When is a beginner class... not a beginner class?

What are the boundaries?

I am reminded of the old joke... when is a tractor, not a tractor? (When it turns into a field!)

At the moment, I have a new "Absolute Beginner" class in Thornbury (welcome, everyone - it's been so popular I've had to make two classes, and i'm so grateful to you all for booking!) but how is that different from the Beginner class I have in Frampton Cotterell and Iron Acton?

It used to be that there were fewer categories of line dance - Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced. Then, Improver was added, Beginner, Improver, Intermediate, Advanced. The category of dance is set by the choreographer, and it's in their interests to set the dance level as low as possible, because more people will look at (and teach) their dance.

Teaching Absolute Beginners, as it's my privilege to do at the moment, you start with the basics - teaching things like,

• getting used to "moving as a bloc"

• first steps, grapevine, walks, rocking chair, V-step

• learning to think about where your weight is.

I like to add one new step each week and teach it properly, with plenty of practice... and as the weeks go by, the class' repertoire increases, as we add shuffles, chasses, jazz boxes, rumba boxes, K steps, and eventually the trickier steps, such as Monterey turn. By the time the class has mastered Monterey turns, in my mind, they are ready for Improvers.

During that journey, I'll also add some easy "tags" and "restarts", different rhythms, and so on. I've written about these before, I'm recapping here so you can see how dancers progress.

Here's the tricky thing: there's no "hard and fast" boundary between beginners and improvers. So I'll often leave a class labelled as Beginner because I'm still teaching one new step a week... but in fact, the dancers will already know most line dance steps. I still explain every step, teach every dance, give time to practice... but it's a lot to take in, for an Absolute Beginner.

So as a new "absolute beginner", you know none of these things and you book into a "beginner" class - and you think, gosh, this is harder than I was expecting!

So often, I see new beginners join at the later stage of a beginner class, and I'll do my best to take it down a level for them, and take our time, but I've got a room full of dancers who need a little more than "absolute beginner" challenge. Some of those new starters thrive, but some don't come back - and that's very sad to see.

I have seen thot lots of new beginners start in September (new school year) and January (New Year's Resolution, anyone?) and that's when I will often take my beginner classes back to Absolute Beginner level - I encourage the previous beginners to step up to Improver level at that time, and I take the Improver class back to "step up" level of difficulty.

But many don't. I wish they would, but they just want an easy hour - and that's their right!

So when is a beginner class, not a beginner class? Well, the answer is, "Beginner" covers a very wide category; but if it's labelled as a beginner class, I will do my very best for anyone who comes along as a new starter, explain every step and teach every dance. But if you find it too challenging, please do come back in September or January, and give it another go!