Pointes and Perspective #17 Come Rain Or Shine

Come Rain Or Shine

Every dancer wants to do their best, be their best, be liked by the teacher, and not “called out ” in front of their friends and classmates.  

This is a hard thing for a teacher to balance because students need to be corrected, critiqued, complemented, and given blunt feedback to be successful.

Is being “called out” such a bad thing?

Every season, in every class, there comes a day where I walk down the barre, and stop to correct a particular student, “Focus to the fingertips, Jennifer.” And a couple minutes later, as I round the corner, I pause in the same spot again, “Jennifer, tailbone to the heels.” And as I saunter past, and look over my shoulder, I again address Jennifer, “Feel the opposition between the elbow and opposite shoulder.” And finally, after leading the students to finish their combination, and the music ends, I turn and utter with a giggle, “It must be pick on Jennifer day!”

And every season when this occurs, I stop and make it a point to have a conversation, starting with this question… 

“What does it mean if I pick on you?”

Young students usually raise their hands and offer answers in the realm of, “We messed up”, or “We didn’t do the combination well.”  The older students typically respond with, “You are correcting our mistakes”, and “You are fixing us.”

I take in their answers quietly, and impartially, shaking my head “Yes,” and then I pause and answer…

“It means that I love you.”

The silence then fills with wholehearted smiles, a touch of she-must-be-crazy giggles, and a sprinkling of “Aaaw’s!”

I go on to tell them that teachers pick on you because we love you, we believe in you, and we truly want you to succeed. We feel you are worthy of our time. So if you are picked on, we are giving you a gift. You should be flattered, honored, excited, and thankful! You should accept that gift, savor it, save it, and apply it! And if you are NOT being picked on, that’s when you should be concerned! 

Your teacher's constructive criticism comes from a good place, and we want to see you do better, not tear you down. Listen to your, and everyone’s corrections, and try to apply the correction, idea or concept that is being suggested. You are worthy of our time. You are deserving of the sun AND the rain because we believe you will grow. Use it to bloom into the dancer we know you can be! 

As Marek Kośniowski said, “Accept both compliments and criticism. It takes both sun and rain for a flower to grow.”