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Two Step Tidewater Sunday Dance News  

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 [Dance Tips - Menu]  

          (01/16/2009 18:08 wh)

Open Dance Group Lessons - Closed Dance Group Lessons

Dance Tip of the week:

This week's tip comes as a suggestion from a dance friend and explains the differences in open and closed group classes.  Both methods of learning are strongly recommended, before signing up for high-priced "private" dance lessons.  Closed group dance classes generally charge a very nominal fee, although, normally you pay, even if you don't make it to some of the lessons.

Open Group Classes

Most of the Social and practice parties hosted by local studios offer a group lesson before or during the dance. These lessons are mostly "open to anyone" (What we refer to as Open Group Lessons) who has paid to attend the dance. In other words, the dance lesson is "free."

Since there is always a different group of dancers each week, the goal of the instructor is to teach a lesson that can be completed within the allotted time. Most of the time the lessons are designed to teach a certain move or pattern only. No continuity can actually be maintained for on-growing learning.

Our Sunday dance is no different except that we stick to one dance per month. Our first lesson is on basics only and repeats each week. Some weeks we attempt to build on the previous week's lesson but only if we feel there a no newcomers to the class. If newcomers are present then we must start from scratch. We do attempt to use the second lesson to build new dance patterns.

Some patterns can be broken down into segments and we use a different segment each week. We are having limited success with this for obvious reasons.

Closed Group Class

This is a class where the dancers sign up, in advance, for a set number of classes. A beginning and ending date is set and with attendance by the same dancers in each class. These classes a usually four-to-eight weeks long. Our Chesapeake Community Recreation classes are six weeks long. The advantages of a closed group class is the progression of knowledge. Each class builds on the last with an overall goal in mind.  Most of the local community Recreation programs regularly provide Closed group dance lessons, which may or may not be limited to residents of that community (normally, there is a small additional charge, if you live in a different city.  Check our community dance events information, here, for all of the local communities.

Judy and I always recommend closed group classes as a starting point for non-dancers. These type classes allow the student to progress along with other students at the same level. It introduces the student to the social aspect of dancing. Private lessons are great but group classes should be included at the same time. Many students who start out with only private lessons hesitate when it comes time to practice in a group or party setting. The instructor becomes a source of security and everything else is a vast unknown. During the group classes the student learns how to dance with many other dancers and quickly learns how to adapt to different styles.

Open or Closed Dance Group Lessons?

We only recommend the open group class (or "Dance Workshops") for experienced dancers who want to learn a new move, brush up on technique or get in some extra practice time. If you are a non-dancer who wants to learn how to dance the open group before a party has only limited value.  But, don't pass up any of the "free" beginner and intermediate lessons.  I have rarely ever attended a group lesson, no matter how simplistic, in which I didn't learn something new, to improve my dancing.

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Thought for a day..

Peace starts with a smile.

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