The lead that compensates for the follow?
Or the lead that need your follows to compensate for you?
Monday, 11 April 2011
Wednesday, 6 April 2011
Clown moves
Super Mario have a set of moves that are utter nonsense but damm fun.
They are used to play and make a fool of the girl :P
I didn't understand the need of such moves until recently.
Girls in my school told me they are afraid of dancing with me. And I can feel them really tense up even before we started.
Why?? Simply because I'm their teacher and they feel that they are not good enough, etc.
I can understand how this feel like. Because, I was in their shoes years ago :)
Just that I never thought.. I would be at the other side of the wall, LOL. Now these moves... they are really crazy stuff... makes people laugh and forget that they were afraid. Makes people loosen up and thus be able to dance a lot better!
Haiz... but personally I have an issue because I'm a very serious person by nature, I really can't joke and not really a fun person in general. I can play while dancing, but that's only with a few people while interpreting the music. .... sigh. (see, everybody's got some things to work on... for me, it's... the fun factor while dancing)
They are used to play and make a fool of the girl :P
I didn't understand the need of such moves until recently.
Girls in my school told me they are afraid of dancing with me. And I can feel them really tense up even before we started.
Why?? Simply because I'm their teacher and they feel that they are not good enough, etc.
I can understand how this feel like. Because, I was in their shoes years ago :)
Just that I never thought.. I would be at the other side of the wall, LOL. Now these moves... they are really crazy stuff... makes people laugh and forget that they were afraid. Makes people loosen up and thus be able to dance a lot better!
Haiz... but personally I have an issue because I'm a very serious person by nature, I really can't joke and not really a fun person in general. I can play while dancing, but that's only with a few people while interpreting the music. .... sigh. (see, everybody's got some things to work on... for me, it's... the fun factor while dancing)
Lead EARLY - Lead is transition, not the final state
If you signal EARLY your partner will have MORE TIME to react.
This will make it a lot easier to dance with you!
She'll have more time to think and maybe even add in styling!
Similarly, if you are stopping her turns, start applying the braking force EARLY so that it wont be so jarring. Thus she would feel that the dance is SMOOTH!
But how early is early??
For me, I start leading the next move as early as possible, i.e. Once I've planted her on one one foot, I'll start to shift her weight in the direction I want for the other foot!!
e..g. Once she's stepped on count 1, immediately I start the lead for her direction, etc. for count 2!
Every lead is a transition (1 to 2, 2 to 3, 3 to 4, etc.).
You are telling your partner how to move from 1 count to the other count!!
Many beginner dancers (and even teachers) mistakenly lead the move (teach the move) ON the count rather than TO the count.
e.g. for a CBLT, leading the girl to turn towards the left, should start at 5 and end at 6. It's a TRANSITION. (note that at 6, it should CONTINUE to 7 in a SMOOTH way, not a stop can continue thing)
Many beginners will lead the turn only at count 6. Which is the DESTINATION, it's too late!!
This is related to the planting technique. BRING HER THERE! Move her and change her direction starting from count 5. The lead does not stop there! Continue the guidance and STOP + PLANT her where she should step at by the time she reaches count 6! It's a continuous process! Pace the turn and the amount of force used according to the speed. Apply brake when u need to change directions.
This will make it a lot easier to dance with you!
She'll have more time to think and maybe even add in styling!
Similarly, if you are stopping her turns, start applying the braking force EARLY so that it wont be so jarring. Thus she would feel that the dance is SMOOTH!
But how early is early??
For me, I start leading the next move as early as possible, i.e. Once I've planted her on one one foot, I'll start to shift her weight in the direction I want for the other foot!!
e..g. Once she's stepped on count 1, immediately I start the lead for her direction, etc. for count 2!
Every lead is a transition (1 to 2, 2 to 3, 3 to 4, etc.).
You are telling your partner how to move from 1 count to the other count!!
Many beginner dancers (and even teachers) mistakenly lead the move (teach the move) ON the count rather than TO the count.
e.g. for a CBLT, leading the girl to turn towards the left, should start at 5 and end at 6. It's a TRANSITION. (note that at 6, it should CONTINUE to 7 in a SMOOTH way, not a stop can continue thing)
Many beginners will lead the turn only at count 6. Which is the DESTINATION, it's too late!!
This is related to the planting technique. BRING HER THERE! Move her and change her direction starting from count 5. The lead does not stop there! Continue the guidance and STOP + PLANT her where she should step at by the time she reaches count 6! It's a continuous process! Pace the turn and the amount of force used according to the speed. Apply brake when u need to change directions.
Monday, 28 February 2011
3 Laws of a good lead
1) We must always take care of the well being of our partner
2) We'll never blame our partner if anything goes wrong
3) We must remember to stay humble
2) We'll never blame our partner if anything goes wrong
3) We must remember to stay humble
Tuesday, 22 February 2011
Beyond Basics
We always ask our students to keep doing the basic class...
But there will come a point, when we will ask them to STOP doing basic. Conflicting instructions?
It might seem so, but actually there is no conflict!
The basic is still there! But it's been disguised, camouflaged!! The weight shift, the lines, the hook, the fundamental techniques, they are all there!! We just learn to hide them behind styling and other adjoining moves! Make the basic look good different. That's what advance dancers do :)
But there will come a point, when we will ask them to STOP doing basic. Conflicting instructions?
It might seem so, but actually there is no conflict!
The basic is still there! But it's been disguised, camouflaged!! The weight shift, the lines, the hook, the fundamental techniques, they are all there!! We just learn to hide them behind styling and other adjoining moves! Make the basic look good different. That's what advance dancers do :)
Wednesday, 9 February 2011
Independent Arm Movement
A move done by advanced dance and a beginner dancer can look very different. Very often, beginners and most intermediate dancers couldn't tell what made the difference....
One of the factors or tricks used by advance dancers is ... FAST independent movement of their arms.
1) When one arm of moving, KEEP the other parts of the body still
2) One when that move is completed then start on the other arm.
The impact of the above, ... makes the moves look extra sharp AND complicated. And in order to achieve it, it will often require VERY fast and accurate movement.
e.g. doing a Sombrero in rueda, it is very easy to turn the girl with both arms. But a more impressive way of doing it, is to turn with the right arm (open the girl up to face centre), then turn the left arm (close her position and turn further), then complete the move with both arms and comb.
One small change and the entire move looks different and much more impressive.
One of the factors or tricks used by advance dancers is ... FAST independent movement of their arms.
1) When one arm of moving, KEEP the other parts of the body still
2) One when that move is completed then start on the other arm.
The impact of the above, ... makes the moves look extra sharp AND complicated. And in order to achieve it, it will often require VERY fast and accurate movement.
e.g. doing a Sombrero in rueda, it is very easy to turn the girl with both arms. But a more impressive way of doing it, is to turn with the right arm (open the girl up to face centre), then turn the left arm (close her position and turn further), then complete the move with both arms and comb.
One small change and the entire move looks different and much more impressive.
Tuesday, 25 January 2011
Learn to lead .... by following
YQ managed to learn my style of leading and leeched most of my moves simply by following.
She adopted the 'best practice' based on the various leads she had danced with and took all the techniques that worked.
Similarly, she also borrowed the worst ... and use them to help train the girls how to follow. Why so? This is to train the girls NOT to depend on the lead, and let them be able to keep their balance and poise no matter how bad the lead and how they are 'thrown around'!
When your lead is 'mature' to a level, it'll help a lot to try following. You'll be able to appreciate the girl's footwork, problems, etc. better. And thus be able to help compensate for the girl even more
But this only works... if your lead is 'mature' enough not to become confused with too many other things. There are guys whose movement became really sissy when they tried following too early, etc. etc.
She adopted the 'best practice' based on the various leads she had danced with and took all the techniques that worked.
Similarly, she also borrowed the worst ... and use them to help train the girls how to follow. Why so? This is to train the girls NOT to depend on the lead, and let them be able to keep their balance and poise no matter how bad the lead and how they are 'thrown around'!
When your lead is 'mature' to a level, it'll help a lot to try following. You'll be able to appreciate the girl's footwork, problems, etc. better. And thus be able to help compensate for the girl even more
But this only works... if your lead is 'mature' enough not to become confused with too many other things. There are guys whose movement became really sissy when they tried following too early, etc. etc.
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