Chicago Dance Gazette
Rosetta Magdalen of Flamenco Chicago: On Teaching Dance
September 2007
Every student that I've met from Rosetta's studio, Flamenco Chicago, had only high praises to sing of their flamenco teacher. I was curious to know her secret and happy that she was able to contribute her thoughts to this month's article "First Steps: Find the Best Dance Teacher for You". Here is her uncensored interview.
1. What makes a good dance teacher?
Patience, patience, and more patience ;-) plus the ability to motivate students and get them excited about flamenco. It's important to provide reachable challenges in little steps all along the way, and continually find ways to motivate them to get to the next level and always feel satisfaction in their progress.
Since my students are all adults who are very busy with careers, children, travel, and other activities, it's vitally important that I find ways to keep their focus and interest in flamenco. I think that when my students see how much they're able to learn, with fairly minimal effort on their part, that they continue to work to become better dancers. It takes a good teacher to be able to bring out the best in each person, regardless of a students level of ability or talent.
2. How do you find a good dance teacher?
Try a few classes with different teachers until you find a class that you like. For some students the social atmosphere is almost more important than the class itself. Other students are looking for a very serious, performance-track atmosphere. Sometimes the main consideration is just to find a dance class that's conveniently located. Each student has her own priorities.
Look for a teacher with solid teaching experience. I have seen time and time again that great performers don't necessarily make good teachers. You can't assume that because a dancer is great onstage that that person can also teach students well.
I know that, in my case, I grow as a teacher every year that I continue to teach, and it's important that teaching is my full-time job, since I've had the opportunity, at this point, to have worked with hundreds of students and see how best to teach them and get the most from my work with them. It took at least several years of teaching full-time for me to feel I had really started to become an excellent teacher.
Rosetta Magdalen is Artistic Director of Flamenco Chicago and Flamenco Chicago Productions.
Related Chicago Dance Gazette Articles:
Bob Urbon, BallroomChicago.com: On Teaching Dance
First Steps: Find the Best Dance Teacher for You
Links:
Flamenco Chicago Productions
BallroomChicago.com
Select list of dance instruction in Chicago
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