jenc

Do you mean give a list of words to choose from, or free choice?

RioDancerCO

I think if the rating is designed to be positive or negative, then all that you have collectively said is absolutely true. Something that might be helpful though would be quantitative questions. For example, does the teacher focus the class primarily on choreography or drilling? This is a question that someone new to belly dance could still answer. It's not telling you whether the teacher is 'good' or not, but it would certainly give you a better idea if she is teaching what you want to learn or in a style that might work for you... When I am looking for instruction, I prefer combos to choreography. I look for instruction in zills and other 'accessories' like veil and sword. Drilling and individual correction is very important to me. I find it important to know that my instructor is able to impart some information on the cultural background behind movements and music. Now, I don't necessarily think the primary teacher has to be knowledgeable about EVERYTHING, but I do think she (or he) should be willing to make the effort to bring in someone who can teach students in areas where they might be weak. And finally, a personal pet peeve of mine~ I think it's a very bad idea for a teacher to force beginning students to perform (like a student show) if they don't feel ready. I have seen (and experienced!) this over and over again. I feel like it sets people up to have more stage fright to deal with. I love giving my students the opportunity to perform, but I purposefully make the routines something that can be performed by one person or all. Then they can decide 5 minutes before we go on that they aren't up to it and it's okay. So far I haven't had a single person balk at performing because they had the option to bow out and didn't feel trapped...

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Rio

Tribal Belly Dance Malta

There are always problems when rating, what is great for one is dross for others! Example, I attended a very quiet class where you were invited only, a very spiritual class, half dancing and half meditation, a wonderful class, but would someone who wants to just dance rate it well, example 2, a class with a large attendance, but the teacher knew nothing about belly dance. I was appalled! This Very young teacher should not be teaching (horrendous warm up, no techniques, no idea about the style that's she thinks she was teaching), when chatting to some of her students later I found that they had been attending for years and still only knew 4-5 moves, not even a 3/4 shimmie. But her students loved her! They would give her a great rating! Needless to say I never returned to her class. So you see ratings just don't work, only trial and error, attending classes to find the one right for you would work.
There that's my opinion, and as I said that's only an opinion and you cant rate that!

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Atlantis

Mosaic

As others have said, ratings are too subjective. My first teacher was recommended, she has been dancing for 20+ years and teaching for about 10. She was a really nice lady, and I thought she was great! Then I took a 2nd class with a different teacher - dancing for 15 years teaching for 4, WOW she sure opened my eyes, I was kind of relieved when my first teacher discontinued classes in my area due to classes being non viable. That particular teachers technique was terrible, her warmup/down practically none existent. She is a good dancer but not a good teacher, but having said that, she has about 60 to 80 students, thus my perception of her teaching ability is just that, mine. My second teacher - Is great, yet I know a couple of girls who don't like her teaching method & one girl left in a huff because she was gently corrected a couple of times - so she would definitely give this teacher a bad rating, my third teacher to my mind and her 50 to 60 students is the 'real deal' - teachers 2 & 3 teach differently, but at this time exactly what I feel is right for me.

Also I believe there is that begiining with no knowledge time, so a teacher may not be very good, but you are inspired, but find that you need more, find that teacher who will take you to another level, and leave the previous teacher with gratefulness as she/he has helped you begin your journey! I still see my first teacher at rakkasas etc and love to have a long chat with her, she is a really nice person. I just 'outgrew' her teaching style

I think it comes down to attending a class asking questions that are important to you, if you don't leave the class feeling inspired or happy, then try someone else. When I first began, I didn't have a clue as to what was good and wasn't.
~Mosaic

Moon

I'm not in favour of a rating system. Imagine, some other teacher who dislikes competition might give a bad rating so more people will come to her class, stuff like that.

I'm afraid the best way is still to ask here if someone has experience with a particular teacher. Would be nice though if you could just click the name and immediately read what style the person teaches + links to youtube videos if they exist. However I think such info should be on the website of the teacher, or you could just ask the teacher for it through e-mail.

shiradotnet

I have a little experience with ratings that might be helpful to this discussion.

On my web site, I have a section on DVD's and videos which includes over 100 opinion polls for commercial videos. For each such video, visitors can rate it on a scale of 1 to 5, where 1 is "nothing good about it at all" and 5 is "absolutely fantastic".

I have noticed the following:

• I found one teacher's web site where she had a very prominent link right on her home page leading to her video. The link urged students to follow it and cast a favorable vote for her video. Now, I've seen her video and I happen to think she did an excellent job with it, so I don't mind the stampede of favorable ratings, but I still felt kind of, uh, unhappy to see that she was campaigning in this way.
• Another teacher sent me email complaining because there had been a lot of negative 1 & 2 ratings cast against her videos. She claimed that there were people in her city who didn't like her, people who were voting multiple times just to undermine her. As it happens, I own copies of her videos, and I wouldn't give those particular videos more than 1 or 2 stars myself, either. There are issues with dreadful production quality (loud buzzing noise from a poor microphone that's horribly distracting), misleading marketing claims (claiming a 40-minute video is actually an hour long), etc. So I wasn't at all surprised that the bulk of voters were giving it 2 stars for "disappointing, but had some value". But interestingly, after I received the angry email about mean people voting against her just to be malicious, suddenly there was a stampede of 5-star ratings. How fascinating that all of a sudden the community of shira.net users abruptly decided that her videos were stellar enough to receiv "absolutely fantastic" ratings....

So, I think any attempt to institute a rating system will trigger people trying to stack the deck. Some will put a lot of energy into making their local rival look as bad as possible, and others will urge all their students to go home, jump online right away, and vote high praise to them. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to think of a way to solve this.

I do wish there was a way we could warn students to look out for bad teachers. I just can't think of a practical one.

Shashi

I have been bellydancing for eight years and have now studied with three teachers. I started out with ATS and immediately fell in love with bellydancing. For the first two or three years, I loved dance so much and had never had any other teachers or dance experience that I put up with a teacher who was rude, arrogant, overly critical, took pleasure in making fun of students in front of the whole class and treating adults like children. I started simultaneously studying with another teacher after three years, who helped me to see how this first teacher was ruining my dance experience as well as increasing my low self-esteem. I finally quit after five years and now feel that I probably wasted a lot of those first five years. I am more aware now of teachers, not only their skills or qualifications, but whether they support and encourage their students. My second teacher is nice, but alot of her focus is still on her self. She does not make a lot of effort to give students individual attention, even if they are hard working and dedicated. My third teacher does pay alot of attention to her students, but she has alot of emotional baggage which she tends to bring to class and I feel that interferes with her teaching. Maybe I expect too much and I know teachers are only human. But as an intermediate dancer who has hung in there, I do expect a certain amount of service for my dollars. Intermediate classes are much more expensive. I don't know that beginners would be able to rate a teacher, as I didn't and I started learning bellydance at 48. I am also a highly educated professional business woman and I wasn't able to evaluate at first. The only thing I know to do at this point is to read about instructors, talk to people who have studied with so and so and at some point possibly try them. At least at this point in my life I can evaluate them better. I do regret feeling like I would have been much further along if I would have started with a quality teacher.

Jane

You are spot on with your post! I wish I had started with a different teacher too, but there was only one in town. I also wouldn't have know what to look for as a beginner. Talking to people who have had experience with a teacher and trying them yourself are the only ways to find out if they are a good fit.