Clear Objectives: A Return to Teaching

Esh and I have been talking about offering dance lessons.

That's for want of a better term. It's stemmed from my one-to-one workshop sessions with him,.and we'd had Elaine, a mutual friend drop by the occasional three-hour Sunday who'd gotten quite absorbed in them. So it occurred to me to ask, "how about we open this up?" Not in a commercial sense, but to people we know whom might be keen. After all, it's just as easy for me to run a session for a small gathering of individuals as it is for one; and, there's the opportunity of developing partnered skills.

Besides, given the unconventional format and flipped-learning model, I wouldn't anticipate that attendee retention would be high, given that the general populace of dancers have already been pre-selected and optimised for conventional instruction.

But I'd have to get something out of this as well, apart from an altruistic joy of teaching. It wouldn't be financial - I've always preferred a social contract to a financial one. So I've articulated some clear personal objectives should I choose to proceed. I think it's crucial to have these, not only to determine the direction of development, but also to judge the value of the activity.

Principal objectives

1. Explore the externally-perceived value of a contrasting pedagogic ethos
2. Data generation for on-going dance research
3. Validation of pedagogic hypotheses
4. Continued personal development as dance educator and proponent

On the up-side, that commercial viability is not a necessity will allow for plenty of scope in implementation. On the down-side, how does one satisfy the contradictory notions of: being able to accept newcomers/accommodating people who have essential commitments flexibly, with the need for clear progression?

Loo Yeo