Everyone loves a promotion. A promotion says that you have worked hard, accomplished significant objectives, and that your work is noticed, valued, and appreciated.
Students feel that same sense of accomplishment when advised that they're ready to move up to the next class level. It's a joyful and fulfilling experience for teacher and student alike, recognition for commitment to hard work and a rising level of ability and understanding.
Skipping Ahead
Unfortunately, some people bypass the recommended promotion schedule. They either move up too early or skip over fundamental levels altogether. This almost always works to their detriment.
If a class cycle is meant to run for eight weeks, but someone drops out in half of that time - because they didn't find the material interesting, or because they thought that they would advance faster by enrolling in a higher-level class - the resulting "skills gap" can cause problems for years.
Why? Because if the foundation is weak, everything that's built on that foundation will be unstable. It's nearly impossible to focus on the demands of advanced material when one struggles with weak fundamentals. It's like trying to run a marathon with your shoes untied. Can you afford to trip over your own steps while running a race that lasts for hours? That would be an extremely frustrating experience. Why set yourself up for failure?
When You're In Over Your Head
Attend an intermediate or advanced workshop sometime, either at a tango festival or when guest teachers come to town. Look around the room as the students work through the exercises. I'm betting that you'll see some people there who aren't ready for the level of material that's being presented.
This is a frustrating situation for everyone. It's frustrating for the teacher, as they'll have to take time to explain material that the students should already know. It's frustrating for those who understand the fundamentals and signed up to learn advanced concepts. It's frustrating for those who partner with the struggling student, and most of all it's frustrating for the student who came to the workshop unprepared.
The Right Pace At The Right Time
Over time, students need to tackle more challenging material in order to advance. But we learn best when we're working at the appropriate level, a level where we are challenged but not overwhelmed, where we can build on the skills that we have attained already.
Unfortunately, students sometimes rationalize that they'll learn more in a more advanced class. The truth is that they don't learn more things in an advanced class, they learn DIFFERENT things. But the advanced material requires an understanding of and fluency with material from prerequisite levels.
You can't study literature while learning to read. You need to learn to read first. When your reading skills are well developed, you can study and appreciate literature effectively.
Here is another common and unhelpful assumption. A student might rationalize that if they can handle the material in a class at a higher level, then they didn't really need the prerequisite classes. For example, if they attend an Intermediate class and it doesn't seem difficult, they'll conclude that the Beginner and Pre-Intermediate classes would have been a waste of their time.
The lower level class would have afforded them time to develop important foundational skills. Moving ahead without that foundation will cause problems for the student eventually, even though they seem to be "doing well" at the moment.
A Quick Martial Arts Lesson
Reputable martial arts schools are regimental about student promotion. Each student wears a belt or some other marking to clearly highlight their level. Students are informed that they will remain at their current level for a specified amount of time (six months or perhaps longer). Eventually, they'll be required to demonstrate what they have learned during a formal and rigorous exam.
If they pass the exam, they move up a level. If they don't, they have to keep working on the skills at their current level until the next testing opportunity.
Imagine a new student, a "white belt" walking up to the master of the school after a few classes. The student says that he's bored with the white belt exercises. He saw the more advanced students working on some interesting material, and he'd like to be admitted to that class.
The master will explain that progress takes time and that it's important to work on white belt skills for a period of time before advancing to a new level. Hopefully, the student will understand the message and dedicate himself to working at his current level.
If he keeps pestering the master about the possibility of early advancement, the master will conclude that the student lacks the commitment to learn challenging skills over time, or he doesn't respect the school's teaching approach. In either case, the student will be asked to leave the school.
Dance Dilemma
The dance world is a bit more relaxed. Teachers don't want to deal with the stress and drama of enforcing promotion policies with impatient students. Students who feel that they aren't being challenged may leave the school and seek instruction elsewhere, i.e. where someone will let them do whatever they want.
Given the choice of letting the student take a class at an inappropriate level or losing them altogether, what do you do? Sometimes it's better to give in and let them do as they please. At least if they stay in your school, you may have a chance to fill in their technical gaps over time (with private lessons, for instance). If they quit, you can't help them.
The Excuses
I've heard a lot of excuses over the years, and it always breaks my heart just a little bit.
"I already know the steps that they teach in that class."
- Okay, Miss Student, but what you don't realize is that learning to dance isn't about memorizing a series of choreographed sequences. It's about gaining and refining critical skills. The sequences are part of a method to help the student develop better dance technique. Technique can always be refined and improved, so don't bash the steps, even if you've seen them before many times.
"My significant other is taking the Intermediate Class."
- Okay, Mr. Student, I understand when couples want to experience something together. It's wonderful. But wouldn't it make much more sense if your partner came to YOUR class, instead of the other way around? That way, you can work together as your skills grow. And I'm willing to bet that they'll profit from reviewing more fundamental material. Why am I so sure? Because everyone benefits from fundamentals, even professionals.
But if you want to take that more advanced class, I hope that your significant other will be able to correct all of the complex technical problems that your are about to develop.
The best excuse is the non-excuse. People come to class for a while and then disappear. I'll run into them one day at a milonga or a workshop, and they'll tell me that they're taking advanced classes at XYZ school. Then I'll watch them dance and cringe at the obvious weaknesses in their technique, weaknesses that could have been addressed and all but eliminated if they had dedicated a little more time in lower-level classes that focus on the development of fundamental technique.
How To Escape A Bear Trap
We have seen how some people get themselves in trouble by skipping ahead too quickly. How do we fix that?
Even someone who has followed their instructor's directions carefully can end up with technical weak spots. (Everyone has weaknesses or areas that require extra remedial work, regardless of how diligently we train.) How do we fix that?
Good questions! And that will be the topic of an upcoming post. Please stay tuned!
For now, realized that your progress is VERY important to your teachers, and they are thinking all the time about your skill level and your training needs. When they plan their classes, they do it with the needs of their regular students in mind.
Trust your teachers and seek out their advice. If you ask about moving up to the next level and they don't seem enthusiastic about that possibility, or if they ask you to stay at your current level a bit longer, don't take that as an affront. See it as an opportunity to continue to improve skills that will be critical for your future development.
And please, never just start going to a higher-level class without first discussing it with your instructor. Even if it seems more interesting. Even if your friends are taking the class. Even if the instructor for that class seems like they're more fun. If you move ahead before you're ready, you're only making things more difficult in the long run.
Eventually, if you want to improve, you'll have to come back and revisit the skills that you failed to develop along the way. Why not just put the time into developing those skills now? That is the BEST way to improve.
¡Buena suerte amigos, y muchas gracias!
Daniel
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