Lisa Allred – Communication Skills for On and Off the Stage

Welcome to Communication Skills for On and Off the Stage. In this workshop you will learn how to communicate effectively in everyday conversations and difficult ones. After you register, you will receive an email with access to a new module every two days, This workshop was originally “live”, but we converted the format so you would have the opportunity to learn all this content we worked so hard to put together.

First, a little about us. Terri and I are both trained therapists (I am a Social Worker by day) familiar with communication skills, techniques and conflict. We are also American Tribal Style® dancers, with a history of studying and teaching other styles of belly dance including Egyptian and Tribal Fusion.

Dancers are constantly communicating on the stage. In improvisational dance, our steps are words, our cues are punctuation, and each dancer who leads the group forms sentences. Each sentence spoken by the lead dancer is woven with the sentences spoken by the next lead dancer to tell a story for the audience. Even in choreographed dance, the rules of communication are clear while on stage.

Off the stage can be a different story…

Just like on the stage, communicating off stage takes clarity, trust and courage.

In this class you will:

-explore your own communication style

-learn tools for communicating when conflict is involved

-explore tips for having a conversation when conflict is involved

-practice what to do if these strategies don’t work (e.g., handling REALLY difficult people).

For most of us, having difficult or conflictual conversations is not an easy thing to do. Preparing for conflictual conversations help make them successful. Handling conflict effectively off-the- stage can positively impact communication and performance on stage and make your class or troupe even more successful.

In this class we will focus on conflict because this is the most challenging form of communication and because these skills can be taught and learned.

This is an area where your personal improvement will positively affect any group with whom you interact. This is true because people learn through modeling. Even if you belong to a group where conflict is an issue with multiple group members, when you change, the dynamics of the entire group change as well.

Your Instructor

Course Curriculum

Communication Skills for On and Off the Stage
Course Introduction

Introduction (2:50)

Confidentiality (2:14)

Set Yourself Up for Success

A Few More Housekeeping Details

How Do You Approach Conflict?

Conflict Management Style Quiz

Killman’s Model of Conflict Styles (5:00)

Reflecting on Your Style

Tools For Communication In Conflict

Dissecting the Conversation (2:48)

Three Parts of the Conversation (3:11)

Communication in Conflict Worksheet: Introduction

What Happened? The Truth (7:49)

What Happened? The Intention

What Happened? Who is Responsible?

The “Feelings” Conversation (5:23)

The “Identity” Conversation

Having the Conversation

Step 1: Getting your head on straight (6:14)

Step 2: Use a softened start (4:12)

More Examples of a Soft Start-up

More Tips (8:43)

Difficult People

An Overview

Managing Heightened Emotions (2:14)

How to Recognize Harmful Patterns (3:47)

What to do About Defensiveness (12:43)

Wrap-up

Next Steps

Belly Dance Geek Clubhouse interview about communication

Continuing this Journey and a Special Gift