In Skaramangas, we were able to teach three different groups; young children below twelve years, teenagers and women. Teaching each group certainly varied, and I personally was intrigued how my character changed between them.
Firstly, while teaching the children, I personally felt I had more authority and power over them. The reason why I felt I had to show authority was because they had tendencies of getting distracted. I believe this method worked since I was able to teach them the whole routine without extending it to the next day. Moreover, I made a conscious decision to make the choreography simple since I was targeting a young age group. This choreography was able to bring all the children at the same level, despite the fact that others had a greater dance experience than the rest. Therefore, by them doing the same choreography, I was able to erode any sort of superiority other children would have over the rest, and this hence created a platform that was comfortable to even the shyest child. I believe this was a great confidence boost for the children who hardly dance as it motivated them to dance in the rest of the classes we offered.
Teaching the teenagers was a unique experience, at first, I walked into the dance room with a pre-conceived idea that they would difficult to get along with. However, the environment they offered me was completely different to what I expected. They were very cooperative and eager to learn the dance moves. A surprising aspect was the gender difference, the ratio of guys to girls was 1 to 8. In general, the number of guys who participated throughout the workshops was very low, most of them preferred to watch. Unfortunately, I was unable to get much insight as to why they prefer to watch, but I would assume it is because they might perceive dancing as feminine which will ultimately question their masculinity.
Finally, teaching the women certainly impacted me most. I was the only male around to be in the room since I was the teacher. This was because they were uncomfortable with having many men in the room watching them. And hence, I felt very self-conscious, which thus forced me to avoid making eye contact with the women. I specifically chose to make this decision because I did not want to put pressure on them while I was teaching. But this was a challenge because I hardly got to observe them dancing which meant I was unable to give them feedback. But through the help of my team mates, we slowly were able to overcome this challenge. Generally, I definitely gained a lot of experience by teaching the three different groups, and I am glad I was able to pass on my dance skills to them.