Teaching People

[Anne Westlund]

What are your experiences teaching people how to craft, draw, paint, write, sing, dance, anything creative? Are they always positive? Does your patience wear thin after awhile? I'm curious! Leave your thoughts here.

I taught my mom how to make Sculpey beads last weekend, and earrings too. She already knew how to string beads. I had to be patient and not too critical. She is now the proud owner of a necklace and earrings, she lost the bracelet at the mall today, but hopefully will get it back, ala Penney's Lost and Found dept. I also taught my friend, Kari, how to crochet. That took more than one day, now she is a faster crocheter than me, much faster.

[DJ]

Anne, it sounds like you've had some positive experiences teaching others! Awesome! Do you plan to do more sharing of your art with people? I say go for it. It's rewarding to see someone catch excitement through learning skills and various modes of expression. Well done!

[Anne Westlund]

Yes, I have another friend who is interested in learning how to make beads and do Dutch Embroidery too. We just haven't gotten together on it yet.

[Dan Goodwin]

I've got more into teaching people to dance salsa in recent months. It's interesting how we have have certain themes running through our lives, "Golden Threads" a coaching friend of mine calls them. So though I started salsa two and a half years ago with little expectation of even dancing well, and certainly no clue I might teach it one day, it's come about very naturally. My teacher said, half jokingly, after just a couple of months that she'd have to get me teaching one day and I thought little of it at the time.

Salsa isn't about dancing salsa. Not really. It's about social interaction, about becoming more confident with other people, overcoming body issues, intimacy issues, making new friends, and just having fun in a safe environment.

Sometimes it simply about going out on your own and coming into contact (physically, and emotionally) with someone other than your lover, partner, spouse, for the first time in years...

In teaching salsa, we see how all of these things I just mentioned evolve too. Which makes it a very natural thing for me to be teaching, ultimately helping people become happier, more confident, more creative, and enjoy their lives more...

I LOVE teaching it and it certainly something that's I'm actively expanding in my life...

[jane]

so true dan.... through dance people can be released and discover new energy. Physical contact is a huge thing for a lot of people... being in close contact with a dance partner can, for some, be the most intimate experience they have had in years!

Its fantastic if you have discovered something that not only feeds your soul but also you feel is benefitting other people. But.. i do remember a dance colleague of mine saying once that she feared that dance opened up a whole unreal world of intimacy, lacking in their everydays, that woo'd them and made them feel unstable in their everydays and ultimately led to potential conflict in their relationships..... so clearly there is a balance....

enjoy the rythm of the dance - but beware of human fragility! everyone seeks something... x

[Dan Goodwin]

Yes, my teacher has said to me many times, people don't come to salsa for the reasons they say they come to salsa. They might say they want to get fit or lose weight, but behind there's nearly always something else, something that's missing in their lives they're seeking... Often they don't know what it is or why it's missing... Doesn't have to be romance, or anything sinister, just mean again that salsa isn't really about salsa...

[Ang Monsoon]

actually jane, you've kinda hit the nail on the head a bit there, you are insightful! I replied below first, & then read backwards to this...when I quit salsa, around the time I took up the exercise classes, I felt a bit "relieved" to be in an all-women environment. I'll be honest (that's me: all or nothing/too honest..) my husband & me were going through a bit of a "barren" patch at the time (not caused by salsa).......but maybe I needed to sort myself out....and maybe salsa wasn't the right environment....maybe i think too much....i dunno....

[Anne Westlund]

Dan

I Love this statement:

Salsa isn't about dancing salsa. Not really. It's about social interaction, about becoming more confident with other people, overcoming body issues, intimacy issues, making new friends, and just having fun in a safe environment.

It is cool that you can see what's really going on with the dancing you do and your teaching.


Anne

[Dan Goodwin]

And it's exactly the reason I feel so privileged to be a part of it, and given the opportunity to teach...

Thanks Anne...

[jane]

hi anne... i think its wonderful if you can share a passion with other people and "teach" them your craft.... we also have to realise that perhaps its a transient thing... that people dip in and out of these new experiences and they wont always share the same depth of passion that we feel for our chosen craft.

I am lucky in that i have a group of people around me that share many of my passions, some of which i have introduced them too.... others i have taught and they have tried it, enjoyed and moved on.

I used to have a craft shop and we held lessons on various craft techniques and it was interesting to watch those who really "got it" and moved on and those who were a little more "hmmmmm" about it.

we teach, i think, because we want to share our passions and interest and some really benefit from it and others dont. Sometimes it is fulfilling, sometimes it is disappointing. Always we should see it as positive... its a new life experience after all! some people need that experience, even if not right for them ultimately, in order to move them to the next one.... that is!

am i mad?

xx

[Ang Monsoon]

no I think you're right Jane, for instance I used to go to salsa too for about 2 years, and I loved it (although it was never on the cards for me to teach it, having 2 left feet!!) then suddenly I just dropped it. Some of us can be a bit all or nothing....

[Dan Goodwin]

So what made you suddenly drop it Angie? I'm curious... Did some other passion replace it?

[Ang Monsoon]

Salsa was Sunday night, then I started Stability Ball on Monday night, & Bums & Tums on Fridays. It was a time thing I think. And just me too I guess, I am like that, all or nothing. I did love the live bands, 'specially the kinda reggae ones, they put on at the "parties" so maybe I'll go along to some of those again sometime, 'specially the Xmas one 'cos that was a great atmosphere.