How fast can you learn belly dance and be able to teach it?
I am already a dance teacher for tap, jazz, ballet, etc. I want to become an belly dance teacher as well. I am a fast learner and watch many dvds and utube to pick up moves/ terms. I had learned over 20 terms in a day. And since being a teacher the movements is just about the same. I am in the beg stages, but since I already know how to move my body like an belly dancer do you think it is possible to be able to teach it? I am thinking about taking some outside classes to learn more, but I am afraid once I go into the beg class it will be too easy for me, but I can try it and progress. What was the earliest you begin to teach belly dancing?
I agree. And what I would like to add is I am willing to learn all the history and styles. I love dancing and I will study it to the fullest. I do learn something everyday. As I am a teacher I can also be someone student. And I do plan to take classes and get certifield in this field. I love it and how wonderful the style is. My mom use to teach belly dancing too. So I am catching on very quickly. utube is not the only way I plan to study. It’s just to help me learn a few things and be able to practice until I can go and sign up for classes. And as far as my other dance experience and teacher training I plan to do the same for belly dancing. So watch out after belly dancing here comes ballroom.
Many belly dance teachers that I’ve heard from agree that a belly dancer needs about 5 years of lessons and performance experience before s/he should start teaching. It’s good that you love dancing and you are quick to picking up terms, but you need to learn multiple strategies to teach moves. Even though you learned how to do a flutter on the first try, it helps to know a few other ways to explain the movement in case you have students who don’t get it as quickly as you did!
The best way to become a teacher is to talk to your own teacher and work out a mentor or student-teacher relationship with her/him. You really need to take classes from a real teacher so you can get feedback and guidance. There are some belly dancers who offer certification classes, but you need to have a few years under you coin belt before you can enroll in many of them. It takes years to learn how to belly dance in addition to performance skills, professionalism, and cultural information. Even when you become a teacher, you’ll still need to expand your education through workshops, retreats, and classes.
July 14th, 2009 at 7:50 pm
Bellydance comes from Middle Eastern culture, which is an important aspect of the dance form, Its not like Ballet, Tap, Jazz, etc. For you to really be a credible belly dance teacher I would suggest you doing more than just watching videos and copying youtube. You need to learn more about the history, culture, and get corrections from a real teacher before you go ahead and charge people to learn from you. Would you suggest a friend to take dance lessons from a Jazz teacher who learned solely from videos and youtube?
Just because you’re already a dance teacher for other styles doesn’t mean you are still not a student. Afraid it will be too easy for you? That’s a really silly thought. As a dance teacher you should know that the learning never ends.
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i’m a dancer, dance teacher/choreographer (with an academy), and dance major in NYC.
July 14th, 2009 at 8:34 pm
no
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July 14th, 2009 at 9:20 pm
Many belly dance teachers that I’ve heard from agree that a belly dancer needs about 5 years of lessons and performance experience before s/he should start teaching. It’s good that you love dancing and you are quick to picking up terms, but you need to learn multiple strategies to teach moves. Even though you learned how to do a flutter on the first try, it helps to know a few other ways to explain the movement in case you have students who don’t get it as quickly as you did!
The best way to become a teacher is to talk to your own teacher and work out a mentor or student-teacher relationship with her/him. You really need to take classes from a real teacher so you can get feedback and guidance. There are some belly dancers who offer certification classes, but you need to have a few years under you coin belt before you can enroll in many of them. It takes years to learn how to belly dance in addition to performance skills, professionalism, and cultural information. Even when you become a teacher, you’ll still need to expand your education through workshops, retreats, and classes.
References :
I’ve been dancing for years, but I still wouldn’t dream of teaching! I still need to learn how to play the zills proficiently, identify more rhythms, add more props to my repertoire, have more professional performance experiences, understand how to break down and explain moves in multiple ways, learn how to develop lesson plans for dance classes, develop a better understanding of human anatomy, clean up my layers, and learn more about the culture and language.