FIVE, SIX, SEVEN, EIGHT.
AND ONE, TWO, THREE AND FOUR.
TURN LEFT.
MOVE RIGHT.
Whether you’re doing ballroom dancing, ballet, hip-hop, plenty of dancer teachers are ready to teach you all about their style of dance. Salsa classes, Jive classes, pole dancing classes - they are all options!
Beginners can often find it difficult to find the right tutor or dance teacher for them. This is because a teacher that works for one student may not work for another. It’s therefore essential that you make the right choice when choosing your tutor.
Got no rhythm?
Are you always embarrassed at dance parties?
Would you like to learn how to dance?
Here’s our advice for choosing the best dance teacher for you!
Where Can You Find Dance Teachers?
Parents of young dance students often worry about registering their kids for the wrong type of dance lessons when they first start.
Source: Photo by cottonbro from Pexels
If you want to choose a good dance instructor, there are a few solutions. Firstly, if you choose to attend a dance school or a dance academy, you may have the option of attending your first class for free as a taster session. This is your opportunity to see if you get along with the teacher and if their teaching style works for you.
As a student, you have to feel at ease with your tutor and comfortable with the teaching techniques they’re using. Our advice is to observe their class for an hour, if you can, and then talk with the other students in the class, too. The aim is to choose a tutor whose personality and teaching styles work well for you. Don’t hesitate to ask the other students in the dance studio a few questions.
Here are some of the places you could find dance lessons:
- Certified dance schools
- Dance studios
- Classified ads offering private dance tutorials
- Dance associations
- Music schools
The atmosphere is also important when it comes to choosing the right dance class. While some students prefer a relaxed and friendly atmosphere, others might prefer the more serious approach taken by conservatoires. You should also work out what your favourite style of dance is before choosing your dance classes.
You can look out for various dance lessons that are offered in all parts of Malaysia conveniently with the help of Superprof!
The Best Way To Get a Private Dance Tutor for Classes at Home or Online- SUPERPROF!
Most of the time, search results online for dancing classes can be repetitive and you can only get hold of limited information. You may have your own set of preferences and you would prefer to have a comprehensive overview and comparison of dance tutors that are available in Malaysia before deciding on the ultimate dance teacher.
You may want to learn dancing one-to-one from a private dance tutor instead of joining a dance studio.
Private lessons are generally cheaper than paying to attend dance schools. There are also a lot of benefits to getting private tutorials over group classes. You can get instruction more regularly than in group classes and after just a few sessions, you’ll see yourself making a lot of progress in terms of your technique and your understanding of music.
The student can even ask their tutor to give them some extra exercises to do between lessons!
Here are some of the places you could find out about private dance tutorials:
- Online classifieds sites (such as Superprof)
- Ads in local newspapers
- Ads in schools
- From the mouths of different dancers
- Tutors advertising their dance tutorials on social media
Hiring a private tutor is, therefore, a good choice for students of any level as well as for couples, small groups, children, teens, and adults.
If you're getting married, learning to dance together could be a great idea for you and your partner. Firstly, it's a fun activity and an interesting way to learn about new styles of dance and secondly, you can get wedding dance lessons for couples so that you're ready for the first dance at your upcoming wedding.
Why not impress all your guests and showcase all the new dance moves you've been taught?
Read further to see how Superprof can help you to locate the best dancing tutors near you.
How Superprof can connect dance tutors and learners from all parts of Malaysia and the world?
Superprof is a platform that effectively connects tutors and learners for classes of all kinds of subjects, which of course includes dancing lessons. When you break down the dancing lessons further, there are hip-hop dance classes, K-pop dance classes, modern dance and many more.
You also get to filter the dance tutors according to your preferred location, maximum budget, teaching methodology, languages of instruction as well as the range of taught dancing styles. Plus, it is also convenient to view all the tutors' profiles at once. You also don't have to worry about the validity as their profiles' information has been updated and verified by the Superprof team. From the tutor's profile, you also get to watch a video that records their dancing as well as read reviews that were left by their former students before deciding.
Once you have decided on which tutor to learn from, you can proceed to connect with him or her and they will reply to you within the response time. After that, both of you can discuss further about the payment methods, class frequencies and so on.
See, it is easy to enjoy a fun and interesting dance class without having to leave the comfort of your own home. The average rates for dance tutorials around Malaysia on Superprof are within the range of RM52.
Of course, the rates mainly depend on these 3 factors: the experience of your dance teacher, the exact location of your dance lessons (physical location or online lessons) as well as the frequency and duration of your lessons.
On Superprof, there’s also the option to get online private dance lessons. Dance tutorials over webcam mean that students can practise their routines without having to leave their house and they’ll also have the option of using some of the best online resources. By taking dance tutorials on Skype, you can choose from the best tutors in Malaysia and the best tutors from all over the world.
Choose a Dance Teacher Based on Their Speciality
Why not find out about new dance styles with a qualified and experienced dance tutor?
As a general rule, beginners or intermediate dance students will start learning a common style such as modern dance, jazz, or ballet. It’s quite easy to find a number of different tutors and dance teachers offering these styles around the country.
However, there are also tutors offering rarer styles such as Bollywood dancing, Latin dance, traditional Malaysian dance, etc. and there are even a number of different tutors who offer a few different styles and can mix and match their classes depending on what you’re after.
The best thing is to talk to the tutor beforehand so you know what types of dancing lessons you can get now and in the future.
Source: Photo by Marko Zirdum from Pexels
There are so many different types of dance tutorials to take your fancy:
- Argentine tango
- Zapin
- Ballroom dancing
- Ballet
- Chacha
- Cuban salsa or Puerto Rican salsa
- Dance Fitness (Zumba, etc.)
- Mak Yong
- Hip Hop
- Latin dance
- Kpop
- Oriental dance
- Classical Indian Dance
- Swing dance
- Tap dance
- Line dance
- Waltz
- Fan Dance
Whether just a simple beginner’s class to gain some confidence on the dance floor or an intensive course on how to dance a certain style, you’re bound to find someone to meet your requirements.
Soft Skills That You Can Develop In Time Through Your Dancing Lessons
In the process of selecting a dance teacher and which style to learn, it is also worth noting that dancing is more than just a physical activity or a hobby that you take up to pass time. It is worth investing in a good dance teacher and dancing lessons because you will reap a reward of soft skills that you can bring with you even after your lessons are over.
Here are some soft skills that you can cultivate once you learn how to dance.
a) Persistence
From one dance move to a few dance steps to whole dance choreography, you certainly need to persevere through before you eventually master the whole song. Let's not forget the amount of practice you have to put in to perfect every step and detail when you look at yourself in the mirror.
You need to press on even when you feel like stopping to rest (before your rest time) and when you start to forget the initial steps. That's why it truly helps when you have a dance teacher to monitor your progress and give you the necessary push to reach the finishing line successfully!
b) Creativity
Dance is an art and it requires you to let loose and be led by the music, emotions alongside the precision of your body movements. At the same time, it is also a process where you can demonstrate a new piece of creation and use your body to express it. For instance, you may be given a theme of vintage 50s for your university graduation dinner and you are thinking of modifying a dance choreography from Elvis Presley.
You can watch some dancing clips of him dancing with your dance teacher and friends and come out with something distinct and more appealing to the local audience. Your brain is doing a lot of things at the same time. You get to do a proper evaluation of dancing moves within the time frame, choosing suitable and attractive dancing attires, estimating the space of the stage as well as the interaction between dancers. Your creativity juice is certainly activated!
c) Teamwork
“The strength of the team is each individual member. The strength of each member is the team.”
— Phil Jackson
Most of the time, you will either have a dancing partner or a group when you are preparing for a dance performance. When you learn to dance with a group of learners together, you learn to look out for one another, by helping each other so that nobody's get left behind. It is important for everyone to have a similar progress level.
At the same time, good teamwork ensures good communication and helps to build trust between one another. This is especially essential where challenging dance movements are involved. For instance, to support your dancing partner or member in the air or help them with balancing turns to perfect the group's synchronization.
Source: Photo by Haste LeArt V. from Pexels
d) Self-discipline
This trait is extremely valuable when you are learning something for the purpose of mastery. As a dancer, you might need to monitor your body weight or spend more time doing some exercise on your own to strengthen your core muscles or improve your breathing and pace. This could mean cutting down on your favourite desserts and fast food as well as the act of consistently exercising with dumbells at home without fail before your big performance.
How To Develop More Emotions For Your Dancing?
A good and memorable dance performance encompasses not just the technical aspects but also the emotional aspects. This is why some people can cry after a touching dance performance or laugh when they watch a bubbly dance.
Here are some ways to practice building your emotions during your dance practice or dance performance.
a) Try Interpretive Dancing/ Mime
One fun exercise is to try to make an action or movement and let people guess what you are dancing to based on the given keyword or even song. By incorporating elements of mime and interpretive dancing in your practice, you get to think of the best way to express a single word or concept to the audience. One example that you can see how this dancing exercise works is through the episodes of Fast and Loose which featured Interpretive Dancing on BBC. It wittily balances humour and speed when it comes to body language expression.
b) Listen to a wide range of music genre
Different dance styles may require you to express a wide range of emotions that you may not express normally. If you are learning a type of ballroom dancing that requires you to express sassiness with your dancing partner, you can start listening to jazzy or funky music to bring out the emotions better. You can also listen to more romantic songs before meeting your dancing partner to immerse yourself when you are dancing.
Source: Photo by Andrea Piacquadio from Pexels
c) Study the background story and history of the dance/ song that you are practising
If your dance teacher previously majored in dancing, he or she will probably tell you that it is important to study the theoretical aspects of dancing too. Knowing the historical context of a particular dance can somehow help you to look at the dance steps in a different light. For instance, salsa dance was primarily developed by Cubans and Puerto Ricans that were living in New York in the early 1960s.
The term salsa was picked because it has connotations of spicy and hot, which explains why the dance steps seemed daring as compared to other ballroom dancing. When you are aware of this information, you will in turn learn to let loose and be lighter with your steps when you are taking salsa dance lessons.
The Importance of Choosing a Dance Teacher Based on Your Level
Don’t run before you can walk. The same can be said for dancing.
When it comes to the arts, it’s pointless trying to rush your learning: in just a few hours, your tutor should have a good idea of what your level is and the best ways to help you progress. Instead of wasting time (and money) by getting lessons that aren’t right for your level, you should work out your goals and do an evaluation of your abilities.
There are three main levels when it comes to dancing tutorials:
- Beginners’ level dance tutorials
- Intermediate level dance tutorials
- Advanced level dance tutorials
Experienced teachers will tell you what levels they teach and there are also teachers offering lessons for all levels which means they can be your teacher for a while.
In addition to the level offered by the tutor, you should also keep your personal goals in mind. Some teachers, like those who regularly perform at cultural centres (for plays, musical or dancing performances) or the global screen (television and movie screen) may not meet all your requirements. The best thing to do is to talk to them about your objectives before your first lesson so that you’ll know if they can meet your expectations.
Whether you are putting on a show, going out dancing, or preparing for the first dance at your wedding, there are specific tutors who’ll be able to help you.
Weighing The Pros and Cons of Each Type of Dance Tutor
The right tutor will make sure you feel at ease in each lesson. This is more a question of the tutor’s and the student’s personality over anything else. Bear in mind that, with time your dance tutor and you can develop a deeper level of chemistry when both of you are more comfortable with one another.
Source: Photo by MART PRODUCTION from Pexels
Another criteria a lot of students forget is the tutor’s first aid skills. It’s not uncommon for a few accidents to occur, especially leg and ankle injuries. A good idea would be to check whether or not your tutor is trained in first aid.
Here’s a brief list of what you should look out for during your first dance tutorial:
- How they teach the lesson
- How they adapt the choreography to the level of their student
- Whether the tutor is patient and caring
- The explanations of dance steps
- How the tutor motivates their student
- To what extent the tutor respects the limits set by the student
- The tutor’s open-mindedness
- Their knowledge of music and dancing as an art form
- Their artistic creativity and how they improvise
- The materials and resources they bring to a lesson
Here’s a brief list of what you shouldn’t expect to see from your tutor:
- Not adapting the difficulty to the level of their student
- Ignoring the student’s musical preferences
- Painful or difficult choreography
- Not warming up
- Generic teaching techniques that aren’t adapted to their student
- Having too low a level for advanced students
Students are well within their rights to try out one or several tutors in order to find the right one. The goal, after all, is to look forward to your next lessons rather than to dread them.
Hire a Dance Tutor According to Their Experience and Qualifications Near Me
Get dance tutorials from a tutor who’s famous for their talents as a dancer!
Source: Photo by Yogendra Singh from Pexels
When it comes to the arts, a lot of students prefer to work with an experienced dancer rather than an experienced teacher. Of course, a dancer or choreographer who’s been part of a number of famous shows is probably pretty experienced.
Nevertheless, the more experienced a tutor is, the more they’ll probably charge. A lot of beginners prefer to get a self-taught tutor to help them learn to dance or a student to teach them in order to save a bit of money.
There are a number of different qualifications your tutor might have:
- A degree
- A postgraduate degree
- A PhD
However, be careful! An experienced dancer isn’t necessarily a good tutor. Qualifications in dancing only prove how good of a dancer your tutor might be. You need to see if they have experience with teaching or teaching qualifications, too!
To make the right choice, make sure you do your research first and that the way your tutor teaches is right for you!
Instead of just going for any first advert you see while browsing the Internet, why not look for accuracy and satisfaction by browsing dancing tutors on Superprof?
Just select the type of dance you want to learn and filter your search according to your preferred location (dance classes around me/ online classes) and maximum budget, and you can start viewing the profiles of experienced dance tutors across Malaysia! Have a great first dancing lesson!
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