Those who can't do, teach. We have all heard this. It means that you can't do what you teach to perfection. But if you are a good teacher, you can bring out the best in the people you teach. Teaching is something some people can do, others can't, and often the best doers - performers - cannot teach, because teaching requires a special talent and a special attitude. So when people say "those who can't do, teach" they are not telling the whole story.
I am on a dance trip at the moment. I recently started going to Graham classes after a gap of many, many years because I suddenly felt I needed to brush up my technique - so here I am, practising contraction and release and the spiral. Ecstatic dancing and Five Rhythms are all fine and I love doing them but there is no technique, it is all free style. I wanted order, structure and physical challenge. Graham does it for me.
And then there are the pole dancing classes - hard work, my thighs are constantly aching. Even for that there is technique, a lot of it.
As an older dancer, I have to admit that age does matter. A lot. There is only so much my body can do. My joints are worn out. My endurance is not the same as that of a younger dancer. For physical activities such as dance and athletics, the peak comes very early on. By the time one is thirty-five the decline begins - just look at footballers.
I have two different teachers for Graham. One is a seventy-two year old former Graham dancer, the other is a young dancer from a leading conservatoire with a statuesque body and great at demonstrating, but not yet good at teaching.
I love them both. I love the demonstrations of the young dancer - they give me something to strive for even though it is without my reach - because my knees are too weak and I no longer have the stamina of a twenty year old. But I also love the patience of my frail old Graham teacher who knows how to explain the details of the technique even though she can no longer demonstrate and can get you to do the work through her use of imagery.
Getting older can improve your teaching skills. Sadly, it impairs your physical performance. I wonder whether this is also true in professions that are not as physical as dance. Does ageing affect musicians, for instance?
(All photos taken by Alicia Clarke and modelled by Alex B)
I can only speak for my own profession, music. As musicians age, they may well lose some stamina or develop physical difficulties. Pianists, for example, often develop tendinitis or carpal-tunnel syndrome from the repetitive motion. (This was not true in earlier centuries when pianos were built lighter. There is no record of any pianist from the age of Liszt, Rachmaninoff or even Horowitz suffering tendinitis or carpal-tunnel. Or maybe the training was better?) And singers, especially sopranos and tenors, definitely suffer voice-quality loss as they age; the late 50s is about the limit for operatic sopranos and tenors, although not for singers who specialize in less demanding repertoire such as lieder.
ReplyDeleteYet as they age, players, singers and conductors gain in spiritual depth as much or more as they lose in mechanical ability. Many players and conductors have kept on playing well into their eighties or even nineties. At least one famous one, composer Elliott Carter, still composes at age 103! And often, their trained reactions make up for their bodies' diminishments.
I always thought it meant something derogatory towards the teaching profession. But I'm glad you interpret it differently.
ReplyDeleteJim
Very beautiful gesture...!*
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