Why this teacher is still teaching? Well, how many people have been in the class with you? Enough to pay the teacher? And they probably already knew in advance what the class is like.

As long as someone is willing to learn from this teacher, she probably will teach.

But it is good that you, for yourself, know what is good for your body and what not, and leave. I've been in similar classes where I wondered 'who in hell is putting up with *this* nonsense', but maybe those people want to get hurt, what do I know?
You did the right thing, leaving and getting your money back.

Sam,

Thanks for sharing your thoughts about my post.

Thinking more about it: Although I was obviously bothered by my class last night, most of the students in the class had taken it before. This means that many of these returning students did not feel the same way as I did. Her detailed explanations of the exercises and the types of exercises she did all worked for them.

You said she explained a lot in words, which implies to me that the students who are happy in her class are auditory learners, who get the most out of spoken explanation. But if you've always gotten a lot out of teachers physically adjusting your movements, it sounds like you are more of a kinesthetic learner. Unfortunately, it sounds like this teacher is a good fit for auditory and probably visual learners in her class, but not so good for the kinesthetic learners like you.

I don't think that alone is necessarily a problem - though from her own perspective, she should be building her teaching skills to help reach all of her students across all learning styles. I think the issue is that as a student who is new to her class, you have no way of knowing about her teaching strengths and weaknesses before you come in. Unfortunately, other than asking around before taking classes with different instructors, I'm not really sure what else you can do.

doug--

that's the HORTON TECH. flat back series- it's very aggressive technique...you have to be really strong & its not for everyone. I have taken this woman's class and as a low back injury recoverer will never take it again. Every Horton class I have taken I have responded to in that way... I want to run from the class and hide from the teacher who is barking at me...

it's just one approach to dancing & it does work for some people i guess or she wouldn't still be teaching.

personally i abhor the technique and it sends my back into spasm!

best,

rachel

Natalia,

You make good point about differences between auditory and kinesthetic learning. But at same, teachers can talk while leading students through exercises and don't have to stop the action to explain things and spend too much time correcting individual students - at least that's my preference.

Rachel, I agree that it sounds like this particular teacher should be working on improving her teaching and classroom time management skills. But Doug was wondering why other people would continue to go to her class, and I think probably the bulk of her ongoing student base is made up of people who get a lot out of her very talk-heavy style of teaching. I hate classes like that, but can see where she might build up a loyal student base from people who don't do as well with other class structures.

Of course, then the question is, how much of a responsibility do teachers have to cater to different kinds of students? Is it ok for a teacher to run a class that is only useful for students who learn a specific way? In general, I think that may be just fine for advanced classes, so that students who know how they learn and have a solid foundation in technique can pick and choose which teachers to continue their education with based on their own goals and needs.

But for a beginner's class, I do feel teachers have a responsibility to give every comer a good and safe foundation. That they need a whole arsenal of different teaching techniques so that they have something for everybody. In a lot of ways, teaching beginners can be more challenging than teaching intermediate or advanced dancers, and I think teachers need to work on their teaching skills as well as their dance technique before they get up in front of a class.

Good for you for leaving class if you felt unsafe. That is good to know about the Horton tech, I will remember not to ever take a Horton class (if and when I ever take a Jazz dance class).