56:07
dance class. We hope that this was a nice
56:10
guide for you guys and there is only so much that we can cover
56:14
in an episode. So please go back to other
56:17
episodes and come back for future episodes to continue
56:21
learning from all of the experiences that we share here.
56:24
And don't forget to follow, subscribe, like, share, do all
56:28
the things that you can to continue supporting us so we can
56:31
continue doing this amazing, beautiful podcast that we love
56:37
to do so much. So thank you, thank you, thank
56:40
you for being here once again. Thank you guy and business,
56:43
business abrasives and Ciao everybody.
56:47
Bye people.