Article by Allard and Maxyn
Storyblog by Euclea Tan, Verlyn Ku, Natalie Lim and Andrew Sutjipto
Do you have any idea how hard it is to teach dance? I’m not talking about just hip-hop, or ballet-contemporary, or Bollywood. I’m talking about ALL 3 of these dance genres. And did I mention that classes are not in person but online on Zoom? Teaching dance is hard.
Okay fine, maybe I’m exaggerating. But just a little.
I’m not a Batch Project (BP) choreographer. Neither am I a dance teacher of any sort. But as an academics tutor (close enough, right?), who has faced agonising frustrations while teaching online I can definitely empathise with some of the struggles my colleagues face when teaching dance on Zoom.
Though writing this article will by no means ease their pain, the hope is that this article will at least shed some light on the unseen challenges our dance seniors face in BP Dance and recognise the great effort they’ve put into this project.
As a non-dancer trying to accurately portray their experiences, I’ve tried to write this article from the perspective of the dance choreographers and teachers themselves as much as possible, with little of my own or other freshmen’s influence. Specifically, the following content is a result of the candid sharings of 2 of our dance seniors: Matthew (‘23, Fenrir) and Tasha (‘23, Aetheus), who teach ballet-contemporary and mass dance respectively.
While their experiences might not be completely representative of all the seniors involved in BP Dance, I do believe most of their experiences would be relatable or insightful to readers so do read on if you’re interested!
No prizes for guessing who Public Enemy No. 1 is when it comes to using Zoom. Our dear friend (or should I say foe?) Lag is definitely no stranger to causing disruptions to human life, and is clearly still going strong in spite of the progress technology has made since the birth of the Internet (quick math: it’s been 37 years since the Internet was born in 1983!).
Our choreographers saw this coming of course.
They did their best to choreograph dances which were relatively easy for all the freshmen to master regardless of their dance background, creating more flexible choreographies so as to mitigate the effects of Lag. Somehow, they even managed to keep their cool during dance sessions despite Lag constantly deciding to join in the fun.
Unfortunately though, Lag really does seem to enjoy all 3 of our featured dance genres: Hip Hop, Ballet-contemporary and Bollywood, and sadly no amount of encryption can help us out here...
Now, this next problem might sound simple but it can really cause more trouble than you think! That’s the problem of perspective.
Whose right and who’s right? This wouldn’t be too difficult in person, but with the screen-mirroring option available to everyone you never really know if a participant has mirrored their screen or not.
This creates much confusion amongst teachers and learners, and as much as our dance teachers would sometimes love to reach through the screen to twist their students’ arms and legs in the opposite direction, well...they can’t. Virtual meetings might bring you closer to your students, but it’s still not quite close enough.
Thankfully, however, with a cooperative bunch of freshmen dancers, a pinch of patience, and a whole lot of careful, precise instruction, things actually haven’t turned out quite as terrible as the dance teachers had initially feared and the freshmen have been really enjoying themselves during the dance sessions!
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Moving on, perhaps a struggle less obvious to those of us who only get to see the final dance product is actually the tedium of choreographing dances, especially given the limitations in place due to Covid-19.
Matthew, for one, was one of the seniors forced to scrap his initial plans and search for other alternatives. He had initially hoped to add some pas de deux choreography (partner-work) to the dance repertoire, but all his hopes were conveniently dashed once it was decided that all dance lessons would have to be held online. (much to the dismay of many of our freshmen as well!)
In addition, many people have limited space to manoeuvre around at home. This space constraint was another major obstacle for Matthew, who teaches ballet-contemporary dance, as he strongly feels that the more exciting ballet-contemporary dance moves are those which require abundant space to move around freely.
Lastly, one crucial consideration all our choreographers had was whether the freshmen would be able to pick up the dances well. With a limited number of dance sessions, the choreographed dances really had to be relatively easy for the less experienced freshmen to learn, while at the same time still maintaining the element of fun so that the more experienced dancers would still be able to enjoy themselves while learning the dances.
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So... what do we take away from all this? Yes, teaching dance isn't easy - but it sure is worth it. The reasons for which, I’m sure, are similar to what most other educators whether in dance or elsewhere would say. As for Matthew:
“Being able to impart knowledge as best I can and allowing the freshies to express themselves through dance is worth it enough for me. Dance, after all, is a fun and meaningful activity in which I have many fond memories of. Being able to share this one part of me through teaching is reward enough.”
-- Matthew Ng (‘23, Fenrir)
So for those of you aspiring dance teachers, there’s your Why!
If you’re wondering about the How though, don’t worry as I had the same question too! I asked Mathew and Tasha about the challenges they faced while teaching dance via Zoom and if they could share their tips for teaching dance online effectively. Here are the top Pro Tips I’ve extracted from their responses (along with some of my own thoughts as well):
Try your best to be engaging by balancing the attention you give to the beginner and experienced dancers. Avoid biases towards or against any dancer as they are all here to learn and enjoy themselves!
If possible, drag someone else (preferably another dancer who knows the genre) to help watch the class and provide feedback after each exercise. This is especially important if you intend to teach and dance together with your class so that they have a reference to copy.
Ignore the obvious lag and be understanding of it. It will happen, so let’s just try to accept it.
Be specific in everything. Unlike in real life where you can physically move people and correct their posture/positioning, you can't do this online. As such you need to be as specific as possible to help the class understand and look nice.
Keep in mind how the environment has an influence on one’s state of mind. At home, your students might be exposed to many more distractions than they would if they were having lessons in a dance studio surrounded by other dancers. (which emphasises the importance of Tip 1 on being as engaging as you can!)
Actively gather and listen to feedback. If your students find 3-4 hours of practice too tiring, try to find a compromise so that you can help them to achieve the most efficient practice sessions!
But what if you’re a total newbie to dance, or have 0 interest in dance much less in teaching dance? Our choreographers certainly didn’t forget about you! Here are another 4 tips from them on how you can get started with dancing (again I’ve mixed in my views on this too!):
Just YOLO and try it! The hardest part from your position is starting, so just give it a try, don't judge yourself too much, and don’t worry about what others might think or say about your dancing! There's absolutely no shame in having tried.
Start small. Every great dancer started from nothing and so will you! Don’t intimidate yourself or let other dancers intimidate you.
Start with something you’re genuinely interested in. This will give you the motivation to practice and hopefully you’ll be able to build on your small successes over time.
When it comes to dancing (at least casually), less the financial costs if you're planning on joining in-person classes, the only barrier of entry is really yourself. So if it helps, just grab a friend or two and don't look back! It’ll be fun and you'll definitely make many memories and new friends along the way, no matter the dance genre :)
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“Any kind of dancing is better than no dancing at all.” While Lynda Barr probably wasn’t picturing dancing like BP Dance, that is: dancing in front of a screen instead of an audience, in a tiny enclosed room instead of on a stage, and with a perennial lag rather than seamless live feedback - her quote does still resonate strongly with the freshmen and seniors from Dance.
As we draw near the end of BP Dance 2020, much appreciation has to go to our dance seniors for putting in so much time and effort into BP Dance despite their busy schedules, and kudos also to the dance freshmen for being so brave to step out of their comfort zone regardless of their dance experience (or lack of!) to contribute towards something bigger than themselves.
As for the rest of us, hopefully, we too will come to appreciate Lynda Barr’s quote if we someday (hopefully soon) find the courage to take a step out of our comfort zone to explore dance. Personally, as a bystander, I must admit my only regret is not signing up to be part of this amazing team of freshmen and seniors, and part of me does feel like this was a great opportunity lost.
That said however, even if you’re a bystander like me, fret not as we can still get involved! Do keep a lookout for the BP Dance videos featuring your fellow batchmates and seniors which will be landing during the first few weeks of Semester 1, and don’t forget to show them your support!
To all the BP Dance freshmen and seniors, thank you for making BP Dance 2020 such a memorable and meaningful experience for everyone!
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