Online classes – So much more than Plan B

What is going on with online dancing?

For a lot of us, a vital part of our lives has disappeared in this crazy year: dancing with others. We dearly miss the parties, classes and connectedness that dancing has brought into our lives. Luckily dancers are a hardy and caring bunch, and so we have started experimenting with all kinds of media to replace and partly heal the void that Covid-19 is causing right now across the globe. Teachers are giving classes online and through programs like Zoom online parties are sprouting everywhere. It is amazing to see what dancing communities are inventing and creating! Unfortunately I’m hearing and seeing many teachers and students who are disappointed, as it is not quite the same. After a couple of classes the material runs out and then repetition starts setting in.

Many people ask me how I keep coming up with material for my classes and how I keep on having fun with it. It is challenging, but over the last few months, this crisis made me a better teacher and helped me develop new ways of teaching. I want to share some of my learnings in this piece, but above all I want to start a discussion, so let’s figure out together how to make online teaching better than a plan B.

What is the problem?

We try to use our online classes as a substitute for our offline classes. We expect the same, and often we teach the same. And it works surprisingly well. Yet after a while we run out of material. We’ve done all the moves/routines and are solo dancing gods by now, but what then? You cannot teach connection, flow, advanced moves etc the same way through online methods. This is usually when I see the fatigue setting in and the amount of students plummeting.What if I told you that you can teach these concepts?

What is an alternative?

It isn’t easy, but there are ways of teaching people how to have connected dances and above all have fun going crazy on the dance floor at home. When I dance in break away, no physical parts touching, I can still have amazing dances with people simply by looking at them and playing with the energy between us. Touching physically is only a way to make that connection more clear, quicker, more subtle and in some cases more intimate. Moves are there to have a common vocabulary and make “talking” to each other easier, but they are not required at all. You can have an excellent dance using nothing but basics and simply messing and fooling around. How about we focus on teaching the syntax of our “language” a bit more.

Give this a try

Don’t treat online dancing as a substitute to real life classes, treat it as a different thing all together. It is a small thing, but it can change your whole way of thinking and setting up classes.Using online tools forces us to look very closely at how we dance and how we communicate with others. We cannot “cheat” using our body, with drilled in move structures and connections to guide and tell our partner what we want/feel. We have to show it. Clearly.When we focus on direction, energy and intention we can have very connected dances, while also dancing for ourselves. (P.S.: This even allows us to practise and achieve one of my favourite ways of partner dancing, what I call 50/50(/50). Lead and follow roles disappear as we not only dance with someone else and the music, but we also dance with and for ourselves. More on that on a later date.)In other words, dancing online forces us to become more advanced in communicating our intentions. Don’t be afraid to teach concepts that are often considered advanced. Just don’t call them advanced and you will be amazed how quickly and well “beginners” will take to more “difficult” concepts, like flow, energy and musicality. To facilitate all of this, embrace the phrase “there are no mistakes, only variations”. Getting yourself and your students comfortable that “messing up” will be the default online, creates a lot of space for experimentation and fun. The lag, pixels and screen sizes will inevitably lead to a lot of miscommunication and misinterpretation. Learn from them, see the joy in those beautiful and awkward whoopsie moments and before you know it, online classes will become so much more than just a Plan B.

Closing thoughts

These are just a couple of observations that I wanted to get out there to start a discussion. If you are interested to hear more tips/tricks/ideas then let me know in the comments, I have plenty of ideas I am working on. I will be releasing a more practical guide later this week, so keep an eye out 😉

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