Our lives are led by questions. What should I wear today? What should I have for breakfast? Should I take that dance lesson? Unfortunately we don’t use our built in questioning skills to our advantage. Asking good questions can get us out of ruts that we might be stuck in, it can help us to have better relationships, it can get us past learning plateaus we don’t even see that we’re in. Asking good questions will change your life.
Western Teaching
Unfortunately we have a tradition of teaching that kills creativity and good thinking. The teacher comes in, they explain stuff, they babble on for an hour or two. Students have to take notes and repeat back the information on a test. The whole process is very one directional. It’s no wonder students get disengaged, uninterested, bored, and tuned-out. When do they get to actually think about the subjects? When do they get to feel something about it? Some will, but probably in spite of the teacher’s methods, not because of them.
Neil Postman the famous educator once said, “Children enter our schools as question marks and leave as periods.” Our society un-trains people from asking questions. It’s always amazing to me that when I stop class and ask people if they have any questions, no one is brave enough to ask any – even when they’re having difficulties – even when I know from talking to them personally that they’re curious.
Make-up a Question
Lately in class I’ve been asking people to make-up questions. Go around the room and each person has to make-up a question. (It’s not quite practical if you’re teaching a huge class, but if you’re teaching a typical sized class, try it out.) It’s not for the faint of heart, what you learn about your students will amaze you, and use your best judgment if to do it. Most people come up with amazing great questions, questions that will huge benefits for their dancing. Things that they’re interested in, engaged in, curious about – and now more involved in the class about.
Unfortunately some people come up with questions that just reveal that they’re just not there to learn anything. They’ve already closed their minds.
Becoming great comes from within
In the end, the reality of the situation is that teachers really don’t do much through giving information. In the end, you have to learn everything yourself, the teacher is really just a facilitator for it. The best teachers know this. A great teacher doesn’t have to do much teaching at all, they really have to build curiosity, passion, engagement. Students really teach themselves.
Dig Deep
Someone once wrote “you will only be as good a coach as to how fundamental the questions you ask”. Fundamental questions have driven my life. Not just simple questions like, “how can I dance this step better?” but bigger – How can this improvement apply to other movements? Is there a universal technique? What are the fundamental parts to good movement?
- What does it mean to move from your core?
- “Got belly?” How does that really help me to learn about the core? What is really going on with the muscles?
- What are the muscles of the core? How do I use them? How do I train them? Why should I train them?
- How often should I practice? Is there a point at which practice is not useful? Is there a point where practice makes things worse?
- Is there do enough, but not too much rule to practicing in dance? Is it something like over practicing acting?
- What makes good dancers good?
- What is artistic about dancing? What is art? What are the fundamental components of any art? How do they apply to dance?
- Is there a “genetic” component to being a good dancer? Or can it all be learned? Do you have to start at a young age?
- Is body shape genetic – or is there something else there at play? If you’ve seen someone go through good dance training and their feet change shape, their shoulders and arms change position, their rib cage changes, their back changes, with-in just a few months, can you really just explain things away as genetic? And “some people have it and some don’t”?
- Why do some people take lessons for years and never get better?
- If it’s clear to see that a dancer from outside the ballroom world (ballet, modern, whatever) is much better, can start doing ballroom and win right away, or not ever do ballroom and still dance awesome, why do people get so sold on thinking their coach knows everything, or you must be a US or World finalist to know what you’re talking about?
- What makes a dance a dance? Is it the music? What is character?
- How much of you do you express on the floor? How much should you? What does it mean to express you on the floor? How do I change that?
- What is theater? What makes good theater?
- If coach A says to do such-and-such always or never, but I can watch the world finalists on YouTube and they break that rule all the time, what does that mean? Is there something more fundamental being hidden here?
- If coach A says to do one thing and coach B says to do something else. Why? Is one right? Is there a way for both to be right?
Ask questions, change your life. It changed mine.
