|
KNOWLEDGE
(Technique)
APPLICATION
(Training)
CREATIVITY
(Talent)
EXPERIENCE
(Efficiency)
This is how Teaching Values stand on the line of experience.
When
knowledge is missing all other attributes have no grooves in which to rest. A
background of substantial values is always a reassuring source from which power
can be drawn. Experience alone is not enough. Precise formulations have to be
understood in Dance or else a teacher risks to move in limbo, and have the
students dance in the dark...
Teachers
who solely rely on instinctual second hand information may posses a lot of
inventiveness but remain intellectually unsupported by the awareness of HOW A
DANCER needs to THINK with the body. Intentional manipulation of body - energy
in movement is completely opposite from the mechanical ways of daily muscular
activity.
TO
DANCE IS AN ART
TO
MOVE IN LIFE IS A HABIT
In
every day life, individuals with natural grace and charm may look harmonized in
gestures and expression. Yet when asked to dance find themselves turning into
awkward stiffness in body and mind, unable to control their reactions which
totally impair their natural feeling of themselves from reflecting freely in
their dancing.
A
dancer must learn how to focus on each part of the body and be trained to follow
organically structured patterns of movements without ever missing details.
An
expert teacher is well aware of the difficulties lying in defective
demonstrations, knowing how they grow in time to become obstructive habits,
which are almost impossible to eradicate after years of wrong training. Defaults
have the nasty knack to get stored into the nervous path forming a memory, which
contradicts free, flowing execution. This is why teaching children are such a
hugely demanding procedure. To deal with the body involves expertise, especially
in the early stages of learning.
The
teaching of children belongs to a domain necessitating a way of schooling
literally different from that of teaching grown-ups.
A
child's body is an absorbing sponge. The spine is malleable and prone to acquire
a wrong sense of balance when the instructor not directly and continually
stresses body placement. A child receives all sorts of impressions, which may be
beneficial or detrimental. This situation throws, inevitably, the full weight of
responsibility upon the teacher. Therefore a child has to be sensitivized to
FEEL and recognize correct from incorrect posture. A child should never be left
to grow up with a diminished sense of consideration for symmetry, beauty and
neatness in the performance of steps. Mild discipline and artistic appreciation
should be inculcated from the very start. Children learn by imitation through
watching, feeling and doing. If the teacher is not an ideal example of what is
being taught, the result may be projected in a muddled picture. The child
responds more to the teacher's physical impression than to what is being said in
the class. A child's body works by reflexes. Coordinative exercises should be
introduced early in simple game forms. In practice the child must be coaxed
gently to correct defective positions of the feet - arms - torso, as often as
possible.
The
teacher's duty is to keep the child clear from unwanted mistakes that might
distort the child's kinesthetic center, if left undetected. Never scold a child,
just point out the error and let the child practice slowly until it's perfect.
Keep the children happy; develop their impetus for appreciation and love of
Dance. Have them care for your opinion, and praise them when they do well.
Remain impartial, fare and caring.
Instructors
who wish to specialize in teaching children how to dance should always keep in
mind that the Culture and Art of Dancing depends on their dedication to grow and
bloom. They are the heroes and heroines preparing and forming the dancers of the
future. In the strength of their willingness to serve excellence stands the
survival of the Beautiful!!
I
salute you all, whole-heartedly, and send my love.
Copyright
©Nelly Mazloum,1999
Next
►
|
