I don't know the pretzel and I tell them so and then ask if they want to go out social dancing sometime!

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"What is within shall now be without. / Don't just dance - you must throw down."

| Sarah |

I don't like turning people away from what they want to learn. Who am I to judge? I don't do the pretzel all that much but I know that a lot of newbies want to learn it and want to dance it. So, I will teach it and I will do the move with them. It is something fun for beginners. Some advanced dancers scoff at the pretzel and refuse to do it. There is no need to scoff. Advanced dancers have plenty of other sweet-ass moves that they/we/you can whip out. But beginners don't have a huge vocab. Let them have their pretzel. Let them be excited about mastering something that seems complex and unusual. Teach it to them the right way so they don't hurt anybody and be happy when you see them smiling, dancing and wanting to learn more.

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I don't do Blues but I'll Shag with anyone.

Well put!

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Dear Baby, Please be independent. Love, Mom -SAC

ITA.

That's one of the things we try to instill in everyone who takes a class with us - if you're having fun and nobody's getting hurt...you're doing it right.

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I think that sarcasm really shouldn't be used in classroom settings. Sometimes people make sarcastic jokes, especially with close friends, that are totally cool and everyone understands it's a joke, but I think that it can be very confusing for students if a teacher is acting that way.

I have seen teachers in the past who have joked sarcastically with/about their students and I found, even as an observer, it makes me uncomfortable because I don't usually know the instructors well enough to gauge their opinions and senses of humor. For example, Dinn could totally make fun of me about pretty much anything and I would know she is kidding, but people who don't know us well may think there is friction. That being said, we wouldn't tease or make fun of each other in class even if we would at home.

I find the instructors I personally like the best seem to be pretty genuine. As for humor in the classroom, I tend to like self-deprecating instructors better than those that (even good natured-ly) tease students.

If I make jokes they are usually at my expense and that usually gets people pretty relaxed (I think). I like to do dinosaur arm. Snrgf.

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Dear Baby, Please be independent. Love, Mom -SAC

I'm very much in agreement with you, MaryX. But it took me awhile to figure that one out. When I first started teaching I would try out different techniques to lighten the mood. I wanted them to think that we were all pals that we could joke with each other. I would make fun of myself, make fun of my partner, make fun of the students, use sarcasm, berate my students, yell at them, embaress them in front of a class of 80 students, tell them what a horrible job they were doing....you know, things that would make them feel more at ease. It wasn't until one day in class when I had a revelation. The answer just suddenly appeared to me out of nowhere. It was after a short conversation I had with a student. I was teaching an awesomely bad@ss move (probably a pretzel) when I noticed that this student wasn't doing it with the rest of the class (probably a hippy anarchist). So, I said to him calmly, "WHAT DID I JUST SAY! DO THE MOVE WITH THE REST OF THE CLASS!" his eyes got really big and he stopped in his tracks as everyone stared at him. I thought to myself, "oh, I am so witty. I'm sure he is probably excited to get the extra attention". So, we started to practice the move again but this time I noticed that he wasn't moving at all. He wasn't even touching his partner. So, I stopped the class and asked him, "Why aren't you dancing? Now what's the problem?" So, the kid looked around and said to the other students, "WELL, I WAS DOING IT BUT THE TROLL YELLED AT ME!" I never did see that kid in class again. The End.

Epilogue: Now I try to encourage them and demonstrate funny examples of what NOT to do instead of pointing out students that are funny examples of what NOT to do. It seems to be working out nicely.

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I don't do Blues but I'll Shag with anyone.