The Dulaine Method

 

The Dulaine Method can be compared to two of the most thorough and successful educational methods that help children acquire skills they need to become successful adults: The Montessori Method and the Suzuki Method. Dancing Classrooms possesses the same ingredients that make the Montessori and Suzuki method successful: a clear and compelling philosophy with a rigorous and systematic training model that dramatically coincides with the developmental need within 10-11 year old children to reinforce their social skills just prior to the onset of puberty. And Dancing Classrooms is now being replicated throughout the US and Canada with requests from several international sites.

 

The Dulaine teaching philosophy is one of inside out versus outside in. It is not just about teaching dance, it’s about teaching pride, confidence and respect. We take the dance that is inherent in students’ bodies and help them to bring it out, not force it in, enabling students to increase their self-esteem as they learn.

 

During the summer of 2007, twenty-five Dancing Classrooms Teaching Artists (representing four different Dancing Classrooms sites) who had been trained by Pierre Dulaine completed a survey covering a range of questions related to the program philosophy, content, training techniques, group management skills, and even the words and phrases utilized by Pierre as he teaches Dancing Classrooms.

The collective responses of the survey participants were strikingly uniform in outlining precisely how and what Pierre teaches.

And, as one Teaching Artist stated at the end of his survey:

"Dancing Classrooms is not about teaching ballroom dancing. The dance is a tool for getting the children to break down social barriers, learn about honor and respect, treat others carefully, improve self-confidence, communicate and cooperate, and accept others even if they are different."

 

Whether you observe Pierre teaching adults how to teach Dancing Classrooms or you watch him with a room full of children, there are 6 components that he weaves throughout every action:

 

1. Respect & Compassion

2. Being Present

3. Creating a Safe Place

4. Command & Control

5. Language: Body & Verbal

6. Humor & Joy

 

Yvonne Marceau (Pierre’s dancing and business partner for more than 30 years) says of Pierre and his Dulaine Method:

  • It is a psychological endeavor more than a physical one.  He knows exactly where he’s going and is adaptable in his means to get there, but there’s no escaping getting there.
  • The process is logical.  Each step is built on the previous one, so there’s no randomness to it (this generally doesn’t exist too much in ballroom except for the chain schools----Pierre learned a lot from the Arthur Murray system). In that sense, he has one of the most structural minds I’ve ever met. There is no static, there is no wandering.  All is very very clear, both within his own head and in the way it is expressed.
  • He is always thinking several steps ahead of himself—when he’s teaching one step, his mind is already on to the next one (or two!)
  • The voice matters a great deal.  It conveys several positive messages at the same time:  authority, warmth, humor, care, openness.
  • It is a performance.  He’s acutely aware of the crowd and how to pace.
  • He is confident so he can be outside of himself.  He’s not thinking about the step (he profoundly understands his material) but is reading signs from the students and adjusting the presentation to suit the audiences needs.  Of course, this is done within the parameters he has set up.
  • He’s not afraid of appearing “foolish”.