How Are Your Lessons Going? Thread 3

At lessons today, I told my Pros that my practices this week were less than engaging, and asked if they had any ideas for a bit of a change-up, to see if it generated any inspiration.

So, during my first hour with Pro2, instead of working with him with me as Lead, I had him work with me as Follow.

And during my second hour with Pro1, instead of working with him with me as Follow, I had him work with me as Lead.

What came out in the wash, was that there are some place in Waltz, Tango, and Foxtrot, where I get a bit “lazy” about using the various parts of my foot. Yes, the foot work is correct, but I don’t always use the various parts of my feet to their full extent. Also, in some figures where I have different options for my head position, I tend to always make the same choice, which makes things a bit “one note.”

Not terribly exciting stuff. But it never hurts to re-visit figures and choreography. I imagine that we’ll finish off VWaltz and Quickstep next week.
 
Plan is to work on getting sharper with everything before my next comp. This is the part that falls away at speed because I am worried about getting to the next thing on time. My routines are "full" so if I am late, I can cause a cascade of problems. When I am rushing, things can get a little sloppy and I may not be fully executing each move.

Pro tells me it's a little like organized chaos, so I have to be uncomfortable and push the boundaries. Things work one way slow but have to be adjusted as the speed increases. Previously we would run a round at 1/2 to 3/4 speed then later move it to full speed. We are planning to work only at full speed going forward. I hope this resolves with some muscle memory for executing at speed.
 
ProgressNotPerfection said:
Makes me glad that I had to cancel one of my two lessons next week due to a work conflict. I’m in no mood to go back right now.
Click to expand...
Sigh.

I jinxed myself by typing that. Studio texted me last night to cancel my lesson today bcs Pro is "under the weather." So...no lessons at all this week.

Sigh.

P.S. I turned down their offer of a substitute lesson with either ProV or the Lindy Hop guy. Based on the way Pro & I have been approaching my lessons, I didn't feel that time spent with another teacher would be useful to me right now (in fact, it would probably be detrimental).

Sigh.
 
Need to fix arm position a bit; lower and more open and connected to shoulders. Cha hip twist position needs more precision. Figure out where I am looking lol. Open arm on spot turns. Rumba opening needs work on timing. Make natural top transition more natural.
 
Started learning the first 3/4 of my pre bronze waltz routine. I sort of have a mental block when I’m learning new things but by the end of the lesson did it once well.

And starting to get into the nitty gritty about posture and arms and neck elongation.

The studio has a board with all the students’ Polaroids and they recently reorganized them into Open, gold, silver, bronze etc, which naturally makes me more competitive. Gotta get to be better than the purely standard person ahead of me. Not sure if that’s a good thing or not.

I do need to get in way better shape. What exercises( pilates? Yoga, walking running) do you find helpful to built strength and balance?
 
Working in Rhythm and Latin on initiating movement with core movements consistently and smoothly. Working in smooth on more stretch and bigger movement in body and figuring out how to balance that.
 
At lessons today, as expected I continued with the change-up with Pros, and for the first hour worked with Pro2 with me as Gold Follow on Foxtrot and VWaltz, and then for second hour with Pro1 on Gold Quickstep with me as Lead, and a bit as Follow. Both of them focused on some details related to headweight and the use of the knees.
 
Still not taking lessons as often as I would like but am committed to one comp this year ...so beginning to do more on lessons than just trying to see if anything is still left in muscle memory.. Focusing g on a continuation of softening my dancing, slowing myself down and working my angles
 
So forgot to post in a while
Lessons have been really promising have had a bit of a switch round regarding teachers. Nothing bad happened however due to one teachers commitments and another receiving a fantastic opportunity meaning he isnt around as much means that other teachers that i know are now becoming my main teachers and its going well

Ive had quite a few competitions now where ive been quite disappointed with the results and teachers are now looking abit into why. Which has been a big focus in lessons particulally latin.

But First Ballroom:
So its looking like my second teacher is now becoming my first teacher. Its happened naturally as other teacher is away alot and there are no issues so its been lovley. New first teacher has a mindset that works for me. We are currently working on movement of all the dancers and generating power through the floor. Im also likeing that he looks at my rotines and then changes things up to make harder and more flashy now i dont really do syllabus categories solo any more but also makes it managable. I ve said i want to push myself and i want to start pushing some difficulty which he approves of. He is also aware after seeing me at comps what motivates me and what makes me frustrated which helps and im now seeing a clear path of where i need to head

Latin:
My main teacher returns soon so have been lesson with 2 other teachers due to avaiaiblity
recently my latin lessons have been a mix of technique but also how to be a competitior.
Its ridiculous how much its changed my persepctive and i now seem to have more attack when i dance
Today i looked at presentation and spent most of the lesson walking on and off the floor with a bit of dancing and how to make eye contact
It was actually a really good lesson and really enjoyed it. Its something that gets overlooked but a found tips on how to fake confidence and how to perfrom really helpful
 
My teacher just opened a full fledged retail location! It's so nice and big! I had my first lesson (which was actually a coaching) yesterday on their first full day open. So excited! He had been renting lesson space as needed before now.
 
Not a red-letter day for lessons today.

My first hour was with Pro2. I asked him to take a look at my Waltz while I danced it solo as Follow. I finished 4 walls. Pro2 shrugged (in the maddingly way that Europeans shrug) and said, “Well, I could read it.” It seems that when I dance on my own, it’s correct, but lifeless.

Then, I turned to Tango and danced that solo as Follow. Shapes were all wrong; the change of weight in the Drop Oversway was all wrong; Fallaway Promenade alignments were all wrong.

Moved on to Quickstep, dancing as solo Follow (which I already knew from Rounds last week is a mess). I overturned just about everything that can possibly be overturned (even a Natural Pivot Turn, for crying out loud). And he caught me in a footwork error in the Running Right Turn.

For the second hour, I switched to Pro1, and, ever the glutton-for-punishment, asked him to watch me dance solo. First up was Viennese Waltz, as Follow. I wish there were a way to avoid dancing the back half of Natural Turns because there is very little that I do properly. I’m not letting the knee of the backward-moving leg bend enough; on the second step I’m letting the toe open to an LOD alignment instead of Diagonal Center, so not only does it give the appearance that I’m letting the leg ronde, it also means that my closing foot is too misaligned to actually close my feet.

So, I thought, maybe I could try something that I felt more solid about, and asked Pro1 to watch while I danced Waltz solo as Lead. I finished 4 walls. Pro1 said, “Eh - it was readable.” But: it needs flow; the landing of my receiving leg is too hard and it looks like I “fall” into some steps; I don’t let my moving leg straighten enough; I get back-weighted in places; my Natural Spin Turn is “unibody” and square; my head changes in the Left Whisk are all wrong; I don’t sway properly in places, so in order to keep balance, that sometimes causes me to sacrifice my footwork. He said, “Good god, Cal, footwork is the one thing that you generally have in your favor – don’t blow that.”

Demoralized. Dejected. Disheartened.
 
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