Upcoming Certification Workshop, Upcoming Students
In a way, certification program becomes one of the great ways to encourage students signing up for more preparation classes in advanced – in order to pass major examinations we often go to preparation classes to ensure we know everything that will be covered in examinations. Some local studios or instructors will have such customerized classes to help students review contents of certain certification programs. Or they would put an intensive preparation programs with the formal certification program/workshops as a package.
Somehow here people seemingly don’t think of maintaining their certification after they are certificated. They more likely regard it as a one-shoot action – once you are certificated, you don’t worry about anything afterwards. So we have highly targeted preparation programs and we don’t have something follow-up after we are certificated from local resources. For many who gain great inspiration and touching motivation from the master’s presence and their energy, it is so easy to forget anything they learn from an intensive workshop.
Few months ago I ran into a dancer who attended Carolena’s 2007 GS workshop at Taipei, she told me after the workshop she totally stopped ATS and now she barely remembers anything from that workshop. She had no idea about her next step after this GS certification and she began to wonder why she signed up for that workshop.
Certification Collectors
Lacking of information and knowledge on those certificate programs is probably one of the reasons people fight to sign up for certificate workshop and very few of them could stay on the track afterwards. They just heard there are foreigner teachers in town and they want to learn whatever those teachers could offer. Many dancers don’t have understanding or run background check with the certificate program they sign up. Some dancers told me that each teacher could offer something different – indeed, from with an open mindset, one could learn a lot of knowledge and techniques. It should not be misled by not knowing anything about the teacher or workshop.
Since certification is so professionally crucial for those who wish to be hired to teach bellydance at local organizations or institutions, they have to earn as many certifications as they could. So there are some dancers/instructors like “certification collectors.” They go to every certificate program as they could offer and they try to be certificated.
It is not a bad thing if you really have such budget and time for the dance you really love. However, some people are so certificate-oriented that they barely concentrate on certain things. By the end, it only causes further confusion and frustration. Eventually no one could really master everything. In particular, when you do both oriental dance and tribal bellydance at the same time, sometimes it is very difficult not to fuse them together.
As a semi-certification collector – I have GS certificate and both SSBD and JSBD level 1 certificate, I realize that I have to work on those techniques for years to be able to master at them. So it is almost impossible to have extra energy or time for more certification programs!
After Suhaila Salimpour came to Taipei this April for her first overseas certification workshop, we face this new issue – how could we maintain our certification qualification? SSSBD certification system has very restrict policy toward the validity of certification, in which encourages dancers move further toward more advanced levels as well as helps dancers maintain with their current level. Suhaila provides CEC program for her SSBD and JSBD certificated students and this year she also launches online program so those who don’t live near by her studio are able to catch up with her while maintain some CEC points. Students also realize that certification is only the beginning of further practice and more effort so they could move on toward more advanced level.
I believe that certification trend is two-fold: that program grants us certain recognition while we represent the program to others who are not familiar with it. So being certificated means to be a more committed dancer with serious interest. For me, it is also more likely the fundamental nutrition to develop personal style rather than adding few lines on my CV.
In a way, certification program becomes one of the great ways to encourage students signing up for more preparation classes in advanced – in order to pass major examinations we often go to preparation classes to ensure we know everything that will be covered in examinations. Some local studios or instructors will have such customerized classes to help students review contents of certain certification programs. Or they would put an intensive preparation programs with the formal certification program/workshops as a package.
Somehow here people seemingly don’t think of maintaining their certification after they are certificated. They more likely regard it as a one-shoot action – once you are certificated, you don’t worry about anything afterwards. So we have highly targeted preparation programs and we don’t have something follow-up after we are certificated from local resources. For many who gain great inspiration and touching motivation from the master’s presence and their energy, it is so easy to forget anything they learn from an intensive workshop.
Few months ago I ran into a dancer who attended Carolena’s 2007 GS workshop at Taipei, she told me after the workshop she totally stopped ATS and now she barely remembers anything from that workshop. She had no idea about her next step after this GS certification and she began to wonder why she signed up for that workshop.
Certification Collectors
Lacking of information and knowledge on those certificate programs is probably one of the reasons people fight to sign up for certificate workshop and very few of them could stay on the track afterwards. They just heard there are foreigner teachers in town and they want to learn whatever those teachers could offer. Many dancers don’t have understanding or run background check with the certificate program they sign up. Some dancers told me that each teacher could offer something different – indeed, from with an open mindset, one could learn a lot of knowledge and techniques. It should not be misled by not knowing anything about the teacher or workshop.
Since certification is so professionally crucial for those who wish to be hired to teach bellydance at local organizations or institutions, they have to earn as many certifications as they could. So there are some dancers/instructors like “certification collectors.” They go to every certificate program as they could offer and they try to be certificated.
It is not a bad thing if you really have such budget and time for the dance you really love. However, some people are so certificate-oriented that they barely concentrate on certain things. By the end, it only causes further confusion and frustration. Eventually no one could really master everything. In particular, when you do both oriental dance and tribal bellydance at the same time, sometimes it is very difficult not to fuse them together.
As a semi-certification collector – I have GS certificate and both SSBD and JSBD level 1 certificate, I realize that I have to work on those techniques for years to be able to master at them. So it is almost impossible to have extra energy or time for more certification programs!
After Suhaila Salimpour came to Taipei this April for her first overseas certification workshop, we face this new issue – how could we maintain our certification qualification? SSSBD certification system has very restrict policy toward the validity of certification, in which encourages dancers move further toward more advanced levels as well as helps dancers maintain with their current level. Suhaila provides CEC program for her SSBD and JSBD certificated students and this year she also launches online program so those who don’t live near by her studio are able to catch up with her while maintain some CEC points. Students also realize that certification is only the beginning of further practice and more effort so they could move on toward more advanced level.
I believe that certification trend is two-fold: that program grants us certain recognition while we represent the program to others who are not familiar with it. So being certificated means to be a more committed dancer with serious interest. For me, it is also more likely the fundamental nutrition to develop personal style rather than adding few lines on my CV.
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