So background - I have been a dancer for 30 years. Singer for 20. Teacher for 18. Degree level teaching, college, Afhea, Masters, private, group, one on one, leisure, professional, you name it. also ran my own performance troupe for a decade. still working as a tutor and director and occasional performer
Decided after a long rough period to treat myself to some raq sharqi belly dance classes, a dance I'd always fancied learning to pay homage to my middle eastern heritage (probably not relevant but something I want to honour)
Had a lovely time at classes and did a little performance too, all great, bought/made lots of gear, sharing my teacher's business all over socials too, bigging them up
This week they had a small class, and came to diaphragm exercises. I have been teaching people to use their diaphragm for over a decade, so have great control of mine and they know this.
Her usual ply is to get people to breathe to comfort, then shake their diaphragm
sometimes, we are asked to "ha ha ha", pant, or bark like a dog. in 6 months i have never barked, and only participate lightly in this. I do the exercises, but on Monday i was tired and chose to lightly opt out of animal noises.
They singled me out, in front of the other class members, stopping the class, and insisted I bark like a dog before the class continued. I said I didn't want to.
They pushed and embarrassed me, until I pushed back and said "no thankyou, I can move my diaphragm in my own way"
The rest of the class was conducted in a huff, then at the end they collared me and shouted at me that not doing that ruined the class and that i was being narcissistic.
I apologized for pushing back but explained that bodily autonomy and sensitivity to what people are comfortable with is key to teaching in general and dance specifically.
They continued to rag me about it until i walked out
AIBU to think this is poor teaching and to find another teacher, i have done, some miles away but to be pissed off that this person feels they (with no teaching quals) can then post passive aggressive Facebook statuses aimed at me about "teachers not having to be likable"
Maybe not likeable, but flexible, sensitive, adaptable, perceptive, respectful and impartial... especially when they're taking your money?
In all my years I've never singled someone out like that for a big or small reason and anyone I've known that did lost their students or got the royal sack,