So Sunday was my first day of classes after a not-so-lazy month off. It really was a pleasure to be back teaching and my 3 groups were fantastic! I started off with a 40 person sold out level 1 class. Within no time the were Merengue dancing and having a ball and it was like I hadn’t been off for the past few weeks. My second class was a sold out level 2 class and it was such a great surprise to see that they remembered almost all of the moves in level 1 which made the class much easier and it flew by. My last class was level 3 and again I was pleasantly surprised by the students’ memory…catching them up was no problem.
Sometimes I do get returning classes that have forgotten all the moves of the prior level, especially after 2 months off in the summer. To combat this, make sure you go out and dance. We have outings every two weeks to practice at in addition to all the great clubs and practice sessions in Toronto.
The other piece of advice is that we send out the syllabus after every semester. Print it out, make notes while you can still remember the moves and even record yourselves executing the moves so that it is not such a shock to come back to class.
More new classes this week – can’t wait!
