What makes a great dance teacher great? I’m sure that everyone has their own idea of what makes someone who taught them great in their eyes. When I look back at the teachers who really made an impression on me as a student, a few important influences in my dance life come to mind. In my dance training I was always extremely fortunate. My first teacher, from the age of 3 until 7, was a woman named Dorothy Watkins, a Royal Academy of Dance teacher who taught me once a week and agreed with me that dance was the main thing that mattered to me.  She was a magical person who wore a skirt with petticoats underneath and I thought the world of her. When my family moved to live in Hong Kong she put us in touch with a wonderful teacher named Carol Bateman who had taught Margot Fonteyn as a child in China and I studied at her studio until I was 12. One of her teachers was Joan Lawson and they both taught me a lot and encouraged me to audition for the Arts Educational School in Tring, England. I was accepted and was fortunate to have an excellent training there and at the London School from a number of dedicated dance teachers.

However, my life was changed forever when a small but very dynamic man named Ivor Meggido was hired to teach us Jazz. I absolutely loved his classes. He had style, he was demanding and, most of all, he made me feel empowered by what he taught me, so much so that I went to the States to study with Matt Mattox who had been his mentor and who, in his own right, was a master teacher. Matt Mattox continues to this day to not only be an icon in the dance world, but also someone I remember as being a huge influence in my training. I studied with him for a number of years and he really made me into the dancer that I ended up being. He was inspirational, magnificent in his discipline and movement and cared enough to be honest with me in his advice and critiques. Those were great days and ones that I remember fondly. My point in all of this is that I studied with many people, but there were only a handful of those dance teachers that I felt really made an impression on me in my dance life.

You may ask yourselves, 'So why do we need to know this'? Only to demonstrate that to be a great dance teacher you need to be remembered by your students because you influenced their lives in a positive way. These teachers all influenced me because they made me feel that I was capable of becoming a dancer, and they were right! The vast majority of our dance students will probably never make it as professional dancers, but that certainly does not mean that they will not feel influenced by us. A good teacher prepares their classes and gives their students as much instruction as they can. A great dance teacher also manages to make every student, no matter at what level they are at, feel that they can accomplish something great for themselves. One of the best ways to do this is to make sure that you focus on all of your students and their potential, whatever their competency might be.

This is not always an easy thing to do because it is only natural to want to focus more on the better students. Taking the time and energy to find ways to interact with those students who really don’t believe in themselves can often be a rewarding experience as these students start to really develop as dancers and as personalities. They are able to find a stronger identity and therefore can accomplish more in each of their classes. I do believe that the more that we can offer all of our students by sharing the information we have gathered both as teachers and as performers the better all of our students will be.

I also believe that without adequate inspiration, motivation and continuing education and investment in ourselves we do limit ourselves and probably are not able to give classes that will make our students feel that we are great teachers. Am I a great dance teacher? I would like to think that I am truly remembered by my students in whatever walk of life they end up, and I would hope that I have inspired and motivated as many of them as possible. But it is not for me to decide—that is up to my students. All I know is that, in order for me to be able to share my knowledge to the best of my ability, I need to feel well prepared, but most importantly I need to have a genuine interest in each and every one of my students (even the ones that drive me crazy!).

I have found that each student will relate to some form of inspiration and I need to constantly find ways to motivate, to turn on that light switch for each student. It certainly keeps me on my toes and prevents boredom setting in on both sides. How? I keep learning and reflecting back on all of the 'greats' who helped me along my way. The best Dance Teachers leave an impression on all of our lives!