Telephone Pedagogy.
I remember as a young girl playing the whispering game, since called Telephone, and the fun we had realising someone had mucked up terribly during the exchange of information from one to another.

As I observe some Ballroom dance tuition in Aotearoa I’ve been reminded of this game and am saddened that this transmission chaining has allowed a lack of investment within our business. What starts as a simple message is morphed into new meaning as it is passed on, with the message becoming almost unrecognizable by its completion!

Within the Māori culture, traditions are passed down from generation to generation with the utmost respect and in its purest form. Poi dance or the haka must be diligently studied and performed with the greatest stewardship to the culture and its predecessors.

As dance teachers we start with passing on what we ourselves have learned, then with each subsequent transference a component may get lost and somewhere along the line we modernise and add accumulated knowledge. That’s all good, I’m in favour of progression. But the speed with which the purest of information is abandoned for an easier route profoundly disturbs me within our industry. There is enough material available to ensure your dance education is founded on elements that contribute to the mastery of our dance form. Kia tūpato…, nonchalance is unbecoming!

I consider myself extremely fortunate, albeit a choice, to have learned from the great masters of dance themselves. Walter Laird, June McMurdo, Lorna Lee, Peter Eggleton provided us with invaluable information not only regarding our competitive dance career but to our lifelong profession of teaching dance.
It is then my duty to convey the intellectual matter entrusted to me to the next generation as factually and genuinely as possible. Some may have been lost through memory, and facts have been developed, updated and readdressed for the modern styling but I have felt an obligation to their mastery to relay their intellectual matter with honour and care.

Great teachers are lifelong learners – constantly expanding their own knowledge while adapting their teaching methods to cater to their pupils learning style. They will encourage and inspire, they will guide and nurture, they will always put their pupils journey of growth first and their own self-importance last. A true teacher is a mentor, has empathy, creates a safe space and leads by example.
I implore all dance custodians, our kaitiaki, to become leaders, to respect the information we carry, protect it as it is conveyed, to embrace growth mindset and, by believing in your ability, to improve and grow; expecting nothing but excellence from yourself.

Te manu e kai i te miro, nōna te ngahere. Te manu e kai i te mātauranga, nōna te ao.
The bird that feeds on the miro berry, theirs is the forest. The bird that feeds on the tree of knowledge, theirs is the world.

Kia ora !
Rachell x

Rachell van der Veek (Ngati Raukawa) is a former New Zealand Ballroom and Latin American champion, World showdance finalist, World 10-dance semi-finalist and advisor to the Dutch National Ballet Co.