All about the "Social" part of Dancing
Do you consider yourself an open person when it comes to hearing about what you can improve? Funnily enough, most of us do consider ourselves open to feedback. Yet, from external experience, we know that there are quite a few dancers who do not take feedback well. This means that there are some dancers who consider themselves quite open to feedback – but who actually take feedback relatively poorly.
Partner dances, by definition, involve two people. They require connection and lead/follow. To become a great partner dancer, you must practice with partners and on a social dance floor. But, the need for partnered practice does not negate the need for solo dance practice.
Workshops and classes are one of the building blocks of the dance community. They’re what allow us to grow, learn, and be exposed to new concepts most effectively. They support new generations of dancers, and hone the tools of more experienced dancers. But, it’s also important to make sure that we’re using workshops and classes effectively. This is both in terms of what *we* take out of the workshop – and what we can do to help others who are learning in the same class.
Have you ever written an essay? Maybe in high school, university, or college? I have. I have never gotten 100% on an essay. I did get a 95% once in the 8 years of post-secondary schooling that I’ve done. Once. On a topic I loved. It never happened again. I am pretty sure you didn’t automatically assume that I am a poor student or writer. This is probably because it seems reasonable to you that I’ve never had a ‘perfect’ score on an essay. Even if I got 75% regularly, you probably would still think I was a pretty O.K. student.
Mindful Practice: the art of practicing while consistently mentally present. In the context of mindfully practicing your dance, it means practicing every movement with mental presence. Mindful practice is a skill that is both critical to becoming a great dancer, and yet one of the most under-used processes.
I’ve talked a lot in my blog about ‘connection’. It is such an integral part of dance, but very hard to understand for a large amount of people. In my experience with students, they often fall into two categories: The ones who already understand these things – naturally or through education; and, The ones who don’t.
Last week, I wrote an article on why following is frequently underrated as a skill in the social dance scene. This week, I want to follow up on exactly what I mean by teaching follows how to follow in classroom settings, as well as the things I think need to change in order to teach this. This is my personal opinion on the matter, and I’d love to hear from others what they have found worked or didn’t work in their own dance history in the comments below.
I’ve gotten a few questions recently about a past article. Most of them centered around this general concept: “I just don’t want to take more classes. I know I’m not fantastic, but I enjoy learning patterns more than technique and just want to dance socially. What’s wrong with that?” I never advocate everyone needing to aim to be an advanced dancer – and I’ve said so before. If someone just want to learn basic patterns and have a nice social time, all the power to them! That’s great!
So you’re a dancer, and you want to keep improving. You’ve taken all the levels offered by your local studio, and aren’t sure where to go from there. You’re contemplating cross-training in another genre, but really aren’t sure where to start.
A while back, I wrote an article on getting the most out of your dance education. However, I figured that greater depth was needed on one point: picking a dance teacher.
Goal setting in any field is extremely important for progression and growth. Dance is no different. However, a lot of people tend to make the mistake of having only one overarching goal. One of the most valuable skills to learn in dance is how to develop different ‘tiers’ of goals. These different tiers work in a few ways:
We all know at least one dancer who either looks better than they feel, or vice versa. What do we mean by ‘looking’ good vs. ‘feeling’ good? Feeling good is a connection skill based on how you are able to understand and respond to your partner in a co-operative way. The basis for feeling good is found in respect and understanding of your partner’s movement in relation to your own movement. It is an internally directed skill.
I’ve met countless people who believe that they can learn a dance by only going out and social dancing. I used to be one of them. Luckily, I was never of the “I watch YouTube and now I get it!” school, but I was of the “Well, I’m mostly a follow and I think I can pick this well enough on the social floor!”
Rhythm and Musicality: the cornerstones of almost every dance style in existence. We put so much emphasis on being ‘On Time’, of ‘Hitting the Break’, ‘Feeling the Music’ and of ‘Expressing the Song’.
I’d estimate most great dancers are, at a max, 1/10th natural talent. The ones who are generation-defining probably max out at about 1/4th natural talent. Of course, that’s just my opinion, but I’m guessing many would agree with me.