But my other teacher said…

The problem

It is not uncommon in the modern dance journey to benefit from the knowledge of multiple instructors.  These instructors, having varied backgrounds and preferences of their own, may provide guidance that seems at odds.  What are we to do when our previous understanding of our craft is challenged by new perspectives?

New information is not a threat

We dancers tend to value the progress that we’ve labored so intensely to achieve.  That being so, we become an opinionated sort of animal.  Perhaps overly so.  But to react defensively to challenging information is to rob oneself of opportunities to find deeper truths.  There is often nuance in what we do.  Communicating the particularities of our various concepts and techniques is time-consuming and often inaccurate or incomplete.

Be an empty cup

There’s an old proverb, popularized here by non-other than the Cha Cha king of Hong Kong, called “empty your cup.”  This is illustrated by the tale of an expert martial arts student, who visited the classroom of another teacher and, because his own teacher had taught him differently, proceeded to contradict each thing this other teacher said.

So after class, the teacher invited the student for tea.  After pouring each of them a cup, the teacher then began pouring the tea from his own cup into the students cup, causing it to run over.  The now-distressed student told the teacher to stop pouring because the cup was already full.  “Exactly,” said the teacher, “in order to receive, you must first empty your cup.”

The TLDR here is that as students, we need to develop the empty cup mindset, and check our preconceptions at the door when it’s time to learn.  If the information we receive contradicts or previous understanding, there will be room to reconcile the new information with the old after class.

Which do we choose?

So we listened dutifully, and now have two competing theories for the same thing.  Which is right?  As I often tell students, be able to do both, but you get to choose your preferences for your art.  

Sometimes, that answer isn’t satisfactory, especially to your primary coach who taught you a specific way for a reason.  In such situations, it’s probably best to a) find out the motivations behind each competing theory (which might involve asking “why” at the appropriate time), and b) defer to your coach’s judgement until such a time that you understand the nuance and are competent enough to take on a method of your own.

Do we even have to choose?

Sometimes, multiple perspectives describe the same thing.  There’s a pretty popular meme floating around out there that looks like the following:

Teachers default to relaying information in the order that they originally received it as students.  Often, multiple learning paths will lead to the same place when given enough time, so be patient with the process, and be slow to label an approach as “wrong.”

Finally…

Any good teacher should be able and willing to field questions about the material they relay, and even make adjustments when better ideas are brought to them.  Don’t be afraid to ask them why one idea should win out over another.  If you see two teachers on a regular basis that disagree, it may be productive to connect them to each other so that they can work out a common understanding, even if that understanding is limited to how to teach you, specifically.