dancing in your head

[elisedance]

Do you virtual dance? That is, do you go over your technique, steps or routines - or even mental preparation for comps - in your head and if so does it make any difference?

If you watch skiers at the beginning of downhill-slaloms they have their eyes closed and girate from side to side 'ideating' the course that they are about to ski. Is this a way to practice even when you are sitting at your desk :cool: ?

[Peaches]

If what you're talking about is comparable to chair dancing or dancing in one's car, then absolutely. I don't think I could think about AT and just sit still. I don't actually go over routines (unheard of!), and rarely do I think about technique. I just listen to the music and think about how I'd want to move to it, what steps I'd like, what I'd pull out of the music to emphasize in the dancing, how I'd go about doing that. I "feel" some of my favorite sequences in time to the music.

[bordertangoman]

Do you virtual dance? That is, do you go over your technique, steps or routines - or even mental preparation for comps - in your head and if so does it make any difference?

If you watch skiers at the beginning of downhill-slaloms they have their eyes closed and girate from side to side 'ideating' the course that they are about to ski. Is this a way to practice even when you are sitting at your desk :cool: ?

I think "scientists" have established that if you do something in your head your muscles retain a memory of it and so its the next best thing to practice. Also because if you do this before you go to sleep your absorption of it is also improve;

so I think about tango moves before I go to sleep.

[skwiggy]

I read about a study on the power of imagery while I was in college.

They had 2 groups taking basketball free throw shots. They had them try some number of times, and measured their percentage of successful shots. Then they had one group practice for real, and the other group practiced imagining themselves making the shots. Then they had another trial and measured percentages. They found that the amount of improvement in the 2 groups was virtually identical.

[LucyDiamond]

I practice in my head all the time. I find it VERY helpful.

[Peaches]

I read about a study on the power of imagery while I was in college.

They had 2 groups taking basketball free throw shots. They had them try some number of times, and measured their percentage of successful shots. Then they had one group practice for real, and the other group practiced imagining themselves making the shots. Then they had another trial and measured percentages. They found that the amount of improvement in the 2 groups was virtually identical.Heh. I remember reading about that study, too.

[bordertangoman]

I often have the feeling that E-D is dancing on my head

[bordertangoman]

http://www.newenglandconservatory.edu/studentLife/documents/PracticingandCurrentBrainResearchbyGebrian.pdf

this is about musicians and sleep but may have implications for dancers

"This doesn’t mean, of course, that if you don’t practice, you’ll get better just by sleeping. But it does mean that you shouldn’t underestimate the importance of sleep in learning, especially when it’s brand new. Knowing this can help you use your practice time much more efficiently. Say, for instance, you have a lot of music to learn for orchestra and not a lot of time to practice it. You will be much better off practicing your orchestra music for 15 minutes a day until the concert, rather than “wood-shedding” the day before the concert. Why? Because you’ll have all those nights of sleep for your brain to process the new music. So ultimately, you’ll be able to play the music better with fewer hours of actual practice."

[elisedance]

I often have the feeling that E-D is dancing on my head

Heh! He still thinks its just 'a feeling' ~~~hehehe:cool:

[elisedance]

http://www.newenglandconservatory.edu/studentLife/documents/PracticingandCurrentBrainResearchbyGebrian.pdf"This doesn’t mean, of course, that if you don’t practice, you’ll get better just by sleeping. But it does mean that you shouldn’t underestimate the importance of sleep in learning, especially when it’s brand new. Knowing this can help you use your practice time much more efficiently. Say, for instance, you have a lot of music to learn for orchestra and not a lot of time to practice it. You will be much better off practicing your orchestra music for 15 minutes a day until the concert, rather than “wood-shedding” the day before the concert. Why? Because you’ll have all those nights of sleep for your brain to process the new music. So ultimately, you’ll be able to play the music better with fewer hours of actual practice."

Oh dear. The amount I sleep I won't learn anything at all!

[nucat78]

I don't think I've ever practiced solely in my mind - I move my feet at least a bit while thinking about the steps. Although I only *think* about things like an oversway while on the train for example - don't want to freak fellow riders out.

I'll try some visualization only and see how it goes.

[elisedance]

Thats an important point - moving your limbs without actually dancing - while ideating. I wonder if it works better? I think I will try that - next lecture I attend, they will all think I've got a rare chorea or somat...

[Joy In Motion]

If what you're talking about is comparable to chair dancing or dancing in one's car, then absolutely. I don't think I could think about AT and just sit still. I don't actually go over routines (unheard of!), and rarely do I think about technique. I just listen to the music and think about how I'd want to move to it, what steps I'd like, what I'd pull out of the music to emphasize in the dancing, how I'd go about doing that. I "feel" some of my favorite sequences in time to the music.

I do the exact same thing and have done so ever since I was little. I do not compete, so I don't practice routines, but I always imagine how I would dance to a particular song and imagine how it would feel - such a wonderful experience!

Does anyone else have this problem? Whenever I am in my car with another person listening to awesome dance music - salsa, bachata, Argentine tango, whatever - I am so engrossed in the music and imagining how I would dance to it that I get annoyed when my car companion(s) start talking and interrupt my "dance." With other types of music that I like - oldies, R&B, etc. - I usually don't mind, but my Latin music is never background music; it is always DANCE music, whether in my body or in my head. I think I have a problem.

[Peaches]

I do the exact same thing and have done so ever since I was little. I do not compete, so I don't practice routines, but I always imagine how I would dance to a particular song and imagine how it would feel - such a wonderful experience!

Does anyone else have this problem? Whenever I am in my car with another person listening to awesome dance music - salsa, bachata, Argentine tango, whatever - I am so engrossed in the music and imagining how I would dance to it that I get annoyed when my car companion(s) start talking and interrupt my "dance." With other types of music that I like - oldies, R&B, etc. - I usually don't mind, but my Latin music is never background music; it is always DANCE music, whether in my body or in my head. I think I have a problem.I generally only get that engrossed with AT music (traditional, electronic, or alternative...doesn't matter, so long as I think of it as AT music). Other dance stuff is fun, and I'll move to it, but I don't get to the annoyed level. So, generally, I only listen to my AT music when I'm in my car by myself. Which is just as well, really, since I think it drives everyone else nuts.

I find, though, that I really need to set the cruise control if I've got great AT music blaring...I tend to lose track of my speed, and it tends to vary with the energy of the music.

[fire_dancer]

I often practice in my head, usually while moving my feet just a tiny bit so the muscles get used to knowing which foot is activated when. My mom is a teacher, and always used to tell me the study they did with basketball players a few years ago.

They divided a basketball team into 3 groups - one group practiced free throws for an hour a day, for one week. Another group sat on the benches and visualized throwing free throws for that same amount of time. And the third group didn't practice either.

At the end of the week, they found the group that visualized free throws had improved almost the same amount as the group that had actually thrown them! (The group that did nothing had no improvement).

If it works for free throws.... I'm at least giving it a shot for foxtrot! :)

[elisedance]

I read about a study on the power of imagery while I was in college.

They had 2 groups taking basketball free throw shots. They had them try some number of times, and measured their percentage of successful shots. Then they had one group practice for real, and the other group practiced imagining themselves making the shots. Then they had another trial and measured percentages. They found that the amount of improvement in the 2 groups was virtually identical.

So they proved the average basketball player has no imagination, n'est pas? :rolleyes:

[bordertangoman]

So they proved the average basketball player has no imagination, n'est pas? :rolleyes:

maybe they were thinking about dancing instead!

[Gorme]

I go over things I learn in lesson alot in my head. I don't listen to any music or move around. It just sits in my brain stewing. By the next week, I found that it becomes a little more clear on what I have to do. It doesn't replace practicing, but it does allow me to go from dumbfounded to slightly confused.

Dreaming about dancing is different. I'm off in fantasy land doing things I cannot accomplish in the waking world.

[reb]

I've enjoyed Tai Chi, self-hypnosis, and neurolinguistic programming (but I'm an amateur there too, so I'm not claiming anything . . . !).

so for me, these aspects are part and parcel of life

Visualization as a tool in dance can be what one makes of it, particularly when work takes you far away - on a plane, I can close my eyes and enjoy dance . . .
:banana:

PS - this is not dreaming, dancing in one's chair, thinking, etc. hard to explain - that's why I wouldn't expect different results in that basketball study - telling someone to visualize something and expecting them to just be able to do it or get something out of it doesn't make sense. Its something that takes study all its own - and then apllication.

[fire_dancer]

If you can visualize, it also makes boring meetings go faster at work!

Boss: *drones on*
Me: *closes eyes and mentally starts her waltz steps.....*

[wooh]

It's my chief way of learning choreography, staring at my written routine, visualizing it while listening to the music. That way I know where something goes with the music, even if I can't quite physically do it yet. My problem is I need to start physically practicing more than I imagine practicing. Because as great as visualization is, those basketball players that visualized only improved ALMOST as well as the ones actually doing the free throws.:)

[Stagekat]

I dance in my head all the time... even while I'm actually dancing... because I am a very visual person in general I have to see myself executing the steps in my head before I can actually do them, and while I'm actually dancing I visualize what's happening so I can remember it for practicing later.

[elisedance]

Boss: *drones on*
Me: *closes eyes and mentally starts her waltz steps.....*

love it! just don't by accident step on his shoe...

[Gorme]

love it! just don't by accident step on his shoe...

Or start humming the music. Or swaying side to side.

[elisedance]

Or start humming the music. Or swaying side to side.

Somehow I think those would work just fine - but maybe not in the way one might want...........

[Chiron]

I'm a fan of practicing in my head. It's how I got down one of my last routines. If I can't do it mentally, there is no chance of doing it physically.

[danceronice]

I think about things like stretching through the body all the time. And I'm often choreographing in my head.

[elisedance]

since I started this thread I've been dancing in my head eversince. And whats more amazing is playing the violin and head-dancing at the same time. talk about mind blowing...

[ThisIsNotMe]

I head-dance a lot. Last year, when I spent hours on the bus every day, to and from school, i listened to music, and practiced in my head. When I'm driving, I dance in my head (though I don't advocate this on winding country roads - nearly ran off one the other day, concentrating on dancing more than the road, accidentally)....when I'm at work and supposed to be working but am completely bored, I dance in my head. It's a good pastime, as well as good for practicing, it seems.

[MissBallroomBear]

Couldn't agree with you more, TINM. Have had some of my best dances while sitting through a boring maths lesson. Of course, this came back to bite me in the butt later but I certainly pick up new choreography a lot faster while doing this.

[elisedance]

I think a variant of head dancing is watching other dancers on videos. When I see one I really like I try to transfer myself into them so that they are dancing me. Surely that does something!

[bordertangoman]

I think a variant of head dancing is watching other dancers on videos. When I see one I really like I try to transfer myself into them so that they are dancing me. Surely that does something!

Absolutely; I like watching Homer Ladas ( despite the hat) on youtube with his didactic videos and thinking yeah I could do that.(with some practice and once I figure out HOW to do it)