This is a great idea!

I usually use the "turning two-step" (or "flat polka", as I call it) to help stay at
a lower energy level, but this is hard to do sometimes, with some partners.

Another class idea would a fast, controlled redowa. Now that we have a
larger number of people trying to do the redowa at break neck speeds, it
is a good idea to teach how to control the redowa when the tempo gets
faster.

I'm afraid that the fundamental problem with this is that nobody goes to classes-that-other-people-need.

The reality of dance is that is that most of us don't know what we do wrong (or we wouldn't do it). So if I offered a class in "How to Polka Small", most people's reaction, from both big & small polka-ers, would be "I don't need that", so the class would tend to consist of the few that have an abstract interest in how dance works, and a few people that were bored that night :-)

Technique classes tend to be hard to get a good attendance for, and so we don't offer them as much as we should.

Suggestions for how to make this work welcome.

Tom

This is shifting the topic slightly, but as someone potentially in the target audience for Heidi's original post, and having recently joined PADP (People Against Death by Polka), I would really like to find more ways to improve and practice. Something between privates lessons (which I take but are expensive and benefit from focused outside practice) and the 30+ person series classes where bad habits don't get enough attention.

The one-off lessons at FNW are great, and one of those might be enough to address the small polka problem. But if you didn't pick up something well enough in the class, it seems hard to incorporate. I hear this all the time from others in these classes, that they could follow the steps as they were taught, but then can't retain them. I keep thinking a little opportunity to practice specific elements would go a long way. For many kinds of dance (salsa, swing) there are other venues where you can practice and take smaller group lessons, but I'm not aware of many opportunities to practice FNW stuff besides at FNW itself (and PEERS, etc., but they all have the same problem). As much as everyone is welcoming and tolerant of goof-ups, I'm still reluctant to try something when I'm shaky at best on the lead and the follow doesn't know what I'm aiming for, and that's if I can remember the sequence in the midst of traffic in the first place, having just learned it an hour beforehand.

What does it take to run a short series of classes? Would it be feasible/productive to run a couple of small classes concurrently? I'm thinking it might be more cost effective to have, say, a beginner/intermediate practice class and an advanced stylings class in the same hall.

I think maybe even just promoting ways for people to connect up for informal practice might help. I know of at least a couple people that are past the basics but know their technique could use work who would like to get together, probably more than any of us realize. Maybe some sort of sign-up sheet at FNW, or announcements directing people to a forum like this one?

Please don't think that I'm taking teachers for granted here. I know it's time and effort. No sense of entitlement, just hoping for more opportunities to improve. :)

Hod