I managed to grab my friend for a 10 minute interview posing some of my original questions to her. As a professional she both performed and taught so I could ask performance and teacher based questions. For quickness I decided to audio record the interview but she was unwilling to give me permission to post it directly on here. Therefore I've taken to writing some of the answers up.....
Does having good performance experience give you an advantage over other teachers?
Yes, of course in certain scenarios. If you're employed to teach freestyle to future professionals then the experience you have in preparing those students is invaluable. To be able to add comments and advice you've gained along the way will only heighten the knowledge and awareness of the students. Also it's a great way of having instant respect. However, if you were a teacher of a particular ballet syllabus I believe good teaching qualifications would be far more advantageous. The teaching qualification would give you the necessary techniques to aide the class in all aspects of their training. Mind you...neither guarantees you'd be a good teacher!
Do colleges prepare you thoroughly for 'the business'?
Absolutely not. Well they might be better nowadays but 15 years ago they fell very short. I learnt more from my first job from my colleagues than I was taught at college. How comes? I felt all my teachers were too out of touch from the current climate. There was no real connection from the outside world. You have to remember that the 'business' isn't just about dancing. You have to look after yourself, find accommodation, do your taxes. They should definitely have a lesson on being self-employed. Is it different now? From what I hear the average age of teachers has lowered considerably and many of my friends teach and perform so the students will and should be better prepared. They hold mock audition workshops as because they themselves are still involved with the process can advise on do's and don'ts.
Do colleges and their teachers offer false hopes to students?
Unfortunately yes. But how would you stop it? As there are so many more colleges than 15 years ago, mostly due to commercial expansion, they feel a need to fill their quota therefore accepting students who most likely will never reach a good enough standard to get work. They should have a moral obligation to be honest but I'm afraid that's not part of the modern world. Greed and dis-honesty are rife. You would never put yourself out of business for the sake of someone's dreams??!!
Taking that into account..should there be a trading standards for colleges? That's wishful thinking and a nice idea. If a college and it's teachers aren't up to scratch they get shut down? Or given time to improve? There has to be a set standard for that to work and with dance there is no standard. The jobs create the standard. The business relies on self-realisation that you're not up to standard resulting in a career change. Exactly..couldn't have that been avoided? The waste of time, effort, money and crushed dreams? I see your point but who are we to stand in the way of someone's dreams. As a teacher you have the responsibility to somewhere along the line conduct a conversation with that certain person talking about possible career paths. Teaching dance isn't just teaching steps.
I still don't know which path to take with regards to my inquiry but conducting the interviews and asking opinions is very helpful. Questions have developed and new ones arisen. I've found being very specific helps as dance and teaching covers a wide spectrum. Details, details, details. More interviews are planned with the idea of narrowing down a topic with an acute line of inquiry.
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