the quantal shift - good to great and fast?

When things are not going right with a teacher you basically have two choices - change the teacher or, change the teacher ;). I've only really changed to a new coach once. The reason is that my current coach listens to me so that when I feel strongly that we need to try something different - we do. He respects me sufficiently to know that he's about to take a new journey :)

I raise this because of the R-shift. I've explained to him what I am trying/want to do and he has listened - amazingly coincidentally (aside: see dp) I had a coaching lesson with a totally RB female and she expressed far better than I could what the woman needs/should do. Fortunately, the message resonates with pro - mostly I think because he is one of those child-dancers who learned before he knew he was learning - and hence does not really have a LB training to bias him. More on this later....
 
A few habits that have helped me are:
-Practicing what my teacher tells me to practice (this may not be a 'habit' in the sense you are seeking -- but reading your post, it is something I consider a habit for me)
-Mental habits -- for e.g. I was petrified of performing in front of people and it was the mental work I did that made me happy with my first showcase (there was a lot of practice as well -- but the mental played the largest part)
-Physical conditioning -- physical conditioning has been a part of my life since high school, but years where I focused on care-giving for others as a priority, led me to choose to drop this, which led to my weight increasing to my current overweight status. Focusing on physical conditioning in all its forms again since starting to dance, has increased my stamina and strength tremendously
-Taking care of your body when it is in pain -- which led me to knee surgery and my own current hiatus from dance -- I view this as also a habit as there are solutions to most every pain you experience and making taking care of your body a habit - in all the forms that takes -- is essential IMO.

samina said:
for my part, i'd like to hear about what *habits* people are changing on a daily basis, which they believe will or are radically effecting their dancing. or which habits they have changed in the *past* which helped them out tremendously. a quantum external change can only occur when a correlating inner pattern has shifted & become "normal", or when new, radically different physical habits have been installed in one's life & become normalized.

these habits could be the general mental approach one brings to the floor, such as to use the LB/RB relationship more productively. but there are many other habits one can change.

for example, i'm currently on hiatus from lessons & comping, but i am *very* focused on radically changing things such as my diet, the way i train my body every day, how i breathe and the *awareness* i bring to not just my breath but to how i experience sensation in my body through movement throughout the day. i also have a new habit as i go up and down the steps -- i have used the steps for two years now to develop some new dance-related strength or sensitivity, or to improve alignment, and incorporating these little details -- with awareness -- has brought me repeatedly to those wonderful little quantum leaps where my instructor will say, within one minute of taking hold & dancing with me...."what did you do?"

i believe very much in the power of adjusting small things, and adhering to them daily, if one wants to effect a big change.

when i hit the studio, my lessons, and the comp floor again, i do expect to have made perhaps the largest quantum leap in my dancing so far. and it's because of little things i'm doing every day *off* the dance floor...
Click to expand...
 
samina said:
for my part, i'd like to hear about what *habits* people are changing on a daily basis, which they believe will or are radically effecting their dancing

i believe very much in the power of adjusting small things, and adhering to them daily, if one wants to effect a big change.

.
Click to expand...

Don't laugh, but here's a veryvery small thing I'm hoping will make a major difference: learning to walk on the inside of my feet. For someone who has been pigeon-toed all my life and was fat for decades, this is a real challenge. But oh, what a difference it makes in balance, centering, connection. And ain't it hard...

Samina also said,

welcome, j_alexandra! please stick around & chat with us.

Gee, thanks! I will undoubtedly kibitz here and there. But I'm more the lurk-y type.
 
elisedance said:
When things are not going right with a teacher you basically have two choices - change the teacher or, change the teacher ;). I've only really changed to a new coach once. The reason is that my current coach listens to me so that when I feel strongly that we need to try something different - we do. He respects me sufficiently to know that he's about to take a new journey :)
Click to expand...


i'm happy with the team of instructors available to me, and most definitely with my primary instructor. i look forward to working with him again...no desire here to make a switch.
 
CANI said:
-Practicing what my teacher tells me to practice (this may not be a 'habit' in the sense you are seeking -- but reading your post, it is something I consider a habit for me)
Click to expand...


Yes, very good habit. I've been incorporating practice into my days at home as well. I've challenged myself to practice "no matter where", to get past the idea that practice must occur on a dance floor in dance shoes. It's an interesting journey, I have to say...


-Mental habits -- for e.g. I was petrified of performing in front of people and it was the mental work I did that made me happy with my first showcase (there was a lot of practice as well -- but the mental played the largest part)
Click to expand...


Good for you. That's a big hurdle.

-Physical conditioning -- physical conditioning has been a part of my life since high school, but years where I focused on care-giving for others as a priority, led me to choose to drop this, which led to my weight increasing to my current overweight status. Focusing on physical conditioning in all its forms again since starting to dance, has increased my stamina and strength tremendously
Click to expand...


Yes, I can relate to this. The good thing is, it can be regained. It's so easy to lose focus on self when focusing on others. I did that for many years as a mom...

-Taking care of your body when it is in pain -- which led me to knee surgery and my own current hiatus from dance -- I view this as also a habit as there are solutions to most every pain you experience and making taking care of your body a habit - in all the forms that takes -- is essential IMO.
Click to expand...


Wishing you a speedy recovery, CANI. Seems there are three of us on hiatus, here.
 
j_alexandra said:
Don't laugh, but here's a veryvery small thing I'm hoping will make a major difference: learning to walk on the inside of my feet. For someone who has been pigeon-toed all my life and was fat for decades, this is a real challenge. But oh, what a difference it makes in balance, centering, connection. And ain't it hard...
Click to expand...


Great observation. I went through a Rolfing process last fall, and the day the practitioner did the inner line of the body, from the insides of my feet all the way up to my groin, my balance *instantly* radically improved, as soon as I got up off the table! She had my rise up on my toes and I was *amazed* at how effortless it felt...how my body wanted to go there.


You're on a great track with that, J_A.


Gee, thanks! I will undoubtedly kibitz here and there. But I'm more the lurk-y type.
Click to expand...


CANI has been lurking, too! I love that the both of you have stepped forward to comment. :)
 
samina said:
I've challenged myself to practice "no matter where", to get past the idea that practice must occur on a dance floor in dance shoes. It's an interesting journey, I have to say...
Click to expand...

I can relate -- this has been my approach since I started dancing. The vast majority of my dance practice has been outside of the dance floor since I started. There is a great thread going on about that right now. It is amazing what you can do and where. In fact, it is amazing what you can do to practice when you can't use your legs, as I've come to learn post-surgery.
 
katandmouse said:
Funny. You guys are carrying on about what I said or shouldn't have said.
Click to expand...
Glad that is cleared. I don't beleive anyone really misunderstood what you meant, though.

j_alexandra said:
Can it be taught? I'm think not,
Click to expand...
Warren J. Dew said:
Yes, it can be taught. The subject deserves its own thread, though.
Click to expand...
I agree w/ J, and this is an apropos thread for the subject.

We must understand musicality. It has been mentioned in this and other threads that musicality is not what one feels or how well one interprets a piece. Musicality is how one interprets what one feels. since there are no rules to govern this individuality, it can not be taught, and can not be wrong. One can be taught what specifics in a piece might contribute to one's musicality, but the interpretation itself is up to the individual. Can we say that the head-banger has no musicality b/c he/she is banging around to a song like someone being electrocuted? Of course not.
j_alexandra said:
Frex, Spouse has no interest in dance, no sense of rhythm, no path to understanding what happens within me when I dance. I was born with authentic musicality, he was not,
Click to expand...
Thought - if he had no rhythm...he couldn't walk.

j_alexandra said:
I'd like to be proven wrong on this; would love to be able to look at a Pollock or Picasso, Tintoretto or Tiepolo, and get it, the way I get Mahler or Ella or Celia Cruz.
Click to expand...
But, you do get it. You just don't like it. If I asked you to describe to me what you see...you could. This is like the steps of a movement. If I asked you to tell me how it made you feel...you could. This is like the musicality given to a piece of music.
j_alexandra said:
In terms of this thread, LB, not RB.
Click to expand...
Apropos. the thread is not RB vs LB; it is about quantum leaps in dance education/understanding. Understanding musicality is a huge one b/c it frees us to feel dance (RB) rather than simply copy it.
 
There's something interesting I discovered the other day. I had just finished moving the biggest chest of drawers up three flights of stairs (using the "Forearm Forklift" -- highly recommend!) and made about another 15-trips up and down the stairs. This was after practicing rounds. So I was beyond "tired". I was tired but too tired to fall asleep. Out pops my laptop and I start to watch some dancing on Youtube. I was so tired that I think my LB was not processing anything, and whatever I saw the pros do looked "easy" and pretty straightforward. I was noticing little details that I never noticed before. I tried a few things right then and there (yes, I jumped out of bed that instant) and it felt like my dancing took an immediate leap to another level. I could finally figure out how Marcus and Karen Hilton moved so effortlessly in their little demo video. I tried some of it during practice (whatever I could remember) and my partner was quite confused as to how easily we were covering the floor. She knew something had changed the minute we took hold. Once again, I'm nowhere near Marcus or Mirko but the dotted line from me to Mirko just deepened in contrast. I probably don't have enough years in my life to get there but it's exciting to know that I'm getting there slowly.

Now, whenever I'm tired, I watch dance DVD's and it's quite shocking how much information is out there in plain sight that my LB just was not open to receiving or accepting. Really shocking.
 
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