Your Ideal Instructor: Analytical
Remember your school days? There were teachers you loved, who seemed to just “get” you. And then there were ones who frustrated you, whom you always found your attention wandering away from. They weren’t worse teachers. They just didn’t match your learning style.
I’ve written before about how important it is to know your own learning style, but I’ve neglected to stress the importance of finding a complimentary teaching style in your instructor. Let’s rectify that, shall we?
Of course, the better the instructor, the more easily they can adapt to your learning style. However, there will still be a style of teaching they call home. Let’s begin by looking at the analytical teacher – they think in angles and degrees, and view learning any skill as a logical progression of steps – yep, that’s me alright 🙂
Pros:
Analytical teachers are very precise – they know exactly where you need to place yourself, how far you need to shift your weight and how fast or slow to move, right down to the nth degree.
They also understand the why of movement – the point and objective of moving and looking a certain way. Not only does this give their explanations more credibility, it helps deepen your understanding as well.
Analytical dancers view dance as a set of building blocks on top of each other, each block supporting the one above it. In this way, they can help you progress from novice to expert in a logical way, rather than picking steps at random. This also helps you measure your progress, rather than wondering where all these lessons are going.
Cons:
Because analytical instructors tend to view dance as a series of points, it can be more difficult for them to convey the flow of movement between those points, simply because this is something that’s hard to quantify precisely.
This also makes it more challenging at times to explain the feeling of dance – the emotional quality of the movement, the connection between motion and emotion.
Finally, analytical instructors sometimes find it difficult to explain in terms of pictures and metaphors, which can be difficult if you are a visual learner.
Conclusion? Analytical instructors are best suited for detail-oriented students, who like to “figure out” dance, and ask a ton of questions! Push here to check out our list of instructors.
Speaking of explaining in pictures, we’re talking about visual instructors next!
About the Author
Ian Crewe has been dancing ballroom for over 18 years, and has a Licentiate in American smooth and rhythm. His passion for dance eventually led him to blogging and the World Wide Web. Ian currently teaches at the Joy of Dance Centre, Toronto, ON, Canada.