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An Open Poem to Dance Teachers
Once again I sharpen my pen In my humble attempt To assist. The business of dance From the seat of one's pants Can be frought with Worry and risk. What's better than To make a clear plan With the help Of someone you trust? Therefore I'm standing ready With a hand, guiding steady. Reply please, It's really a must. |
"I don't know, but I've been told
If you keep on dancin' you'll never grow old . . . ."
~ Steve Miller Band
Dance is my way of aging well. Since 2008 I've studied a wide variety of dance. Beginning with my own heritage - Scandinavian Folk - I progressed to Contra, Square, Latin, Ballroom, Swing, Blues, and folk dances of other cultures like the Mediterranean and Middle East.
In all of those learning situations, I noticed an almost universal tendency: being kinesthetic, spontaneous, intuitive people who think on their feet, dance teachers did all of the teaching on the dance floor. Unlike any other learning situation I've ever experienced, in dance teachers provided no other learning aids or homework. Whatever learning happened occurred in the "class room." Their strengths were not in technology or in spoken or written communication. Indeed, some of the best teachers did not communicate with words at all. Their strengths were in doing, moving, and in nonverbal communication.
Ironically, what little written instructional material existed was written for teachers, not students; and it was of such a technical nature, laid out in a series of matrices, that ordinary students couldn't relate to it . . . nor could many teachers.
Lessons were poorly planned, or not planned at all. Often, being spontaneous people, the teachers would just "wing it" or let their teaching decisions depend on who came to the lessons, sometimes to the incredible extreme of letting students determine the curriculum by asking the question "What would you like to learn?" As a student I felt totally incapable of answering because I don't know what I don't know. That is why I am a student: to learn what I don't know from someone who does.
Consequently, I noticed that except among the most avid students, retention was very poor, and student turnover was high. Students struggled to remember and often quit out of discouragement, having only so much time and money to spend taking lessons.
Because of high attrition, teachers struggled financially. Some of the best teachers I met were technically homeless but they didn't care because they were so busy traveling and teaching that owning their own home didn't make much sense to them. But they were unprepared for lean times, and when such times came - much to my concern and dismay - they suffered from homelessness, malnutrition, and of course severe distress.
Meanwhile I've come to appreciate that insofar as many illnesses are stress-induced, dance instruction is a part of the medical profession or what I call the "Wellness Industry" insofar as it preempts, relieves, and mitigates stress; and as an almost accidental byproduct, it causes physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual fitness. Personally, as an unintended consequence of my dance habit, in less than a year more than six inches disappeared effortlessly from my waist line.
In view of all of this, and from the sincere love, concern, and appreciation that I feel for every dance instructor who has ever taught me, I've come to appreciate that dance instructors deserve respect and compensation similar to that enjoyed by members of the conventional medical professions; and I hereby offer my services as an Economist to help them operate their practices in such a way that they get what they deserve.
This does not mean raising prices. Quite the contrary, it means increasing volume - spreading the joy, getting more people dancing - by being organized, planning, and operating their practices as professionally as any other professional would, writing quality pdf format course syllabi and lesson plans that hyperlink judiciously to online demonstration video, thereby organizing, sequencing, and transforming the chaotic "data" of video widely available on Youtube and elsewhere into true "information" in a way that only a knowledgeable and experienced teacher can. For an example of how this could look, click here.
By creating these syllabi and lesson plans, we create income-producing assets that make it possible for individual independent instructors to duplicate themselves and create a true organization that can be franchised and/or sold, thereby enhancing their long-term economic well-being.
Such syllabi and lesson plans can also be used as stand-alone marketing tools to show prospective students, who may be undecided, apprehensive, or even afraid of embarrassing themselves with their so-called "two left feet" what they can expect at the lessons. Knowing in advance offers them (especially men who, with their big fragile egos, are often in short supply in dance situations) a measure of safety from embarrassment by giving them a "heads up" about what they can expect.
It also improves their retention by providing them with something that they can preview before the lesson and review after; and it becomes theirs to keep, a permanent asset or take-away from the lesson that they can store on their own mobile devices for future reference - a HUGE value-add that will set any teacher who provides it apart from the crowd, setting a new standard for the industry and giving them a competitive edge.
Sound exciting? Believe me, it is.
So let's revolutionize the Wellness Industry together and prosper you in the process. Let's do well by doing good. Let me help you create your syllabi and lesson plans, and grow your local practice into a true organization that will provide you with the compensation you deserve and spread the joy of dance far and wide.
To get started, please contact me.
Your champion,
Kris Freeberg,
Economist & student of dance
If you keep on dancin' you'll never grow old . . . ."
~ Steve Miller Band
Dance is my way of aging well. Since 2008 I've studied a wide variety of dance. Beginning with my own heritage - Scandinavian Folk - I progressed to Contra, Square, Latin, Ballroom, Swing, Blues, and folk dances of other cultures like the Mediterranean and Middle East.
In all of those learning situations, I noticed an almost universal tendency: being kinesthetic, spontaneous, intuitive people who think on their feet, dance teachers did all of the teaching on the dance floor. Unlike any other learning situation I've ever experienced, in dance teachers provided no other learning aids or homework. Whatever learning happened occurred in the "class room." Their strengths were not in technology or in spoken or written communication. Indeed, some of the best teachers did not communicate with words at all. Their strengths were in doing, moving, and in nonverbal communication.
Ironically, what little written instructional material existed was written for teachers, not students; and it was of such a technical nature, laid out in a series of matrices, that ordinary students couldn't relate to it . . . nor could many teachers.
Lessons were poorly planned, or not planned at all. Often, being spontaneous people, the teachers would just "wing it" or let their teaching decisions depend on who came to the lessons, sometimes to the incredible extreme of letting students determine the curriculum by asking the question "What would you like to learn?" As a student I felt totally incapable of answering because I don't know what I don't know. That is why I am a student: to learn what I don't know from someone who does.
Consequently, I noticed that except among the most avid students, retention was very poor, and student turnover was high. Students struggled to remember and often quit out of discouragement, having only so much time and money to spend taking lessons.
Because of high attrition, teachers struggled financially. Some of the best teachers I met were technically homeless but they didn't care because they were so busy traveling and teaching that owning their own home didn't make much sense to them. But they were unprepared for lean times, and when such times came - much to my concern and dismay - they suffered from homelessness, malnutrition, and of course severe distress.
Meanwhile I've come to appreciate that insofar as many illnesses are stress-induced, dance instruction is a part of the medical profession or what I call the "Wellness Industry" insofar as it preempts, relieves, and mitigates stress; and as an almost accidental byproduct, it causes physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual fitness. Personally, as an unintended consequence of my dance habit, in less than a year more than six inches disappeared effortlessly from my waist line.
In view of all of this, and from the sincere love, concern, and appreciation that I feel for every dance instructor who has ever taught me, I've come to appreciate that dance instructors deserve respect and compensation similar to that enjoyed by members of the conventional medical professions; and I hereby offer my services as an Economist to help them operate their practices in such a way that they get what they deserve.
This does not mean raising prices. Quite the contrary, it means increasing volume - spreading the joy, getting more people dancing - by being organized, planning, and operating their practices as professionally as any other professional would, writing quality pdf format course syllabi and lesson plans that hyperlink judiciously to online demonstration video, thereby organizing, sequencing, and transforming the chaotic "data" of video widely available on Youtube and elsewhere into true "information" in a way that only a knowledgeable and experienced teacher can. For an example of how this could look, click here.
By creating these syllabi and lesson plans, we create income-producing assets that make it possible for individual independent instructors to duplicate themselves and create a true organization that can be franchised and/or sold, thereby enhancing their long-term economic well-being.
Such syllabi and lesson plans can also be used as stand-alone marketing tools to show prospective students, who may be undecided, apprehensive, or even afraid of embarrassing themselves with their so-called "two left feet" what they can expect at the lessons. Knowing in advance offers them (especially men who, with their big fragile egos, are often in short supply in dance situations) a measure of safety from embarrassment by giving them a "heads up" about what they can expect.
It also improves their retention by providing them with something that they can preview before the lesson and review after; and it becomes theirs to keep, a permanent asset or take-away from the lesson that they can store on their own mobile devices for future reference - a HUGE value-add that will set any teacher who provides it apart from the crowd, setting a new standard for the industry and giving them a competitive edge.
Sound exciting? Believe me, it is.
So let's revolutionize the Wellness Industry together and prosper you in the process. Let's do well by doing good. Let me help you create your syllabi and lesson plans, and grow your local practice into a true organization that will provide you with the compensation you deserve and spread the joy of dance far and wide.
To get started, please contact me.
Your champion,
Kris Freeberg,
Economist & student of dance
