Teaching New Dancers

[Nimit]

It isn't all that easy to introduce completely new people to bhangra. It isn't really like other dance types and it is many times hard to work out bad habits and other things with new dancers. Although I've sort of developed a small system as to how I teach new dancers, do any of you guys have any tips? I've asked this question privately to a variety of different teams and gotten some decent responses; I just want to see if anyone has any semi-secret sauce they are willing to share.


Couple questions to try and get things started:



- Which footwork to start with?


- How do you teach proper handwork?


- Do you start with basic moves or do you try and teach simple choreography to a song in order to teach multiple steps and give them something to work toward?


- How long do you drill basic moves before you move on to actual choreography?


- Once you've deemed a dancer competent, then how often do you drill form?

 

[mehabakshi]

Not sure if you've seen but this thread has some really helpful tips: http://bhangrateamsforum.com/discuss/help-and-how-to/teaching-first-time-bhangra-dancers/


Something I've learned while teaching is that half the battle is getting newer dancers to be aware of when they're doing something incorrectly - really getting them to use the mirrors to understand what the movement should look like/what they are doing. We tried out having our newbies send in critiques of themselves so that they could get used to understanding where they need improvement the most, I think it was really helpful for them to hear what they were seeing vs what the more experienced dancers had to say.


Being really new to teaching new dancers, I'd also love to hear more on this topic!!

 

[Yesh]

Something I've learned while teaching is that half the battle is getting newer dancers to be aware of when they're doing something incorrectly - really getting them to use the mirrors to understand what the movement should look like/what they are doing.

^^Agreed, videos and performances help with that a ton!


I think what helped me learn, and what I've seen from my new dancers is that watching videos (literally any team) will really help dancer's learn what they are doing wrong. Get them to watch videos and show them specific people, otherwise they may get caught up in the gimmicks and what not!

Beyond that for UNC, I like to start teaching new dancers with the four basic footworks (dhamaal, sways, step downs/taps, and punjab) then once people are comfortable with those types of footwork I throw in hands with each of the footwork types. Eventually, I move on to teaching the harder or more complicated footworks (jaddu sangha, phumaniya, etc).


We have a 3 day tryout process where they spend two days learning a short (45 second) segment with various types of footwork and arms. This really helps kickstart the process cause you have choreo to refer back to and they have some basic idea of what the footwork should already be like.

As for hands, I always like to teach a clean form first, relatively straight arms, good hand form, proper posture. It may look robotic, but the more videos/performances they watch, and the more stage time they get, theyll develop their own style and implement it on top of their good form (hopefully)!

We usually spend about 2 weeks at the beginning of each school year on teaching/solidifying new footwork, hands, arms, posture, etc. and then we get started on teaching choreography. We also go over the tryout piece and have them learn it to a much higher standard.

After I find dancers to be competent, I drill form all the time. Its one of the most easily forgotten things to focus on during practice. Everyone is so into learning the formations and harder choreo, they forget that form is essential to it all looking good. It takes months to get proper form to be muscle memory, so bring it up as often as you can!

Beyond that, dancers need to just find their own swag/nakhre/flow which cant really be taught, but self learned, but that really comes after solid form is muscle memory.

^^just my general timeline/breakdown of how I teach. UNC has always had really clean dancers with good form and by the time they graduate, most of them are generally pretty solid dancers! (or atleast thats how I feel about my team, if you dont think so then :'( )

 

[mafzal]

Maybe someone from SGPD can elaborate because they teach a lot of kids, but there used to be a paper on the wall at the academy that said Level 1, Level 2, etc. and which steps the kids should learn at each level. Teaching in that order really works!

I wouldn't jump right into full out moves, but start with basic clapping and stepping to the beat. Make sure dancers can catch the right beat in the music. The first move I usually teach is maiyyan *I will update this post with examples*, with hands on hips. Then I would slowly add arm movements. That's the first footwork. Next step would be chaffa moves. This teaches the stance and balance. Then pataka-type steps (legs sometimes called taps).. Then punjab-type moves.. always legs first and then add arms. There are really only a handful of foot movements in Bhangra, which is awesome because once you get those down it's easy to learn arm and hand variations.

I will add more to this post shortly

 

[Saab]

It isn't all that easy to introduce completely new people to bhangra. It isn't really like other dance types and it is many times hard to work out bad habits and other things with new dancers. Although I've sort of developed a small system as to how I teach new dancers, do any of you guys have any tips? I've asked this question privately to a variety of different teams and gotten some decent responses; I just want to see if anyone has any semi-secret sauce they are willing to share.


Couple questions to try and get things started:



- Which footwork to start with?

Jhoomer is by far the easiest to teach. Teaching the bounce in jhoomer sets the the tone for the rest of the footwork. From there, you can move onto dhamaal, then dhamaka/faslan/punjab. That, for us is the easiest progression of moves to teach.


- How do you teach proper handwork?

Don't teach hands until footwork is solid. Lots of teams make the mistake of teaching hands first, but there is much more variation of hands than there is in footwork, and people need to develop rhythm. Shoulders are also coupled with footwork as well.

- Do you start with basic moves or do you try and teach simple choreography to a song in order to teach multiple steps and give them something to work toward?

Always basic moves for a few practices, then straight into complex choreography. You should always run a bootcamp for newer dancers, but always try to get them towards dancing choreography. Don't teach dancers simple choreography that they aren't going to use - you need to feed them the choreo they are going to learn asap and you are only creating duplicate efforts for yourself.

- How long do you drill basic moves before you move on to actual choreography?

2-3 weeks, though you should always go over basic moves 15 minutes at the start of every practice if you have a decent proportion of new people. Getting comfortable in basic moves is not about the moves themselves, but the footwork/nakhra that goes with it. Also, make sure to tell your team that as you progress.

- Once you've deemed a dancer competent, then how often do you drill form?

All the time, always, everyday, when they sleep, when they shower, bleh. No one is above this either - you need to create a format where all dancers can call you out on shit, whether you are a newb or a leet captain. Also, you should focus on running segments all out with proper form, then compare that to the whole set - if you can't dance all out in one segment while doing the fart, you need to push yourself harder.

Responded above ^

 

[Nimit]

Solid responses. I think I can definitely take some stuff away from this. When we get new people I work pretty hard to try and teach basic steps but I've found that some significant time restrictions stop me from "bootcamping" for too long. But those are problems that everyone faces.


I have the most trouble with dancers that come from a classical background. I find it very hard to teach people how to be smooth from step to step when they've been taught for so long to be rigid and direct. I try slowing things down so they can see that bhangra is a continuous motion but even then habits persist. Anyone face a similar issue? I'll go check out that other thread by the way

 

[lavesh]

for order of teaching steps:


https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJWbEzNf2ZUSYm6-z6L3IEZzojvYbTqW0


if you want to drill in steps, try The Bhangra Workout within the App. A few teams have tried it and it has tremendously helped new dancers not only learn the steps with repetition, but also increase stamina.


#shamelessplug


lavesh

 

[mafzal]

I have the most trouble with dancers that come from a classical background. I find it very hard to teach people how to be smooth from step to step when they've been taught for so long to be rigid and direct. I try slowing things down so they can see that bhangra is a continuous motion but even then habits persist. Anyone face a similar issue? I'll go check out that other thread by the way

Yeah... There is no magic trick, unfortunately, but here are a couple ideas:
+Count a continuous "1anddd2anddd3andd4" rather than "1. 2. 3. 4." and force them to use the AND to flow from one part of the move to the next. Remind them that Bhangra moves are a continuous flow and not just steps or poses.
+Physically move the dancer's arms to show them how it should feel
+Make dancers watch videos. As you probably know, if you watch a video or certain style for long enough you will eventually be able to emulate it! I find it best to provide 3-4 different videos as a playlist. Don't give too many videos or else it's overwhelming, but provide enough variety for them to find one they really like

Good luck and I'd love to see other people's tips on this!