Can focus on technique hurt the dancing?

[pygmalion]

I heard a really interesting story on NPR last week about Segovia, the guitarist extraordinaire. Basically, it talked about how Segovia, while great, had technical imperfections in his playing. Modern classical guitarists are learning from Segovia's styling, while perfecting their technique. So, theoretically, they're better. The only problem is that they aren't Segovia. They don't have his style or his genius. Hmm. One listener's comment was that technique is merely a tool one uses to acquire beauty and artistry. It's not the end, but the means to that end.

Of course, I mentally connected that story to dance. :oops: :lol: So here's a question. How important is technical perfection, in competitive ballroom dance? And is it possible to be constrained by the drive for technical excellence? Or is it possible to transcend technicality with dance beauty and artistry?

[mamboqueen]

I think that everyone stives for technical perfection, but I also think it can bog you down if you're spending an inordinate amount of time stressing over it. For me, it sometimes just takes a few weeks or months for certain things to click. If I spend too much time worrying about it, I tend to develop a mental block. So instead, I surf the net for the latest martini recipes and take my mind off it for a tad.

[dave_aw]

I'd say that the problem is the narrow definition of technique that people use. I hear people saying to me that they're working on technique and it turns out they're just looking at foot position or footwork. Its like saying that ballroom hold is just where you put your hands and elbows.

Like anything else you always need to look at the bigger picture. People often forget that everything is connected together, including your facial expressions. By all means do spend time looking at feet, but then also look at knees and hips, and stretching timing for musicality, and body stretch, and head and neck position and spine alignment, finishing lines with neat hands, being grounded, connection, eye contact and focus, presentation, costume etc!

Different teachers have pet areas - one of my ballroom teachers was footwork mad but said much less about posture, a latin teacher of mine was obsessive about holding on to 1s in cha cha, but didn't say much about arms, and yet another spent the whole time talking about posture and eye focus but never feet.

Thats why, while its good to have one main teacher to keep you on track, its important to visit a few different teachers to get their view on which bits of 'technique' you also need to work on!

[Warren J. Dew]

I heard a really interesting story on NPR last week about Segovia, the guitarist extraordinaire.
Then again, there's the story about how Vladimir Horowitz appearance on the scene was a real wakeup call for Artur Rubinstein. Apparently Horowitz went through his entire New York debut without a single wrong note; Rubinstein, who had been getting sloppy, knew he had to shape up.

I suspect the problem with those more recent classical guitarists isn't their technical expertise, but the fact that they are trying to copy Segovia's style, rather than developing their own styles.

[pygmalion]

It's funny how things converge, at least in my mind. 8) That's a very good point. There's certainly nothing wrong with working toward perfect technique ... a point equally applicable to classical piano or dancesport, I guess. :D 8)

[dancin_feet]

For me yes, concentration on technique hurt my dancing while I was getting used to it. As an example, I had barely done any waltz classes before I started at my current studio, but could follow anything my instructor threw at me. As soon as he started to really focus on technique, bamm! couldn't follow his lead at all. :oops:

In the short term, yes it affected my dancing, big time. But long term, has made it much better. :D

[delamusica]

That's a good point. At first, of course, doing something different and new in terms of technique will feel akward and distracting. But in the long term, it's bound to make you much better once you get used to it enough for it to feel natural.