pennsicdance: should helpers teach different variants?

[Dave Lankford]

Quoth Gregory:
>A good helper teaches the same variation that the main teacher is teaching.

This assumes that:

  a) the helper is aware of the variant that the main teacher is teaching  
(ie, that a variant exists, or which one of several possible variants is 
going to be taught)

  b) the helper is familiar enough with that particular variant to teach it 
competently

Are helpers and the main instructor expected to have a quick consultation 
session prior to the beginning of each dance to iron out differences in 
variants?  This will take additional time and an even higher-than-usual 
degree of organization and cooperation - and that still only covers planned 
helpers, not including those helpers who seem to spontaneously arise within 
a set.

One could resort to the argument that "if one doesn't know the variant, one 
should not be helping teach the dance!" - but how often have you gotten 
halfway through a dance before realizing that 'variant collision' is 
happening?

When this happens, helpers are faced with the choice of either
   a) learning the unfamiliar variant on the spot,
      then trying to commuincate it to the others in their set
   b) 'bowing out', which may or may not 'strand' that set
      until addressed by the main instructor (or another helper)
   c) teaching the variant with which they are already familiar

For simple/straightforward variants, (a) shouldn't be too much of a problem. 
  (However, it's also the simplest variants that are most likely to be 
overlooked entirely.)

For complex or obscure variants, I advocate (b) or (c).  I don't view (c) as 
problematic, since I think it healthy for even the occassional dancer to 
realize that there might be more than one 'right' way to do a particular 
dance.

   - Dafydd Arth



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