Action figures for learning

ticolora said:
Here is a good solution to my problem. At $27.99 you get 3 anatomically proportional figures:


I am not going to get them yet, I think I have practiced enough that I can visualize complex moves in my head. But it would be quite useful to get those a year ago.
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Oh I see. Those are kind of expensive for such a small toy. I guess I could see how it would be easier to visualize a move better with small toys. I've been struggling to nail the ESC elbow turn. That move gets me dizzy.
 
Not exactly what you asked for, but food for thought:


A simplified version would be long ski poles to shoes. Side comment: In Tango you have "cross system" where the feet move out 180 degrees out of phase, in contrast to parallel system where the leader's and follower's steps move in phase. You can't do the trick of hooking up to the toes of a mannequin to dance Tango in cross system, hence using ski poles.

DanceMentor said:
There may be a day in the not-too-distant future wear it may be difficult to recognize whether a dancer is human or robot. It could be a scary thing if robots are able to dance better than humans one day just as they are able to beat us at chess. WDBF, the World DanceBot Federation will take full control of dancesport. Enjoy it while you can. Haha
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One of my predictions is you'll rent dance robots to learn dance in the privacy of your home (or for a small additional fee your home robot will teach you). This could lead to an increase of people learning to dance. Who knows, saying "You dance like a robot" might become the ultimate compliment.
 
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In the video, the pole is needed so that the performer can dance the dummy by lifting its right foot. She can lift the dummy's left foot because she's in an embrace on that side, but needs the pole to have a connection to the dummy's right foot.
 
snapdancer said:
In the video, the pole is needed so that the performer can dance the dummy by lifting its right foot. She can lift the dummy's left foot because she's in an embrace on that side, but needs the pole to have a connection to the dummy's right foot.
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I think you have right and left swapped, but otherwise agreed. Another forum had studied this and one of the members built a mannequin like this one. They also agreed and built that one such that the right leg dangled (not completely freely, the knee had a 0 to 90 degree hinge, so it wouldn't bend backwards), and the left was directly controlled via a long ski pole.

While it makes for a great performance in the hands of an expert dancer, I don't think that mannequin would be a good teaching device. My thought was inspired by the video, but different and much simpler. Just get two long ski poles, attach them to two shoes, and nothing else, for a "partner" and try dancing steps that way.

I just grabbed two ski poles and gave it a try. I had to concentrate hard for things like weight shift and switching between parallel and cross systems -- maybe that was a good thing? The poles do limit how far you can have your "partner" dissociate. It was not as good as practicing with a living partner, but I think could be better than walking around and imagining the partner's steps (for a beginner, I think an expert can visualize the partner's steps accurately).
 
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