Has a dance instructor ever used this method?

This question is directed at anyone who has ever taken dance lessons.When I was very young,my parents required that I do just that.The class was co-ed and made-up of kids my own age.We were considered "Introductory novice level "students-which was just a fancy way of saying that we all never danced before and were really bad at it!The teacher was a 50 year old woman and was very nice.For the first few weeks,she required that we all danced barefoot so that,using her words,"we would not have our progress discouraged by crushed toes!"Have you ever had your dance teacher do something similar?