New Adventures in Teaching Dance

Well, back by popular demand, I will tell you a few recent dance teaching stories. I haven't really wanted to, because I have been going nuts with a few certain students, but I've realized that it isn't as dramatic as I think it is. Looking back, it's pretty funny.

I have a certain class right now that I dread teaching. It is on Tuesdays, and as a result, I despise whenever Tuesday comes around. This is very sad, because Tuesday would be a great day other than the fact that I teach this one devilish class. There are only four girls that come to class. Two of them are cousins, one is extremely bossy, and the other is in her own little world. There is this one little girl (one of the cousins) who gets on everybody's nerves. It's almost like she annoys the others on purpose. She ended up getting hurt twice in the last month. BOth times were an accident, but they were also partly her own fault. All of these girls fight constantly. Going to class is like being in the deepest circle of Hades! I feel like I'm a conflict mediator rather than a dance teacher. Now, you'd think that I would very much dislike these girls. I'm also very ornery with them. Naturally, I would think that they would hate me. On the contrary, yesterday, one of them told me that I was the best dance teacher ever. This was after I had punished them by not letting them have the "surprise" I had talked up the entire class. What could I do? They were fighting, so I had to punish them somehow. I thought that they would hate me, but she said, "I love you Teacher," when she left class. On of the other girls heard her say this to me and wanted more attention, so she told me that I was the best teacher ever and that she loved me too. How can I stay mad at that!?!?!?!?!? Ugh! Little kids are so fickle!

I have another class that is extremely imaginative. There is this one girl who loves to pretend that she is a different animal every week. One week she was a panda princess, another week, she was a long neck, this week she came in as a baby deer and kept falling just like Bambi. I decided to play up this imaginative brain of hers. We have three lines of tape on the floor. The back one is "Home," the middle one is "School," and the front one is "The Movies." One time when we were at "The Movies," I told them that there was someone really tall sitting in front of us, so we had to go up onto our toes to see over him. One of the girls said that he was a giant. They played this up the entire class. When I took them to get a drink, they kept falling down because they said that the giant kept pushing them down and falling on them. Later, I set up an obstacle course, and I told them to tip toe across some blue dots. They had to be super quiet so that they wouldn't wake up the dragon. It was magical. They were quiet for fifteen minutes because they didn't want to wake up the dragon. When it was time to do their dance, I decided to tell them that the dragon was awake and he wouldn't hurt them if they did their dance. He wanted to see them dance so bad. They did their dance perfectly three times!!! It was a miracle!!!! I love it when imagination helps me with my job!!!!!! I love using my imagination, and it is great when I get paid to use it! Even if I panic right before I have to teach, sometimes.

Well, I know these stories were kind of long, but they were worth telling. Wish me luck with the rest of the dance year. Recitals are coming up in May, and we all know how stressful and crazy that can be.

-Michelle