How Are Your Lessons Going? Thread 3

had a few extra lessons this week and joined secret pro's group class for her youths. I was the old lady in the class lol. It was a good time though, and i know lessons will be limited with holidays and other events coming up, so glad i could take advantage.

Secret pro and pro are going to ny dance camp next feburary, and they are inviting students! not gonna lie, i didn't know pro-am students did the camp. I always wanted to go, they seemed so amazing to attend. so now to pick who i'd like coachings with (and backups, as they may already be full). exciting to have this chance!
 
Fun lessons getting ready for showcase. I'm a bit of a hot mess..... But at the end of my lesson I decreed myself at "Level 2". Of course, then I had to define levels:

Level 0: absolutely, positively no way I ever get through the routine without stopping absolutely, totally completely. (Halt... throw up arms in frustration... yada, yada....)

Level 1: Even though I'm pretty well screwing everything up and off time from measure 2 through the end, I can start and end without stopping.

Level 2: Plenty of screw-ups at various times, I get back to the routine from to time, and finish.

Obviously, Level 2 is not a true Performance level. But... well... it might end up being that. 'Cuz the show case is Saturday.

I'm trying to figure out why something this hard to do well and sort of frustrating is fun. But it is.

.....
On another aspect: One of the teachers who heads on of the studios involved in a show case saw us get ready to practice and said, "Two teacher showcase?!" I said, "Yeah!" and she said something "Oh gosh. And actual show routine showcase!" think we might be the only student with two teachers in their showcase.

And of course, this is to throw shade on other showcases. But the many of them (and this includes all my past ones) are teacher and student picking music, tweaking a competition routine with a new finish and end and wearing a costume. Ours is an attempt at something "more broadway/vaudeville". (It might be bad broadway.... but still... )

As we previously discussed feathers in another thread, I know you are all wondering about this. Yes, my costume has feathers. Also: one of the batches of feathers definitely "blobbifies" (sort of on purpose).

Another teacher said the choreo was really cute and asked who did it. I told them new young pro and old young pro worked it out together.

(There are a lot of teachers around because this is an independent studio. So they rent space.)
 
Lessons have continued to build towards a studio show. The process leading up to this show has taught me a few things. I have learned the amount of lesson time I require to learn new things and feel comfortable with them. Practice is helpful, but a poor replacement for lesson time. I have discovered how thin I can spread my time and perhaps should avoid doing that in the future; I have certainly over committed my time to too many areas and this has not been aided by unforeseen circumstances altering timelines.

The tone of the actual lessons have improved lately after a conversation I had with my instructor about various things that have been bothering me with our lessons. Most of the lessons have been spent working on ChaCha or Foxtrot. Occasionally, Tango may find its way into the mix, but it has been much less. ChaCha has been, in my mind, inconsistent with its execution. We have worked on some technique with making the movements more crisp and I have made attempts at incorporating some hip/body action we have been doing in a group class into it. Sometimes it is passable, other times it is a mess. It would be more helpful to consistently incorporate these aspects into all lessons.

The Foxtrot we have been doing has at least made Foxtrot more enjoyable to dance. For reasons unknown to me, my instructor is on a kick of putting us into shadow position in several dances lately. I am unfamiliar with executing it and getting into shadow positions have been very frustrating to me. It is part of the learning process, but it can be mind numbing at times.

I continue to be beat with the timing stick. Every time I think I make progress in it, I seem to take 400 steps backward. At this point I am going to attribute some of these struggles to the instruction (85% on me / 15% the instruction). My analyzing of the struggles is maintaining timing through different patterns. I know I have a tendency to speed things up or just lose the beat.

Looking back on my dancing through this year, I feel I was making some progress through about May or June. After that I feel there has been a GIANT stagnation. That time frame coincides with cutting back in lessons over the Summer months and being on a roller coaster pattern of lesson consistency since then. I plan on using the remainder of this year to reflect on where I am in my own dancing. I intend to define/refine some of my own priorities within dance and what are some goals I have.
 
At lessons today I had 1 hour with each Pro. We didn’t break things out between Lead and Follow. Instead, we just focused on how to use the spirals in my body in conjunction with the extension of my head. Timing the “wrapping” and “unwrapping” of the spirals in transitions between linear and rotational movements, and checking actions.

If I can manage to coordinate those things, maybe I’d see some improvement in my shaping.
 
Hi everyone! I’ve been lurking here for a couple months - started group classes Argentine Tango in March and added classes for Rhythm and Smooth in June. I started private lessons in September. I took a few ballroom classes in college so it wasn’t 100% new to me, but I wanted to be sure this was an activity I was going to stick with before I jumped into private lessons ($$$$).

Had a really good lesson last night working rumba and waltz routines. I’m finally making improvements on my posture and shaping (whoo!)
 
Practice paid off. I'd say I achieved level 2.5. Did major stuff right, was more hesitant than I should be. (Brain still on "what's next? resulting in hesitations.) But actually VERY happy with outcome.

We do plan to do it again at some NDCA competition. We need to get it up to level 3.0. That's going to be hard since we will ALSO be working on smooth and rhythm routines.
 
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