Thank you Tavi, Stan, and Laura for posting this. It's been a long time since I danced in Glen Echo and I am delighted to hear that they have moved beyond the four-separate-classes format. This new approach takes several big steps in a very helpful direction. I like the emphasis on getting folks moving and keeping it visceral and simple.
This approach starts with an assessment of what "skills" are needed. From an instructional design perspective it might also be helpful to take one more step backwards and start with a "problem statement" instead. What is the problem that you are trying to address? The goal of "teaching beginners how to persist under actual floor conditions" assumes a lot about those "floor conditions." Consider the situation if you had full integration of the first-timers into the dance hall. (Meaning that every single first-timer was partnered with someone who had danced for at least one night--*and *the first-timers were distributed evenly throughout the hall.) With a fully integrated hall--and clear, precise calling--your list of skills needed by first-timers is reduced by about 80%, or more. Maybe our efforts would be better directed at what we can do to achieve hall integration rather than preparing first-timers to deal with a non-integrated hall. How do we accomplish that? It may not require separate lessons of any kind. - Greg McKenzie West Coast, USA ******************* On Sat, Aug 10, 2013 at 1:57 AM, tavi merrill <[email protected]>wrote: > Hi all, > > It was a real treat to utilize the lesson plan Stan Fowler and Laura Brown > developed for Glen Echo's Friday night dance. As a caller who's often more > comfortable with experienced crowds than one night stands, it was magic to > watch the simple concept behind this come to life and open a new way of > looking at teaching. In response to interest some caller friends showed on > a facebook post about the lesson plan, it is with permission of Laura and > Stan and thanks to Kevin Mabon that i share what they developed. It has > been published before, but i thought in response to friends' requests for > the document that sharing it in this forum would make it available and > archived for a new generation and wider audience of callers. > > Stan (aka "Dance Ranger") writes: "As I recall we wrote this paper to solve > a particular issues we were having at the time. If I recall at the time, > the caller was sometimes to teach the work shop, and their methods were all > over the board. Our dance was often the largest dance the caller had > worked. We wished to provide the caller a guideline for our dances. They > did not have to use the paper, but we wished the newcomers to come out of > the workshop with confidence to join the dance and have a good time and > want to return." > > Whether or not you use it in a big crowd, the basic idea - keep them moving > to music *the whole time -* is, as Stan added, the key element. Applying > the "Create Chaos" technique was mad fun. Steps 2 and 3 may require for > some an ad lib about the flexibility of gender and role in your philosophy > dance community. But the document speaks for itself. > > With gratitude for all our community shares, > tavi > > _______________________________________________ > Callers mailing list > [email protected] > http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers > >
