How Are Your Lessons Going? Thread 3

Warren J. Dew said:
This seems at least sligthly controversial, as one (former world champion) visiting coach has told my wife and me to rotate around a common center instead of passing each other.
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Yes, these are not exclusive ideas.

Rotating around a translating common center is (almost) geometrically identical to one partner passing another while maintaining consistent contact. It's mostly just a different way of conceptualizing the movement.

Different folks respond better to different framings of a concept. It's good to have a variety of ways to describe the same thing. Inside/outside, translating common center, passer and passee, anchor and mover...all of them work. That coach gave you the one you needed at the time.
 
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Warren J. Dew said:
rotate around a common center instead of passing each other
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That’s exactly how I’ve always visualized it! Which is why “inside” and “outside” didn’t (don’t) make sense to me. Until it sinks in - assuming someday it will - thinking of it as backwards=inside and forwards=outside is the best I can do for now.

And it was a lot of fun applying that while we did L and R turns in VW all around the dance floor, shouting “inside! Outside! Inside! Outside!” each time as we took turns.

No wonder observers describe us as “animated,” lol.
 
Instead of inside/outside, I personally find it more useful to think of who is the driver.

Also this gets even more tricky when you're in shadow position. But what really helped me remember, was when I thoroughly stepped on my Pro's toe, when he was the one who was suppose to be the driver and I took too big a step.
 
joy said:
Instead of inside/outside, I personally find it more useful to think of who is the driver.

Also this gets even more tricky when you're in shadow position. But what really helped me remember, was when I thoroughly stepped on my Pro's toe, when he was the one who was suppose to be the driver and I took too big a step.
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Okay, THAT makes sense to me.
 
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fiesta0618 said:
Yes, these are not exclusive ideas.

Rotating around a translating common center is (almost) geometrically identical to one partner passing another while maintaining consistent contact. It's mostly just a different way of conceptualizing the movement.

Different folks respond better to different framings of a concept. It's good to have a variety of ways to describe the same thing. Inside/outside, translating common center, passer and passee, anchor and mover...all of them work. That coach gave you the one you needed at the time.
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You said "linear movements". I believe her point was that rotation around a common center is not linear. Give she specifically said not to do it the "exchange of places" way, I don't think this was a case of an alternate description of the same thing.

Note that I'm not saying which is right; I am at present agnostic.
 
ProgressNotPerfection said:
That’s exactly how I’ve always visualized it! Which is why “inside” and “outside” didn’t (don’t) make sense to me. Until it sinks in - assuming someday it will - thinking of it as backwards=inside and forwards=outside is the best I can do for now.
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Imagine that the backward moving partner takes size zero steps. The backward "moving" partner is then not only inside the turn; he or she is then so inside as to be at the center. The forward moving partner can still move past and around, more on the outside of turn, whether it's a straight line or a curve.

The forward moving partner can't shift to being at the center of the curve the same way.

Note that the turn in this sense is not the same as any turn around a common center.
 
Lesson tonight working mostly on turnout and open walks in rumbas and introducing technique for locksteps in cha cha and starting cha cha routine. I had a group class immediately after, and I think I’m realizing I need some time right after a lesson to actually absorb it without jumping into something else so I probably won’t schedule a lesson that way again.
I know this is very much the mindset of a beginner and it depends on a bunch of factors, but I wish there was some way to understand how long it should take to pick up super basic technique or concepts (I totally understand that people spend decades on basics and you unlock new technique as you move up). There’s nobody at my studio in my level and age and I almost wish there was just for comparison. Am I doing enough practice, am I moving along too slow?
 
HappyLilac said:
I know this is very much the mindset of a beginner and it depends on a bunch of factors, but I wish there was some way to understand how long it should take to pick up super basic technique or concepts (I totally understand that people spend decades on basics and you unlock new technique as you move up).
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As you have said yourself, you will be working on the same technique a decade from now, BUT with much more depth and nuance therefore it will not feel as if you were working on the same technique. But to answer your "wish," one good way to measure your process is to apply the technique you are practicing in a syllabus figure and see if the technique you practice helps you move better. The purpose of any technique is to allow you to complete certain figures and do so with greater ease and economy of movement as well as to produce more/cleaner/faster movement and better aesthetics. So, check on those things! For example, does the line you create in the New Yorker of your Cha Cha look cleaner and prettier after you practiced how to do a check? Does the check help you move back faster/with less effort and muscle after you completed it? (If not, you probably aren't using your hip and ribcage enough but those are things you will be working on in Silver and then Gold more in depth).
 
HappyLilac said:
I know this is very much the mindset of a beginner and it depends on a bunch of factors, but I wish there was some way to understand how long it should take
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In this case, "should" is a four-letter word. It takes what it takes. You learn how you learn, not to an arbitrary length of time standard. It's not like grades or levels in school, where there's a syllabus and evaluation along the way and you either do well on the exam or you don't. You're involved in mastery learning, now, not trying to pass the test. Different concept entirely; cut yourself a whale of a lot of slack.

I"ve seen people never get it. I've seen people watch a demonstration and immediately pick up on it. I've seen people try, try, try, try, try, try, try, try, try, try, try, try, try, try, light bulb. I've seen people do the same style the same way for fifteen years and not change at all.

You. Do. You. In the best way.
 
j_alexandra said:
“should" is a four-letter word
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ineedthisforreactions GIF
 
Another glorious lesson yesterday in silver smooth. Pro & I have been smiling and laughing and high-fiving each other during lessons more than we've done in a long, loooong time. It feels like certain things are finally starting to "stick," because they happen even when I don't give them any conscious thought (not 100% consistently, of course, but more often than not). And other things, which are brand-new to me, turn out NOT to be truly brand-new, because my body automatically applies concepts it already learned, and suddenly I realize - BOOM! - I've just executed something the way Pro wanted me to, without him ever having to explain it.

Also, our lessons feel more efficient and productive, because he is able now to give me much shorter explanations/instructions/corrections. Once upon a time, if he said something like, "toe more in," it would take ten minutes for him to explain, demonstrate, and manually adjust my position (22,000,000 times) so I could feel what he meant, and I'd usually STILL not get it right (or even close) afterwards.

I have a vague sense that my lessons were not much fun for a period of several months earlier this year...but I don't remember why. Or, that is, I know the "official" reasons: struggling with my first attempt at silver smooth performance in the April minimatch that went very badly; stopping smooth and then struggling with the showcase performance that ended up being unrewarding; and, of course, juggling two teachers with two different styles and approaches to learning.

But I don't remember what that absence of joy FELT like - and I'm glad! Whatever residual not-good feeling might have been lingering around has been cleanly washed out to sea (on the irresistible tides of sophophilia and philomathy). Good riddance.

I love learning like this. I love lessons when we aren't pushing towards any type of deadline or benchmark or judgment. In every lesson, there is SOME new thing - even if just a very tiny thing - that works better than it did the last time. There is SOME new nuance or new layer that (a) I'm able to execute more readily, (b) makes a huge difference in the way I'm moving and thus the way he's partnering, and (c) makes us grin and high-five each other (and occasionally, one of us might or might not be seen also jumping up and down and clapping their hands foolishly [hint: not him]).

And each tiny little "nuance nugget" feels like a discovered treasure to cherish and explore...and we have time to do that, because there's no deadline!

#giddy
 
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