Teaching all abilities

Registered teacher, Roswitha Wetschka gives her perspective on an ‘all-abilities beginners-class’ approach to ballroom and Latin American dance teaching.

This article is presenting my concept of how to teach ballroom and Latin American dance classes that aim to be more inclusive for anybody who either feels that they have a hard time with learning dancing (“I have two left feet”) and/or has a health condition or physical or learning disability.

Us dance teachers have all developed our methods of how to deal with people who claim to have two left feet as they are inquiring about our dance classes. We know what to say and have our ideas about how to help them in a class to ‘find their right leg’. After all beginners never have it easy, they are usually not immediately ‘able’ to dance and some of our beginners are people who find it very difficult to learn dancing. Usually we don’t give up on them so easily. But have you ever thought of offering an inclusive dance class? Or as a compromise an ‘all abilities forever beginners’ class? The teaching might be very close to your ideas and tricks! Let’s also keep in mind that at some point all of us, including our current students, have or will experience a disabling situation or condition through illness, injury and ageing, so let’s be ready.

Now let’s look around and see what we can learn from other inclusive (dance) teachers and from researchers: Disability Rights UK has put together a comprehensive list of adjustments during exams, depending on which disability or health condition (Disability Rights UK, 2019), while the concept of ‘adapted physical education’ in the US brings many more ideas for teaching movement.

The most experience and research with inclusive dancing was made with modern and contemporary: “The current focus in inclusive dance is translation rather than adaptation: where adaptation implies that there is a ‘correct’ way of performing a movement task based on a non-disabled version, translation encourages each dancer to respond to tasks according to their own bodies. The aim is to achieve an equivalent outcome based on understanding of a particular movement principle rather than simply mimicking an aesthetic.” (I. Aujla, 2019, referring to Whatley, S., & Marsh, K. 2017)

But what about classes with a traditional syllabus structure like ballet and ballroom/Latin American? Imogen Aujla researched recently for the Society three inclusive classes, whose teachers worked on translating the ballet, the modern or the ballroom/Latin syllabus for disabled young dancers. She found that: “regardless of genre, teachers needed to break down each exercise to determine its key principles before building up to the final movement goal” (p 3). She found that: “differentiation was crucial and an understanding of each individual dancer ensured this was effective” (p. 3). On the other hand setting high expectations of the dancers was an important mindset for the teachers to motivate the dancers to challenge themselves. And free-flow movement and improvisation offered some relaxing and joyful playtime in between working on the syllabus. (I. Aujla, 2019)

The three pillars of my concept:

A: Making the bodies move according to the essence of a dance

B: Adapting the set dance steps to support this essence in the individual body

C: Translating communication and teaching methods to the abilities and learning styles of the students

Roswitha in action

My concept of inclusive and ‘all abilities beginners’ teaching is focusing on building up from the essence of a dance or a dance step and on adapting communication and the teaching methods. I’ll use Rhythm Foxtrot, Viennese Waltz and Cha Cha Cha as examples.

A: Making the bodies move according to the essence of a dance (I see as the essence of ballroom as):

a: Walking

b: The Box Step

c: The Pendulum Swing

It can happen that people can walk well (or as well as they can) when they arrive at the dance class, but during learning they somehow seem to have lost that ability. Therefore, I love to start any beginners class with walking along a big circle (forward and backwards) to happy music to make sure that we bring this ability into our dancing. And it relaxes the student nerves, because we have a quick success and fun and we feel as part of a group. For ballroom the walking teaches the Heel lead without making a big fuzz, and any forward or backwards walk of other ballroom dances is prepared in a natural way (like the 1 of Slow or Viennese Waltz). For Latin and Jive it would be just stepping on the spot to music and then slowly moving a bit to the rhythm of music.

Rhythm Foxtrot build up:

1: Walking also leads to the Rhythm Foxtrot if we add some bouncy movement, which I call the ‘Happy Walk’, the essence of the Rhythm Foxtrot.

2: If we walk sidewards (side, close, side, close…), the ‘get-to-your-seat-at-the- Cinema Step’, slowly first and then quicker, we learn the side wards part of the box step without even mentioning it and are better prepared for Slow Waltz.

3: I like to do this then with Leaders facing outwards and Followers facing the centre of the dance floor, while in double hand hold, moving anticlockwise around the dance floor. The Line of Dance has been experienced and we’re ready for

4: The Rhythm Foxtrot Basic step, first all steps slow, then Slow, Slow, Quick, Quick.

B: Translating the set dance steps to support this essence in the individual body:

a: Slow down the quick steps: to achieve the foot pattern first (see Rhythm Foxtrot, all steps slow first)

b: Reducing the numbers of weight transfers (See Viennese Waltz. Using a tap without weight as a first valid version, like mentioned in the Society syllabus for the Chasse in Jive and for the Basic movement in Samba)

c: Reducing the travel distance for the feet (tap without weight beside the other foot without moving side, close)

d: Reducing the amount of turn or no turn first (often useful for learning news steps which turn, but in Viennese Waltz that’s essential)

e: Using a sidewards version first (sidewards Viennese Waltz is much easier together with a partner. We lost that version in Syllabus and should bring it back for Beginner and Social dancer).

Viennese Waltz build up:

1: Exercise: Everybody in circle, holding the neighbour’s hands and to music we’re swinging the arms forward and backwards (creating the pendulum swing, the essence of Viennese Waltz)

2: We add Right Foot forward and Left Foot backwards with swinging arms

3: We add Right Foot forward plus tap of other foot without weight, Left Foot backwards plus tap without weight, on 1, 2, (3 no step) to the swinging arms

4: In 2 facing lines, Leaders and Followers: Sidewards Pendulum: side, tap, side, tap on 1, 2 (3)

5: In Ballroom hold side Pendulum, for some couples forward/ & backwards Pendulum as option, (for some with 3 steps)

6: Later we add turning gradually while swinging forward and backwards, on our own and then with the partner.

7: Later we add optional 2 more weight transfers (that’s then all 3). First we practice stepping fast on the spot on the toes (toes, toes, toes, ….), then during the circle forward and back pendulum swinging exercise we include it as option (1,2,3, forward, toes, toes, 1,2,3, back, toes, toes, ..)

8: Later we roll the Bowling ball forward with the left arm, while doing one step forward with Right Foot and one tap with the Left Foot, creating a swinging of the body side. Creating the turn through the swinging.

C: Adapting communication and teaching methods to the abilities and learning styles of the students (using Barbe’s VAK model):

a: Imagination and emotion (show images, tell stories, recreate the typical atmosphere, make students laugh, engage the students emotionally to create better and more intuitive learning)

b: Kinaesthetic/ Tactile learning (feel the rhythm through clapping, stomping, dancing with teacher)

c: Auditory (hear a certain word pattern describing the steps, the counting of the rhythm)

d: Visual aids (bean bags or newspaper on the floor, diagrams on the wall, demonstration of steps)

e: Give space and for different goals, different levels of difficulty for subgroups in group class. Having helpers in the class as buddies.

Example: Build up to learn Cha Cha Cha to original Latin American Cha Cha Cha Music:

1: Freestyle dancing to engaging Cha Cha Cha music

2: Express music/drums/ with clapping

3: Express music with steps

4: Learning to clap Rhythm of CCC

5: Learning to step CCC Rhythm on spot

6: The essence of the movement: We travel by aeroplane to a small bar in Cuba and hear the music playing. The story of the birth of Cha Cha Cha, the sound of shuffling feet on the sandy floor of a small bar: (‘ch ch ch’ in the rhythm of the counts ‘4 and 1’ giving this dance the name.

7: Learning the Timestep: 3 steps of Cha Cha Cha Chasse sidewards, then 2 on spot (4+1, 2,3), first all facing the same way, then 2 lines facing each other, one starting with the right foot, one with left foot (Leaders to right, Followers to left)

8: Dancing Timestep with partner in double hand hold. Learning to move connected with a partner

9: Learning the Basic step of Cha Cha Cha: adding the rocking horse movement of the rock steps forward and backwards

10: Learning the New Yorks: all on a line, then two facing lines: Cuban Rock (replace, replace instead of stepping forward into New York) as valid variation.