Brain Freeze!

[JoeCZilla]

So i'm at my private lesson last tuesday. We're working on hustle and everything is going ok. I had a rough day at work and some unexpected bills that i shouldn't even have to pay showed up that day so I wasn't in the best of moods, but I put it out of my mind to concentrate on dancing.

Anyways I'm asking her about a few moves we did in group class and some steps I've seen on a DVD i have and want clarification on and she explains them to me. I try them out, ok not to great, just need more practice. I have a hard time leading them all together well. She says, "ok, now take a few of the moves We worked on in class then do the steps you asked me about and the one I just showed you at the end. I'm like "Ok. sure.." I start with a basic and my mind went totally blank.. I mean I forgot everything. I couldn't remember anything but the basic step and that was because I was in the middle of doing it! I had to stop and say, "I'm sorry, I just forgot how to dance. I think I need a break because my brain decided to stop working". :) For like a minute it was all gone. Anyone else ever have that happen to them? I think my brain overloaded or something and was like "Ok, that's it! I quit!" :) It was pretty embarrassing... :(

[Twilight_Elena]

Brain freezes in my dancing happen when:
1) I've been dancing for several hours
2) I'm in a very bad moment in my life, psychologically
3) I'm pushing myself too hard (combine that with No2)

Twilight Elena

[JoeCZilla]

No2? That sounds like an interesting story. Is it? Dentist appointment?

[wooh]

Happens when I'm thinking too much and haven't had enough sleep. At some point the neurons between my brain and my body just say, "NO MORE!! We're too tired! STOP!!!"

[Twilight_Elena]

No2? That sounds like an interesting story. Is it? Dentist appointment?

No, dentist appointments you just dread the physical pain. I'm talking about when your heart and your soul is aching. That's No2. Coincidentally, that's right now for me.
But hey. Let's not make this into a me thread. It's about freezes.
My opinion? Dancing is not something you can do even if your dog has just died or you've gotten your house taken by evil banks. Dancing involved the mind, the body and the soul all working as one. You can dance with just the body, but you could just as well be adding and subtracting for all it's worth. Mind and soul make dancing what it is and if they're not healthy, then your dancing is not healthy.
Having said that, we (humans) often tend to push and push and push ourselves till we're out of breath and the force ourselves to keep on going with oxygen bottles. So maybe you've pushed yourself a bit too much? Perhaps. Perhaps it's trying to compromise work/school/parents/family/kids/girlfriend with dancing and you constantly feel like you're juggling 10 balls with just your two hands and a foot. Perhaps many things have happened in your personal life and they've added up to that point when you realise they have indeed been adding up, and you get freezes like this one. For me, if I have an issue with anything at all in my life and it's unresolved I will feel the frustration and/or the pain in my dancing. It's like a Geiger metre in many ways.

Twilight Elena

[waltzgirl]

Happens to me all too frequently. I usually forget something so basic I can't believe it. Last night, in waltz, we went in to promenade. Something was wrong. My pro stopped and started the step again. Again, something was wrong. He started laughing and said, "You are going to be so embarrasssed when I tell you. You have to turn your head!" After how many thousands of promenades, how could I forget to turn my head? And worse, not even realize I had forgotten. Granted, it's usually when I am concentrating hard on some new element of technique that some basic part seems to fall out of my brain. But it makes me feel like a total idiot when it happens.