Dancers: what would you do?

Question

My dance coach has problems with favourites and they are not me!!

I worked my *** off last year in the middle of my busiest exam period to learn a dance for the first team in 2 weeks so that we had a complete team at the big competition when one girl was sick. The feedback I received from a large audience was that I “did a better job than half of the team who had been doing it all year”. (This means top 4 in a team of 8)

The following year I was forced to miss 3 classes as I was interstate and was placed in the second team (same team) behind the coaches less-coordinated friends where the 12th best person should be.

What would you do / think?

Answer 1

This is a problem that happens everywhere, unfortunately. Talk to your coach first. Rationalize the situation. Tell him you believe that your abilities qualify for the first team and that you will work extra hard to make up for the few days you missed (because he WILL rationalize that the girls that didn't miss the days put in 3 more days of hard work than you and deserve it too).

Talk to him about your performance and approach in the manner that you are concerned and just want to improve. Tell him that you took this as a sign that you didn't do as well as the 11 other girls (and are concerned as to where you went wrong) and tell him you'll do extra practice to catch up and prove that you deserve that spot. Also, make sure that he KNOWS why you missed... that you didn't just miss because you wanted to catch up on sleep. Maybe have your mother back you up so that he KNOWS that you were at interstate and not just anywhere.

No coach likes his decisions threatened and no coach certainly is happy when someone insinuates that he isn't being fair, but instead is playing favorites. Keep a smile on your face and take the "How can I improve?" approach. Every person likes when he/she is approached for advice or expertise. Stay positive. Don't ever mention how its not fair or that you deserve better.

That way, the only outcome that could possibly come out of it is a better spot. Even if you aren't given a higher spot, your coach will think more highly of you.

If he is COMPLETELY irrational (as some are), consider joining a different team. His favoritism isn't going to go away anytime soon and he is probably not going anywhere either. So the situation will NOT get better. If you quit the school team, the team as well as the coach might realize how much they need you. Maybe consider joining an outside competition team.

Answer 2

What I like to do when ppl are jerks is just simply prove them wrong. =)

hehe I love the satisfaction  

Answer 3

happens all the time theres nothing you realy can do becoz if you do anything it will just happen again sorry D:

Answer 4

I hate it when people place favorites. I think you should talk to your coach no matter how much you don't want to. If you talk to him like an adult, hopefully he'll treat the situation maturely. Surely if you're getting compliments that you're better than people who have been dancing longer, then you must confront your coach. It sucks that he picks favorites, and maybe he's not doing it on purpose. Talk to him, and hopefully he realizes his mistake. Good luck!

Answer 5

he sounds mean

Talk about how mean he is and people will start to talk and when he hears about it he will probably try to change

It may sound childish but it really does work