Teaching dance truly is an art form in and of itself. Besides obvious things such as creating combinations and dealing with any disciplinary issues that arise, you will also need to learn how to pace a class properly.
For example, you’ll to learn how to run the class so that you’re communicating information to the students, but you also want to be sure their muscles don’t get cold while you are talking. There is a fine line between giving corrections and explaining steps and talking too much.
Another pacing issue has to do with how much time you spend on a combination. You will want to do it enough so that the students feel like they are getting it down to the finer points, but not so many times that they are bored with it.
There is no magic number for these things–the point is, you need to be aware of them.
Simply thinking about how you are pacing the class will go a long way toward avoiding these problems. Watch your students. Are they shifting around and looking “antsy”? If so, you may be losing them. Or their muscles may be losing warmth.
One great way to get a feel for how to perfect this skill is to watch teachers who have been around for a while. They tend to pace things quite naturally. They have learned over time how to structure the class in the most effective way and how to get information across effieciently.
The good news is that once you begin to get a handle on this issue, you will need to think about it less and less over time.
