How are your practices going?

Ha! I did the first 10 beats (note: beats, not measures--I work slowly) of a Tango step better than I ever have today. It's something that I have been trying to wrap my head around since sometime last fall. In my defense, when I started learning this, Pro made a face because it tends to go wrong in so many ways that result in ugly things happening to the leader. A couple of lessons ago, I was working on it some with Pro and I asked to get Smooth New Guy involved which has helped. As well as getting more time on it, there's the benefit of getting slightly different explanations and corrections, and SNG is more tolerant of my, uh, being a little bossy about what I want to do and how I want to do it. :D Pro listens, but is more likely to override me...or pretend he's going to do what I want to do and then overrides me. :rolleyes: (I never object...we always eventually get to what I want to do.)
 
Got back on the practice floor for the first time and months, and the first time in a couple of years with my partner in front of me. Boy did things feel stiff and awkward. But it also was nice to get back into things. I know my back and legs will be killing me tonight. Idk what to worry about first though: fixing my frame to get it back where it was, or foot work. I was alternating between the two during our hour and a half. We also need someone to poke us and remind us of things that we clearly have forgotten in the past couple of years of not practicing as hard as we did back when we were competing. Looking forward to practice again in a week!
 
A very short practice last night. I focused on the Alexander Technique concepts that female pro gave me for my frame and topline; and went through the fixes I'd been given for waltz and quickstep. I also tried to work on the shaping that I'd been given for Paso as leader, but started getting in the weeds with that.
 
Practice earlier this evening was more of the same, except a bit longer, with me trying to add in the use of knees, weight collection, and cbm stuff from my last lesson. I think the shaping in the Paso Promenade to Counterpromenade as a leader is making more sense.
 
After some tinkering last week, pro and I changed my positioning in hold. I'm setting up a with a bigger backward and leftward curve. Spent teh weekend and last night's practices concentrating on maintaining it. Musings on it, after the benefit of a few days of practice:
  • Huh. I had no idea that I had gotten both strong and flexible enough to sustain that position.
  • It's really hard to navigate when you are looking at the ceiling, thanks to the position you are now holding. Maybe this, coupled with the number of hours I spend dancing solo, is why my positioning and expression can be "shy".
  • The key to making it work and staying in balance for me are: engaging the lower abs (as-in, between my hip bones) and sending my right ribcage forward as a counterpoint to my head. If I forget to do either of these things, the result = curving with the wrong part of my back, getting back-weighted, doing some wierd twisty thing with my torso.
  • You can develop some really interesting knots on the left side of your back when you engage it differently than accustomed. (Thanks, lacrosse ball, for getting me back to practice!)
  • OMG, foxtrot feels incredibly free with the new position. Need to test this out with a partner!
 
Just a few short practices this weekend and the last two days, scattered among a very very very long weekend launch. mainly drills for rhythm and smooth. waiting for open smooth lesson tomorrow, to apply all the larger steps, better frame, and connected movement from closed smooth to open smooth.
 
Ran through all ten dances as bronze leader. Jive is the problematic dance now - I can manage the individual figures but transitioning from one to the other is utterly awful. Then switched to follower mode and worked on cbm in pivots, and tried to fix some of the trouble spots that have been identified in my throwaway oversway.
 
good practice yesterday! kinda almost figured out how to connect my movements more. It started to make sense, after probably a few years of teachers trying to get me to understand it...Hope I can remember the feeling and not overdo it!
 
Been feeling motivated (aka competitive :) ) so I've been putting in practice time often. Sometimes it's just for a few minutes throughout the day like standing on one leg (I really need to improve my balance and strengthen my ankles) and other times it's running drills. What's exciting is that the work from these drills is ever so slightly actually showing up in class AND in my social dancing which is so cool. So, gotta keep going!
 
Solo practice was OK last night. I'm trying to incorporate more of the soft knee concept into my standard as both lead and follow.
 
Long solo practice last night. I managed to do a round of standard as a bronze leader, to tempo, and it felt pretty fluid. In VWaltz I even managed to switch to natural turns around the short side without having to think about it. So, I was pretty pleased with myself. But then I was quite humbled in trying to do a round of latin as a bronze leader - need more time there. Switched to my heels to work on a bit of silver latin as a follower, paying attention to some pesky issues in Paso and Jive. Then went through my standard focusing on the soft knee concept.
 
short practice after group - my legs were exhausted. tried to connect my movements in rhythm... didn't work as well as expected, so i stopped before i got frustrated.
 
Another long solo practice last night. Ran through all the standard dances as a bronze leader, trying to do some mixing'n'matching of figures; tried again to complete a round of latin as a bronze leader - Cha and Samba went OK with really slow songs, Rumba went OK, but it all fell apart with Paso and Jive. Switched to the follower role and ran through all standard dances focusing on CBM, and put on my heels to run though all silver latin dances, focusing on the connection of the free leg with the floor.
 
A very short solo practice last night. I'd wanted to work on standard/latin as a follower. But there was a brand new couple at the studio where I practice and between them and their teacher, they somehow managed to spread out over an enormous percentage of the floor space to "learn their parts" in smooth Tango, and giggled the whole time with the "T-A-N-G-O". I can usually turn that off and dance around that kind of stuff, but then the teacher turned on the colored lights and disco ball for them. When they decided that it was just the cutest thing in the world to chase around the specks of light so that they could stomp on a red light for the "O!", I just couldn't take it any more and left.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Dance Ads

Advertise on Dance Forums Reach dancers, teachers, studios, event organizers, and dance-friendly brands. View ad options
Back
Top