Top 3 Tap Teacher Questions of the 2020 Year

Published on December 17th 2020 by Hillary-Marie

The Lost in the Shuffle Tap Dance Podcast has over 25,000 downloads!

At the end of each year, I love to go back through Lost in the Shuffle Tap Dance Podcast episodes and see which episodes were most popular. I think there’s so much insight in this, and looking back at this information allows me to serve you better as Tap Teachers, because I get a feel for what matters to you the most these days. 

As we come to the end of this crazy 2020 year, here are the Top 3 Episodes of the year. 

#3 New Series “Tap Teacher Questions Answered”

This is a new series I created in the podcast at the start of the new 2020 year and it’s been super popular. In these episodes, I take some of the questions that iTap Teachers bring up the most during our iTap Chats and in the iTapOnline™ Community, and I talk about them here on the podcast. These questions are a reflection of the type of support that Tap Teachers need the most right now. This is part of why I love the twice-a-month iTap Chats that I do with iTapOnline™ Members because it allows me to support them in their tap classes on a regular basis. They can come to me with their questions and know that they’ll get the answers they need to teach an awesome class that week.

#2 Episode 057, “Which Tap Steps Do Your Students Struggle With Most?”

In this episode, I asked over 2000 Tap Teachers and Students which tap steps they struggle with the most, and then I share my tips and tricks on how to best approach and teach these steps in class. Answers included Waltz Clogs, Tiemsteps, Shuffles, Flaps, Maxifords, and more. This is also what inspired me to create my Tap Dance 101 course that I launched last month.  My Tap Dance 101 Course  is a quick review of basic fundamental tap dance vocabulary with some additional technique exercises and fun phrases. Tap Dance 101 is great for students who need a refresher after just getting back into tap dance, and for teachers who are seeking clarity on tap dance terminology and ways to introduce their students to this vocabulary. All iTapOnline™ Members have access to this course in the iTapOnline™ Member Center.

#1 Episode 062, “Should You Teach For FREE”

And if that’s not a sign of these crazy COVID times, then I don’t know what is.

This episode was inspired by an iTap Chat that I did fresh off of quarantine closures. An iTapOnline™ Member asked for advice because they had been asked to teach for free, and I was pretty shocked because I hadn’t heard that this was happening in the dance community at that time. These were dance teachers with long-standing weekly studio gigs, and they had been asked to teach their classes for free for the benefit of the studio getting through COVID. 

And so I asked everyone on the call, if they too had been asked to teach for free, and the chat started rolling with so, many, “yeses”. In this episode I talk about whether or not you should teach for free, and some questions you can ask yourself to help you make the decision that’s right for you.

So there you have it! The top 3 most popular episodes of 2020 include:

Episode 062 Should You Teach for FREE?

Episode 057 Which Steps do Your Students Struggle with Most?

And last but not least, my Tap Teacher Questions Answered series

Which was your favorite episode of the year? I’d love to know!

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