Ariella

Instructors: What do you usually teach on the first day of your beginner class?
Beginners: What did you learn on your first day of class?
People who don't remember the details of their first day of class: What do you wish you had learned on your first day of class/early on in your dance studies?

jenc

I remember asking my teacher somewher in a 20 week course, why she hadn't mentioned posture, ( had just discovered for myself what a difference proper posture made to whether or not I could do the moves)

She never did to the end!!

Aniseteph

Hmm... thinks back....

We definitely had posture right from the start. Hip drops, and chest shifts side to side with arms out trying to keep the shoulders level. Maybe some horizontal 8s, I can't really remember.

deelybopper

My first class was soooooooo long ago that I can't remember what we did!

But, in my first day of beginners class I usually teach something like the following (depending on size/overall aptitude of class):

- posture (as part of warm-up)
- ribcage & hip slides and circles (as part of warm-up)
- shoulder pushes (as part of warm-up)
- arm positions (I teach 6 basic ones and we start combining with other moves from class 1)
- hip bumps & side to sides - walking with these
- repeat ribcage & hip circles & shoulder pushes (look - you already did these in the warm up!)
- improvised 'follow me' dance using these moves and throwing in maybe a couple of things we'll cover in the next week.

janaki

1. I asked my students what brought them to oriental dancing and what does it mean to them.

2. I gave them a little theory and background about this art form.

3. General dance dynamic - Posture, shifting body weight, counting, rhythm, melody, beat, tempo, etc., Importance of taking care of the body. Importance of proper warmup and cool down. Listening when the teaching explains and asking questions when they don't get it. I MAKE IT VERY CLEAR TO ALL MY STUDENTS THAT LEARNING IS A TWO PROCESS.

4. Played 4/4 rhythm and made them clap to the beat and walk to the beat.

5. Taught them to the concept of isolations.

6. Explained anD showed the differences between accents, undulations, shimmies and travel steps. And taught them a move from each category.

7. Finish class with little chit chat to get the feed back.

pjmonster

In my first lesson I was taught :

Posture, clunk click every trip

Shimmy

Hip drops

We also had a talk about belly dance

Im sure there was more but I remember feeling great, tired, sore and excited!

Kashmir

15 minutes of video clips of a range of different belly dancers from the Middle East, USA, Australia and NZ - including a range of styles, body shapes, ages (also gives those who get lost on the way the first day a cushion)

(warmup)

getting to know each other exercises and games

posture

beginnings of shoulder shimmy - basically getting them to isolate their shoulders without moving their torsos

hip rock

walking - many can't do it in time or cross body - or use their feet

very simple combinations with walking, shoulders and hips

(cooldown)

Ariella

I should answer my own question!
I wish I had learned posture in my first lesson. My first instructor just didn't teach posture at all. My first lesson was also in the middle of a session, so I was super lost.

Moon

The most important thing I learned was to relax my knees.

Jane

For first day:
- What belly dance is
- Brief history
- Posture
- 4/4 rhythm
- hip sway, hip circle
- chest slide, chest circle
- basic shimmy
- arm sweep