It is always a difficult task to give forward to the youth of today where dance is concerned, the exposure due to social media and you-tube has put pressure on the demand of learning fast and to say with regret the student misses out the whole process of continuous practice, reflection, and depth.
on a daily basis i am confronted by my students with "teach me those Bollywood steps"!!!
silenced by not knowing how to respond, I have found my own reaction interesting, my spontaneous mode switches on and the dance of words flow. My response is " the steps are beautiful, and girls our class is a class where you can establish a consistent and strong base to graduate to those levels of performance.
Convincing my students in my junior school, where i teach Pakistani classical kathak dance at times has been very exhausting and at times extremely engaging.
I decided to start a discussion with a string of questions, the outcome being an enhancement of their dance history knowledge and how it got into the films of Bollywood that they so desire to learn.
I found by throwing questions to them that my students would open up and an safe space of sharing would present itself with the students explaining about what they felt about classical kathak saying how they found it tedious, slow and demanding.
with this space presented to me, I questioned my students about what would they like to do in the class to counter all they felt in learning such a demanding and ancient art-form. The responses were interesting and exciting it gave me a deeper insight to which i developed a spontaneous 10 mins every other class for my students to find joy and newness in their dance experience, i saw their bodies open and expand the results were amazing, i felt that became more active and a sense of trust and deeper communication manifested. The other result in this was that they became more accepting to learning classical kathak dance and with a lot more ease and comfort.
I still keep reflecting on new methods and ideas to keep the class new and spontaneous which has enhanced my own learning by reading up on child development and learning helpful methods and tools. I am still in the process and each new student and their responses have been the inspiring force to push me out of my comfort zone and explore innovative child play from my inner intuitive self.
on a daily basis i am confronted by my students with "teach me those Bollywood steps"!!!
silenced by not knowing how to respond, I have found my own reaction interesting, my spontaneous mode switches on and the dance of words flow. My response is " the steps are beautiful, and girls our class is a class where you can establish a consistent and strong base to graduate to those levels of performance.
Convincing my students in my junior school, where i teach Pakistani classical kathak dance at times has been very exhausting and at times extremely engaging.
I decided to start a discussion with a string of questions, the outcome being an enhancement of their dance history knowledge and how it got into the films of Bollywood that they so desire to learn.
I found by throwing questions to them that my students would open up and an safe space of sharing would present itself with the students explaining about what they felt about classical kathak saying how they found it tedious, slow and demanding.
with this space presented to me, I questioned my students about what would they like to do in the class to counter all they felt in learning such a demanding and ancient art-form. The responses were interesting and exciting it gave me a deeper insight to which i developed a spontaneous 10 mins every other class for my students to find joy and newness in their dance experience, i saw their bodies open and expand the results were amazing, i felt that became more active and a sense of trust and deeper communication manifested. The other result in this was that they became more accepting to learning classical kathak dance and with a lot more ease and comfort.
I still keep reflecting on new methods and ideas to keep the class new and spontaneous which has enhanced my own learning by reading up on child development and learning helpful methods and tools. I am still in the process and each new student and their responses have been the inspiring force to push me out of my comfort zone and explore innovative child play from my inner intuitive self.
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