theorywatch

In the otherwise uninspired 1985 film version of A Chorus Line (a wonderful musical when seen on stage), there’s a pretty good moment in which Michael Douglas as the director doing the casting yells at one auditioning dancer: “Don’t dance!” The girl’s face as she hears this shouted order and gradually comes to a stop as the other dancers onstage step away from her is probably what I remember best about the whole three-hour movie.

What brought this to mind right now is the analogy between what “the director” and what “the instructor” presumably want: order and organization in the controlled learning environment (onstage and/or online). People following a set routine of instruction, sharing a more or less common background, and a particular vision of the way the ultimate product (the production or the class) should look like. Have to have some, otherwise it’s chaotic. People expect things to be a certain way, especially if they’re used to it from many previous classes. (”What’s on the syllabus?”) And people feel more or less entitled to learn what they expect to learn in a class, and rightfully so.

Problem is, often the best “stuff” in a class is unchoreographed. You don’t notice so much in a face-to-face class, but the expectations for imposed “order” and “organization” are so very high online. How to pull it off without losing your most interesting “dancers” (even if they don’t fit right into your current chorus line?)

Hmmm….. let’s dance!

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