Steve Crain coordinates the health science wellness and physical education department. He has worked here for about 18 years. Before he came here, he worked on his doctoral degree at a university. Something that stands out with this teacher is he competes in dance competitions.
Where did you work before you came here?
I was working on my doctoral degree at a university.
What did you want to do when you were little?
Grow up.
What made you want to be a physical education Instructor?
There’s a lot of stuff I’m bad at but I’m a really good teacher, so I wanted to teach. It’s fun to teach things I like doing.
What are your goals for the future?
To go to Italy and ride the Italian Alps around Lake Komo.
What do you do during your free time?
I dance and teach Argentine Tango and Salsa.
What got you into Dance?
A girl I was dating in college wanted to take a Ballroom Dance Class and I didn’t want to but she talked me into it. Turned out I was good at it so I kept doing it and she quit.
What’s a dance competition like?
There are different types of dance competitions. Generally speaking a competition is judged in some capacity by a panel of judges or one judge that looks at technique and connecting with the music and partner.
Do you know your dancing partner?
I have several partners that I dance with. I usually meet them, and we dance more and if we’re on the same page and we connect well and we speak the same language (dance) and our styles meld well then they maybe become my partner.
How does it feel when you’re dancing?
It’s really fun because Argentine Tango is different than every other form of dance. I’ve taught Salsa for nine years and I know at least 1,000 steps in Salsa, but in Argentine Tango there are only maybe a dozen steps. In almost every other form of dance, you learn a bunch of steps and your partner learns a bunch of steps and you script it and then you perform a routine. In Argentine Tango you’re not supposed to do that. Good argentine dancers would never do that. They listen to the music in different rhythms that are in the music and they create and improvise something brand new every time they dance. Then, they invite their partner to create a response to what I created. All of that is controlled by the rhythm in the music. Instead of a script, it’s a conversation. It’s complex and difficult but fun at the same time.
Is dancing a good form of exercise?
Yeah it’s great exercise. If you dance at a Tango Event you might dance for four or five hours straight. So it’s good cardiovascular exercise.
What would you do if you retire?
Same things I’m doing now.
What does a grade represent to you (for example; attendance, comprehension, memorization)?
It’s more about students’ comprehension and learning.
If you could change/improve one part of your curriculum what would it be?
I would make more classes available to students. Because of the economy, there are fewer classes.
What do students do that bugs you the most?
When they talk and interrupt the process in class and disrupt the function of class.
What makes your course different than the other professors that teach it?
I’m very interactive in the classroom. I want students to ask questions about the material I just don’t want them talking about other stuff that has nothing to do with the class. I’m really good at creating metaphors and analogy’s, so they understand complex structures by painting pictures in their mind.
How do you feel about teaching at a community college instead of a university?
This is where I wanted to go. I could have taught at a university with my doctoral degree, but universities generally have gigantic huge classes with 200 and 300 students in it and the teaching frankly is poor, most of the time. Since universities hire people who are good researchers and people who are getting grants and publishing research they are usually not good teachers. Usually that kind of person is not a good teacher. So I started looking at teaching at universities and then realized they didn’t care if I was a good teacher. And I’d rather teach than do research. So I wanted to come to a community college rather than a university because it’s more about teaching and learning than it is research and publication.
What do you like most about working at Pierce?
I like the people I work with and I like that fact that it’s in the Northwest.