Belly dance does not discriminate. Your size, shape, ethnicity, religion, gender and sexuality doesn't matter. What also doesn't matter is your ability learn in certain ways. You don't need a specific skill set to learn to dance. You don't need to be a "fast learner" or academic to be able to learn anything. You just have to find how you learn best. Dance teachers need to be aware that everyone has a capacity for learning, but how we learn is different from person to person.
There are 3 ways of learning: visual, auditory and kinaesthetic.
Visual learning is the ability to learn by watching someone, looking at images and even reading.
Auditory learning is taking in information by listening and speaking.
Kinaesthetic learning takes place when physical activities are carried out.
We all learn new information and skills utilising all of these learning strategies, but some methods work better for us than others. Just as some people are right hand dominant and others are left, so each person as a dominant learning fashion. For example, I underwent a series of testing while I was teaching at a high school to determine all sorts of dominances and personality types. I learnt that I am right-eyed, left-eared, right handed, right footed and visual learning is my strongest way of learning. This was closely followed by audio and then a few points down, kinaesthetic. This means (in a simplified way) I'm more likely to remember something I saw, rather than heard or did.
When we teach, we need to cater for every learning dominance. This means showing, explaining and making them do what it is you wish them to learn.
I will use teaching the Karsilama rhythm as an example. Learning a 9/8 rhythm can be very challenging for some. In order to help our students it's best to incorporate the 3 different learning groups at the same time.
Visual: There are 2 ways in which I do this. Firstly, have them watch you clap out the rhythm or do the basic Karsilama steps. Secondly, giving them a cheat sheet with the rhythm written down in various forms. By following the visual aid while listening the music, the visual student should have a easier time getting to know the rhythm. Here is the table I give when first teaching the rhythm
Auditory: This is seemingly the most obvious ... listen to the music. However I've found that using a mnemonic phrase works very well. As you can see in the visual table, we use "apple, apple, apple, pineapple" to start counting the rhythm. When I first learnt Chochek 9/8, the teacher would count "1 - 2 - 3 - 4 5" and I could not grasp the rhythm at all despite having extensive musical training. Then I did a workshop with Paola Blanton who taught us the apples and pineapple phrase. Boom! It clicked. Now whenever I buy apples or a pineapple I've got Karsilama music stuck in my head. The point is giving the auditory learner a phrase to say while they are dancing will be more useful than physically showing them or making them do it.
Kinaesthetic: Have the whole class clap out the rhythm and then teach them the basic "hop step" so they are having to physically move both their hands and their feet (they don't have to clap and dance at the same time unless they find it easier to learn). Ultimately everyone will have to be able to dance to it, but some learners will only be able to grasp the rhythm whilst physically dancing it.
Mixing it all together: Every time we learn a new rhythm, move, choreography etc... we have 3 different elements going at once. A teacher is dancing in front, the teacher is talking (or in my case sometimes singing) the moves or rhythms, and the students are also dancing. When teaching the Karsilama rhythm I will give a visual focal point in myself, I will be singing "apple, apple, apple, pineapple", and everyone will either be clapping or doing the basic "hop step". This incorporates all three learning methods in one.
Keeping all of these elements going through class can be tiring and difficult at first. I found having to talk, watch my students and do at the same time to be quite a challenge. However, as with everything, practice makes you better and now (other than still not knowing my left from right) it's second nature for me. My students tell me they can still here me singing in their heads while they are practicing.