<\/p>\n
I have given some dance performances that I\u2019m not proud of. I\u2019ve turned in school papers that would be more useful lining\u00a0a birdcage. However, I have never taught a workshop that I didn\u2019t put myself into 110%. \u00a0I was once \u00a0asked what I would do if I couldn\u2019t teach. That answer is easy. I would teach.<\/p>\n
Teaching\u00a0is a\u00a0passion. For me, it’s\u00a0the only answer. I\u2019ll jump at any chance to share knowledge, to cultivate a mind. When I\u2019m asked a dance question, I know I\u2019m supposed to say:<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy don\u2019t you take a private lesson? Then I can show you in detail.\u201d<\/p>\n
Instead, I answer the question. I tend to answer a whole lot more. Sometimes they end up taking a private lesson, most times they don\u2019t. The risk for me is bigger than losing a private lesson. It\u2019s missing an opportunity to teach. That loss would keep me up at night. It\u2019s with that passion that I approach every class. \u00a0It\u2019s also the standard to which I hold other teachers. The advice I give to other teachers, is the advice I live with.<\/p>\n
Teachers, accept the responsibility. Be accountable. \u00a0Give it your everything, every time. Or don\u2019t do it at all. \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n
<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Aristotle was a student of Plato. Plato was a student of Socrates. Beethoven\u2019s work is influenced by Mozart. These are not embarrassing facts. It does not take away from their accomplishments, instead it adds to their credibility.<\/p>\n
We are experiencing an increasing number of Salsa teachers that claim to have learned ex nihilo<\/i>. They woke up knowing how to dance Salsa, or they threw themselves onto the dance floor and learned by trial-and-error. Regardless, they may be great dancers, but that does not qualify them\u00a0to teach. There is a system to learning, and a system to teaching. If your instructor cannot tell you what system they base their instruction on, then it is an injustice to themselves, their students, and their teachers. Teaching without a foundation creates dancers without a foundation.<\/b><\/p>\n
How often have we driven somewhere\u00a0using the following method:<\/p>\n
\u201cDon’t turn on\u00a012th street, we got lost last time we did that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Or:<\/p>\n
\u201cLet’s just take the route\u00a0that we know will get us there.\u201d<\/p>\n
This system might work, but is it the best way? Is it the most efficient? Can it be adjusted? Would you feel comfortable explaining these directions to someone else?<\/p>\n
I call this the \u201cMistake\/Survival technique\u201d.<\/p>\n
Mistake: \u201cOK, I thought I could do it this way, but that didn\u2019t work out, so I won\u2019t do it again.\u201d<\/p>\n
Survival: \u201cOK, this seems to be working for me, I’ll keep doing\u00a0it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t get me wrong, this system has its uses. It works great for accomplishing independent, short-term\u00a0tasks<\/b>. Say you \u00a0plan to make dinner tonight. The meal will be steak, salad, and roast potatoes. You don’t need a lot of research to do this. \u00a0If you forget to sear the steak before broiling it, or cut the tomatoes before the onions, the world will not come to an end.<\/p>\n
But, what if you need to show a friend\u00a0how to make this dinner for\u00a020 people? What if you want to open a restaurant and train your cooks to make this meal? Now you need to know the exact cut of meat, how many tomatoes it takes to make the salad, how many cloves of garlic are involved? What type of pan to use? How long should the potatoes cook? How thick to slice the cucumbers? It’s a much more involved process. You have to learn every aspect of your meal, so that you can teach your staff how to make it to your standard. You also need to know how to identify when, and where, the process has gone awry. In case\u00a0you need to\u00a0quickly fix it.<\/p>\n
Before, you thought<\/i> you knew it. Now, you have to know<\/strong>\u00a0that you know it. Luckily there is a place to\u00a0learn this. \u00a0A place where you may start knowing how to make a steak, but you finish knowing how to run a kitchen. It\u2019s called culinary school.<\/p>\n
When it comes to learning and teaching Salsa, the same rules apply. I take a light approach to teaching students when their primary interest is to have a good time social dancing. My mantra is:<\/p>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t worry about it. You\u2019re not doing any damage. You\u2019ll be OK.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s like picking up apples from the grocery store. You don\u2019t need to know the difference between a Pink Lady and a Granny Smith.\u00a0You taste enough of them and you find out what you like.<\/p>\n
When a person tells me that their goal is to perform, I raise the bar.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou need to be able to execute these 4 fundamental moves before you can learn any of the choreography.\u201d<\/p>\n
This is like spending a day picking apples at the farm. Now it’s important\u00a0to learn how to handle them. \u00a0You have to identify when they are worm-eaten, versus when they are ready to eat.<\/p>\n
When teaching is their goal, the serious Shaka comes out. Now I demand:<\/p>\n
\u201cExplain a break step. Talk to me about weight change. Why is this called a back-spot turn? What are the principles of the copa?\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a bigger task. Now you are preparing someone to own an apple orchard. This is to be taken seriously, because there is more at risk than growing a batch of bad apples. A bad\u00a0farmer might grow more weeds than apples. Poor\u00a0farming decisions can end up fostering pests that destroy other trees. It’s possible to\u00a0ruin the land for anything to grow at all.<\/p>\n
When I encounter people that don\u2019t want to take classes, it\u2019s not usually because they don\u2019t want to learn. More often it\u2019s because they had an experience that turned them off. Experiences like that hurt all teachers. Not only do\u00a0we create an environment of dancers that do not acknowledge their teachers, \u00a0we also leave teachers to learn by “winging it”. They end up\u00a0developing their teaching with the \u201cMistake\/Survival\u201d technique. \u00a0They may have figured out how to dance by throwing themselves onto the dance floor, but to apply that same approach to teaching is\u00a0short-sighted.<\/p>\n
Our students today will be\u00a0the teachers tomorrow. We owe it to the world of Salsa.\u00a0Teaching is not an independent, short-term task. \u00a0<\/b>One day you will hear your students use your\u00a0exact words when describing moves, shines, turn patterns, and their philosophy of dance. Live and teach with that in mind.<\/p>\n
If we do\u00a0that, we can\u00a0all enjoy the trees that we have cultivated. \u00a0The work may be hard today, but eventually we can rest in the shade, knowing that we made a positive contribution to the world.<\/p>\n
-sGB<\/p>\n
From Washington DC, residing in Miami, Shaka \u00a0Gonzalez Brown teaches around the world. His first Salsa lessons were with Leon Harris at Habana Club, in DC. He has taken classes with Eddie Torres, Ismael Otero, Edie “The SalsaFreak”, Luis Vasquez, Raul Santiago, Frankie Martinez, and countless others. He likes a medium-rare ribeye steak, and Granny Smith apples.\u00a0<\/address>\n<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cTo teach is to learn twice\u201d -Joseph Joubert I have given some dance performances that I\u2019m not proud of. I\u2019ve turned in school papers that would be more useful … <\/p>\n