Students trust their teachers. Sometimes more than they should.
A few times a year a student says something that makes me realise how
important we teachers/our classes/ this hobby has become to them. In a lot of ways that is nice. I cannot imagine my life withouth it, and I am of course happy when others discover the same joy.
But it can also be a scary thing. It gives some people power over others. It makes
me realise the responsibility that comes with teaching others. It makes me realise that my words have impact on others, an impact I am not always aware of. It makes me realise some people attribute a role to me I do not want, and give my words more importance for decisions about their lives than they should. And I need to be aware of that. And help feet to stay on the ground... and keep my own there as well.
As I often say, no dance is not therapy. But it acts as such for a lot of people. For strong people, and for vulnerable ones. Who deserve support and protection. Who do not deserve to be taken advantage of.
We need to be aware of how what we say and do has an impact on others. On not to take emotional or financial advantage of of them. Because that too is abuse.
I was always just into the dance for the dance, but lately it has been therapy for me. I'll say this: all I really needed was for my teachers to be pros, and they were. That meant doing what good teachers do: going through the class program, giving appropriate critique, etc. There were moments when I wish they'd been psychic and knew it was a day when I really just wanted to bop around, but in the end it was the process of learning how to dance, in a normal class, that was therapeutic.
ReplyDeleteI guess what I'm trying to say is: even when a student is experiencing the dance as therapy, teachers don't need to do anything special, not more than they would usually do if they are professional and ethical.