dance teacher from hell? Help?

Make the best of it. It is a little concerning that the girls who just went en pointe were asked to dance en pointe in center. I am guessing that she was trained in a ballet academy where the girls that go en pointe are more than ready and progress very fast.

However, she is trying to help you and not be your friend. Many professional dancers come from ballet academies where they get yelled at all the time. As a matter of fact if you don't get picked on, you get upset because it means the teacher doesn't think you are worth spending any time on.

I doubt she is hurting your technique and chances are if she is professional she may know more than your teacher. Try to be open and learn what you can from her. When a teacher is a bad teacher they just tell you everything is beautiful and give no corrections. When a teacher says you are doing it wrong even yells at you, it means she is passionate about helping you. She will work you hard to get it right, that is the sign of a good teacher.

I know you are not used to this style of teaching, but this is how it is done in the top ballet academies. Try to keep in mind that she is trying to help you. If she didn't care or thought you were no good, she would just smile and say nice and not even bother trying to help you. This may help you understand her better. If you listen to her, you might find that you have improved more than you realize. The best compliment a dancer can get is when her teacher spends time tearing her technique apart in order to help her. "That was beautiful"=Kiss of death. You are not worth working on

@Jivepack- yes in the military AND at the top ballet academies around the world. They both require discipline, perfection and have athletic physical requirements. Recreational ballet is not the same and for that I agree. However she is talking about a professionally trained ballet dancer in a Summer Intensive which is used as a a pre-professional training program.

Hmm, I see Ur point. When I took ballet I came across many teachers, some harsh vs. some firendly. Well I think ur previous teacher should know that ur not being at the barre often when just starting pointe, since going onto center is dangerous & might damage/cause an acident. If it was me I would personaly want to get back at the teacher by enduring her painful leassons & trying to exceed on everything she does, since it seems as though shes looking down on you. Plus she might think you being weak/anoying by not listning & going for help instead, since every teachers teaching is diffrent. And mabe shes just like that because she thinks the only way a student will improve or get better is through harsh disaplin. I'd say try to work with it the best U can without pushing yourself too hard or hurting yourself. The teacher has declared war on her students, dont lose ;) Good luck! You can do it!

Wow, that was very unprofessional of him. I mean, yea a lot of latin dancing is all about practically flirting with your partner on the dance floor, but it's just an ACT. If I were you I'd confront him about it and tell him you think it was unprofessional of him and you'd like to keep the relationship strictly teacher/student. But things will probably always be a little weird between you two after this, which could ruin any relationship you have with him and affect the way he teaches. If all else fails you could always change studios.

I have been involved in instruction for over 30 years and I have yet had to yell at anyone let alone a 10 year old student. I have taught dance to children and adults, I have instructed adults in technical courses and have had guest instructors. Any instructor that yelled at my students would not be welcome back, any instructor that could not use constructive criticism or criticised the efforts of my students would not be invited back, any instructor that dismissed other instructors as not being professional would not be invited back.

I suggest that you listen to the instructor as it is possible that she may know some techniques that could help you, she obviously has not taken any training in teaching or motivating students.

There are certain areas that require that teaching technique and they normally are limited to situations where the students are in basic training for the military.

Go to a different studio.?